Marvellous Monday #26

Happy Monday! This week's Marvellous Monday is all about the view from above.

As humans, we are stuck with our feet on the ground unless we take an aircraft or suddenly sprout wings and take flight.



It is thanks to aerial photography that we see such breathtaking sights from the air, and see our planet from a new perspective.

Norway

Thanks to the wonder of blogger's scheduling function, nobody (except a few friends outside of blogland) would have known that I went to Norway in April!
Which is just as well, as I haven't made a post about travel for ages!

Mum and I headed to Bergen to stay with her friends,18th-22nd April. This is the view from their house on the hillside. Isn't it stunning?

Norway has lots of breathtaking scenery and I was lucky to experience some of it!

A Few Little Random Photographs

Every so often, I'll take a photograph with the intention of sharing it here.
Then it never happens, usually because I want to make longer posts rather than just share one photo.

So this is a little image-dump of photographs I've accumulated over the months!

First off is the fulfilment of a request :)

Terry of These Peas Taste Funny and Write.Create.Connect commented on my Amethyst Collar:

I really want to see you modelling it,...I wonder if you can be convinced. :)

...yep, I can!  :D
I had a haircut last Saturday and dyed it Tuesday...it was meant to come out purple but didn't turn out so good. But that's okay, I like this random colour! Was also trying out some green mascara and eyeliner that sister #1 gave me.
Excuse the frazzled expression. I blame the heat and lack of sleep!

Moving on!

This is the heron that frequents the pond near my house. Usually he (she?) sits on the far side, but on the day I took this picture, he was on the near side, oblivious to all the commotion coming from the builders next door. Of course I still had to zoom in a bit, but this birdy was not going to allow himself to be bothered by humans with cameras.
Unusual, since normally he takes off the moment anybody goes near the pond :)

Herons look quite strange when they fly, I think! They look like they belong in the time of dinosaurs!

This is a necklace I made recently. I won't be posting a tutorial because I didn't take photographs as I made it. This was one of those, 'I'm bored, what stuff can I stick together?' projects!
The mini picture was 50p in a charity shop--I bought five of them several years ago with various crafty projects in mind! The chain was from a junk/scrap drawer, I'm not sure what it's original use was because it seems an unusual shape--anyone have any ideas?
Originally the beads were one of those crystal bracelets that were all the rage about ten years ago! The elastic had worn so I took off the beads and kept them for future use! To attach them to the chain, I used eye pins. It was a bit fiddly, but I like the end result.

Mirrors and trays at a Morrocan market that happened in a nearby town. I didn't by anything but this place was full of beautiful furniture and decor!

This door, also at the Moroccan market, particularly tickled me. Not only does it look like it has a face, but I love how it was set up to stand in the middle of the pathway--a door to another realm!

The market also sold jewellery, traditional food (cooked fresh!), handbags, trinket boxes and things like soap, beauty products and herbs. It was really lovely to wander around it, despite the weather! I didn't buy anything this time around as I was rather lacking in money, so I hope next time I'll have something to spend on a lovely piece of jewellery, some delicious-smelling soaps, or maybe a little trinket box.
And of course, those traders do love to haggle :)

Dear Deer

I wanted to share this picture of two visitors we had in our close a few days ago! I had to zoom in quite a bit to take the photograph!
Knowing from experience that these lovely creatures tend to run off at the slightest movement, the moment I grabbed my camera I engaged ninjah mode!
Unfortunately I only managed to snap a few heavily zoomed in photos before something disturbed them and they ran off.
We do see deer every so often in our road, since the bottom of the road just leads into wilderness. We're also treated to foxes, ducks, moorhens, bats, herons, various birds, hedgehogs, and apparently there's badgers too :)
A year or so ago, the owner of the fields nearby wanted to build a few hundred houses on them...luckily the planning application was turned down, else we certainly wouldn't see such lovely wildlife anymore!

Photography Challenge Week #20

It's the final week of the photography challenge at A Step in the Journey! I can't believe it's over already!




The theme for the final week was - like the first week - self portrait, bringing the contest full circle.  I decided not to cop out this time, and therefore you can see my face instead of a shadow!

So here's my shot, plus a couple of extras, just for fun.

The hooded scarf is the one I made for the Pinterest Challenge! It's lovely and warm when the weather isn't! (As you can see, I like leopard print!)
Self portraits are definitely something I find difficult to do. All the important things that you'd usually do when taking a picture - checking the focus and lighting and so on - are completely out of your hands the moment you set that timer.
I know that certain professional photographers use assistants to do the actual pressing-of-the-shutter-button (one guy even had a video camera and a TV set up so he could direct the framing of the shot) but I don't have an assistant or fancy equipment that enables me to see what I'm doing! Still, it was fun. Normally if I take a picture of myself, I stand in front of the mirror and use the reflection to see what's on the screen of my little point-and-shoot digicam. But that means an untidy, unpretty background, no good for this challenge! Hehe.

Recently I saw a thing on the internet about how photographs are doctored for publication. So I decided to play around with Photoshop Elements and do a little adjustment myself. Digital rhinoplasty, anyone?
I think it's pretty creepy how easy it is to edit photos and change the way a person looks! Alright, so my edits aren't exactly flawless; I certainly wasn't using the right tools (a graphics tablet would be much better than a laptop trackpad!) nor was I putting in major effort--! But it is creepy, right?

I joked with the lovely Terry of These Peas Taste Funny, about wearing a mask for the self portrait. Well...I did. ;)

This challenge has been so much fun! Sometimes the themes have really pushed me to think of something, others were fully inspiring from the word go and I found myself spoilt for choice with ideas! Whilst there were a couple of times when I nearly forgot to take pictures, I've felt encouraged to experiment a little more with photography. I've enjoyed participating and have met some awesome people in the process!
So thank you, Laura Beth, for hosting the photography challenge :)

Photography Challenge Week #19

Yet again I'm a bit late...um...okay, I've been lazy. This shot, for the week's theme from a distance, for the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey, was snapped from my window this morning:

The birds in the tree are pigeons. Sometimes there is a heron amongst the trees there too :D It's a very strange sight!

Here's a slightly older shot, taken with Instagram:

It's not from such a distance, but I like it anyway. The area turned so misty suddenly, it made everything fuzzy and eerie!

Next week is the last one, and the theme will be 'self portrait', it seems...not my favourite of topics but I'll see what I can do! :)

Photography Challenge Week #18

It's week 18 of the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey, and I am so late with this one!

The theme this time around was A Childhood Memory

Everyone has so many childhood memories, don't they? So choosing a subject matter, I thought, would be difficult.

Not so!

In fact the only choosing that was difficult was choosing one picture. I couldn't. So here are three:

As you can see, this toy dog (he never did have a name other than 'doggy') has been very well-loved! 
I played with it, both my sisters played with it--and before then, it was my Dad's childhood toy! My Grandma gave it to my parents when I was a toddler and was apparently overjoyed when she visited to find me whizzing up and down the living room with it!

Here is a photo of Dad as a toddler, with the toy dog as it was originally (circa 1955, at a guess):

As you can see, the dog originally had a collar and an upright little tail, and was much fluffier!

When we started to clear things from the loft, my parents called an antiques dealer around to look at a bunch of things (mostly originally from my Grandma's flat). This dog was among it...needless to say I whipped him out of the selection and ferreted him away! (...back in the loft...)
Right now I have no space to put him. Whilst his days as a child's toy are over, this beloved doggy will, in time, make an excellent display piece!

Want to see more childhood memories? Head on over to A Step in the Journey to see the photographs that others have submitted!

Photography Challenge Week #17

The theme for the Photography Challenge over at A Step in the Journey this week was someone you love.

Originally I was going to cheat and photograph one of the cats!
But I decided to pester an actual person this time around! And who else fits the category better than my very own Mum?!
Here she is in all her very patient smiley loveliness!

She didn't really want her picture taken! This is what she did when I first waved my camera in her direction:

As you can see, my Mum is lovely and silly! She wanted to hide her face because she feels tired, but I think she looks lovely as always!
Wish I'd had the chance to con her into playing model for me properly (rather than a couple of impromptu photos).

It's getting to that point in the year where my camera wants to use the flash whatever the time of day. This is fine if it's a still life, but not so good for a person or animal!


There are a whole bunch of awesome photographs by others at the link party on A Step in the Journey. And it's not too late to join in! :)

Various Notes & Some Pictures

Since there are a few little bits and pieces to write about here, I thought I'd stick them all under the same post!

To start off, I had an email today from Amy at A Home, Made, who chose me as one of 14 to receive the Versatile Blogger Award! Thanks Amy! :)
Click the link to check out all the other blogs that Amy nominated!
I've already done the Versatile Blogger Award back in August but these things are always appreciated! :D
Since I'm lazy, here's August's post with some info and bloggers I passed the award on to.


Also popping into my inbox this week have been emails saying that a couple of my posts had been featured!

First off, my Pumpkin & Red Pepper Soup was featured by Mindie over at Bacon Time With The Hungry Hungry Hypo (best blog name ever!)
Then I found out that Mauren at Release Me Create featured my Display Case in her Top 5 Freshest Projects of the Week!

Thank you ladies! :)


I have been neglecting this blog a little recently, in favour of NaNoWriMo, which I wrote about at the end of last month. How is everyone doing with that?
I reached 50,000 words on the 9th, and finished my novel yesterday! Hence I am behind on everything but at least I'm finished. Now I can focus back on crafting and making Christmas presents!


Now here are a couple of pictures that I've been waiting to share!

Roses in one of the village cafes. This place has a true shabby chic feel to it and sells cute cakes!

Here is the ceiling, at the door:

I love it! This branch rests in a vase and is fixed to the wall and ceiling so it doesn't fall. I like that it gives the appearance of nature invading, or drinking tea outside rather than indoors.

And here's the tea :) I wanted to steal their table cloth!

Photography Challenge Week #16

I am so late with this one! Since the beginning of the month, I've been deeply engrossed in writing for NaNoWriMo and kind of forgot everything else. On the plus side, I've probably lost a few pounds from the junk food I've been too busy to eat ;)

Anyway, the theme for week 16 at the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey was something you made.

Here's my shot, which doubles up as a teaser for the next tutorial I'll be posting!

Phone case

I don't have anything constructive to say about this week! There were plenty of things I could have photographed but some have already made an appearance here and others would have taken a lot of effort to unpack and set up for photographing. 

So you get a sneaky peek at my phone case instead :)

Will probably post the tutorial a little later. The 'What I Wore' post that was missing on Wednesday will probably go up tomorrow...provided that novel doesn't take over my life again!

Photography Challenge Week #15

Just a quick little post this week, since NaNoWriMo is calling!

The theme for week 15 of the photography challenge at A Step in the Journey was your shoes.

I love shoes, and was looking forward to the theme, filled with ideas...then I forgot all about it until this morning, when Laura Beth's reminder email popped up in my inbox. Oops.

Anyway. 'Let's get some shoes. Let's party.'

Sorry, couldn't help the Kelly quote!

Photography Challenge Week #14

For this week of the photography challenge at A Step in the Journey, the theme has been sunset.

Of course, last week I foolishly bragged about the beautifully coloured sunsets we get here.

Have we had a single good sunset? Not one!

This week has been cloudy and dreary! Rather than lovely sunsets, it just got dark. Booooo.

Here is the best I could do, this week:

Glassy Fire

I'm not all that pleased with this photo, but it's the best I could do (and was taken on the one day the sky wasn't grey).
I snapped it through the bathroom window since I noticed how the mottled effect of the glass diffused the golden light of the sun. About five minutes after this picture was taken, the sun had been cloaked in grey clouds again!

So this post isn't completely devoid of a nice sunset photograph, here's one I took at the end of last year, outside a pub at the foot of the South Downs:

These are the kind of sunsets we can get...when the weather is nicer!

There are lots of awesome photographs on the link party over on A Step in the Journey. It's totally worth taking a look!

Photography Challenge Week #13

Yet again it's that time of the week: A Step in the Journey's Photography Challenge!

I am really enjoying participating in this challenge; although I studied photography at A-Level I have become very lazy with my photography! This challenge is stretching me to think about the shot I'm taking.

Anyway, on to my photograph for this week's theme, silhouette:

Cairo Sunrise

Technical details: f/7.4 (apparently), 1/1600, no flash

The camera set the aperture; rather than have the camera set to manual I used the shutter speed priority setting. Actually I think the computer was lying to me since on manual I only have a choice of f/2.8 or f/4.0!

I already knew how I was going to set up this shot; my biggest challenge was deciding what to photograph! 

Eventually I decided on a bust of an Egyptian cat, which my Mum bought me on a trip to Egypt. To give it a little height, I simply set it upon a little wooden trinket box. 

To set up this shot, I used the following: 

• A piece of interfacing
• Dressmaking pins
• A 60 watt lamp
• A large fold-up pattern cutting board

First off I folded the pattern cutting board into a square tube. Then I set my little statue and the box just inside one end. I fixed the piece of interfacing over that end using dressmaking pins, since tape would have ruined the cardboard cutting board.
I then set the lamp to shine through the interfacing and onto the statue, and took the shot from the opposite end of the tube.

The tube was probably around 1 metre long, though I found I needed to reach into it a little to frame the shot as I wanted.
I think fabric or tracing paper would work just as well for this--the only reason I used interfacing was because it was closest to hand!

Next week's theme is going to be sunset. We get some beautifully coloured skies here sometimes; here's hoping that some point this week those pinks and purples and oranges will show off their full brilliance!


Later I'll be posting part 2 of my Halloween-o-rama--hope you'll come back to check it out! :)

Photography Challenge Week #12

This week, the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey called for photographs that made use of bokeh.
Wikipedia can probably explain bokeh far better than I can; check out their article here: Bokeh @ Wikipedia

It took me a while to figure out ideas for this!
But here's what I came up with:

Autumn Bloom

To get this shot I ended up having to lay on the ground and squint at the screen of my camera! Cfer found it incredibly amusing, since she came to roll on the ground with me...

...and destroy a few dead leaves!

Since this is turning into a 'Picture of my Cats' post, I'd like to share this photograph of Alfie that I took midway through my first attempts at bokeh photography:

"Pay Attention To Me!"

I really like the concept of bokeh and the photographs that impressed me the most used a lot of points of light in the background to create interesting patterns and draw attention to the subject. Hopefully I'll be able to make use of bokeh in photographs around Christmas time, when there will be no shortage of lights!

It's not too late to join the challenge at A Step in the Journey, so if you're interested, go join in the fun!

Photography Challenge Week #11

It's week 11 of the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey!

This week's theme was orange...
I thought I would have difficulty finding orange things to photograph, but that didn't turn out to be a problem. Yay!

So here's my snap for the week:

Phone

My fab old Garfield phone! When you hang up the receiver, his eyes close. :)

I bought him a few years ago from a charity shop; unfortunately it doesn't make outgoing calls. I don't have need of a telephone in my room so - much as I love the design - I'll probably sell it. 

This is the same as the first picture, only cropped closer on the face. I couldn't decide which one I liked better!

And just for a giggle...

I rested Garfield on the arm of the sofa to get a better light; Tippy came to see what I was doing putting things in his favourite sleeping spot! I snapped this shot pretty quickly, before he moved!

Garden Tiger

I wanted to share this cute picture of Howie, one of our five cats, sitting in the garden today.

Howie is a rescue cat; we adopted him from a local cat shelter almost two years ago! He was originally named Alfie...
This caused a bit of a problem for us, since we already have an Alfie:

(This lovely boy is my shadow!)

On our way home from the cat shelter with our new cat, everyone argued over what he should be called, and our new boy 'sang' to us melancholically from his travel cage in the boot. 

Then we realised: his woeful meows sounded like he was calling out, 'Howard!'

And so, our new tabby boy was named Howard--which quickly became Howie.

Howie is an absolutely lovely boy! He is a real wuss and spends most of his time on my sister's bed or the neighbour's shed roof, but over the past few days he's taken to sitting in the garden! He likes to play games sometimes, and loves to be cuddled! It's really great that our timid cat has finally started to come out of his shell and enjoy the home he has with us.

There are so many cats out there wanting to be rehomed! Most of the cats we've had have been rescue cats and they have all been utterly wonderful. Going to a shelter knowing you can only pick that one kitty is so difficult, but at the same time it's really satisfying to know that you're giving an animal a loving home. :)

Photography Challenge Week #10

Once again it's time for the 20-week photography challenge over at A Step In The Journey. I can't believe it's week 10 already!

For various reasons I've not been that much into photography this week, but here's what I came up with for week 10's theme, hands.

I couldn't decide which of them to post! My middle sister had her boyfriend over, so I accosted both of them (along with my youngest sister) to become hand models! 

Since hands are always in use, I wanted to make the shots as natural as possible and not look posed. 

Next week's theme is 'something orange'...my house and surrounding area are probably the least orange places in existence, so finding orange will be a challenge! Hee hee.

Photography Challenge Week #9

It's week 9 of the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey!

This week the theme was a mess.

I struggled with this one a little bit since I've been busy tidying recently!

But I hit on an idea on a trip to the hairdresser and came up with this:

Hair

Following on from last week's black and white challenge, I found that this image looked better in black and white than in colour! 

I had a whole heap of hair cut off on Tuesday; I chose a shorter cut than I've ever had before. There was so much hair on the floor it was hard to believe it had all come off my head!

Photography Challenge Week #8

This week's theme for the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey was Black & White.

Here's my shot for the week:

Eyes in the Woods

I spent most of my A-Level photography course shooting in black and white since my year group just missed out on photography courses embracing modern technology (i.e. digital cameras!). Conversely, my younger sister was able to shoot nearly all her photography coursework using a compact digital camera and was allowed to do as much photoshopping as she liked!
I felt a little ripped off at the time!
Now, I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn to develop film and print photographs manually! It's true that I've forgotten important things such as the amount of stop, developer, and fix needed, but at the time it was a handy skill to have (and saved me a fortune in film processing costs!)

Photography Challenge Week #7

It's that time of the week again!
This week, the theme of the photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey was what you wore today.

I was going to try and create something arty-farty and different, but decided to go for a bit of a self-potrait shot instead, since I totally cheated when 'self potrait' was the theme!

Love My Boots!

This shot was actually a big pain in the bum to get; I had to move a dozen things and set up a tripod, run back and forth between the camera and the box...10 seconds sounds like a lot of time for a self-timer, but not when you're spending those ten seconds running to your position, adjusting your clothes and trying not to look insane... 

 There were a lot of rejected shots this time around!

Run-down of outfit (for anyone that's interested):

White x black polkadot shirt: charity shop

Skin-colour vest top (under shirt): Primark

Gold top: charity shop

Jeans: Marks & Spencer

Boots: New Look

The bracelets are hand made; they're not really visible in the picture but I'll be posting a tutorial soon!