Maybe you know Vi Menn, the most popular men's lifestyle magazine in Norway and Scandinavia in general. I didn't know it before they contacted me in order to get copyrights for my photos and publish them along with scandalous article about sex tourism in Latvia.
It was very pleasant to see my Sin City photo at coversheet of Norwegian Playboy, which is being read by more than half a million of people offline every week ;)
The beginning of the new year regularly is being celebrated by choosing the Best Photo of the year! As always, it is nearly impossible to pick up the one among all other Riga photos, especially for me :) therefore, I kindly asked for help from my dear visitors to pick up their best photo. Here below are top 4 photos according visitors choice: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church - fairy tale glade with church in early September Brivibas Bulvaris - photo of the high street taken from the hotel in the sunny July morning Towards Petersburg - October's perspective view of highway towards Russian North capital Meistaru iela - photo of cartoon-like little houses in Old Town, which was published in December
I have to announce that I'm also leaving Riga in two weeks and most probably I will discontinue to publish new photos on daily basis very soon. Therefore I kindly ask you, my visitors, maybe somebody has willingness to take and publish pictures of Riga instead of me? If so, please contact me.
I can't believe, it is already 3 years since my first Riga Daily Photo. Kinda success! :) This year I took not just 365 photos more, but also got new camera with the help of my readers, started to use twitter for instant updates, got interviewed and many other interesting things happened to me because of RDP. Thank you, my dear visitors for watching this blog and making me keep exploring Riga and surroundings.
Running blog Riga Photos for almost 3 years I didn't make any money, but I have met a lot of interesting people :)
Recently I was invited by some Baltic Japan magazine for interview, which was held this week in panoramic bar. The main discussion topic with Uldis (pictured) were my Riga Daily Photos and the reasons of taking them :)
I must say thanks to all of you, my visitors. And say special thanks to the following guys:
Angela from Australia
Toby from Indiana
Juan from Spain
Kim from Scotland
Martine from France
A C Johnson from England
Raffaele from Italy
Line from Denmark
Roman from North Carolina
Andreas from Germany (the largest contribution)
Petteri from Finland
These fellas helped me to buy Canon PowerShot SD4000 IS aka IXUS 300HS, which is the best pocket camera in the world at the moment. Unfortunately it is the most expensive as well :) In any case your donations were the best feedback for my 3 years long project Riga Photos!
Psst.. you are always very welcome to drop some coins and your help is very appreciated. Please donate :)
2,5 years ago Riga Daily Photo was started with the picture of Vana Tallinn ferry departing from Riga Harbour. 500th post was marked with photo of another ferry - Regina Baltica. I didn't want to break the tradition, so the second anniversary was with photo of Festival taking the Sea. Now it's time to expose Rīgas pasažieru osta (Riga Passenger Terminal) itself and the reason is that this picture is the 1000th photo!
Just imagine, 1000 photos of Riga! Riga Daily Photo is my longest hobby ever, which is still making me happy :) Although difficult times came and I don't have a good camera anymore, hence I have to take pictures with a low-end old digital camera. So if you like this blog, please support it by making a small donation for a new camera. Thanks anyway, my beloved visitors and readers :)
Discussion about blogs and blogging was held in one of faculties of Latvian University . As usually that kind of events contain a lot of demagogy and "trash", but it is always useful to visit them just because you might had miss some blogging basics before. Since today Riga Photos has twitter account. Please follow :)
5 years passed since monsieur Eric Tenin started his Paris Daily Photo, the very first City Daily Photo blog. In fact I was inspired not only by Paris, but also by Brain's New York, which was started on 17 March 2006. Today's Photo is a tribute to celebrate 5 years anniversary and the theme is the Tenin Technique. Eric's photo I love PDP inspired me to use the Tenin's Technique. Do not forget to view all participants.
Regular theme of City Daily Photo Blogs - The Best Photo of the previous year 2009! Believe me, I've been trying to pick one, but I couldn't choose the best one :( Therefore I would like to thank all of regular readers who expressed their opinion in comments and advised me to choose the best photos. If you still have own idea, please feel free to comment and say which photo is better than others. It is always interesting to see what people like and why. Sometimes it is real discovery for me.
Following 4 photos are considered to be the best of 2009. From upper left: Gap - published in October Улица Кирова aka Kirov street - published in November Feet - published in June Protesters - published in December
Finally, after two years of blogging I have changed overloaded standard blogger design for riga.in I like black color. Black is good, but in the age of Web 2.0 smart websites are usually white :) Screenshot of old design is posted in order to always remember how Riga Daily Photo was with Black Design.
P.S. I rearranged many things, but some layout bugs could still exist. Please feel free to point out anything that looks strange. Thank you.
Today is a birthday of riga.in :) 2 years have passed since Riga Daily Photo was started. Wow, we are taking the sea! :) A lot of work has been done - about 750 photos were published, first appearance in press, transfer to new domain. And there are still many ideas and things to do in order to improve riga.in and get this photoblog to even higher level. For example, I will tell you a little secret, in a few days riga.in will have a brand new stylish smart design :)
Of course all of this take tons of resources. In fact riga.in is not created to make any money hence it is nonprofit project, but on this very special day if you want to help to riga.in, then you are very welcome to make a small gift :)
Ne dienu bez Rīgas - is the title of an article about my blog in local magazine Rīgas Laiks (Riga Times) This is the first review of my blog by offline media known to me. Despite very short article, I feel very proud because of it.
Here below is the full text of article: Rūpīgi uzturēts un aizraujošs fotoblogs, kas katru dienu piedāvā jaunu fotogrāfiju un nelielu komentāru par tajā attēloto Rīgas vai tuvējās apkārtnes skatu. Ne vienmēr šie komentāri vai objektu izvēle ir Latvijai glaimojoša, taču autoram (kurš savu personu pārlieku neafišē) nevar pārmest arī apzinātu nomelnošanu. Mērķauditorija ir ārzemnieki, kas ir nolēmuši apciemot Latvijas galvaspilsētu vai domā par to, attēlos redzamā pilsēta ir skaista, dīvaina, biedējoša vai bīstama - tieši tāda, kāda tā ari patiesībā ir. Dažkārt autors lasītājus izprovocē uz komentāriem - pajautājot, vai kāds igaunis nezina, ko igauniski nozīmē Pērses ielas nosaukums, vai izsakot minējumu, ka nez vai vēl kur pasaulē ir pilsētas ar dubultiem māju numuriem (Barona iela 59/61). Tepat var atrast saites uz citām ar Rīgu saistītām vietnēm un vebkamerām, kas rāda pilsētu reālajā laikā. ® Sagatavoja Ilmārs Šlāpins un Pauls Bankovskis The literal translation in more popular language:
Let no day without Riga
It is carefully maintained exciting photoblog, which get updated every day with a new photograph of Riga or surrounding and a small comment about it. Photos and comments are not always flattering for Latvia, but the author (who doesn’t publish his identity) can’t be accused of intentional defamation. The target audience is foreigners who have decided to visit the capital of Latvia or still are thinking about it. The image of the city is made to be beautiful, strange, intimidating or even threatening - exactly like it is in real life. Sometimes the author provoke readers to comment by asking if anyone does know Estonian language and the meaning of Perses street in it, or expressing guess that somewhere else in the world are houses with double house numbers (Barona Street 59/61). Also here are the links to Riga related sites and webcams, which show the city in real time. ® Prepared by Ilmars Slapins and Pauls Bankovskis
Infinity is another one blacklisted bar in Riga. Recently, I had set my mind on to expose all dens of iniquity in Riga. In fact, lately riga.in gets quite high results in Google. So if people are searching something in Riga, they often get my pages on top. Just try to google for example Infinity Bar in Riga. I will use this opportunity to make our city more safe for tourists and local people.
Today is the 500th day since Riga Daily Photo blog had reborn. The 1st photo was during the autumn 2007 with the same ship as this one - Vana Tallinn. I wanted to stop write this blog many times, but something always forces me to continue. On the photo MS Regina Baltica
I nearly forgot about first anniversary of Riga Daily Photo blog :) One year ago I revived already dead blog about Riga from scratch. And till now I am keeping it in a good order ;) A lot of pictures were published here, and even more were taken. And it is impossible to calculate how many man-hours were spent for this brainchild :) But only because of running this blog, I get know much better my city, have discovered hundreds of small and big facts about Riga. Finally, I've improved my English :)
This picture was taken during Riga City Festival 2008, when Riga has celebrated its 810th birthday ;)
I guess some of you already have noticed change in address bar. Since yesterday address of this blog has been changed from rigadailyphoto.blogspot.com to riga.in. I think it is easier to remember and to type in ;)
Now I am thinking about changing the name of the blog according to address. Some ideas are:
Riga in 2008 (and then in 2009, in 2010 and so on)
Riga inside (not grammatically correct, but sounds good :))
Riga in photos
Riga in motion
keep current name Riga Daily Photo
... any other ideas?
I really appreciate any help regarding name choosing :) Please, tell your opinion in comments. Thank you, all my visitors :)
We are warmly welcoming you on board of reborned Riga Daily Blog. Due very busy crew of this blog, there is no confidence that this blog will be really daily, but we will try our best! We hope you will enjoy this trip. Thank you. Photo has been taken across Riga International Harbour.
Riga Photos, Top Stories, Wonderful Sights, Remarkable Places, Typical & Famous People, Travel Guides & Official Information, Shopping, Party & Nightlife, Glamour & Fashion Clubs, Sport & Crowdy Bars, Alternative & Underground Pubs, Luxurious & Cheap Hotels, Live Webcams, News, Vague Rumors & Wild Facts about the biggest City in Baltic States