8 things I love to photograph

Over the years, looking through a lens has taught my eye to see things differently, until that way of perceiving beauty became second nature to me.
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I have noticed how there are certain things that I am just drawn to photographing – certain subjects that recur in my photographs again and again, whether I travel far or take my camera for a stroll down the block.

1. Reflections

​What I love most about reflections is that sometimes they are obvious and right in my path, while other times I have to actively search for them – consciously changing my angle or height and hoping for a little bit of luck. Yes, I am that person who circles around a puddle (at least) twice, staring deeply into it like she has lost an earring (or her mind). I am incidentally also that person who looks like she’s spying on people through a window, or that she’s about to fall over into a canal…It’s almost always worth it, though. Reflections are little treasures that bring me a lot of joy.

2. Boats

​If you know a little bit about me by now, you know that I feel deeply connected to the sea. Port towns, fishing villages, colorful boats, anchors and nautical rope are among my favorite elements to photograph, quite simply because they are among my favorite things in life.

3. Decay

​My time with Venice has made me appreciate the raw beauty of decay and disrepair. There is something rather poetic about a place standing the test of time – faded, weather-beaten witnesses of a long string of days and all the wisdom that age brings.

4. Daily details

​One of the most important gifts my camera has ever given me is the ability to document even my most ordinary days and, through that act, to realize that simplicity is the purest kind of beauty. When I discovered my growing interest in photography, I made it a point to practice every day by committing to a 365 project – a photo a day. What we don’t realize between glorious snapshots are that some days – perhaps even most days – are utterly ordinary and uneventful. On those days, my photo subjects were random things like fresh laundry, folded sweaters, frost on a windowpane or pillows on my couch.

​I enjoyed the exercise so much that it became a habit, even on eventful days or incredible travels. I consider it a kind of mindfulness exercise, to notice and celebrate simplicity.

​The glorification of the mundane is a running theme in many of my photographs and in the writing that fills many of my journals; everyday beauty and daily details, in travels and in my own life, are often the snapshots that I appreciate the most when I look back on the year. 

5. Textures and patterns

​Looking through the lens really trained my eye to pick up on lines, patterns and textures, and to experiment with compositions that showcased them. I felt my tastes change over time; I became more interested in an urban, industrial feel, and played a lot more with lighting and with black and white to bring out the mood in those scenes.

​I love geometricity, hard patterns and soft patterns, perfect lines and imperfect lines. I love asymmetry as much as symmetry. What I love most is to be surprised when patterns and textures manage to make a statement in a photograph – sometimes even more than in the real-time moment itself. 

6. Shutters and balconies

​My fascination with shutters started early on, in Italy. Windows and shutters are portholes into a different view, the threshold between inside and outside, private and public. Balconies are often glimpses into the architecture of a city and the life of its residents. Best of all, my love for window shutters and balconies makes me lift my eyes up and around, in search of color, perspective and inspiring urban oases. 

7. Food

Food photography is my guilty pleasure – my secret dream, the skill I would leap into perfecting if I had the luxury of dropping everything else for a while. I can’t tell you how many times a month I am tempted to procure antique silverware, paint different kinds of wood slabs as tabletops and allow myself to lose track of time cooking, staging and photographing dishes in the natural light pouring in from the guest bedroom window.

Fun fact: Often one of my new year’s resolutions involves dabbling in new cooking and food photography projects. One year was the year of “Twenty soups”. Another year, I promised to make 12 kinds of risotto in the autumn and winter months (“Risautumn”).

My love for cooking began when I moved to Europe and lived on my own for the first time. My love for food photography was sparked by the magical cookbooks written by Tessa Kiros, photographed by Manos Chatzikonstantis and styled by Michail Touros.

8. Sunsets

​Sunsets used to plunge me into melancholy; I would watch quietly as the sun dropped to the horizon, feeling a very mild twinge of angst that the passing of time could be so blatantly visible to the eye. I have grown more accustomed to sunsets and to celebrating their beauty, even though I am still not fully comfortable with the series of milliseconds leading up to point where the sun suddenly gets pulled beneath the horizon. I childishly hate the idea that I can’t see something that was just right there. I enjoy photographing that series of milliseconds, as if to try and cheat time and freeze it, so the sun won’t actually dip out of our eyes’ reach.

What do you love to photograph?

​Tell me what draws your eye. I’d love to know.

​This was Part 6 of the Birthday Blog Series. Veni Etiam Photography is celebrating its two-year birthday this month. Stay tuned for the final part of the birthday blog series and take advantage of the special PAIRDEAL birthday promotion ending on January 31st.  

From my heart to yours.

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