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Sempervivum fantasy
I used to think that life has to be crystal clear and sharp, with obvious edges and unambiguous shapes. Yet gradually I’ve learnt that life can also be fuzzy, with undistinctive curves and curious colours, and still be nice and enriching. One simply needs to grow to appreciate some aspects of the existence…
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Decisions, decisions
When you start reading a book, do you always finish it? Or do you sometimes put it away because you don’t like or understand its contents? I rarely stop reading a book as I always expect it to lead me through its plot to something revealing, satisfying, interesting, thought-provoking. I even read in English the whole unabridged book Les Misérables by Victor Hugo although I did not understand lots of its contents as the vocabulary was too uncommon, I was so stubborn to make it to the end. And when you start pursuing an activity and you are not as good in it as you would like to be, do…
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Free to have a vision
Sometimes we see or understand things that others do not recognize but we are afraid to share our vision not to be laughed at or misunderstood. And if we muster the courage to share and do not get any positive feedback or encouragement as our vision may not be interesting enough for those around us, we may feel to be let down or not appreciated. But that does not change a thing about the fact that the freedom to have a vision and follow it is still there. Follow your visions. They may not be always breath-taking but they will let you grow…
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Memorable sunset sky
People quite often take and share photos of notable skies with beautiful clouds, impressive colours, melancholy mood… Some of the photos are really impressive but on the other hand, quite a few were not able to transport the magic of the moment into the two dimensional picture where the observers intended to hold the wonder. Don’t understand my words as criticism, it’s just a statement of a fact. I know what I’m talking about as I made the same effort many times when trying to capture the uncapturable. Most of those photos ended in a bin, just the disappointment stayed of not being able to seize the beauty. Despite my…
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Let your creativity lead you
Do you at least sometimes create just for the fun of it, without expecting success and words of praise? Do you sometimes feel a need to express yourself no matter how amateurish the result would be? There have already been so many pieces of advice told regarding this topic… You’ve heard them surely: “Don’t let yourself get discouraged by others, don’t compare yourself with others (especially with those skilled ones), listen to your creative needs and satisfy them mindfully…” All those nice and well-meant words may be hard to swallow when you don’t believe in yourself, when you don’t find your skills good enough. Who wants to hide their creative…
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Winter has not said its last word yet
In our neck of the woods, winter has not said its last word yet. After some warm and sunny days that we could enjoy last week, this afternoon snow once again covered our roofs, yards and gardens. That made me think of winter sceneries rather than spring flowers… Overwhelmed by that mood I was browsing the photos I captured in January and found one I liked and wanted to process one day. So here it is, inspired by this April snow shower…
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Round the village
The last week was cold, with occasional snow showers, and as much as I like snow, the time has come for spring to seize control. I’ve been looking so much for flowers to bloom in the garden and fresh leaves to appear on the trees and plants! In the meantime, before that happens in our neck of the woods, here are a few photos from Saturday’s walk around the village. Birds singing and chatting loudly in the branches (and I love how different impression the tree with the birds gives in colour and in black-and-white)… …and hopefully the last snow of the season… When passing power lines outside the village,…
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Technical Příbram
This year I’ve been pursuing a photo project called “Technical”, you can read more about its rules and my expectations here. My first target for the project was the town Příbram and its vicinity and here are the photos I liked most. When editing the raw files, I was aiming rather at the atmosphere than at the actual look, there is often much more to it than what we see with the naked eye, isn’t there? Click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see them better. Příbram used to be a mining town and the traces of its history are present in many of its parts.…
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Colourful calmness
Sometimes it’s the simple country views that make me feel calm and balanced in the middle of all that feels stressful and I appreciate being able to take such a view with me home in the form of a photograph capturing the calmness of the moment…
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Birdhouses
Sometimes life is full of colours… …and sometimes it’s void of them… …but it’s always open to possibilities and creativity. Two weeks ago I visited the town Příbram and came across this interesting set of three birdhouses. They were situated quite high and behind a fence so I didn’t have much possibilities for finding the best angle for capturing them but I tried my best to get the gist of the scenery. I edited the photo but was not happy about the result. So I edited it more, highlighting the birdhouses, dodging and burning, adding textures to the background and deploying blend modes. I liked that result much more, I…
