Kat Eye Studio

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Waiting for a Sale

Waiting, waiting, waiting. How much of our lives are spent waiting? What do we do with that time? Do we use it as a breather, an enjoyable respite in the day, or are we impatient? It’s so easy to view waiting as “in our way” to get to something else. What if we change our view? How would that affect our day?

Consider this gentleman, a flower vendor in Paris. Waiting for a sale. Here at the edge of the market, customers peruse his wares and he waits. What ultimate patience he must have, to sit quietly and watch. All day, every day. Let people decide, on their own time scale and terms, if they want to buy anything. There is something we can learn from this gentleman who seems to have mastered waiting.

This is definitely one of the more “busy” of my new Market/Wheels images. There is so much going on in this picture, between the flower booth, the bike and the background. But there is this island of calm, the vendor who waits, that draws me in.

Tomorrow I will share the last of my new Market/Wheels images, and turn the tables to you to get your opinions on which I should include in the exhibition. It will be fun to hear what you have to say, and I have a great giveaway to go along with it too! See you then.

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Tucked Away

Lots of news today!

First, today is the last day to link up for January’s Photo-Heart Connection. There’s been a great response to this new series! I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to connect with each of you as you connect with your heart. I love seeing the community of kindred spirits grow around this. Don’t worry about being a “latecomer” to the party. It lasts a week so that you have time to find your heart connection and write about it. That’s not always easy! Consider joining in today.

Second, the winner of the Evidence of Love postcard giveaway is comment #20: Sharon. Congrats Sharon! Enjoy sharing a little love with the world. If you didn’t win and you would still like to share the love, the images in the Evidence of Love series are all available in my RedBubble shop. Or, as always, I encourage you to create your own images and share the love that way. So many options!

I continue my sharing of new Market/Wheels images today with this one from Venice. As I showed the other day, in the Venetian Lagoon it’s not all delivery by water. Wheels are needed to get the market wares to the shops, the same as in any city, they are just smaller and non-motorized. It takes effort to live and work in Venice.

This image shows you what a typical market store looks like in Venice. Tucked in a side alley, off the tourist paths, you will find these little markets bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to the permanent population. The texture that is found everywhere in Venice comes through here, from the rust on the cart to the crumbly brick walls. It’s a perfect example of why I loved photographing Venice so much, with the bonus of being part of the market/wheels series too.

I hope you have a wonderful day today!

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Ignoring the Looks

Do you ever feel self-conscious taking a photo? Most of us do, when we start out in photography. Maybe for a long, long time. That little voice in our says things like…
You probably shouldn’t be photographing here.
What will people think?
They are looking at me!
If we listen to it, that little voice can prevent us from taking photos in many situations. It can prevent us from following our heart, prevent us from capturing the image we were called to take.

Today’s market/wheels photo is no exception. It was taken just off Piazza del Duomo in Florence. This little snack cart also had bicycles for rental. As we walked around the duomo, I spotted it and spent a few minutes studying it with my camera, while the vendor of the stand looked critically on. Did it make me uncomfortable to have him there? Heck yeah. But I had a mission, to get a good market/wheels photo. I was struggling with this scene, but I knew I had a unique image here to capture. So I too a deep breath, ignored him, and moved around for a while, eventually finding this composition that worked. I love the depth of the image, looking down the street past the cart to the chair and the second bicycle.

I must be honest, if I had stopped, it would not have been the first time my resolve had withered under the gaze of a watcher. There have been countless times that I have noticed people watching me photograph, and stopped what I was doing. Why? Was I doing anything wrong? Being on the street, in a public area, absolutely not. There are no people, so neither was I violating anyone’s privacy by taking their photo when they didn’t want me to. And who knows what the vendor was really thinking. Probably, “Yes, a tourist! How much money can I get her to pay for an apple?” (I’ve never felt like I was a walking dollar sign anywhere in Italy more than I did in Florence. That town is tuned to squeeze every dollar it can out of tourists.)

So, how do you get over the gazes? The seemingly critical eye of people around you?

  • First, you have to want the shot. Want it more than you care about anything else. If you’re worried about how you look more than how the photograph looks, you will not overcome your discomfort.
  • Second, you have to be willing to look a little weird to the average person. Non-photographers will not understand what you are doing when you get down on the dirty ground to get that awesome angle. You will get looks. Accept that as a fact.
  • Know your rights, but also be respectful of others wishes. Are you on private property? Is there a sign that says “no photography?” Are you in a store and the owner asks you to stop photographing? On private property, the property owner sets the rules. Respect them. In public places, a little respect also goes a long way, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t photograph.
  • It happens rarely, but if someone asks you to stop photographing, politely apologize and move on. A little humility also goes a long way.
  • Realize that the quizzical looks you get are really just passing glances. People aren’t paying much attention to you. They are off in their own world. If they stop and watch you for a while, you can acknowledge them with a smile and a shrug of your shoulders, and get back to capturing your images.

I could have let the looks of the vendor scare me off here, but I’ve grown a thicker skin. The image I’m working toward is worth more than avoiding the looks I might get. If you get tripped up by this common feeling of worry about what other people are thinking as you take a photo, I encourage you to take a deep breath and continue. Do it once or twice, to push past the discomfort, and see how it goes. What’s the worst that can happen? You apologize and offer to delete the photo if someone asks you to stop. The best that can happen? You get an awesome image, and you have a little more confidence the next time you are photographing out and about.


Don’t miss the giveaway I have going on right now for some Evidence of Love! Visit here to see the details and enter. Today is the last day for entry – I’ll draw tomorrow morning!

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Time for a Giveaway!

While I continue sharing the new images for my Market/Wheels series, it’s also time for a giveaway! Read on to see what I have to giveaway today.

Today’s market/wheels image is from Padua, Italy. I spent one day here with my sister during our “Sister’s Tour of the Veneto” in late 2009. We had a fun few days of exploring the Veneto, the region that Venice used to control, and we visited this famous market square in the university town of Padua (Padova, in Italian). This image is a great capture of a moment between vendor and customer, with the inclusion of this customer’s fabulous red wheels. I want that bike!

I’m breaking with the market/wheels theme for the giveaway though, to give away some postcards from my Evidence of Love portfolio available in my RedBubble shop!

I love how these turned out! I want to get these sent off to someone (you??) so that you too can share the love for Valentine’s Day. All you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post to enter, one entry per person. I’ll draw and announce the winner on Tuesday morning, 7 February. It’s been a while since I’ve given anything away, so I’m excited to liberate these into the world. You can share the love, by helping me share the word on the giveaway too!

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From Water to Wheels

I couldn’t miss Venice in my Market/Wheels exploration! How do they get their produce to the markets on the islands? By water, of course, and then transitioned to wheels. You can’t get away from the market/wheel combo, even in the Venetian Lagoon.

I was lucky enough to catch this transition from water to wheels on my favorite island of color, Burano. This is just a little glimpse into the daily life and all the work it takes to live in this fascinating place. Enjoy!

PS – The Photo-Heart Connection is going STRONG! I’m so excited for all of the connections we are making through this new project. The link up is open for three more days, there is still time for you to join in.

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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!