Profoundly Superficial

Somewhat the Worse for Wear...

2012-02-13T00:00:00.004+01:00

... a vintage lady who's seen better days.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial Photography, Deventer

The Noble Bearing of a Chanel Lady

2012-02-09T00:00:00.004+01:00

Is this noble lady waiting for her nails to dry? Is she begging for a Chanel bag to match her beads? Whatever the truth, she is not amused.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial Photography

Where's Supper?

2012-02-06T00:00:00.001+01:00

Although he was happy to be photographed, this handsome feral cat was more interested spotting his next meal as it ambled around on the ground below.
Photo: ©Profoundy Superficial, Aswan, Egypt.

The Weather in Amsterdam...

2012-02-02T00:00:00.004+01:00

... is either grey and freezing cold or surreally sunny and freezing cold. If it's going to be winter, let it be like this photo with globs of snow that turn this town into an Arctic wilderness fit for panting huskies and intrepid explorers.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

All That Glitters...

2012-01-31T00:00:00.010+01:00

What untold secrets are lurking behind these glittering façades?

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial Click to unlock the canalside mansions of Amsterdam

Always Walk in Beauty

2012-01-27T00:00:00.004+01:00

Wherever you go, make sure to choose the scenic route.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial
Taken in Amsterdam on a cold and wet Monday morning

Vertigo

2012-01-24T00:00:00.003+01:00

Before I took this shot, I first made sure that the handrail was firmly in place...

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial, the Biblical Museum, Amsterdam. Click to get the full scary effect.

In the Twilight Hour...

2012-01-20T00:00:00.002+01:00

... at Ann Demeulemeester's shop in Antwerp.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

Wadi el Gamal

2012-01-17T00:00:00.005+01:00

As evening falls, you gaze into the desert and wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamal, Egypt

Wild Thing

2012-01-13T00:00:00.003+01:00

I was surprised that this handsome boy liked me because he eats meat and I don't so there was no point in begging for tasty morsels. And although he did his best to be cute, there was no mistaking that this was a wild cat, who had wandered in from the desert in search of a kill.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial, Aswan, Egypt. Click and come closer if you dare!

As the Sun Goes Down...

2012-01-10T00:00:00.004+01:00

... it's good to look back on where you've been today.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamal, Egypt

New Planet With Large Tree...

2012-01-06T00:00:00.005+01:00

... which I discovered floating in the cosmos of a plant shop while walking back from the gym.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial Click so that you can explore this new world.

"Anything You Hear about Me Is Probably True"

2012-01-03T00:00:00.001+01:00

Lee Miller: "Of my dark and supposedly lurid past, I will say almost nothing... I will content myself this time in saying that anything you hear about me is probably true... True to life. To my life!"

Photo: Lee Miller's ID card as a World War Two photographer. Her work included covering the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps.

Little Man

2011-12-30T00:00:00.003+01:00

I love this little man who lives with his family on an island in the Nile. When I met his folks, they lived exclusively from tourism. This includes allowing tourists into your own home. But my small friend decided that some places were out of bounds and cheerfully blocked the way to the living room with its wondrous collection of prayer mats.

His small act of defiance has stayed with me throughout the Egyptian Revolution. Hopefully, he and all his people will be able to find their way to a better, happier and fairer future in 2012.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Sahel Island, Egypt

Alfie

2011-12-27T00:00:00.007+01:00

Santa Claus has been very good this year and given me a bag that I'd admired but never dreamed of owning. Also appreciative of his generosity was Alfie, my travelling bear, who quickly purloined it as his preferred means of transport.

Alfie truly proved his worth when we got stuck in a Jordanian desert following the volcano eruption of April 2010. While I fretted in my room, he was calmly relieving the hotel of its whisky supply. No matter where he is, Alf manages to lead a (somewhat disolute) life of his own.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Christmas Greetings from Amsterdam!

2011-12-23T00:00:00.004+01:00

Amsterdam's favorite means of transport has been transformed into a festive decoration to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas filled with love, laughter and a great deal of happiness.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Staalstraat

Chance Encounter

2011-12-20T00:00:00.002+01:00

In these days of euro crisis and cultural cutbacks, I'm constantly astonished by artists who think big rather than small, and use the entire city as both their canvas and gallery. These are works that you can see from the corner of your eye in moments of sheer wonder.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial. Click to enlarge so as to join this nicotine meditation

Magic Shadow-Show

2011-12-16T00:00:00.002+01:00

"For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go."
(The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam)

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial Taken at the dress rehearsal of the Dutch National Ballet's production of Nutcracker. Click to enlarge.

Waiting

2011-12-13T00:00:00.003+01:00

These hand-painted ducks are waiting for the tourists to return to Egypt and the Nubian restaurant whose walls they adorn. I do hope that they will be able to come back soon...

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Aswan

Glamour Gym

2011-12-09T00:00:00.007+01:00

My local gym is cheap but none too cheerful with vile smells wafting from its antiquated plumbing. Fortunately, the company owns it has just taken over a glamour gym that had gone bankrupt. No prizes for guessing where I'm going now...

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

So Hipstamatic!

2011-12-06T00:00:00.002+01:00

It's not often that you get the chance to buy a camera complete with four lenses for mere 79 euro cents. The Hipstamatic app is not only a great bargain, it's also a lot of fun with its crazy effects and old school wonkiness.

This photo was taken on a train; it's a portrait of my travelling companion and her spectral reflection.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Egypt on My Mind

2011-12-03T00:00:00.001+01:00

As Egypt enters a new chapter, I'm thinking of my friends in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria. And I'm thinking of this little girl and hoping she will have a brighter future.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Etruscan Beauty

2011-11-30T00:00:00.005+01:00

Last Sunday, I fell in love with this handsome, big-bellied pot at an exhibition of Etruscan artefacts. I would have liked to have taken it home with me. Of course, the question is then what would you do with it? Seeing that it contains the ashes of a woman who died some 2,600 years ago, it would make quite a talking point on the living room table: Who was she? What was she like?

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Home Sweet Home?

2011-11-26T00:00:00.003+01:00

This week, I have been editing a text about old women who have returned to their villages in the contaminated area around Chernobyl. Apparently, they are more terrified by the thought of losing their homes than by the very real threat of radiation poisoning.

Perhaps there is something heroic about their stubborn defiance as personified by the jaunty step of this lady in red with her heavy basket of logs.
Photo: Viktor Drachev

Perfect Balance

2011-11-23T00:00:00.008+01:00

I've made an important discovery about Rabbit and Rat. Despite Rat being the smaller of the two, whoever sculpted them decided to make their noses at exactly the same height so that they can touch each other with infinite sweetness.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to enlarge. For more information about Rabbit and Rat, see the previous two posts.

Rabbit & Rat Part 2

2011-11-19T00:00:00.002+01:00

After escaping from a local auction (see previous post), Rabbit and Rat have been trying to find their place in my home. Not that they're had much of a chance. They've moved from the espresso machine to my computer table and have been introduced to other members of my personal menagerie. Will they settle down now? Or are they natural nomads? I think the latter.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Ckick to stroke Rat's furry nose

I Am Therefore I Seek Beauty...

2011-11-16T00:00:00.004+01:00

... which I found at a local auction in the form of these Chinese zodiac figures that were originally designed for a water fountain. After some nerve-wracking bidding (and a little help from my beloved) they are mine all mine!
Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to take a closer look

Submerged Treasure

2011-11-12T00:00:00.004+01:00

A Byzantine mosaic submerged in the warm waters of the Eastern Mediterranean or the ocean bed off the coast of Ireland on a summer's day?

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to admire this wonder of the Celtic World

The Way Ahead...

2011-11-09T00:00:00.001+01:00

...like turning the page to find out what happens next.

Photo Profoundly Superficial Om Kombo, Egypt

Armed Conflict

2011-11-05T00:00:00.001+01:00

For many years now, the Israeli-American photographer Judah Passow has covered the Israel-Palestinian conflict within Israel, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and Lebanon. He does not take sides. He simply records what he sees, which in this case was a young Palestinian clutching his weapons of war.

Photo: Judah Passow

November Girl

2011-11-02T00:00:00.003+01:00

... like a tragic heroine in a Russian novel.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to make her acquaintance

In Ireland...

2011-10-29T00:00:00.002+02:00

...always to take a dog with you. You'll have much more fun!

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

Karl Lagerfeld Is Living in Amsterdam...

2011-10-26T00:00:00.004+02:00

... Just around the corner from my girlfriend, who's crazy about him. Should I be worried?

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to enlarge so you can practise ringing the bell

The Holy Family...

2011-10-22T00:00:00.002+02:00

...spotted in a shop window in Derry, Northern Ireland

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Bad Ballet?

2011-10-19T00:00:00.002+02:00

A few days ago, I attended a dress rehearsal of "Swan Lake" where what could go wrong, did go wrong. The ballerina landed on her bum and the corps de ballet flapped around like a gaggle of demented geese. So were the dancers booed out of town? Not a bit of it! Every brave wobble was gently applauded as if to say: "Don't worry, we know you'll be alright on the night".

It was an evening full of love.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

Did She or Didn't She?

2011-10-15T00:00:00.004+02:00

With the 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's, much attention is focusing on Audrey Hepburn and whether she ever had a facelift. The medical opinion is that if she did, it must have been an extremely subtle one.

Whatever the truth, she got old and stayed beautiful. And what more can one truly ask for?

Order and Chaos

2011-10-12T00:00:00.004+02:00

The crazy tree, the precariously-balanced potted plants and the building as stately as an ocean liner: here, order and chaos create a weird harmony on the streets of Cairo.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

Doggy dance

2011-10-08T00:00:00.004+02:00

Photographing groups of people or animals is tricky because someone always looks the wrong way or starts yawning. But sometimes something special happens: a kind of group choreography where all the participants remain uniquely individual yet become part of an intricate line of movement.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

A Velvet Path...

2011-10-05T00:00:00.002+02:00

... of dappled sunlight.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial at Achill Secret Garden, Ireland

Ruined House with Turf Mountain

2011-10-01T00:00:00.002+02:00

A little surreal but in an Irish landscape it somehow makes sense.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial

Tree from the Dawn of Time

2011-09-28T00:00:00.002+02:00

Almost 5,000 years ago, this scots pine was part of a mighty forest in Stone Age Ireland. Then it tumbled over and was preserved to this day by the local peat bog. I love its swirling ripples. They make you want to stroke it, which of course I did.
Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Goodbye Ireland...

2011-09-21T00:00:00.001+02:00

This is Al and Jane's house, the place where we've been staying for most of the last two months.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Irish Art

2011-09-17T00:00:00.002+02:00

In Ireland, even the wall of a barn is an artistic masterwork.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

Surviving the Storm

2011-09-14T00:00:00.003+02:00

Instead of curling up in the safety of his nice warm burrow,this bedraggled bunny ventured out into the storm in search of food. He spent at least an hour solemnly munching his grass in the pouring rain before lolloping off back home again.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial, Ireland

Irish Weather

2011-09-10T00:00:00.001+02:00

In Ireland it's either bright sunshine or pouring with rain. Sometimes the weather gets really manic and does both at the same time.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Puppy Love

2011-09-07T00:00:00.001+02:00

Gun dogs on an Irish estate that caters to the hunting and fishing set.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

Jesus Sadly...

2011-09-03T00:00:00.002+02:00

... guarding a holy well in an Irish cemetery.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

The Floating World...

2011-08-31T00:00:00.002+02:00

... of seaweed in an Irish fjord.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial. Connemara, Ireland

Holy Hotel

2011-08-27T00:00:00.004+02:00

A few days ago I visited the Convent, a delightful Connemara guesthouse that used to be home to the Sisters of Mercy. It still maintains a certain ecclesiastical charm as is illustrated by this elegant little window.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Ireland

A Dog's Life

2011-08-24T00:00:00.002+02:00

First we dragged Trudi up a mountain where she ended up covered in mud and extremely smelly. Then we rushed her down to the beach and dunked her in the ocean. As you can see, she polished up very nicely and is now ready for the next adventure.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Ireland. Click for some puppy love

How to Hypnotise Yourself

2011-08-20T00:00:00.002+02:00

Watch the endless permutations in the ripples of the ocean. It will make you high.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Ireland. Click to enlarge.

It Dog

2011-08-17T00:00:00.002+02:00

Everyone has a dog in rural Ireland. You'd look naked without one. Our It Dog is called Trudi, and we borrowed her from our friends Jane and Al. She accompanies us on beach walks and even comes when we call her.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Irish Riviera

2011-08-13T00:00:00.004+02:00

This is the weather where I am right now. It's shite. But never boring.
Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Clew Bay, Ireland

A Nanny with a Camera

2011-08-10T00:00:00.000+02:00

Vivian Maier led a strange and isolated life. She never married or had children, and worked as a nanny, moving from family to family as her young charges grew up. Towards the end of her life she was homeless. Yet she was a passionate street photographer, who found moments of great tenderness in the subjects she chanced upon.

Her work would have long been lost and destroyed but for a local historian, who discovered 30,000 prints and negatives at an auction in Chicago. Since then exhibitions have been organised and a documentary is in the works. So, for the outside world, Vivian Maier's life as a photographer is just beginning.

Photo:Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

The New Woman

2011-08-06T00:00:00.000+02:00

If you're in Amsterdam anytime up to 13 November, you might like to swing by the Jewish Historical Museum for the exhibition of photographs by Marianne Breslauer. She specialised in Germany's "New Woman" of the 1920s and early 1930s: adventurous, independent and sexy. I saw the show last week and it's fantastic.

Photo: Marianne Breslauer, Jewish Historical Museum

At the End of the Day..

2011-08-03T00:00:00.003+02:00

... when the camels are tethered and the drivers take a well-earned rest.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial. Wadi el Gamel

Camels

2011-07-30T00:00:00.005+02:00

I'm very partial to a good camel. They bite, they spit and they look like sardonically witty maiden aunts.

They're one of my favourite animals. Along with manatees and sloths.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamel. Click to say hello

Baroque Beauty

2011-07-27T00:00:00.004+02:00

I spotted this Baroque beauty on the elegant streets of The Hague.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial. Click to enlarge

They're Breeding!

2011-07-23T00:00:00.007+02:00

My mannikins are breeding and have spawned this cute little chap. I like him. He reminds me of Chucky.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

The New Girl

2011-07-20T00:00:00.002+02:00

The latest addition to my collection of mannikin photographs, a Chanel lady in tragic decline.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial, click to enlarge

The Message in the Fitting Room

2011-07-16T00:00:00.005+02:00

This encouraging note was waiting for me when I was trying on some rather overpriced Paul Smith trousers.As it happens, I don't have a husband. And if I did, his credit cards would certainly be maxed out by now!

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

Twilight

2011-07-13T00:00:00.004+02:00

In Egypt, the sun sets so rapidly that it moves before your very eyes. Then, suddenly, you are cloaked in darkness and the air is thick with djinns.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Aswan

Love Your City

2011-07-09T00:00:00.002+02:00

Although her tulips are plastic, this little girl says it all: "Tend your city. Make it flower and smell sweet. The air will be fresher and you will create a greener, gentler and more beautiful environment for all those who live there".

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam

Mirror World

2011-07-06T00:00:00.002+02:00

Photograph of a shiny shop window at the Palais Royal in Paris.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial

Secret Paris

2011-07-02T00:00:00.003+02:00

Away from the bustle of the street, the secret face of Paris is littered with blank walls like a giant stage set. Only Théâtre de Châtelet (on the right) maintains its formal glitz.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to enlarge

Karl's Bear

2011-06-29T00:00:00.003+02:00

This bear was made in his creator's image and and manufactured by Steiff, the purveyors of pedigree teds.

When asked whether he had a much loved bear as a child, Karl Lagerfeld replied, "Maybe I had one; I don't remember. I never played with anything like toys. I wanted to be grown-up." But, betraying a certain familiarity with the species, he added, "Bears are very nice, as long as you are nice to them".

Fancy curling up with Karl's Bear? He's yours for a mere $1,500!

The Ghost

2011-06-25T00:00:00.005+02:00

Fashion is full of casualties and lost souls. Think of John Galliano, whose vertiginous fall from grace continues with his current trial. Last week in Paris, I was haunted by another designer living in the shadow of what used to be. His name is Claude Montana.

Montana is now remembered as much for his private life as for his SM-inspired heyday of the mid-1980s. Never known as a ladies' man, his marriage to model Wallis Franken ended when she took a swan dive out of a second-floor window amidst rumours that he had abused her. The next year Montana went bankrupt.

When I took this photo, Montana was padding silently around the Palais Royal, waving to young shop workers with a nimble swivel of the wrist. Later I spotted him dropping into cafés on Rue Saint Honoré in the hope of being recognised. On one occasion, he accosted a smartly-dressed man, who was clearly embarrassed.

Then it was my turn to encounter Montana and I was greeted by a whispered "Hallo". Glancing up, I was overwhelmed by sadness. For he seemed like a homeless person, like a person with no real place to go.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

A Carpet of Shadows

2011-06-22T00:00:00.002+02:00

This welcoming shadow carpet reflects the ornate gates of the house that my friend Negrashi is building in Aswan. Just like the rest of the building, it is in the traditional Nubian style.
Photo: Profoundly Superficial

The Red Rose of Aswan

2011-06-18T00:00:00.004+02:00

This twilight scene in Aswan looks romantic and is romantic. Nestling amidst the sands is the mausoleum of the third Aga Khan, who met the love of his life in Egypt. Her name was Yvette Labrousse, she was French and - as in all the best fairytales - she came from a humble background. Yet by the time she reached her thirties, the adventurous Mme Labrousse had moved to Cairo, converted to Islam and married the Aga Khan.

One day reality intervened and the Aga Khan died. Begum Om Habibeh (as she was now known as) missed her man terribly and adopted a daily ritual of placing a single red rose on his tomb, which earned her the nickname the "Red Rose". When she was abroad, the ritual was performed by her gardener. When she died and was buried alongside her husband, it was taken over by the City of Aswan. Red Rose's ritual - and all it represents - lives on to this very day.
Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Aswan, Egypt

The History of the Door

2011-06-15T00:00:00.001+02:00

This Sahel Island door has seen much in its time. It has been slammed in anger and closed gently to evade detection. Maybe it has even been broken down. But replacing it has never been an option. Instead it has been patched and mended, its many battle scars attesting to its long and dramatic history.
Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Egypt

Marketing Yourself

2011-06-11T00:00:00.003+02:00

Sahel Island is Nubian territory and largely survives through tourism. To help make ends meet, the young women make swathes of necklaces in every colour you could possibly desire.

But what can you do when you're older and your fingers stiffen? Like any supermodel, you will charge to have your photograph taken and make sure that you always stand out from the crowd. Like this lady with her striking and strategically-placed earring.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Pharaonic Grafitti

2011-06-08T00:00:00.004+02:00

Located in the Nile south of Aswan, Sahel Island is dominated by massive boulders that are covered with the stories of Ancient Egypt. Wherever you look, pharaohs and priests are presenting you with their tales of power and magic.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to enlarge

The Little Princess

2011-06-04T00:00:00.004+02:00

This is one of many photographs that Irina Ionesco made of her daughter Eva in the libertine 1970s. Now the tables have been turned and Eva has just released Je ne suis pas une princesse, a film about her singular relationship with her mother. Apparently it's not a pretty picture...

Photo: Irina Ionesco

Want One! Desperately!!

2011-06-01T00:00:00.003+02:00

This heavenly scarf by the Russian label Arsenicum.
Click to discover its full wonder.

Magic Shoes

2011-05-28T00:00:00.004+02:00

These glow-in-the-dark Adidas trainers have wings so that you will float above the marble floors of Ibizan clubs like the great god Hermes. But the real magic is how they came be in the possession of artist F.P.

One night, F.P. was cycling past mountains of garbage on a busy shopping street when he noticed an Adidas carrier bag containing two shoe boxes. A collector of the better class of bag, he slung it onto the back of his bike and went home. It was only when he arrived that he checked the boxes and discovered they contained not only Pan's clubbing shoes but also a pair of high tops covered in girlie pink sequins.

The moral of this story is that F.P. should consider a career change. Because if he were to opt for archeology, he would surely find the lost city of Atlantis!

Photo: Profoundly Superficial
These shoes were designed by Jeremy Scott and retail for approximately €450.

2011-05-25T00:00:00.002+02:00

Karma is just like recycling: what goes around, comes around.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

My New Girl...

2011-05-21T00:00:00.002+02:00

... still a little uncertain of herself but I like it that way.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial. Click to enlarge

Jackie O...

2011-05-18T00:00:00.003+02:00

... as spotted in a window on Amsterdam's most expensive shopping street.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

The Poetic Spook

2011-05-14T00:00:00.001+02:00

This is James Jesus Angleton who wrote poetry in his youth before joining the CIA. He famously remarked that whereas a common thug could kill a person, it took the talents of an intelligence service to make a murder appear to be a suicide. Not surprisingly, in his wake, quite a few suspected "moles" topped themselves.

My Cat Rosie Just Said "Mama"!

2011-05-11T00:00:00.002+02:00

What to do?

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Hotel as Magic Theatre of Desire

2011-05-07T00:00:00.002+02:00

Ladies, imagine yourself daintily ascending those stairs in your red-soled Louboutins and heading for an illicit rendez-vous...

Photo: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London

Nothing is so sad...

2011-05-04T00:00:00.001+02:00

... as an old boy forlornly waiting for the love of his life!

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Amsterdam

The Ancient World's Equivalent to Blood Diamonds

2011-04-30T00:00:00.002+02:00

Through this narrow hole in an Egyptian mountain, the Romans lowered slave labourers on a rope to hack emeralds from an underground cavern. Anyone hauled up with insufficient gems was summarily executed by cutting the rope so that the victim would fall to his death on the rocks below.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamal

Lost in the Sands of Time (2)

2011-04-27T00:00:00.003+02:00

The bottom of a glass vessel that we found abandoned amongst the debris of a Roman emerald mine in the Wadi el Gamel desert in Egypt.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Click to enlarge

Lost in the Sands of Time

2011-04-23T00:00:00.004+02:00

The driver spotted this tiny figure lying on the ground in the Wadi el Gamel desert, which I visited in January. Was it made as doll for a child or is it imbued with some special magic? I don't know but I do wish it had been me who found it.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Egypt Click to enlarge

Tempus Fugit

2011-04-20T00:00:00.002+02:00

Open the cranium to discover the watch inside.

Paris is Sexy

2011-04-16T00:00:00.002+02:00

The women are sexy. Even the buildings are sexy!

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

No-Man's-Land

2011-04-13T00:00:00.002+02:00

Persecuted journalist Kambiz Roustayi fled Iran for the Netherlands ten years ago. But the authorities allowed his request for asylum to drag endlessly through the courts. In this legal no-man's-land, he was forbidden to work yet offered no form of welfare. In short: he was left destitute in one the world's wealthiest nations.

Last Wednesday, Kambiz chose to end his life in a ball of flames on the Dam, Amsterdam's most famous square. A few days later, people came to lay flowers at the place where he lay dying. How sad and how ironic that in death he was treated with all the love and dignity that was so long denied him in life.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

It's a Beautiful Day...

2011-04-09T00:00:00.004+02:00

... and the way ahead is golden.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

In This Domestic Jungle...

2011-04-06T00:00:00.002+02:00

... this Buddha is the embodiment of celestial contentment.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Kafka, Part Two

2011-04-02T00:00:00.002+02:00

One day, Frans Kafka met a little girl in a park who was crying because she had lost her doll. Kafka told her not to worry since the doll was away on a trip and had sent him a letter. When the little girl asked suspiciously for the letter, he told her he didn't have it with him, but that if she returned the following day he would bring it. In fact, every day for the next three weeks, he went to the park with a new letter from the doll, which he had written himself.

But nothing would bring back the doll and Kafka now faced the dilemma of how to resolve this story sensitively. So he decided that the doll had become engaged. He described the young man in question, the wedding preparations and even the newlyweds' house. It was because of these hectic activities that the doll could no longer visit her former mistress. This worked like a (literary) charm. Knowing that the doll's life had taken a different path, the little girl was able to accept its loss and move on.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial

Things Are Not as They Seem

2011-03-30T00:00:00.004+02:00

The fluffy sheep is just a stuffed carcass and not a living thing as this troubled little boy seems to know. He was to grow up to be the writer Franz Kafka, and it is through him that we understand the hallucinatory menace of the "Kafkaesque".

Natural Grace

2011-03-26T00:00:00.002+01:00

A boy from the Ababda tribe working at an eco-camp in the Wadi el Gamal desert near the Red Sea.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Egypt

Lucy, Part Two

2011-03-23T00:00:00.005+01:00

Since I posted Lucy's story last Saturday, people have asked me about what happened to her. Did she find a good home? The answer is yes. She lives with Yamen, who rescued her. Naturally, he's been rewarded with absolute doggy devotion. And she's discovered that with Yamen around, she will always be safe and loved.

Photo: ©Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamal, Egypt

Lucy

2011-03-19T00:00:00.005+01:00

I met Lucy in the desert. She's a Rhodesian ridgeback,the kind of dog that hunts lions. In the past, Lucy suffered terrible abuse, and if you look closely at her left hind leg you will see that she has an extra toe, the result in inbreeding. This meant that whenever she approached me, I was very, very careful. Yet the more time we spent together, the more I was overwhelmed by her emotional warmth. And in spite of myself, I soon found that I loved her.

Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Wadi el Gamal, Egypt

The Clan's Code of Honour

2011-03-16T00:00:00.003+01:00

In January I went to a village in Egypt to photograph a clan of archeological excavators, who are famous for their honesty concerning the treasures they find. According to their strict code of honour, even the merest suggestion of grave robbing is punishable by absolute banishment. A recent suspect was a young boy, who was immediately shunned by the entire village. Knowing that all the people he had ever known would never speak to him again, the boy walked off into the desert and was never seen again.

Photo of one of the clan's elders: Profoundly Superficial, Kift (Luxor)

The Blues and Greens of the Red Sea

2011-03-12T00:00:00.006+01:00

And as you watch the waves, your back is to the desert with its subtle ochres in every conceivable shade of pink, yellow, green and brown.

Photo: © Profoundly Superficial, Egypt, January 2011. Click to enlarge so that you can hear the mermaids singing

Invitation as Hand-Crafted Artwork

2011-03-09T00:00:00.003+01:00

Art classes at my last school consisted of learning the almost forgotten skill of manuscript writing. Although condemned by most of the girls as being too "too old-fashioned", I loved those lessons, and to this day my handwriting maintains a certain flourish. Now I wish I'd followed my heart and opted for the path taken by Nicolas Ouchenir. This professional calligrapher painstakingly writes out all the invitations for the shows of the great fashion houses of Paris.

I wonder whether he needs an assistant...

Guess What Landed in My Back Garden?

2011-03-05T00:00:00.002+01:00

A male sparrowhawk ripping the guts out of some small and very dead birdie in the centre of Amsterdam. If only I could persuade him to switch to veggie burgers...

Photo: Profoundly Superficial Click to enlarge if you've got a strong stomach

Wonky Achitecture

2011-03-02T00:00:00.004+01:00

Whether it was whiskey or women, something caused the architects of this cityscape to stray from the perpendicular...
Photo: Profoundly Superficial, Esna (Egypt)