Poet & I

 My dearest readers,

It is my birthday today, i do not usually announce such things but i wanted to share  this photograph taken by the lovely Julie of Tiger in a Jar. This is Poet ( not her birth name). Although i thought along with this image i would share a bit of our story, i am not ready- it is not time. There is a lot of hope, that soon i will be able too.

So much has been given to me, a year ago on this day i received bad news after bad. A year later i see why, and i am so very happy.

Poet is the love of my life and that i get to share this day with her and every minute of every other day, well i am the luckiest,  i can hardly see the keys as i type. She is everything and i see everything in her.

a tiny glimpse into Basque

dear friends,

I have just returned from working in Basque. It was one of loveliest trips i have ever taken. I met incredible people against the most beautiful landscape. I hope to share with you more about my time there and also from my travels before then. I continue to have full hard drives but once i can remedy this i will begin to share.

I hope you are well, that autumn finds you well.

with kindness,
nadia

saying hello.....

dearest readers,

It has been a very long time since i last posted, summer has come and now it begins to say it's goodbyes. I hope that you have been well, that you have had moments that will play out in your memory with fondness.

My life here on the hill has been filled with so many things, some good and some bad and some life changing. I am packing my bags today for our workshops in Basque and it will end with
 a few days in Paris. If you know me, you know that i will hurry back to take in what autumn brings, the wonderful changes and quietness. My garden is bursting and i hope it will still be going strong when i am back for i plan for it to be the soul thing i eat from, well there might be some lentils...

I just held the filming workshop, where i met incredible people, worked with amazingly talented beings but more on that upon my return so much of that i want to share.

I leave you now with the image above, the first i see as i make my way up the driveway the hill and the last thing i see when i leave.

Dearest readers, my heart is full in so many ways, the greatest joy i have ever known is with me......



with kindness,

see you soon.

nadia

the breathing place

 i am sitting at my kitchen table, it is warm and even here on the hill the breeze is barely there. i dug through my closet to find the coolest garment i had, a hole long t-shirt that after years has become barely there but just enough. 

i am leaving for NY tomorrow but  can i tell you even though i look forward to being there, the coffee, beautiful studio space i will be working in and the loft i rented to rest my head or gaze at the skyline from it's rooftop will be nice- my heart is here my thoughts get processed here, my heart mends here, the deepest laughters happen here. Sometimes i think about how much i speak of the hill to you  and that maybe i do not use my time here wisely but dear you this is where breathing happens, where arms get stretched, feet firmly touch the ground and were dreaming and reality merge.

My heart and belly feel like a ball of elastic bouncing and entangled in thoughts, experiences that are never still. I crave stillness, sometimes i think of my hand being held or my head resting on a shoulder of someone just as a child does for comfort.

more music

time stood still
Bon iver

down in the valley

Hazelton

Glosoli

rain and being in the moment.

dear readers, i wanted to stop in and say hello. i am sitting at a cafe ( waiting) it is bit cooler today than it has been and i love it. rain, there has been a lot of it and begins to create some problems for farmers, houses built of wood and people. I have  needed it, my soul craved it and the fog that comes with it on the hill. my days have been sneaking some time in the garden but starting things from seed late and all that rain, well we will wait and see what happens.  I continue to listen to music, mostly classical and a bit of what my friend Jarrod sends me. 

i also continue to be unable to form long sentences, paragraphs to reply to friends who have kindly written to me, please know that the words swirl in my head and kind thoughts for you  are felt in my heart, i will get there. 

I realize now that  the last few months were so very heavy, being on the move all the time, having people in my house and living with the biggest  joy & risk of my life has made certain things in me halt, maybe you can understand when there is something pending everything seems to be in limbo( i do not like that word) or handle that feeling well.

Yet having said that my days feel so great for i spend my time in the moment more than ever sharing discovery with someone very, very special and through those eyes and hands i have found what i had always believed i wanted without a shadow of a doubt.

I also would like to thank my friend Kreetta for sending me the header above, she attended the Sweden workshop and she is beautiful, funny and crazy talented! i hope to do more changes slowly here, nothing to drastic cause home should remain feeling like that.

strong and music

dear you, i have returned home only a few short hours ago. I am listening to the rain fall, chopin and a bird who i  believe is listening to chopin too. I am happy to be home and the hill is lovelier than ever, even if the grass is so very high. The wild flowers are everywhere and i will take a walk soon, even in the rain.

I met some incredible people last week while i worked, truly beautiful people with spirits and knowledge and sun in their faces. I will tell you more about it soon, but i must tell you about italy first and i will promise.

for now can i tell you about the photograph, i randomly picked it from my iphone and i am sure there is better ones and my camera is filled with them and i hope to download them soon. Iceland is magical, we must go again my camera and i.

I feel very strong right now even though my heart took some stabs in sweden but those cracks got filled with people stories, kindness and music. the whole plane ride home i listened to music, i cried, i moved my feet to the music, i hoped, excepted, dreamt and imagined. I am happy, i also gifted myself experiences like the one above but the biggest thing i gave myself was learning to except that i am a good person, that i work hard and that it is okay to except those things about oneself.

i will write soon, i would like to change my header photograph into a circle of the same and have la porte rouge written in script beside the circle, if anyone can assist that would be great, i am ready to freshen up and re commit to my life being told on the pages of this blog after i have lived the moment.....

listen


3am
daughter
maybe
low roar

wednesday

i have promised photographs from italy and i have many but unfortunately my computer has run out of memory and i was only able to download a few. I will remedy it upon my return from Sweden. I will like to spend a night in Stockholm can anyone recommend a budget friendly place to spend the night. I have cut the trip very short basically work and home, i need to be home i want to be home on the hill and enjoy every minute of the ever changing landscape with....

It has rained for nine days straight, epic rain but today the fog came too, i feel at home in the fog a familiar friend who helps me be still and see clearly.

Dear readers, how are you? - i have been terrible with correspondence- not being able to keep up. i have never been able to write a quick email when a intimate one is needed. What are your plans, are you growing anything form your fire escape, balcony, window sill or garden. I am very behind but so much i enjoy are fast growers so i will catch up. I am thinking of you realizing i miss writing here and hearing you.

back

Dear Friends, i returned from italy just last night, my eyes are heavy and i am patiently waiting to give horses grain so i can tuck myself in for the night.

Italy was everything i hoped for and more, it is beautiful, the workshop a success and the people i  meant have made it extra special. I have so much to share and i will soon but right now i am  going to ease myself back into the routine there is a vegetable garden to plant, horse pastures to create and much more. I love the hill with every fiber of my being and love it more these days for reasons i can not yet share publicly.

I am also feeling so alive ( says the girl that could hardly keep her eyes open as she types this-jet lag perhaps). Awaken passion for life and i am inspired by it.

 hope you are well....

with kindness,
nadia

deep happiness

dear readers, i had not meant to be gone this long. life on the hill changed in one minute and my heart is so full. I am not able to explain just yet but i desperately want to share my happiness with you. It is the kind of happiness that comes with great risk, so everyday, many times a day i whisper little things to myself to keep me in the moment, not looking past today.

I leave for Europe in a couple of weeks, that did come so fast. Leaving the farm and all that it means is so very hard but now it seems unbearable but i also know that once i hot Italian soil, i will know how lucky i am to be in such a place.

I am thinking of you, i hope life allows me to share more of my happiness with you in a more open way, i hate keeping anything from you, so i will whisper it into the wind and you just might hear it.

balance

Hello, I was about to write how spring is in the air and i am excited about it, but just as i started to type large snow flakes began to fall on the hill, it will not last but winter is beginning to intrude on spring i for one do not mind it and love that i know it is something out of my control. I have been busy on all fronts but i have also been happy, spending my days with the right balance of work and laziness. I went home to montreal last weekend to celebrate my nieces birthday and a play she was in, the whole productions had me over joyed even chocked up with how talented and beautiful children are.

The house has began to take shape, aligning my vision of what i always wanted the interior to look like,  a balance of function and design. I have also booked my tickets to Italy for the workshop and now have began to make plans for a few extra days in tuscany and florence, would love any recommendations you might have for lodging ( small budget friendly) i am looking at also a possible farm stay. Speaking about traveling my tickets have been bought for my trip ( work and play) to Sweden, Norway and Iceland in June so any recommendation on those areas would be appreciated too.

Dear readers,  i have so much to tell you but i am being cautious, putting my feeling and thoughts in check. hope you are doing well.

* sasha my first chicken gifted to me by a neighbour a few years back in the house  for some extra tlc

the smell of gardenia in my bedroom, bliss.

my days

Dear friends, it seems long ago since i shared what has been going on here on the hill. Lots, to tell you the truth. i want to begin by saying thank you to all those who wished me luck on The Hill Workshops, we still have a few spots left if you would like to visit Vermont and learn from some talented people!

I am sitting at the kitchen table for the first time without having to deal with anything work related, just my mocha my breakfast ( banana, coconut, almond butter, raw wheat germ and agave) and i am writing to you underneath pictures i took with an actual camera ( friends canon), not a phone. I am taking this time before i head out to the hardware store to buy a few things so that i can start hanging paintings on the wall. The house is freshly painted white "snow fall" to be exact. I also purchased a kiln, a houseguest potter built a kick wheel in the basement and i thought what better way to learn than to fully commit, i am excited.

I have drifted far from my routine and quiet days but i look forward to finding my way back. Soon spring will have me spend most of my hours outdoors, getting garden beds ready, mending fences and taking long discovery walks.

I have missed this quiet space and i hope to once again come here regularly to share my days and thoughts from the hill.

Registration for Story Telling Through Moving Pictures opens today

                 

Hello wanted to let you know that registration for The Story Telling in Vermont Through Moving Pictures opens this morning at 9 am eastern standard time.

Some of the details  are listed below the quick details but you can read more here and register here! Would love to see you there!

You already know how to take beautiful photographs. Now you can learn how to tell a story with video.

Geared toward professional photographers who have a solid understanding of their DSLR cameras when it comes to still photography but have yet to make the leap into video, this workshop will provide balanced knowledge of the basics of videography using DSLR camera.

The course will cover everything from pre to post production, with particular focus on understanding how to customize your camera to best achieve your personal shooting style. Instructors will be on hand to give each attendee one-on-one guidance.

Create 3 collaborative films from top to bottom - location planning, production and editing. We will start each day by making a film and end each day with a comprehensive live edit session. Attendees will walk away with a firm grasp on post production organization and execution, from preparing your files for edit, to the final export for online viewing.

In this workshop we will take you to a place with rolling hills, apple trees as far as the eye can see, stone walls that cross into pastures. You will walk through doorways, look out windows and sit on porches where Rudyard Kipling lived, the home he designed and that inspired his life and work. Enjoy farm-to-table meals under epic trees, a night swim and cookout by the river, a bonfire with live music and a screening under the stars of the films you created.

Introducing and announcing The Hill Workshops

Dearest Friends it is with great excitement and ( a large amount of butterflies) that  I announce a new adventure that i have been working on.  The Hill Workshops and with that comes our very first workshop; Story Telling in Vermont through Moving Pictures. I am very lucky to be able to team up with incredibly talented filmmakers and to do this on the beautiful Rudyard Kiplings Naulakha Estate.

So  please visit my new site, read about this incredible workshop,  meet the filmmakers  that are making this possible and see why they inspired me to do this!

i do hope you can join us

with kindness,

nadia

*special thanks to marina, for allowing me to bend her ear and sharing her talents

sunday

hello i hope you are well. it is sunday morning i am sitting by the fire as snow gently falls outside. the smell of scones baking in the oven begins to fill the house. everyone is sleeping and although i have been up for hours i feel as i too can crawl under the covers and sleep once more.

I think a morning of falling snow is such a promise for the rest of the day, walks through the forest, kettles and firewood. Promise of bread baked, soups made and audio's that take you somewhere you have never been. this will be my sunday here on the hill, were happiness is  possible.

although i have taken some snow and hill photograph this morning i thought i would share one of the shots i took in montreal of the Westmount library conservatory. i often went there when i needed an escape, the smells and warmth underneath this incredible beautiful glass structure still has that effect of calm on me.

Story Telling in Basque, registration open's this morning.

styling by me

photograph 1,3,5 & 10 taken By Tracey Ayton Photograph 2,3, 4 and 5 Taken By Kimberly Taylor.  photograph 9 taken By Aran Goyoaga

Aran Goyoaga

I am so very excited about the opening of registration at 9 am eastern time this morning for the Story telling in Basque workshop. To be able to teach long side my very talented friend Aran in the country she grew up in, is such an honor. We are excited to explore, create and share with you in this beautiful part of the world.

The workshop is sold out (in just minutes) thank you! If you would like to be part

of a mailing list for upcoming workshops please go here and fill contact

form. 

So if you plan on joining us registration opens at 9 am eastern time.

Go here to register 

You can read about the workshop here & here!

Hope to see you in Basque!

nesting time

Dear friends, i hope you are well and that february is being kind to you. My camera is fixed and i hope that i can begin posting regularly, the last few month have been iphone photographs and i am grateful to have been able to capture  what has been going on this winter on the hill with it, but i am glad once again to hold something that requires a little more thinking. I have spent the last few weeks at home, nesting with animals and as they say finding my center.

I am happy though to be going to montreal for a few days to spend with family & friends, we will celebrate christmas and new years on saturday since during the holidays everyone was under the weather. Sunday will be just my immediate family and we will make all our favorite foods and hang out and no doubt reminisce on times past. I have a need for family time, there will also be good coffee drinking and if i am lucky i hope to find a canele or two.

wishing you a wonderful rest of the week, hope to take some photographs to share with you soon.

a bientot,

nadia

Announcing a new Food & Lifestyle Photography worshop in....

I am really excited to announce that Aran Goyoaga and I will be teaming up for a food and lifestyle photography workshop in Aran’s homeland, Basque Country. 

This has been a long time in the planning and i honestly can not wait to be in the breathtaking landscape that Aran has so beautifully shared with us so often on her blog through her stunning photographs. I have listened to Aran as she recounted stories from her childhood and her travels back home and knew that i must visit this beautiful part of the world one day. What better way to do so than to invite you to come along and join us for this special workshop.

We will be staying at the Astei estate surrounded by forests and the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai. In this 5-day workshop, we will explore the natural surroundings and farms, while learning about food styling and photography. We will visit visit local organic growers and artisans, prepare a sundown dinner on the beach, a tour of the best pintxo (tapas) bars in the area, and a visit to San Sebastian and the French Basque Countryside.

Please visit Aran's post about our workshop, it provides more details told in
such a lovely way.

Registration will open on Thursday, February 21st at 9 am eastern time at the Food & Lifestyle Photography Shop.

When: September 5-10, 2013

Where: Astei, Ea, Basque Country (about 45 km/25 miles outside of Bilbao, which is closest airport)

How much: Fee is $2,550 (single occupancy) and includes:

5 nights at Astei where the students will get to stay in different houses within this magnificent country estate. Single occupancy rooms.

3 days of technical and practical instruction with on-location shoots.

1 full day of sightseeing to and back to the French Basque Country.

5 breakfasts. Each house has a fully stocked and equipped kitchen. We will stock the pantry with breakfast items for your convenience.

4 lunches.

4 dinners including a tasting event of some of the best local wines.

Reception cocktails and appetizers on the evening of the 5th.

Transportation to our workshop activities (it does not include airfare).

Snack and refreshments during workshop hours.

Deposit: $1275 for registration to be confirmed. Final Payment of $1275 due May 15, 2013.
There will be no refunds for this workshop – please know you can make it before your registration.

The workshop is limited to 9 people.
Please note that the last two students to register will have single occupancy rooms, but will have to share a bathroom in this completely remodeled farmhouse.

Follow Food & Lifestyle Photography on Twitter

* all images above taken by Aran Goyoaga

i love the hill.

i want to tell you how much i love the hill, i know that is not a surprise to you since almost every post is dedicated to my love for it.  today i looked at the trees through moments of clouds, sunshine, and snow and thick fog they made me feel safe and loved. i lay on the floor with sophie and grace and we stared out the big window unto the hills. i wrote emails with the warmth of the fire and gathered eggs from the hens, i threw hay to the horses and watched them run and play, I am lucky. i spoke to my dear friend, till we both cried happy that our ships did not sail seperate ways but side by side. I listen on the phone as k used words of wisdom to calm me down, to remind me who i am and who i should be proud of, i always seem to forget.

i love the hill, love who i am here and love that no matter where i go i remember where i come from.

glad to be home

    hi there, i am writing to you from the hill and i can not tell you how glad i am to be home. The fog is thick and the air is warm and again the snow begins to melt. I have been away both for work and personal reasons and at every quiet  moment i craved the hill, thought about the animals and tea by the fire. I spent some time in Maine while we shot and styled many stories, met incredible people who were inspired to start something and in turn have left me genuinely happy knowing that good people are doing great things.

It has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster  sad and happy news seem to intertwine but the ability to remain hopeful and at the same time and the continual belief that the path i am on is the right one keeps me moving forward. I learned quite a bit these past few days about myself and others and i do feel at this moment overwhelmed by all of it. i have one day to try to process it all and take away what is useful and let go of the things that are no longer.

Dear friends, it  is a sunny fog out there so thick that you would think that the clouds have fallen unto the pastures. i feel as if i can fall asleep standing up and i have never said that in my life- so i am treasuring the next twenty four hours before i am in the thick of it again. there will be a few walks in the forest and across the fields, a book left by a friend to read and a loaf of bread baked by another on the hill and left for me to slice into and i do hope a few good hours of sleep.

winter and happiness

the most unusually weather fell upon this part of vermont this past weekend, a fog so thick, a warmth so wonderfully mild  that the snow could be heard melting.  early saturday morning, a walk through the thick and moving fog, down the driveway led to the car that could not make it up the hill the night before, i did not mind for it was such a good way to start the morning and made for good photo taking. off to the grain store and coffee in the nearest city, gosh the weather was so lovely and everything took my breath away. lingering at the grain store, snapping away ( those are to come in later post) then heading back to the hill, a quick uturn when the abandonned out buildings where spotted. there is no secret how much i love the snow and  fog and when i am surrounded by it, i am truly at my happiest.

Upon returning to the hill and after a leisurely breakfast of freshly gathered eggs, peach jam handmade and gifted to me in the summer, a mocha and a game of chess scruffy building clothes replaced city ones. it was time to revamp the interior of the coop ( yes again) it has taken many takes to get it right, hours spent under the sunniest of skies trying hard to beat the sunset before the chickens decide to roost in trees. Sunday was a repeat of good breakfast and a game then the coop again, happily finished midday leaving time to tackle other things like wood stacking.

i had many thoughts going through my head this weekend and could not tell you how many times  i looked out to the pasture and the hills, how lucky i felt. the other thought i had was that i truly feel safe, comforted and profoundly happy when the animals are well taken care of, when i know that there is plenty of grain, a good place for them to rest and play, i guess that is what parents must feel as they tuck their children in for the night.

this post has run a little long i know, i loved this past weekend and the photographs that came from it but more so the things that where on a list the weighed on me could finally be crossed off. Dear readers, there is a possibility of a pause between this post and the next , for personal reasons but also i will be shooting in maine, connecticut and northern vermont maybe a quick trip to montreal and house guests. i feel very lucky that you visit here and that the hill means something to you, i will see you soon.