Homage to Monet

A few years ago, my husband and I visited Monet's house in Giverny, France. We toured the sun filled house, soaked in its colors and endless treasuries. 

The house is surrounded by the gardens, Monet painted so beautifully. The lily pond with its bridge and surrounding trees, the water lilies. It was a magical day in a magical place.

I wish I could draw like he did, but we are not all that lucky. For me, it is the camera rather than the the brush. Light rather than paint.

But the love of gardens, is the same and so is the constant wish to capture the things the eye can not see: the song of birds, the scent of lemon trees in bloom.  

Scents for her, colors for me

It is hard to resist taking the camera on my morning walks nowadays. I think my dog does not appreciate it one bit. All this stopping and taking pictures instead of having a brisk walk ...

On the other hand, she surely enjoys the different routes we take. New fields, new scents for her, new colors for me.

Today we went across the fields to the school where my mom taught and my younger son studied. My granddaughter will go to kindergarten there next year. So many ties - to the past, the future but most of all, so much delight from the present moment.

Lisa, who I owe the pleasure of morning walks - By Amy Kanka Valadasrky

Rain puddles

I noticed the tree reflections in the puddles along the road months ago, after the 1st rains. But I always noticed them while driving, and there was no place to park the car. 

Since this is where I walk my dog every morning, I noticed them again - this time I had no camera ...

Last night it rained again. Maybe for the last rain this winter. Armed with and umbrella (it was still drizzling) AND my cell phone, my dog and I went for a 'walk in the rain'.

The unexpected surprise, was to realize you can not see the reflections from the sidewalk. Only from the middle of the road...figures, this is why I noticed them while driving ...

With the wet dog sitting on the sidewalk, looking at me with questioning eyes, I waited for a few seconds pause in traffic, quickly moved to the middle of the road, and photographed.

I guess drivers and dog did not think very highly of me today :)

Rain puddles, Even Yehuda, Israel, March 2015

Street lamps on a rainy day, Even Yehuda, Israel March 2015

Winter sun

I photographed these images, experimented with different types of tuning, edited and named them. I know them. I think they know me by now.

Yet seeing them published for the first time reminds me of the butterflies somewhere in my stomach. The ones that sleep most of the time, yet now - they are definitely up, fluttering around.

A bit like sending your child to the park by himself for the first time. Will he be OK? Will he find his friends there?

Here it is. Israeli lens #6. The first unveiling of the "Winter sun" portfolio. 

Enjoy

Follow the sun

For the last few month I've been spending time with the camera in a forest park. Being literally 5 driving minutes away from home, whenever the sun is blinding me when I drive my son to the train station in the morning - I know I should hurry back, grab the camera and go to the park.

Regardless of how many times I've been there, every time I go, I see something new.

This time, I wanted to go take some pictures of the rain pond before it dries up. Walking towards the rain pond, I suddenly saw the path created by sun rays streaming through the trees.

It was there for a few minutes, then the sun moved and the path vanished. Reminded me of the stories where the sun hitting the opening in a cave wall shows the way to the buried treasures.

Pure magic, painted by the sun. A first glimpse at a new portfolio coming up soon ...

Give it one more try

What am I to do during a 12 hours trans Atlantic flight? Usually I am armed with at least 3 books, keep hoping I would sleep for a few hours.

During my flight to Los Angeles last December, looking at the gorgeous views outside the tiny airplane window, it occurred to me I should try to take some pictures. As the camera bag with all lenses was safely tucked in the overhead bin, took it out and squeezed back into my seat.

After a few attempts resulting in photographs of the blurry window, I thought I may have better success with the telephoto lens. Out from my seat again (disturbing the passenger next to me), took the bag down again, changed lens, squeezed into the seat and tried again. Nothing. Absolute zero. No one good picture. 

One month later, on the flight back, I have the window seat again. And the clouds just sing and dance with light and colors. What the heck, took out my Samsung Note cellphone and gave it a try.

Hmmm....

One bag with my Nikon camera and 5 lenses in the overhead bin, and I am using the smartphone. AND finally getting some images I like.

Always try one more time. 

Glowing clouds above the Atlantic ocean

Visual thoughts

There is a very special connection between photography and time. In my case, what this means I start forgetting about time when I am with the camera.

The other day, I arrived at the beach at 7 am (still working on that early wake-up to catch the first light) and the next time I looked at my watch it was 11:15.

Then there is the ability of capturing time. Who knew that half a second can be so long? Who knew that stillness is an aggregate of so much motion?

Sitting still and photographing time. Understanding visually what stillness is all about and how it complements motion.

Morning sun basks everything in an out of this world radiance. 

Just sitting still.

Santa Monica - Under the pier

One of a kind

There is so much I learn through photography. And most of the time, it is not about new things. It is about things I thought I understood. Until I knew better.

Yesterday it was about the concept of one of  kind. 

Armed with my camera, decided to go to a stretch of beach that had more birds than people. Last time I was there I counted at least 5 pelicans, but I did not have the right lens with me, so I could not photograph them.

On the way to the beach, I couldn't resist photographing beautiful red leafs on the pavement. One of them was sitting in a rain puddle that turned the concrete sidewalk into a temporary mirror.

The beach was there, beautiful as ever - but no pelicans. Actually there were very little birds. Mostly seagulls huddling together, couldn't realize why. 

Then I saw they start moving in my direction. Not alone. They seemed to gravitate around something. That 'something' turned out to be a woman in a white hat throwing pieces of food (bread?) into the air for the seagulls to catch. 

On my way home, I realized that whenever I try to recreate an image I took, I never succeed. Even if I go to the same place, with the same or more suited lens - it never works. and it's not about the equipment or the place or even the same shooting angle. Images capture moments. And moments are one of a kind.

I will never be able to make the same photograph of a red leaf in a puddle. The puddles already dried up. Even when will rain again - the leaf will not be there. The light will be different. I might be looking at something else and miss the puddle. 

The lady with bread will not feed the seagulls when I happen to be on the beach. 

Nothing lasts forever, and moments can not be reproduced. My lesson for today.

Feeding the seagulls on Santa Monica beach

The temple by the sea

Back to Santa Monica pier. There seem to be endless points of view for photographing it. The more I come to this place, the more it allows me to see it.

Perhaps experience it would be a better word for this.

Last time, a few months ago when I was here I took a photo of the underside of the pier. It was not perfect, the camera moved a bit, so I thought I would try again this time.

Armed with my camera and my new tripod, came to the pier an hour before sunset and started photographing on the beach, getting under the pier when the sun was still up in the sky, but not for long. This time I was not alone there, a man was taking pictures of a young girl, some girls passing from one side to the other.

I was just sitting there, camera focused on the view, when I saw that moving the camera just a tiny bit - revealed the light streaming in. Turning a place which is dark and foreboding into the center hall of a temple. Then, as a perfect touch, a little boy came and started playing in the sand. click. and another. and another.

The closest I have ever been to understanding how the Temple in Jerusalem must have looked like. 

My temple by the sea.

The temple by the sea

The beauty of imperfection

The trip to Japan starts moving from dream stage to reality. Tickets are booked, time to take the first steps into this new world. 

Starting to dive into the wabi sabi concept, trying to grasp it by reading (Leonard Koren book for the 2nd time) and photographing. If I were at my studio now, I would probably try to understand it through metal work as well. 

The beauty of age, of things impermanent and imperfect.

Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Spread your wings

Summarizing my 2014 year in one picture.

In constant motion, looking for my voice. Discovering new lands, while enjoying the ones I have.

Simplifying. Looking for the essence. Looking beyond the colors.

Looking forward to the next landing place, knowing it will be one more step in the journey.

Wishing myself and all my loved ones to spread their wings wide and find new worlds in 2015. 

Liquid silk

Back to Santa Monica. The joy of jet-leg - waking up at 04:15 in the morning, reading, thinking, watching the light. 

At 6:30 it's still dark, at 07:00 light is on. Now I know when I need to go for some morning shooting. Today, I tell myself, today it's just for fun.

Grabbing the camera, selecting 2 lenses and off to the pier. On the way, I already see the light. it has a luminescent, whipped cream like texture. When i get to the pier, I am almost running. I never shot from the pier towards the east in the morning.

Looking for the exact angle that will let me catch the wave. I have the wrong filters with me, the light is burning the colors. But lying on the stomach on the pier, I see it. I really do. 

Liquid silk. The sea is like a vast undulating shaft of silk, floating in the wind. 

Barely believing my eyes, I click and click and click.....

You can see a lot by just looking. Indeed.

Liquid silk 2

The essence of a rose

I started photographing from a very good reason. As a goldsmith, I wanted to sell my jewelry online and I needed good photos. From there the road to photographing as a creative outlet was relatively short. Much shorter than the road to define to myself what is it that I really love to photograph and develop a personal signature style.

Why did I think of it now? Because since I remember myself I love gardens, and English rose gardens are at the top of my favorite ones. The white garden in Sissinghurst is something to be seen to be believed. There is a quality of fairy tale fantasy that can not be conveyed in words.

For the last 2 days I have been photographing a single rose in the garden. A pale pink one. But as beautiful as this rose is, taking a documentary shot of it did not express at all the sensuality of its petals. The delicacy and fragility of it. The impermanence - tomorrow it will start wilting, in a few days it will not be here at all. But now, today, it is just perfect. 

The essence of a rose. This is what I want to photograph.

Dreams do come true!

Thrilled and honored and quite excited to see my work in the Israeli Lens magazine side by side with the work of such great photographers. This is definitely a fabulous finale to 2014. One I could not even dream about a year ago. So, yes, dreams do come true. Even dreams we did not know we have.

Listen to Van Gogh...

The box of colors sat on the very bottom of my bookcase for years, actually since I got it as a gift from my mother in law. A beautiful and pricey wooden box with charcoal and pastels from Faber-Castel. Me, using it? That's for people who can really draw. Sometimes in the future. Maybe. 

Then I started a class in painting photos. And the last assignment was to play around with borders.

For the last days I've been playing around and enjoying myself learning new Photoshop options. 

Last night, my husband reminded me of the color box. And today, when alone so no one can see me, went upstairs, pulled the box out and dared to give it a try.

So this is it. The first time I combined drawing and photography. The frame was drawn in pastel colors, photographed and combined with a fall color image I took earlier this year in Vermont.

Autumn - my very first painted pictures. Who knows where it will lead?

Dancing light

Pure morning light. Streaming between the leaves in my front yard. 

Reminded me of my physics classes long ago. About light being both waves and particles. 

The thing that enables us to see. 

Rather than painting with light ( the actual meaning of photography ) this picture is about the unbelievable beauty of light itself.

Suspended in space, partly revealed, partly concealed. Radiating. Mysterious. Magical. Dancing between the leaves.

My morning cup of coffee

The best thing photography did to me is gift me with a new pair of eyes. Or maybe there should be a 6th sense by the name of 'noticing' in addition to 'seeing'.

As Marcel Proust said "the only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes". So true.

My morning starts with the first cup of coffee in the garden. I love this time. Just me, the coffee, the birds and the wind. I sip the coffee and look at the garden. Today, I happened to look at the cup of coffee. And really notice what I see.

It's like having new eyes. Eyes that can REALLY see.

Have a wonderful morning, and fro time to time, glance at your cup of coffee, you may be surprised by what you see :)

....shifting a bit and changing the angle - another view.

The first time ....

It's not about THAT first time, although I remember it too ....:)

Today I created the 1st image I liked with my new set of Lensbaby. While I am sure that in a few months time I will look back at this and ask myself what on earth possessed me to post it, for today I will allow myself to really love that image.

I needed the discovery of beauty today. Yesterday I returned from a social project I am involved in, full of anger at the stupidity of some people and my helplessness to magically change the world for a child. 

So yeah, today was a good day to experiment with the Lensbaby in the garden.

Rembrandt and .....manual focus

Life is funny sometimes. Moves in spiraling cycles. 

I was thinking today that it is as if I look at myself through the lens using the manual focus.

Unlike the auto-focus where you point at what you want and the camera decides on the optimal focus, the manual focus requires to turn the dial until you find the right focal distance. Sometimes, in the process, you decide to completely change what the picture is about. You keep turning the dial until the frame is perfect. Then you take the picture.

This looks a lot like my personal journey in photography.

Starting from a fuzzy concept - nature. Turn the focus dial a bit, and stopping at nature fine art. An additional tiny shift of the dial and now focusing closer on nature fine art where reality border on something that transcends reality.

The picture starts looking clearer.

more focus tweaks - reflections and post processing techniques that help blur the line between real and beyond.

And then, click!

I take the picture, and it's exactly there. Between physical and mystical. An accurate reflection of where my art is right now.

When I look at the picture (the one below) it reminds me of the dark paintings of Rembrandt. I look for him on the web, and surely enough the right quote appears. As if he is talking directly to me. Advice from a master.

Try to put well in practice what you already know; and in so doing, you will in good time, discover the hidden things which you now inquire about. Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know. ”
-Rembrandt

On birds and paradise ....

The beak of the bird

Just across the street from my house, in a small plant island in the sidewalk grow a few Bird of Paradise plants. I must have walked by them hundreds of times, but since tropical plants are not my favorite flowers and orange is not my color of choice, I never gave them a closer look.

... until a few days ago, when I coming back from an evening walk with the dog (the unexpected benefits of having a dog ...), the setting sun highlighted the flower and for the first time, I really saw it.

...and ran to grab the camera.

A bird indeed. With fiery feathers and a pointed blue tongue.

Radiating light.

What a lovely picture of paradise it conveys. Everybody radiates light. ( hopefully not everybody has pointed blue tongues :) )

Radiating light - flower hotography