Greetings, my dear friends!

It has been such a disturbingly long time since I last participated in dA actively; for the last... almost 12 months I have been visiting this site only rarely, and although I have been keeping track of your work (in order not to entirely lose sight of what is going on around here), it was regularly without commenting on your deviations. For that I apologize, and offer the following explanation:

This past year has been INCREDIBLY busy for me, business-wise. For those of you who don't know, last year I started my own company for translating and interpreting after having graduated in English and Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Split. Being as I am difficult when it comes to obeying questionable authority and working for people with whom I have very little in common with regard to various moral principles and work ethics, I decided to go free-lancing, and was therefore forced to apply all my energies into finding clients and making it work. Since I have always – thankfully – been endowed with more luck than any other quality (or as we in Croatia like to say: «Imam više sreće nego pameti» ), it did work!
I was offered my first major literary translation for one of the leading publishing companies in Croatia even before I graduated, and was only thrilled to accept. However, now, after almost 12 months of constant, everyday all-day work on that novel, I am inclined to think better of it. It is by far the most demanding, draining, nerve-wrecking and least rewarding piece of writing I ever had to work on.
Being so dedicated to it (and to other occasional translations that happened to come my way in the meantime), I completely lost all desire to do anything (else) that is creative, which is why it has been almost a year since I last uploaded any of my photos. However, now that my year-long intense intellectual work is at last coming to an end (only 15 more pages of proofreading left, YAAAY!!! ), I can finally get back to what I love doing most – being creative.

Don't get me wrong: I have not spend the last year sitting at my desk and staring at the computer (well, at least not the whole of the last year, although that certainly took up the largest portion of my time); I rewarded myself with a few wonderful trips and concerts which I intend to share with you via my photos in the course of the next couple of weeks.
Just to give you a hint: 2008 is the year I finally visited IRELAND, after almost 10 years of dreaming and scheming, and was moved to tears by the beauty of that extraordinary country. Together with my dear friend Marija (one of my favourite travel buddies with whom I am planning a trip to Paris right after New Year, to Istanbul for my birthday in March, to Scotland sometime in May or September, and to Egypt most likely in September) I visited not only Dublin, but almost the entire country save for the Ring of Kerry in the south, thanks to the wonderful 1-day tours organized by a local agency called Paddy Tours. We visited the Cliffs of Moher and the west coast of the island, the Wicklow county south of Dublin and Northern Ireland together with the Giant's Causeway, Belfast and Derry.
The trip took place in May, which means I am WAY overdue with my photos, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. However, they are now almost ready to be uploaded, and I hope they will manage to convey at least a small portion of the magic that is Ireland. Plus, they were taken with my brand new Olympus SP-570UZ camera (a graduation gift from my dear parents), which means that the quality of my new submissions should be improved (at least I hope).

Another wonderful trip was the visit to Budapest with my Dad and my sister at the end of September. We went to see Coldplay live (which was one of the nicest concert experiences I have ever had) and decided to stay a few extra days in order to see the city. Loads of photos from that trip are also due soon.

Speaking of concerts, this year has been one of the most «fruitful» ones ever: starting with the Nightwish show in Ljubljana (it is a bit sad to have witnessed the end of such a fabulous era and watch the desperate attempts to reach the (unfortunately) unattainable vocal and charismatic heights), through an amazing concert summer featuring Mark Knopfler (transcendental experience), Bob Dylan (awe-inspiring), REM (Michael Stipe never ceases to amaze me with his otherworldly voice and his seemingly effortless switching from the deepest of sorrows to the charged-up showmanship, all the while maintaining the same level of sincerity and authenticity), Iron Maiden (all those 40 000 fans on Poljud stadium in Split were in absolute ecstasy, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something false in Bruce Dickinson's «larger than life» attitude), Kultur Shock (one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises in a long long time; try to imagine the combination of heavy rock and Bosnian «sevdah», and you'll get the most explosive music cocktail Split has ever seen), and a whole bunch of Croatian bands, to the Coldplay show which is probably the last big concert I'll see this year. Of all these I have only managed to document the Kultur Shock show, and I intend to upload those photos tomorrow.

Anyhow, I am so glad to have finally felt the creative spark which made me want to share my photos with the world again, and am happy to be a part of a comunity composed of so many wonderfully talented artists! and to all of you!

Irena