Upgrading

In a moment of envy driven madness I found a way of getting myself an iPhone 4 last week.

So naturally all I've been doing on it since is playing Temple Run and messing about with Instagram.

This means I might update my blog more often. I'm getting round to returning soon. Promise.

100th post y'all!

If you wanna follow me on Instagram my username is @kelly_panda. If you'd like me to follow you then just comment below and I will gladly do so.

Laters,

P x

A Day at the Manchester Museum

Before purchasing it the LC-A+ was the number one camera on my photography equipment wishlist. I dreamt of the days that me and my LC-A+ would go on grand adventures together. It'd be so small that I could go out without being ladened down by the usual cumbersome bag I take with me everywhere. Day or night that LC-A+ would be there right beside me. However as a social recluse my LC-A+ instead spends time looking at me wistfully. However we did get a trip out recently along with my nephew and dad as we went for a mosey around the Manchester Museum. I'd initially been in conflict as to which camera to take but considering my nephew is notorious for wishing to be carried by me it became obvious I needed something lightweight and small for slipping in my pocket as soon as those fateful words "pick me up" were said.

I love the Manchester Museum and have been there a few times now. For a free trip out it's a pretty good place to go as they've got a bit of variety of what you can look at. My favourite is without a doubt the animals although Stan comes in a pretty close second. I felt like I was on snapping form when we got there. LC-A+ in hand I soon got through a roll even with my nephew tugging me this way and that. He was my digital photography assistant helping me complete the 'Green" prompt for February Photo A Day so I was flicking between the two cameras and being an attentive auntie. A mighty task you may think but I felt I was doing a top job.

After my not entirely successful roll from the Blue Planet Aquarium I took special care to listen for the LC-A+'s distinctive second click whilst I kept as still as possible. I thought I'd done a good job. A week later, after a trip to Jessops (£6 for developing and scanning to cd in an hour) I returned home to look at my photos. And I was overwhelmingly disappointed. I was convinced I'd have a much better roll and whilst I have ended up with slightly better shots than the BPA roll it's still a measly 14 out of 36 exposures. It just feels like such a waste, it wasn't one of my cheapo rolls either! Anyways here are the shots that were in focus and a couple that might not quite be in focus but I wanted to post anyways.

I'm aware that my jumper wearing ram is blurry but I can't not post it. It's wearing a jumper! My nephew and me laughed so hard at that ram that other people around us started laughing at us. Anyways those are the best shots from that roll, the rest are a blurry mess. Now I have heard for a few new owners of the LC-A+ that with their first few rolls they become a little downhearted. The LC-A+ doesn't live up the hype, this camera is supposed to be a wonder camera! It should be able to handle anything! Surely it can't be the photographer who's messing up these photographs? It must be the camera right? Ahhh no.

See what I forget about the LC-A+ is that this is a zone focus camera. What does that mean? It means that the LC-A+ comes with fixed focal lengths so if I want clear shots I need to be within these focal distances to ensure just that. However I perhaps may have misjudged my skills at estimating those distances. Or disregarded them entirely. So rather than put my LC-A+ back on the shelf to gather dust I'm going to make a concentrated effort to learn my distances.

For now though I hope you've enjoyed these few shots. I think I may well take another of my cameras to the Manchester Museum for a solo trip because there is so much more there that I want to shoot. Until then though I best dig out my tape measure.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day Summary

(The funny thing I've noticed about my lack of blogging is that I've had more daily blog views than I ever did when I was doing regular posts.)

We're now a delightful 6 days in March and haven't they mostly been nice sunny days? Perfect shooting days. Have I been out doing just that? Not in the slightest. Anyways what I wanted today's post to be is a conclusive summary on my February Photo A Day challenge.

You can see full sized versions on my Flickr or on my previous February Photo A Day posts.

Well I completed February Photo A Day without missing a single day and although they may not be the most inspiring of photographs at least I managed something for each day. Sometimes I wasn't remotely enthused by the day's prompt and on other days I was simply not interested in shooting regardless of the prompt. The weather and my anxiety issues meant I was for the most part stuck indoors so I struggled to keep things interesting. However I did find doing a challenge such as this to be something of a learning experience. I did once long ago attempt a 365 project but it became tedious when I was stuck indoors as much as I was. That would be the ultimate challenge for me to complete really. So a month long challenge I figured would be well suited to me. For some prompts I knew in advance what I wanted to shoot and I'd just go for it. For others I'd think it over and look around my house to see what I could shoot trying out a few things before settling on my final shot. Sometimes I'd have an idea in mind, begin shooting but become bored by the shots I was getting so end up shooting something entirely different. For pretty much every shot I would be thinking could I make this better? I tried various angles and placements to get the shot I wanted. I had one restriction in that for the majority of the shots I stuck to my 50mm lens as I'm a sucker for a shallow depth of field. What I'd find as I began shooting is that I'd start really considering my composition for some shots and it's been a while since I've really done that. I think with my recent enjoyment of film I've perhaps gotten a bit lax with my composition and I've indulged a little too much in a point & shoot mentality. You'd think that would be the other way round considering how expensive film is compared to digital. I think in future I've got to get myself back into considering my composition regardless of the format I'm shooting on.

For a month long challenge Fat Mum Slim provides some pretty easy but interesting prompts that anyone could attempt. I'd love to see more of what other people produced for her challenges using actual cameras rather than the masses of Instagrammers. Having said that if I were an iPhone owner I'd be on Instagram constantly doing these challenges. Although I'm not joining in the March Photo a Day challenge I have been left inspired to come up with my own prompts for a similar challenge. More on that another time. Overall this was a fun way to get myself back into shooting digital although I'm still feverishly fanatical about film.

What you may see in future is a post featuring all the "rejected" shots from this challenge as I think I've got some interesting alternatives that I'd hate to leave unseen.

I will eventually make a return to regular posting. Expect another post this week as I had a film developed from my LC-A+ recently and I want to make a post out of that. I'm sorry I'm not as frequent blogger as I was but that's something of a personal issue.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day - Part 5

I've been wholly absent from the blogging sphere but I wanted to do a quick update with the last of the February Photo A Day.

Day 25 - Green

Day 26 - Night

Day 27 - Something You Ate

Day 28 - Money

Day 29 - Something You're Listening To

And I'm done. The last of the photographs.

Laters,

P x