Kat Eye Studio

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Soaring

Look at this hood ornament. Doesn’t she look like she’s soaring? Head up, face straight into the wind, with confidence and joy. A few months ago when we visited the Italian car museum in Torino I was fascinated with hood ornaments on the cars from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s and have many pictures of them. This one captures a spirit of freedom that the others don’t though. She belongs on the hood of this car. You can tell, this is her place and it is right for her to be there.

Why do I love her so much? What does she represent for me? I think maybe she represents how I want to live my life… looking forward, speeding ahead into the unknown, the wind on my face. A feeling of exhilaration and freedom from restraint. Of unrepressed joy in the rightness of being where I am. For her, it doesn’t matter the destination, it’s the movement she celebrates. There is no fear in her.

Life lessons from a hood ornament. Who knew?

What does she say to you?

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Seeing Double

“Seeing Double,” capturing a subject in reflection, was the prompt for the last week in Picture Inspiration. I love capturing reflections in my images, whether in water, glass or metal. I found this image in Milan during our hunt for the tricolore in March. Piazza del Duomo is always a busy place, but on a holiday, it’s incredibly crowded. The puddle gave a fantastic reflection of the Duomo, but only when the space behind it was clear of people. I spent quite a bit of time waiting and watching how the crowd moved to capture this image, a great example of Waiting to Click. Even then, I had to do some creative editing (tilt, black and white) to eliminate some distracting elements outside of my control.

The other “Seeing Double” images I shared this week are of cars. This car in the streets of Ravenna was interesting on its own, but the reflection gives it a sense of place that just sings “Italy.” It reminds me of another reflection-in-car image I took, very early in our time in Italy. For me, that sense of place makes all the difference, since cars aren’t normally one of my favorite subjects.

That’s why it’s surprising that my third “Seeing Double” image is of a car as well. This fantastic black Mercedes from the 1930’s was found in the Museo dell’Automobile, just reopened after extensive remodeling in Torino. We visited last Sunday afternoon on a quest to see vintage Fiats, and were rewarded with many more vintage European cars as well. My favorite cars were from the 1920’s and 1930’s, they had such style! I loved how the reflection continued the pattern of the men in tuxedos from the wall behind into the body of this classic 30’s automobile. 

Have a great weekend! We are off to Florence this weekend, riding the Freccia Rossa (“Red Wind” – the high speed train between Milan and Rome) for one last visit. Be sure to come by on Monday – I have something new and exciting to share with you!

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The Next Destination

You never know what you are going to find, as you wander around a city. This photo is from Turin, and is one that is hanging on my living room wall. At the time I was looking for photos I could do a “spot of red” processing to match my decor scheme, so that’s what I saw. Today I look at it and find it more humorous… these stately buildings and this proud statue, looking down on the red plastic chairs and umbrella. What must his stone lordship think, to have these plastic things mucking up his piazza? The blend of modern and historic in one place provides plenty of opportunity for these types of photographs here in Europe.

We are off to visit a new destination, for the next week, and I will be absent here. We are travelling further south in Italy, to Naples and Sorrento. We plan to visit the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and hopefully, if it hasn’t all collapsed yet, Pompeii. That is quite the scandal here, what is happening with the ruins in Pompeii.

I’ll see you in a week or so, with photos from a new area. In the meantime, I have a couple of posts scheduled for you, including the Share Your View on Holiday Lights. Please come by and link in, I can’t wait to come visit all of your photos when I get home. Have a great week!

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Alive


“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” – Agatha Christie

I read this quote this morning and it struck me as so true! I wanted to share the quote and chose this picture, a sort of self portrait of me in the mirror behind an Egyptian statue at the museum in Torino. One of the interesting things about ancient Egypt is their fascination and preparation for death. In one exhibit, they showed a tomb of a common man. This guy labored all day building the tombs of the mighty and powerful and then in his free time labored to build his own tomb. His life spent preparing for death.

I think I would rather spend my time alive in living, no matter how messy it might be.

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Holiday Reflections

The window displays are gorgeous here in Italy! I loved this creative and beautiful display in one of the shop windows in Torino. I don’t even remember what they were selling, but the display was memorable. Things are all decked out for the holidays here, extra colorful and glittery and festive. A bright spot in the dark and cold of winter.

We got a good snowstorm yesterday afternoon and evening, causing all sorts of problems trying to get home but we made it safe and sound. I need to get out today and get into the snow for some new pics while it lasts, it’s supposed to turn to rain later this week. I asked for snow, and I got it!

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