Week 48/49/50/51: Let's Mix It Up

Week 48: Green
Week 49: Games
Week 50: Strangers
Week 51: Wildlife in the City

So I will throw in some photos from Geneva and Lausanne that fill the void. The 52 week project it so close to its end (as it the year... whaaat?!). 

Salad green bookshop in Geneva. Yeah!

Green strangers in Lausanne.

And strangers playing games in Lausanne.

Wildlife in the city! (also Lausanne)

Little words, little images, little updates. Seriously, it's December and almost everyone (including me) has been running wild. 

Hadn't I taken some photos I would probably not believe it that we saw a whole bunch of chicken running around in central-ish Geneva. Posh polished international Geneva... it is not (only that)! Cool chick. 

On this note I would like to say that forget the chicken and bookmark my blog with it's original blogger address: reindeertrails.blogspot.com. I am planning on some changes in the near future (whenever I stop running around like a chicken*) and kaisaphoto.com might go down for a while. 

It's almost Christmas! How's it with the holiday spirit?

xx

* Okay, I might have eaten some chicken, but other than that no chicken related activities. I have been rocking out (photographic proof can be seen here) and running holiday errands. 

Time is Honey

Older, wiser (wait what?!) and more filled with cheese! So, yes, I am back in blogosphere. Meanwhile I have turned a year older and been on a holiday. Because I love eating cake in new places. As much as I love peeking through strangers' windows. Like this.

I haven't been shooting specifically for my weekly projects (I could pretend I feel bad about it, but I really don't). However, I have been walking the streets of Lyon (France) on my birthday (it's so worth turning 30 on 30th) and drinking mulled wine and eating chestnuts while listening to the most fun brass band ever. 

So, yes, my new favourite thing is to take a small holiday around my birthday - the darkest time of the year and just before Christmas madness takes over. Last year I was in Belgium, this year in Switzerland. I totally recommend having friends who live in cool towns. ;) Makes traveling so much more fun. So besides a weekend trip to Lyon I spent my days in Lausanne and Geneva. 

Crazy beautiful.

Occasionally scary. Because, seriously, bird attack is not on top of my list in the ways to die. Too close for comfort (or for focus).

Crazy quirky. 

Truth to be told - I have hundreds of photos to edit and I hope to have some holiday photo albums up on Flickr sometime soon (keeping it vague, yes). Also, need to send Christmas cards and presents and you know, catch up with holiday craze. And host some post-birthday and pre-Christmas mini-parties. And eat chocolate and listen to new records and old records. And it's good being back in the blogosphere. Ps. My grammar teacher always told us it is bad style to start a sentence with "and". I hope she's reading this. Ha.

How's December treating you? 

xoxo

Always Coca-Cola

I am not sure if there were more places with Coca-Cola signs in Marrakech or I noticed the logo more, because it was something overly familiar. Maybe they have Coca-Cola all over London and Paris, too, but it goes unnoticed as it's nothing "strange". But when you're in a city which is in many ways different from what you're used to (let's be honest - when going to Paris it will feel somehow familiar 'cos the landmarks are so famous and known) you notice familiar more? Or maybe, seriously, they just love Coca-Cola A LOT in Morocco. 

 

So yes, always Coca-Cola.

xoxo

Kodak Moments

From Marrakech, Morocco.

Have a good week!

xx

Ps. You can see couple of my photos from Au Revoir Simone concert in Madrid at indiespot.es. 

Holy Disco Light

I love light! Ahem, what, right?! Light makes photos! My current favorite is what I call holy disco light. It is the light that shines through the stained glass windows. 

When you travel around Europe then you can't escape visiting churches and cathedrals - they're just such a great part of the history and culture. To be honest - it's always too dark inside to take decent photos and at times I struggle with places that are extremely touristy (even though I am one of them - them tourists who want to see everything). However, during my recent speed-visit to Burgos I re-discovered the joy of visiting historic holy places swamped with tourists - Burgos Cathedral is amazing! Not only because it's filled with a myriad of little figurines that make you react (inappropriately?!) like this hipster angel celebrating Movember.

 

But because it has these amazing stained glass windows.

My go-to photo of a stained glass window would usually look something like this.

However, it is a whole lot cooler to look at the opposite direction, because with a little luck and a little sunshine (or a lot of it like we had in Burgos) you get this.

Not just pretty colors, but a temporary decoration on seats.

Creating a different atmosphere, adding an (almost) neon disco light like touch.

So now I will be hunting holy disco light whenever I can. It is amazing, don't you agree?! 

On a side note. This week's topic 'bitter' has been put on hold. I have some ideas that I can't execute before next weekend.

Summer? Busiest time of the year for sure. Anyhow, hope you're having a good one and thanks for stopping by (in between all the sunshine and adventures). 

xoxo

Week 29: Borderline

This time I am gonna share some photos from my awesome mini trip to Lisbon, Portugal. However, I am staying true to last week's topic - borderline. So am going to share photos from one city, from one area (central Lisbon according to touristy map), but showing different worlds. To me Lisbon was very borderline, it left me with strong impressions and quite a few questions. Beautiful and exciting as well as shabby, modern as well as old fashioned. In despair, in celebration. And so on. Hope I have managed to put some of this into the photos below. I feel a bit guilty rushing into it (took a lot of photos and haven't had proper time to process them all - mentally as well as physically), but hey, weekly project waits for no one.  

I am working on my holiday photos, so it's very likely that some more images from Lisbon will pop up here or on my Facebook page or on Flickr. 

This week's challenge - bitter.

xoxo

Week 27: Yellow

Last weekend I was racing bulls in Pamplona, Spain, so a lot of red and not so much yellow. Okay, okay, I did not run with the bulls, I didn't even see them. However, I was at San Fermín Festival. I will let my photos do the talking 'cos I was left speechless more than once. You can find the photos on my Facebook page. Yes, I have a Facebook page now, have a look here and press 'like' if you like. :) 

On a side note - the whole running with bulls, a minor deal. Well, it lasts like 3 minutes and one has to be there 6AM to catch a sight of a bull at 8AM. So, I didn't see it, but I was near the people who did not sleep that night and claimed a spot with a view. However, the festival is surely more about sangria showers and such.

Ah, but to the yellow. I caught some little yellow moments on a beach in Biarritz, France. Yes, Pamplona is a short ride away from this gorgeous small town. I am such a granny, I prefer nice seaside towns and late brunch over getting soaked in alcohol. Yellow!

Paradise for surfers and me (who doesn't like surfers, right?!).

Hope you're having a sunny and adventurous summer. Any exciting plans?

xoxo

Ps. This week's topic is - fashion!

*All photos shot with Canon EOS 6D and 40mm f/2.8  lens. Edited in Lightroom 4. 

App Love: VSCO Cam

Get VSCO Cam - it's lovely and it's for free! I will demonstrate my love for this app with some snap shots from my recent trip to Poznan, Poland. I spent my alone time (as we all arrived at different times and came from different locations) to play around with the freshly downloaded app. And of course, taking photos of my food. What's with that, really?! Why do I do that?! I eat with my eyes?! With my iPhone?! I wish... Anyhow, all of the photos below have been taken with iPhone 4S and edited with VSCO Cam app (yup, you can take photos with it or edit the ones you have taken previously). 

First of all, I LOVE flying! Seriously, it's as close to living in a magical cotton candy land as one can get. What's there not to love?!

And I love plane food. No joke. Maybe it's all programmed in me as I first boarded a plane when I was a newborn. Okay, it only took us 20min to an island, but you know, my body was all like - yeah, kicking ass in the air! Plane food is like a surprise egg - you never know what's inside! Sometimes you can also be left puzzled what was it that you ate. Still, I approve.

Not to mention that anything tastes good with the amazing sky high views.

I think one very legit reason to get excited over a meal is the fact (no, not that it's a surprise on a plane) that it is something simple you love, but haven't had for ages. Like cottage cheese. And potatoes in a non french fry mode. I almost weeped when I shoveled this in at this lovely artsy place in Poznan.

A really lovely place with origami birds and all.

I don't have that many iPhone shots from Poznan as I used my real camera for the bigger part of the time. Also, spent most of Monday at a mall with friends. Drinking coffee. Eating. Chatting. Doing a tiny bit of shopping. It was the post-party day. No-one was up for I dunno... hiking or museums. Luckily museums are closed on Mondays, so no bad conscious there. Moreover, the mall looked real nice. 

And they had a neat cafe with peonies (yay, flower-love) and pretty cups of coffee.

I have a ton of photos of Poznan waiting to be edited. I think it's a town where Southern Germany meets Berlin. It has a bit of all. Yeah, well, maybe it's weird to compare it to German towns, but I have been to a bunch of German towns. So well. There you go. Poznan is lovely. It has a river! A river makes any place more special.

And it has a fun biker monument. 

And quirky ice cream. With cactus flavor for example. Yes, I did eat that neon sweet thing.

It was four days and three nights. Spending time with some of the best people ever. And then it was back on the plane. Luckily Lufthansa still provides free newspapers and coffee at its Munich terminal. I love reading fancy newspapers (e.g. "International Herald Tribune" and "The Financial Times") when I travel. Plus you know, coffee-coffee-coffee.

However, my flight from Munich was delayed and I had finished reading my book. Oh and my gate was next to a cutsie cute design shop. There. I am an easy target to those people trying to sell useless (nooo, cute things are cute, not useless) stuff. 

See, there you go, I LOVE taking photos with my iPhone and then editing them a bit and sharing. Life is good as long as there's a camera, any camera. 

Time to wrap up the midnight story telling. Have a good weekend and see you on Sunday for some 'in the air' photos. 

xoxo