Kat Eye Studio

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Would you help me win a Vespa?

Last year, as I was learning to ride my scooter, I told my husband, “Someday I will have a red Vespa. And I won’t have to buy it either!” He looked at me askance, as if I was crazy, and asked, “How are you going to do that?”

“I have no idea,” I answered, “but it’s going to happen. Wait and see.”

My moment has arrived! Vespa USA is running a contest to win, what else, a Vespa. I’m sure it can be red. And not just any contest, but a photo contest, called “Where would you Vespa?” And not just any kind of photo contest, but the kind you have to get out the vote for.

So, I’m thinking, I have a shot here. What do you say? Will you come vote for me? You can vote for my image here. Unfortunately, you do have to create a login, but after that you can vote once per day. If you don’t see the image right away on the screen, go look for this one of Civita di Bagnoregio in Italy:

Island of Stone, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

Island of Stone

Scooter Sighters around the world unite! Help Kat get the red Vespa of her dreams!!

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The Color Yellow

Yellow is such a happy color, don’t you think? Evoking sunshine and flowers, it’s hard to frown at yellow. And a yellow scooter? Now that is something that should make anyone smile!

Today I share another scooter sighting from San Francisco, this one so nicely parked so I could capture the street and architecture behind it. Sighting scooters in San Francisco was much easier than getting a good picture of them. It’s often hard to create a good composition when the scooters are wedged in between cars, or I would need to stand in traffic to photograph them. I guess that’s what makes getting a good scooter sighting photo so much fun. It’s a challenge!

What do you think, is yellow a good color for a Vespa? As cute as this one is, I don’t think I’ll switch my dream Vespa from red just yet…

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Scooter Sightings: Keeping Cool

Here it is, the end of February, and I almost forgot the monthly Scooter Sightings post! What is wrong with me! I think the problem is there haven’t been many real scooter sightings lately. My husband said he saw a classic Vespa around town, but alas, I was not with him at the time. I’ve been getting the urge to ride my scooter so I wish the warm weather would hurry up and get here!

Today’s scooter sightings image is from Pavia, a small university town southwest of Milan. This beautiful scooter was parked in the shade at the edge of a courtyard, where students were studying at picnic tables under the trees, trying to keep cool. This was before my scooter obsession so I didn’t study the scene the way I would like to now. I can imagine the creative possibilities here with this red scooter!

I’m happy to share some scooter sightings from other readers too.

This one comes from Robin of Gotham Girl Photography, she found it in New York City. I would be in heaven with that color combo along with the vintage scooter. It’s a made-for-Kat scene!! Thanks for sharing this, Robin.

This pink cutie comes from April of My Captivating Images. April wrote, “This is Katie. She is one of my repeat clients and she is so much fun to photograph. She is always up for anything that I want to try. This particular session was suppose to be her Prom session. The only day we could get our schedules together was on Prom day! As luck would have it, it was pouring! It was too late to try to reschedule though so we were brave and went out into downtown Greensboro, NC. looking for overhangs and any other type of cover we could find. We came along this pink Vespa that just spoke to me. It just matched her dress and playful personality so well. So I headed into the salon to ask for permission to use it. I love the results. Sometimes you just have to accept what you have to work with and use your creativity. Sometimes you just have to accept that the weather isn’t going to co-operate (just be sure to protect your camera!). Sometimes you just have to accept it and make it the best you can. And guess what? Sometimes it far exceeds any of your “normal” work!”

I totally agree with April!! (And I want that pink scooter.)

If you have a scooter sighting, take a pic and email it to me! I’d love to share your scooter sighting here.

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Two of my Favorite Things

Sing along, to the tune of My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music:

Cute vintage scooters and red wine with dinner…

That’s all I have written so far, but these are two of my favorite things from Italy. Found here in one photo! Today’s market/wheels photo is from Pavia, a smaller town just outside of Milan. We visited this town for a day trip in 2009, early in our two years in Italy. It’s so fun to look back and see this early capture of two things I came to absolutely love later.

It’s also the perfect image to share today, for our Mosaic Muse link up at Mortal Muses. We are finishing the theme Looking Out, Looking In. I love the texture and depth that is added to this photo by the reflections in the window I am looking through. Another cool thing – if you look closely, the graffiti that is reflected in the window is also reflected in the Vespa side mirror. This was a fun discovery of “looking out by looking in” as I edited the photo.

Wherever you find yourself today, enjoy the view, whether looking out or looking in!

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Scooter Sightings: Pink 50 Special

This scooter sighting digs back into my archives, from a little town of Vigevano, outside of Milan. I think this may be the only pink scooter I captured during my time in Italy! Isn’t it a great color?

As I was looking at it with my son yesterday morning, we remembered another story that involved pink from Vigevano. After exploring the town, we stopped for gelato on our walk back to the car. Patrick was enticed by the delightful pink color of a certain gelato, Pompelmo Rosa. Not knowing much Italian at the time, we had no idea that “pompelmo rosa” means “pink grapefruit.” It was the most horrible tasting gelato ever. We all had to try it, just to see what he was complaining about. He learned his lesson – you don’t pick gelato by color alone!

Picking scooters by color, however, is an entirely different story.

Here’s another scooter sighting, shared with me from Kim in Australia. She saw this cute Vespa in a store in Akaora, New Zealand, and thought of me. Thanks Kim!!

If you have a scooter sighting, take a pic and email it to me! I’d love to share your scooter sighting here.

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Scooter Love in the Pacific NW – and GIVEAWAY!!

Who would have thought it! I went to Portland (1.5 hours north) on Saturday with a friend to see the traveling production of Mamma Mia. After the show we headed to the Northwest section of the city and what did we run across? Vespa scooters. Not one, not two… Seven in all. Seven!! I was in scooter heaven! Especially this one, parked in an empty garage against a textured wall in some moody light. It was calling my name. Luckily, I had my little Canon PowerShot with me to answer the call.

Someday, I will have a red Vespa scooter. And I will park it in front of every texture-y wall I can find to take pictures. Until then, I will take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way to live vicariously through taking photos of someone else’s red Vespa.  And I can do this in Portland. Who knew?

What a weekend though! Not only was there fabulous scooter love to be found, but we received our container from Italy. Yay! Early Saturday morning, the truck pulled up and there was the container waiting to be unloaded. All sealed and packed, just as it was as it left from our apartment on Via Matteotti. That means, however, that our lives are in disarray again. The semblance of order and routine we had been able to create for a few weeks is once again dismantled as we unpack boxes and try to figure out how to fit everything in to our house. Our house in the US and our apartment in Italy were the same size in square feet/meters, but there was so much more storage in the Italian apartment. Add the belongings that were in storage in the US to the items we collected over two years in Italy, and you have the makings of one gigantic garage sale in a few weeks. First priority is to get to the point I can walk through the house without tripping over anything though!

On top of that, the Liberate Your Art postcard swap blog hop was going on. So fun! I had such a great time hopping around, seeing where the art ended up. It provided a much needed break from the unpacking. The swap turned out better than I imagined, and the blog hop was a blast. I can’t wait to do the swap again in 2012!!

Until then, I have tons going on around here…

  • Find Your Eye registration is open for the September-October class series! I’ll be running Starting the Journey and the all-new Journey of Inspiration. Right now the August class, Journey of Recognition, is going on and has it been fantastic. I couldn’t ask for a better group of participants. I love doing this!
  • We are exploring Night Photography in Exploring with a Camera. I had forgotten how much I love taking photos at night! I hope you will join us and link in before Wednesday. You can still get the Night Photography Camera Companion if you sign up for the newsletter too. I’m sending a “catch up” newsletter to all new subscribers this week so that new subscribers don’t miss out.
  • You still have a few more days to catch Superhero Summer Camp too. Sign up for this fun and free six-week class closes on August 31. 
  • And finally – in honor of the seven Vespas of Portland – how about a GIVEAWAY!! My first one on US soil. I am going to give away a set of my new “Classic Italian Transport” postcards to one lucky reader, and a Vespa mousepad to another.

I will draw for the postcards on Wednesday morning when I write my blog post, from the comments left on this post. Let’s make it fun, you can have more than one entry. How about a whole bunch of entries!! Leave a separate comment for each of the following:
1. Just to say hi!
2. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook
3. If you are a newsletter subscriber
4. If you have registered for a Find Your Eye course (past or present) 
Good Luck!

Linking in to Creative Every Day and Creative Exchange, as always. Happy Monday! 

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