While Berlin is becoming a hot-destination on the globe, or at least on my agenda, I am getting inspired by Ashley’s images of the German city.
The first time I came across Ashley’s work was through Chasing Heartbeats, her website. There was something about the name that grabbed my attention, but her images were the ones who made me come back and check her website over and over again. With time, I started seeing more of Ashley’s work through mutual talented friends, such as Pret a Voyager, Sister Mag and Lost in Cheeseland, all in the same creative circle.
She moved to Berlin with her husband in December 2011 after living three years in Germany’s Black Forest, and she gets her inspiration from the vibrant city and the creative people living in it.
Ashley is a talented wedding photographer but she also capture her Travels in such a unique and ‘clean’ way. I believe living in the middle of Europe makes it much easier to travel to other countries and experience new cultures.
You can see more of Ashley’s work on her blog where she shares more of her travels, Berlin, and her personal life.
If you ever go to Berlin before I go, please check Ashley’s images for more inspiration, or even book her for a shoot. And by the time I make it over there, I’ll just keep staring at her beautiful pictures.
Thanks Ashley for answering my questions. Can’t wait to take some pictures with you one day in Berlin!
Where are you from? I grew up in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California. After a few years living and working in San Francisco and Paris, the last 4 1/2 years I have lived in Germany. I spent the first three years in the picturesque Black Forest and now call Berlin home.
Where did you study photography? I have a Bachelors in Commercial Photography from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California.
What made you want to learn it? I have played around with cameras for as long as I can remember. I stole my father’s Canon A-1 during family trips and eventually got my own film SLR when I was a teenager. When it was time to decide on what I wanted to study in college, I knew I wanted to do something with art and debated between studying ceramics or photography. I think I made the right decision. I feel so blessed to call this my job.
If you weren’t a photographer what would you do? Oh my word, I have no idea. Maybe something travel-based. Or somehow dealing with religious studies. I have always found the the religions and traditions of the world completely fascinating.
where do you get your inspiration from? the people I photograph and my surroundings. Travel is endlessly inspiring.
What do you mostly love shooting? weddings and my travels around Europe and the US
How do you usually approach a new project? I don’t do a lot of preparation. I do find inspiration on pinterest and sometimes I flip through my board, but mostly I just go out and shoot and get inspired that way.
What are you working on right now? I just sent off some editorial images for a magazine with two Berlin based stories which was really fun. I am booking weddings for 2013 and spent a lot of time last month planning for the year ahead. I just opened a print shop and it has been really fun to go through my travel portfolio to find images to sell as prints. I am going to Spain next week and really excited to take lots of photos and hopefully will have some new editorial work come from it.
Window or Aisle? window. Although I often sit in the middle and let my husband have the window
Just a day after I saw my Vietnam image published in AFAR March-April issue , an interview I did as a Featured Traveller was highlighted on AFAR’s website.
If you want to know what can be my biggest travel mistake or where would I go if I had a whole month or a whole year to travel, read it here.
I didn’t travel to Porto for its wine, nor did I travel to Porto for its delicious sea food, or its beautiful churches and towers all covered in Azule tiles.
I traveled to Porto mostly because I had an image in my mind of colorful low-rise buildings streaming down the hills all the way to the river ; an image I had to see in my own eyes and shoot with my camera. (like the one above)
An IMAGE…This is what photographers are mostly after… The rest is just a bonus.
But don’t get me wrong. I loved the wine! – I drank three kinds of Port wine in one lunch and one dinner. I loved the food! – I ate in Rui Paula’s DOP gourmet restaurant a five-fish dish, which I had to eat only clockwise and I loved the Azulejo tiles! – I didn’t stop shooting them.
But Porto mostly fascinated me for its magical atmosphere of an old mysterious or gothic (as my friend called it) city.
There was something quite special about this city. When I climbed to the top of the hill where the Cathedral is located and overlooked the red roofs of the old crumbling buildings, I instantly felt there are few sides to Porto; The Porto of the top-level, with the old churches and the bell towers and the one of the low-level, with the residential colorful buildings. I stayed in Infante Sagres, a five-stars hotel in the center of the city, but I could hear through the windows the seagulls in the sky and the church bells beaming in the background. I felt as I was on an island.
Although it is not an island, walking along the Riberia of Porto, which is one of the oldest parts of the city and was classified as World Cultural Heritage by Unesco, might give you the feeling you are on one. The river front and the dotted ships on the Douro river are really close.
Porto DOES have all the right ingredients for a perfect long weekend or a short vacation in Europe; Its gastronomy is a mirror of its cultural diversity and there are a lot of great chefs’ oriented restaurants in the city. The Port Wine, which stands out from ordinary wines thanks to its huge range of variety. The different kinds of architectural styles; from the Neoclassical to Art Nouveau (I specially loved the variety of the signs fonts) and of course, the comfortable weather.
When you book your next Porto vacation, I highly recommend to follow O Porto Cool blog. It covers almost every corner in the city and it is very up to date. I checked it on a daily basis and it really made my visit more enjoyable, knowing where to go, on a specific time of the day.
There are so many things to do and see in Porto. A long weekend that lasts for three days obviously will not be enough, but beside the beautiful churches, the marvelous castles and other iconic buildings, here are some highlights I recommend not to miss.
Might be one of the most beautiful train stations in the World, Sao Bento Railway Station was opened to the public in 1916 and is well known for its walls covered with 20,000 splendid azulejo ceramic tiles which describe the History of Portugal. It took Jorge Colaço, the artist, 11 years to complete this building. The railway station is located in the Almeida Garret Square, in the centre of the city. I happened to be there on a Saturday rainy morning, while I was looking for a place to hide from the heavy rain. It was quite interesting watching the people’s dynamics, which might look the same in every major Railway station, despite its location. This place is beautiful all year around and probably most hours of the day. Indulge in this beauty and pay attention to the little details.
This is a great spot for a Weekend brunch, especially if it is raining outside. (At least that what happened to me). I loved the contrast between the raw grey industrial walls and the warm chocolate-colored wood furniture and the green plants. The furniture and accessory have that vintage touch, which I found quite unique and surprising. The place serves as a restaurant and a bar, where at the back of it, there is a minimalistic clothes store.
And then, there is the guest house, which is designed in the same atmosphere of the restaurant; grey industrial walls and minimalistic wooden beds. I love that Miss’Opo is a multi-functional space that can offer both food, style and accommodation in style. It is definitely one of the great spaces that Porto has to offer to a young and hype crowd.
Address:Rua dos Caldeireiros nº100 (restaurant)/ Rua de trás nº 49 (guesthouse)
Casa da Música, designed by Rem Koolhaas, is the first building built in Portugal which is dedicated entirely to music in various aspects; presentation of music (concerts), education of music and creation of music. The building was intended to be finished on 2001, to mark the year in which Porto became a Cultural Capital of Europe but eventually Casa da Música opened its doors to the public on April 15th , 2005. I first heard about Casa da Música when I read my travel guide about Lisbon and Casa da Música was a suggestion for a weekend getaway. The VIP Room grabbed my attention right away and I knew it was something I had to shoot. It is a multifuncional space, mainly used for sessions for small groups, installations or ceremonial occasions. The room pays an homage to Portuguese tiles and each of its panels is a reproduction of an original panel to be found in different museums in Portugal and the Netherlands. When I got to the building I was quite surprised to discover that the next time I can see the room was at 4pm. Mind you, it was only noon, but eventually (thanks to my Journalist pass) I had the chance to be in the VIP Room by myself and shoot it as much as I want. When you plan your visit in Casa da Música, plan it wisely time-wise. And treat yourself to a concert. It is worth it.
Another known architectural jewel in Porto is Livraria Lello, a bookstore well-known for its red stairways that look like a giant tongue. This beautiful bookstores, which was opened in 1906, was chosen one of the ten most beautiful bookstores in the world. The store was designed by Xavier Esteves and it is the flagship store for one of the most important Portuguese publishing houses. Co-owner Antero Braga is usually around, knows the Portuguese book market in and out, and will be glad to help you find exactly what you want even when you don’t have a clue about what that may be. Photography inside the store is not allowed but if you flash your Journalist card again and show up just before the store is opened, than taking pictures might be an option.
Speaking of books, Book Restaurant (which is next door to Infante Sagres hotel) is designed as a library as well and reflects the connection between literature and gastronomy in a very contemporary way. The architect is Pedro Trindade and the chef is John Mendes serving Mediterranean cuisine. I first saw the restaurant from the outside and was curious to see the decor. When I got in and sat down, the waiter handed me the menu inside The Historia da Filosofia book. I knew my dinner couldn’t be better than that!
One of the busiest and fashioned streets in Porto is Rua Galerias de Paris, which, no wonder, is spotted by some cafes and restaurants that remind you of Paris. There is a cute cafe called Galeria de Paris which was quite busy during lunch time, and next door there was Era Uma a Vez em Paris, a dark cafe with great green lamps that grabbed my attention right away to get inside. When I got in, I could easily think I entered a Bohemian Parisian cafe back in the 20’s. No wonder. Era Uma a Vez em Paris, which means ‘Once Upon a Time in Paris’. I loved the decor. The dark room with the red walls, the velvet heavy sofas and the velvet green lamps transformed me immediately. Really recommended during night time, when the place becomes more intimate.
Might be one of Portugal’s most famous cafes with a beautiful interior, Majestic Cafe is one of the best historic cafes in Europe and one of the most beautiful ones in the World. The façade, same as the interior, enlightened the street with its Art Nouveau decoration, designed by architect João Queiroz. It has a great atmosphere and not only a touristic attraction. Come with your cameras because pictures are allowed but also sit down for a coffee and a Portugese cake.
Address: Rua Santa Catarina 112
More recommended locations:
B & B hotel is a great alternative for the budget traveler. The hotel, which was opened in the end of 2011, is located right in the city center in an Art Déco building that used to be cinema “Águia d’Ouro”. The hotel has stylishly furnished rooms and a modern design and despite its luxurious facade, it offers an econo-chic concept with good price for travelers.
A Vida Portuguesa is a concept store I first discovered in Lisbon. I was quite happy to find a similar store on Rua Galerias de Paris and get some hand made olive oil soaps with funny wrapping. Definitely, get a glimpse inside the store.
DOP Restaurant which stands for ‘tasting and daring in Oporto’, is a gourmet restaurant owned by the chef Rui Paula, who combines traditional Portuguese cuisine with international flavor. The restaurant is located in Palácio das Artes (Palace of Arts), an original building from the 14th century, which used to be a youth foundation but recently was reconstructed and reopened as a restaurant. Highly recommended and preferred to book in advance.
De Castro Gaia Restaurant is located in The Porto Cruz Space just acros the river of Porto. The chef Miguel Castro Silva, unites the Porto Cruz wines with the culture of gastronomic Portuguese cuisine. Better take your drink to the rooftop of the building and sip it while looking at the beautiful view of Porto.
Porto is by far, a very fascinating city to visit. You can see it by bike, on foot and even by boat. Take advantage of the great touristic information and plan a great vacation with Porto Card. It will make everything much easier.
As someone who travels for work, I write mostly about places I visit and less about the place where I live, New York. Therefore, when Carla, a great professional photographer in Paris, asked me to blog about New York and be a guest on her blog, I immediately say Yes.
Not only does New York never sleep, it barely reclines. (which suits well my personality). That doesn’t mean you can’t kick back and relax; there are plenty places for that. But if you visit New York, here’s a word to the wise: Pack your most comfortable shoes; Because Manhattanites may not nap much, but they sure do walk a lot.
I am very inspired by New York. I always tell people to carry their cameras. The streets are so dynamic, you can never know when and where you can get your best shot.
Here are some of my favorite things to do in Manhattan and some photogenic locations you want to consider.
6 AM: Grab your running shoes and head to Central Park. Start from Columbus Circle on 59th street and head east and north. Jog around the reservoir (named after Jackie Kennedy Onasis who used to live right by) and then jog back. Grab a coffee to go in one of the two cute little cafes at the entrance to the park.
8 AM: If you are up for a breakfast, my favorite place in my neighborhood is La Pain Quotidien Bakery on 58th street and 7th Ave. Even though it is a Belgium brand (don’t tell anyone) I still love the Parisian atmosphere it has.
11 AM: Head downtown to SoHo area where most of the stores won’t be open before 11 o’clock. Visit the Prada’s flagship store (575 Broadway) designed by Rem Koolhaas and for a minute you can confused it to the Tate Modern than a fancy retail store. Walk around the cobble stone streets and visit Taschen book store, (107 Greene street), Vosges Chocolate (which flavors are inspired by Travel locations) Kate Spade colorful boutique and I’m sure you will find so many more stores.
1 PM: Lunch time. Walk East toward Nolita (North of Little Italy) and make sure you get a table in Cafe Gitane, a French-Morrocan cafes. (242 Mott street). This is one of my favorite places in the city. Don’t miss their cuscus dish. Delish.
3PM: Walk down to the Lower East Side for a creamy dip from Il Laboratorio del Gelato (95 Orchard st.) and try out their honey lavender and black mission fig flavors. Lower East Side has become quite trendy in the last couple of years, crowded with new restaurants, bars, and gallery spaces alongside original stores with some immigrant touch
4PM: Get energized in China Town with a real Chinese massage. (107 Mott st) I’ve been going there for years. A little China town in Manhattan.
6PM: It’s Gallery time. Head West to Chelsea area and cruise with your drink from one gallery opening to another. Thursday is the day! Make sure to check some good ones along Gallery Line.
8PM: Don’t miss the Highline. New York elevated park. I love this place. so many shooting opportunities for Fashion and Architecture lovers. The highline starts from 30th street all the way to 14th. Get off at 14th. It’s the heart of the Meat Packing Area, where boutique hotels, high end fashion boutiques and best chefs restaurants are all centered in one area. Grab dinner or a drink in Spice Market, Fig&Olive, or the Standard Grill and for a second think you are in a ‘Sex and the City’ scene.
10PMand on it’s Party time: Dream Downtown Hotel and its PHD roof lounge has one of the most spectacular night time view. Drinks are a bit over priced but the view is for free.
2AM: Shopping after a long night of drinking can be dangerous to your credit cards, which is why Apple store on 5th Ave and 59th street is open around the clock. This is the time to shop if you want to avoid the crowd.
4AM: End your journey at the Juvenex Spa (25 west 32nd street) the only 24 hour spa in Manhattan. Try the Spa Foot Rejuvenation treatment because after a day like this you must give priority to your feet
It is quite impossible to sum up a full year in one post or in a few pictures. I’m sure a lot of things that happened I don’t even remember and there are few things I want to forget.
For me, the New Year is always filled with a sense of anticipation but mostly curiosity, followed by a constant obsessed reading of the yearly horoscope’s predictions that I tend to compare from different sources. Looking back at the predictions of 2012, I can’t say my horoscope was right or wrong, vague or clear. It was what it was, and I did what I did. (It doesn’t mean I will stop reading my yearly horoscope predictions for the next year) and yet, 2012 was quite an interesting and a challenging year.
But if I DO need to sum up this year somehow, then I will say that 2012 was the year of Places and People. After all, it is the people you meet through your journeys to make them memorable.
I have travelled toVietnam in February, a country I’ve always wanted to visit.
An article I read about the Vietnamese food and an image of the lanterns festival I saw in a Nikon magazine, made me book a flight in a short notice and plan my trip by talking to Juliette, my friend, who used to live in Hanoi few years ago and talking to my friend Meirav, who was convinced I can get great images for my portfolio.
As much as I didn’t plan my trip, one thing was planned for sure; I wanted to be in HoiAn on February 5th for the first full moon of the New Year. It was one of the most beautiful ceremonies I have ever seen to welcome the New Year in Vietnam, and if you ever plan a trip there, you should definitely consider it. In Vietnam I was exposed to great street food, even though there were places I couldn’t believe I would eat there, and yet, I survived it and the food was delicious. I met some interesting people, some were travelers like me, I took a midnight train from Hanoi to Sapa, just to realize Sapa was so cloudy and foggy. I got so antsy and impatient to go back that I’ve decided to take a midnight train back on the same day. I was exposed to the un-explained rhythm of the scooters and motorcycles, drank a lot of condense milk (just to realize afterwards how fatty it was) and most important, took tons of pictures.
After Vietnam, on my way back to New York, I had a stop over in Tokyo.
At first, I was supposed to stay in Tokyo only for a 10 hours time in between flights, but Alfredo, one of my close friends who used to live there for few months, encouraged me to stay longer ‘because if you are already in the area…why not to stay?’ He was so right! I was in Tokyo for 72 hours and slept only four hours a night. Tokyo was like a dream come true. Like New York but on Steroids.
As much as Tokyo is crowded and massive and, obviously, I saw only the tip of it, serendipity took a place and led me to have some really great experiences. I was shooting two!articles in three days, and a random conversation with a local fashionista, got me into the hard core of the fashion scene in Tokyo. Never imagined I will do so much in such a short time. To balance out the craziness of this city, Meri, a Japanese friend who I met online and finally got the chance to meet in person, took me to a high-end tea ceremony in Ginza. Even though I didn’t understand a word, I was having the time of my life.
This year I have been to Paris three times!!!
Combining business and pleasure, Paris is becoming one of my most favorite cities (after Manhattan, of course) a city I aim to live in for a few months and experience the ‘La Vie en Rose’. Whenever I have the opportunity, I will go to Paris. Even if it is for a short while. Three times in Paris this year, I had the opportunity to live like a local in different arrondissements and experience the city in so many different ways.
In March I was staying in Montparnasse. I was writing and shooting an article about the design scene in Paris and thanks to some insider information from my friend Anne, who lives in Paris and blogs about it, I got to shoot some new locations, a beautiful Philip Starck’s hotel and some great concept stores.
In June I traveled to Paris mostly to celebrate my birthday in the city of lights but also to shoot some great Parisianapartments. My sister came from Tel Aviv and I came from New York and we met right in the heart of the city, in one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Paris; the Northern Marais (NoMa). Even though it rained on my birthday, that day was very special and an eye opener. During my week in Paris, I met so many new people (some became really dear to me) I met and followed one of my favorite Street Artist and participated in a real French Cooking class.
In October I visited Paris again. This time it was a way different experience than what I knew before. I was invited by Tonya to document with my camera a group of great women who came to Paris to learn how to French Kiss their lives and fall in love with themselves again. Where else if not in Paris, will your senses be alerted and awaken? During this visit I’ve stayed in the high-end 16th arrondissement where I could see the Eifel tower glittering through the living-room’s window and the Arc de Triumph on my way to the Metro station. I was exposed to great restaurants (eight-course dinner, for example) learned some fashion secrets from a real Parisian stylist and finally understood what behind a great perfumes and scents.
These Paris’ glimpses were also a great opportunities to finally meet the people I knew from the online world in reality. (Greg, Ben, Lindsey, Daniel, Gale, Yetunde, Eric and Chef Constance to name a few) Even though these glimpses were short, I am so grateful for these opportunities.
In June I also visited Lisbon for the first time.
I’ve always wanted to visit this city and I can’t pinpoint exactly on the reason. Curiosity for sure. I’ve stayed 48 hours in Lisbon and did so much. I let serendipity play its tricks again and a random turn led me to discover one of the most beautiful castles in Lisbon, write an article about it and become friends with its owner. I traveled to Lisbon with zero expectations but discovered so much. A recommendation from a hotel manager to visit Pharmacia, one of the trendiest restaurants in the city, grabbed my interest to find this place and shoot it. It granted me my debut picture in Travel +Leisure Magazine on November and a private tour by one of the restaurant owners.
And then in September a stop over in Rome, the Eternal City.
I haven’t been to Rome for over five years as I was quite reluctant that some nostalgic moments will get over me. But this current trip to Rome eventually was a closing circle of the past. I met with my Italian friend and colleague Peter and we scrolled the streets of beautiful Trastevere (how did I miss this neighborhood in my previous visit?) and for a second I felt like a character in Woody Allen’s movie ‘To Rome with Love’. I stayed in a great vintage hotel just in the smack of the Colosseum area and yes…I became friends with the owner as well.
But the highlight of my Italian jump (beside missing my suitcase for most of my stay) was a day in Naples.
I admit. I swore to go to Naples in my next opportunity I visit Italy again and so it happened in September. My main goal was to shoot laundry for my on going photography project ‘Intimacy under the Wires’ but my private tour guide Marina, showed me so much of this ambiguous city that one day was surely not enough and left me with a desire to visit this city again.
In between, I’ve spent some time in Tel Aviv.
Even though I am an Israeli, I still can’t call myself a local in Tel Aviv. Spending my recent years in New York and spending the holidays in Tel Aviv still doesn’t grant me that title. Not yet. I enjoy being a semi-tourist in Tel Aviv. Let my friends guide me. Show me new places, recommend me on some great restaurants and even take me for a graffiti tour around. Don’t get me wrong. I am not a stranger in Tel Aviv, but these little discoveries make my stay a little bit more enjoyable. This year I had the honor to have my picture featured on the cover of Hemisphere Travel Magazine and a four-double spread feature in Resource Magazine, in case you are planning your next photo production in this neve-sleep-city.
And then, New York, of course.
I love discovering new places, streets, locations, restaurants, bars and so on so forth in the city I live in. Can’t think of anything in specific but I just enjoy these moments when I take my camera out of my bag to capture some of my favorite frames. I can’t sum up New York for this year. New York has been and will always be a great challenging ride.
As much as I met new and interesting people and made some new friends, there were few friends who disappeared and few I had to let go. That’s the Nature of Relationships, I guess, and as I’ve learned from past experience, I shouldn’t regret it. People come and go for a reason.
Starting tomorrow, I’m sure I will read all the yearly horoscope predictions for 2013. I will probably read the Hebrew and English versions as well.
New Year’s resolutions? It might be too presumptuous for now.
I admire Chef Constance for her charisma and how serious she is about food. The way she talks to people and explains them about the elements of the dish they are about to cook, the way she instructs how to use the cooking tools, and the way she does it both in French and in English, are all things I wish I could do. The only hint about her goofy and playful character is in her un-matching socks she is wearing.
She started cooking when she was eight years old. She used to make cakes every Wednesday in a pastry school. As she didn’t want to go to Ballet classes, her mom made a deal with her: She could go to the cooking class if she would take a Ballet class as well. So she did.
When she turned 15, she started a culinary school for five years. She admits the school was quite demanding, but it was the best training to learn the reality of this job. Some of her training were in Le Bristol, Le Meurice and The Ritz, all five stars hotels in Paris. When school was over she headed to the Four Season Hotel in Palm Beach, in order to practice both her culinary skills outside of Paris and improve her English.
When she got back to Paris, she got hired as a chef for the American Embassy and the Unesco Ambassador and afterwards she was part of establishing a new restaurant with the sous chef she worked with in Le Bristol, called Le Cristal de Sel. Mind you, she was not even 30!
After eight years of cooking she joined Cook’n with Class as she felt she was ready to teach others how to cook. If you visit Paris, I highly recommend to book a cooking class with Chef Constance. If you can’t make it to Paris yet, then check Chef Constance’s blog where she shares all the good recipes and the techniques she learned all over the world.
She specializes in fish and sea food. As I share with her the love of swimming, Constance used to do swimming races during her Summer days so it was quite natural for her to go towards products from the Sea.
This is why she taught that great Scallop class in Haven’s Kitchen.
The Location: Haven’s Kitchen
Haven’s Kitchen is a two-story-about to be-three stories space for cooking classes, events venue, a neighborhood’s cafe and a gourmet shop. All in one place in West Village. It became a gathering place to reconnect people with food and the community. The classes varies from beginners, wine tasting, barbecue and grilling, Holiday cooking and seasonal classes. As the classes vary, so do the chefs. Constance is not a permanent resident but a guest from Paris. How great is that to be in New York, in such a great school with a chef all the way from Paris!
I love the design of Haven’s Kitchen. The front of the store is a little cafe with a gourmet store and pantry. A tall wood table in the middle of the store, where people can sit, sip their coffees and read some cooking books, all left around on the tables. The pantry sells mostly Made in Brooklyn-Made in New York brands such as delicious jams, teas, chocolates, wines and honey. And then…the kitchen! Big working tables, tons of jars filled with herbs from all over the world, pans, pots, plates of all sizes, utensils and more. Such a well equipped space that makes the cooking seems so easy and obviously, enjoyable.
The second floor has a great space which is rented for some food venues and events and a wine tasting bar. The third floor will have more room for classes in the near future. The space is definitely a cooking Haven.
The Class: Sea Scallop
Even though it might sound easy, It takes longer to make Seas scallop poached into a lettuce leaf with creamy leeks and smoked bacon and Sea scallop roasted with a crust of parmesan cheese with baby spinach than eating it. And yet, all the eight women and the only man who were part of Constance’s class, listened very carefully to what she said and followed her instructions.
In the end it was a lovely dish, accompanied with Baguette and butter, French wine and a citron flavored creamy dessert that Constance prepared in advance.
I wish the pictures could transfer the taste but meanwhile… if you want to try it at home, contact Constance for the recipes.
As I was not in Israel at that time, my girlfriend Einat from DesignBreak was telling me all about the Sisters and their doing. Since that time, I’ve started following Thea and Toni’s magazine, and was amazed how these two were putting together such a great product. With time, sisterMAG became more and more familiar to me. I remember Anne from Pret a Voyager posted some images from The Hive in Berlin with Thea and Toni, same as Lindsey, from Lost in Cheeseland. So even without meeting Thea and Toni in person, thanks to my colleagues bloggers, I felt as I know The Sisters.
In my recent visit to Paris, Lindsey suggested I should contact sisterMAG and maybe contribute for their next issue. One thing led to another and I found myself writing a photographed article about Ospedale della Bambole, a hospital for dolls I’ve shot in my recent visit to Naples. The article is part of a series, The Crafters, which sisterMAG will probably continue in future issues.
To read the full article, please press on the link and make sure you subscribe to the magazine or download it to your iPad.
I’m so honored to have my story featured in the Christmas issue. 300 plus pages of great inspiration!
There is nothing like arriving at a new city or a new place for the first time and falling in love with it.
That’s what happened to Benjamin Colombel, an Art Director and Photographer from Paris, when he came to New York on a foggy night in May 2012. (I still remember the first day I arrived to New York to live in, even though it was 10 years ago. The images of 6th Ave on the night before New Year’s Eve are still fresh in my mind)
For Benjamin it was this extraordinary reflection of the light of Time Square on glassy buildings, the Empire State Building vanishing in the fog through the sunroof of the car… It was such a fresh and unique feeling which continues for the next day when he woke up early just to see life slowly rising in the Lower East Side.
I sort of ‘discovered’ Benjamin through Greg Finck, a friend of mine who lives in Paris, and was also featured on my blog. I think Greg made a comment about one of Ben’s images of New York and it showed up in my facebook feed.
But before I continue, I have a confession to make; I LOVE looking at pictures of my colleagues photographers who come to my city for their first time. They look at things different from the locals do and they want to grab any piece of information in their lens. (That’s what happens to me when I visit Paris). Ben (who easily fits my ‘Frenchman in New York’ thing) was here in a very foggy rainy week in May, and the way he captured the city was very misty. The more I looked at his New York pictures, the more I wanted to see other places he has been to and shot. I must admit that some of his other albums made me want to book a flight and go. He has that talent to look at the little things and objects in a way that makes you want to know more, and yet, you kind of understand the feeling he was trying to convey.
To see more of Ben’s pictures, you can visit his Flickr account or follow him on Insagram @jeanfrancisco, and if you want to see how talented and creative the guy is, just visit his website.
For me, I just wait for the opportunity to shoot New York with him next time he is visiting.
Merci Ben!
Where are you from? I’m from Quimper, a small town in Brittany, France. Near the sea. That’s where I started to appreciate beautiful images. Landscapes are so wonderful there.
Where did you study graphic design? At first I learned by myself. Graphic design is definitely not something that you learn on the bench of a business school. But after a couple of years as a project manager in advertising (after my business degree) I made the best decision of my life. I applied for a graphic design school in Sydney called Billy Blue. I was directly enrolled for the bachelor degree, I was exhilarated ! It was an amazing school with people from all over the world and an amazing education, so different from the French system . That’s where I learned to think differently. Since then I’m highly motivated in whatever I’m doing in this field !
What made you want to learn it? It’s the combination of multiple factors but I guess as I’m a fan of music since my childhood, I always wondered how the album cover were made. As a teenager I used to spend so many afternoons, trying to figure how they were executed. And what I really loved while I was in my graphic design school was to get all the answers to the questions I had during this period. I’m really into technique and still spend a lot of time learning.
If you weren’t an art director/graphic designer, what would you do? I prefer not to think about that. I would probably be highly depressed, held in a madhouse, screaming…
Where do you get your inspiration from? What I love the most is to find time to stay on a bench and watch people. Hear what they say, see how they look, how they move. I could do that for hours. Spending time with my friends is also highly inspirational. I’m really lucky to be amazingly well surrounded. And when I’m not with people I bury myself in my office with my books and one of my best friend … the Internet !
What do you mostly love shooting? As an art director, my day-to-day work is to conceive projects with very narrow boundaries. Everything has to be planned. Photography is my balance to that, I love to shoot the unexpected !
How do you usually approach a new project? If I’m not catching the unexpected, I would say that it’s a long process. I’m really critical in general but it’s nothing compared to how I can be critical about myself, my ideas, my work. I’m my worst client. That’s why I tend to think that photography is a quest to help me find who I really am deep inside. But I realized that the process is pretty long.
What are you working on right now? I have many projects in art direction and also working on some videos (one of my new passion). In matter of photography, I have several ideas right now that may be more conceptual than usual. All I need is to find some time. And I will never give up on travel photography. I’m sure all the readers of this blog can guess why? Argentina might be my next destination. Scoop!
Window or Aisle? Can we say both ? I’m always doing the splits between dream and reality.
A few weeks ago I had a semi-argument with my mom in which she said I was addicted to Airport terminals and the act of traveling.
While I tried to explain to her that traveling is part of my job and actually part of who I am as a human being, I had to think about it more; (Jewish mothers are always right)
Am I really addicted to Airports? (well, addiction runs in the family)
Can’t I really sit still in one place and need to wander? (I was always the ‘curious cat’)
What is it in the ‘act’ of traveling that makes me happy to the point that I always want more? (I often plan my next travel before the current one really ends)
Not to mention, the urge to take pictures and look at the reality in front of me, fit into a frame.
Was it a coincidence or not, but A few days after my conversation with my mom, a friend of mine got me the book ‘The Art of Travel’by the philosopher Alain de Botton, and I dwelled into it. The book is not a typical Travel book that suggests its readers where to go, but it is more a philosophical one, that brings up questions of WHY we travel and WHAT do we get out of this experience. Alain de Botton keeps reminding the readers that travel is a learning experience and if we be open and use all of our senses, than we be well rewarded and so our travel experience.
“…Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places. Introspective reflections which are liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape. The mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do.
At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves – that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.
If we find poetry in the service station and motel, if we are drawn to the airport or train carriage, it is perhaps because, in spite of their architectural compromises and discomforts, in spite of their garish colours and harsh lighting, we implicitly feel that these isolated places offer us a material setting for an alternative to the selfish ease, the habits and confinement of the ordinary, rooted world…”
As I’m still reading de Botton’s book, I came across another travel essay, that was on point with how I feel when I travel. If I ever need to justify myself in any future argument, the essay ‘Why we Travel’ by the philosopher Pico Iyer, will be a winning case.
“…We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. The beauty of this whole process was best described, perhaps, before people even took to frequent flying…”
While each of us has his own reasons to travel, here are some of mine;
When I travel to a new place, there are few things I make sure to look for and find (The rest I leave for serendipity): An area where I can find great graffiti and street Art, an area where I can find people hanging their laundry outdoors and the best view of the city.
There is nothing like walking all day in the streets of a new place and then (usually at the end of the day just before sunset) climbing up a mountain, a hill, a tall tower, a bridge, the 43rd floor (in case of Manhattan) the 6th floor (in case of Montmartre in Paris) or anything that helps you see the city in a whole new different perspective. When you are up, overlooking the city, you no longer hear the traffic in the streets (you just see the cars), you don’t see the people in eye level and you don’t smell the street vendor’s food, the smoke or anything else.
It is a sort of serenity. a state of mind. (and an important addition for a Travel Portfolio)
Here are some rooftops locations from Madrid, Barcelona, Bologna, Rome, Florence, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Paris and Manhattan. If you have more recommendations, please send me a message.
Few days after I wrote this post, I was chosen by Easy Jet Holidays as one of their Bloggers of the month as they chose to feature this post on their website. Check it out and some other great inspiring bloggers.
