-
Dedicated, my word for 2023
Just imagine that you are on a walk, enjoying beautifully frosted trees and grass around you when all of a sudden a hen appears from nowhere obvious and photobombs the scenery you’ve just been trying to capture in your photo. Well, you may try to be quick enough to recompose the image and create something unexpected, even though perhaps not that perfect as you are more surprised than ready, right? It might definitely be worth the try… But what I am here today for is another matter. The new year will arrive in a few days so I started to think about what word will accompany me through it and…
-
Flower phantasy
When I come home in the evening and I am tired, I tend to open a browser and keep clicking on article titles that catch my attention, read a bit of this and a bit of that, and eventually I find myself looking at articles I am actually not interested in at all. And after an hour or two I switch the browser off, being usually angry about wasting so much precious time I could have used for much more useful, needed or creative activities. Do you know that story from your life as well? Here and there it may perhaps be helpful to relax this way and don’t want…
-
Botanical garden in Prague
Before winter definitely puts down roots here, I would like to share a few more photos from the botanical garden in Prague. We visited it many years ago and for quite a long time now I wanted to return there. This July we managed to do that and spent a beautiful afternoon amidst its flowers, trees, art pieces and wonderful views. It looked even more interesting than I remembered it… So here is a small selection of what I captured. Not everything looked so good in a photo as it looked in reality so e.g. my photos from the Japanese garden did not make it into this selection as they…
-
First snow
The first snow always comes as a surprise and when it is like it was this morning – meaning I woke up, got out of bed and saw our garden covered in white – it feels especially special. I even held my breath for a while. And even though the day was eventually overcast and felt like a dreary winter’s day, I was impressed by the change. Snow stands for beauty, wonder and awe…as well as for cold, difficulties and obstacles…and we have to live with both sides of the phenomenon. But we can always choose which side we stand on – that of exasperation, anger and dissatisfaction or that…
-
All Souls’ Day once again
When I was lighting a candle in a cemetery today, in memory of those I still love even though they already left this world, I had to think about how true the words are saying that those who remain in our hearts will never die. Yet I wish I knew them better. I wish I had more time for them.I wish we could chat and laugh and enjoy one another’s company.I wish I could meet them again and tell them how much they still mean to me. The truth is that these wishes are painful and sometimes hurt and no time can make that fade away. So rest in peace…
-
Playful water lilies
Yesterday I was asked what definition I would assign to a “photograph” and after some pondering, I came up with this: A photograph is a rendering of reality that may be documentary but also emotional, abstract or even somewhat imaginary, yet still preserving the core of that reality. Well, but what is that core, you may ask, it sounds sort of vague. And I would say that it is the hard-to-grasp distinction between a photo and an image… and we would be at the beginning again. You know, some people say that photography excludes digital art. But digital art has many faces, right, and some of it may preserve the aspect of…
-
For the love of succulents
As seen in and inspired by a botanical garden in Prague…
-
Motivational
The other day I was watching a video where a guy was explaining how he created a photo, what his intentions were and how he got there both in arranging the scenery and processing the photo and I thought, “well, so much effort invested, and I actually do not feel any excitement about the result…” But he was talking with passion, explaining his art, and I loved that attitude. He was creating something that made his juices flow and that was important enough. Let me take a leaf from his book and present two images I created from a photo taken in a botanical garden in Prague. My husband was…
-
Thoughtful
I wish my blogging was more regular and more frequent but sometimes I’m lazy, many times I feel like having nothing interesting to share, other times life itself gets into way. And then when I have an idea I would like to write about I sometimes catch myself in time not to share something angry, complaining, negative. It’s somehow easier to let our anger or dissatisfaction speak aloud on our behalf but well, I prefer looking for balance and positive mindful thinking in this place. I want me to grow when writing the posts and you to be enriched and inspired when reading them, I do not opt for sinking…
-
Our rebuilt rock garden 2 years later
Two years ago my husband and I devoted lots of time and effort to rebuilding our neglected rock garden, you can read about the whole process in this post. I was quite surprised to see how quickly the seedlings that I used from the original rock plants settled and spread. Only the Sempervivum varieties – especially the smaller ones – seem to need more time to cover the space which I assigned them to. On the other hand, some of the other plants have already tried to occupy neighbouring areas… Here are a few photos of and from the rock garden. It looks rather flat in the pictures, in reality it…
