Architecture: Mountain Design Hotels | Part II

Back by popular demand, check out our Part I here of architecture mountain design hotels. Hope you enjoy our selection . . . wishing I could escape to one of these now. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Hotel Valentinerhof Castelrotto / Italy / 2011

Lagació Mountain Residence Alta Badia / Italy / 2010

Romantik Hotel Muottas Muragl Samedan / Switzerland / 2010

Friday. Im in Love.

It has been exactly 4 years since we visited Paris, definetly my favorite city. So I decided to day dream and spend a day in Paris … love these beautiful rustic photographs and beautifully yummy bakery treats I enjoyed while I was there.

Photographs by Marcello Arena

Architecture: Mountain Design Hotels | Part I

As winter is approaching us slowly here in Sydney, we explore the architecture of some mountain resort hotels around the world. beautiful buildings that are hiding behind their wooden facades accurate architectural details, draw new concepts of luxury. Hope you enjoy our selection.

WHITE POD Alpine Ski Resort, Monthey / Switzerland / 2012

ALPINA DOLOMITES Compatsch / Italy / 2010

EDEN HOTEL Bormio / Italy / 2012 (More here in our previous blog)

THE CAMBRIAN Adelboden / Switzerland / 2007

Friday. Im in love

Yes, the weekend has me dreaming of amazing getaways … this one is the wonderful Song Saa Private Island, Cambodia. I’m still on a private island in Cambodia … in my dreams 

Have a wonderful weekend … and dream away. ox

Things we love: new york + london double exposures

London and New York would be nice to visit again, so here I am dreaming about my holiday escape anywhere. . . London and New York City; two cities so fundamentally different and yet so amazingly similar. So what happens when two of the most photographed cities in the world come together as one? I am loving this new photographic project by Daniella Zalcman’s. Pretty cool, right? I think for now I will just enjoy these beautiful double exposure photos as my dream London or New York escape is off the cards for now.

travel: me hotel, london

It is coming up to 4 years since we last went to Europe & UK I can’t believe how time flies. Therefore, today I am dreaming of another holiday, escape to London. Located in a sought after region of London, at the southern tip of Covent Garden in London’s art, culture and design district, the ME London 5 star hotel surprises due to an original modern design. The contemporary accommodation unit was developed by Foster + Partners and features 157 guest rooms including 16 suites. The apartments located on the upper two levels come with access to spectacular terraces and extensive city views.

Friday. Im in Love

I thought I share some of my instagram photos of what I have been up to this week. While my baby is still very comfy and overdue three days now I have been doing alot of shopping and catching up with friends and I wandered around this gorgeous city taking in all of the beautiful sites that it has to offer – it really is such a wonderful city! This week I was being a tourists in Sydney, I always wanted to explore Sydney a little more like a tourist, I think there is something wonderful about trying to see the city that you live in through a tourists eyes! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week so far, I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to –Enjoy your weekend. ox

travel: dream escape w hotel, maldives

Dreaming of a getaway … I’m thinking this one could be perfect more than perfect the luxurious W Retreat & Spa Maldives, looks serenely beautiful … with amazing views, a wonderful location and rooms that look gorgeously rustic.

Things we Love: Lazy week

My first day of maternity leave I couldn’t be more thrilled as I’m very tired lately and any spare moment of laziness sounds blissful to me. Normally I’m always up to something, so this state of tiredness caused by the pregnancy falls hard on me – both mentally and physically. I’m having troubles accepting the fact that if I’m unable to run errands as I did before – it’s ok (and I should stop blaming myself for wanting to rest as much as possible). It’s a problem deep in my mind, so I have to work on that. I’m starting today, with this post of a lazy week ahead of doing nothing – just sleeping, going for long walks and eating yummy meals. Hope you have a good week!

Interview | Belgrade Streets Photography

I’m proud to present one of my blogger friends’ efforts here and invite you to see some awesome work by Belgrade Streets photography. I invited Andy to answer a few questions about his work that I have been following on his blog. I found it hard to pick my favorite photo on his blog so here is a couple I have chosen that I think sums up Belgrade Streets so well. A fresh, personal view of the city that is completely honest, and confounding to much of Serbia’s reputation. Great to see photographers, under their own motivation, creating their own work under their own voice, and finding ways to get it seen on their terms. I’m looking forward to seeing more from this photographer. Here is 10 @ 10 with Andy.

What inspired you to become a photographer and why did you choose Belgrade streets?

Photography has been a lifelong passion!

I received my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, as a young child, one Christmas.  I remember how thrilling it was to wait to see the prints after they had been developed days later!

“belgradestreets” began in part as a response to a challenge thrown down by a friend.  It became a way to record my changing feelings for a complicated city and the people who live and work here.

Photography has become an important part of my life.

What is it about Belgrade that you are focusing on?

The people, their lives, the grit and raw beauty of a city, a country, a people in transition. I’m trying to record my perspective of a city which bears the scars of its recent history with pride, one with a unique vibrancy which touches all those who visit.

Why street photography?

I love to capture life as it is, capture a moment in time. I try to capture people and places as they are, try not to “dress them up”.  I like my images to be “real”, sometimes blunt and uncompromising.  I’d like the person seeing them to have some idea of the feeling the subject aroused in me.

And how does this reflect Belgrade/Serbia/Serbs?

I hope that my blog, and book, paint a different, a fair, picture of Belgrade, Serbia and the people who live and work here.  When I was planning to move here from Sydney, it was very hard to find information about the city, and what I could find back then was not entirely encouraging.

Things are changing now as more and more people discover the city and its people.

I’d like to think that in some way I have contributed to that discovery.

And the city and its people have captured my heart.

What are your favourite locations for shooting?

For me, it’s not so much the location.  It’s the details that I see when out on the streets. The beauty behind the crumbling facade.  The glimpse of the courtyard hidden away behind the gate or doorway.  The expression of the person looking out from the bus.  I love the hidden away streets, the clutter and anarchy which contrasts so much with the branded “identikit” streets we now see across the globe. On “belgradestreets” you really do know where you are.

Who are the photographers that influence and inspire you? What motivates you to keep going?

I admire so many photographers. However cliched it may be, I do love the work of Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

And now, through blogging and apps such as Instagram, it’s possible to find a huge, previously untapped range of images from ordinary people across the globe.  My feeling is the way in which photography has opened up in this way brings richness and depth and a new and constant challenge to those who take their photography seriously.

I love to express myself through photography.  My work on “belgradestreets” has become a personal journal and has built connections with people across the world.

For me, the big question is what next?

What are you hoping to reveal through your pictures?

That’s very simple. Life on “belgradestreets” as it is today.

How long are you planning to stay in Belgrade?

I came here on a two year contract.  That has now been extended.  Many people I know came here and stayed a lot longer than they planned.

The city, its people, make thinking about leaving difficult.

So, we shall see!

Tell us about your photographic equipment – what cameras do you use and how it helps you.

I’m lucky to own a Nikon D700 and a range of Nikon lenses accumulated over the last decade or so.  For “belgradestreets” I often leave a 50mm f1.4 lens screwed on the front, it’s light, flexible, works in any kind of light and lets me use very tight depth of field to bring out the details which have become a big part of my work.

I use my iPhone every day. My “belgradestreets” feed on instagram runs in parallel with my blog and features many shots grabbed when the moment presents itself.  Often those shots will end up on my blog or inspire a new post.

And finally, show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it.

This shot from a recent post says a lot about life on “belgradestreets”.

The words capture many people’s feeling for a city that surprises and delights.

Hope for the future is strong on “belgradestreets”.

You can, and should, also follow Belgrade Streets Blog, their Facebook page or Twitter.

Check out more pf my interviews here.