Croatia | Lidija Ivanek SiLa

Traveling with Minolta x500

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021
by sila

Hungry for travels?

Today, newspaper in Ireland announced significant easing of restrictions. We returned from our trip to Croatia a few days ago and are still in home quarantine.

Traveling was never so complicated like these days. If we didn’t have to, we wouldn’t. Apart from paying for all sorts of tests and increased stress in all this, we managed to get a few days of rest and my photography. Check my Insta page for drone photos and iPhone snaps. It was so good to change the surroundings. I can’t wait to travel freely again, without having to explain why and where etc. Just pack our bags and go.

I shot two Kodacolor 200 films with a Minolta camera ( Minolta which I leave in Croatia – trying to travel light lol) and these analog beauties are something that I looked for. They never disappoint. My regret was that I didn’t have my large format with me, hopefully next time.

We were mainly in the area of Zadar, with short trip to Sibenik county, just to visit Krka national park. Krka is one of the most beautiful rivers in Croatia and NP is big. My recommendations are to take a few days to properly enjoy Krka’s three main areas- northern part with fort, middle with Roski waterfall and lower part with Skradinski buk.

Vrsi Mulo on a windy (Bura) and cloudy day with snow caps on Velebit mountain. Colour of the sea turned in this brown orange, I guess sand was stirred with waves.

Sunset in Zadar, my view of “riva” – promenade.

Zadar, fisherman’s boats and yachts as an everyday view.

This is the road that we are taking every time we are going back and this is the best view of Velebit. Because of this view, it gets even harder to say goodbye.

Nin, sun-kissed and protected with mighty Velebit mountain

Krka National Park

I developed and scanned my films only yesterday and it is hard to pick favourites. These that are here on this post are not the only ones, off course, but it is enough to get the taste of it.

Check my old post – Around Ireland with Minolta

Blog

Season Sale!

November 28, 2020
by sila

Discounted prices on all Wall Art Prints, Photographs, Illustrations

Blog

Red rooftops

October 3, 2020
by sila

Red rooftops are so European, so Croatian.

Whether in Dubrovnik or in Zagreb they tell a story.

Bright red of Dubrovnik rooftops tells a story about devastation during war for Independence and renovation, rejuvenation.

Red rooftops in Zagreb tell a story of resilience not only during war, but 2020 earthquakes that are still going on.

Don’t forget to check my other sites https://silaart.picfair.com

Blog

Dubrovnik

October 1, 2020October 1, 2020
by sila

Ancient city of Dubrovnik.

Every year we spent few days in Dubrovnik visiting our friend. Every year there is not enough time to photograph everything I would like. That balance between socialising, vacationing and working is always hard to find.

“Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It’s known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianised Stradun (or Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants.” Wikipedia

The year of 2020 was hard on Dubrovnik as the city mainly depends on air traffic and cruise ships to bring tourists in. The whole economy of the city was badly hit. It took them a month or two just to realise that they need to offer something else and try to attract domestic tourists to save the season. So, the season was shifted to a late season and it was very, very different. For me, as a photographer it was great to enjoy almost empty streets. It was great to experience the city as locals do.

There is no room here to post all of my photographs from that visit, so please check my other places http://silaart.picfair.com and https://www.instagram.com/lidijaivaneksila/

Blog

Travels

September 27, 2020September 27, 2020
by sila

We recently returned from our 5 weeks travel to Croatia. It is (sadly) corona times and not a lot of people travel. A part from visiting my parents, it was so much needed vacation and as always, I never stop creating, that means ideally my vacation is a working vacation. Loads of impressions, memories and photographs/videos I brought back with me. As now, back in Ireland we have to self isolate for 14 days, I am slowly sorting through all materials.

I decided to open this story of Croatia 2020 with underwater imagery that was created with GoPro.

As for 5 weeks we felt freedom, no pressures to stay locked down, freedom to explore and feel and breathe I think it is perfect to start with this photo.

It was made in Dubrovnik, in a place called Porporela, where you swim next to the ancient walls.

Another “freedom” photo was made in Omis, on the beach Brzet.

When nature freely communicate with people! Isn’t that amazing?!

We visited many places, not only on the coast, but also on rivers. One magical place was on the river Zrmanja. Zrmanja shaped a canyon on her way to the sea. It is a beautiful green river that you can swim in as it is just a tad cooler than the Adriatic, 20C. (The highest recorded temperature in August 2011 was 27.5C!)

You can read about our travel from Ireland to Croatia here

Also, as I am slowly sorting I will upload “chosen ones” on Picfair

And as always, follow me on Insta

Analog photography

Summer Days

July 21, 2020July 21, 2020
by sila

I love summer! I love sunshine, blue sky and sparkles ✨ on sea surface.

Wherever I am, I carry in me memories of past happy summers on the Adriatic. Even Atlantic Ocean in Ireland looks and feels like Mediterranean on my photographs. It really doesn’t matter if it’s black and white, or colour. Feel it.

PS. New photographs are uploaded to silaart.picfair.com … Don’t forget to check it there from time to time.

Alternative process

IR Landscape

October 15, 2019October 15, 2019
by sila

There is not much to say when it is enough to feel

http://silaart.picfair.com

Alternative process

IR Zagreb – part two

October 13, 2019October 13, 2019
by sila

There is not a lot to say about interesting streets of Zagreb, that is not been said already in numerous travel brochures. It is a typical European mixture of old and new architecture. One of the most recognisable features are towers of the Cathedral. It is my home town, but I am coming to it now as a stranger, not living in it for years.