This past weekend...

Was relaxing, hurray! 

I finally got my hair cut short, bought some more wool and consequently finished my first ever set of crochet granny squares (I'm hooked, ha), I even started connecting them together too, its awesome.

I also finally found clothing with birds on (it's a cute skirt and it was in a charity shop!) and I took my new double dip plastic camera by James Butler out for a spin and met a new cat friend in the process.

Hurray for relaxing weekends! 

p.s. If you're interested in learning crochet (I only started a couple of weeks ago) this post by Alycia is a great starting point, it gave me the kick up the butt I needed to actually make something rather than talk about it, thanks Alycia!!

p.p.s. Nanna, I might take you up on those knitting lessons now :)

You can call me...

An author!
Woohoo!

 

There I am, I added the arrows so you didn't miss it.

(it's on Amazon so its official!)

{An excerpt from the book in the latest Gadchick Magazine, the book has reviews of all new apps.}

So what did I write?

I wrote a guide book for one of my favourite online magazines, Gadchick,
for Android phone photographers.

Even though I predominantly use my film cameras, I ALWAYS have my phone with me and I love using it for spur of the moment photos along side my film cameras or in situations where film isn't really practical. As well as tips for better android photography, I tested 30 different camera apps and included my thoughts on each which was actually a great process for me as I learnt to appreciate my little phone for so much more than its calling/texting abilities and to embrace digital photography as a different way to express myself.

You can now buy your own copy from Amazon for your Android or Kindle so if you have an Android phone please check it out, and if you do get it, let me know what you think!

Rhianne - Author :)

Lately* on Instagram

*As in within the last two months, haha! I'll be organised with it one day I'm sure...

Lately...

 

... I've organised all my negatives and photos. That box is three years of film photos, all labeled, though I do keep finding more around the house still.

... we went to see the Olympic Torch just 5 minutes away from our house.

... I've spotted lots of pretty flowers.

...I've become obsessed with finding green doors...

... developed a love of feet and tile photos.

...made new horse friends...

...enjoyed looking up around Leeds (and taken part in the #lookupleeds tag)...

...been amused by misspelt names, we got mine right eventually but Thomas's is missing the H ...

... hung pretty things up in our house...

I've averaged 90 photos a month since I got Instagram, crazy.
You can see more of my Instagram photos here.

Leeds Architecture

I'm still having far too much fun on Instagram

(and sulking over the rain...)

Phone photos from the weekend...

After planning this weekend away to Felixstowe with Thomas's parents for a while now, I was excited abut the beach and finally taking some photos... but weather wise, the weekend was mostly a wash out and even though I took 3 cameras with me (perhaps too optimistically?) I didn't even use one. 

I'll admit I had a little tantrum/cry about that - not taking photos is beginning to send me a bit... 

in the words of lovely Angie... bat-$h1t crazy.

However to our surprise and delight, the sun finally showed itself on Sunday and although I had no cameras with me, I did have my phone and it was just as fun to take photos with that and then put them all through instagram (I am slightly addicted...).
So I finally got some photos in the end, hurray.


p.s. Can you see little Ada there? We had a lot of fun together, I'm looking forward to taking more photos of her when the sun comes out (hopefully soon)

Enjoying Instagram...

 

I wasn't planning on sharing my Instagram photos on here but a mixture of having only black and white diana mini photos to share (which gets a bit dull so many posts in a row...), an undeveloped film and dull rain has put a halt to my film photography adventures at the moment. I really hope the weather picks up soon though my hearts starting to ache for it a little bit.... 

I am enjoying Instagram whilst I'm waiting for the weather to improve though and I'm really enjoying looking at other peoples photos too, I can see what all the fuss was about.

Easter through Instagram...

 

I hope the people who have already seen these don't mind seeing these photos again - I would have posted film photos but I didn't really take any - in fact I hardly took any digital photos this weekend either and it was... relaxing, hurray!!

Our long weekend was a mixture of relaxing at home during the day (hurray for my ereader, I read through 3 books, oops) and then evenings out with our friends and it was great. Saturday was also Thomas's birthday so we went to play pool and then to a bourbon bar where I even found a couple that I liked... 

Now back to work...

Finally!!!

Instagram is on Android!!

You would think that as a film photographer I wouldn't be as excited about this as I am...
but I am excited!!

I can't always carry a film camera around with me, whilst I always have my phone and a lot of the time English weather is pants, so the conditions aren't always right for film photography.
And I do like to share my photos...

Take this morning... it's snowed. In April!!! APRIL!!
Once again I have two pairs of thick socks on, lots of layers and my wellies are my best friend.
Not cool weather. Though, the photos are pretty, I will admit that and playing with new filters is fun too.

So if you're on Instagram, leave a comment with your username - lets be friends!
Mine is:  Forthedistractd

p.s. there will be #harrygram!

Spring = colour!

Although I haven't been taking many photos lately... I have tried to capture as much of Spring as I can on my phone. I just love the yellow trees that are dotted around at the moment. 

 This weekend I intend to take some photos and finish the two rolls in my cameras since February. Yup.

Have a great weekend!!

p.s. Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment yesterday, it meant a lot to me, I'll reply when I can read them all without tearing up and feeling incredibly grateful that you all didn't think I was crazy/attention seeking/crazy...

Some photos from the Hen Party weekend...

 

I think I can deem my lickle sister's hen party weekend a sucess! We rented a house at the coast for the weekend, had an afternoon tea party followed by hen party games, food and drinks. I had so much fun and I'm pretty sure everyone else did too.

Can you believe that I took hardly any photos though - I took 4 cameras down with me and they all stayed in my bag - in fact half of these photos were borrowed from another hen (thanks Ellen!). I particularly love the photo of me, my sister and our Nanna at the bottom in our tissue dresses, so much fun! 

p.s. The mug is a thank you gift from my bride sister :) she knows me well!

Gadchick Issue 2!

Today is a very exciting day! 

Today is the day that not only can I call myself a blogger, designer, cad monkey and photographer... but I can also call myself a Freelance Writer!! Um, WOW!

I've written a short post for Gadchick before, but recently Diana contacted me about writing a Gadchick Ebook for Android Photographers, testing and reviewing a variety of Android apps, and Gadchick Issue 2 contains an excerpt of that Ebook, the Ebook that I wrote, haha!!

Issue 2 of Gadchick is all about photography and contains other brilliant articles by the amazing people you see above including Meg, Chelsea, Diana and Aline, who I just love. So if you love photography, whether its digital, analogue or with your mobile then
 check it out, you won't be disappointed!!

I'd like to quickly thank Diana, Aline and Scott from Gadchick for thinking of me to do this and believing in me, I never imagined when I started blogging that this would ever be something that I would do (um, I wrote an ebook...) or that I would be part of such a great team.
I am tickled (hello kitty) pink!!


p.s. Dear android photographers, the ebook isn't available quite yet, but it will be soon and of course I'll let you know when it is. There are some pretty amazing apps available on Android at the moment and the book also contains tips from me, so it will be worth the wait, I promise.

The weekend in phone photos...

 

This weekend was the first of two with my family and I loved every minute of it... and of course I took lots of photos of Harry too :)  I'm counting down the days until this weekend now!

 p.s. This weekend was my little blogs 3rd birthday - time flies when you're having fun.

Thank you so much to everyone who's supported me in the last three years, you have no idea how much it means to me :) x

Sun, sand, sea and.... snow!

This weekend was our first long weekend of February and it was amazing!! 

I adore the beach, even in the snow and though it was below freezing, Thomas and I enjoyed some lovely walks, lots of tea and coffee, some amazing food (including homemade chocolate pictured above!) and great company in Scarborough. Hurray!!

I can't wait for next weekend with all of our family now... it's going to be great.

p.s. I've finally found a panoramic app that I like for my phone too. It's all good!

#janphotoaday 1-15

Although I don't have instagram on my phone (darn you android) I have been taking part in Fat Mum Slim's January Photo-a-Day challenge anyway and it's been so fun. Here are my numbers 1-15.

p.s. we don't normally have burgers for breakfast, we overslept that weekend, haha. 

also I realise there is a lot of chocolate and cameras on here...

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 :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!! 

I'm overexcited already :) are you?

Gingerbread hot drinks and biscuits. I loveeee gingerbread!

 

The same desktop (and now phone)background I use every year and our first (perfect!) christmas card!

Putting up the tree listening to our one christmas record - Fairytale of New York!! Also perfect!
(we are working on getting more...)

The tree and my favourite christmas decoration, stacking Santas!

Ornaments! A grumpy pug, an angel from NYC, a yellow camera (I still love it Micaela!) and a lovely tree from a even lovelier best friend.

Christmas food!

 

Warm hats, on cold, glorious winter mornings. 

Counting down the days...

(and messing around with my phone haha) 

p.s. how fun are tilt shift affects on these apps... they are my new favourite thing!

Frocktober concluded...

When I last blogged about Frocktober, I had managed 11 days straight and I was pretty proud of myself...

Unfortunately, my run didn't last the whole month - however I did manage 20/31 days for Frocktober!! I'm so pleased with that! It was more than I expected to once it started getting cold and wet and I got sick (a few days were spent in PJ's...) and to begin with I never imagined I would even make the 11 days, let alone 20!! HURRAY

I'm so pleased to also announce that the AMAZING Anna, who inspired me to do this managed to wear a dress for the whole month(!) and she also raised her target of $500 AUD for her cause, isn't that wonderful.

Here are some outtakes of my dresses/outfits as well for your amusement, I believe you can still donate towards Anna's page, so if you are feeling generous, head on over.

p.s. A few things I learnt from Frocktober.... I love polka dots, especially brown ones, I am not willing to get wet feet for anything, I am not a fashion blogger or even anything near to one haha, I really like earthy colours and patterns and I am more than happy wearing jeans everyday!!

My other happy place...

This weekend we had visitors and a free morning, so we went for a visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford... although I do love the entire museum, especially the gallerys, one floor in particular is exactly what I imagine my happy place to look like.

The Kodak Gallery...


So many cameras!!

I can happily spend ages walking around ohh and ahhing at cameras. And I get especially excited when I realise that I have another one thats in the museum that I didn't have the last time I went (two this time, woop!!)

Autumn for Adele...

I have so many photos of my walk to work (see here, here, here and here for a few) but I can honestly say I never get bored of taking photos of it - it changes with each day and I love seeing how the seasons affect it. Isn't the Autumn light just beautiful in these too?

Happy weekend!
I'm off to Belfast with my girls, frock and cameras, which should be great fun!
See you next week.

p.s. I have no idea why the shadow looks so huge in the bottom left photo, or even what was next to me? I like to pretend its because I'm standing with Hagrid though, haha. Nerd.

It's Frocktober...

{polka dots in the sunshine for the 1st, a yellow dress for the 2nd and black tights with a vintage skirt for the 3rd}

So here we are - a photo of me, in a dress, on my blog... haha. Those of you who know me well know that I am incredibly reluctant to wear dresses and skirts - I have no idea why and well, I just love my Gap jeans... (as seen here in what I normally wear...).

But this month is different.
This month is Frocktober in Australia.
And my dear friend Anna from Much Love is raising funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation by wearing a dress every day throughout October.

Isn't that such a great idea? And it's the kick up the bottom that I need to start breaking out of my usual, boring 'personal uniforms'. So to raise awareness for Anna and to encourage you all to pop over and support her cause, I'm going to try and wear a skirt or dress everyday through out this month too.

I realise that this probably doesn't sound like a big deal to most people but this is a huge step for me. It's a massive leap out of my comfort zone and honestly, sat here at work(!) in my skirt I'm terrified lol but I'm going to try and make it through, even if I am wearing the same few skirts and dresses for a month.

So, to support Anna and to encourage me, pop over to Anna's blog, read about her cause and perhaps even donate a few pennies...

p.s. G and C - this shakes things up for the weekend doesn't it ;)

p.p.s. Cue awkward hands and feet photos for a month, hahaha. sorry about that.