Wandering 30

Rue d'Antibes. Cannes, France.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 29

Cannes, France.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Driving Stories

© Stella Kalaw

Backing out of the parking space seemed to be the easiest thing to do since I own a manual transmission car in the Bay Area. I mean, how complicated could it be, right? My first instinct was to press down on the stick and then shift to R. The car jolted forward. I did this several times. No luck. I could feel the sweat forming down my back. I took a deep breath."No worries. Just take your time," my sister assured me. I paused and tried to think. The only analogy I could come up with was the difference between racking a Canon vs. a Nikon zoom lens. Pull the lens barrel towards you with a Canon to zoom in while Nikon does the opposite thing. Could this analogy translate to my dilemma? So, I pulled the stick shift and moved it to R. Voila! Problem solved.
___

At St. Paul De Vence, I got stuck exiting a parking garage. When I drove out, I stared at the ticket machine trying to figure out where to stick my credit card but there was only one slot which I assumed only took the paid ticket. Luckily, there were two lanes so I was able to leave my car in one while other patrons could pass in the other. I ran to what looked like the parking office. I cupped both hands and peered through them into the window. I saw an older gentleman at his desk. I walked in the door. "Excusez moi, Monsieur..." He looked up. I showed him the ticket and a euro bill. "C'est automatique..!" He replied. I turned my palms up and shrugged my shoulders. He pointed at the exit and I knew the building had a few floors. I signaled with my hands.. 1, 2 or 3? He signed back with 1. "Merci." I said. I turned the corner, located an elevator, and searched for the ticket machine to pay. I felt like I was competing in the Amazing Race trying to find the next clue except Phil, the host, would not be standing at the exit to inform me that I won a trip. Once I was done paying, I raced back to the car, took a few seconds to catch my breath, then inserted the ticket in the slot. Ah, freedom!
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I stopped at an automatic toll booth to pay for my ticket heading back to Cannes. I reached inside my pocket for the coins that I previously counted before I left Vence and dropped them in the (very large) basket. The barrier did not go up. I looked at the machine and it told me I lacked .10 euros. A line of cars was starting to form behind me. I reached again inside my pocket and felt the missing coin. I threw it in haste and missed. Oh, s**t! I could not believe it! I saw it bounce and heard it land on the road. I scrambled to find more coins. After a few minutes which felt like an hour, a lady wearing an orange vest approached me. "Bonjour, Madame." she said. I was able to produce (2) .5 euros to show her but the machine would not take anything less than .10 euros. She smiled and exchanged them for me. She dropped the coin in the basket."Ahh, merci, Madame!" I said and pressed hard on the gas pedal.

Wandering 28

Cannes, France.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 27

Cannes, France.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Le Suquet

© Stella Kalaw

My sister took me to dinner at Le Suquet, a narrow uphill cobblestone road lined with local restaurants located in the old town of Cannes. Tea lights glowed from the tables and warmed the tiny interiors. Fresh floral arrangements decorated the entry ways and flower beds hung on the outdoor decks. Menus and specials of the day were handwritten on glass doors. "Bonjour," the waitstaff greeted us as we passed by.

We did not have a particular place in mind so we walked and glanced at several menus until we reached the end of the street. We were looking to do a pre-fixe dinner so it was a matter of finding a combination that suited our taste. We finally picked Le Marais. While most establishments served a salad for an appetizer, Le Marais offered a pan fried foie gras glazed in apricot and prune sauce. The description was enough to whet our appetites and to get us through the door.

We approached the front door and the maitre d' promptly seated us to a quiet corner inside the restaurant. We went over the rest of the selections. I picked a dish with a medley of meats: magret of duck, beef filet, and shoulder of lamb served in a bed of mashed potatoes and green beans while my sister chose scallops with eggplant risotto and cream. We also ordered a half bottle of locally made red wine to pair with our meal.

I could not remember the last time my sister and I had this extended bonding time together without distractions except of course, for the occasional buzzing of her Blackberry in her purse. In the middle of our conversation over the delicious foie gras that we slathered on slices of freshly made baguette, I could not help but reminisce our teenage years. She would gently wake me up after coming home from parties in the wee hours of the morning. I sat across from her in bed where she confided her joys and heartaches. I listened, in great detail, to many stories about the intricacies of her social interactions between friends, her relationships and how she dealt with adversaries. All that experience has really helped her build confidence and has molded her into a self-assured and successful bank executive closing deals and interacting with senior colleagues in her field today.

We finished our meal with two desserts: three kinds of chocolate truffles and a nougat drizzled with mango and strawberry sauce. We were very pleased with the portions that we felt full but not stuffed. On our way back to our hotel, we strolled along Rue D' Antibes looking at the window displays of local retail shops. We then made a wrong turn and ended up following a longer route uphill to our hotel. We joked about expending the dinner we just consumed doing this unexpected hike. We were laughing by the time we slipped the card key in the door.

Interview at *SNAPS

Eric Setiawan from Bandung, Indonesia emailed me last week and we had some wonderful exchanges/conversations on photography. You can read the interview he conducted with me on his blog called *SNAPS.

Catching up

I've been back home for a week now just catching up. Being offline for a lengthy period of time was a welcome break. I had the opportunity to slow down, be with my thoughts, wander around unfamiliar cities with my camera and spend time with my family. These are some of the reasons why I love to travel. Once I am settled, I will share some new postings with you.

Traveling Again

Usually, my siblings and I meet every April for my niece's birthday. However, my sister invited me to come with her to an annual convention she attends in Europe. She asked me four years ago but the timing was not right then. She says it is her early birthday gift for me. I could not pass it up. So, we are gathering together and celebrating birthdays ahead of time. I will not be posting for a week but as always, I will be sharing stories and photographs when I get back.

Wandering 26

Yerba Buena Gardens. San Francisco, CA.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 25

H&M store in Union Square. San Francisco, CA.

Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that's really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.

©Stella Kalaw

Doreen Fernandez on Food Writing

Doreen Gamboa-Fernandez
©2002 Stella Kalaw

Obviously, it was not the vocabulary that counted , or even the diction, the syntax, the sentence structure. It was getting to the reader through the words to the experience. It was choosing the words that echoed, that reverberated--umaalingawgaw. And then it was making the readers hear the silence between the echoes, and themselves load them with memory, sensation and finally meaning. The words need not even be descriptive at all. One may not even need to say luscious, succulent, savory. Very often the words themselves carry the evocativeness.

Writing about Food: Savor the Word, Swallow the World
From the book, Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture