Kat Eye Studio

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The Calm Before Dawn

I am an early riser. This becomes very apparent when we are on vacation and the alarms are turned off, yet I wake well before the rest of my family. This morning on our recent trip, I woke to see the sky beginning to lighten, and decided to get up to watch the dawn from the balcony of our room on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily. I watched as the clouds began to glow and the fishing vessels came out to start their work day. This boat did an interesting circle before moving on, can you see the remains of the wake? Such a calm and peaceful moment, it fills me with quiet joy even today. I hope it does the same for you!

The Exploring with a Camera: Capture the Sky link closed this morning. Have you seen the amazing images that were shared? If not, I encourage you to take a look at this link up and see the wonderful interpretations for Capture the Sky. They were breathtaking. I so enjoyed this theme, and greatly appreciate the wonderful participation from all of you.

Tomorrow will be a new Exploring with a Camera, come back for an exploration of photos in Square Format. See you then!

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The Truth about Carnevale

Carnevale in Venice sounds magical, doesn’t it? The pageantry, the history, the color in an amazing setting. That’s what comes through in the images, isn’t it?

Here’s the truth about Carnevale in Venice…

It’s all a big show for tourists and photographers. I have never seen so many big lenses in one place. Near Piazza San Marco, where the best costumes were found, it was like Disneyland. Disneyland in peak season with no crowd control. Instead of parents pushing and shoving to get photographs of kids with characters, it’s big lens photographers pushing and shoving to get the best angle on the mask. Those in the masks, the seriously gorgeously costumed people, worked it for all it was worth and even had business cards to give to those with the biggest of the big lenses.

Here’s a quick glimpse at the image those photographers were trying to get. There is probably a much better composition on this, I just didn’t feel like pushing and shoving my way in to get it.

This is not my kind of photography, not my Venice.

I am forced to admit, Venice is a place that pretty much exists for tourists any more. It is a gorgeous, fascinating place with such a rich history. In some ways it is sad that it has been reduced to this to survive. In some ways I am glad, because otherwise this wonderful place would just be allowed to sink into the lagoon.

Carnevale is part of Venice’s amazing history, maybe one of the biggest draws by the number of masks you see for sale in shops and crowds on this one day alone. It is incredible to see the costumes. I am glad we went, and I’m glad it was for only one day. I’m glad Carnevale was not my only experience with Venice, there is so much more to it than masks. I have more very cool images to share in coming days, but even as I share them I want you to know the truth behind them. It’s not as magical as it seems.

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Vacation or Travel?

Today I share with you one of the last images of our week in Sicily. Not because it’s one of the best images, but because I need to hold on to this moment just for a little bit longer. This was my view yesterday morning as I sat on the balcony of our hotel room in Taormina. I sat, reading in the sun, as my family lay sleeping inside the room. During these few beautiful moments in the sun as I looked out over the Ionian Sea, I finally got it – the difference between vacation and travel. I finally got why someone would go visit a place with a beach for a whole week without moving. Just sitting in the sun and reading.

You see, we’ve spent almost the last two years Traveling. Travel, by my definition, is where you go visit someplace new with an intent to see as much as possible. Learn. Move. See more. You pack as much as possible in to your visit, because you will never get to this place again. Life is too short, there is too much to see in the world. We’ve always travelled this way, even around the US, before living in Italy.

Vacation, by my new definition, is where you sit back and relax. You experience where you are visiting by easing into it. You do see new things, but you give yourself time to enjoy the moment. Sit in the sun on the balcony, if that’s what you need. You listen to your body, come back refreshed instead of worn out.

How about you – do you travel or do you vacation?

Slowly, slowly over the last year we’ve changed our style from our earlier frenetic traveling to vacationing. Instead of moving hotels every one to two days, we stay in one place longer. Moving no more than one or two places in a week. We opt for the “view” room if we can, to give us a place we enjoy staying “in” if that’s what we need. We check in with ourselves, and if we don’t feel like visiting one more Roman ruin or Medieval town, we don’t. Sometimes you just need to sit in a piazza and eat gelato. Or sit on the balcony and read.

We had a wonderful visit to Sicily, you’ll see the photos in the coming days. We slowed down and enjoyed our moments – rainy or sunny.. Maybe this is what the whole “Slow Travel” movement is about, I’ll have to look into it now. In the meantime, I’m going to gaze at this picture and remember these last few moments in the sun for a bit longer…

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A Glimpse of Carnevale

We stopped back home last Saturday night briefly before flying out to Sicily, just long enough to download my Carnevale photos and sleep for the night. Here’s a little glimpse of Carnevale to whet your appetite. Does it leave you wanting more?

I’ll see you all on Monday!

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Share Your View: Capture the Sky

Aaaaah, another sky image from the Amalfi Coast. Would you believe, this was taken from a bus? Yep, a public bus careening around the corners of the winding coast road. It was all in the preparation and timing, along with a little bit of cropping.

Have you noticed the sky more this week? That always happens to me, when before or after I post an Exploring with a Camera. Capture the Sky is no exception. I hope you will come over to the blog, link in and visit some of the other images that have been posted. The link tool will close March 9 so you still have time, and recent or archive shots are welcome.

What’s your view? The sky’s the limit!

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The View from the Top

Last week, when looking for a photo with words on it to link in to a Shutter Sisters prompt, I realized that I never posted this. I showed the image before the words some time ago, but in some ways the words transform this photo. They are a reflection of the emotion of my son in silhouette. On top of the world!

I’m off on vacation this week, but I wanted to share this image as another way to Capture the Sky. Creating a blank space in your photos with a clear sky is a great way to “reserve” the space for later use, like the addition of the quote. It’s also interesting to see the tones you can get from the sky when an image is converted to black and white. The sky did not appear this dark in the color version, but it provides a perfect place for white text.