Lemonlight

unparty

Just a quickie to prove I do still shoot digital, sometimes.

I like the accusing stare of the masked mannequin...

addicted

I'm feeling a little guilty because I've just bid on (and won) another vintage camera from ebay! It's a Pentax K1000 which I am very excited about owning - 35mm film is much cheaper to buy and get processed than medium-format film so really I'm saving money!

At least I am actually using these old cameras and not just buying them - I'm always happily surprised whenever I get that excitingly-bulging envelope back from the lab...

the birds

This naughty swan would go and move just as I took this photo! Doesn't he realise that this is a film camera and that I only get 12 goes per roll? He's obviously a digital-lover.

The pigeons though were much better behaved and film-friendly. Lazy, some might say, but conveniently static...

window shopping

One of my favourite shops in Southampton (for photographing) is the Beatnik Emporium, a vintagey/retro fashion store next to the park.

My Hasselbladski Zenith 80 enjoyed the opportunity of some colour and light intead of all those wintry trees.

This last one reminds me of something from Dr Who!

look

not many words today. i like horses (especially white ones), but from a fair distance...

imbloc

So, it's the end of January . Yes it's still cold, but we are today at the eve of Imbloc (St Brigid's Day, Candlemas - the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox - appeals to the hippy in me) which means it's all downhill now till springtime!

There's so much beauty in ice, frost and general winteriness though, who knows, I may even miss it a tiny bit!

some more

Some more from my current favourite camera (shh, don't tell the others)...

something good in the mail

One thing that's considered a downside of film photography is the wait between shooting your photos and getting them developed. Whilst I do feel a little impatient when I'm posting off my film, there's nothing quite like the surprise and excitement when you get in after work and there, plopped on the doormat is a chunky brown envelope full of negatives and CDs.

I love what this camera does with the depth of field, it's like no other camera I've used before, especially not the digital ones. It's all swirly and blurred - a bit like a Lensbaby.

I love this one from the end of the roll...

So, the verdict is official - I am in love with my Zenith 80 and can't wait for the weekend!

what lies beneath

Now, there is something you don't get with all that showy-offy, leafy, floweriness in the warmer months and that is a glimpse at what's underneath. These are the skeletons that supported all that lushness last year and are marking the spots of future growth...

buds

It's hard to imagine in the stark bleakness of winter that the beneath the surface of the deathly looking skeletons of trees and shrubs, there's life, just resting; waiting for the right amount of daylight and warmth before surging forward.

Polaroid SX-70

Here's my favourite magnolia tree, biding its time...

Polaroid SX-70

Before you know it there will be an explosion - I can't wait!

Canon EOS 40D

colour

I possibly sounded a bit grumpy and petulant yesterday, but with todays blue skies and sunshine I am feeling much more uplifted. Espeacially after spotting some sure signs of new life and colour on a wander through town this afternoon, such as forsythias...

...and some beautiful curly willow with sweet little catkins...

I saw a pair of robins too but they were much too flighty for my slow-but-sure Polaroid. I should have taken my digital camera too but I already had two big cameras round my neck - I'll end up getting a stoop if I try to carry more!

Here's to next weekend and lots more lovely sunshine (fingers-crossed).

January

What can I say - everything is very January-ish right now and there's not a lot we can do about it other than grit our teeth, smile and make the best of the cold and dark. Eight more days then it's February - still pretty bleak but there'll be that twinkle of something brighter (plus it's nice and short).

I took these today in the New Forest. I used my Zenith too but wondered afterwrds why I'd bothered with colour film when everything looked so black and white!

The most colourful thing I saw all day was this fella...

red

As I may have mentioned previously, (ahem) I have another new camera!

It's a cheap Soviet knock-off from the 1960s - a wannabe Hasselblad (hence the affectionate nickname of Hasselbladski). 

However - the film I used was really pretty old, it expired in 2004, and I think (hope) this is why everything looks so freaky and red! Although actually - it's kinda cool - quite painterly and bloodily abstract.

There's no light meter built in to the camera (I really must get round to buying a hand-held one) but I managed to get things broadly ok exposure-wise - I just need to get out again with some newer film!

poppies

Just a quickie from the archives - this was taken last June using my Lubitel 2 - I can't wait to see that much lushness, colour and light again for real...

ahh, sunday

All the elements needed for a perfect day to go out and take photographs managed to align themselves today and so I got to do just that!

These are all Polaroids, lovely, lovely Polaroids, but I was also toting a new addition it my ever-growing camera family. More details in a later later post though (it involves getting some film developed).

These are just taken around town - on the look out for colour and signs of life. I know it's still January and we could be thrown back into the ice-age at any moment, but today felt positively spring-like!

getaway

One of things I do love about January is the dreaming and scheming that fills my brain for the year ahead. At the moment I am fixating on holidays and working out where to travel to. Somewhere that's hot (but not too hot), with lovely beaches (but not too touristy) and with lots of intersting photo opportunities. Trouble is, that leaves quite a long list of possible detinations, so I'd better do a bit more more googling.

(I'm thinking Sweden at the moment but I may be overly influenced but watching Wallander - that TV show has the best photography EVER in history).

Remembering last years Cornish getaway with this dreamy Polaroid...

winter

Today I realised that we're definitely past that pesky winter solstice as it seemed really light at 4.30 this afternoon - hardly dark at all! I celebrated by throwing in a bunch of tulips with my supermarket shopping.

ahead

I have a whole of the year in front of me and I'm determined to make the most of it - find the value in the small things and take some bigger steps, too.

Tutorial: textured, vintage-looking photos

In answer to quite a few emails I've had, I have finally put together this little tutorial all about how to turn an everyday photo into a vintage-looking textural beauty.

The instruction that follow are given for Photoshop, but should translate to other photo editing packages (such as GIMP which is free and works on a PC and a Mac).

Step 1

Before we get started we'll need two things. First of course is our photo. Here I'm using an unassuming shot of a wintry branch.

Second is the magic ingredient; our 'texture'. For the texture photo you can photograph something yourself (concrete, brick, tarmac, your dog's furry tummy, anything you like), or check out what's available online - often for free.

Here I am using this texture called 'Vintage Tin Box' by Amy Higgins on Flickr.

Step 2

With your main image and texture image open as two separate documents (side by side) in Photoshop, click and hold down in the texture image - press shift and drag it over onto the main image.

Holding down the shift button means the texture image is now exactly in the centre of your main image.

To make it the same size, go to Image > Free Transform hold down ALT and SHIFT then drag one of the corners in or out until it completely covers the image. Hit Return or Enter to finalize.

Step 3

You should now have one file with two layers - the texture layer should be on top. The next step lets us see through parts of the top layer down to the main image below and controls the transparency.

Make sure you can see your Layers palette (F7 key) and with the texture layer active do the following:

In the Layers palette 'Mode' drop-down list choose "Soft Light"

Ta da! What you'll see is this - we're almost there...

By all means leave things here if you're happy with what you see, but there's a couple more things you can do.

Step 4

To intensify the texture around the edges, create a copy of the texture layer...

As this new layer has the 'Soft Light' blending mode applied the effect will immediately seem intensified.

Next we'll create a mask on this new layer to hide on of the centre of this layer so that we don't lose detail in the centre.

With your duplicated layer selected choose Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All - you'll now see another box appear on the layer palette. Make sure this is highlighted then choose a big soft brush and paint with black in the middle of your image - this will hide that part of the layer so that only the more subtle texture below is showing.

And there you have it! One recipe and many possibilities. Have fun!

beside the seaside

The sea hasn't quite frozen over yet, but phew, it's getting close to it! This is Weston Shore in Southampton - the nearest seasidy place I could get to without exiting the city and braving unsalted roads.

Now, this looks quite pretty - like a soft fairy-dusting of of snow making everything look so pretty. However, what it is, in fact, is rock-hard compacted ice - solid and slippery like marble and not fun to walk on at all (unless you are less than ten years old and still have bones made of rubber).

Footprints and indentations that you would think would disintigrate when stood on are actually as solid and permanent feeling as a dinosaurs fossilised paw-print in the Natural History Museum.

We went back home the long way using the motorway as there just happens to be a certain brand of coffee available at the service station there, that will always lure me in...

Curfew

It is still cold. Very cold. Embedded in permafrost. I did manage to make it into the back garden though.

'indoor games'

I booked this week off work thinking I'd be out every day with my camera(s); off to various locations around the south, snapping and adventuring and having a thoroughly good time. Instead I am virtually housebound and slipping and sliding everywhere when I do venture out - which I am discovering is not as much fun as it first appears. They've said on the news to only make essential journeys - I went out to go to Costa Coffee. Totally essential!

So - here's something from the 'archives' - last summer whn the sun was shining (and I was taking it for granted). This is some Queen Anne's Lace I snapped down by the seaside with my old Lubitel2...

And look how B-I-G the pics are now! I've been using my indoors time to tinker with my blog setting (typepad is a bit scary when you start fiddling with the advanced templates though, so anything could happen).

deep freeze

It's still oh so cold and England is still panicking.

We are totally geared-up for drizzle, fog and general blustery inclemency but get totally fazed when the temperature drops to minus figures; and especially by snow. But, for all our inadequacies in dealing with it we can talk about it amazingly well - watch BBC News 24 and you'll see that snow is the lead story with roving reporters stood alongside snowmen all over the country. Footage of people slipping on ice, cars skidding up hills and kids tobogganing on bin bags down hillsides. What larks!

One thing is for sure though, it certainly looks prettier than fog and drizzle...

baby, it's cold outside

Maybe if I had all this lovely stuff I would stand a chance of being warm (and yet cool at the same time)! It is freakin' cold outside - I am a southern softie and don't cope well in sub-zero temperatures.

Serendipity

If you leave your warm-hearted, vintage polaroid camera in the car overnight (in sub-zero temperatures) I can tell you that the pictures you'll get out if it the next day won't be what you're expecting!

 

These were taken inside a brightly lit Costa coffee shop but the frozen-up little battery could hardly be expected to fire off without some thawing out, so this is what I got!

I tried again (because I'm an impatient person) and got the same results - although I have to say I quite like the effect - almost like fireworks. Serendipity.

twenty ten

special adjective (NOT USUAL)
- not ordinary or usual
- particularly great or important, or having an extra quality
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Rather than resolutions I am going to follow the lead of the blogging sisterhood and choose a word to live the year by. I have spent a few days analysing my life and focusing on what I want to change and what I want to achieve. I've tried a few words out for size - remarkable was a contender but is quite intimidating in its scale - controlled was another but I think that one could be negatively influencing. The word I am going for, that I am whispering to myself right now is special.

In the past I have been known to use the word special in a childish and very politically-incorrect way so I am totally over that now. It's a lovely word and I wont be using it lightly (not all the time anyway). These are the reasons I want my 2010 to be special...

I have a tendency towards self-destruction; a black side that turns in on itself and devours all the goodness that's there - but the universe has turned a page, another decade (and I've got ten years before I have another scary birthday to deal with) and presented me with another chance so I am grabbing it with both hands - a perfect opportunity to see off all those bad things.

I want the work I create to be special - innovative, surprising and honest, I want my special signature to be sewn into to all the things I do.

I have to start treating my body like the special and amazing thing that it is - from feeding my mind with good things to eating well (and maybe even some exercise)!

I'm excited about making the space that I live in a special and expressive environment - somewhere to inspire and comfort and good to come back to when I return from visiting special people and places.

I have to embrace the specialness that's all around me - I literally have the whole world at my fingertips and there are so many amazing people to learn from and grow... and one of them is me!

2009, etc

Whoosh - another year gone!

2009. It was the year I turned 40. I didn't think it would bother me that much but it really did. No matter what I did to distract myself I couldn't help but focus on all the things I hadn't done and failed to achieve.

That's not to say that this year was a complete wash-out my any means - I had an amazing holiday to my beloved Cornwall. 

taken with my Lomo LC-A

I unravelled a little bit - got in touch with some tender and hidden emotions - camera and notebook in hand (thoroughly recommended by the way). I also got to spend a whole glorious hot and sunny day in Bath with the amazing and inspiring Susannah! 

           

I got to spend some happy times with my lovely friend and her gorgeous children.

And of course, there were all the photos (and the cameras, so many cameras)!

Yes, I took many photos with many cameras. My arsenal now includes a variety of film cameras and any trip out involves tricky decisions about which lucky one gets to come along (or how to get hold of a pack mule if I decide to take them all. One of those old-lady tartan wheel-along shopping trolleys would be perfect actually)!

These are all mine, all with film...

1. give the girl a hand, 2. new, 3. blooming pink, 4. shiny, 5. sunny, 6. more huts, 7. urban nature, 8. yes, another beach!, 9. @->-->---, 10. favourite beach, 11. we are all beautiful, 12. there will be blood

As always though I have been totally blown away by all the photographic talent that always inspires me - if you're not a regular checker-outer of Flickr then I can thoroughly recommend it - just look at these (and they are just the tip of the iceberg)...

1. Untitled, 2. *Snow Magic, 3. Before we begin #34, 4. The simple things of life, 5. _MG_2365, 6. light catcher, 7. 361/365 December 27, 2009, 8. hug, 9. ., 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. P050809PS-0264

And now the year is nearly done. I am still in one piece (albeit a bit creakier) and hopeful for a 2010 of new challenges and exciting opportunities. Got to remember though, it's all in my hands, no one's going to do it for me.

Guess what, more berries!

These are what my OH refers to as the "the very expensive hedge clippings". Obviously when perusing options for flowers I plumped for the berries, I am truly addicted (don't think this is the only photo or the only camera I used to snap these beauties)!

stag

My favourite christmas ornament. His antlers are looking a bit wonky but I think that adds to his charm.

oh, christmas tree

This is how my christmas tree looks after a mint baileys *hic*

berries

My obssession with berries has now reached the inside the house, thanks to it being Christmas, and all. This is the dining room fireplace and it's looking berrylicious!