Piece of Life
Postcards from Cadiz
My latest trip to Spain took us to the sunny and astonishing city of Cadiz. In today's Piece of Life series - a fraction, os simply Postcards from Cadiz. Square in Cadiz Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of Cádiz, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. White arch in Cadiz Cádiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in western…
Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria
Right, its time to continue our latest adventures from our latest Spain trip (visiting region of Andalusia). In today's Piece of Life series a trade fair in small town of El Puerto de Santa Maria. We left Jerez early in the morning and followed by the advices on the internet decided to get to the Cadiz today, and one of the options was by making a stop at El Puerto de Santa Maria, from which a ferry departs to the city of Cadiz. We arrived…
Deep in the Forest
I'm not a huge fan of wild woods, instead, I prefer parks, thus this time I agreed to accompany a person in a thing called mushroom gathering, and believe it or not - I even got a nice catch of mushrooms. In today's Piece of Life series - a hunt for mushrooms in the deepest forests in Courland (Latvia) Ferns in the woods Observant viewer will find chanterelles under these ferns. Red-Capped Scaber Stalks Polypore The Polyporales are…
Forest Mushrooms - Penny Bun & Red-Capped Scaber Stalk
A few days ago I reported a photo story with a harvest of mushrooms from our backyard, then we gathered fungus called Slippery Jack, in today's Piece of Life series - a harvest from deepest woods of Courland (Latvia), meet Penny Bun & Red-Capped Scaber Stalk. And again, those mushrooms were actually gathered by my better part and not me. I was actually drilling holes in a stone wall meanwhile: Penny Buns and Red-Capped Scaber Stalk Red…
Mushrooms in backyard
The other day my aunt visited us at our country house, we spent some lovely time together, and while somewhere in the woods near Akmenrags lighthouse we hunted for chanterelle fungi, should I mention we found just enough to make a barely pan of sauce? The day my aunt left, my better part went for mushrooms again, this time at our backyard: Our backyard Yes, the veggie garden in the boxes and skew barn as well. Wait, there is a rock garden…
Another morning, another beatiful mist
It seems I have a new tradition - for the second year in the row I have captured beautiful morning mist in our country house backyard. Alright, previous year my beloved did the shooting while I was dreaming about roof works. This time I couldn't sleep (as I was thinking of upcoming bathroom remodeling works), and I noticed - a mist. In our backyard. See it for yourself: Mist over our pond and neighbors meadow Few things have changed this…
Cats on The Rocks
Recently I featured a post about how we built a rock garden in the front of our country house. I reported a lovely sunset just shortly. In today's Piece of Life series - little creatures who enjoys the most of our new rock garden. Meet our lovely cats Tiger and Richard. Cat on the rock A nice observation place for planing an attack on...birds? Or at least a try. Cats on the rocks Double attack? Cat on the rock Are you shooting me?
Red Sunset in our Rock Garden - Cool Evening Mood
This Summer spoiled us with a lovely sunsets, but one of the most empathic had been observed in front of our house at rock garden. Red/Orange Sunset at Rock Garden See how we built this rock garden a few days ago. Country house during sunset There is still a lot of to do, and it will require a huge investment to completely remodel/rebuild this house, but evenings like this breaks it even. Sunset over pond Yup, we dug this pond as…
Our neighbor - Fox baby
For the second year in the row we have one small and lovely neighbor - baby fox. Once we met him at the bus stop, looked amazing - fox going to the city, the other morning bad farmers had mowed crop fields and baby fox seemed very disappointed. Today we met our friend, just wandering on the road. baby fox on the road I wish I had a telephoto lens attached, to capture a lovely portrait, as the fox didn't seemed scared or so, just wandered…
Chasing Sunset Photography with a Strong Foreground (Pāvilosta / Jūrkalne)
Chasing sunset photography with a strong foreground is a brief story, which happened on the next day after Summer Solstice. We took our moms and a little doggie and decided to visit coastal Latvian beaches. At start we headed to Pāvilosta piers, I left girls wandering around while installed a tripod and thought I will make a few HDR's here. I have been into HDR photography since the day 1 I discovered this lovely technique back in Tbilisi. The…
Postcards from Pāvilosta
In today's Piece of Life photo series - Postcards from Pāvilosta. I made an article about Pāvilosta and Pāvilosta's lighthouse a while ago. This time we headed to Pāvilosta in company of five after we celebrated Summer Solstice. I was equipped with a tripod and I already knew - I will catch a sunset today Pāvilosta piers Much of the Pāvilosta history and foundation is related to harbor here - Information(link is external) about the history…
Ebb in Spain
For the first time in my lifetime I has to chance to see an ebb, or more precisely - the result of an ebb - an empty space in te place where a sea should be. That happened at the start of June, somewhere around Barbate, region of Spain. The result of an ebb Lonely boats after an ebb Ebb in Spain
Sunflower fields in Andalusia, Spain
In today's Piece of Liefe series - Sunflower fields in Spain. We continued our route toward Jerez de la Frontera, when suddenly sunflower fields popped out - we had no choice left, if was time to make some panoramic from here.See what we got. Sunflower fields in Spain This makes a nice addition to my landscape photography collection, see Vineyards in Tuscany, for example Sunflower fields and Wind generators
Postcards from Batumi
At the start of March 2016, after about a two-year break I visited Batumi again. This time I was equipped with a DSLR camera, a tripod, and two days of free time. I decided to capture as much as I can. Result? In the pictures below. Sunset in Batumi This photo was taken from the top of the mountain at Argo Entertainment center (you can get there by a cable car) Batumi Miracle Park A lot of wonders around here. The Chacha tower,…
Spooky Images from Tarifa, Spain
We were heading from Gibraltar towards Tarifa, still searching for accommodation for tonight when we were surprised by a natural phenomenon - the mist. Mist rolling over highway Mist rolling over highway It was getting late and dark, we decided to make a stop at local store to buy some goodies and I got an opportunity to capture another natural phenomena - clouds covering the Sun Sun covered by clouds Dwelling houses
Postcards from Spain
I wish I was writting down names of all those lovely places, we visited in Costa Del Sol in Spain, as I marked just the major spots. Today we were heading from Marbela, via Estepona towards Ronda, I made following pictures somewhere in the middle. Pink boat Costa Del Sol beach White village in Spain
My First Star Trail Photography
I have wanted to make star trail photography ever since I saw one. It took me some time to actually get out in the dark and capture one, as I knew it wont be so simple as it was with HDR photography. My equipment for this night's adventure - DSLR camera and a tripod. No remote control (not even a duct tape), I pressed shutter release button, after each 30 second long exposure, by hand this night. It was fun experience, as I choose to shoot…
Postcards from Riga
It was still and tranquil (most probably Friday evening) after visiting my dear grandmother in Riga, I decided to take Riga in night pictures. Experimented with long exposures and HDR photography tonight. View towards Old Riga from Radisson SAS hotel River Daugava View towards Old Riga Vansu bridge in Riga Classical Old Riga photography River Daugava Riga: Iron Bridge, TV Tower and National Library
Apple tree blossoms
A couple days ago I introduced you with first sprouts in our garden. Today allow me to show first apple tree blossoms from our apple orchard. Apple orchard in mid-May 2016 Apple tree blossom
First Sprouts of Spring
A few days ago we constructed our second veggie garden in wooden boxes, then we planted. Few days latter first sprouts were observed. I was busy with scratching wallpaper from the other room we decided to improve this year, while my better part took some lovely close ups and macro's in garden. Strawberry plants Bought these plants at local Kuldiga market Rhubarb You can make a lovely jelly out of these, or you can try to make a rhubarb…
Rally Kurzeme 2016
Sport photography has always been interesting for me. I don't feel pro enough to call myself a sport photography guru, as I understand it involves fast zoom lens as well. Today I was equipped with kit 18-55mm lens and 70-300mm telephoto lens - the overall result - pretty good, some photos are even made in auto mode. Rally Kurzeme 2016 We booked a Royal Fontaine hotel and had a chance to observe rally in front of our hotel. Old Soviet…
Flying Fish over Venta Rapid in Kuldīga
This was my second attempt to photograph flying fish over Venta rapid this year, first I did it around April 20, but didn't choose the right position and the weather was damn cold (sky were totally gray). Second time, on April 29, it was crystal clear sky, which in result got me a little bit boring photography, but hey at least captured some of the flying fishes this time.The best place to photograph flying fish over Venta rapid, is by directly…
Former Kolkhoz Spartak
It was on a still and tranquil Friday evening when we took our cat Tiger on a walk. I took a tripod and camera and just documented were we went. Turned out we were walking with our cat at former kolkhoz Spartaks territory, A kolkhoz was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to emerge in Soviet agriculture after…
Postcards from Mtskheta
Mtskheta is small and lovely town located some 20 km from nation' s capital Tbilisi. Some will find a lot of similarities in Mtskheta with town of Sighanghi, while others will enjoy architectural and religious pearls of Mtskheta. Svetitskhoveli church, Jvari monastery or Samtavro are just a few to name. In today' s Piece of Life series - Mtskheta as we saw it on International Women' s day (March 8) Cobbled street in Mtskheta With the…