Notice

Since Turkey is blocking the blogger, I cannot access my blog. To see the photos please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/mojcaandrojna/ Thanks for understanding.

Crossword puzzle solving on a steep street Year 2 Day 40

Kumkapi, Istanbul.

Pretty much as shot, brightened him a tiny bit and lifted the shadows slightly on that door.

He's a shop keeper.

Istanbul is sooooo Interesting. That was a great trek, need to edit and upload those.

Some days 365 is horribly hard or boring or... other days it's just plain fun!!!

Sentinel Year 2 Day 39

Yedikule, Istanbul, the fortress of seven towers connecting landwalls with seawalls. It used to be a Roman Golden Gate with four towers, later on more were added. It served as prison, treasury, fortification.. though history and now it stands bare, awaiting visitors but it way off the beaten path. It has a kind of reckless adventure feel to it since interior stairways are not lit and windows are rare, there are no protective rails in most places...basically like it was and not as we crazy-for-safety-modern-people would make it if it was anywhere more western... LOL

Light was absolutely crap that day. This is over done and I'm far from happy.

Walkies and lines and shadows and, oh, I miss my Leica Year 2 Day 38

Leica baby is in repair, in case you were wondering...
And I really have no comment on this pic. Ah, the 365. And, yep, I'm still soooooo behind on uploading...
This was a long day of travel (packing, flying, unpacking, washing, repacking.. whatever, bed, here I come LOL)

Mojca was here ;-P Year 2 Day 37

Some days (ok, many days lately) I'm sooooo lazy.

Yep, I keep wearing Uggs lately even though I call them uglies. Not pretty at all but very warm :-)

One of those days... Year 2 Day 36

.. w really weird editing/PP preferences. Or just plain weird. 365 is an interesting project, as much a headache as well as journey within... It pairs stress & discovery, despair & elation, learning & just clicking, evolving & hibernating, motivation & laziness. While somedays I'm thankful for it, other... I wish it just disappeared. Then it wins me over again: tomorrow is another day. All in all, it's much like life, don't you think? ;-P

The day of abstractions Year 2 Day 35

Almost all photos from the day are abstract. Huh? Anyhow...

Now in the morning I sleep alone Year 2 Day 34

Depicting the lyrics of Viva La Vida by Coldplay part 4

I'm very unsure about this one. I'm not sure I even got the message across: sleeping in a falling apart house that used to be quite opulent... I'm wondering if the ghosting effect of the ex-room-furnishings makes sense?...?

Too tired now, this will have to do. Maybe it's just that it took me only one afternoon - I'm slacking ;-P

The room comes from gnuckx's (flickr) photostream through creative commons: thank you!!

Yum ;-)) Red fruits edition Year 2 Day 33

Photo club's indoor trek. Nope, we didn't eat them afterwards :-(

Pomegranate and tomatoes in the comments on flickr... ;-P

Come on, come on / Turn a little faster / Come on, come on / The world will follow after / Come on, come on / Because everybody's after love Year 2 Day 32

Lyrics excerpt from Counting Crow's Accidentally in Love.

Whirling dervish from Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. I hid the line from which the figurine was suspended, so it does not look like he's committing suicide ;-)

Legendary Sufi poet and mystic Mevlana Jalalu'ddin Rumi (1207-1273) founded the Mevlevis, a Sufi order (also called Whirling Dervishes) and wrote beautiful love poems. Yep, it's all about love. Of course the divine love as well as earthly one.

Have a wonderful Valentine Day!

Seas would rise when I gave the word Year 2 Day 31

(52 weeks in a song / my chosen song is Viva la Vida by Coldplay)

Before you ask - days of work, that's why I'm so behind on upload...

Multitude of layers and clipping masks.
Texture for the mermaid's dress comes from Goblin_stock on deviantart. Thank you! The dolphin and waves come from The Pug Father on flickr. The starfish comes from globalvoyager on flickr. A heartfelt thank you!! The moon, fish and hair come from a CD that came with the German edition of Advanced Photoshop magazine.

Then it's me, starry sky (actually from fireworks hahaha), 2 or 3 different seaview shots and a bunch of masking with different tones.

Now I have a half-blind Leica X1 Year 2 Day 30

I'm so not in the mood today. Dizzy thanks to a lovely little creepy virus. And searching for the quickest way to fix my broken baby Leica. Went flying that one, not far from the safe nest of my camera bag set on the floor but far enough to land on an unfriendly sharp granite path and crack the blasted interior screen. I'm already expecting that the repair sum will be likewise very unfriendly.

One of the rare grey rainy days this (surprisingly sunny) winter Year 2 Day 29

The role of cats... Year 2 Day 28

I'm tempted to get a cat or two. Gripped me like a virus, this idea, unexpected and strong ;-)

Quick edits, I haven't had energy to really look at the photos from this day. Fantastic area. I'll be back :-))

Istanbul, Turkey.

Taxi = here. Here! Taxi!! Year 2 Day 27

Out of all the wonderful shots from this fab trek, I prefer the weirdest edit, tonight (I'll probably change my mind tomorrow LOL). On flickr (click on pic to get there) you'll find a SOOC pic taken a minute before this one and 2 more favourites below - just love those textures! Need to find time to edit this bunch, I'm happy with many :-))

Location: Through Fener towards Chora church. Istanbul

I used to rule the world Year 2 Day 26

Part 2 of 52 in a song (depicting lyrics). Song in question is Viva La Vida by Coldplay.

This took me sooooooo long. I went through many different versions until I got to the one I can stomach...
I am so stubborn, I've been at it for days.
Not happy, but I've had enough of this one!

This looks vastly different on my two screens. The left side should be bright enough for you to recognize the seawalls and it shouldn't be too red. If it looks wrong, please let me know and I'll re-edit. Thank you for helping!

This is a composite with an immense amount of layers. Mostly mine, but I also have to thank the following flickrerites for sharing their images through Creative Commons licence:
-> PinkStockPhotos! for the tiara www.flickr.com/photos/pinkstockphotos/5261947686/
-> mharrsch for the armour from which I fashioned the mini and the bracelet www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/928200111/
-> adamned.age for the envelope from which I created the bundle www.flickr.com/photos/hanne_exurban/4222488907/

I have a lot to learn.
Most important lesson this time was that I would have avoided many problems simply by planning better... in advance!

This is when my heart started singing Year 2 Day 25

Lensbaby 3G /Control freak/ is back home, with my friend, where it belongs... Thank you, darling, for letting me test it.

Extra photos on flickr (click pic to get there)

To have or not to have?
CON:
- 3G's limited focusing distance (approx 30cm-2m, that's about it). I really dislike to have that limit, I tend to use my lenses for everything. I'll take macro on a street hunt, I also often do that with my 85mm 1.2 which is meant for portraiture. You see, I couldn't care less. Lens is a tool IMO. It should "work" in every possible situation. I'll look into Composer (another Lensbaby model), I read it goes all the way to infinity. Let's see.
- a lot of fiddling (manual program + manual focusing + manual bending to search for sweet spot all at the same time) Now LB is really not a-quick-click type of lens. Annoying really but not something I could not get used to if payback is great results ;-P
- it really isn't intuitive (I kept pushing the wrong buttons, "I was trying to focus yet I locked it" type of wrong). I will look into Composer, might be a better solution.
- attracts way to much attention (well it looks like a freak hahaha)
- has a steep learning curve (it really isn't easy to use and not at all that easy to figure out)
- it wreaks havoc with your compositions (anything more than a slight adjusting of the sweet spot pushed the lens too far)
- it's unpredictable (it looks like a freak, it behaves like a freak... LOL That should get better when one gets used to freakishness)
- for what it is, it's actually expensive IMHO (Control freak is 350 US at the mo, Composer is 270 US)
PRO
- it's unpredictable which means it isn't boring ;-))
- it's very creative. Did you know I loathe photographing flowers? No? I do!! I'm forcing myself, because I believe that to be called a photographer I should be able to take any type of photo. So usually I struggle until I find the angle I like... Well, I'll admit it - this session was pure fun!
- it helps you see things differently yet. Here we go again: 1st it's seeing. Then it's seeing through the lens. Then it's seeing with a vision. Then it's seeing with a different vision, offering a fresh view of the world surrounding us... and then comes a Lensbaby and pushes it all onto a new dimension
- the sweet spot is fab to bring attention to just one part of the image (example in 1st comment - a single flower stands out)
- the sweet spot is perfect (although difficult to use well) in portraiture. It just brings the eyes out and they become even more windows to the soul in illustrative sense [I've added previous two LB portraits in comments to show that]. I can see possibilities here - maybe bringing out the mouth, just a hand...
- but it wasn't until I started abusing it that I suddenly saw the possibilities. I'm all for out of focus, haunted images, suggestions of objects, of surroundings, or even feelings. And this is what pulls me towards LB: the unexplored territories of the different
- LB's choice of optics can really help explore alternative imaging yet in an arty way, it's not very stock photography LOL

LB is not a substitute for a regular lens.
LB is not an easy click have a great pic recipe.
LB is not tilt and shift [it has a round spot of focus not a planar one, it's not precise and cannot adjust verticals]

Mostly LB images need post processing work for best results.

LB is an art tool. Do I need a new paintbrush? I'll let this stew and see how much I'll miss it.

I suppose the world took over Year 2 Day 24

I photographically dislike those days when I'm flying. I cannot be bothered to take another out-of-the-window-oh-here's-our-wing shot, I find airports boring (and Ljubljana's is a size of .... ahem... plankton compared to others), I have no time to shoot before and I'm too exhausted after. So I usually take a point and shoot and, well, point and, hahaha, shoot.. anything that looks half decent LOL

Lensbaby testing 4th day Year 2 Day 23

BG: Buildings reflected in Ljubljanica river, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Foreground: weed in the structure of "Shoemaker's" bridge. Funny. No plants anywhere and this one survives the freezing cold nestled in the wooden structure LOL

Lensbaby foodie Year 2 Day 22

3rd day of Lensbaby 3G. I attacked my favourite cake in my hubby's favourite place in Ljubljana ;-) No styling, this is as it arrived (including the weird position of the fork).

I still think that Lensbaby is at its most magical with people (on Flickr, click the pic to get there).