~ 2016 Freebie Calendar ~

Following on from my last post about 2016 Calendars from Snapfish - today seemed like the perfect time to share my yearly freebie For the easily distracted... calendar download- hurray! Although a quick look at my blog archives is saying I didn't actually make one last year - I apologise for that - this year I am on the ball haha.

Like previous years, I've chosen my favourite photos from the last 12 months - and I actually had a lot more photos than I thought to chose from - it felt like it had been a slow photography year (its definitely been a slow blogging photos year) but I've actually taken quite a lot more photos than I realised, hurray.

As well as photos, I've also added some of my favourite photography quotes and I will admit, its those that make this so exciting to me. Sometimes I don't have the words to say how I feel about taking photos (just sometimes...) and the ones I've included really do sum up a lot of my own opinions better than I ever could.

I really love the final result so I hope that you do too - click on the following button to download your own copy.

2016 Calendars with Snapfish

As Christmas is drawing so much nearer, I've started to think about perfect Christmas gifts for people and I will say one thing about having a wedding - it makes giving gifts for Christmas super easy as everyone wants to see photos and re experience our amazing day. 

I'd already put together some photo books for ourselves and our parents through Truprint - so when I saw this opportunity with Snapfish to create calendars I was more than happy to be involved as I was so thrilled with the quality of our books and I knew that the products from Snapfish came from the same supplier as Truprint.  In total I made three calendars - two with wedding photos and a desktop calendar of my own photos for myself (treat yo self) and I'm so pleased to say that they all met my very high expectations.

First up I made a calendar for Thomas (don't worry he's seen it and loves it, I'm not ruining his Christmas haha) and I was so thrilled to see a chalkboard background within the calendar pre-sets as one of our themes was chalkboard stationary. I was just as excited to see a wide range of fonts to match the layouts as well. I spent a lot of time working on our invitations, order of service, presentation boards and other stationary things weddings need - so to have something that echoed that look was really important.

I really enjoyed the Snapfish website for putting together the calendar pages - the images were easy to load and to drag into layouts that you could either create or use pre-sets for. The text options also allowed for me to add one of our readings from the church across the pages too (The Awesome Book of Love by Dallas Clayton - it makes me cry every time and it was read so beautifully by our friend Kay on the day, happy happy). In fact I don't think I could have created a better or more perfect calendar to represent our day and I know Thomas agrees too.

I won't share any more photos of the smaller wedding calender - as that is a surprise gift for someone (hehe) but I will say that the interface was just as easy to use and put together with the different size calendar. The options were a bit more limited creatively due to the space requirements for the photos however I didn't think that was a negative thing as the result was again just what I wanted.

Last up is a treat for myself - a collection of my favourite 12 film photos from the year as well as some inspirational photography quotes. Again I had an idea of what I wanted and it was very easy to create with the Snapfish interface and options provided.  The printing quality of the photos is also really great, I rarely print my photos any more so to see them off the screen was a real treat.

I can't wait to have this on my desk properly next year (it is currently sat safely and patiently in my desk drawer ha).

If you're looking to create some 2016 Calendars yourself Snapfish provide a really great range of options and having tried out a selection of their calendars, I can definitely say that they are a company I would recommend using.   Will you be making any photography related presents this year? 

~ I've been dabbling with the idea of working with companies on my blog lately and every so often an opportunity pops up that I find really exciting... and this is one of them. The products were sent to me to review - but all thoughts are my own. ~

Holkham Hall Details

I'm still so drawn to black and white photos at the moment - it usually happens during winter when everything seems to become much less saturated and mute - black and white film just captures the mood so well of that I think.

Saying that, these photos are from September - and it was an unusually sunny September day too - but they still capture the mood well I think :)

I particularly love that last photo - I'm not sure why really, I think perhaps that the book looks so soft, like you could stroke the pages and know what it feels like maybe?

Camera: Canon EOS 750
Film: West Yorkshire Cameras C41 Black and White Film
Location: Holkham Hall, Norfolk

Ode to my little holga...

Way back when, I bought my first film camera in a number of years, the camera that started me back on my film photography journey - my Holga 135bc.

Yesterday I read that the Holga factory has been closed and my heart sank. So today's post is dedicated to this plastic chunk camera which started a change in my life and was the first stepping stone on the varied journey that has been my relationship with film cameras.

Way back in 2009 with my new toy :)

I haven't really used my Holga properly in a few years if I'm honest - the results that you get from a Holga aren't exactly what I'm looking for now, so I tend to use SLR cameras - however as an introduction back into film for me, this little camera was perfect. The colours and the black corners created bright results and the challenge of having such limited control of the results was just what I needed straight out of University.

So here are some of my favourite photos from my little Helga the Holga camera 

I do feel like I should try taking this camera out again now though and see how I do with it - if my changed style of taking photos reflects with this camera or even if I could consistently get a good roll of results from it (this has not happened yet haha). Maybe I'll pick it up this weekend and see what happens :)

Some of my favourite posts have also been written because of my Holga - this post about why I love this photo (which actually led to an unfinished Blurb book - I should really finish that!) and also this Diana Mini vs Holga 135bc comparison. I took my Holga to Wales, to Paris, to Krakow... for a while it was the only camera I took with me anywhere and we had fun - I loved my holga and it loved me too.

Also, if you want a Holga camera, you probably should grab one asap before the prices go a bit crazy!