Life Through A Lens

The topic for today's BEDN (that's Blog Every Day in November incase you didn't know) is photography.  What I love most about photography is the way you see the world differently.  It's amazing how much more you appreciate things when looking through a viewfinder.  The deep teal of victorian tiles, a close up of a flower, a skyline you may not necessarily have notice before. 

One of my favourite photos I've taken is of my son, around 4 years ago.  We were on holiday, the sun was going down and he was sitting on a rock looking out to sea.  Although I couldn't see his face, his body language looked relaxed like he was deep in thought.  I love the redness in the sky and the gentle waves lapping at the shore.  This whole photo gives me a sense of calm

Are you a keen photographer?  What's your proudest photo?

Wedding Photography: Should You Invest?

Weddings, as you can probably imagine can be pretty expensive.  Even with the strongest will in the world it's easy to see how a budget can spiral out of control.  Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life and you want it to be perfect.  Lets be realistic though, things are never going to be perfect, there's always something that will go wrong and as long as it's nothing too major, when it comes to the big day you won't even notice, or care!!

I loved every aspect of our wedding but one of the most important things to me was that we all had a good time.  Lets face it my guests wont really care whether the flowers co-ordinate with the bridesmaids dresses, how many hours I spent decorating jars or if my tiara had the right amount of sparkle. They care about watching two people they're pretty fond of making that commitment to each other. Secondly they care about what the food's like and how much alcohol is on the table and thirdly they want to have some fun!  Don't forget your guests are spending 8 hours of their time helping you celebrate. I often hear people saying 'it's your day, have it the way you want it' and to a certain extent I agree but remember it's not just about you! Your guests need to have a good time too.

The next most important thing to me is wedding photography.  If you only spend your money on one thing please, please, please choose a good photographer.  I've lost count of the times I've heard people say they're not too fussed about a photographer, or 'a family member's offered to take them for free'. If that's the case at the very least check out their work first. Just because someone has a dslr doesn't mean they know how to use it!  Can they take photos without chopping peoples heads off or giving them evil red eye? Do they know how to compose a photo, make sure it's in focus and avoid random strangers or fire exit signs in the background?  These are things you wont even notice on the day but you'll spot them as soon as you look at your photos.

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life.  You spend days, weeks, months even years planning it.  Do you think you'll be able to remember every minute of your day? You wont trust me, it goes by in a blink of an eye.  Think you'll be able to remember all of it after 20 years? Not a chance!  Sure you'll be able to remember some aspects but not from start to finish.  Having a decent, professional photographer capturing your day means nothing will be missed.

My husband wasn't too keen on spending a lot of money on a decent photographer, he thought the money would be better spent elsewhere but it was the only thing I put my foot down about.  In fact, I will openly admit he unleashed a bridezilla demon bride-to-be that I didn't know existed.  I may have even whispered the words "If we don't have a decent wedding photographer then there will be no wedding".  Yep, like I said, a total bridezilla on the subject.  Eight weeks after we got married and sat down to look at our photos James will openly admit it was the best thing we did.  They don't just capture you, they capture your friends and family and all the things you didn't see because you were so busy talking to everyone.  They capture a special day that will never happen again.  Looking at your photos helps bring back the memories and re-live that experience in a small way.

 

I'd like to credit these photos to Steve Bridgwood Photography and thank him for being such a massive part of our day.  When he went home that night, after an eleven hour shift, his work wasn't done.  He had hours of checking through hundreds of photos, finding the best ones and editing them. Wedding photographers really don't get enough credit for all their hard work on the day and after.  

So if you unsure whether to spend a large amount of your wedding budget on a decent wedding photographer, ask yourself this.  In ten years time what will your flower arrangements look like? How many times will you have worn your wedding dress? Was that 20 minute journey in a classic car that memorable? What I'm trying to say is your wedding photos will last lifetime.  They're all you have left of your special day, apart from each other I hope.

Birmingham Blognix

Recently I attended an event hosted by Rosalilium called Blognix.  You might have seen me tweeting about it several hundred times!!

The idea behind the event was a bloggers conference that also gave you the chance to mingle, chat, network and eat!  All of my favourite things!

We listened to some inspiring speakers namely Jen from A Little Bird Told Me and Emma over at The Freelance Lifestyle who gave some really good advice and we also got the opportunity to attend two out of three workshops.  The choices were Blog Design, Monetising Your Blog and Photography.  As you may have already noticed I've recently had a little blog makeover so I went for the last two choices.

Both were really interesting workshops although I preferred photography with Hazel Paterson.  Any excuse to take photos!  I learnt some useful tips and got the opportunity to take some photos at The Custard Factory.  Somewhere I've been meaning to visit for ages!

Vintage fabrics and other objects

This couple looked so cute laughing

Amazing sculpture

I really really wanted this dress!!

Some vintage treasure

I honestly came away from the event feeling so motivated and inspired that my head was spinning!

What were the biggest tips I learnt? 

BE YOURSELF 

DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE

WRITE WHAT YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT

Sometimes it's easier to look at the bigger bloggers and think 'that's how I should be doing it', but concentrate more on your own style and not someone else's.  Everyone had to start somewhere.  If I'm honest I kind of lost sight of why I started this blog.  I started this blog so I could be me, not somebody I think I should be and I wanted to develop my photography skills more.  

Have you ever been to a bloggers conference or met up with any other bloggers?  What do you blog about?

P.s  I've had a little blog makeover thanks to Jenny & The Magic Feather.  What dya think?  I feel all posh haha.

Life Through A Lens

Apologies in advance, this post is all kinds of cheese..........

One of the things that inspired me to continue with my blog was photography.

One day I'd stumbled across some blogs that rekindled my interest in photography.  In my school days it was something that had always interested me but I never pursued and to be honest I'd always regretted it.

Becoming thirty was a turning point in my life.  You suddenly realise you are officially a grown up and I started to look at my life almost through a different lens.

I thought about all the things I'd achieved over the years but also some of the opportunities I'd missed out on.

Everyone has regrets or wondered if they'd made the right choices but I'm a great believer that things happen for a reason.  So instead of dwelling or wondering 'what if', I enrolled myself on a short photography course.

And you know what?  I loved it.  So much so that I bought myself a second hand DSLR and could quite easily loose a whole day taking photos.  But what I really appreciate about photography is how you look at the world differently.

Here are a few of my most recent favourite shots.  Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suddenly proclaiming to be the next female David Bailey.  I just wanted to give you an insight as to how things can look differently when approached from another angle.


I love how photography has opened my eyes to what sometimes seems like another world.

 

 

 

 

 

Just because you missed out on an opportunity in the past doesn't mean that opportunity wont come around again, sometimes it's already there for the taking you just need a bit of courage to grab it.

Do you like photography?  Can you recommend any good photography blogs?  Or have you recently taken up a new hobby?  Let me know.  I'd love to hear about it.

Snow Day

Wow, it's been ages since I've written an actual post that isn't about the Blog Meet Up.  I've had so much going on in the last couple of months that I decided to leave blogging to one side to concentrate on other things.  I've got a new part-time job which I LOVE.  I've started a course in Business Admin to coincide with 'my other job'. Then Xmas hit.  And then I was ill! But I feel like I've managed to get everything under control and into some kind of routine. 

Oh and I thought seeing as I'm organising a Bloggers Meet Up I'd better start blogging again!!

Anyway in other news it's been snowing!!!  And I had the day off work, which meant I got to play in the snow.  YAY! You're never too old right?  Here's a few pics for those who didn't get any snow........







Alfie The Labrador

 

 

Overlooking Leek, Staffordshire

Clearly doesn't feel the cold!!

My very visible boyfriend!!

And that was our snow day.  Did you get any snow round your way?  Did you dare venture out?

Picture Perfect

So it's been a while since I've done any photography updates.  When I started this blog I had good intentions of blogging about what I'd learn in each lessson.  HA! That went out the window didn't it!

Those of you reading my blog will know that I haven't got a DSLR (it's on the wish list next to the Jimmy Choos) but a lovely chappy on my course lent me his Canon  EOS 350D for a week because he hardly uses it.  How nice is he?! 

We decided to go on a nice family walk to The Roaches and what better place to try out the camera - Please note I spent at least 4 days prior to this excursion reading the manual!!  It's so different to using a compact and I thought I was never going to get the hang of shutter speeds and f/stops.........but you know what they say 'Practise Makes Perfect' and so here are a few of my favourite pics

Let me know what you all think.  I didn't have time to crop them or put borders round them etc but you get the general idea.  Hope you have a great weekend : )

Landscape - View from The Roaches.  It was very windy at the top!!

Macro - Cute little fella dining out for lunch

Motion - Notice how the water isn't frozen.  It's all about shutter speed





Photography - The Macro Button

Lesson 2 - Using the Macro button

So, for those of you who have been following my blog you'll know I enrolled on a photography course and am blogging about what I learn each week.  This week it was all about the macro button.  For novices like me you'll be thinking er 'pardon, the macro what?'  Well basically it's the button with the flower on it.  This button is life changing!  It lets you take really close up photos and keep them in focus.

Below is an example, guest featuring my basil plant, the only thing I have grown from scratch! 

 Macro Off                                              Macro On



Can you see the difference?  With macro off the basil leaves are blurry and the background is in focus.  With macro on the basil leaves are clearer and sharp and the background out of focus making sure all our attention is on the basil leaves.

Happy snapping.

Guest Post for Silken Spirits

Ok so today I'm really excited to be doing my first ever guest post for Marta at her lovely blog http://silken-spirits.blogspot.co.uk/

Marta's blog really inspired me to continue blogging.  I'd been blogging for about a month and needed some encouragement.  Reading her blog really spurred me on, especially when she let me do a guest post.  I had a big smile on my face all day.  So below is my post for the beautiful Portuguese lovely that is Marta. 

Firstly let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I'm 31 and live in the UK.  I'm originally from London but now live in a small town near Manchester.  I have a son, boyfriend and a mad dog .  I'm pretty new to blogging but I like the idea of keeping an online diary and sharing your thoughts and life with other like minded people.  I'm starting the year as I mean to go on, by trying new things and to live my life without too many regrets.  When I started reading other blogs I noticed how many great blogs had fantastic photos.  It made me remember how badly I wanted to do phototgraphy when I was at college so I decided it's never too late to learn and enrolled on a night course.  I've decided to post a tutorial of what I've learnt in my lessons for other novices starting out, so here it is, Lesson One.  Hope you enjoy reading :)

Lesson One - Portrait shot

A portrait shot is a photo someone from the upper body to slightly above their head.  The idea is to get the person in focus but the background blurry.  This is so when you look at the photo your interest is on the person and not whats in the background.  Your subject must not be standing too close to whatever is in the distance i.e they should not be standing with their back right against a patterned wall  You must stand away from the person and then zoom in to take your shot.  This results in your subject being in focus and the background out of focus.  Voila, you have taken a photo in portrait mode :)

Can you see the difference between these photos?  Why not have a go yourself.  Happy snapping