Crying

This photo is quite old. I took it in 2009 in New Zealand. If you are in Auckland, go to visit the Rose Gardens at Parnell Road! It's worth it!

So why is the photo called "Crying"?
The day I was there at the Rose Gardens, it had been raining. To be precise, it rained cats and dogs. Luckily I had an umbrella with me...
If you know the weather of New Zealand, you know that it can stop raining immediately. That was exactly when I arrived at the Rose Gardens.
It was not the time for roses though, they had not many leaves and even less flowerings. The paths are made of grass, which was wet, but I did not really care. The atmosphere was quite sad then, a dark and rainy day in a dark and dull environment.
Many thoughts came across my mind this day and as i finished thinking - and yes, this is possible! - the sun finally came out.
For you to see is a memorial of this day. One of the few flowerings, crying out a tear for its lost brothers. Or is this tear made of hope? We will never know, i guess...

Rising

This photo shall be the first one of this blog...
To introduce you and to welcome you, every photo has its own story. You can read them underneath each of the photos I publish here.

So, this photo has been taken in Glendalough. Some of you might know this place, for the others, I will explain it. Glendalough is a small valley in Ireland, about an hour by car from Dublin. There has once been a monastery, even an important one in ancient times. They built a cathedral there, of course a smaller one than we now know, but in those days you might describe it as huge.
As the vikings arrived in Ireland, they plundered this monastery, as it has been quite rich. But time went on, the church lost its importance and other monasteries became more popular and "famous". The valley has been left, we now can find the ruins of those days there.

Glendalough means "Valley of the two lakes". You can visit both, a great place for walking and relaxing. I took this photo on the upper lake, the bigger one.

So why is this photo so important for me?
The Irish have a myth of death. They believe the souls to be swans, rising to heaven after death. The swan shows the freedom the Irish did not have for a long time, it is a symbol for every Irishmen. And this actually is what this photo shows - the rising of history, of life, to heaven. It became a symbol to me.