And here we have a new year in front of us... The way I see a new year is like a brand new plain canvas ready to be painted as we wish because should we not do it our way, life quickly takes care of painting it its own way, right?
As I welcomed 2012 standing by one of the Lakes at the Lake District in good old England, freezing to death... oh mine... that was really cold... watching the fire works open beautiful color splashes in that dark dark sky, I for the first time in my life, had a fast rewind and went back to exactly 365 days earlier, when the five of us were at one of the Pacific beaches here in Panama, welcoming 2011. In that very moment, I had no idea how I would paint my 2011's canvas. Yes I had some plans, some goals but had no idea, of course, how they would lay opened... and then I fast forwarded to the Lake District and you know what? I loved my 2011! What an excellent year it was... oh man, I loved it... amen to the fact God unveiled it as He did.
It wasn't an easy year, of course... life is not easy and the more we get involved with stuff, the less easy it gets, but that is just part of being alive, right?
The year had several highlights like my parents vising us here in Panama, the family reunion celebrating their 64th anniversary (can you believe it? 64 years!!), Joel and I together and on our own being able to visit the girls and David a few times, the Photo Club I founded being invited by the United Nations for a photo exhibition, spending scaring 4.5 hours with Joel at an emergency room in the US which lead to a surgery the day after we landed back in Panama ... the list goes on and on and that is good, it shows life is moving on.
From my own perspective, two things touched me directly... a turning point in my professional life and the realization of a long awaited dream/ curiosity ... cool stuff to say the least!
The first being that photography has always been a big part of my life, since I was 6 or 7... I've done different things throughout my days but photography has always had its own place in heart. So, I realized that enough was enough and voilá, in September my own photo studio was opened... yeahyyy. Wow, loads of adrenaline, loads of support from dear husband and family and the doors of "Odila Coelho Braga Photography" studio are now a reality! Thank you dad for teaching me photography and the art of dreaming and thank you mom for teaching me to plan for my dream!
The second was... a visit to Istanbul! Yes your read it right, Istanbul, Turkey. It happened in May! My curiosity for Istanbul started when I was in primary school. I remember vividly the day the teacher taught us about the fall of Constantinople, the rise of the Ottoman Empire closing the spice trade land route in 1453 which eventually lead to the discovery of the Americas, therefore my Darling home Country of Brazil. At the time, I was impressed to learn about the powerful impact the closure of the spice trade route had on world History and Geography and was very curious to visit this influential city! Well, many years flew by and I finally had the chance to land in spectacular Istanbul.
Enjoy some of the pictures I took while savoring the streets and smells of this magical end of Europe and beginning of Asia or the other way round, whichever attracts you the most and oh yes, may you enjoy painting your 2012 canvas.
A very weird self portrait.
Tulip, the Ottoman flower
The so important spices
Simply stunning and sensational pics Odila. You must have an enormous album of lovely favourite photos by now. Keep sharing :)
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