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Today, late in the afternoon, I was tired. Yesterday was the birthday of one of my "dead girlfriends"—the one I loved the most, I suppose. And I say "I suppose" because, at this point in my life, I am no longer entirely sure about the things that happened to me years ago. But since she (that dead girlfriend) still appears from time to time in the streets when I look, walking without looking into my eyes until she is very close, when she raises her gaze and observes me with the same smile with which she invaded my office and my life, put me in her roller coaster car, and almost killed me among so many smells, sweats, sins, and pains... Then, I do not know if wanting to remember more, or if wanting to flee from memories so as not to relive them, but the truth is that today, late in the afternoon, I was tired and I locked myself in my studio, put on my headphones, looked for an audiobook on YouTube, played it, and immersed myself in my RAW files to choose some photos which, under normal conditions, perhaps I would have overlooked and would have never processed and edited. But, as always happens to me when I remember my dead girlfriends a little, I decided to choose "weird" photos like that—like those girlfriends, by the way. Because, as far as I know, the only rational girlfriend I remember having is today my wife (thank God), because the others were, in all cases, "stark raving mad," as mad as I was myself... They were, mind you, all beautiful, but fit to be tied, capable of killing me or killing themselves for any unconvincing reason... But all the same, they were charming, like those powerfully red roses, but always full of thorns and surrounded by bees that sting horribly, I suppose...

Hoy, al final de la tarde, estaba cansado. Ayer fue la fecha de cumpleaños de una de mis "novias muertas", la que más quise, supongo. Y digo "supongo" porque, a estas alturas de mi vida, ya no estoy seguro del todo respecto a las cosas que me sucedieron hace años. Pero como ella (esa novia muerta) sigue apareciendo de vez en cuando en las calles cuando miro, caminando sin mirarme a los ojos sino hasta estar muy cerca, cuando levanta la mirada y me observa con la misma sonrisa con la que invadió mi oficina y mi vida, me subió en su carro de montaña rusa y casi me mató entre tantos olores, sudores, pecados y dolores... Entonces, no sé si queriendo recordar más o si queriendo huir de los recuerdos para no revivirlos, pero lo cierto es que hoy, al final de la tarde, estaba cansado y me encerré en mi estudio, me puse los auriculares, busqué un audiolibro en YouTube, lo puse a sonar y me sumergí en mis archivos RAW a escoger algunas fotos las cuales, en condiciones normales, quizás hubiese pasado por alto y no las hubiese procesado y editado nunca. Pero, como siempre que recuerdo un poco a mis novias muertas me sucede, decidí escoger fotos así, "raras", como esas novias, por cierto. Porque, que yo sepa, la única novia racional que recuerdo haber tenido es hoy mi esposa (a Dios gracias), porque las otras estaban, en todos los casos, "locas de remate", tan locas como yo mismo... Eran, eso sí, hermosas todas, pero locas de atar, capaces de matarme o matarse ellas por cualquier motivo poco convincente... Pero igual, eran encantadoras, como esas rosas poderosamente rojas, pero repletas siempre de espinas y rodeadas de abejas que pican horrorosamente, supongo...

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📷 01 - Our tropical version of a snowman... / _{Nuestra versión tropical de un muñeco de nieve...}

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📷 02 - And it reminded me of Kafka and "The Metamorphosis"... / _{Y me recordó a Kafka y "La Metamorfosis"...}

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📷 03 - "Nothing" and "the little blue funnel"... / _{"Nada" y "el pequeño embudo azul"...}

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📷 04 - The guy who watches me while I watch a corner... / _{El tío que me observa mientras yo observo una esquina...}

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📷 05 - The door after the earthquake of June 24th... / _{La puerta después del terremoto del 24 de Junio...}

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📷 06 - Speaking of very stubborn ferns... / _{Hablando de helechos muy tercos...}

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📷 07 - It's Sunday, the construction workers aren't around... / _{Es Domingo, los albañiles no están...}

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📷 08 - Two, reflection of two... / _{Dos, reflejo de dos...}

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📷 09 - Water, foam, things... / _{Agua, espuma, cosas...}

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📷 10 - That horrible, ungainly bicycle in front of Johan's store... / _{Esa horrible bicicleta desgarbada en frente del abasto de Johan...}

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Thank you very much for your visit and appreciation!

¡Muchas gracias por pasar y apreciar!

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_{ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL NOTE: Photographs captured with my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera in RAW format, then processed in Adobe Camera RAW for adjustments regarding light, sharpening, contrast and depth... They were then exported to JGP format on which minor modifications such as straightening and adding watermarks were carried out using PhotoScape v3.7}

_{NOTA TÉCNICA ADICIONAL: Fotografias capturadas con mi cámara DSLR Nikon D7000 en formato RAW, procesadas posteriormente en Adobe Camera RAW para ajustes relativos a luz, afilado, contraste y profundidad... Luego fueron exportadas a formato JGP sobre el cual se llevaron a cabo modificaciones menores como enderezado y agregado de marcas de agua usando PhotoScape v3.7}

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Montalbán, Carabobo, Venezuela.

:peakd/hive: