Hot and Steamy Valentine

Happy Valentines Day!!

I hope everyone gets to heat up their lives like the windows in these photos.  Kick it up hot and steamy with someone you love... or enjoy some yummy chocolates, or some pretty roses.  Hug a cute teddy bear.  Or just have a nice cup of tea and a romance novel.

Our plan is to buy a Papa John's heart-shaped pizza and watch a movie together.  I'm excited!

Photos taken through the window of a Florist in Greenwich Village

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

When Will My Reflection Show Who I Am Inside?

 

Nope, these photographs aren't double exposures or overlays.  These are photographs taken through the giant glass windows at the Brandywine River Museum. 

Oh hey, look!  It's my feet.

But, no, seriously.  My mom and I went out on a lovely outing to the Brandywine River Museum while I was visiting for a few days at the end of October.  It's one of my favourite museums- it features the work of the painters of the Wyeth family, like NC Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth.  Plus, there's all kinds of other beautiful art too.

 

One of the best things about this museum, though, is that it sits right next to the scenic Brandywine River... hence the museum name.

 

So, yeah.  I went there with my mom and we spent a few hours walking around, looking at the paintings.  Lovely. 

They had all of their classics out, but there was also this great exhibit of Trompe L'oeuil, which is art that looks real.  The imagery is real, but it's art.  For example, there was this one painting, and I am awful and can't remember it's name or the name of the author, but it looked like a college student bulletin board, complete with photographs, banner, and letters home.  The items extended beyond the frame all over the place.  Even from a foot away, the thing looked 3D.  But, standing right there...

 FOOLED YOU.  

It was totally a painting.

Anyways, this got me to thinking about how things never look like what they seem, how we see through some things and not others.  For example, my lovely mom, Joan Buck (in the above photo).  I think she is so pretty.  And not just because she's my mom, because, well, she's just gorgeous. She hates being photographed, and doesn't like seeing pictures of herself.
 Sorry mom, you're on my blog!  Because I can see that you're pretty, and thin, and well dressed, even if you don't believe me.  You thought you were just something normal and real, from standing right there, and I can tell that you're a beautiful work of art from less than a foot away.  Or even ten feet away.

The enigma of the day- this dude.  Flying.  

Ah, but it's just another trick of the eye.  He was walking, doing some dance to the music in his headphones, oblivious to the world around him.  He was doing one thing, this photograph makes it look like another.  Trick of the eye.

And, here's the classic "photographer taking a photo that includes a reflection of herself" photo.  

I've started doing this a lot lately, because, though I just commented on this about my mom, I'm really self- conscious about how I look, and often hate how I turn out in photos.  I wish I was thinner, I wish my eyes were brighter, I wish my hair was naturally straight rather than wavy and poofy.  But, everyone else tells me I look just fine.  I just want to make the self and the work of art one and the same.

I'm starting to think that it might be a lifelong process.

Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania, USA

Photographer Feature: Mariana Vily

My name is Mariana, and I'm an actress born and bred in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I met Emily on a short trip to New York I made this year. 

I take lots of photographs, so picking just 3 was complicated. I'm always thinking of creating an album on Flickr, but then for some reason I never do. 

So, sorry, no website :S.

The Beach

 This is in Montevideo, Uruguay. This specific neighbourhood is called Pocitos. The city is on the coast of the river diving Argentina and Uruguay.

 Flatiron

 This is the reflection of the buildings surrounding Madison Square Park on the fountain. I took this one this year, I think in early July.

 Ville Lumiere

 I took this one on my first trip to Paris. I'd walked all the way from the courtyard of the Louvre through the Tuileries gardens till I got there. Along the way you see way too many statues, the 2 triumph archs, the Eiffel tower and Cleopatra's needle. So the whole effect, to me at least, was pretty moving and overwhelming.

Montevideo, Uruguay

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Paris, France

Central Scenes

 

 

 

Central Park is a magical place.  Every time I go there, I get lost.  And every time I go there, when I get lost, I discover something new.  One time it was a castle.  Another time, it was a heron.  The benches are decorated with placques, and sometimes memorial bouquets like above.  The bridges reflect into the water.  The animals seem to dance.  As I said- magical.  Mystical.  Ethereal.  Especially in early morning, when all of these photographs were taken.  The sun was so low in the sky, and incredibly bright, causing refractions off of my lens (like the one above on the left).  

Things like this are making me miss New York immensely.  I'll be back in late October .

Manhattan, New York City, New York

Across the Pond

It feels so odd to think that I have been back from the UK for two and a half monthes now.  I was only there for four!  I started this blog to chronicle my travels there, and I had no idea that I'd still be keeping it up now.  If you check my oldest entries, they are more like a journal, telling "what I did today in London" with a smattering of some photographs to demonstrate what I had seen in images as well as words.  Then, I posted a photograph and no description.  Slowly, I've been writing more and more.  How far this has come!  Now, I really enjoy working on this blog.  Even more than that, I take at least ten photographs a day, look at other peoples work, read photography books... I feel that I'm getting better.  Which is why it is so fun for me now to go back to some of my older albums and  choose what I think are the best photographs.  They aren't the ones I would have chosen three months ago, for certain.   I hope you are enjoying this blog as much as I am. :)

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Like this?  Try out Landscape.

Tranquility

Koi in the River in the Yard of The Alamo

San Antonio, Texas, USA

Like this?  Check out Spring and Better Than Candles.

Really like this?  Buy this print here.

I added a cool quiz to the side of the page!  Vote for your favourite country (out of those choices) or the one you would most like to visit.  They are all ones that I have been to, or am going to visit in the near future.  However, they are not all of the countries that I have seen.  I just find it interesting to know what you're thinking, and maybe you do too.
ALSO I just added this thing called bloglovin.  You can now follow this blog through blogspot, blogger, google, or bloglovin.  So now you will always know when this blog is updating.  Yay!  Here's the link: Follow my blog with bloglovin.
ONE MORE THING- I created a facebook group for Travel and Toile.  To join, or for more updates, go to The Travel and Toile Facebook Group .
Thanks everyone!

The Windmills in my Mind

Windmill House

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

And two quick updates.

First off... I finally got 400 page hits.  Yay!  A bit lame for having the blog for three monthes, but I didn't update for a month, so really I should stop complaining.

Also, this thing suddenly appeared (I probably accidentally changed a setting or something) where you can vote whether you think my post (photograph) is cool, interesting, or funny.  Have a nice time with that.

Thanks!

Grazing

Sheep Grazing Next to a Waterlands Stream

Outside of Holysloot, The Netherlands

Watergazing

A Segment of the Roman Wall of Londinuim in the Tower of London

London, England

Now for the selfish, shameless ploy.

One of my favourite blogs to read is Pics by Polka Dot.  Photography and travel are only two of my interests.  Fashion has always been a major one for me (with acting, of course, being number one).  Before I came to London, I started searching for some good London Street Style blogs, to know what the general trends were here.  I tend to choose my outfits based on what I like and find to be attractive, not just current trends, but I would be lying if I said that the work of major designers and the street trends of the moment don't influence what I do.  

Anyways... There is a contest to win "May Day Princess" or something like that.  I sent in a photo of me, wearing one of my favourite outfits, in a pose that I think helps to express who I am.  Someone artistic, maybe a tad bit gothic at times, but who is sassy and fun.  Winner of this competition gets a photo shoot.  Dream come true.

SO.  Here's how to help me.  If you have a facebook, and think that I deserve to win this contest, go  HERE and click "like" at the bottom of the photo.  Whoever has the most people like their photo, wins the contest.  I would be unbelievably excited to win this.  Honestly, it would make my life.

Here's the photo I posted:

No need to let me know if you voted or not.  And, if you don't think I deserve it, don't vote for me.  Vote for someone else.  This is no dictatorship.

Thanks and keep enjoying the posts :)