Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year

I just wanted to write a quick Happy New Year post to all my visitors. Thanks so much for being a part of my life and I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far. I promise 2014 will be even better. I wish all of us a prosperous New Year, filled with health, laughter, joy, wealth and happiness.


Let us close off this year of images and posts, with a song.


Wherever you are right now, I wish you a Happy New Year!

5 Things You Might Have Missed: More from 2013 [Part 2/2]

If you haven't seen part one, click here to view some of my favourite posts from this year, that you might have missed. In this second part I'll list 5 posts from August till December that maybe flew by you, and again, if you like you can click on the titles to view the posts completely with all the images and stories.

 click on the links in the title to view the full post

1. Beyond The Island

I look back at this post and it's images very fondly. If you click on the title it will take you to the island Krapanj, and to images that were taken just after sunset.




2. Inside the Nature Resort Krka
Part One (click here)Part Two (click here)

Posted just at the start of my return to full-time blogging, this two part series takes you inside the Nature Resort Krka, that is filled with many discoveries, including beautiful waterfalls.



3. The Journey to a hidden Place
Part One (click here), Part Two (click here) 

It was one of those destinations that I hadn't heard of before, but that my dad knew about. So he took us to Semisnica, a secluded bistro in the mountains, where we had a unforgettable time. The series is divided in two posts.


4. Visiting the Fortress of St. Nikola

This is a hidden gem along the Adriatic coastline near Sibenik. The fortress is very well kept and in this post we tried to shoot as much as we could, outside and inside of it.



5. Visiting Pocitelj
Part One (click here), Part Two (click here), Part Three (click here)

This was one location I wanted to visit for a long time, and even though it's very close to where I live, in all these years I never got around to. But finally in September this year my friends and I made the hike up to this old fortress in Pocitelj.


Thanks for taking a look back with me. I am looking forward to posting new material in the New Year, venturing out more often and discovering new sights.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

5 Things You Might Have Missed: A look back at 2013 [Part 1/2]

I did a similar post like this back in September, and ever since then I wanted to come back to it and do another "looking back" post. Since it's the end of the year, I think It's appropriate to do another part in this series, and take a look back at some of the posts from this year that you might have missed. 

These last 5 months have been a real renascence for my blog, ever since I started to venture full-time into the blogging world. Before August this year, my posts have been few and far in-between, so not many people have actually seen them. That's why I wanted to focus on that part of the year first. 

Feel free to browse around the posts that follow, I will provide the links for them, so you can check them out.

click on the links in the title to view the full post


I think that I'll start looking back with a sunny image taken in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The blues of the sea and carelessness this image shows is something that makes me return to this post often...



These shots always bring some melancholy with it. Mostly they show landscapes that have stood the test of time, and that show the history of the surroundings that shaped them.



This next post is actually another video project I made back in March. In this video you will see a sleepy little valley in the last days of winter. 



These images show a small village during sunset, just before dark clouds chased it away...


5. Rural portraits and Landscapes

I think this was one of my favorite shoots before returning to full-time blogging. We had so much fun creating these portraits, and coming up with new ways of shooting them. I also like the landscapes that resulted in this two-part post from March this year.


I hope you have enjoyed the images and that you look forward to the second part tomorrow. Thank you so much for visiting and commenting. I hope you visit the posts that I linked to and take this look back with me.

Hope in the Sky

It seems to me that each start into the new year brings with it some sort of restart, hope for something new and better. And truly, those feelings are great, can lift your spirits, and become beacons that light the way for new endeavors. 

click on the image for a bigger view


But I also think that it's important to see and fully realize the good things that we have in our lives. Each day is a gift, and that's not just a saying thrown around, it's true. So let's hope that new directions will result in positive outcomes, but also that we get to keep all of those hopeful things we already posses.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Celebrating New Years Eve in Vienna

As the year is winding down, looking back into the past seems to be a  recurring activity. While this year no big travels for the new year are planned, last year my friends and I visited Vienna for a couple of days. The pictures that follow were taken on the night of 31st December of 2012. Lots of people gathered on the square in front of the Town Hall. The atmosphere was remarkable and traditionally every year fireworks light up the sky.

click on the images for a bigger view



The Vienna Opera House.


How will you celebrate the New Year?

The Old Barn

This is somewhat of a traditional rural impression around here. Old barns for hay and cattle were much smaller before. I found this one recently on my trip south.

click on the images for a bigger view




Winter in this region hasn't seen much snow. The trees are bare in most places, and some of the vegetation doesn't vanish until deep January.



I love barn images, and enjoy them immensely when you guys post them (especially the traditional American barn.), that's why I hope you'll enjoy this little spin on the usual sights.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Market at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna

Last year I visited Vienna with my friends for New Year's and one of the places we visited was the Schönbrunn Palace. Now, for those of you who follow my blog a little longer, might know that I visited this spot before (click here and here for those images). But this time, the place was lit in the lights of the local Christmas Market that was being held here.

It's much more mellow then the Christmas Market in Cologne and somewhat smaller too, but it is more elegant, mostly because of the palace standing as a backdrop to it.

click on the images for a bigger view









I wish all of my dear readers who celebrate, a Merry Christmas. I hope you will celebrate with your loved ones in peace and happiness.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Cut-Out Cookies Recipe

For this Sunday I decided to post this basic sugar or cut-out cookie recipe, my friend and I were baking yesterday. It's very simple, even though we spent almost the whole afternoon baking, because we wanted to make big batches of them to share with family. We ended up making over 200 cookies. So if you need to make more, you can double, triple or quadruple the recipe as we did.
First I'll show you some of the images from yesterday and then I'll write down the recipe if you would like to try it out.

click on the images for a bigger view





How many cookies you can make out of the batch mainly depends on the shapes of cutters you use.



Ready to go into the oven. They only need 10 minutes so you can really make a lot of them in succession.


As we were baking the of we left them in the parchment paper to cool down before transferring them to a big tray.


Ingredients:
90 gr. (6 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter
100 gr. (1/2 cup) sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
200 gr. (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
This makes 25-30 cookies. Cream the softened butter with the sugar in a bowl, then add the vanilla extract. Add the egg and once it's combined add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Once you have a clumpy dough, put it into some clingfilm and into the fridge for 30 minutes. Then spread it out on a floured surface, cut it out with the cutters and bake in a 180 C (350 F)  oven for 10 minutes.

You can re roll the dough if there is any left for more cookies, or make the dough and then put it into the freezer for later use.

Hope you are having a great rest of the weekend, and that you are also filling your homes up with the smell of fresh baked goods.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Colors of the Season

The colors of the season reflected in our tree in the living room are predominately white. We had a green tree for a very long time, but somehow white works much better with the decor of the rest of our living room. Here are a couple of images from the living room and our tree.

click on the images for a bigger view






I like the quiet in the dining room after the sun has set, the tree is lit up, and the cozy feeling of warmth takes over.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

On the Railroad

I have to admit this right away: I love trains and anything related to the railway. And while these images that follow don't include trains, they do feature railroad shots, taken during sunset. I hope you will enjoy them.

click on the images for a bigger view

This is part of the railroad leading up north to Mostar and the capital city Sarajevo. From where I took the photo, you'll need about 20 minutes to reach Mostar and a good 3 hours to Sarajevo.


The fields surrounding the railroad. The sun was just setting.


Another view of the track, that leads south to the sea side into Croatia.




As the sun was fading away I took this moodier version of the view before. Even though I liked taking these shots, standing close to the tracks in person always unsettles me. So I quickly finished up and departed this location.


Do you like trains? If not, what is your favorite means of transportation?