Week 13: Zigzag

Confession-time! Easter in Spain is not as warm and fuzzy as one would think. I mean, I would think that if someone celebrates Easter then they celebrate it with colorful eggs and chocolate and gifts. Yup, when I was a kid I used to get small gifts from the Easter Bunny. And hey-hello, I was born in Soviet Union. So I would have assumed that it was all even more colorful on the other side of the Iron Curtin. 

However, they do celebrate in style. I was told that the Easter processions are the main Easter "attraction". I was lucky enough to catch one 'cos most of them were canceled due to rainy (seriously, it was more like a drizzle, not real rain). Conveniently enough those hoods they were at those processions are sakilised (zigzag pattern can be formed of them).

All of this was accompanied by a brass band and some rattling sounds. As many things in Madrid then this as well felt like a scene from a movie. With my limited knowledge about catholic traditions I must say that while I understand the whole mourning aspect and need for something depressing then I would still kind of hope for something sunny on an Easter Sunday. 

They sell Easter candy (like some chocolate bunnies) at more fancy stores and I haven't spotted any egg decorations nor paint. So I decided to decorate the egg carton for some Easter Sunday spirit. With some zigzag flower-power.

However, my favorite Easter-related find was this. Little Mr. Blue with zigzag head.

I wish you all a very happy Easter Sunday and if you have as mixed feelings about nazarenos (those guys with those pointy hoods) then go ahead and google them. You can find out  a thing or two. I did. And still have mixed feelings. However, it is always interesting to learn new things.

xoxo

Spring Spirit

Hey there, folks! I really wanted to make a little Easter update to wish you all a lovely celebration of spring and new beginnings. 

While I do love bunnies and chocolate eggs and all I did not feel like putting up any super Easter decorations. Well, I don't own any and well, I was thinking it'd make more sense to have something that could last longer. Okay, fine, I just went with cute stuff I stumbled upon in a shop while shopping for reasonable things. So here's a sneak peak into my living room. 

The best buy - tulips! Nothing says spring more than tulips. I probably should move to The Netherlands. Tulips in Madrid are quite exclusive and pricey. But worth every penny. This vase gave me the Easter-mood I needed.

They have some character... 

... and match my wall!

My living room has those odd windows that I never open and while they let light in they are made of this kind of smokey glass. I have also normal windows in the room, so I am all good to go. Anyhow, I decided to spice up the weirdo windows for spring. To have something else than raindrops to look at. 

Some light-green ribbon that cost me like seventy five cents.

It looks adorable in real life, my photographing skills don't do it all the justice.

The other window got some little paper flag chains and an odd polar bear or two. Those polar bears looked cuter than the bunnies. 

There is this shop called Tiger. Roar. Love.

Okay, but no Easter is complete without some bunnies and some chocolate.

Confession-time: this bunny does not look that complete anymore. Oops. 

Wish you all a lovely Easter weekend!

xoxo

Let's Get Manual

Manual focusing - yes, it's this thing when you turn out autofocus on your (D)SLR and try to get the image sharp trusting your eye. It had always daunted me, because well, my eyesight is not the best ever and all in all, it seems fussy. But as they say - desperate times call for desperate measures. I guess they also say that practice makes perfect, but well, I hadn't had much. So let's discard that.

I like, no wait, I love music! And ever so often I get the urge to try to take some photos at concerts. However, concert venues are not kind to anyone with a camera - unpredictable light (and too little of it), moving artists, crazy crowd trying to jump on you. To put it short, tons of movement and no light. Plus you are usually stuck in one spot. 

Some weeks ago Beach House played in Madrid. They had picked Marques Toliver as their support artist. I had never heard of him before and I was in for a treat. Visually and musically. He filled the room with his positive energy.

I just had to capture some of his performance on my camera. However, my camera disagreed. It was not up to focusing. So, I was like - whatever dude, I can do it on my own. And I went all manual. In a dark room trying to keep my camera as stable as possible and lending it my poor sight... I think I did well, very well. Kind of proves the point that you just have to try new things. And you must be the boss of the camera, not the other way around.

Some passion and concentration

Some captive story-telling

Some priceless expressions

Here's to music and bossing your camera around!

xoxo

I Zig and I Zag

This week's word is sakiline. Which at its best translates into zigzag. To be frank I couldn't figure out the best translation. Today more than one of my friends are celebrating their birthdays and while I can't be there I can do a little virtual zigzag disco dancing for them, yeah!

iPhone 4S, Hipstamatic, Afterlight

On a different note. Have to share this story called "Lonely hunter. Better hunt." (found via Petapixel). Wandering aimlessly around cities is one of my favorite things to do, so I can see where the author is coming from. I guess the best way to travel is to combine alone-time with social-time. I can also assure you that having spent a day on your own you really wish you had someone with you to share all the new exciting things with. Or then it's just me, I can be very chatty. And always dreaming of new destinations.

By the way, you can also find me and my blog on Bloglovin': http://www.bloglovin.com/kaisamaisa. 

Happy week! I am thinking of capturing some Easter moods. Fingers crossed I can fit it in my schedule and the weatherman is kind.

xoxo

Week 12: Elevators

I love elevators, there are such fun quirky ones out there. It is also fun or extremely awkward to spend time with people on elevators or when the day so demands take photos of yourself in an elevator mirror. Fancy elevators have suede and velvet and chairs and all. And some elevators are too scary. Some elevators smell, some people in the elevators smell. Some elevators "talk". So, yes, I do like elevators. 

I used an elevator four times this week. Two times to get down to the pharmacy and the other two times to go to the supermarket. I did not encounter any interesting elevators and I tried not to breathe my flu bacteria (virus? whatever, am not a doctor) on my neighbor. To be fair, the elevator at my building is fascinating, but no photo can do it justice. It's one of a kind. It offers you the ultimate too-close-for-comfort experience. Even when riding alone. 

This is how my elevator looks outside. Yes, part of the mechanism just runs on the courtyard wall. Yes, I can hear it all the time, but I hardly take notice. I find it bizarre though. I would imagine all elevator-things should be inside, hidden. The soul of the elevator.

However, while I was not able to ride elevators and be out in the real world I did organize and edit my Istanbul photos from year 2011. Istanbul is one of the coolest cities I have ever visited. Mixture of different worlds and it has an elevating effect, literally.

Awesome, right!? See all of my Istanbul photos here!

Enjoy the last hours of this Sunday and have an elevating Easter week! Let's hope it will be filled with tons of inspiring real life activity. 

xoxo

Elevating Spring

So this week I will be shooting elevators. The word on the street is that I won't be encountering that many elevators 'cos currently I am crawled up in fort pillows&sofa shooting cups of tea and some flu medicine. Trying to get some work done and entertain myself. Even if sick people should sleep all the time then I am humanly incapable of sleeping 24/7. 

I had these photos ready before the flue swiped me off my feet, so here you go - signs of spring in rainy Madrid. Retiro Park is such a treat (and relatively biker-friendly, yay).  

The Armpit Men?!

I was trying to shoot squares. Almost, right? I mean, what else are bike pedals for... framing.

Goat Cabaret 

Cabbage?! Yes, cabbage! And it smells like it!

Happy first day of Spring!

xoxo

Week 11: Squares

You have been squared! Yes. So, here's the story. I was so close to giving up on this week's theme. I just didn't feel inspired and taking photos of tiles seemed like such a bore (and my imagination hit the wall there, at those bloody tiles). I had planned on taking a stroll in my favorite neighbourhoods and look for some inspiration, but it was rainy and I had to alter my plans. 

On a side note must say that I use the word 'squares' as a geometrical term (as opposed to town squares and such; in Estonian the word 'ruut' applies to a shape, not location). 

But then it hit me - there's no rule saying I have to take photos of  squares, I can take photos in squares. Starting with myself.

Cutting out the white noise...

My shoes match a trash container, that's what I call a true fashion statement

Follow the neon

Such fun! As would say Miranda's mom on a brilliant BBC comedy show called "Miranda". 

Moving on to signs of spring that every single year make me happy (and then it rains or snows depending on where I am currently living). 

I am addicted to blossoms 

Squares!

From one thing to another, there's modern architecture that always offers angles, squares, all kinds of geometrical shapes. 

And then it happens - architecture meets spring! Yes, it's a messy affaire. 

Last, but not least I must say that street photography looks good in squares. Perhaps it's Instagram's influence. Doesn't really matter, now does it. As for now inspiration isn't copyrighted (or is it?). Yikes, a lawyer-joke sneaked in. I do apologize (no-one gets those apart from others who went to a law school, I do realize that). 

So what can I say - in the end this whole shooting in squares got me really inspired. Well, I did not shoot in squares, but did the cropping later on (to state the obvious). However, I was thinking in squares when framing the shots. Anyhow, I have lined up some nice (squared) photos for the upcoming week and I am looking forward to discovering theme for week 12. 

See you next week!

xoxo