I've put together some of my nature - mostly flowers - photos. And I'd love for you to have some - they are free. They can be used in any way you'd like. A screensaver on the phone, a wallpaper on computer screen or cover for your facebook profile are just some of the possibilities. They can also be printed if you'd like. The photos with 's' in the title are compressed for facebook or phone. The ones without 's' are for computer screen or printing. You can find them here :
A walk in Botanical Gardens of St Andrews with a little boy. Forget about appreciating creative landscape design, enjoying alpine terraces and the pond, admiring cacti collection and finding all the spring flowers. This is about run, hide, find something interesting, invent games and more run. Some good finds. What can we do with them? A boat? I am a bit skeptical here. Nope, did not swim the right way. Some major engineering work to do. For some other story :-)
Villa Giulia is a park in historic center of Palermo. It has its origins in 18th century and is remarkable for its perfect square shape with diagonal alleys dividing the park in different sections. Marble statues and fountains, a sundial, shady alleys and open spaces, and wide variety of trees and shrubbery make it a popular spot both with locals and tourists. If you'd like your family photos to have lush green background with a touch of special Sicilian atmosphere, this park definitely should be considered. It ticks all the boxes - plenty of space, nice surroundings, easy access, lots of options for things to do during your photo shoot to get natural and emotional images (anyway we don't do posed photos on the benches or next to flowering shrubs!). Here are my top 3 reasons why villa Giulia is a great location for family photo sessions. Reason 1 Lots of space and diversity. The park has an alley with Ficus trees, a little bamboo forest, a hill with cacti and succulen...
Discovery it was, of spring at its very beginning. New bright colours appearing in the midst of still brown forest, and smells, trees and young leaves to touch. And run, run and feel the wind and sun in your face. Still cold, but undeniably brighter and well, springier :-).
Once upon a time... This was a fairy tale story running in our house theater. And the prince was missing - what can we do without a prince? Who will be the hero, how should the story go? The villains we had, the beautiful princess too. The performance had to be saved, and puppet master had hard time. So - the princess went for a walk with a pirate, who left her in the middle of the jungle and she was nearly eaten by a tiger. The good monkey and elephant saved her, and they went to play together. The moral of the story? A good princess should not trust a pirate. And also monkey likes to be a hero sometimes :-)
Photography is about light, capturing it and "painting with it". Light and sun we had plenty of that day, lovely sunny morning. And our little girl was sleeping, covered and wrapped and bathed in light. All the lovely tiny things - fat fingers and wispy hair, golden lashes and pinkish skin in the bright sun. And then she woke, made a face, gave a kick, grabbed the bear. Bathed in golden sunlight.
Forest walks with a toddler are quite an exercise. Especially with an added bonus of a camera :-) What's involved? Jumping in the mud and trying to jump in the river. Collecting sticks. Collecting leaves. Walking in a wrong direction. Falling. Standing up. Stopping. Turning around. Then there is possible game of peekaboo. And of course trying to escape, especially when mom is taking pictures of some flowers and escape involves jump in the river :-)
This project has been planned, postponed, amended - and finally implemented. Lots of serious work - weeding, cleaning some winter leftover mess, planting new flowers, as well as rake dancing and broom-guitar playing.