BUT 2016 WAS A YEAR FULL OF COLORFUL SKIES

I went through 2016 with flying colours… Of skies.

Between bombed cities, too many deaths per square kilometres, buried idols, an increasing atmosphere of insecurity, a politic scene much like Ubu Roi or a bad Muppet Show, and a constant rise of human cruelty…

Well, we’re closing the 2016 chapter with a certain relief.

And a certain hope as well.

(Lis cet article en Français, bébé!)

However, in 2016, between my many new experiences, explorations, and introspections, there was also a constant. Sky gazing.

A particular Italian guy (yeah baby, I’m talking about the Italian Lover here), taught me to look closely at the sky. Because in New Zealand, it’s there, the sky has no end in sight. Sometimes he told me: ‘Look, the sky is crazy tonight!’ And I looked up. I’ve never looked up this much before.

Very few high buildings, very few human constructions, vast meadows, large salt or fresh water bodies, it leaves the field open for your eyes to embrace the landscapes but also the firmament. 360 degrees, like I’ve never seen it before. With a very low level of light pollution, some places made me shiver at night time. I’ve never seen such an incredible, luminous and filled with stars’ sky dome in my life.

I got plenty of files on my computer, with skies. And I keep on shooting pictures with my (brand new!) camera, for the sky is a bit like a Kinder Egg, you never know what it has in store for you.

Whether the clouds are swirling in the blue sky, whether they’re weighting, like Baudelaire once wrote, low and heavy like a lid, whether they’re gathering and forming an ocean.

Whether the Aurora Australis are dancing, whether the sun is setting or rising, making every landscape’s colours glitter, whether it plays like a painter by mixing the shades of pinks, yellows, and oranges.

Whether the mountains are catching the flying clouds, whether they’re escaping like waterfalls, whether you can guess sheep, stegosaurus or whipped cream while gazing at them.