Orchis world: did you know?

I love orchids! That is why they were the accent flowers on my wedding. Below you can see my bouquet elegantly decorated with purple orchids.

I loved it so much that had sent it to preservation shortly after my big day to enjoy it for many, many years and probably share it with my children and, who knows, my grandchildren. My parents’ house is full of orchids and I have recently adopted two. Although my interest in orchids has been growing for quite a bit now, I have realized the other day that I did not know anything about those beauties. Some research brought to light the following interesting facts which I am sure you will enjoy and remember for life!


1. The name Orchid comes from the Greek word “orchis” meaning testicle; because of the shape of the bulbous roots. LOL.

2. Orchid flowers can grow to be as small as a head of a pin (Platystele sp. Central America) or greater at 10 feet (Grammatophyllum sp., New Guinea).

3. Orchids are found on every continent except Antarctica and found in almost every color except black.

4. Our vanilla flavouring comes from the pods of a leafy climbing orchid named Vanilla Planifolia.

5. Tһе first orchid tһаt reached Europe frοm tһе western hemisphere wаѕ sent in 1515 tο Spain. Tһе original Cattleya flower tһаt mаdе іtѕ way tο Europe wаѕ used tο pack tһе οtһеr flowers tο protect tһеm. A local botanist іn tһе area сουƖd tеƖƖ tһаt tһіѕ wаѕ a unique plant, аnd һе saved іt. Hіѕ name wаѕ William Cattley, аnd tһіѕ happened іn 1818.

Go black, go white

It has been almost 4 months since me and Yuniel have been officially maried. Time flies! Memories stay. That is why I am so glad I have a bunch of beautiful photos from our wedding day. And all thanks to the amazing BM Photographers (Yobe and Lazaro) who created all these beautiful memories for us to enjoy for the rest of our lives. I must say I loved the black&white ones! Below are some of my favorites:

Have you every think why many of us prefer black&white photography? It has become quite trendy lately and below are some explanations of why black&white photography is so special to many of us. Courtesy of Digital Photography School.

Versatility
“I love that it’s a format that suits almost any type of photography. Portraits, landscapes, urban landscapes, architecture. Not only that, it’s a medium that adapts really well to all lighting situations. Whereas color photography often works best on sunny days or in brightly lit studios – low light just makes a black and white image moody.’ – Sol

No Distractions
“I find that colors can be terribly distracting in some images and can take the focus away from your subject. I do portrait work and find that taking the color out of an image lets the subject speak for themselves. Its raw, it’s stripped back, it’s honest and it allows you to show the true person.” – Shane

Subtlety of Tones
“I love the subtlety of tones that black and white images can have. In a world that often boasts about how many millions of colors a TV or monitor is able to produce – I love that in ‘Mono’ there is such a variety of what can be achieved in a photo. Black and White sounds so boring – but the fact is that there are so many shades in between – I love the challenge of bringing them all out in an image!” – Jim

Variety

“I find the creative process with black and white images is so… artistic. It’s like molding clay – you can shape it into a myriad of shapes. Black and White images can be strong, high contrast and powerful – or they can be so soft, gentle and subtle.” – Belle

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/why-black-and-white-photography#ixzz1V8Ch73Bl

Back… to where it all began

One’s roots act like magnets which despite of distance attract people to where they belong. The reason for this natural inclination could probably be found in dusty medical books or somewhere nearby. But instead of looking for an explanation, let’s just enjoy beautiful sceneries of my motherland… our motherland, since I know that many of you reading this are my compatriots.

Cuba is…well, what Cuba is not? It means a lot and it goes both ways. I have been criticized in many occasions for visiting Cuba so often. Some say, “How can you support a communist regime?” My answer to those ignorant people usually is, “I will stop visiting Cuba when you will stop buying products from Communist China=never.” Some say, “Go explore new places!” Although, I definitely agree that it’s time to go visit new countries, I simply can’t conceal my love and interest to Cuba. Every time I go there, new things open to my eyes and soul. Here are some pictures from the paradisiacal places I encountered last time I went. See for yourself and make sure to include those places into your bucket list.

Cayo Coco beaches

Cayo Coco beaches

Cayo Coco

Cayo Coco fauna

Pinar del Rio flora

Valle Vinales

Valle Vinales

"Los Jasmines" Valle Vinales

Cayo Coco fauna

Cayo Coco people

Cayo Coco fauna

13th Annual IFE-ILE AFro-Cuban Dance Festival back to Miami

Want to explore new music and dance styles, try yourself in drumming, make new friends?

Then you should definately visit the 13th Annual Afro-Cuban Dance Festival which is scheduled for August 13th at Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami, 212 N.E. 59th Terrace, 33137.

Back by popular demand, this year the festival offers workshops in orisha dance, afro-modern, salsa-casino, as well as drumming classes. It was first held in 1996 by the renowened choreographer and dancer Neri Torres, MFA, Founder of IFE-ILE Dance Company. For 13th years in a row, Neri together with her talented musicians and dancers celebrates the captivating Afro-Cuban heritage. Now you have a chance to join them too!

The culmination of this year's festival will be the performance of IFÉ-ILÉ musicians and dancers  at Cuba Ocho art gallery in Little Havana, 1465 S.W. 8th Street, where the audience will have the opportunity to take professional dancers’ place on stage for dancing, drumming and singing.

If interested, please visit http://www.ife-ile.org/ or call Neri directly at her cell 786.398.7184 or 305. 796.1125.

Dance, drum, and learn together with IFE-ILE:) Hurry up to get the best admission prices!

Lover's Island

Nature never stops surprising me! Look at this perfect heart-shaped island highlighted on Google Earth couple of years ago. Isn’t this amazing? This 13,000 square yard island of Galesnjak is located in Croatia, in Zadarski Kanal between Zadar and the Island of Pasman. Since the discovery of its unusual shape, it has become a holiday hit for St. Valentine’s Day. As a complex name of Galesnjak doesn’t easily roll of the tongue, lovebirds have renamed it Lover’s Island. It is believed to be the most perfect heart-shaped island in the world so far!

Learn more about this nature's wonder at http://www.ilovegalesnjak.com.


HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! Spread love and appreciation today and every day!

Alternative to Sport Drinks

Mmm... When drinking coconut water last summer during my vacation in Cuba, I never realized how much good it was doing to me. Did you know that coconut water is high in potassium and relatively low in calories and is thought to be a good alternative to sports drinks? I just found this out! Coconut water is a fat free drink with only 15 calories per 100 grams! It is thought to be able to boost your immune system, break down kidney stones, fight viruses, and help digestive track.


Imagine, in the past people believed that coconut water cured headaches and other ailments. During the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers. That’s the power of the coconut!

Pictured above, are my boyfriend’s hands pealing a coconut, so his girlfriend could enjoy it afterwards. And she truly did! Along with its healthy benefits, coconut water is very refreshing in a hot weather.

Make sure to have a sip of coconut water once in a while. It won’t harm!


Get to know the world - travel through photography!

Photography News: new Canon

Source: http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/canon-introduces-rebel-t3-and-t3i-at-599-and-799-2011027/

Almost exactly one year after Canon’s popular T2i was announced the company has unveiled two new EOS Digital Rebels, the T3i and the T3. The T3 will sell for $599 and will be Canon’s new entry level DSLR while the T3i will replace the T2i as Canon’s top consumer DSLR ($799 body only, $899 kit). The T2i will live on between the two, offering more features than the T3 but lacking some of the T3i’s perks.

And what’s new about the T3i? The main feature is a fold-out display, like that found on Canon’s prosumer 60D. There are also some new consumer-friendly features like a faux tilt-shift filter. The Feature Guide, a system for helping new users take advantage of DSLR features, is found on both cameras.

The T3i uses the same 18MP sensor and video modes as the T2i, so users with the older model shouldn’t feel much pressure to upgrade. The T3 shoots at 12MP and rather than shooting 1080p video, it takes 720p. It has a DIGIC 4 processor and a 9-point AF system.

The Canon EOS T3i DSLR will be available in the “beginning of March” and will be sold in three configurations: body-only $799.99; kit with the updated EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II zoom lens $899.99; and kit with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens $1099.00. The Rebel T3 will sell with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II zoom lens for $599.99.

http://www.geek.com/

Rule of Thirds

The other day, I discovered another great source of digital photography tips – The Digital Photography School. Founded by Darren Rowse, who calls himself a digital photography enthusiast, DPS is a community of photographers of different experience levels who share their knowledge and views of photography. So, if you are a professional photographer or your are just beginning to play with your digital camera, DPS is definitely a source of simple tips that work.

Today, I am going to share with you an important photographic principle I learned about when visiting www.digital-photography-school.com. It is the “Rule of Thirds.” The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows:

With this grid in mind, you now have four important parts of the image. The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines, your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally.

The most important questions to be asking yourself when using the “rule of thirds” are:

• What are the points of interest in this shot?

• Where am I intentionally placing them?

Now - time to put this principle in work! Go out and make as many pictures as you can. Practice makes perfect!

A lone white sail shows for an instant...

I was going through old photos, searching for inspiration for new posts, and instead found some old memories. I took this photo when traveling from Tampa to Miami. If I am not mistaken, this is Tampa Bay. It was an amazingly peaceful day. One of these rare days when everybody and everything is in harmony. Suddenly I saw this lone sail navigating in calm waters and was happy my camera was right next to me. The photo came out really beautiful and reflected the tranquility we all search for sooner or later.

Now that I am looking at this photo, two years later, a poem came to mind. It belongs to a famous Russian poet - Lermontov. Those who went to school in Russia would know this name, because we had to memorize it at school along with other poems of this classical Russian author. Here it goes, both in Russian and English. Couldn't dream of a better caption to one of my photos!

Михаил Лермонтов
ПАРУС

Белеет парус одинокой
В тумане моря голубом!..
Что ищет он в стране далекой?
Что кинул он в краю родном?..

Играют волны - ветер свищет,
И мачта гнется и скрыпит...
Увы! он счастия не ищет
И не от счастия бежит!

Под ним струя светлей лазури,
Над ним луч солнца золотой...
А он, мятежный, просит бури,
Как будто в бурях есть покой!

SAIL
 
A lone white sail shows for an instant
Where gleams the sea, an azure streak.
What left it in its homeland distant?
In alien parts what does it seek?

The billow play, the mast bends creaking,
The wind, impatient, moans and sighs...
It is not joy that it is seeking,
Nor is it happiness it flies.

The blue wave dance, they dance and tremble,
The sun's bright ray caress the seas.
And yet for storm it begs, the rebel,
As if in storm lurked calm and peace!..

Translated by I.Zheleznova

Le Travail de Mes Rêves

Hier j'avais une interview très importante en L'institut de Médecine International de L'Université de Miami. Je suis très contente parce que c'est le travail de mes rêves! Le travail se compose de communiquer avec  les patients international qui viennent à l'Université pour recevoir le meilleur traitement médical. À Miami il y a beaucoup d'Haïtiens, donc quelqu'un qui parle français est un grand avantage pour eux. J'ai étudié la langue française à l'école en Russie. Mon professeur était un du meilleur du pays! Quand je suis venu à Miami, j'ai travaillé pour quelque mois comme professeur de français a l'école Berlitz en Brickell.

Si je reçois le travail, donc je dois acheter des livres pour apprendre le vocabulaire medical en français. C'est pas dificil pour moi parce que j'aime étudier et apprendre. Maintenant je dois attendre un peu et pratiquer, pratiquer, pratiquer. Gardez les doigts croisés pour moi!



Source: http://imi.med.miami.edu/x29.xml

Paris: romantic-melancholic mood

On a day like today I wish I was in Paris. I don’t know how to explain my romantic-melancholic mood, but I wish I was there, wandering through narrow streets of this old European city. See Paris and Die, they say. I saw it three times already and want more. For me Paris is and always will be very special, as we spent many happy and funny moments there with my dear friends Tonya, Lena and Marina.

The photo below wasn’t taken by me, but my old friend Tonia, better known as Riccio. All I did was change the color set. Riccio does great photos and videos too. She took this photo from the upper part of one of the facades of the Notre Dame Cathedral, known as the spiritual heart of the French capital. In case you didn’t know, Notre Dame is also a shrine that preserves the Crown of Thorns, said to have been forced upon the head of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. Interesting fact: Victor Hugo wrote his 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with the aim of raising appreciation of Notre Dame Cathedral, which at the time was in a state of disrepair, and its Gothic architectural style was considered vulgar.

The photo pictures Notre Dame’s forecourt, the Seine and the incredibly beautiful architecture of Parisian buildings. Note, if you are in Paris for Christmas, make sure to stop by Notre Dame. They always put a huge Christmas tree (more than 20 feet high) covered with lights and embellished with beautiful decorations in front of the Cathedral.

After such a pleasant virtual trip to Paris, it’s time to return to Miami, where cold weather found its second home. Happy Friday to all!

New Year - Better Photography

The new year has arrived and with it some new tips on how to improve your photographic habits. Remember, practice makes perfect. Prodigy photographer Blair Bunting taught himself how to be a professional advertising photographer simply by making sure he made 100 pictures every day even if it kept him up all night. So, set you own goals this new year and go for them!

Courtesy of the Digital Photo magazine.

 

Source: Camco Gifts

1. Start carrying your camera more. You’ll find yourself shooting more, which always leads to improvement. More than that, though, you’ll learn to shoot from the hip and you’ll wind up with a portfolio of moments the rest of us missed.

2. Try shooting RAW. Even if you don’t make the switch permanently, try shooting RAW captures and processing them in Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom. You’ll start to see what all the buzz is about once you turn underexposures into perfect exposures, and once color, contrast and sharpness are ideal every time.

3. Stop shooting in Program mode. Your growth as a photographer is dependent on understanding your tools. So take some pictures in manual mode and see what you learn. Utilize the in-camera meter to set your exposure, then go beyond the basics to adjust for depth of field and sharpness issues.

4. Use a tripod. Take the time to put your camera on a tripod. More often than not it will translate into clearer, sharper photographs no matter what you’re shooting. And if nothing else, it will help you break a lazy habit that will definitely cost you a good picture someday.

5. Stop settling for okay. Push yourself to make great shots. Always shoot from eye level? Get up high or down low and find a new perspective. Always avoiding wide angles? Give them a shot this year.

6. Master your metadata. File naming and organization is key if you want to find digital files a year or more down the road. So this year, start off with an organizational system and file naming structure that will make that possible. The more information you associate with your images, the easier it will be to find them in a pinch.

7. Become a backup guru. Instead of risking your favorite photos on a single hard drive, develop a backup plan and put it in motion. An affordable external hard drive is a great place to start. Failing that, use the web or inexpensive DVDs to create duplicates of the best of the best from your archive.

8. Learn to light. That doesn’t mean you have to become a master of studio strobes. As usual, it just means you’ve got to break out of your comfort zone. If you always use flash, learn how to take advantage of ambient lighting. If you always rely on nice ambient lighting, go the extra mile and learn how to light with a flash. Good photography is often about control, and being able to control lighting (rather than having it control you) can be a huge picture-taking advantage.

9. Speaking of simple lighting fixes, this one’s big: Get your flash off the camera. It’s unbelievably easy to settle for the convenience of a hot-shoe-mounted external flash providing flattening frontal fill. But nobody ever exclaimed, “What an acceptably illuminated photograph!” To make great pictures, you need great light.

10. If you resolve to do nothing else this year, make this one simple change: take more pictures. Set a personal goal, and stick to it. Maybe it’s 10 shots a week or one new shoot per month. Whatever it is, the goal will help you. Every extra exposure will create a teachable moment.

House of Million Lights

Holidays are gone, but the holiday spirit is still present. Many houses are still lightened up, spreading good feelings and cheer. In our neighborhood of Cutler Bay (Southwest Miami), there is a special house. I call it the "House of Million Lights." It's everyone's favorite. See it for yourself...

Miami-style fireworks 2011

Yes, in Miami even fireworks resemble palm trees. Welcoming the New Year 2011!