Thistle & Fern

My name is Zilá (It means "shadow" in Hebrew-written in Portuguese way) as known as Zee. Pick whatever you like. I am a lover of light, simple & beautiful things, nature and unpretentious life. I admire authenticity and I covet true friendships. I am down to earth and I have a passion for great adventures, simple pleasures like a delicious cup of coffee and a nice book, cats, traveling, all things handmade, art, history and good music. I grew up in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and I’ve lived in Arizona with my husband, our two beautiful children and four lovely cats since 2002.

While my kids are at school I dabble in photography, sewing and blogging. I also enjoy interior design and many other art forms. This blog has the purpose of documenting pieces of my life and all things that are beautiful, inspiring and interesting to me.

COPYRIGHT

All images and content by Thistle & Fern, unless otherwise noted. Sometimes I post images that do not belong to me and I do my best crediting and linking back to the original sources. If you ever see an image of yours that is not credited properly or you would like it removed, please email me and I'd be happy to take it down / correct mistake. Likewise, if you would like to use or share any original images from Thistle & Fern, please credit appropriately and link back to the specific post on this blog. Thank you.

Q&A

When did you start practising Photography? Photography is one of my favorite hobbies and it all started at age of 13 when my dad let me play with his old Kodak Instamatic, point and shoot camera. It was love at first sight. I’ve been snapping pictures all my life!

In 1994, after graduating in Early Childhood Education, I attended photography school for one year. I put all my soul and paychecks in the art and craft. I was intrigued and curious. I come from film school. I taught myself digital photography and Photoshop at my own pace. I am always learning something new.

I am very fond of black and white and documentary style photos for portraiture work. I love shooting the nature as well as macros and still life. I dream about traveling all over the world to experience the diversity and richness of other cultures. While this dream hasn’t become reality, I photograph my humble surroundings.

What cameras do you use? I've recently purchased a Canon 5D Mark III {after saving money for several months!}. Images prior 2013 were created with a Canon EOS 7 D, and Canon EOS 50 D, and my default lens is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. My second favorite is the EF 70-200mm f/4L USM.

How do you process your images? I shoot raw and I use Adobe Camera Raw to edit the basics, and many times I use Photoshop CS6 to do some extra adjustments.