Saludos amigos, adios amigos

Shortly after ending my small hiatus with a "hello!", I'll be bidding farewell to all ten followers of this blog. Indeed, A in the Cities is being put to sleep. But not without a new beginning! Since December, my dad and I have zoned into the world of arts & crafts with a new project called laloons.

You can find out more about our adventures here:
http://laloons.blogspot.com

Allow me introduce you to a few members of the laloon gang...

Moon Trance (groovy habitants of a moon-like surface)

Rad Rita (she's a cool cat, it's plain to see)

Louie Bluey (he never leaves the house without his unconventional cowboy boots)

Mr Pawtato (floating on hearts)

If I don't see you over at my new online adobe, all best wishes and happy blogging!

Eleni x

A new city

Lately, not a creature has stirred, not even a mouse, here at A in the Cities. So joining us in an effort to liven up the space a little is the lovely Vasia, a photographer based in Athens, Greece, who will be posting under the moniker "Echo". 
Vasia and I first met as preteens on a basketball court. We were the only female players in the team, an attribute which –on the court in question– usually worked against rather than for us. We're taking different shots now (hoho!)

Fan of stars

Stellar spire in the Eagle Nebula

Merging galaxies

Star birth

Planetary Nebula NGC 2371

Images from the awesome Hubble Space Telescope 

Your biggest fan, ex

Two nutshell notes

One: My new website is here.

Two: After assisting a friend teach Greek to a class of 19 children, aged 7-10, I can openly profess to be smitten. Their energy seemed to be torn between engaging with the blackboard and creating a small tornado around us. While I can look to my cup of espresso for a similar experience, there's something pretty marvelous about that raw supply of energy.

On a slightly similar note, here's scientist Sugata Mitra, who has some incredible things to say about the future of education as a self-organised system:

An unexpected turn of events: this blog will now join the great portion of our blogosphere dedicated to daily musings and diary dealings. The photos on this blog will soon move to a "proper" website as soon as I find time to tackle Dreamweaver CS5. Speaking of time and dreams, there's a very high chance that this blog, shortly after ceasing to be a storage room for animal photography, will also stop storing thoughts. Unless there's a way to bend time? (Apparently, there is: http://www.mindpowernews.com/BendTime.htm)

So anyway. In preparation for a new photo site, I've been looking through a series of images taken on the beaches of Athens circa 2007...

This guy was all smiles –flattered to model his ginger looks for the camera. His friend, in contrast, frowned upon realising that no photo was to be taken of him, and quickly worked out it was because he did not have a magic mustache.

These women were winding down for the day (hence the golden rays of light). I remember Greece introducing me to a more relaxed and humble approach to the practical act of dressing/undressing –in front of friends, but also in public.

The magnificent Bruce Gilden, without a doubt, was the one who moved me to these beaches. His shots of Coney Island, taken during the late 1960s, sum up the joy of taking someone's picture: pulling qualities to the surface and marking the moment you identified them. Here's a great slideshow essay in which Gilden's voiceover tells of his Coney Island adventures.