February Photo A Day

If you saw Wednesday's post you'll know I'm doing my best to be a part of February Photo A Day. It's been simple enough so far but then again we're only three days in. I do keep looking through the prompts and forming rough plans of what I'll shoot for them which hopefully improves my chances of completing this. It's such a simple challenge but I'm incredibly undisciplined in sticking to projects and finishing them on time.

Anyways here are the first three shots.

Day 1 - Your View Today

Day 2 - Words

Day 3 - Hands

Like I mentioned on Wednesday I am also shooting this on film, in fact I'm shooting it using my Diana F+. But that won't be developed until the challenge is complete. For now the digital photos will be posted on Saturdays as a regular feature for this month.

Feedback welcome. I'm lazily experimenting with editing by using Photoshop actions. And good luck to anyone else who is also trying this!

Laters,

P x

Artsy Fartsy Friday

(I don't know if this will become a regular thing, this sharing of someone else's art but I did say this blog would be a mixed bag. And currently I'm on this little art kick and it feels right to share it.)

I'll say it again Tumblr is the greatest for finding inspiration. Personally I can't draw, I'm outrageously awful at it so I'm forever envious of anyone who can draw in any fashion. I do find myself following more and more Tumblrs that inspire me in mediums other than photography. One of my favourite art styles comes from the practitioner who practices their chosen medium pretty much every day alongside doing their bigger projects. And what I really like is artists who illustrate a daily thought or occurrence as a form of visual diary.

An example of this is Lizzy Stewart. I'd seen a couple of her drawings on Tumblr and liked/reblogged them as I felt that they represented a thought or feeling I'd had at some point. These came from Lizzy Stewart Diary and I've put some of my favourites below.

She has a great website which features her bigger projects - About Today. Some of my favourites from there include;- Bookcovers, Paintings That I Did Not Paint (I'd love a copy of this zine) and Living Things. She even has an Etsy shop selling some of her work, my chosen piece would be the Evening giclee print if you're asking.

I hope you like these as much as I do. I know I'll be following Lizzy's work from here on out and I'm excited to see what else she produces. Unsurprisingly she also had a blog which I'm now following - Things I Like About Today.

Laters,

P x

Brooching It Up

In general I'm not one to adorn myself with jewellery and various accessories when dressing. Perhaps for a special occasion but that's about it. I have jewellery that I wear all the time and I'll put my Casio on when I'm going out but on the whole I don't bother with it. However this doesn't mean I don't enjoy the possibilities when it comes to accessorising an outfit. As a teen I was one of the awkward ones who could think of no better way to express myself than with multiple badges all over my bag. One of my favourites declared "I <3 fish fingers", a sentiment still true to this day. And I still retain a teenage love for badges and their grown up counterpart brooches.

Which is what leads me to share these brooches with you today. Seen on and indeed made by ohmyclumsyheart these great little brooches combine a few of my interests.

Three of my favourite animals and the skull of one of the greatest creatures ever to live? Glorious. I wear far too much black for these to be a viable accessory within my own outfits but I would sure as heck pin them onto anything colourful I might one day wear.

These aren't the only designs by the way. There is a rather cool bear brooch that I also wouldn't say no to, a pug brooch for the multitudes of pug lovers out there and a spiffing raven skull brooch if T-Rex isn't your thing. All of which can be found on Oh My Clumsy Heart Etsy alongside some equally awesome literature based jewellery. Check it out. Treat yo self.

Laters,

P x

Lomo Wednesday - paramir

I can't deny that I'm loving the look of medium format right now and I'm dying to get my hands on a Lubitel 166. So naturally this week's Lomo Wednesday consists entirely of medium format photographs.

This week's Lomo home is from paramir

Can you see why I want to try out medium format so much? I'm in love with it.

Laters,

P x

February Photo Challenge

In an attempt to somewhat encourage myself creatively I'm going to try my best to complete the below February Photo A Day Challenge as set by Fat Mum Slim.

I think this is largely aimed at those lucky people with iPhones who can Instagram their way through life but I'm going to try it anyways. Knowing me I'll give up early on. I'm terrible with photo challenges. But I need some encouragement when it comes to shooting at the moment and this seems a fun way to do it.

I won't post my results daily but will group them up into one post a week. I'm planning on doing this on my Canon 450D and one of my film cameras so it'll be fun to see the difference between the two at the end.

Wish me luck!

Laters,

P x

Animal Attraction

If you hadn't realised by now I'm quite the fan of Lomography and wanted to share one of their latest products. For Valentine's Day Lomography gave some of their products an animal themed make over and have released them as limited editions. I'm generally not usually bothered by this kind of thing but this time Lomography got me and they got me good.

Introducing the Diana Mini Leopard.

Isn't it gloriously trashy? That mix of pink and leopard print makes this edition of the Diana Mini into something of a fashion accessory as well as a fantastically fun camera. The Diana Mini has never really interested me until recently and then even more so with this make over. Being a 35mm camera makes the Diana Mini a pretty easy camera to use but it does offer the ability to shoot in two formats at the flick of a switch. So you can shoot in square format which is pretty cool but you can also shoot in half frame format which gives you twice the amount of exposures on one roll. Having experimented with the Splitzer on my Diana F+ I'm well aware of the fun of combining two shots on one print and I really like the idea of using the half frame format for a portraiture/still life project. Since this edition comes with the Diana Flash it's good to go day or night which opens up even more shooting possibilities. I'd say the Diana Mini Leopard is a stylish, fun addition to the Lomography family and I for one am happy to see it.

Unfortunately I can't really afford to buy the Diana Mini Leopard at the moment but I'll live in hope of owning one eventually. And if the pink leopard print isn't your thing then maybe you should check out the other new editions; Diana F+ Zebra, La Sardina Orinoco Ochre, Fisheye 2 Python and La Sardina Serpent Sapphire.

Also it's probably worth mentioning that Lomography are having a 3 for 2 sale on their own film right now! So stock up whilst you can.

Laters,

P x