Monday, November 08, 2010

VIA...

One blog that has really intrigued me in the past few months is Via.  I love delving into artist Liivia Sirola's every day life. Her photographs are beautiful - soft and mysterious - the writing even more mysterious to me because I can't read a word of Finnish. It took me ages to work out that "Vanhemmat Tekstit" means "Older Posts"! Google Translate seems to have a fair amount of difficulty with Finnish as well, but some of the translations can lead to oddly heightened poetic phrases, which I'm sure were even more so in the original. This sense of mystery coupled with Liivia's ability to capture the ephemeral in her photography (light, steam, frost) makes me feel like I'm visiting another world each time I click over there; one that is filled with nature, steaming cups of coffee, baking, walks through fallen leaves and knitting things to keep warm throughout the winter.


{All photos: Liivia Sirola. Used with permission.}

10 comments:

July Stars said...

Highly ridiculous comment but ... is she wearing slippers in the last picture? Kiss

Claire said...

JS - I'm not sure! They do look like slippers or could be plaid shoes?

Alexandra said...

Her photographs have such a cosy feel to them.

http://herribbonsandherbows.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

oh! what super photos! the light is just sooooo amazing!!! so amazing!

thanks claire...i had never even heard of this blog before...

la femme said...

Thank you for introducing me to her blog! I speak "kitchen" Finnish from my grandparents, so it's an interesting exercise to try and interpret her words.

Such beautiful photos.

Camille said...

Thank you Claire for making me discover this blog. I believe I'm in love with it, if such a thing is possible, I find it inspiring in so many different ways!

Liivia said...

They ARE my husband's slippers:):)

Claire said...

Liivia - one mystery solved! x

Kate said...

Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful photos of Liivia!

And as an afterthought, here comes (a very small) "but" ... :-) ... because the thing is: I like them even better the way you have arranged them on your blog. The two of you should work together: Liivia providing the pictures, you arranging them ...

And - having this said - I love your own pictures also very much. Each of your selections is a fairytale in itself.

Alicia P. said...

Oh Claire, I had the *exact* same experience -- with Liivia's blog and with Tanja's blog, Pretty Gingham. I spent two very cold rainy weekends sitting on my sofa and reading Pretty Gingham through Google translator. Then thinking in Finnish translated by Google translator. Then wishing everyone would speak in Finnish as translated by Google translator, because anything more was too . . . much. So -- I get exactly what you are saying, and I just had to giggle: We two girls were probably doing this halfway across the world at the exact same time, staring at the photos and squinting, thinking, "What did she say?" Hee hee :-)
Keep up the great work.