Kat Eye Studio

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Italy in my Pocket

A Walk on Time, Ravenna, Italy

A Walk on Time, Ravenna, Italy

I’ve been thinking a lot about Italy lately. I find little pieces of evidence of my time in Italy various places. In my wool coat, out for the winter, I have found a few pieces of Italian memorabilia. A couple of Milan Metro tickets, a British penny, some pistachio shells. I feel them there. I take them out and look at them, and then put them back. Yes, crazily enough, even the pistachio shells. I put them back.

They all have memories for me. The pistachio shells remind me of the winter night we all went into Milan and wandered around, Brandon hounding us for a snack until we stopped at a kiosk and bought the pistachios. Then, what to do with the shells… We would collect them up in pockets as we walked around and then drop them in a trash can. Apparently I forgot a few, lingering in my pocket. In my pocket they will stay.

The Metro tickets may have been from the same night, or some other time. We used the Metro all the time when we wanted to go into Milan. The tickets were stuck everywhere… they became bookmarks and notes. My son has piles of them saved up. I have two in my coat pocket now. Where I slip my hand in and remind myself I lived in Italy for a while.

The British penny must be from my visit to London last winter, where I met up with my fellow muse Kirstin and had a fabulous weekend wandering around with my camera. What a joy that was, to connect with her and her family in person. I’ll keep that memory safely tucked away in my pocket too.

We find our lives are filled with these little memories, tucked away to be discovered again and again or in plain sight to remind us often. Our house is a veritable story book, the items “before Italy” and “from Italy” blending in to this “after Italy.” The physical space we live in has changed as we shift the elements in our lives to encompass our experience. My style of clothes has changed. My photographs have changed. It’s all a reflection of the personal changes that living abroad has brought. They are the concrete reminders that we did live in Italy. Our time there was real.

If it weren’t for the contents of my pocket, I’m not sure I would believe it anymore.

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Creeping Along

I found this snail on a windowsill in Ravenna, creeping along going nowhere. He made me smile, with his fake flowers happily blooming regardless of the weather. I also liked the repetition of shape, in the tea pot just barely visible in the window. Have you ever noticed the similarity in shape between a teapot and a snail? I hadn’t, until this photo. Thanks to my camera and the awareness it gives me, I now have this little tidbit filed away in my brain. As of today, you do too.

Yesterday’s post, I noticed, was my 600th post on my blog! Wow. I don’t know why that number strikes me, it just seems BIG. So I decided to celebrate that milestone by posting a photo of a snail planter full of fake flowers. The appropriate celebration of 600 posts, don’t you know. All the blogging milestone books say so.

But seriously, instead, how about giving away a few things today? That seems appropriate too! Here are the winners of my LAST giveaway from Italy. There were 49 entries, and numbers were drawn by using the random number generator from random.org:
#13 – Kristen of K. Laudick Photos wins the lens cleaning cloth from Ravenna
#48 – Pam from Utah wins one of the sets of notecards from Florence
#20 – Diana of Diana Mulder Mixed Media Artist wins the other set of notecards from Florence
#23 – Jo of Jo Murray – Art wins the postcards
I’ll be contacting you all for your addresses. Give your congrats to all of them!

Thanks so much for all of your support and participation here at The Kat Eye View of the World. Who knew that this little blog that I started to keep family updated about what was going on with us in Italy would end up with 600 posts. Well, 601 today. Amazing.

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Bits and Pieces

I’m over at Mortal Muses today musing on repeating patterns, a perfect opportunity to share a couple of images of the Byzantine mosaics from Ravenna. I think my favorite mosaics are the patterns that decorate the borders and arches, like this one above. I love how these patterns continue infinitely, and how the artist used light and dark colors to give volume to an otherwise flat shape. All this with pieces of glass!

Many of the artistic principles that make a beautiful mosaic are no different than for painting or photography. It’s the execution of the mosaic, however, with its little bits and pieces combined into a larger and cohesive whole that makes it so amazing. All works of art are built up from the combination of bits and pieces, but the mosaic makes this obvious in a way that other art forms don’t. Maybe that’s what makes them special, what makes me look closer to see the details created centuries ago, with tiny bits of glass. I hope you enjoy today’s images, both here and over at Mortal Muses.

PS – Did you miss my announcement yesterday? If so, head on over here and check out what you missed!

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Seeing Double

“Seeing Double,” capturing a subject in reflection, was the prompt for the last week in Picture Inspiration. I love capturing reflections in my images, whether in water, glass or metal. I found this image in Milan during our hunt for the tricolore in March. Piazza del Duomo is always a busy place, but on a holiday, it’s incredibly crowded. The puddle gave a fantastic reflection of the Duomo, but only when the space behind it was clear of people. I spent quite a bit of time waiting and watching how the crowd moved to capture this image, a great example of Waiting to Click. Even then, I had to do some creative editing (tilt, black and white) to eliminate some distracting elements outside of my control.

The other “Seeing Double” images I shared this week are of cars. This car in the streets of Ravenna was interesting on its own, but the reflection gives it a sense of place that just sings “Italy.” It reminds me of another reflection-in-car image I took, very early in our time in Italy. For me, that sense of place makes all the difference, since cars aren’t normally one of my favorite subjects.

That’s why it’s surprising that my third “Seeing Double” image is of a car as well. This fantastic black Mercedes from the 1930’s was found in the Museo dell’Automobile, just reopened after extensive remodeling in Torino. We visited last Sunday afternoon on a quest to see vintage Fiats, and were rewarded with many more vintage European cars as well. My favorite cars were from the 1920’s and 1930’s, they had such style! I loved how the reflection continued the pattern of the men in tuxedos from the wall behind into the body of this classic 30’s automobile. 

Have a great weekend! We are off to Florence this weekend, riding the Freccia Rossa (“Red Wind” – the high speed train between Milan and Rome) for one last visit. Be sure to come by on Monday – I have something new and exciting to share with you!

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Share Your View: Group of Three

The best laid plans sometimes go awry! When I went into Flickr today to pull some of your “group of three” images from the Exploring with a Camera pool to post here, all of the sharing had been turned off. At first I thought it was just a couple of people but it must be a Flickr-wide issue because everyone has sharing turned off.

Instead, I’m improvising to share with you this group of three pots spotted on the streets of Ravenna. I’m never at a loss of photos to share! It’s actually quite fun, my family gets into Exploring with a Camera along with me and after I’ve posted a new topic they are most helpful in pointing out possible images on the theme as we travel. My husband spotted this group!

This post is about you though, and your view. Since Flickr is acting up, please be sure to link in your Group of Three images below so that we can all enjoy them. I love the different finds and compositions you all have shared so far!

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Circling Around

No matter how much we travel in Italy, I always find myself delightfully surprised. Each town has its own claim to fame, but often it’s the little things that are more interesting. Our latest visit to Ravenna was no exception. The town is known for the amazing Byzantine mosaics of its churches, but it was the number of bicycles on it’s streets that captured my attention. They were everywhere, all shapes and sizes and colors – compositions just waiting to be captured.

I especially had an eye out for groups of three, as always happens with my Exploring with a Camera theme. I loved this little family of three bicycles. It’s looks like a family, doesn’t it? Look how they are all grouped, overlapping, in each other’s space. Maybe I see it that way because my family is a family of three, and our images are always a reflection of our selves. Upon review today I also discovered the row of circles – wheels, chainrings, hubs – that forms a chain along the bottom of the image. How cool.

Ravenna as a bicycle city was a delightful find, a surprise that you likely won’t find mentioned in any guidebooks. That circles me around again to where I started – there is always something interesting to be found in the towns of Italy. For me, it’s always in the streets, not the churches.

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