We noticed it last year when we first got here… purple is everywhere. People wear purple all of the time. Purple sweaters, striped shirts, purple pants and lots of purple shoes. Men, women, children – purple, violet, lavender – all decked out in purple. In the winter it changed to darker purple shades to go with black. So I guess it shouldn’t be completely suprising to have found a purple gondola in Venice, near some beautiful purple flowers in bloom, but I have to admit it was an unusual sight. Italy always has little surprises for me like this.
Aaaaah, Venezia
I must share this today, I am compelled to share this today, as we head to Venice this morning for a quick overnight trip. Because we can. I love Venice and Murano and Burano and have had the urge to get back. So we planned this short little trip last weekend, bribing Brandon with the promise of a gondola ride (he’s begged the last two times we were there), and off we go. Because we can. Isn’t that amazing? I am truly, truly lucky.
Quiet
The quiet of the evening, after a hazy, gray day on the island of Murano. The water and light in this photo evoke a sense of peace and calm, layering the world in monochromatic hues. This is from our second trip to Venice and surrounding islands, last November. I’m feeling the urge to go back!
Timing is Everything
With photography, timing is everything. Finding the transient light, that fleeting expression, the transitions of nature. Or in this case, that other photographer’s flash! I love this image from Venice, where just I happened to have the shutter open at the moment someone in the gondola took a picture. I love the star of light from the flash, the sharp shadow of the gondolier on the wall, the interesting exposure of the buildings. A serendipitous happenstance, I couldn’t have planned this shot. That makes it all the better.
Color is like Music
“Color is like music, it uses [a] shorter way to come to our senses, to awake[n] our emotions.” I quite can’t read the name of the quote’s author in this photo, but I loved the quote and the color of this house in Burano. I’m sure every tourist that walks by it takes a photo of this. It captures your eye.
But, fun picture aside, I agree with the quote. I have been toying with this idea that there is a “soul language” that each of us has, a language that is a shortcuts our brain circuitry to our heart and soul. It gets past all of our outer layers of shoulds and shouldn’ts, our learned responses and expectations from our family, our friends, our culture, whatever. To a place where your response is truly you.
My soul language is visual imagery. Whether it be color, composition, light… It’s one of the reasons I love photography and painting and any other type of visual art. It speaks to me.
A while ago, I was reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and feeling guilty. She loves the Italian language just for it’s sound. Came to Italy to live and learn and experience the language (ok, and the food). There are lots of people who do this, so my brain was asking me, “Why aren’t you so excited about learning Italian? Here you are in Italy for two years, every opportunity to immerse yourself, but you aren’t taking advantage of it!” Complete guilt mode. Then I realized – that’s not my soul language. Elizabeth Gilbert is a writer, words and language are probably her soul language, not mine.
I can immerse myself in the art and visual beauty of Italy and get just as much out of the experience, because it’s my soul language. What’s yours?
Happy Monday
This picture just exudes optimism to me. It is beautiful morning in Venice. The sun is shining, the reflections are beautiful and the photo just seems to say, “It’s going to be a great day.”
This morning I was reading about optimism as a habit. Like being happy, optimism can be a learned behavior. Of course, some of us have a natural bent toward the glass being half full, but that doesn’t mean if you don’t that you can’t see things that way. Because being an optimist means that you are open possibilities and solutions that are out there, instead of shutting yourself into a box with no way out. Today I’m choosing optimism. It’s going to be a great day!