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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Meeting of the Minds

One of the best things about travel is meeting up with online friends! I was excited to connect with several friends from the San Francisco area during our Spring Break visit.

On this trip I was able to meet Cindy (La Princepessa Errante), Kim (Mosey Along) and Gina (Here and Now). People always ask me if it’s weird to meet up with people you don’t know like this, and my answer is absolutely not. I do know these women, even if we’ve never met in person. It’s like meeting old friends. You already know you have things in common, it’s just a matter of linking a real, 3D person to the 2D online persona.

Gina is one of my oldest online friends, we connected through Creative Every Day and found we had much in common between our photography and love of Italy. I was so excited to meet her in person! We were the early birds and I recognized her right away. She is the nicest person ever, just as you would think from reading her blog. Here she is, capturing a statue in the courtyard of the Hills Bros. Coffee Building.

Kim and I were muses together at Mortal Muses, and formed a strong connection early on. We both love the combination of photographs and words. It was lovely to meet her in person, and to “mosey along” with her for a while.

We both took photos of this warehouse and it will be fun to see how they are different! Me, of course, with my “straight on” view, while Kim goes for the angle.

And we were lucky to be joined by Cindy, a wealth of information on the art and architecture of San Francisco! I loved hearing her stories. She knows much of the history of the buildings and took us to some fantastic places as we walked around, like the Rincon Center.

I think we talked more than we photographed anything. That’s pretty normal with a meetup like this, in my experience. I joke we should call it a “photo talk” instead of a “photo walk.” Our love of photography brings us together but the connections always go beyond taking photographs.

We ended with a lovely lunch and then headed back to the Ferry Building where we parted ways. The weather was kind and held off with the rain until we were finishing up.

It is lovely to bring online friendships into the “real” world. Meeting Gina, Cindy and Kim was no exception. I am lucky to have so many wonderful online friends, made through blogging and classes. I hope to meet more of you in person some day!

It’s always fun to see the perspectives of different photographers. There is nothing like a meetup like this to show you that each photographer has a unique point of view. You can read about Gina’s experience here and Cindy’s experience here. Kim’s off on Spring Break so we’ll have to catch up with her experience later.

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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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