My name is Jennifer and I am easily distracted...

I'm an American girl living in Europe. I have a blog here, where I write about all of my adventures and travels. But I'm getting ahead of myself, am I not? First things first -- a proper introduction.

My name is Jennifer and I am easily distracted. Don't believe me? Here are few examples.

Sometimes, I get out my camera to take a picture and then, after discovering a brand new (to me) setting, my plans for the night quickly shift from "dinner and a movie with friends" to "photoshoot in the street with friends". But hey, saves money, right?


In December, when I'm decorating the Christmas tree with my mom or sisters, I stop and marvel over each ornament - remembering its story, laughing at how ridiculously homemade it looks, etc. I can spend hours decorating that tree; I welcome each little distraction and find a branch to hang it on.


Every morning when I get dressed, I spend way too long choosing an outfit. Just when I think I'm done deciding, I pick up a new piece of clothing from the floor of my closet (yes, unfortunately, a lot of my clothes end up on the floor of my closet), say to myself, "Oh, maybe I should wear this instead!" and my outfit progress for the day restarts to square 1. Does this happen to any one else?


An assortment of frames hang on my wall for decorational purposes but lately I've realized they exist to distract me as well. It's really easy to stare at photos of family and friends you miss from home; especially when you feel like procrastinating (and I'm really good at procrastinating).


Puppies. I'll stop whatever I'm doing if it means playing with a puppy. As opposed to Americans, Europeans can bring their pets virtually wherever they go (on the bus, in a cafe, in a clothing store, etc.) which means all the more puppy playtime for me!

Jennifer

My name is Susan and I am easily distracted...

by music.

Every part of my day has a soundtrack, be it radio, my iPod, Spotify, in concert halls, film soundtracks, car CD player. I absolutely love photography and enjoy blogging over at Eye to the Viewfinder, but music will always be my first love.


I almost always have my Diana Mini in my bag, It’ s the perfect size to whip out at a moment’s notice, be it to take a sneaky shot at a show, or to snap a busker on the pier. I get very distracted by buskers, especially around the main shopping areas in Dublin. I can easily pass half an hour listening to them (the good ones),


I used to spend hours playing the piano when I was younger, mostly to avoid studying, but time would slip by without me even noticing. I don’t have the time to practice for hours anymore, but I still love retreating into my bubble, on the piano stool, with music on the page just waiting to be played.


I’ m so distracted by music that I get to work with it all day long, and hear beautiful live music.



Eye to the Viewfinder

My name is Katie and I am easily distracted...

Hi my name is Katie from Curating Cuteness and I am easily distracted by...

…my crafting hobbies! Seriously, once you pick up something, it's a never-ending journey of discovering new crafts to dabble in! Here are some of crafty things that are going on my to-do list (I admit, some have been there forever).

P.S. Clicking on each image brings you to their original source!

Crochet a pillow case.

Sew up a doll.

Paint in watercolors.

Knit a pair of socks.

Repurpose a vintage piece of furniture/clothing.

Learn to make gemstone jewelry.

Shoot some b&w film. (No, this really isn't a craft hobby but I just couldn't resist adding this to the list, considering that I just picked up a vintage Yashica!)

What are some crafts (or non-crafts, doesn't matter!) you've been wanting to try?

xoxo,
Katie from Curating Cuteness

My name is Gali and I am easily distracted...

My name is Gali (and cloned here) and I am
rather easily distracted by predictably the same things all the time,
all the while wishing that I would get distracted by writing my
doctoral thesis... alas that never seems to happen. But hey,
distractions are good, they're a good way to stay sane.

Things to get distracted by...

...culinary experiments.

(making raw "sushi" using cauliflower "rice")

...nature.

(Arbre de Judée - Judas Tree. In bloom right
after all the lovely yellow Mimosa is gone.)

...other things that distract me so much that I forget to clean the
dust off the scanner.

(Chinon CX.)

...travels.

(Juhannus on Jeju-do.)

...soviet bricks that still will follow me everywhere.

(Zenit-E/Agfa100 - les calanques - January 1st, 2011.)

...happy accidents.

(Chinon CX/Fuji200 - Christmas dinner.)

...life!

Gali

Along the River in York...

Today is the first day of my 11 days off work and already we've had breakfast outside, I've got two loads of washing out on the line (I love having a clothes line) and we're about to go to town for vintage shopping and lunch, yeay!!

Although looking through these photos, I could quite happily go back to York and walk along the river again with a mint choc chip ice cream!



I love that they all have a slightly purple shade to them - has anyone ever experienced that with Ilford XP2 film before? I don't know if its because it was so sunny or if it would have happened during development...



We're going away with family and visting friends next week so I have some amazing guest posts coming up to kep my blog company. I can't wait to relax, take lots of photos, see the people I love and forget about work for the week.

Happy Easter and happy weekend!!
See you in 11 days!

York Instax Mini's...

Considering how many cameras I usually take out with me - I was quite restrained when we went to York and I only took 2 - my diana mini and my fuji instax mini. Between Myself, Adele and Thomas we did have 6 cameras, so if I'd taken anymore we probably would have all ended up with the same photos!

I thought these turned out really well, very cute and they really show off how sunny and lovely the day was.

If you want to see more photos from the day, Adele just posted some photos taken with her beautiful yellow holga, they are gorgeous!

p.s. she also has a picture of us jumping, it is all kinds of amazing. I love her! Why didn't we meet up sooner?!?!

Giveaway Winner!

I completely forgot to announce a winner for last weeks giveaway yesterday, but as it was a rather impromtu giveaway, I don't think it matters so much that it was extended by a day...

So, I am delighted to announce that the winner is Deb from Pipistrelle, who has two lovely etsy shops herself - one for photography and one for her crochet work - and has always been very supportive of my photos.

Yeay Deb!! I'll email you asap!

The good news is that if you didn't win this giveaway - you still have a chance to win one of my prints over Michelle's gorgeous blog Lovely by M. Hurray!

Looking up at York with a Diana Mini

As part of Adele's weekend in Yorkshire, Thomas and I took her to York for the day. The weather was absolutely stunning so we both took our Diana Mini's - it was so much fun to take photos with another lomographer and to see how differently we looked at things.

I really do like to look up when I visit places...

(to the point of where I just relabelled some of my posts upon realisation, haha)

I remember during one of my first lectures at university, one of the lecturers (guesses on who it was G and C) talked about how everyone walks around looking down and they miss so much of the world above them. I guess I really hate the idea of missing out on anything and I've been fascinated with the idea of looking up everywhere I've been ever since...

I've only been to York two times before this and neither of those times I had a film camera, so I loved every minute we were there!

p.s. Adele is actually the cutest thing ever! Here's proof...

Method Press

During my first photoswap I met the lovely Katie from A Sense of Place Photography. As well as being a blogger, Katie is also a part of the Female Photographer of Etsy Team (you can see her lovely etsy shop here) and now she has started a magazine as part of that team. Here is what she has to say about it on the fpoe blog.

"For the last four months, a handful of fPOE members have been working behind the scenes to present you with the debut issue of a new independent publication, Method Press.

This magazine works to celebrate low-fi thinkers & art in the making. It has a current emphasis on female artists and photography, but is interested in all mediums & genders, tracking down art as it moans to record its history in progress."

I've had a quick look through and it looks amazing, I can't wait to read it in more detail!

You can find out more here

:: Method Press Blog ::

And see the first issue of Method Press here

:: Method Press Publication ::

Around Kirkstall Abbey with Adele Part 2

Thomas and I love Kirkstall Abbey and it's always so fun sharing it with other people. We had the perfect evening for walking around on Saturday too - the sun was shining, we took so many photos and we had fun, yeay!!

{All photos taken by Thomas. I love him.}

p.s. my little giveaway of some black and white prints ends tomorrow, don't miss out!

Kirkstall Abbey Polaroids!

Eeeeeee, we had the most amazing weekend ever!

Adele is amazing and pretty and lovely and adorable and so kind... gah, I love her and I am still so happy that she came to visit (especially after her terrible journey to get here!)

I have so much I want to share but first... polaroids. After chatting with Adele about the impossible film that we both tried, I decided to brave it and take the rest of mine with us on our walk around the abbey and they turned out well!!

{we kind of look a bit like ghosts...}

I'm so excited about them, I think the last two may even be shop worthy! What do you think?

I'm so glad that I tried using these again... now I just have to resist buying the new ones!!

p.s. you can't tell but Adele is wearing a yellow skirt... just one of the reasons she is amazing.

Shop update and an impromptu giveaway...Closed!

I decided to add some of my black and white diana mini shots to my etsy shop... it was actually quite hard but I managed to narrow it down to 5. I'm so excited about them as they are some of my favourite photos that I've taken and so different from the other (mostly colour) photos in my shop.


{Ten Past Ten}


{Life Saver, Liverpool}


{Albert Dock, Liverpool}


{Unwritten}


{Fountain, Liverpool}

I guess they are the photos that I always wanted to take and thought I could - but I hadn't completely never managed it before... is that too deep? haha... I dunno. Either way, I love them!

Anyway to celebrate I've decided to giveaway 2 5x5 prints of your choice from this selection of new prints!

This giveaway is now closed! Thank you to everyone who entered for supporting me, my blog and my little shop!