Hello, summer!

A long weekend in Riga - only appropriate to mark 20 years (gasp!) since I fell in love with this place. I don't visit often enough. That much is obvious. Then again, these days this might be my southern destination for a while and I am not complaining, not at all!

I am such an art nouveau addict. Like, I think I might have been one of those people who came up with the designs, because they totally represent how I feel most of the time - fabulous, yet not impressed by humanity ;D It's like my favourite GIFs in stone. (I did not just make that comparison, jeez.)

And as far as obsessions go... no, I am not obsessed with colour matching cars and buildings, I am just curious - do people subconsciously buy cars that match their homes?!

Getting back to my art nouveau days (I was this dapper creator in past life, m'kay) then obviously already back in the days it was clear that the future is now! (har-har)

I also have a cat photo. You know, to be on the good side with social media gods. Purr.

Maybe, after all, I have traveled in time. My 16 year old self would be totally proud that I still get excited about Riga and hearing that voice melts my heart. This all is like a big comfort blanket. And so much cosier than daily thoughts about most everything.

Time Out Sunday

Two books I have read recently. The top one included (among other things) a conversation on democracy and images, out of time, with Walt Whitman, George Eastman, and Paul Virilio. That's like one of my favourite things now. The other book is from 1994 and probably the first "text-book" (not sure about the quotation marks here) about pop music I have ever read. Pop music has raised me, so it was kinda fun to look at it from another angle than that teen-popper (is that a thing? was I ever that really?!). Who and why and when (etc) wrote a song, produced a music video, wrote a review, took a photo, published a newspaper etc. It's all that we shall always consider. (In the age where digital literacy is so widely discussed it's good to remember it's nothing new... people have gained from critical thinking skills long before modern technology :)

And one more thing. I used to be the kind of person who removes all price tags right away, but I am glad I haven't been doing it 100%. Turns out that sometimes I absolutely adore small reminders of past travels . Strand in 2016. My kind of souvenir. That kind of souvenir that is not a rubbery made in China Statue of Liberty (okay, I have that, too, as always - the joke is on me).

In other news I have seen more baby birds this spring than ever before and while doing so also discovered this cool song:

Time Out Sunday

What feels really good? To have a new monitor calibrator! My old one was well... old (though in retrospect it worked well beyond the recommended three years; the major obstacle being no more software updates). Then again - who needs screens and calibrators when one can just make colour photos in full analog.

In some magical moment I actually pulled myself together and organised my prints from the darkroom days (not in 1917, but rather in 2017) and had a small pile of photos that didn't make the cut. Spur of a moment thing I decided to try colouring them and it was so much fun. Used my very old watercolour set (bless my hoarder soul; I am prepared for all kinds of situations) and I mean, the rest is history (like literally history as well, these days we have colour photography and all those screens). But boy oh boy, if those aren't dreamscapes, I don't know what are. Time out Sunday done right.

Time Out Sunday

I took photos of the Moon this week. This is not how you do it. I mean, you have different lens, you go outside and... but guess what, you can also just have a spontaneous bedroom shoot at midnight 'cos you feel like it. Kit lens. Squeezing yourself out from the narrow window (man, do I miss big wide windows with big wide windowsills or what). And I mean, double-triple-... exposure (in-camera). Fun fun fun. 

I have started a free MoMA online course 'Seeing Through Photographs' and I have enjoyed it more than I had expected (low expectations is my jam?!). There are more courses available and I intend to enrol for some more, you know not sticking to the familiar (but oh don't I just love photography!).  

And some tunes (my current playlist is either Taylor Swift or jazz classics):

Time Out Sunday

First things first. This not some kind of statement piece to prove that days and weeks and time in general have lost its meaning. There's always meaning, sometimes it's merely more 'meh'. It's just that I got carried away doing other things on Sunday (and the fact that some of the photos in blog posts have been replaced by error messages was a downer... like what gives, blogger, why did you break?!) So, here I am on Monday. BUT. But I have missed my 'Time Out Sunday' posts.

So, last week photos on paper got organised! And the ones that ended up in so called 'trial and error' pile got some makeover. But more on that some other time. (I might have found a new hobby that would have made me rich a 100 years ago, haha :)

I finally managed to finish reading a book and how very appropriate. What did I learn? I downloaded iNaturalist app and identified that my current favourite bird ever is Eurasian oystercatcher (they have appeared at local beach and the way they run!). Cool critter of the month sounds so appropriate.

(Notice how my home office matches the only book I've finished reading in the past weeks, aye) And drumroll... Netflix favourite is 'Most Beautiful Thing' - bossa, Rio, kick-ass women and extremely beautiful 1950s aesthetics. I am so time-traveling to open my own club and swim in the sea and be all cool.

Something new and beautiful from one of my all time favourites - James Blake:

Kiasma

When you can't enter a museum then... you lurk around it and wonder how come buildings look different when cities are empty. Even rooftops. Same same, but different.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Some of my favourite things - freshly baked goods, coffee and... morning light! A bus trip morning at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California in October 2019. <3