Creeping Along

I found this snail on a windowsill in Ravenna, creeping along going nowhere. He made me smile, with his fake flowers happily blooming regardless of the weather. I also liked the repetition of shape, in the tea pot just barely visible in the window. Have you ever noticed the similarity in shape between a teapot and a snail? I hadn't, until this photo. Thanks to my camera and the awareness it gives me, I now have this little tidbit filed away in my brain. As of today, you do too.

Yesterday's post, I noticed, was my 600th post on my blog! Wow. I don't know why that number strikes me, it just seems BIG. So I decided to celebrate that milestone by posting a photo of a snail planter full of fake flowers. The appropriate celebration of 600 posts, don't you know. All the blogging milestone books say so.

But seriously, instead, how about giving away a few things today? That seems appropriate too! Here are the winners of my LAST giveaway from Italy. There were 49 entries, and numbers were drawn by using the random number generator from random.org:
#13 - Kristen of K. Laudick Photos wins the lens cleaning cloth from Ravenna
#48 - Pam from Utah wins one of the sets of notecards from Florence
#20 - Diana of Diana Mulder Mixed Media Artist wins the other set of notecards from Florence
#23 - Jo of Jo Murray - Art wins the postcards
I'll be contacting you all for your addresses. Give your congrats to all of them!

Thanks so much for all of your support and participation here at The Kat Eye View of the World. Who knew that this little blog that I started to keep family updated about what was going on with us in Italy would end up with 600 posts. Well, 601 today. Amazing.

Bits and Pieces

I'm over at Mortal Muses today musing on repeating patterns, a perfect opportunity to share a couple of images of the Byzantine mosaics from Ravenna. I think my favorite mosaics are the patterns that decorate the borders and arches, like this one above. I love how these patterns continue infinitely, and how the artist used light and dark colors to give volume to an otherwise flat shape. All this with pieces of glass!

Many of the artistic principles that make a beautiful mosaic are no different than for painting or photography. It's the execution of the mosaic, however, with its little bits and pieces combined into a larger and cohesive whole that makes it so amazing. All works of art are built up from the combination of bits and pieces, but the mosaic makes this obvious in a way that other art forms don't. Maybe that's what makes them special, what makes me look closer to see the details created centuries ago, with tiny bits of glass. I hope you enjoy today's images, both here and over at Mortal Muses.

PS - Did you miss my announcement yesterday? If so, head on over here and check out what you missed!

Seeing Double

"Seeing Double," capturing a subject in reflection, was the prompt for the last week in Picture Inspiration. I love capturing reflections in my images, whether in water, glass or metal. I found this image in Milan during our hunt for the tricolore in March. Piazza del Duomo is always a busy place, but on a holiday, it's incredibly crowded. The puddle gave a fantastic reflection of the Duomo, but only when the space behind it was clear of people. I spent quite a bit of time waiting and watching how the crowd moved to capture this image, a great example of Waiting to Click. Even then, I had to do some creative editing (tilt, black and white) to eliminate some distracting elements outside of my control.

The other "Seeing Double" images I shared this week are of cars. This car in the streets of Ravenna was interesting on its own, but the reflection gives it a sense of place that just sings "Italy." It reminds me of another reflection-in-car image I took, very early in our time in Italy. For me, that sense of place makes all the difference, since cars aren't normally one of my favorite subjects.

That's why it's surprising that my third "Seeing Double" image is of a car as well. This fantastic black Mercedes from the 1930's was found in the Museo dell'Automobile, just reopened after extensive remodeling in Torino. We visited last Sunday afternoon on a quest to see vintage Fiats, and were rewarded with many more vintage European cars as well. My favorite cars were from the 1920's and 1930's, they had such style! I loved how the reflection continued the pattern of the men in tuxedos from the wall behind into the body of this classic 30's automobile. 

Have a great weekend! We are off to Florence this weekend, riding the Freccia Rossa ("Red Wind" - the high speed train between Milan and Rome) for one last visit. Be sure to come by on Monday - I have something new and exciting to share with you!

Share Your View: Group of Three

The best laid plans sometimes go awry! When I went into Flickr today to pull some of your "group of three" images from the Exploring with a Camera pool to post here, all of the sharing had been turned off. At first I thought it was just a couple of people but it must be a Flickr-wide issue because everyone has sharing turned off.

Instead, I'm improvising to share with you this group of three pots spotted on the streets of Ravenna. I'm never at a loss of photos to share! It's actually quite fun, my family gets into Exploring with a Camera along with me and after I've posted a new topic they are most helpful in pointing out possible images on the theme as we travel. My husband spotted this group!

This post is about you though, and your view. Since Flickr is acting up, please be sure to link in your Group of Three images below so that we can all enjoy them. I love the different finds and compositions you all have shared so far!

Circling Around

No matter how much we travel in Italy, I always find myself delightfully surprised. Each town has its own claim to fame, but often it's the little things that are more interesting. Our latest visit to Ravenna was no exception. The town is known for the amazing Byzantine mosaics of its churches, but it was the number of bicycles on it's streets that captured my attention. They were everywhere, all shapes and sizes and colors - compositions just waiting to be captured.

I especially had an eye out for groups of three, as always happens with my Exploring with a Camera theme. I loved this little family of three bicycles. It's looks like a family, doesn't it? Look how they are all grouped, overlapping, in each other's space. Maybe I see it that way because my family is a family of three, and our images are always a reflection of our selves. Upon review today I also discovered the row of circles - wheels, chainrings, hubs - that forms a chain along the bottom of the image. How cool.

Ravenna as a bicycle city was a delightful find, a surprise that you likely won't find mentioned in any guidebooks. That circles me around again to where I started - there is always something interesting to be found in the towns of Italy. For me, it's always in the streets, not the churches.

A Personal Equation

art + creativity + photography = bliss

I've been coming back to this equation over and over again in my journal lately. It was only a matter of time until it showed up here. It's a personal equation, something that speaks to me at a core level. I've been exploring what it means...

art = all of that which has been created before, by others. Art includes the formal definition of art, such as the paintings of the great masters, but it is also so much more. Art is the design of a building, the cut of a dress. It is the interpretation of musical notes written on a page. It is the combination of spices and ingredients. It is all that we experience, that comes from outside of ourselves.

creativity = a process, a practice. Creativity is not a "thing." It is the swirl of ideas, the stringing together of old and new. Creativity is where observation, knowledge and action meet. It is the process by which we learn to make sense of the world around us. It is innate, in each of us. It is what allows us to string together words into a sentence and actions into a life.

photography = an artistic medium, a personal form of expression. My photography is the combination of all of the art I've seen and experienced in my world run through my own personal creativity filter. It is the way I can share my vision. Photography allows me to share the stories I see, in the details of life around me. Like this bicycle, in Ravenna. Photography is my art, given back to the world.

Input, process, output.

Art, creativity, photography.

Combine these three ingredients and I get bliss. What do I mean by bliss? I mean happiness that goes beyond the moment, to the core of my being. It is the connection to the heart and soul of who I am, who I always have been, who I always will be. It is something deeper than a pretty picture, a fleeting emotion. 

art + creativity + photography = bliss

It takes all three to make the math work. Without one of them, the equation would be unbalanced. It might equal "content" or "satisfaction," but certainly not bliss.

I imagine that we all have our own personal equation. Part of our life's journey may be to define it, as we live it. Do you know yours? If not, I'm guessing that creativity is in your equation somewhere too. Start there, and see what begins to fill in the blanks.