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More Leica M9 shots...

Ah, how I am enjoying these Leica shots...
Such a high quality... such great colors... sharpness... I should be hooked. Really hooked.
Good thing I learned to detach myself from all these earthly pleasures...

Oh, who am I kidding. Of course I'm buying it for my birthday. May be not the upcoming one, but who knows!

I was told to order it now, because apparently (even though all online shops claim it ships within 14 days) it takes months to get it (boy, I hope that was a big exaggeration!). But I know my favorite store will get it for me fast enough. They are cool that way..

So this is still in the backyard...

And from 'burbs into the city we go... one of the coolest buildings in the city - Reuters. So photogenic..

With my eyes - I was hoping he was giving ME the look, but oh well.

Just a shot of Times Square. All details very sharp when it's blown up on my screen.

Nice range huh?..

Until we meet again... have a Magical Day!

Sometimes it is all about the tool at hand...

Thanks to Unique Photo - the friendly neighborhood's camera store in Fairfield NJ - I had my greedy little hands on Leica M9 for quite a few hours (productive hours).

Like a good girl, first thing I did was to... charge the battery, yes, but also - download the user manual. What can I say. Written in German and translated to English - it became impossible for me to easily comprehend, and since I wasn't looking to do anything particularly fancy with it, I turned to a tried and true, as well as my personal favorite, method of learning - "Scientific Poke Around".
By a third day I guess I somewhat mastered it. Of course being lucky as I am, it was raining that day, so what you see is what you get from the first day or two.

I should probably write a review on it, but since I already admitted that I haven't read the user manual, and taking into account that by now so many good [reviews] are already out there, like this one here, for example - about differences between rangefinders and SLRs, so if you are curious, go ahead, give Google a try.

Just a couple of pics that actually came out worthy of showing...
Enjoy and have a magical day!

Pink and gray - my favorite color combination of all time. Green messed it all up for me.. boo. But what colors! wow..

Here I was checking for sharpness with smallest aperture available. Very cool to shoot with shutterspeed of 1/15 and still hand held sharp! That's one giant BIGGIE for me on the list of goodies..

This one's just yummy:

Truly yours...

I should really go and take a nap now. Tomorrow is a big day and this post is, of course, scheduled to run tomorrow morning, when you wake up!

4am. Still no sleep....

In a dreamland, where there are no schedules, deadlines or other pressing things - I will find myself one day in bliss.
I won't worry about snoozing through the next busy day or failing to put the right jeans on early in the morning, when the sleep finally catches up with me.
Woke up in the middle of the night, only to find my brain clicking away at all the unresolved stuff I had carried around in my head for weeks, typically - unable to spare time for any of it. In 15 minutes or less (just like in a dream) - I came up with concepts and plans for the next 6 months of my existence. Well, actually, I think I did it for at least next 5 years, but you know how things usually get a bit blurry after 6 months, and plans become more of a computer program rather than a to-do list.
If... Then... Else... And What Not.

Oh, but the planning part is so important. I remember a few years ago attempting a draft of my first ever business plan. When all that failed one try after another I concluded to myself - this stuff has never worked for me, I'll just... "wing it". Now looking back it is clear that I would never get anywhere if I didn't have some sort of a plan. Only I prefer the word - Vision. It keeps changing, it keeps perfecting itself. You will re-write, review, re-address pretty much everything and the secret is to stay flexible and in allowing these things evolve. "If it ain't on our list we ain't doing it" attitude should be replaced with something more open minded. Not necessarily "anything goes", but perhaps a perfect balance between the two will compliment your personal and/or business growth nicely.
For a photographer - your style would never be the same if you have never shot a wedding or a birthday party and saw what dynamics affect the image. If you never photographed a bug or reflections in puddles to understand how commitment to creativity develops the eye.
Growth spurs are the best, they are like windows being wide open on the first real spring day, when everything smiles at you, when all the lights seem to turn green wherever you go, and the birds seem to sing your favorite songs.
All of that said, I still have no sleep and I guess I'm off to do more writing in my "business plan" folder. File never turned out to be enough, I'm too random and unstructured. Yes, I'm awesome that way.
I guess I'll just milk it while it's pouring. These few precious hours sure will save me many a brainstorming session in the coming months.

And you... You have yourself a Magical Day!

Black eyed beauty - photographer's treat...

What a great networking night yesterday!

If you are a "creative" you have got to check these people out. The group just keeps getting better and better. The next meeting is in April and the speaker, I know for a fact, is going to kill it. Last night we got to hang out at the local brewery, had a tour, tasting and some pretty cool new people to meet. Then the owner, Rick, made a remarkable presentation about brewery, Sam Adams and the industry in general. I, personally, thought the man is a speaking genius. By the way, they do tours on Fridays, so go check them out if you are a beer geek. I certainly am not, but it's pleasant to watch someone's passion develop and transpire.
Join the group on:
Meetup.com and/or LinkedIn


I am still recovering with my foot (broke and sprained it about a month ago...), so didn't take any pictures (I thought I was lucky I could stand for more than 10 minutes). So, I AM getting better, but certainly not "there" yet. It is strange how things work out. When I had both healthy feet I barely had time to meet people and now.. They show up in my life even though I don't seem to be going anywhere. Universe just keeps working in its miraculous ways, huh..

In other news - check out this brave young woman who gracefully posed for me and my friend - for the 1st time in her life! Can you tell? No.. Because she is what my friend called "a natural". 

Well connected to the camera and a person behind it, good listener and soo beautiful. Sometimes I think what else is necessary, really, to start modeling - just watch and listen what you're asked to do, you will be just fine. Gotta be brave though. Not everybody expresses with their body freely when the shutter starts clicking. Being comfortable when you are being recorded in any way is a good skill to develop for everyone. Just like speaking in public, really... Will you freeze? Or will you let go and enjoy the process?

And the last but not least. There are a lot of great camera reviews out there, but this one got my attention, because it is anything but ordinary. And check out the video guy - he is wearing his Canon on a Nikon strap, which kinda rocks, because I really like folks for whom Nikon versus Canon is just Tool1 versus Tool2.

Have a magical day, my friends and ... Enjoy this spring!

Come on - it's supposed to be February!

No, don't get me wrong - I'm not upset. I just sympathize with my friends who gave away their hard-earned for the seasonal mountain passes. Now they have to go snowboard in... where... Canada?

As for me - I couldn't be happier. Warm winter saved us all a lot of workout (snow cleaning), some dough (didn't need to install the remote starter on my car.. yay!).


As of this morning, it is officially spring. In my world, that is.
The day I sat on the balcony, barefoot, without jacket, and felt a bit too warm in my sweat shirt? Admit it - it's spring!
Love is in the air and what not...

I can't deny myself a pleasure of having coffee outside. And writing my morning pages. And you shouldn't either. Do whatever pleases you the most - every day - and who knows? May be it'll all turn out good after all.

Have a magical day, my friends!

Winter break is over

And even though we barely had any winter (I see more good in it than bad, sorry my snowboarding friends ;)) - it was a well deserved break.

Now, where were we?