• Reflections

    We see what we want to see

    A brain is such a smart thing and helps us a lot but sometimes it makes a fool of us. Once I read an interesting article about how brain processes signals it gets from our eyes. The brain is capable of adding missing parts, e.g. of what is at our sides when we look ahead, based on what we saw earlier and thus helps us quickly orientate ourselves. It is definitely useful but sometimes it may also be somewhat confusing because the calculated vision may not correspond entirely with reality. In July my family and I spent a few days in Italy and one of the places we visited was…

  • Around home and village

    Feel the calm

    There are so many unnecessary words written and spoken, the universe hums and resonates with them. So you will surely forgive me when today I won’t add many in this post… … but will share just some colours and the atmosphere of calmness and tranquillity that I found in our garden. May they enrich your day.

  • Focused on photography

    Good photo or bad

    Sometimes opinions about a photo can differ quite a lot. Let’s take the following photograph. When I asked my husband to give me his opinion on the photo, he told me that it’s just yellow, no more added value. He didn’t find anything interesting in it worthy of looking twice at it. On the other hand, I keep returning to the photo. Well, I took it, so I may not be unbiased at all, but it doesn’t change the fact that I feel attracted to it. Is it because it was I who made those decisions on choosing the scene, selecting the crop, highlighting the yellow? At the site, I…

  • Miscellaneous

    Bee house impression

    Do you like honey? And do you appreciate knowledgeable local beekeepers? I do, so when Lenka, a colleague of mine, invited me to participate in the 1st year of “Honey days” planned to be held in their family bee house, I was looking forward to that occasion. And I was not disappointed at all when the day arrived as I got to know a lot about how bees are cared for, how the honey is made and collected, and what are the rules of proper beekeeping. Moreover, the weather was fine and the atmosphere of the  excursion was very friendly and kind. One usually sees just a few beehives together…

  • Reflections

    Behind the mask

    The other day I was passing a parked car and was rather startled by a smiling face with empty eyes “sitting” inside the car. When having looked properly, I found out it was just a mask attached to the front headrest. I was delighted to have my camera at hand and took a photo or two. It’s an image that makes you think, isn’t it? I used to believe that wearing a mask is wrong, that it’s just a form of a lie. Yet I understand today that a mask may not only hide a hideous face but may also protect a  fragile face and who I am to criticise…

  • Focused on photography

    Pink inspired (again)

    Here and there I buy a small bunch of flowers to decorate my kitchen for a few days and the other day I chose pink roses. They looked fresh and fragile and I loved them but just after two days their stems bent down and the flowers were fading almost in front of my eyes. Of course I felt disappointed but I grabbed them, grabbed my camera and spent an hour or two playing with them in my photographs. The disappointment transformed into creativity, what an unexpected development. Here is the result of that pink inspiration…

  • Focused on photography

    Pink hen and flowers

    A few weeks ago, when I was thinking about what kind of photos I would like to focus on this year, I was thinking about returning to still life and its creativity. A few days ago, when I was thinking about spring and Easter, I was thinking about creating something playful and joyful and yet a bit serious. So here is my little playful yet thoughtful still-life variation featuring a figure of a hen I bought once as a prop. – In a whirl of events – – Waiting for a decision – – Devoted – – Lost in thought on a sunny day – – Lost in expectation –

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Spring is in the air

    …and that helped me to take my camera out of its bag and go with my hubby for the first photo walk this year. I can tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. Stop No. 1: That construction in the background is a transformer station. It sits amid fields and buzzes quite aloud while transforming and transporting the electricity. Very technical and somewhat mysterious place… Stop No. 2: I am not much into horses but these two looked charming and well groomed, and curious to know what I was doing there at the fence… Stop No. 3: Guess what made me stop at this spot… Well, the bag tied to…

  • Miscellaneous

    Using Trello for learning vocabulary

    Do you know Trello? It is an online board system for planning and organising that can be used by individuals, teams or whole companies, you can read everything about it on Trello’s website HERE. After a colleague of mine had told me about its existence a few months ago, I created my first board and it occurred to me that I could use the system also for learning foreign vocabulary. I created a new board for that purpose and here is how it works for me. (Sorry for the lower quality of the print-screen images.) In a nutshell, a Trello board is a set of columns with cards which you…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Bezděkov

    Today I am sharing some of my photos from Bezděkov, the town I had assigned to December in my photo project for 2018. I selected 35 photos again, as in the previous months. Bezděkov is a small town with about 930 inhabitants. There is a castle from 18th century there but unfortunately, it is quite dilapidated, and also it is inaccessible as it is placed inside private premises. There was not much obviously captivating to be captured in the town so it was a challenge to get the photos I came for but along the way I managed to find some images to be taken home. You might ask why this town when…