I am reading a book.

"My Life with Mozart” by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt for the second time and it moves me and inspires me so much more. It is complex yet simple. True and beautiful. Musicians, writers, or photographers - why do we create? What source does our inspiration come from? Last but not least - what is our driving force and what does our art tell about this world?

I read a book...

... "Travels in the Scriptorium" by Paul Auster, and my mind was left reeling after I finished ... What an ending!! The more I think about it the more I like it.

A child's view.

Outside macro challenge.

For this week's challenge;
a main photo:

and two extras:

Point, shoot, post.

Not so long ago I started wandering around my town looking for things to photograph. I came across a lot of places / things that offered something interesting, unusual, or unexpected just around the corner. So here is the one photo I picked for this week's challenge. I took it in nearby Cloughoula.

Weekly photo challenge - motion blur.

What do you think?

Weekly photo challenge - Valentine's Day

I came across some lost property when out walking last week. I think it could well illustrate this week's challenge...

Weekly challenge - the alphabet.

Study mode today. I am doing this post in a hurry now, being late already. Ehh...

4/52 challenge - nursery rhymes.

Well, I skipped two challenges already this year ... for ice cold, I had a few ideas and I may do this challenge just for myself later; as for skin tone: that would be full of chickenpox marks on three little faces - it was not a great week for taking photos.

Back with nursery rhymes challenge then.
I liked it and here is my modern version of this classic:

Mary had a little lamb,

Its fleece was white as snow;

And everywhere that Mary went

The lamb was sure to go. 

Photo challenge 1/52

Envy ...
Below is a photo of a gift I got for Christmas, a brilliant book on Cartier-Bresson. I must say, I love it. So what do I envy? What do I want so badly?
Leica...
I don't like being envious but here I can't help it, I am - of people who have Leica cameras. Like Bresson used to have.
Especially the newest model... M9.
Hopefully I will get it one day. I have a plan forming in my head but for now, I need to enjoy what I have.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

I was looking for something to photograph for the last week's photo challenge. I did not find much to photograph at home for this but I found something when window shopping in Killarney. Here it comes so. A bit late again but I want to post it nevertheless. I liked it and I think it was the best thing of the whole Christmas window display.

Routine / scheduled

I have been thinking so about our routines - school, homework, housework. Tooth brushing would be the big one on the list. Some scheduled things came to my mind - like watching the long awaited Late Late Toy show last Friday night. Somehow those routines though were hard to capture though, especially when my model kids are moving with speed of light. I could take a photo of them sleeping ... sweet ... but it is a bit too dark then!

The photo I am putting up tonight is of a routine which is like a ritual - having coffee in Butlers Chocolate nearly every time I am in Cork. It always goes together with complimentary chocolate praline. Well, this time I tried a macaron too...
Short and sweet challenge :-)

Symmetric shapes photo challenge

With this week's theme, no luck really. I could not find any interesting symmetrical shapes. Repeating patterns, yes, plentiful, but I did not have more time to hunt for symmetry. What's more I lost count of days and missed the deadline! Well, here come the images anyway.
I took the one with bikes in Cork on Sunday. The one in black and white I took in October.

Fighting the battle

Last week, to stay motivated, I decided to take on the weekly photographic challenges, as described here. So, I am not sure yet how I will go about "gunpowder, treason, and plot" challenge. However, for "fighting the battle" one I came across a photo when in Cork yesterday.
On South Mall, there is the First World War memorial and every November one can find lots of wreaths there. So when I saw the monument with the wreaths around and crosses, I knew it going to be the image I had been looking for. Here it is:

Shoot like Bert Hardy ...

So, after long time, the moment has come to revive my old blog. It is mainly for my newly rediscovered passion for photography. From time to time I will be posting my photos from our my outings or for photographic daily / weekly challenges. First photos to go are from a recent trip to Cork for street shooting. Our inspiration for November meeting was Bert Hardy but it was very hard to capture social interaction and humane condition so well recorded in his work.
So here it comes: my first serious attempt at street photography!

Back from holidays.

Long time no post... Maybe it will change but I have been busy lately and have not been much into blogging. Now it may be a more relaxed time of the year with Christmas and family time coming.
By the way, I am just back from Tenerife. They definitely are in the Christmas mood over there but somehow the strong sun and Christmas lights are a strange combination to me! It is so, so cold now in Ireland - about 3 degrees.

treasures, treasures

walking on a lovely Sunday afternoon with the our baby boy, we saw this rainbow just over our hill. apparently, there is a pot of gold hidden somewhere there but we didn't look for it... we had 5 kgs of our little precious to carry.

new arrival

oh, it has been a long time since my last post and a lot has changed with the arrival of our tiny bundle of joy ... well, maybe not so tiny at 9 lbs 1 oz (4120 g) ... but all went well and our little baby boy has been with us since Sept 13th

so now he is in the centre of attention

other news ... hmmm ... IMI exams were passed and I am waiting for my diploma to arrive ... application for the work as a Garda successful but the thing must be postponed for some time ... obviously i am no longer commuting to M to see my M as we live together now ... on the literature scene, Olga Tokarczuk, the author of "Bieguni", has won the NIKE prize ... at the moment I am trying to finish Pawel Huelle's "Ostatnia Wieczerza" ... altogether I have little or no time to browse the Internet or do some other things at the moment but more updates may follow soon ... now it is time to go again though ...

Sunday for study

Spathiphyllium, the daughter, has recently moved to M. This is her new corner, nice and cosy. I hear she is well looked after by M :)
The mother is still staying here for the moment but is to change her whereabouts pretty soon.
She may get a new pot on this occassion too!
***
It is a sunny, warm and lazy Sunday here and I am trying to study for my final exams. I remember studying in April and May last year and it was not easy. It is not easy now either but then my exams are this Tue and Wed and then there will be no more. Hopefully it will go well. I am going on holidays soon after to recuperate from all the brain damage caused by "excessive studying" ;)

And now all you've been waiting for ...

Hmmm I was asked for an update by my faithful (two) readers so here it goes...
Just a quick thing for now as it is late and later there will be more posts (hopefully).

Anyway, a long time has passed since I put away Asne Seierstad's "The Bookseller of Kabul". Since then, I have started reading a few books and now they are queuing on the shelves and waiting to be finished.

1. "Bieguni" by Olga Tokarczuk. Her newest, long-awaited novel on journey and people who travel. Here is the link to some short summary in English.
I must stay I like those stories; some are short and some long, there are a lot of references to various cultures and different people. Now I wonder though: when am I going to finish it?


The same goes for:

2. Asne Seierstad's "With their backs to the world: Portraits from Serbia"
I read a few chapters but I have lost my heart after a while. I don't find this book as compelling as "The Bookseller of Kabul" and I suppose this book must wait for a better moment now.
3. Then I don't even want to mention Steve Jones' "Y: The Descent of Men" (here goes one review) I feel ashamed now; I know I mentioned this book before in my blog but I don't even remember when.


So that is it. My college book gathers dust as well and waits to be opened. This must happen soon as I have my two final exams coming and looming large...

In the meantime, I work as usual (though shorter hours), I sleep more than usual !!! and am starting yoga classes this Monday.