100

Reichstag Dome by PPDesigns.

I'm off for two weeks, starting tomorrow, heading first to Berlin and then to London. I'll be back in early May, presumably with a gazillion photos. Wish me bon voyage!

Oh, and, this is my 100th post :)

last summer

Chicoutimi & Quebec City.

Woke up with the most horrific charley horse in my leg this morning. In the past, I'd only ever got them from being dehydrated; now I seem to get them for whatever reason, or none at all. They're so painful and leave me with a limp for the rest of the day. Always in the same place -- the right calf. Any ideas?

face-off

I don't often put pictures of myself on here. It's not for security reasons and it's not that I have especially low self-esteem -- it's just that I can usually find better things to photograph.

But the other day I stumbled across somebody's blog, and it was written under the assumption that everyone who reads the blog always has, and thus needs no background information or introduction. It was a bit abrupt and off-putting. Then, I started to wonder if I do the same thing myself. So, hello! This is me. I live in France. I teach English to university students (and the semester is almost over, woo hoo!). I'm planning on going back to grad school in September, back in Canada. I am very, very tall. I make and sell jewelry on the internet. And, I like to take photos.


PS: If I look a little hesitant in the first photo, it's because I'm leaning against a short wall on the roof of the monaco aquarium, very high above some rocks, and as I leaned, I swear I felt the wall shift.

macros around the apartment

the old apartment

Vancouver, August '06


Nice, March '08


I thought I might turn Sundays into 'old photos day', and use it as an excuse to post older pics. To that aim, I was browsing an old iPhoto album, and came across the first picture above. It was next to a photo of a calendar, with almost all the days crossed out -- me planning for my first move to Toronto. Now, almost two years later, I'm taking almost the same photo, but looking in, instead of out. I know this says something about my state of mind right now, but I will save you the self-analysis and just note, instead, how little I've changed.

odds n' ends

Under the rainway bridge, Nice.


Opera House, Paris.


Riviera pines, Porquerolles.


It's almost like we're back in the look up series.

way!

why, hello there, 'everyday' section of the etsy gift guide!



I recognize you!

Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Nice.

I wish I could show you have amazing the inside of the Russian Orthodox Church here in Nice is. The church was built in the late 19th century, but all the art inside must be medieval -- rich, dark colours accented with gold; beaded embroidry; the most ornate miniatures of what I assume are saints. I'd never been to an Eastern Orthodox church before, and I really enjoyed seeing the Russian interpretations of iconography that I'm used to seeing in the Italian style. Little winged angel-heads, the madonna and child, the Archangel Michael -- all the same kinds of images I'd seen before, but with different eyes, different noses, different shapes and subtle changes in body position.

The first (and only other time) I came to Europe, I travelled with my friend Julia, who studies art history. We travelled through Italy and northern Spain together, and I loved going to art galleries with her. We would share an audio guide, and I'd be standing at the painting, slightly nodding, pretending that I see what I'm supposed to be seeing -- and then I'd look over to Julia, and she would be scowling and shaking her head, "I just don't see that at all!" If only I knew enough about art to make such statements myself! I remember especially her quietly raging against what she described as an anti-feminist audio guide that was about 30 years out of date -- where was that? The Uffizi in Florence, I think.

You can see from the grey skies a bit of what the weather here has been like all week. Definitely a big change from spending Easter Sunday on the beach! Still, there wasn't enough rain here over the winter, so we need this grey.

Finally: I must be a 13-year-old boy. If I'm not, why couldn't I resist taking a picture of this?

porquerolles - fin

more Porquerolles

Europe for tourists in two words: churches, forts.

In addition to a postcardesque little sailboat, here are two pics of the old fort on the hill at Porquerolles. The fort was nice, but, well, eventually they all just look like forts. Walking around the island with my friends, we saw there was a fort, and knew that, eventually, inevitably, we would end up there. Forts are very strong tourist magnets.

When I finish with these Porquerolles pics I'll show you some that I took at Nice's Russian Cathedral yesterday, which has the happy fortune of not looking at all like any other church I've ever seen.

And, yes, I know that I am again blogging about what I'm going to blog about in the future. So be it!

Porquerolles continued...

If you were wondering, that little dog in the first image is my new best friend. He was both licking and biting my hand. Ad-or-able!

le port de Porquerolles

Visited the beautiful island of Porquerolles on Saturday. It's France's only island nature reserve, and has some beautiful beaches, olive farms, a windmill, and a little town called "Mexico-sur-Mer" -- the legacy of former owners of the island, who made millions in Mexican mines. More pictures to come this week.

I spent much of yesterday making and photographing new pieces of jewelry for my etsy shop. This is one of my favourite pictures from the shoot:


comme la brume - like smoke.

antibes

Antibes is a really lovely little town, with a small but sandy beach, and an english foodstore that sells Jelly Babies and thus is loved by me.

Regular blog readers will know that I've spent the last two weeks being anxious about grad school admission. Well, I've found out that I'm waitlisted at my first-choice institution, which, really, may be a blessing in disguise, because my second-choice school (to which I have already been accepted) actually has a much better reputation. So, second choice is looking like it will be the destination ...

still technically on hiatus

... because I'm still waiting to hear back from my top choice school. Their website says we should get notice by "the end of April", so it's possible that I'm jumping the gun here, but I don't care all that much anymore. I finally emailed the secretary last night to ask what's up. Not sure if I will get a response -- I think the secretary is ridiculously busy, and probably gets a lot of emails like mine -- but I had to ask.

So, still technically on hiatus, but if you really miss my photography and writing, you can head over to this recent post I wrote for the ecoetsy street team about packaging. I'm feeling all vulnerable and exposed, it seems.