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Market in Funchal
Markets tend to be attractive sites as you can usually see a variety of goods and colours there, as well as people, whether they are sellers, buyers or just curious tourists. The city market in Funchal is no exception and if we were staying longer in the city, I’d have visited it many more times than just once. I was mainly impressed by the central part on the ground floor, which is filled with fruits and vegetables of many kinds. They looked fresh and to my Czech eyes often exotic. As I always prefer choosing the pieces I would like to buy, I appreciated that you could have a closer…
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Enchanted by Funchal
When my husband and I were looking for a holiday destination last year, Madeira — the Portuguese group of islands — captured our attention. It was pricier than we expected, but we decided to go anyway. Or rather to fly, as travelling by plane is the usual way to reach the main island. And we never regretted it — even after a year, I am still full of nice memories. I would like to share some of them here, with my photos and words, but do not expect a guide or recommendations of any kind. It’s rather a story of me falling in love with this interesting place that somehow…
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Strolling through Kutná Hora
In my previous post, where I was talking about our visit to St. Barbara’s Cathedral in Kutná Hora, I promised to share some photos from the town itself, and here they are. But before you scroll to them, I’d like to share a few comments. When looking up which places are worth visiting, I found the expected. The cathedral, the ossuary, churches and museums including an old silver mine and mint. But advice was also given simply to stroll through the historic centre, enjoy the atmosphere of the old buildings, and — importantly — come back another time and experience the town under different conditions. I can tell you, this is…
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St. Barbara’s Cathedral in Kutná Hora
I’d been longing to visit Kutná Hora and its St. Barbara’s Cathedral for ages, and finally, during the Easter weekend just gone, my wish came true when my husband suggested we could make it happen. And I can tell you — despite far-from-perfect weather bringing rain and an overcast sky — we had a wonderful time strolling through the town centre and visiting the cathedral. In 1995, the Gothic St. Barbara’s Cathedral, along with the historic centre of Kutná Hora, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It richly deserves the recognition, and I imagine the listing also helps secure funding for further maintenance. There are many fascinating historic buildings in…
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Festive cheer
I named the December assignment of my still-life photo project for 2025 “Festive cheer” and, as you may have already guessed, it was meant to reflect Christmas and its magic. From my perspective, Christmas is a multi-faceted feast. It relates to Christianity when celebrating the joy and gratitude for Christ having been born. It refers to humanity reflected in people being — or trying to be — more generous. And last but not least, it involves traditions that keep our lives rooted. Over the years, my family has developed our own tradition for the Christmas Eve, which we consider the main Christmas day. Sometimes circumstances force us to alter this or that;…
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Limited Colour Palette
The November assignment in my still-life photo project for 2025 focused on “Limited Colour Palette”, and it made me realise that I’ve already been using this theme repeatedly in my sessions. You could see this for example in the photos below, where the focus on combination of red and green or shades of yellow and orange highlighted the composition and the included parts. Simplifying the colour range draws more attention to the story a photo conveys. This is certainly true of black and white photographs, but even when using a limited number of colours, the effect remains striking. I’ve chosen two photos as my finalists from this assignment, which you can see…
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Creative, my word for 2026
The start of each new year always brings a moment of reflection — looking back at my life, what was successful and what could have been better. For quite a few years now, this reflection has been connected with choosing a word for the year. The word that came to me for this year is “creative”. I have a need for creativity coded in my brain and body but in practice, I’m not very creative… Sort of a paradox, isn’t it? Because when I want to express my creativity, I can’t seem to find sufficient skills in my toolkit. I used to try forcing the expression of creativity by setting…
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Caught in my tracks
When you’re bored, sad, or lonely, you can handle it in many different ways. The other day, I turned to something unexpected: asking AI to write a short story with me. I would start a sentence and AI would shortly complete the idea and vice versa. It was not an attempt at creating a literary piece, it was just fun. And it led me to genuine surprise. Here is part of the story as it was created: AI: The water seemed to shimmer, and the stone… Me: … looked like a riddle of sorts. I poured the water over the stone… AI: … and as the liquid touched its surface,…
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Objects in Motion
The October assignment in my still-life photo project for this year wanted me to present “Objects in Motion”… …and let me tell you, it brought an interesting experience. The theme felt intriguing but challenging. I had some ideas — like capturing small tin balls hanging on ropes that swing and collide with one another — you know that design? But I didn’t have the objects and couldn’t manage to create anything. I didn’t use the time I had and lacked motivation. Everything felt wrong. So eventually, because I didn’t want to skip this entirely, I took a transparent plastic bottle, set a nice textured background against a table and rolled…
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Artist’s desktop
The September assignment in my still-life photo project for this year was to show “Artist’s Desktop”. Because this year’s project is based on props I already have at home, my thoughts went straight to bullet journaling — the small creative ritual that accompanies my days. It’s not grand art, more a quiet practice, but it brings those tiny sparks that brighten my days. However modest they may seem, they never lose their value; sometimes they even grow into something bigger. Once the idea settled, the props practically chose themselves: colourful brushes, paper pads, stamps… Familiar items, yet surprisingly tricky when observed through a lens and brought into focus. Dust settles…
