Kat Eye Studio

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Hangin’ with the Crew

To me, scooters have personality. You’ve got your cute scooters, your functional scooters, and then there are the eccentric scooters. We ran across a whole store just for scooters in San Francisco, how cool is that?

This crew was parked outside on the street, waiting for new owners. These guys definitely have personality. They’ve lived interesting lives, scootered in interesting places, had interesting owners. They might be a bit beat up, but that’s what gives them personality, just like humans. They are just hanging out for now, waiting for the next adventure to start. And you know there will be adventures, because any scooter with personality like this isn’t going to end up with the “average” owner. Any predictions on their futures?

Tomorrow is a new Exploring with a Camera! Be sure to stop by and see what we’ll be exploring this month. It will be dynamic and fun!

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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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Buddy and the Bay Bridge

Oh, the beauty of a big city with mild weather – scooter sightings galore! All around San Francisco, I noticed a new brand of scooter I hadn’t seen before. These “Buddy” brand scooters are very cute with classic styling and colors. How fun to find this one parked where I could get a reflection of the Bay Bridge in as well!

There are many more scooter sightings from San Francisco to come. I’ll try to not overwhelm you with them all at once, or you might think I have an obsession with scooters or something…

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Scooter Sightings: Too Italian

I am in love. In love with a scene that just screams “Italy” to me. I decided it was time for the monthly Scooter Sightings post so I visited my archive, discovering this image. Why didn’t I see and celebrate this image before? It has so many elements that are Italian – the texture, the niche, the scooter parked where it’s not supposed to be parked. I’m entranced by the triangle of red created between the flowers, the scooter and the candle. A perfect scooter sighting. I can’t believe I’m just falling in love with it now, more than a year after I encountered the scene in Sicily.

Scooter sightings are still pretty slim around here in Oregon, what with the SNOW and all! I did see a very bundled up scooter rider the other day, the brave soul. I’m longing for warm summer days to get out on my scooter again!

Until then, I have to manage with scooter sightings from my archive. And thankfully, I have more people sharing scooter sightings with me…

This sighting comes from Sherry, in Alvin, Texas. She says the owners were taking a motorcycle class at the Community College in Alvin. How cute is that, with the red VW bug pulling the red scooter? The only thing that would make it better is if it was a FIAT 500 instead of a bug!

Next we have these unusual sightings sent by Brianna from San Francisco, California. I asked her what was up with the typewriter, and she answered, “I was working on a photo shoot for the cover of the next edition of The Edge, a local literary publication here in Tahoe. It was a fun shoot, we just walked around San Francisco shooting this old typewriter in odd places.” A typewriter on a scooter, odd indeed!

Thanks to both Brianna and Sherry for helping me get my scooter sighting fix! Do you have a scooter sighting? Send it to me and I’ll share it here on the blog in my next Scooter Sightings post.

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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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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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