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The Cats of the Old City
Last Christmas my husband gave me a beautiful book – The French Cat – by NZ animal photographer Rachael Hale McKenna. I was so thrilled with it, as this book combines two subjects that I love the most: old buildings and cats! Rachael’s book gave me the inspiration to take these images while I was on holiday in Croatia earlier this year. And I was really excited that, shortly after I got back from holiday, I had the opportunity to attend a photography seminar in Auckland given by her.
So, coming back to these images, while in Croatia I found myself taking so many pictures of my furry friends – sadly all of them homeless. But I also had the opportunity to meet one of the most dedicated, loving veterinarians in the city of Split, Jelena Radeljic at Dr. Filipovic’s clinic. Split is such a beautiful city, but unfortunately it doesn’t have an animal shelter yet. Dr Filipovic, Jelena, and their friends and supporters are working really hard on building one soon. I believe that they now have the location permit, however they do need financial support from anyone who believes this is a good cause. For more information please visit their website: http://zaklada-za-zastitu-zivotinja.hr
While there at the clinic, I observed how Jelena was caring for the stray animals, sometimes until very late hours of the day, and sometimes even sleeping overnight at the clinic with especially sick ones. It was Jelena who helped us to save a tiny kitten we found on the streets of Split. He was so skinny and hungry, so wet because of the rain, so infected with fleas and parasites, and only a few weeks old. We named him Tisak (meaning ‘Press’ in Serbo-Croatian, as we found him under a newspaper kiosk). Jelena waited for us to arrive at the clinic, and this was around 10pm, as she was treating all the other animals that were arriving after hours. This experience gave us the opportunity to learn more about the difficulties the future shelter is having, and the future the stray animals will have if the shelter doesn’t get built.
But funny enough, all of this couldn’t have been done if it wasn’t for social media. When we found Tisak we didn’t know where the closest vet clinic was or if there was a local animal shelter. So after asking a few locals, and only getting some raised eyebrows in response, we decided to Google the info, like you do these days. And there we found a blog post from Dos Trotamundos, Marco and Kristin – like us, visiting tourists. They had had a similar experience in Split some months earlier, and because of their post we ended up at Dr Filipovic’s clinic and meeting Jelena.
This set of images is a very small selection of some of the stray cats I ran into in the streets of Croatia – mainly in the old parts of Split and Dubrovnik. This post is dedicated to Dr Filipovic, Dr Jelena Radeljic and all the stray animals. I hope that the Split shelter gets up and running soon. I feel happy that tiny Tisak is now receiving good care, having been fostered out by the clinic.
PS: Since I wrote this post above, bloggers Our Adventure in Croatia have published an interview with Marco and Kristin which includes an update on progress in building the Split animal shelter.
Ghetto, Gold Award – Travel Category (NZIPP Awards 2013)
And finally, this image was taken in the spectacular walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Thera, Bronze Award – Travel Category (NZIPP Awards 2013)
This image was also taken on the beautiful island of Thera, Greece, in the gorgeous white town of Oia.
Peregrinus, Bronze Award – Travel Category (NZIPP Awards 2013)
This image was taken this year on a long walk between Oia and Fira on the island of Thera, Santorini, Greece. I seem to have good luck with shots of pilgrims and travellers! Last year, my image of a pilgrim in Santiago de Compostela also received a bronze.
Work of Art, Silver Award – Portrait Classic Category (NZIPP Awards 2013)
It has been such a long time since I’ve posted any images on my personal blog – it has been a busy year. But this weekend I was thrilled to receive two Bronze Awards, two Silver Awards and a Gold at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography’s 2013 awards. So I thought it might be worth sharing some of those, particularly ones from recent travels.
The first – Work of Art taken in a Spanish art gallery (shown above, and previously posted on this blog) – won a Silver Award in the Portrait (Classic) Category. I received another Silver for a wedding image – Mirror (posted on my business website). However, I will post the award-winning images from the Travel Category in my next three posts. Hope you like them!
Spanish Nights
A companion piece to last year’s post: Spain through the Hipstamatic eye … Images taken in Burgos, León and Lugo – all in the north of Spain.
Silver and bronze
I was really thrilled that three of my images won awards at this year’s EPSON / NZIPP Professional Photography Awards. All three images have been previously featured on my blog: the Lamp Posts (Silver Distinction), the Pilgrim and the Black Cat (Bronze), and La Confesión (Bronze). The Lamp Posts was taken in Meknes, Morocco, and the other two in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Check out the other images that also won awards in the Travel and Illustrative categories – there is some beautiful work there!
The view
The “view” was meant to be from this clifftop lookout across the Jordan valley toward Israel. As it was too hazy to see anything at all, I sat down with the owner of what seemed like this last “shop” at the edge of the world, had some of the refreshing sage tea he offered me, and bought a little silver pendant – which I still treasure.
The house on the hill
This is probably one of the most photographed houses in the Wairarapa area. It is located in the rural community of Ponatahi just one hour from Wellington. Some people called it the haunted house, and truly when you look at it closer it looks quite spooky. But the story of this house is that it was purchased by a farmer who had the intention of renovating it to make it the new home for his family. Unfortunately all this happened during the time of farming recession in NZ, and as a consequence, the farmer couldn’t keep up with the renovation costs, and had to cope with the sadness of getting divorced at the same time. So, he let time and weather take care of the house.
The house can be seen from many kilometres away, and to me it always looks interesting and sometimes even beautiful. The Sunday I went to Ponatahi for a drive I took another look at the property and took a step back to photograph it with its surroundings and not concentrating in its dilapidated state.
Into the woods
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. – John Muir
Image taken in the Whitemans Valley, New Zealand.
alicia scott photographer 