Nameless reflections

Alicante

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 17:51:00 +0000

As usual, I'm a few ~~weeks~~ months behind but oh well. The last three months had been kind of hectic, but I already wrote a rant about it on Flickr so I won't (extensively) repeat myself. But to sum it up in a few words, I graduated, found a job - or rather a job found me -,started another degree, pitched a project with two friends (all that at the same time) and all hell broke loose. Not in a bad way, but in a 'i'm overwhelmed help me please' way.

But this photos are from a more peaceful and quiet era (do I sound like a granny yet?), when I wasn't yet quitting jobs because of the amount of stress or trying to release a videogame. But hey, some people were conquering countries at my age, so I think I still have some catch up to do.

Anyway, El Campello (my friend's town, with whom we stayed and to whom we are incredibly indebted) and Alicante were beautiful. We ate too much, slept too little and had to drive a lot of kilometres in few days, but as usual it was worth it.

My next stop is Warsaw, where we are heading next Monday. Expect many photos. ~~Probably late as usual~~ but I'm really looking forward to it, despite the amount of work (I have exams in two weeks, and too many brain parts to remember) or the flu that I so conveniently caught two days ago. Sigh. Anyhow, if anyone knows good places to visit in the city, all suggestions are welcome!

Poble Sec, Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 19:42:00 +0000

I had this blogpost in drafts for a long time (two months maybe?). I started to write a text to accompany it - something about creativity, procrastination, and life choices - , but I think that I will leave the rant for another time. I already uploaded one along with my last photo on Flickr, in case you are curious. Meanwhile, enjoy the photos. There are only a few, but still have like five photoshoots to edit (among them, Vienna and Bratislava) so maybe there will be something else to look at soon.

Barcelona - Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 09:06:00 +0000

Because, obviously, the best time to upload pics of Christmas lights is a month after Christmas is over.

Cake and tea. Finally.

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 19:41:00 +0000

Today I did something I haven't done in a long long time: I baked a cake. I can't believe I used to do this at least once every two weeks or so, sometimes even more often. Oh, where did my food blogger days go? Sometimes I wonder if it would be a good idea to start another food blog (as you may know, my previous domain expired and was bought by someone else :S) because I kind of miss it. Then I remember that I've had weeks when my diet consisted basically of morning cereals, cookies, cafeteria food and coffee. Lots of coffee. And that although coffee does indeed look good on camera, it doesn't really count as a recipe (especially one you can repeat every week).

But today I actually did cook something worth sharing, at least in photo form. The original recipe was Kamran's (The Shophisticated Gourmet) "Yellow Birthday Cake", which I slightly adapted (the cake batter was delicious. Moist and fluffy as a cake should be) There was no birthday to celebrate, but I've been on holidays for a week already and it's almost New Year and why not? There's always something worth celebrating. I still have pictures of Barcelona to share with you (full of Christmas lights :D) but I thought this photos had a festive enough feeling as well ;)

How are your holidays going? Do you usually bake/cook a lot during those days? I don't like to spend the whole week in the kitchen, but I do enjoy cooking something more special. After all, it's the only time of the year I have the time to do so :P

Budapest

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 12:03:00 +0000

It has been three months since I visited Budapest, the first term is almost over and I have the feeling that just two days ago I was still swimming in the sea and sunbathing on the beach, with all the time in the world (which I used...eh...to do nothing). It's scary how fast time flies (I sound like a granny, I know). Many things happened, most of them completely unexciting and mainly irrelevant, but when you reflect on past times is always those small unimportant things that matter the most. Life is a funny thing, right?. I got myself a new laptop in the meantime (hurray!), so I hope that will help to solve the I'm-so-behind-the-editing problem.

So yeah, here there are, photos from the beautiful city of Budapest. I don't know if it's because the grass is always greener on the other side, but I kind of fall in love with each city I visit. I do love Barcelona (which by the way, I hope I will have the time to photograph again soon! It has been a long time since I went for a walk with just my camera), but when I think about all the places that I can still discover I get an urge to pack a bag and go somewhere far away. Or maybe not so far away: Budapest is like two hours away on plane. Wanderlust, I guess they call it.

In short, Budapest was awesome. We spent only two days there, but as always it felt as such a short but long time, if that makes sense at all. We visited four coffee shops during those two days, and I wish it had been more. It rained half of the time and I got terrible blisters on my feet, but it was awesome anyway.

Wroclaw

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:19:00 +0000

I realized that I had this post in drafts for months. I decided not to edit it, so when it says a month it actually means half a year ago. I hope next time it doesn't take me so long to publish!

***************

Barely a month has passed, but it already seems so so far away. Going back to the university routine - go to class, sleep (a little), work on weekends, repeat - is never easy, but this trimester is being especially tough. Not even because of the workload, which is more or less the same, but beacause of the feeling that something is already ending but you don't really see yet what is about to come and the uncertainty is just too much.

The trip to Wroclaw was nice. We spent three days (and a half) there, were very lucky with both the apartment and the weather and walked a lot; actually, more than my friends would have liked, but travelling with me is kind of exhausting so it's nothing new. I'm usually an all or nothing when it comes to travelling: walk eight hours a day to see everything or don't go. You know: go big or go home.

We rented an aparment, since we were four and sounded like a better option, and we weren't dissapointed. Small (although in a cosy way), well decorated, with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. What else could you as for? (although the bathroom leak was an unpleasant surprise, but we will forgive them that because of the cutest kitchen ever). It was situated right in the center of the city; and when I say the center, I mean it. Like, in the main town's square, next to the city hall. The architecture in the old (and centrinc) part of the town is something between magnificent and cute. There are gothic style cathedrals - lots of cathedrals - with high and spiky towers and then cheerfully coloured houses that make you thing immediately about Hansel and Gretel and chocolate houses and fairy tales.

But my favorite part was the university's library. It's was located inside a gothic style building, with a tower and a clock. When we went inside, a woman - we suppose the librarian - came out and started the talk to us in Polish, which was the standard there. Despite the expression of absolute bewilderment on our faces, she didn't switch to English so we still don't know what she wanted. We assumed it was because of the camera - obviously, we took a photo inside anyway - or maybe it was because of the coats since the library had a cloackroom. It will remain a mystery forever.

Besides libraries that look like if they were taken out of Harry Potter, in Wroclaw you can find a huge amount of bakeries and some coffee shops. Go look for them though a little bit further from the center, where you have the typical McDonalds. We bought pretzels for a little bit more than one grozi each - like 25 cents of euro - just twenty minutes to the north, past the Ostrov Tumski. Beware neverthless! They are really really addictive, and you could find yourself living on pretzels and pastries for the rest of your journey (we almost did)

The way back wasn't as quiet as the when we travelled there. We woke up with the thickest fog I've ever seen in my life. We had to take the 7AM bus, and once we left the city center you could barely see beyond your own nose. Someone said - I don't even remeber who. Maybe it was me. Probably it was me - that what would happen if we couldn't take off because of the fog. We laughed it off. How silly, right? They land at night! Why should the fog change anything?

Obviously, we were wrong. After waiting an hour, they told us they were delaying the flight until 2PM...and moving it to another airport. Two hundred kilometers away. The air company brought three buses for all the passangers, and after another hour waiting we were on our way to Poznan. We laughed that off as well (why not?). We complained before how we couldn't see anything outside Wroclaw, and here we were: a free tour on bus through half Poland. Why could happen? The bus breaking down? (I'm sure you are starting to see a pattern by now)

The funny thing is, the bus that broke down was the one nobody expected to, since the other two (and especially the third one) had a much less reliable appearance. We had to be divided in two groups (a stupid tickets thing), so I went on one bus with a friend, and two of them on another. Guess who spent six hours on the road instead of three? Yep, our pleasure. On top of that, we had no local money because we changed everything back to euros at the airport, so when we stopped at a gas station - where they finally told us that another bus was coming to pick us up because otherwise it was too dangerous -, our lunch consisted of half a bottle of liquid iogurt for each that we could buy with our last coins.

But because it couldn't end there, when we finally got to the airport - ten minutes before the closing of the gates - I learnt that a had to stamp the damn flying permit (or whatever it is called. Something Ryanair invented and that I never had to do with any other air company) again, because the stamp I had was from Wroclaw and we were in Poznan. So I had to go back, put a stamp on the damn thing, go back, wait for my turn again....and then I got stuck. They wanted to inspect my handbag, where there was obviously nothing besides clothes and my camera. I told the airport worker I about to miss a flight, which obviously didn't bother him that much, judging by the pace at which he started to inspect the bag.

After all that, when I was sitting in the plane about to take off, I couldn't believe we even made it. More than once I believed I would have to start the academic term in Poland. Even though I think I lost a considerable amount of hair that day because of the stress (not to mention a day's work: I was supposed to show at work that day!) it made a good adventure, and I doubt I will forget anytime soon.

PS: What are your strangest memories from a trip?

Let it snow

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:09:00 +0000

It's Spring break, which means lots of books and editing photos. I kind of love this eventless and quiet holidays.

View big on Flickr.

Black and white (Winter)

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 11:22:00 +0000

21.02.14

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:24:00 +0000

College classes, during what (I guess) would be translated as “recreational and advanced forms of interaction” (or something along the lines). It sounds very complicated but it’s actually a really fun subject. We even have an interactive inflatable slide (Yay!). We also got to test the prototype of our flash-based game. I’ll upload a video soon!

Roadscapes

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 10:50:00 +0000

Going through all my photos, I realized that there is something about roads that intrigues me. Probably, because they remind me of all the places I've been and the places I have yet to discover. It doesn't even mean being behind the wheel: I'm not, since I can't drive. It's something more symbolic than that.

It just means being.

So I decided to put all those photos in one place, hoping that this will a long project. If I'm lucky, a never-ending one.

You can follow it on my Behance account, although I will be probably uploading most of it either here or on my Flickr.

Whisper

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 08:07:00 +0000

Old, very old (September 2012). It was an amazing feeling, looking forward to waking up at 5AM because I'd go on a photoshoot.

New Year resolutions (or something along those lines)

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:57:00 +0000

I kind of fell in love with infrared photos again, and its rough texture and grain and blurriness. Or maybe I just don't feel like editing in color. Or pretty pictures in general. Isn't it ironic how beautiful can ugliness be?

Also, after going through my pics from Russia I've been thinking about starting a new series called "roadscapes". ~~It may be because I want to go somewhere very far far way or it may not.~~

Oslo (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:08:00 +0000

Sometimes, for strange reasons, you end up in unexpected places. Like for instance, Oslo. University classes started a month ago, and with a part-time job on weekends, I'm basically tied to Barcelona for the next nine months. So before that, I wanted to travel somewhere. My first thought was Paris: I felt in love with the city years ago. Not for the Eiffel Tower or the Champes Elysees, but for the crêperies and bakeries on every corner, the coffe shop tables and chairs outside always facing the street - you may feel a little bit observed, but you get used to it - and its more anonymous streets and places.

The problem? I suck at planning, so a friend of mine and I started to look for rooms and plane tickets two weeks before leaving. Obviously, there were very few rooms left in Paris. That is, unless you want to pay five hundred euros the night or sleep with cocreaches. So we started to consider other destinations: Rome, Florence, Venice, London, York, Manchester...and Oslo. The rooms were extremely cheap - even though they turned out really clean and nice - and the plane ticket was a bargain, so in half an hour our trip was decided.

There are no Eiffel Tower or Champe Elysees in Oslo, but neither of us missed them. The whole city is like a turists attraction...with the plus of having actually very few tourists. And if you ever visit the city, trust me: cycling is the way to go. It's faster than walking, but you actually get to see its beautiful streets and amazing parks. Oh, and cows and sheeps.

Did I already say cows and sheeps? Yep, and just five km away from the center, as well as beautiful forests...with perfectly clean toilettes in the middle of it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is Norway.

It feels like summer

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:15:00 +0000

I have been on vacation for about two weeks now, but it felt like two days. After finishing my classes I spent a week in Madrid in an immersion English course, although I must say that I learnt more about presentation and marketing than English. Not because I didn't speak it - in theory, you were not allowed to speak Spanish at all - but because all our teacher had some kind of obsession with product development, sales pitches and marketing campaings. Some examples of products we had to "sell" were high heeled shoes for men or roofless houses. You know, easy peasy.

But despite the lack of sleep (I think I managed to get more hours of rest during my final exams), I had fun and met some awesome people. And I never expected Madrid to be such a beautiful city (not pictured above. I didn't bring my camera because of the luggage restrictions. Booo). Without the heat wave it would have been just perfect.

After coming back from Madrid, I have had a lot of free time. Yet days go by incredibly quickly, like if there weren't enough hours in a day. I guess I'm still in "college mode", because I'm constantly worrying about all the things I wanted to do but haven't done yet. Sometimes I wish I could just switch off my brain.

Dacha

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Spring Break has ended and the new school term is already here. New teachers, new subjects....and the same amount of work. Some of the teachers are nice, others not so much. Like our incredibly elitist contemporary art teacher. I cringe every time she talks about how culture is for those "cultivated" and "educated", so if you didn't get an education in arts, from her point of view, you're nothing more than a poseur who is unable to appreciate "high culture" - because of course, pop culture is out of the question.

We also started 3D modeling. It's fun an all that but....Autodesk 3d Studio Max, why must you be so damn complicated?? I was doing great until we started to add cameras and travellings to the animations. Sigh.

This afternoon I finished Demian, by Hermann Hesse. I was actually re-reading it, but the impression it left on me was as strong as the first time. If you have ever come across a good book - and I hope you did - you will know that feeling of slight emptiness when you turn the last page, when you read the last sentence. And the way the story stays with you for hours, even days after you finish. Isn't that an amazing feeling?

As a side note, I hope I will finally develop that film roll I had in my drawer for...eh...two years? And I will probably bring my Zenit with me to Barcelona this week, so if I don't die under the pile of work that is waiting for me, I may even take some (new) photos.

Lost & Found

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:40:00 +0000

You can find the strangest (and most interesting) museums in Moscow, like this one, with handmade objects from the USSR era. Since there were things you just couldn't get because they were either impossible to find or too expensive, people made them themselves. The penultimate one, for instance, is a fridge made out of a cupboard. I guess it's true that scarcity (and necessity) is the mother of invention.

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:23:00 +0000

Stillness

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:13:00 +0000

These are from last summer as well, when I went with my brother to Russia and some friends of ours were kind enough to let us stay over for almost a month. And I probably will be back there next summer too. ~~Sometimes I wonder when they will get tired of babysitting me.~~

Oh, and they also had the most amazing cat ever.

The Road Not Taken

noreply@blogger.com (Ksenia) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:24:00 +0000

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

(Robert Frost)

When I swore that I had enough of social networks, blogging and computers....here I am, creating yet another blog. I guess I just needed to start something new. Especially since Facebook became synonymous with school projects and Tumblr with random reblogging.

I still have dozens of photos from last september in Russia, and a film roll I've been intending to develop for more or less a year and a half. As much as I enjoy video editing, screenwriting and other crazy things I actually call homework, I miss photography. That is, when I have time to actually stop and think about the things I have been missing.

PS: I actually stumbled upon this poem by Robert Frost when browsing through Zen Pencils. If you don't know about Gavin Aung Than's work, you should check it out.