Romancing with Autumn

Extravagant, intense, romantic, even nostalgic. That's what autumn is to me!

 last week in Cacak, loving the fall colours to bits!

It's my first time to experience autumn. During my last 2 contracts as Photographer I would, for a time, experience this season in Europe during the Atlantic crossing. When we would shoot guests at the ships' gangway from 7-11am straight w/o a break, I would be freezing and hating it. But that's all the memory I have. Now that I am more familiar with it,  I can easily compare it to our "rainy months" in the Philippines (sometime around June to September). The rain is there, minus the storms. It is cold, romantic, it makes you lazy... especially when you get used to enjoying the fabulous sound of the rain falling on your roof. Ahhhh, sarap! The windows steam up, but inside the house we make fire, so I love it when we are warm & dry.

just today in Mitrovica stopping over for a snapshot w/ the gorgeous trees along the road, going home from Belgrade to Uzice, our hometown!

Yellow is one of my favorite colors so I had easily fallen in love with the changing colors of the trees!

When we decided to shoot and stay in Serbia last July we were worried that when the wedding season is over after Summer,  in the months of October onwards, there was nothing for us to do. But thankfully, there are still clients around. And I completely admire their excitement and anticipation for snow to arrive on their wedding day. That would be quite a fun downpour!!

I am currently editing 2 shoots and supposed to finish them soon, but I can't help but take a break & blog (again) about the beauty of fall!

taken in Cacak, our lovely couple Bosko & Milica

taken in Belgrade, our lovely couple Ljubo & Ana

and another one of them, (w/c they have not seen yet) when the it started to rain going to our 2nd location

It's one of my favorite shots that day. What could be more cheesy than kissing in the rain? That’s what waterproof mascara was made for I think (wink).

taken in Belgrade, our lovely couple Marko & Iva (another session to finish)

Another favorite from the many favorites :) Because they were naturally C-U-T-E together.

>>> Okay, back to editing... sigh!!

And this week are two more shoots. Snap, snap, snap!! Very happy to be working like this! & everyday feeling really blessed to be doing what we do best. Super thank you, God Almighty for everything!

How about you, what makes you happy??

God's beautiful nature is my healer!

My first snow...

And I really thought I'll never see it in my life!

Last week I lost someone very very dear to me. My family and I lost our beloved auntie Evelyn. She is my father's sister, and was acting mother to me after I lost my mom 2 years ago. She's been sick with asthma for as long as I can remember but her death was very unexpected, especially that I was just on the phone w/ her 1 week before that on my birthday. Like any loss, this was very devastating to me. This is the worst feeling one can have when you are far away from your family. No matter how I slice it, life is never the same without her. 

So one afternoon, Ivan had the idea to cheer me up a little. He told me to put my jacket & boots on, and that we would go for a little joyride! He brought me to Zlatibor, parked our car in our favorite spot up on a hill, gave me a bottle of beer to drink, and watched me cry until I could start smiling again :)

Onboard the car, we caught a glimpse of the highest peak of the mountain & wondered if it was snow caps we were seeing. We debated for a while & decided to carry on driving for 30 minutes more just to see if it was snow indeed.

And YES, it was SNOW!!

Even though we know that snow is coming (anytime now to middle of November it should snow in Uzice), the first glimpse of snow inspire a certain kind of uncontrollable excitement. Perhaps every South east Asian girl has fantasized about snow. I have enjoyed year round summer, occasional rain, and beaches which also meant no snow. And this was such a welcome change. 

It was magnificent! Nature at its best! 

Old Hollywood Christmas movies fueled my imagination of snow all throughout my childhood. And at that moment, that childhood dream came true. It could have been more magical if I had my whole family w/ me to share it with. It was great excitement mixed with anxiety.  But just the same, it was amazing. God's beautiful nature is my healer all these time. Through out all my hurts, God has made sure I was somewhere beautiful surrounded by friends and Ivan to remind me that things would get better.

Going downhill, I looked to my right, turned my head toward the sky and saw a beautiful message written on the sky, reminding me that, “Everything, like always, will be fine.”

God speaking to me.

I am still looking forward to snow coming in our town. By then I should feel better.

In the meantime, I am very thankful that autumn is here, and it is pretty as you can imagine. It's still early for the real fall colours but it is still picturesque.

All my pretty accessories are from Ivan's mom, Stojanka

In Zlatibor (not in the snowy part) while visiting a friend also last week

On our last shoot last Saturday in Cacak.

In Belgrade during an ocular visit.

In our free time, Ivan & I love to check places around for possible shoot locations.
Serbia is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l and we are blessed to have amazing views just about anywhere. This last photo Ivan had asked me to lay down on the ground, and he worked his magic with all the chestnuts and the leaves. And I must say that I am very pleased with his style :p

Autumn, just like what the poem says, is a unique art. 

I feel lucky to be living in the midst of this fireworks display :) Nature's beauty truly heals.