ZG JAM 2011 photography exhibition

Feeling like Taz today – so many things to do and sooooo little time... 

I´ll be short and sweet – ZG JAM 2011 finished and today at 20:00 is a photography exhibition opening of best photographs took during Omnibus World Workshop workshops (you can see the atmosphere here and here). 

This is my contribution:  

If you wanna enjoy great music (Šimun Matišić Trio are playing) and see the exhibition, come by (location: Pod starim krovovima, Gornji Grad). 

See you there :) 

14 again

Have you ever felt like you just travelled back through time? That happened to me today... In a millisecond, I was 14 again on my first day of high school. I still remember it like it was yesterday – had my favourite jeans on, green-brown lumberjack shirt and Sketchers boots and was walking extremely slowly (it felt like slow motion in action movies). As I was approaching school I spotted some cool kids fooling around, having fun... and terror overwhelmed me. Will they like me? Will I make new friends? Do we have common interests? What will I do if they don’t like me? You know – standard set of questions floating around in a 14-years-old-teenage-girl-mind. Could I have run home? No. So, I took a deep breath and said “hy”... And survived. The trick was – nobody told me those were standard questions crossing everyone’s mind...

I have been promising myself something for a long time now: to open an account on Fotosofia - a Croatian site organised and driven by Damir Hoyka (famous Croatian photographer). Photographs from various parts of Croatia (and further) post their photo galleries, comment on others' work and evaluate it, participate in contests etc. Most valuable thing about the site is watching those galleries and learning from the best people in the business.

To be completely honest in this late night hour – I was (still am) terrified of putting my photographs out there for all of those amazing, talented people to see. And I felt 14 all over again... 

So, I did the same thing I did back then – took a deep breath, stepped up, said “hy” and posted my photos to Fotosofia... 

Hope the cool kids like me :) 

 

Coming home...

Since I remember I always had a favourite pair of sneakers. I would wear them constantly, come rain or shine, for years – I wore them as good luck charm to exams, to  concerts, to nights on the town, to excursions... 

After 2-3 years of my “torture” they would just give in... Can’t say I blame them.

Their “magic” was the cosy feeling that overwhelmed me every time I put them on. I would put them on and felt like I arrived home. I never had that feeling regarding certain place before...

Until now.

We went on a weekend getaway and returned home after 3 days. The minute I unlocked the front doors and stepped into hallway, it felt like putting on a pair of favourite, old sneakers. I knew I finally arrived home... with or without sneakers on :)

Das ilhas, as mais belas e livres: Madeira

I was going through my blog-posting-plan another day (yes – I have a “plan”... it’s just a bunch of notes scattered over my planner cause of my tendency to forget things) and realised that I haven’t blogged about Madeira... it’s time to correct that :) 

A friend of ours went to Madeira two years ago and when he came back he was thrilled with everything there: food, wines, nature... So, last year, when the question of our honeymoon location emerged, Madeira popped to my mind and stayed there.

Madeira is located 1,000 km from the European continent in North Atlantic Ocean so it took us forever to get there. We were situated at Funchal (which we practically saw only at night time because every day we went on a different tour):   

On our first day trip we passed through Câmara de Lobos, traditional fishing village which inspired Sir Winston Churchill to paint:

Our next stop of the day was Cabo Girão – highest cliff in Europe. At the cliff’s foot, we were amazed to see a very small area of cultivated land. We learned later on that till 2003. it was accessible only by boat (in August that year a cable car was installed for easier access): 

The site that left us speechless was Ponta de São Lorenço at eastern part of the island: 

Can you imagine waking up every morning and seeing this? I can...

P.S. This is our way of taking pictures “of us” on our travels – it is called “method of right or left hand” – you never know which part of you will be cut of :) 

We also went to Porto Moniz were natural bathing pools are situated (I have forgotten to take my bathing suit (of course) so I watched Tomislav swimm...). They are filled by the tide with crystal clear sea water every day: 

Did I mention the excellent food at Madeira? If I had to choose one thing, it would be Bolo do Caco - their traditional bread with butter and garlic and herbs... 

I think Tomislav's choice would be espetada:

If you wanna know what it feels like to sail on a 15^th century boat, you can take a half day trip on Santa Maria – replica of the Columbus’ ship. Since I have “an issue” with boats and open sea (and refuse to go on them if not absolutely necessary) we watched it from the shore: 

Since we love to hike, we went on an 11 kilometres long walking tour called “Rabacal and the 25 fountains” along the "levadas". “Levadas“ are open canal system that where developed from the early 16th century with a purpose to distribute water from the rainfall heavy and wet regions on the north of the island to the drier sun parched regions of the south. The water is so clean and so cold in “levadas” that trout lives in them:

  

Every town on island has a church and a walking trail along the coast (this was taken at Ribeira Brava):

On our last day we went on a day trip to island of Porto Santo to enjoy 9 kilometres long sandy beach. It took us 2 and a half hours to get there with ferry but it was worth it:  

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Madeira – grab it... You won’t be sorry... 
I know I wanna go there again one day...

#74. check and mark!

#74. Purchase Canon Speedlite Flash

I just love web shops – you make yourself a cup of coffee, sit in front of your computer (wearing sweatshirt) and shop till you drop. The only precondition is that you know exactly what you want... and I knew which flash I wanted for a long time now. So, yesterday I ordered it and was surprised when it arrived early in the morning today! Manual of 100 pages with tinniest font ever... 

Now all I need to do is figure out flash photography :)

Cutest little man called Ivor

Last Sunday I met the cutest little man named Ivor – this is his story:

Last Christmas my parents got an early gift – me! 

I was born on December 22nd – 50 centimetres and 3,2 kg of pure bliss; and in three days I will be 4 months old. Even before I was born, I had my first skiing lesson (cause both of my parents are passionate skiers) and swimming lesson. I spend my days with my mom and my dad. She graduated in Psychology and travelled a lot (Spain, Ghana, Nepal...) and he plays a guitar in a band and loves to cook. 

They call me “Cobra” cause I’m trying to raise up all the time:

To see more of me CLICK HERE or watch the video below :) 

Maestro, jazz away!

Listening to Zdenko Ivanušić and his quartet perform yesterday I completely agreed with Art Blakey who said “Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life”. To be honest, it wasn’t the best day for me yesterday - it was one of those days when you wanna crown under your blanket and just stay there... 

The organizer of Friday’s photography workshop invited me to come again yesterday and I was seriously considering not going. At that point, my dearest husband “snapped” (cause I “bore” him with photography every day... how I need to practice... and how I don’t have enough opportunities... and so on...) and literally forced me to go. For that – I thank him...

Here are the results: 

 

 

All that jazz...

During April, JAZZart (society for promotion of jazz music and culture) organised ZG JAM (Jazz Appreciation Month). Numbers of jazz concerts are held all over the city, lectures are also held regarding the link between jazz and literature, you could see a concert of Ella Fitzgerald and visit the exhibition of photographs regarding jazz...   
Association OMNIBUS organised series of free small workshops photographing some of the concerts (called ZG JAM survivor photo hunting) and I was lucky enough to participate in yesterday session. We started at Bacchus Jazz Bar where Valerija Nikolovska Standard Time band was playing:  

Then we moved to Ex Kinoteka where Maja Savić and her Jazz Ensemble jazzed the house:

I’m going again today – can’t wait!

THE dog

You know those debates: are you a dog person or a cat person? 

Well, I’m a dog person 200%. Love dogs and had two dog so far: one half-breed dog (with whom I shared my ice-cream when I was little (fact: I don’t share my ice-cream with anybody... so you know just how much I loved him) and one Pekingese when I was 10 (my parents gave him away and I carried out a hunger strike for two days)... and can’t wait to have my own dog again. 

I have doubts about the breed but, so far, Siberian husky holds first place. 

At least he did until I met Mouse last Sunday. I have absolutely no idea what breed of dog it was but I fell in love the first moment I saw him:  

After I bothered him, petted him and photographed him for half an hour, he gave me this look and I knew I had to leave him alone: 

Mouse, till next time... :D

#26. check and mark!

#26. Take a photography portrait course

My weekend’s “mark/main-theme” was photography. I watched free-2 days-online photo course "Building your Wedding Photography Business with Jasmine Star" and I attended my last class of portrait photography course. We went on o ranch and photographed horses; love them from the first second I saw them - beautiful, graceful animals...

All in all, I am indescribable tired (think I slept 8 hours in total or less) but at the same time, my mind is bursting with ideas and questions and dilemmas...

More Luck than Brains... (or, how I stumbled upon a free online photo course "Building your Wedding Photography Business with Jasmine Star")

There is a saying that describes me quite well today: More Luck than Brains... Let me explain why...

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love Jasmine Star - International Wedding Photographer?!? No? Well, I do. I love her. Love her work. Love her approach to business. Love the way she is constantly evolving and working on herself.  Love absolutely everything.  

I have a Saturday's ritual – I wake up early, make myself a cup of coffee turn on my computer and read blogs I follow... it’s a “starting point” of my weekend. Imagine my surprise when I read post titled Join me today for a free online photo course (at creativeLIVE) on Jasmines blog.

1.000 questions flashed my mind in a second... How do I enrol? Am I too late? Will there be a rewind? How could I miss information like that? But, LUCKY me - it has just began... I was glued to my computer for the last seven hours absorbing her every word (and boy, she can talk) - her tips and tricks, advices, experiences... her mindset is simply mind-blowing... 

I felt like Christmas came early this year. My husband told me I look like the cat that ate the canary. 

Soon Session 2 will begin – can’t wait :)

I {heart} spring

It’s official! The spring is here! And there are soooo many things I love about spring :D

The S U N (I get cranky when its cloudy for two days), the smell of freshly cut grass, the blossoming flowers, the longer days (the sun sets after 7:00 PM), my leather jacket (I finally pulled out of the closet), sitting in the morning sun and drinking coffee, not having 10 layer of cloths on when going out, working in my garden, riding a bicycle, having a picnic... so many things to do in springtime :) 

Bokeh...

...that wonderful blur... the perfect description of my state of mind right now... I should be focusing on my studies and writing my master thesis but that is out-of-focus area for me tonight... 

#44. check and mark!

#44.   Clean out my closet

I realised something while fulfilling my goal number 44: in my past life I must have been a hamster or a squirrel or any other animal that keeps every-single-thing from 15 years ago... You wouldn’t believe the things I found in the dark corners of my closet...

I love jeans – a girl can never have too much jeans... in two pairs I can’t even breathe but since I started to work out again, it’s just a matter of time... :)

I loooove scarves... have 15 scarves and that’s not nearly enough...when we went to Egypt, I came back with 5 scarves and till this day I think I should have bought more...

You know what is the best thing about cleaning your closet? Seeing what’s missing, making a list and sailing away into shopping sunset :)

In my case the list is quite long: jeans jacket, Beige Converse, flat black ballet shoes, cream patent brogues, couple of T-shirts with prints, 2-3 summer dresses, new bathing suit, at least one new scarf, shorts jeans pants...and it goes on and on...