Goodbye 2011

I love end of year recaps, it's so fun to remember the good things about a year I think and blogging definitely helps me with that! 

This year has flown by, it has definitely had it's up and it's downs but overall, I think it was pretty good to me - it could have been an awful lot worse.

In January... 

  Thomas and I went on our first documented 'little photography' date.

...and I celebrated my Diana Mini for a week with some blog friends.


In February...


I dabbled a bit with the Lomography redscale film.

...and I talked about how I feel when I take a photo
(one of my favourite ever posts)

In March...


We went to Liverpool and I used my first ever black and white film.

...and I took my first ever fuji instax wide photos as well.

In April...

Adele came to visit!! Hurray!!

...and we went away with Thomas's parents and to visit friends. I particularly enjoyed April :)


In May...




I went to the Lomography meet up in Manchester where I met the Lomo Mum's
and caught the LC-A bug.

...and I caught up with photos from our visits April including Stratford Upon Avon, York, Henley in Arden and Bourton on the Water.

...and I used my Ricoh 500G for the first time and loved it.

In June...

My Grandparents came to visit, which I loved.


and I shared some pretty wedding photos.

In July...


We went to Knaresborough with our Mum's.

...and posted my favourite post ever of Harry (I just love him)
 
In August...

I mostly took part in the August Break and

We went to Paris!!!
(there are currently 30 posts labelled Paris and I still haven't finished...)

In September... 

 It was my dreaded 26th birthday, which wasn't actually that bad at all and...

 

We made a camera, woo.

In October...


I took part in Frocktober 

...and finally organised the films and cameras that I use on my blog.


In November...

 
 I took part in Susannah Conway's Photo Meditations and I'm so, so glad!
(you can see related posts here)


...and I shared my first Olympus Trip roll of film.

In December...

{Group photo by Claire aka Kneehigh785}

I went to another Lomography Meet Up in Leeds which was so fun.

and I finally bought an LC-A, woohoo!

Wow, I took a lot of photos in 2011

So here's the crazy part - I used 45 films! 45!!! But looking through my 2011 posts, I'm really glad to see that I've been using more cameras and learning more about myself through them.

I can't wait to take more photos in 2012!

p.s. although thinking about it, 45 isn't even a roll a week... perhaps I should do that for 2012...

Christmas at home...

 

We were only home in Norfolk for 5 days... but it was amazing. I ate too much, laughed a lot and got lots of hugs. Perfect!

The last photo on my left is my favourite - my cheeky sister stuck out her tongue, Harry moved and I'm barely in the photo... haha, awesome!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

p.s. The last christmas giveaway is still open!

p.s. and its nearly 2012, have a calender :)

Merry Christmas!!!

It's finally Friday! Which means I'm going home this evening!!

I am so excited!!!

Here's a little Christmas video for you all that I took at the German Christmas Market in Leeds :)

Merry Christmas 

and a very Happy New Year!


 

Starting all over again...

Sometimes I wonder why I keep getting new cameras - with each one, I feel like I take a massive step backwards as I have to relearn each camera - it's quirks, its manual settings and well, everything about it and then apply all that I've learnt into taking the photos that I want to take.

And my refurbished LC-A is proving to have a very steep learning curve... but here are some of the better results from Roll 2 - I think the one of me is probably the best and I didn't even take it, haha.

{theres that camera again, love it}



The first two photos are from the Lomography Xmas meet up and the rest were taken in Minehead.

The great thing about testing this camera is that as it has a light meter, I can try photos inside and also when its a bit grim or dark outside - the chandelier and the carousel in particular, I never would have taken with my other cameras, as I know their restrictions... but this camera has amazing potential for variety which I'm really looking forward to exploring more.


Camera: Refurbished LC-A (from 1992, I checked)
Film: Lomography Xpro Chrome
Location: Leeds and Minehead, England

12 for 2012 - a Christmas freebie!

I was planning on doing a best of 2011 photos post, when I realised that I had a lot of favourite photos with different cameras, so instead of a long post of photos, I made a calender for you all!

You can download it here!

(It's quite big file so it may take a while)

I haven't really done anything free before, so I hope you love these photos as much as I do.


(This calendar is for personal use only, I retain all copyright of the images and content.)

On the fourth week of Christmas... a giveaway. Closed.

This month has flown by but boy am I so glad that we're this close to Christmas now, I'm ready to see my family, eat a lot of food and generally be merry.

But first, the last giveaway of Christmas (and the year, crazy!) which comes from the lovely Zoe from Ladybird Likes.

 

As well as having a lovely blog of her thrifting, craft, photography and mixtape adventures, Zoe will soon be selling handmade items inspired by her thrifted finds, as well as photographic prints in her own shop which will be opening in January 2012.

Isn't that exciting? And even more exciting, not only do you get a sneak peak at some of the items she will be selling, you can win some too!

So, you can win: a 5 x 7 print of Zoe's photo 'Columbia Road rooftops', a vintage ephemera pack (containing a mixture of different vintage papers, photos, wallpapers and magazine cuttings) and a wooden butterfly brooch.

 To enter: Visit Zoe's blog - Ladybird Likes, have a look around and then leave a comment below

Merry Christmas!

  p.s. the winner of the Rebekah Leigh print is Lou from Little Green Shed, hurray!

We love the beach video #1

Oh gosh, I am completely smitten with my Lomokino, I can't wait to take it home for Christmas! 

It's so fun to use and put together. I need more home movies!!

We were in Minehead a couple of weekends ago and even though it was raining, we (or mainly I haha) wanted to make a fun video on the beach... and here it is!

I was a little upset that the images didn't scan as evenly as the last couple of videos (I don't have a scanner to rescan it with, sigh) but when I mentioned it on twitter Dominique reminded me that 'messed up film reminds you that it's analogue'. So I stopped worrying... you can still see whats happening and perhaps when I eventually get a scanner I'll get around to rescanning it... maybe.

Though now I've watched it a few dozen times, I kind of like it the way it is :)

A Lomography Meet Up Video (plus nerd alert)

So... I'm pretty sure to serious video makers that sliding titles and swishing video animations are considered to be a bit like Word Art in Word and the animations on Powerpoint... but I just don't care. I've never played with Windows Live Movie Maker before and sometimes you just have to have a bit of fun right?

So here's the video I shot for the Leeds Lomography Xmas Meet Up, complete with Star Wars soundtrack hahaha. So fun!

(you can always mute it if you want, I won't be offended)

Have a great weekend!!

This time next week I'll be getting ready to go home for Christmas, hurray!!

p.s. you can see another video from the meet up by Darren here... 

it has his own music on it, which means....
he's much cooler than me.

Fireworks and Sparklers!!

I'm normally very wary of the blub switch on my cameras - it usually causes frustrating results that feel like I've wasted the film. 

However, after reading Lomo Lovers Vol 4, I decided that Bonfire night was the perfect reason to experiment with it more, especially in taking photos of the fireworks and sparklers!

Aren't they amazing?! I LOVE fireworks, so the whole thing was far too much fun for me!

I did originally plan to double expose the roll as in the Lomo Lover's guide but I was impatient to get it developed, so I didn't. Next year I think I will though now that I know the blub setting works wonderfully with the fireworks. I'm excited about it already.

Camera: Holga 135bc
Film: Lomography CN 800
Location: Leeds

More walking to work...

I actually can't remember the last time that I had to finish off so many rolls of film on my way to work - I didn't realise that I had taken so many photos recently but I must have done... hurray!

These first two were taken with my refurbished LC-A and kodak 200 film, I love the definition...


 But, the following photos were taken with my holga 135bc using Lomography's CN 800 film
... can you believe those colours?! I'm blown away!



It's funny as before Photo Meditations I used to be quite reluctant of taking photos of the same thing but now I could take photos on my walk to work everyday if I'm honest, it's mostly the one time of the day where I'm completely on my own and although its only 10 minutes tops, its just what I need to start my day, especially if I have a camera with me and the sky looks like these!

Cameras: Refurbished LC-A and holga 135bc
Film: Kodak ISO 200 and Lomography CN 800
Location: Leeds.

On the third week of Christmas... Closed!

Can you believe we're already at week three of my christmas giveaways? I'm amazed myself, this month is flying by!! I hope you love this weeks etsy shop and giveaway as much as I do, in fact I'm envious of the winner already. 

 

This week's giveaway is from the amazing UK based Rebekah Leigh who has a beautiful shop of illustrated prints and cards featuring some of my favourite things, cameras, teacups, birds and my new favourite, sewing machines... they are most definitely 'happy artwork to brighten your day' as Rebekah's suggests!

 

Are you excited? I am!!

:You can win: An art print of your choice from Rebekah's shop.

The winner for this giveaway has been announced, thank you to everyone who took part.

p.s. the winner of the Much Love Illy giveaway is Wendy from Red Boots!

p.p.s. Ilene is still offering an amazing 15% off her shop with the code RHIANNEROCKS,

just in time for Christmas :)

More Leeds Lomo meet up photos...

Camera: Refurbished LC-A 
Film: Kodak 200 
Location: Leeds

Leeds Lomo Meet Up - My photos...

Last week I finally treated myself to something I've been waiting to get for years!

An LC-A!!!!!

Unlike the one that I used in Manchester which was the Lomography LC-A+, I ordered the refurbished LC-A as it was a fair bit cheaper which also meant that I could get the Lomokino too, hurray!!

Side note - the majority of this was bought with Lomography piggie points, if you have a lomo/film camera and you enjoy writing, I highly recommend writing some articles and getting those piggies, it takes a while, I had to write about 20 articles to save enough, but it's possible and fun at the same time.

I decided that the Leeds Lomography Xmas Meet Up was the perfect place to try my newest camera and also to try and take more photos of people... it was a mixed result as I was a bit too experimental with the aperture but overall I love the results with this camera already!


{I completely forgot to ask what this camera actually was, its beautiful though!}



 Happy weekend!!

Camera: Refurbished LC-A Film: 
Kodak ISO 200 
Location: Leeds