Blog by Kristina Kasparian Veni Etiam Photography - VENI ETIAM PHOTOGRAPHY

VENI ETIAM PHOTOGRAPHY

Doors and windows of the world

6/5/2019

Whenever I exhibit at shows and markets, you tell me that you have a thing with doors and windows too. They attract your eye, make you pause to take photos, make you want to display them in your home.

Doors and windows are portals into a world we can only imagine. Curious in nature, we wonder what lies beyond them, hidden on the other side. I especially love it when they are half open, inviting and mysterious.

This week's series is devoted to the mysterious allure of windows and doors of the world.

Which is your favorite?

Share your photos and thoughts with me over on Instagram. I'd love to connect with you!

From my heart to yours.

Patience and photography

4/10/2018

The practice of photography can sometimes be a true exercise of patience.

Of course, in some cases, one has to be very quick to capture a candid pose, a fleeting moment or an action in real-time. A lot of the time, though, a carefully composed photograph requires waiting for the elements you imagined to come together, or crowds to disperse. The scene is there, in front of you and in your mind, but you have to carve it out and freeze it just the way you want it to look in the photograph.

And for someone whose strongest suit isn't patience (ahem! hi!), this can be a therapeutic exercise!

Here are just 5 of the (many) photographs where I remember having to be really patient.

La Cubana (Havana, Cuba). I took 18 variations of this composition. The first couple were just of the empty square. My eye is always drawn to architectural details, so that scene was interesting enough for me. The repetition of doorways, the lintels and columns, the rough texture of the decaying walls, the contrasting colors of the painted doors and fresh laundry, the broken balustrade revealing a touch of sky.

But then, she appeared. From the tip of the square, she caught my eye. Her hat, her off-the-shoulders top, the way her skirt swayed when she walked, her assured step, her shadow cast by the beating midday sun... Her presence anchored the eye, and tied together the whole scene. My shutter followed her across the square, until I settled on this variation. A sense of movement, frozen, hanging, like those of the linens. A sense of character, like that of the aging building.

It may have taken over a quarter of an hour, standing there, repeating the procedure over and over again, to finally capture La Cubana.

Alfama (Lisboa, Portugal). Darkened cobblestones and metal tracks, against the pale church façade and the summer sky. The way the tram lines overhead and the tracks on the pavement gracefully curved around the corner, out of sight. The texture of the crumbling paint on the houses. The elegant details of the wrought iron balconies, lampposts and junctions in the tram lines. "Wouldn't it be lovely if a tram came down this way right now?" Well, "right now" may have been a dozen or two dozen minutes later. But, I waited. I studied the light, memorized the composition I wanted. And waited. I can remember my excitement (and relief) when the narrow lane livened up with the sound of its arrival. It was worth it, in the end.

The Perfect Sea (Corfu town, Corfu). It is already a feat to photograph a place when you've only just arrived - jet-lagged, still only beginning to unwind during those first few hours of your long-anticipated European holiday. But when throngs of visitors crowd the scene that you know has a near-perfect symmetry begging to be photographed, it takes some extra willpower to pause, centered, elbows in the air, waiting for every last person and their shadow to clear the frame.

Tramonto veneziano (Venice, Italy). When I am in my beloved Venice, I make sure that I have time. Time to walk, time to watch, time to feel. With a blank schedule, with only a general sense of where I feel like going, I wander. That allows me to wait for a moment that's all mine -- a reflection that no one else waited to see, a lane without people in it, just Venice. And this silhouette of a gondola, its gondoliere and a passenger, crossing a sunbeam of a thousand fiery crystals at dusk.

La Maruzzella (Santa Maria al Bagno, Italy). It was lunchtime and this small town on Italy's heel had paused for lunch. The menu was written on paper tablecloths stretched beneath the elbows of hungry locals and pinned down by decanters of local white wine. As we sat and savored urchins, spaghetti, clams and mussels, the Sea demanded to be thanked. It crept up and up, splashing onto the deck as though it tried to get further and stronger with each slam. I wanted to see it come through the gate. I waited an absurd amount of time to catch it, but it kept falling short of the gate each time. Until, finally, it slammed through.

Do you ever wait long for your pictures? Leave me a comment and let me know!

From my heart to yours.

The world's colorful houses

9/9/2018

The child in us comes alive at the sight of a colorful house. Sometimes there’s nothing more joyful than colorful doors or shutters, like out of a storybook.

What color would you paint your house, if you could?

Here are 5 photos to inspire you and your color palette.

"Color palette", Burano, Venice

"Lavender love", Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

"Like a dream", Havana, Cuba

"Juxtaposed", Toronto, Canada

"When I grow up", Montreal, Canada

Have an inspiring week!

From my heart to yours.

For more of this series:

5 photos to start your week: Pivotal moments

25/3/2018

Snapshots sometimes capture pivotal moments in your life, though you only realize they were pivotal once you look back on them years later.

This week's photo inspiration is dedicated to 5 moments (in 5 places) that marked a turning point - small or large - in my life journey.

My time in the Basque Country, which was not only the place where I met several key players in my field of scientific research but where I diligently experimented with my digital camera and pondered whether I could eventually sell my travel photography to inspire others.

That summer - and that place - in Germany, where it felt like the world was my oyster, where it felt like my soul was on fire. Alive, capable, passionate and absolutely happy.

Berlin, which was the hub of many impassioned moments, many decisions and many returns.

Barbati, where, after a very difficult string of months - no, years - I finally shook myself to embrace mindfulness and inner peace.

Venice - my soul city - in that precise moment where, for the first ever time, it rained on me. The spell, our pact, was suddenly broken and it was absolutely magical. Instead of reaching for my umbrella, I reached for my camera, a love-struck smile on my face.

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

Turning Tide

5/3/2018

"Never give up,
for that is just the place and time
that the tide will turn."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Turning tides are mystical. As kids and sometimes even as adults, they keep us wondering and waiting, with awe and with hope.

Your Monday inspiration this week comes from many shores around the world, where the vast horizons are filled by the sea, and where the daily push and pull of the tides plays on your emotions.

Since I missed last week, here are 10 photos to inspire you.

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

10 Pops of red: Valentine inspiration

4/2/2018

As I'm writing this, IT'S STILL SNOWING. Gah.

As Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and since we probably all need a pop of color in our wintery days, in this Monday's inspirational post I thought I'd share 10 photographs to start your week, instead of the usual five.

Here are 10 photographs with subtle pops of red.

Head to the shop or to Etsy to shop this post!

From my heart to yours.

Urban reflections

26/1/2018

Photography is a way of experiencing life; it is above all an exercise in searching, seeing, pausing, feeling and remembering.

Something I have loved to do from my earliest (and most awkward) days with a camera in hand is to look for reflections. They fascinate me not only because of the laws of physics, but because it's like another world - another reality - lives in that realm.

This Monday's photo inspiration is dedicated to the mystical playfulness of reflections, and the way they can stop you in your tracks in the middle of a bustling city, in the middle of your thoughts, in the middle of your day.

The s-bahn and urban architecture reflected on Friedrichstraße, Berlin

"Fragmented Time" - the clock tower reflected in Chicago

The London Eye and riverfront lanterns reflected in puddles in London

Amsterdam's jumble of houses and bicycles reflected through café windows

"I found you" - Toronto's CN tower surprises you when it is actually behind you

Do you pause to look for reflections? Do you photograph them? Leave me a comment below, I'd love to connect with you.

Have a wonderful week!

5 moments of wonder

22/1/2018

Behind every photo is a desire to document a moment, capture a feeling and perhaps dig a little deeper to see something differently than you might at first pass. But, in some special instances, you are faced with a scene that causes an extra bit of wonder.

It's that you've never seen something quite like it before, or just that the light, the mood and the feeling of the place suddenly affects you deeply.

This Monday's inspiration comes from those moments of wonder - a feeling that can be vividly conjured up from memory without any effort.

That winter morning when the lagoon swelled and the tide poured into Venice like spilled ink swallows up a page. That morning when there was no clear line between land and sea. That morning when I trudged through knee-deep waters feeling impossibly damp and impossibly giddy.

That stroll in the Jordaan on a quiet August morning in Amsterdam when I peered into the canal and saw a whole world reflected in it. Although I always chase reflections, sometimes their perfection catches me off-guard, and I feel like magic must exist.

I had never been that far north. I had never sailed fjords and witnessed waterfalls stemming from the sky. But, most wondrous of all, I had never squinted from the sun at midnight or felt, as I did then, that the practice of telling time was suddenly obsolete.

Among my favorite of days, my time at the Masseria near Ostuni is etched into my memory. The feelings of tranquility, discovery, significance and insignificance brought up by an old estate and ancient lands. The complete overload felt by all my senses in a paradise of dry heat, crunching earth, deafening crickets, fragrant wines and savory ingredients. The desire to feel connected to others, to oneself and to nature.

Arriving at Sintra was like travelling to another time altogether. It took time to go through every part of it and really take it all in - all its details, its architectural uniqueness, its fantastical feel. There are a few places in the world that have this effect, but Sintra was my first such experience and one that I cherish.

Tell me: What's one place or time where you've felt struck by wonder? Leave me a comment, I'd love to know.

Have a wonderful (!) week!

From my heart to yours.

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Throwback to warmer places

12/1/2018

I'm not one to complain (that much) about the winter, but HOLY COW have we gotten subzero temperatures and a lot of snow in Montreal this month! I appreciate the way shoveling knee-deep snow gets the heart going, and the way waddling in heavy winter gear on slippery streets forces us to take our time in an otherwise hurried daily routine. (There's nothing to be said about minus 40 celsius temperatures, though. Those are just unnecessary in this universe).

But...I miss the scorching sun, the sound of birds, the long hours of daylight, the saturated color palette of summer and walking in and out of the house barefoot.

This Monday's photo inspiration is a throwback to warm places.

Staring at these photographs makes me feel the heat on my skin for a moment or two.

Palm trees swaying in the wind (Dominican Republic)

Dusk falling on the marina in Bari (Puglia, Italy)

Local life in full glory, parked on the corner of O'Reilly and Villegas (Havana, Cuba)

Castletop views on a day when it was almost too hot to climb (Corfu, Greece)

Dangling on a suspended bridge between water and sky (Sentosa, Singapore)

Have a great week! For all those of you in cold places: keep warm!

From my heart to yours.

5 photos: Rough around the edges

8/1/2018

It's been a while since I shared some photo inspiration with you in my Monday series! But here we are, fresh and refueled at the start of 2018, ready to be inspired and to notice all the beauty around us!

This week's theme is rugged beauty - places with strong features and the wisdom of the ages at their command.

Have a smooth and happy week!

From my heart to yours.

You may also like:

Let's connect on Instagram!

Laundry day: Inspiration in everyday sights

23/10/2017

As I wrote on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, sometimes it's the simplest things that can be inspiring and soothing.

This week's photo inspiration is dedicated to the simple beauty of fresh laundry.

Around the world, there is something strangely poetic about hanging linen and how it changes the feel of an urban or rural landscape. It is familiar and comforting, as though it represents the blessing of having time on our side to tend to our life at home. Our senses are drawn to it - the mix of colors or the crispness of whites, the fresh scent and the gentle breeze that chases the dampness from the cloth.

Here are 5 of the (many) laundry photographs I have snapped during my travels.

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

Glorious autumn colors

16/10/2017

Autumn is a season where scenery comes alive, even though theoretically it's doing the opposite! I have always had a special fondness for fall, and have been fortunate to live in a place where it is not difficult to find stunning views - whether I stroll about in my urban neighborhood or venture out further into the countryside and mountains.

This Monday's photo inspiration contains some of my favorite autumn snapshots.

Since I missed last Monday due to Canadian Thanksgiving, you get some bonus inspiration this week!

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

Light and shadows

1/10/2017

Much of the beauty of what surrounds us lies in the balance of opposites, in the metered interplay between what comes and goes -- sunrise, sunset, high tide, low tide, light and shadow.

This week's photo inspiration is dedicated to moments where both light and shadow had their part to play. Since I missed last week (as I spent Monday recovering from our Etsy Fait au Quebec Montreal show), you get five extra photos this week!

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

Architecture inspiration

14/9/2017

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

This quote by Michelangelo has stuck with me since the first time I heard it in Florence, Italy. The idea that something beautiful already exists before art (and the artist) serves to channel it. I have always thought of my photographic art in that way - so much beauty exists in people and places, and the art form is to set it free.

This week's photo inspiration stems from architecture, and how photography can capture its perfection and its mood.

Tell me: Which is your favorite? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

From my heart to yours.

Textures in photography

9/9/2017

I remember the early days of dabbling with my camera - it was like I had just (re)discovered basic elements of our everyday existence: symmetry, shadows, reflections, patterns, depth and textures. I have always said that practicing photography has heightened my senses and has propelled me to notice my surroundings differently. As such, some of these simple elements often become glorified in my images, as a form of gratitude for having noticed.

This Monday's photo inspiration is an ode to texture.

It's always so hard for me to just pick five. So, here's a bonus photo:

Have a wonderful week!

From my heart to yours.

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