explore| hyde park village.

this is one of my favorite places in tampa. hyde park village is this little neighborhood filled with boutiques, coffee shops and good eateries. 
on sunday my sister, borther-in-law and i took a walk down cobblestone streets, explored the neighborhood with its charming homes and grabbed a bite to eat at the wine exchange.

much love.

leyla.

visit| oxford exchange.

the first time i stepped into oxford exchange, i sort of knew right away that i would love every corner of it. it offers a restaurant, retail shop, bookstore, coffee shop and a tea bar, which are combined into one beautiful space.

  oxford exchange

420 w kennedy blvd
tampa, fl 33606
813.253.0222

www.oxfordexchange.com

portfolio.

if we ever meet you'll notice right away that i'm a person of a few words and generally not very talkative. i'm extremely opinionated, but will not bombard you with them unless you ask. however, currently i'm feeling this surge of words coming on and figured i better write them down before it's too late. what i want to share with you is nothing profound really, just a few words on photography. i have been diligently working on my photography portfolio for the past six months. it is not one hundred percent where i want it to be, but nor is my photography. it's quite a tedious process, because everything i know and have learned so far, has been self taught. i spend copious amount of hours researching, youtubing (is this officially a valid term?), reading, listening and it feels like there's no end. it's some sort torture that 

i keep afflicting upon myself, but it feels so good when i have learned something new that i can implement in my photography. i'm not exactly sure what my goal is. i never really thought about it. do i have to put a label on it? photography has become a creative outlet for me and as that,it simply feels good. when i look at my portfolio or at my photographs in general, as a whole, i would say that my photography is still very safe. there's no boundary pushing or big experimenting going on there. some might see that as boring, some might love it. i don't know, but i don't let that influence me. honestly, when i started i never had a clear vision of what i want my photos to look like or what feelings and emotions i wanted them to convey. i think that has changed. i love simplicity and tend not to send my photos through a vigorous editing process. however, i still think that there's something missing. i'm not completely satisfied. i'm continuously striving to create that specific look that i've envisioned in my head. 

i have picked 4ormat as the platform for my portfolio and i've been very happy with it so far. it is extremely user friendly and i love their simple and clean templates. i'm still shooting with the first dslr camera i ever bought, the canon 550d. besides the two kit lenses, the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm, that came with the camera, i have a 50mm 1.8 and have recently bought the 40mm 2.8.  my favorite lens is the 50mm. i shoot in manual mode at all times. it is still a work in progress, but shooting in manual lets me be more creative, i'm much more involved in the process of taking photos and it's extremely satisfying when the end result turns out to be exactly the way i pictured it. 

you can take a look at my portfolio here and if you have any thoughts that you would like to share with me, make sure to let me know. 

much love.

leyla.

the road trip series: a stop in savannah.

this post concludes our little road trip series. 
on our way back home from north carolina we made a stop in savannah for a few hours. those few hours that we spent in the city weren't nearly enough. 
we only got a little taste and from what we saw, we'd love to go back as soon as possible. 
we started at forsyth park and took the trolley to river street, which stretches along the savannah river and is full of antique shops, pubs, restaurants, etc. 
the day was beautiful and the streets were packed. 
when i came home and glanced at the photos i took in savannah, i wasn't really happy with the results. 
i felt a little hurried because of the limited amount of time we had to explore the city and i think it shows. these are a few shots that i'm ok with.

much love.
leyla.

the road trip series: north carolina volume III.

this was probably the coldest day during our stay in north carolina. on this day, when we visited carl sandburg's home in flat rock, 

the temperature was 32 degrees,  the sky dreary and snow flurries were coming down from the mountains. it was a cold that i haven't felt in years. 

my cheeks were burning, my eyes were teary, but somehow that kind of cold felt really good.


carl sandburg, who was an american writer, poet and a recipient of three pulitzer prizes, moved to this 246 acre estate in 1945 

and lived there with his family until 1967, when he died. his home is a national historic site.

 carl sandburg and marylin monroe by arnold newman
via here

i'm an idealist. i don't know where i'm going, but i'm on my way.
- carl sandburg 

much love. 

leyla.