A little catch up...

Last week was crazy busy... this morning was crazy busy. In fact I've only just relaxed and finally had time to pull a blog post together. I have so much to catch up on, argh! 

I spent Saturday morning trying to relax and looking through Flickr and catching up with Photo Meditations. and I am hooked. So far I am loving this course, I even created a gallery of my favourite inspirations at the moment on Flickr. I've never used Flickr like that before, so it was very fun to do and so amazing to see photos that I really loved.

I just want to go out with my camera now... shame it's getting dark already.

p.s. this post is a bit messy but I just wanted to get something out there, 

I have no idea what else to say haha. Hi?

p.p.s. I've fallen in love with this photo again, I remember thinking the sky was pretty when I took it against the silhouette of the person but I actually love the dramatic lines at the bottom of the photo now too.

Me and my photos...

As part of Photo Meditations I have been looking through my photos, trying to analyse them, see where I can improve, notice any patterns...and it's been much more emotional for me than I expected.

Lately I've been worrying about my blog, worrying that I don't share enough... there are so many amazing blogs I read which are so personal, so open and they write so well. Yet I can never seem to share myself in the same way. I try but I always end up deleting posts before I even publish them, it helps to write them out but I never seem to say what I want properly...

 This week I've realised that I do share so much of myself on my blog, more than I realised, through my photos. I started Photo Meditations to learn how to capture my soul in my photos but what I've been surprised to realise this week is that I already do that. My photos are me. I love them, they are my therapy and looking through them this week and thinking about how I can improve them has made me so happy.

I've been incredibly nervous about sharing my photos on the Flickr group, which seems silly when I share them openly here, but this blog is my space, I ultimately have the control of what appears on here (though I've never had anything bad to really moderate as such if I'm honest, just one amazing anon chuck norris related comment haha). Putting them in the Flickr group in front of my peers and losing that sense of control has been very liberating (as well as scary) but I'm glad that I'm doing it and getting the feedback too.

My favourite thing that I've learnt so far is that I'm happy with how and where my photos are going, I can't wait to apply everything I've learnt and refine them further but I think that my starting point is a solid one.

I never planned for this blog to become a photo blog, but it has because since starting this blog, I've become a photographer, it is a true expression of me and I love it all. Hurray.

Have a great weekend!!

I'll be taking lots of photos :)

p.s. loving the results of the little quiz so far, keep the answers coming!

Belfast in Black and White... Part 2.

As well as exploring the city of Belfast, we also looked around the murals and learnt more about the area where one of my friends grew up. I spent most of my childhood living in the middle of no where, so I was intrigued by the contrasts of her city youth, as well as the history of The Troubles and what it was like to grow up during that time.

{a rainbow in black and white, I was intrigued to see if it would be gradient, can you just see it?} 

 We were also incredibly lucky to stay with my friends family and I have to say that they were just wonderful, the weekend was just what I needed, lots of laughing, chatting and wine.

Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Film: Ilford XP2 ISO 400
Camera: La Sardina Sea Pride

Belfast in black and white...

I did something brave - I used the Ilford XP2 film in a camera that wasn't my Diana Mini... what do you think?

After looking at these quite a lot, I think that I like them... I'm still not 100% sold on the La Sardina, the fuzzy edges are really fuzzy, but I think it took to the Ilford (or vice versa) really well and these photos do capture the feeling of the city whilst we were there pretty well (it rained lol).

I am quite taken with the photos that are taken close up though - the face and the fish in particular, I think I need to use it for close ups more...

Camera: La Sardina Sea Pride 
Film: Ilford XP2 
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland