Kat Eye Studio

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Message from your Heart

Your heart has a message for you. It says, “Stop running around. Do something you love.”


You can link in this weekend with the Mortal Muses on negative space. If you are looking for peaceful images that give you space to breathe, check these out. There is something so calming about negative space in photos.

This stoplight is real, the heart is not a figment of my imagination created in Photoshop. It could be found a few blocks from our apartment in Italy. We lived near a hospital, and one of the intersections near the research buildings had this stoplight. Very cool, huh? I tried photographing it numerous ways, but it turns out negative space, stoplight and sky, was the way to go. 

I hope you’ll heed this message over the weekend. Stop with the “to do” list for a little while and do something you love. Your heart will thank you!

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What’s going on around The Kat Eye View of the World…

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Set in Stone

A last little bit of love graffiti, this time from Murten, Switzerland. In Switzerland, you don’t find much graffiti, so these little declarations of love are a bit harder to find than in Italy. I loved the messages etched into the sandstone, in this little hideaway above the town. I wonder how long it took to create this heart?

I guess no matter the rules or the laws or the culture, the need to publicly commemorate feelings remains and is acted out in different ways. Whether it’s ink on a wall, a lock on a railing, initials carved into a tree trunk or hearts etched in sandstone, love finds a way to speak. I hope you enjoyed these images, this Valentine’s week.

Yesterday I was musing on street scenes at Mortal Muses, so come by if you would like to see the street personality of Lisbon and Chinatown in San Francisco.

Today I have one last message of love to share! Ashley at Ramblings and Photos has challenged us to write Love Letters to Kitty Paw, her cat. So, I dusted off my digital scrapbooking skills to help our cat Stevie send a letter. Didn’t he have a sweet message for Kitty Paw?

Click the image below see all of the fun love letters linked in! You might just be inspired to join in too.

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What’s the Story?

This image caught my eye on the train traveling from Lisbon to Cascais, along the coast of Portugal. Originally, all I saw was the heart, just barely visible in the window from where I was sitting. Then the sun came out from behind the clouds and the message was broadcast inside the car. It’s double graffiti, two surfaces for the painting of one!

I enjoyed all of the comments on yesterday’s blog post Ti Amo. So many different perspectives were shared. If you have some time, take a quick read here to enjoy them too.

I thought today it might be fun to spark your imagination, and ask you to make up stories to go along with this love graffiti. What story do you see in this image? I can’t wait to hear!

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Love at the Sea

This heart art was found at an overlook of the Mediterranean sea, it Boccadassee (a little fishing village that is part of Genova). These little overlooks or benches in public parks are often places that young lovers will meet for a bit of privacy. It’s not really private exactly, but when so many people live in such close contact it’s all relative I guess. You will often find “love” graffiti in little spots like this.

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Graffiti or Urban Art?

Occasionally we run across something on a building that is more art than graffiti. I wonder, was it intended to be there? Or did it just come out so cool that it became art and was left alone? This urban “heart” art is in Amsterdam. I love to convert these images to black and white except for the graffiti, it really makes it pop!

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Happy Valentine’s Day


We are in the states this week, our “Home Leave” in Corvallis, so starting with Valentine’s Day today I thought I would post a few pics of various hearts I’ve collected in my photos.

This photo is one of my early favorites from our time here in Italy, from Bergamo. I actually didn’t see the graffiti heart at all when I took the picture, but when I was reviewing on the screen it just popped out at me. This is a time I’m sure that my inner eye saw something that my conscious brain didn’t even register. These types of images are what make me trust my instincts in my photography.

So enjoy this heart today, and a Valentine’s wish from me!

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