Kat Eye Studio

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Where is Home?

I’m home! Back in Italy. But I was also home, back in Oregon. And sometimes I visit home, heading to my childhood haunts in Colorado. This trip has made me stop and ask, where is home? What makes a home? I certainly felt at home these last couple of weeks in Oregon, spending time with friends and being in a familiar town, even though I was staying in a hotel. And it also feels like I’m home now that I’m back in Italy in our apartment with my husband and son and very needy cat.

I was thinking about a few of the sayings about home we Americans have….

Home sweet home.

Home is where you hang your hat.

Home is where the heart is.

I think I can define “home” as any where I feel comfortable and accepted. It’s a feeling, not a place. I carry it with me, across the time zones and oceans and cultures. I find that I have multiple homes, even one here, in the virtual world. What a comforting thought!

With these thoughts on “home” I’m curious – where is your home? How do you define it for yourself?

PS – Wasn’t the view I had of the Alps on the way into Milan gorgeous today?

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Beads of Fog

What happens when it’s cloudy and foggy on the mountaintop you visit? What happens when you look out and around and all you can see is a soft white? You start to notice the little details, close at hand. The way the fog beads up on the alpine grasses and flowers, like little crowns.
The softness of the light and the splashes of color of the wildflowers against the patina of the tundra.
The way the fog fades into the distance, providing a perfect backdrop to capture shining edges of nature’s summer blanket in the Alps.

Who needs grand vistas, anyway?

(Photos from Eisel Peak on Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland.)

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Beauty Shot

The Swiss Alps at sunset, a beautiful scene from the town of Interlaken. Here is a beauty shot of the Alps for you! We had a lot of overcast and rainy weather while we were in the mountainous part of Switzerland, which made for interesting cloud and fog photos, but not always those classic Swiss Alps shots that might be expected. That’s ok with me, it just makes me get more creative with what I do capture, and also to appreciate the little bit of clear mountains we did get to see!

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Into the Distance

I love this image from Alpe di Siusi for the light, the shape and the hint of where it was taken in the distance. I have another version with much more in focus, but it doesn’t have the “feel” that this one does. I thought about why not, and I think it’s because this image isn’t as obvious. It’s not saying “See, look at me, I’m in the Alps!” Instead it says, “Hey look at me, I’m this fence in the snow. Look the snow is deep and it’s a beautiful sunny day. Oh, and by the way, follow this fence out into the distance, there’s a hint of something there, maybe some snow covered mountains. Don’t you wonder where I am?” The secrets aren’t all revealed at once, they invite the viewer in to share and speculate.

As I write this I am reminded of a great blog post by Jenny on RisingSunCoaching.com that I read this week. Our life journeys don’t have everything laid out for us all the time. It’s like this photograph, you have to discover things one piece (or “crumb” as she puts it) at a time.

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Breathtaking Moments


“Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by its breathtaking moments.”
– Michael Vance

This photo started out as a fun photo of Brandon in Alpe di Siusi, he had scrambled to the top of a big snow hill and stopped for a moment to celebrate being at the top before we moved on. The sky was blue, Brandon’s smile is so natural, just caught a happy photo. But when I change it to black and white, it becomes more powerful. It becomes a breathtaking moment to me, a photo essay on the joy of being 8 years old, in an amazing place and feeling free to just be and experience something new.

For Brandon, I wish a lifetime full of breathtaking moments, and the wisdom to see them and truly enjoy them when they happen. We are living a lot of them right now!

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