World Water Day - March 22

The Missing Hat

Winter is practically over and I managed to lose my most treasured hat that I've had for years. It was a wool hat; a perfect fit in my favorite color. It reminded me places I've visited and people I've met. I lost it at the mall in the early morning hours doing grocery shopping.


How to Lose a Hat at the Mall

Stop in your walk.
Fold your hat in half and slip it into your coat sleeve.
Fold your coat and rest it on your arm.
Start walking.
Chances are that the hat will slip through the sleeve instantly and land on the floor without a sound.
In about ten minutes, realize that your hat is missing.
Backtrack to your entry point. No hat.
Ask security. "Sorry. No hat."
Ask costumer service. "No hat."
In your last, vain attempt ask the cleaning lady. "No hat. Sorry." She is nice. Have a chat with her about hats.
The next day ask costumer service again. Still no hat.
Say goodbye to your all time favorite hat.
Buy a new one later in the day or within a next few days that is similar to the old one. It's Winter's End Sale with great deals.
Attach your new hat with a fish line/bike lock/crocheted chain/thread/duck tape to your coat so as not to ever lose it.
Or simply promise yourself not to keep it in your coat sleeve.

I hope whoever found my hat would take good care of it. Handled with care, it could last a few more years.

Winter Outfit

Carol's winter outfit ideas. She made the drawings last night. Some items shown here are her favorite ones. 

Dream Makers

I'd like to dedicate this post for the people behind the documentary The Light That Shines. It's an amazing group of young talents who volunteered their time and expertise to make Jill's dream come true. They deserve all the credit they can get for their efforts.

Producer/Photographer: Sue Bryce
Australian Portrait Photographer of the Year 2011 & 2012

Director/Cinematographer: Hailey Bartholomew

Editor: Digby Hogan

"I don't think I've cried so much editing one piece."

Sound/Assistant: Roweena Timson

Sound Mix: Ross Battern; Hair & Makup: Sarah Smith

Here is Carol's take on the story:

There must be many of us touched by Jill's story on a personal level - either having a loved one fighting the disease or knowing someone who has it.

It gives me the chills to think about cancer. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have the courage to do what Jill did. She'd revealed her scars to a photographer and, through her images, to the world. She wasn't shy. Let's be honest, she did something that many women even in perfectly good health dare not to do - she courageously rose above her situation by accepting her body just the way it is.

I keep a black-and-white poster in my room that comes with a simple caption "Fashion makes you free". I think that fashion did help Jill feel free. It helps me too, to keep being myself and see beauty in everything.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I bought my heart shaped Bershka ring a week ago for less than the price of a latte. I took a few dozen shots to get the desired result promptly killing my new batteries in the process. 

On Beauty

There are real life stories as moving as any great fairy tale. I stumbled upon one such story a few days ago. Who wouldn't want to fly to Paris for a photo shoot and feel like a princess? Who wouldn't want to wear a lavish gown designed by Steven Khalil, if only for one session? And how many of us still would want to do that just to send out a message while battling a vicious form of cancer?

"You can still feel beautiful and sexy with breast cancer," says Jill, the star of the project, the gorgeous model with stage four breast cancer.  

"I want to change the way you see yourself and value all that you are." 
"Beauty. - It's the light that shines out from inside you. When you hold someone's gaze, you can see it. Everyone has it. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

Sue Bryce, Photographer

Harry Clarke Illustrations

I started to read Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales again. The copy I'm reading comes with Harry Clarke's fantastic illustrations in black-and-white. According to his biography, he was commissioned the work in 1913. It was his first commission as an illustrator. I wanted to see the original water colors in detail. I've found them on the National Gallery of Ireland site. The color images are superb. The colors are so bright and vivid, it's hard to believe that the originals are a hundred years old. The National Gallery also published a commemorative calendar for this year. 

Need I say that some of my favorite illustrations are the ones showing beautiful dresses? Like the one the princess from The Wilde Swans is wearing while being carried by her eleven brothers across the sea. It's a grayish-blue maxi dress with yellow butterfly pattern. It must be her regular daily outfit worn at the castle not something suitable for surviving in a forest. Another favorite one depicts three flying red-heads from The Elf-hill. Their dresses are shaped like giant petals. They are so lose as if were made for floating and dancing in the air.