For the easily distracted…

I can’t believe that I still have so many photos I haven’t shared here. These are some of my current favourites from last month. I often worry that I focus too much on one subject (I do like trees) but after a stint of not taking any photos at all, I’ve realised that I’d rather take the photos that I want rather than none at all.

We’ve got a week away coming up soon and I can’t wait to take my LC-A and some of this Kodak BW400CN film with me.
In fact I think a change of scenery for a little while and some time with my cameras is just what I need…

p.s. Thomas is unwillingly in one of these photos, can you spot him?

Location: Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

As I’ve been doing #BEDM most of this month, I thought I’d have a little break from it today and catch up on uploading and sharing some of my film photos now that I’m more in the mood to do so… these are from last month on a day trip to Fountains Abbey.

Location: Fountains Abbey, England
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Agfa Vista 200

I think this is going to be my easiest post for #BEDM as I take a lot of photos on my walk to work…

Everyday I leave the house to go catch the bus – the first 10 minutes of my walk are pretty dull, and usually I’m rushing as I’ve only just left the house in enough time to make the bus.

But once I get off the bus, I have a lovely 10-15 minute walk (depending on traffic and how much time I have) through some fields, down into the valley and often I take a little bit longer than usual taking photos on the way. I meant to take some new photos for this post actually, but the weather hasn’t been great, so I never really felt like it, instead I’ll share some of my favourite from the last 4 years that I’ve been walking the same route.

I really enjoy my walk to work, it gives me 10 minutes to myself to slow down and enjoy my surroundings before the work day begins.

If you want to see more photos, you can see all my ‘walk to work‘ posts here. Oh also, I have a little Lomokino video from last winter as well.

Hands down my favourite place for a treat in terms of food at the moment is Betty’s (though it is closely followed by a local Mexican restaurant called Pinche Pinche in Chapel Allerton). I was actually quite surprised by how many photos I’d taken in Betty’s to be honest, so I was glad I had some to share.

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post all morning! I love Spring, I love love love it. I love the longer days, the lambs, the colours, the pretty flowers every where, the peonies starting to grow in our garden and most importantly, Spring means sunshine, which means photos!! Hurray!

Though this year has been a bit pants so far in terms of weather in the UK – in fact, its been the worst Spring for a long time, its still cold enough to be wearing hats and scarves today and I’ve barely taken any photos. So instead, I’m using this post to share some of my favourite Spring photos that I have taken over the last few years. I’ve probably enjoyed putting these together more than you’ll enjoy looking at them, haha.

I can’t wait for it to be really sunny so that I can go out and take more photos now.

p.s. If you’re new here and wondering what camera/film I’ve used, clicking on the image should take you to the photos Flickr page which has all that information in the tags :)

p.p.s. Also if you’re new here, hi!! I’d forgotten what it felt like to ‘out yourself out there’ in the blog world, so I’m really excited to be taking part in BEDM and making new blog friends.

~ I’m taking part in the Rosalilium ‘Blog every day in May’ challenge. Read more about it here. ~

and the sunshine too!

I’ve been trying to update my blog theme and appearance, and although I (really really) love this layout, I am having trouble with the comments showing up… argh! So sorry to anyone who’s trying to comment, hopefully I will figure it out eventually…

Camera: Zenit B
Film: Lomo 400CN
Location: Hunstanton, Norfolk

*Is anyone good with WordPress themes? Basically I want to set the post title to link to the post without the # in the url and I have no idea how… in fact the title doesn’t even link at the moment, the date does, but its a javascript theme so it doesn’t reload it just opens the post without the comments… argh!

This weekend my parents are moving out of the house they’ve lived in for the past 18 years – a house that I spent 10 years of my childhood in – and another 8 years going home to.

Everything with the move has happened very fast, so its odd to think that the last time I was there was the last without even realising it. I’m not too sad about the actual house, I’ve had 8 years to get used to not being there, but I am sad about not getting to say goodbye to the massive oak tree that I used to look at every day… isn’t that odd.

Location: Attlebridge, Norfolk
Camera: Superheadz Wide and Slim
Film: Kodak 200

I’m definitely getting carried away taking pictures of trees I think, oops.

Location: Wells-Next-The-Sea, England
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Lomography CN400

Location: Fountains Abbey, England
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista 200

It’s no secret that I have a love for photographing abbeys – Kirkstall, Bolton and Whitby Abbey are some that I’ve shared so far on here. So I was incredibly excited about visiting Fountains Abbey.

Like Kirkstall Abbey, Fountains Abbey is a Cistercian abbey – in fact Fountains Abbey is the mother ship abbey of Kirkstall, with Kirkstall being the 5th daughter house abbey to come from the estate, something I didn’t actually realise before we visited…

Every time I go around these abbeys I can’t help but think how sad it is that Henry 8th had all the monasteries pulled down in the 1500′s during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Although it is great that they are all so well preserved now and fascinating tourist attractions, I still can’t help but picture how beautiful they must have looked in their prime and also how striking they could still look now.

Location: Fountains Abbey, England
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Fuji Superia 400

First, I apologise now for the overload of photos, but I got a little carried away taking photos of this beautiful building.

These photos are a mixture of LC-A and Zenit-B photos, you can really see the difference a light meter makes I think and also the effect that over exposing has on the Lomography 400 iso film – again some of the photos have a distinctively orange tinge to them but even sat next to the auto exposed LC-A photos, I still really like them.  You can also really see the texture that the Zenit B gives photos when you compare the two cameras, I still haven’t figured out exactly what does this but I think its the shutter fabric…

Is it weird that this building took my breath away a little? I think this photo above really captures how grand and striking it looked in the sunshine.

Fountains Hall dates from around 1600 and is built partly with stone from the Abbey ruins. Although only a couple of rooms were open to the public, it was definitely worth a look around.

Location: Fountains Hall, England
Cameras: Zenit B & Refurb LC-A
Film: Lomo 400 & Agfa Vista 200

{Can you spot the slightly blurry Nuthatch in the photo above? It was really going for that tree…}

I can’t tell you how happy I am that its finally getting lighter and brighter in the UK and judging by my recent photos, I’m obviously trying to capture as much of that sunshine as I can.

These were taken around Fountains Abbey and I think I enjoyed looking for the little details around the grounds as much as I enjoyed walking around the abbey.

Camera: Zenit B
Film: Agfa Vista 200
Location: Fountains Abbey, England.

For those who need a little quiet and beautiful today like I do.

Location: Cromer, Norfolk
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Fuji Superia 400

I wouldn’t say these are any of my best photos ever, in fact I got a little carried away taking almost the same photo over and over again… But for some reason I’ve been really drawn to trees lately and these ones in particular I loved walking through. I have no other excuse apart from the sunshine! Look at the light.. and all the shadows… beautiful.

Also it’s sunny today here too and I even went for a little walk in it, its amazing what a little sunshine can do for your mood.

Location: Sandringham, Norfolk
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100

I’ve written before that I’ve always felt that in taking my photos that I’m searching for something… and I think that whatever part of me it is that drives me to take photos, probably knows what I actually need from my photos more than I do. Because once again, I spent a lot of my time on the beach last week embracing the quiet and beautiful scenes around me…

These were taken in both Cromer and Wells-Next-The-Sea and I love how peaceful both beaches look, especially in the black and white.

Location: Wells and Cromer, Norfolk
Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

I was going to wait to share these so that my photos had some kind of chronological order, but honestly my excitement got the best of me… (I’m sure you’ll see why when you look).

This spot in Hunstanton, overlooking the beautiful red chalk limestone and white chalk cliffs, has been one of my favourite places in Norfolk for a long time – in fact I remember doing a cubism project when I started high school using a photo of these cliffs which I loved.

I’m so glad that I finally got a chance to use this Kodak Ektar film in the sunshine as well
(I was extremely hopeful when I packed that one film haha).

Oh also, you may notice that some of the rocks have been separated into different colour piles – I actually didn’t notice at the time – Thomas’s parents pointed it out to me and apparently there is a man who moves the stones around (which I actually found an article on here too) to protect the cliffs. Ah man, I love Norfolk.

Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Hunstanton, Norfolk

Last week it felt like Spring had finally come to the UK (though you wouldn’t think it looking out of the window now… typical) and although it was windy and cold, it was sunny!! Sunshine, hurray! Oh sunshine, how I have missed you!

The second beach we visited in Norfolk (I’m not being chronological I know) was Hemsby. The beach road in Hemsby is one of those places that kind of has to be seen to believed, it has barely changed in my life time and I’m pretty sure my Dad said it looks the same as when he was younger too… it really is a throw back to how beaches used to be and people still love it for that.

However, we weren’t there for the shops, we were there for the beach and unfortunately due to coastal erosion that has changed a lot, but it is still absolutely beautiful.

Funnily enough these photos almost look like they’re from the 70′s don’t they… I didn’t actually expect it to be sunny during the week so I only had a bunch of 400 iso film with me so these are slightly overexposed and so orange that they almost look cross processed (I think thats a Lomo 400 quality as the Fuji Superia ones didn’t do that) but I actually really love them. The joys of film surprises :) Although next time I’ll either use a slower film or a slower shutter speed definitely.

Camera: Zenit B
Film: Lomography CN 400
Location: Hemsby, Norfolk

So even though I had post scheduled last week, Thomas and I were actually back in sunny (but windy) Norfolk for the week to celebrate various birthdays within our families. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen a whole load of photos (I may have got carried away) from both Norfolk and our weekend here exploring Yorkshire. I couldn’t decide where to start with sharing photos so here are a few things we did with one photo from each of the (um, nine) rolls of film that I took in the past week.

{We spent a day on the Norfolk Broads for my Dad’s birthday}

{We went on the beach, not once…}

{Not twice…}

{but a total of 4 times, this little dude loved it!}

{We went for walks in the woods.}

{We drunk a lot of hot drinks…}

{Whilst planning our days}

{And we went to Fountains Abbey…}

{Where I took a lot of photos!}

I can not wait to share more photos of each location, I loved that I got the chance to take so many over the week.

Did I miss anything in blog land? I’m slowly catching up with blogs and comments this week, so let me know if you’ve posted anything really exciting I shouldn’t miss :)

Cameras: Refurb LC-A and Zenit B
Films: Lomo 400, Fuji Superia 400, Kodak Ektar Agfa Vista and Kodak BW400CN
Locations: Various

You can see the full set here.

Location: Blackpool Zoo
Film: Fuji Superia 400
Camera: Zenit B

Location: Blackpool Zoo
Film: Fuji Superia 400
Camera: Zenit B

I think I may have had too much fun taking these photos at the zoo… but I’m so happy with the results.

I’m totally starting to get black and white photography now too – there’s something so stunning about the simplicity of tones rather than the complexity of hues.

Location: Blackpool Zoo
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Camera: Zenit B

I love elephants, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. My first real memory of liking them is doing a project on them when I was little – my Dad and I spent ages researching the different types and then I had to draw them… My Dad liked my drawings… I like my Dad, I liked drawing and I liked elephants, it was fun.

So I was pretty excited about seeing the elephants at Blackpool Zoo and I knew that I really wanted to get a photo of them on film…

We were actually really lucky to get photos of them outside in the end, as we only saw them outside the once out of the entire day and that one time involved them forming a queue and then pushing each other out of the door… so it was pretty reluctant, it was cold that day.

Still, I’m thrilled to have seen them, and so close too. But as much as I love elephants, I’m still pretty wary of them – they are huge and so strong – so we didn’t spend ages looking at them, but I enjoyed the time we did send with them.

Location: Blackpool Zoo
Cameras: Zenit B & LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

{I’ve been practising my portraits on Thomas, he’s my favourite unwilling subject haha.}

One of my favourite things about the beach, is looking out across the sea and imagining new worlds at the other side of it or maybe a reflected world where I’m actually just looking at myself, and sometimes I imagine nothing, just water, sky and blue (or grey) forever…

Does anyone else do that? Do you just stand there and imagine that the beach is the end of the world and you’re staring out at an amazing nothingness? A nothingness that is so still, quiet, soft and beautiful, that you are quite content to just stand there and watch it for as long as you can…

Sometimes life can be a bit much… and I’m often slow to emotionally react to things going on around me (I dread to think what that means about me) and lately life has caught up with me in my head, and being on the beach and taking these photos helped me slow down, empty out the unwanted thought processes (of which there are many) and focus on the beautiful and the quiet.

Location: The edge of the world (ahem, Blackpool)
Film: Fuji Superia 400
Camera: Zenit B

Our original plan for visiting Blackpool was a music festival which was going to be held inside the Winter Gardens, and after looking around, I was a little bit disappointed that the festival was cancelled.
What a marvellous building!

Location: Blackpool
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

{We saw this guy practising golf on the beach everyday, so I had to get a photo of course…}

The more I look at these photos, the happier I am with them. I actually came away from Blackpool a bit disappointed with the number of photos that I took, but I think this may be a case of quality over quantity this time…

Its really snowed here in Leeds today (again… in Spring… yeah) so this weekend I’m going to hide away in our house with some crochet, lots of tea and good films.
Have a great weekend!

Location: Blackpool, England
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

I mostly wanted to take photos in black and white in Blackpool, it was pretty dull weather and black and white seemed to compliment the atmosphere. So I was surprised that there were a few moments that I wanted to catch in colour but I think overall the colour photos show how distressed and run down a lot of Blackpool does look.

{random dog 1…}

{random dog 2…}

Whilst we were there I couldn’t help but be fascinated by all the little details – the benches in particular I loved. Although I couldn’t help to compare the piers to the one in Cromer  (which I need to get better photos of…) and feel a little bit sad about them.

Location: Blackpool
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Fuji Superia 400

This little roll of film was a little bit nerve-wracking for me – I’ve never taken film photos of animals in a zoo before, I hadn’t used this film in this camera before and overall, I was a little frightened about not having a light meter in the unpredictable Blackpool weather (its amazing how quickly you become dependant on that particular feature). But then when I got these back I felt a little silly at being so unsure of myself and what I’ve learnt over the past 4 years.

{This one was for Thomas, he likes guinea pigs…}

#

{We also saw some small humans… they were fairly cute in their excitement I will admit,
though not as cute as the unpictured otters – sorry small humans}

Gosh this camera… it takes my breath away.
Also, the film with its odd green/blue tones… I love it.

Overall the Blackpool Zoo was probably our favourite thing about Blackpool (other than the looong beach) and it was a great day out, I would definitely recommend it.

Location: Blackpool Zoo
Camera: Zenit B
Film: Kodak BW400CN

A couple of weekends ago, Thomas and I went to Blackpool for a few days.  Blackpool is a weird place, I have to admit… it’s a mixture of what it used to be with what it is now -  which I guess most places are – but it doesn’t seem to have any joining areas – no progression from one stage to another. It used to be a thriving seaside resort in the Victorian age and though the remnants of that exist, they are mostly run down and left behind as Blackpool becomes more and more popular for the social aspect of the town (ie clubs and bars).

Still, it is pretty photogenic (in a run down kind of way) and I’m really pleased with these photos. I also love that unlike the Ilford XP2 film which has a purple tint to it, this C41 B&W kodak film has a blue/green tint to them.

Luckily it was sunny at the point of these photos, but boy was it cold, and I am wrapped up – I look almost smothered by my coat and hat don’t I? Still I was on the beach and I looooveee the beach!!

Location: Blackpool
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

And whilst she’s busy being all bridal and what not… I’m guest posting on her blog Indieberries today.

Check out more photos taken with my new to me Canon EOS 750 camera that I found in a charity shop for £3.99 (bargain!) on Indieberries today :)

I’m quite enjoying this accidental series I’ve created… and it makes taking photos for it even more fun.

(I’m not 100% sure whats happening here, he was either hiding or digging for bugs, either way… cute!)

The Zenit B came with a Helios 44-2 lens which has a slight zoom, and as well as being able to focus on more interesting details (which is a struggle with plastic cameras) I also got to play around with the aperture. I am still not bored of playing with depth of field… I’m pretty sure I might never get bored of it.

Camera: Zenit B
Film: Fuji Superia 400
Location: Leeds

Hurray and finally! Though today is actually cold and foggy, but still, Spring is definitely coming.

These were taken with my new to me Zenit-B and I’m totally and utterly in love with them!! And the camera, gosh that camera… You have no idea how relieved I was to see that this first roll worked with it as I absolutely loved carrying that camera around with me and using it was a dream – it sounds amazing, it feels amazing, the lens is beautiful (see that light?!) oh boy… I haven’t been this excited about a camera since I got my LC-A… I’m even more excited about it after seeing the photos that Tanit has take with her ZenitB too – I think this camera has amazing potential!

(Our first snowdrop)

That last photo… I have no words for how happy I am with it – it might have made me cry a little when I first saw it as I was so happy the camera worked, and the yellow is so beautiful, and daffodils are my favourite. I think its as close to perfect in a photo that I’ve ever been… hurray!

Camera: Zenit B
Film: Fuji Superia 400
Location Leeds

I’ve been really unorganised with the photoswap this year and a lot of people taking part have also been really busy, so its been coming along slowly… I don’t really mind to much, as its not an urgent project and its the sharing of photos process that I enjoy the best rather than the speed of it.

I used my holga camera, as I haven’t used it for a while and I sent my film to Dianna to get developed and I’m really thrilled with the results, I love how soft they look.

I’m also really thrilled that the photo of the goats head around its shed worked out, it was only there for a minute and I thought I’d missed it.

These photos are also making me excited about our holidays this year, hurray!

Camera: Holga 135bc
Film: Lomography CN400
Location: Whitby, Yorkshire

I’ve been wondering what to post today – some days I just have nothing to share, and I rarely schedules posts very far ahead, but then Twitter saved me (hurray). Adam Bronkhorst tweeted a link to a post that described why he loved one photo so much and I absolutely loved reading it.

I’ve been trying not to get too sappy whilst I’ve been writing my Ecourse (I know I keep mentioning it, I’m sorry, its pretty much all I think about in my spare time right now…) but I’ve come to realise that taking photos for me is an emotional process, and Dawn even described my photos as ‘emotive’ yesterday in her LC-A test roll post (which you should read…) so this post is really a progression from that and something that I wanted to share with everyone who reads this.

So here we are, photo number one in my new ‘”Why I love this photo” series.

I tried to start this off with a photo from my first rolls of film in 2009, but looking back at these photos, I realised that even though I loved the process of using a film camera again, it wasn’t until I was in Wales, in September 2009, using my 7th roll of film with my Holga 135bc, that I fell back in love with photography but also in love with light.

That probably sounds a little odd, but its true. And this photo reminds of how I felt on that beach, on our first night in Wales. Of how beautiful the beach looked, of how the light bounced off the thin layer of water and hazily reflected across the sand. Of how relaxed I felt, just soaking that beautiful golden light in and how happy I was to just be taking photos, walking along the beach with some of my favourite people in the world…

It took me 7 rolls of film to begin to understand that a wonderful photo isn’t just about composition or the camera or the film, but its the light, its looking for that perfect light that expresses exactly how you feel in that moment. Even now, nearly 4 years later, I’m still learning how I want to take photos and how to look for that moment of light that expresses me so well, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve even fully realised these things yet… I may never fully realise them.

This photo however, marks the unrealised beginning of that journey for me – none of the photos I had taken before, although I love them for being a part of my journey, have sung to me, have made me gasp, or look at my photos in wonder. None of the photos before this made me think ‘I’ve found it…’ that missing whatever it is that I’m looking for.

I think the best thing now, looking back at this photo, is knowing that I had no clue about what was ahead of me… about where I would go with my photography, the photos I would take, how much it would really mean to me later. Though I guess really, I could say the same thing about any of my photos. But this photo especially, means that much to me now because without even realising it, it was that first photo that really made my heart sing, not just in taking it, but looking at it afterwards as well.

Looking out of the window today, its hard to believe that we’ve had this much snow lately, the sun is shining and yesterday I saw crocuses which brightened my mood considerably.

I’m still surprised by how taken with this film I am, I’ve always loved colour, so I never thought I’d take to black and white photography, but the more I take, the more I love the results. I definitely need to get more of this film for the year I think.

I pushed my luck with the light with this film – it was just starting to get dark and even though I used a 400 film and my LC-A with its internal light meter, I’d say over half of the film is a blurry mess.

However, I did get some good shots so I think it was worth it. And I enjoyed the walk too.

Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Lomography CN 400
Location: Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds

I was a little bit worried about posting snow photos so long after it snowed here, but it actually looks exactly like this today now, its snowed here all morning and even though it looks lovely, I’m so over the snow!!

Although saying that, these are probably some of my favourite photos from this film, the last photo reminds me of Narnia. I’ve actually been waiting to take that photo for a while, so I was pretty pleased when the conditions were all perfect for it.

Anyway, at least we’re edging closer to Spring every day… right?

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Location: Walking to Work, Leeds

Location: Swinsty Reservoir
Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film:Fuji Superia 400

I love a good idiom. Though I am using this as a can, rather than a can’t.
That is allowed though I’m sure :)

Location: Swinsty Reservoir
Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film:Fuji Superia 400

It’s odd how you can become quite fond of the things.
Especially those hidden amongst the everyday. But you do.
They all look a bit battered, but they still serve their purpose.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Location: Walking to Work, Leeds

Snoooow!! So much snow. In fact, these photos I took before in the snow look quite pitiful in comparison don’t they. (I just realised that the first two photos are almost exactly from the same spot, I like that view…)

I’m not a huge fan of snow (mainly because it usually means ice…) but this walk to work was perfect… a real winter wonderland. In fact this roll was possibly the fastest film of photos that I’ve ever taken and I really love the results. Snow really does look great in black and white.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Location: Walking to Work, Leeds

Two of my best friends got engaged over Christmas and I knew that I wanted to take a portrait of them together when I saw them to celebrate.
Hurray for love!

Camera: Polaroid Land 340
Film: Fuji FP-100C
Location: Swinsty Reservoir, Yorkshire

So I took lots of photos…
And just 24 hours later, it was all gone.

Camera: Polaroid Land 340
Film: Fuji FP-100C
Location: Swinsty Reservoir, Yorkshire

I didn’t take too many photos in Norwich when we were home over Christmas, and the few I did take are a bit dark, but I really like them.

The bar is apparently a new one in Norwich, called the Norfolk Taps (I think) and we really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was lovely and the taps along the wall were such a fun idea.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Norwich, Norfolk

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some of my photos have this #lookupleeds tag on them.

#LookupLeeds is a project started on My Life in Leeds which encourages the exploration of Leeds through photography and I really love it. I especially love looking up when I’m taking photos, so this just gave me the excuse to do it more in Leeds. You can see all the photos tagged on Instagram here.

My Life in Leeds is also an amazing resource for anyone living in the area, so if you have a chance, do check out the website and have a good look around.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Leeds

A few more photos that I took on Monday walking to work in the snow. As I couldn’t use my OM-10 I experimented a little with the aperture on the LC-A in the first and last photo and I’m glad that I did, its so easy to get comfortable just leaving it on Auto that I often forget to use it.

It’s meant to snow more today and over the weekend, so I’m actually a little bit excited about the idea of taking more photos in it.

Have a great weekend!!

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Walking to Work, Leeds

I think I may have tested the limits of my little LC-A a bit too far by using a 100 ISO film in winter on a dull day and I have no excuse other than I was very excited about getting some Kodak Ektar film for Christmas and I was impatient… I’ll try and restrain myself with it until it gets brighter now.

However, I’m still pretty thrilled with these results, as they do show the colours and feel of the morning so much better than my phone did in colour (which is why all the other photos are B&W, I’m not going to talk about the issues I have with white balance settings) I really do love the tones of this film and I’m glad even tested to its limits that they still show.

Luckily, I also took some photos with this roll of film in the sunshine at the beginning of the month, which have been featured today on Clio’s blog as part of her Friends & Film series (another film blog series I just love) so if you want to see some sunshine and even lovelier colour tones from this film, please check out my feature there. Also Clio’s blog is lovely, her photography is beautiful and thoughtful, so its a double win.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Walking to work, Leeds.

I wrote an article for Lomography about my 2013 Analogue Resolutions and one of the resolutions was to start to take portraits of people… so I started looking through my photos to see if I had taken any portraits of people before and to my surprise I had a few that I really loved…
(granted not that many out of 4,000 photos, but a few is a start)

My Dad on the North Yorkshire Moor Railway, I’m not sure he’s seen this and he’ll probably hate it, but I really really love it
(so there Dad)

This is one of my best friends, we were on a boat on the Norfolk Broads at the time, I looked up and she looked so pretty and happy,
I didn’t even think, I just took a photo.

My Thomas. He hates having his photo taken and you can see annoyance and amusement in this photo, which is his usual face when he’s dealing me coming to think of it :) I’m quite taken with him.

My Mum walking Harry. If you know my Mum then you know that she doesn’t really just walk, she strides
with purpose, even when she doesn’t need too, so here is my Mum striding…

…and my sister doing exactly the same thing :) They’re both very determined women!

I’d also completely forgotten that I’d featured some photos of people that I’d met at Lomo Meet-ups on Lomography too. And looking through all these photos, I wasn’t as scared of taking portraits as I was when I originally made my resolution list, now I’m excited to get going!

{Various cameras and films, click on each photo to go to the Flickr page with more details}

I’ve taken photos in Wells-Next-The-Sea so many times before, but its honestly one of those places that I will never get bored of, its just so quaint and so familiar to me now, that I enjoy taking it all in and capturing as much of it as I can on film.

Location: Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Camera: Refurbished LC-A

This post could really be called F/1.4 love… because I am still so smitten with the photos taken with the Olympus OM-10 using the F/1.4 aperture. The depth of field and bokeh type effect is just so pretty… Of course now I just want to take more and more of them, so I really can’t wait for the days to start getting longer and it to be light when I leave work.

Cameras: Olympus OM-10 & Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Location: Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk

During our week in Norfolk, we managed to get to the beach and it was perfect! I love the beach in any weather and I especially love it with good company.

Although there were a lot of people around, the beach still seems vast and relaxing. Sigh, I love the beach!

Camera: Olympus OM-10 & Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Location: Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk

Every year Leeds has a German Christmas Market in Millennium Square (I made a video of the carousel last year too)  and this year we went with friends to look around, eat hotdogs, drink honey mead (which was delicious) and I took lots of photos which was so fun. Luckily we had a lovely sunny day too.

I took these photos with both my Refurb LC-A and my parents OM-10 camera, and I’m really enjoying using them together. The OM-10 allows me to capture more details, whilst the LC-A captures photos beautifully at most distances.

Cameras: Olympus OM-10 & Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Location: Leeds

After using my 40p OM-40 camera, I decided that now was the time to start experimenting with my parents Olympus OM-10 camera properly… which of course means lots of F/1.4 photos of christmas tree ornaments and decorations (I love the grumpy pug so much). I’m sure I’ll get bored of playing with depth of field eventually, or maybe not.

I also snuck in a slightly blurry photo of Harry, because he’s cute, hurray!
(Did you notice that Harry has the biggest stocking… he’s also spoilt)

Cameras: Olympus OM-10 & Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Location: Leeds & Norwich.

So I know I’m a little early in wishing a Merry Christmas, but I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t blogged once, and I can imagine that’s going to continue until Friday and then, its celebration time!!

I am so excited about the holidays, I’m going to take a small break from here (and maybe the whole of the internet) for a while and relax, eat, drink and be merry! I’m also going to take a lot of photos. I haven’t taken any recently (stupid Winter) and my heart is aching to take some… so hopefully in the new year I’ll have something new to share, and also my word for 2013 and probably a recap of 2012 as well… why not :)

Anyway, I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas, full of cheer and merriness and wonderful New Year.

See you in 2013!!

p.s. I shared an early christmas gift here a few days ago so if you missed it, please check it out.

I shared some of my favourite photos from the year in yesterday’s calender but I’ve taken so many that it was quite hard to narrow it down, so here are a few that didn’t make the cut :)

Of course I had to include one of Harry :) such a sweet little mischievous face.

I’ve felt a bit stiffled with my photos lately, as its just been so dark and cold, I haven’t wanted to take many, so it’s nice to see that I have taken a lot that I love this year. I’m also starting to get excited about having time off during the holidays to take photos too, hurray!

p.s. For camera, film etc, click on each photo to go to the Flickr page, it should have more info on it in the tags.

p.p.s. I took a 12:12 12/12/12 photo on Instagram, just because.

Camera: Double Dip
Film: Lomo CN 400
Location: Whitby, England.

{The Chimney in the background has been demolished now, I actually kind of miss it every morning…}

These are actually from last year, I took them as part of Susannah Conway’s Photo Meditations and then never actually uploaded them onto Flickr, oops.

These photos are actually from last year but our tree always looks pretty much the same if I’m honest (you can see photos from last year here) I’m a stickler for tradition at Christmas. Although we do have my parents fancy, flashy LED lights on the tree after I accidentally stole them earlier this year. (Thanks Dad and Mum, oops).

I took these last year with my Holga 135bc as I knew I needed to finish the film off. I didn’t expect them to work to be honest, so the fact that I got some fun (if a bit silly) results always makes me smile. Sometimes I take things way to seriously so these were a nice reminder to enjoy myself, to stop comparing myself to other people and to enjoy the process, even if I am waving a camera around in front of a christmas tree haha.

Camera: Holga 135bc
Film: Lomo CN 80

{My Dad likes to take photos too}

I wasn’t that blown away originally by this roll of film. I think it’s too easy to compare colour negative film with cross processed slide films sometimes but now I’m quite keen on the muted colours and subtle contrasts, they seem suit my memory of Whitby so much better.

I’m know Anna doesn’t do her Much Love Monday posts any more, but with the lovely heart that is in one of these photos (did you see it?) I couldn’t resist.

Location: Whitby, England.
Film: Lomograpy Colour Negative 400
Camera: Refurb LC-A

p.s. It’s December! I added snow to my blog. It’s silly I know, but I don’t care, our Christmas tree is up, my Christmas desktop background is in place and I am ready to get festive, woohoo!

In October I spent the day with Zoe at the Reetsweet Autumn Fair in the Corn Exchange in Leeds. As we were there all day,
I took it as a opportunity to practice populating my photos and to try and document the lovely light and
atmosphere that the Reetsweet fairs have.

Tomorrow the Reetsweet Christmas Fair is being held at the Corn Exchange and I’m really looking forward to wandering around and
probably buying some christmas gifts too. If you live in Leeds I highly recommend a visit.

Also this weekend our christmas tree is going up and I am EXCITED. I love Christmas, woohoo!
Have a great weekend :)

Location: Leeds Corn Exchange
Camera: Yashica Samurai
Film: Kodak Portra 160 NC

I know… I’m still posting photos of Whitby. We’re getting there with them though I promise.
I definitely need to go out and take some new photos soon.

Whilst we were in Whitby we went for a ride on the replica Endeavor (which you can see here, I think I’ve posted that photo already). The original Endeavor was built in Whitby and it was fun to think what it would have been like to see it in the harbour.

I also pretended that I was a pirate, just for a second :) then I took more photos.

Location: Whitby, England.
Film: Lomo Colour Negative 400
Camera: Refurb LC-A

These are actually a mixture of photos from Whitby, Robin’s Hood Bay and Staithes but I like them together and saying Whitby is just easier. I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

I was a little distressed when I realised that this was my last Lomo Redscale XR film and they haven’t had it on the Lomography website for a while… (don’t panic yet?) so I was conservative with this film.

I kind of wish that I hadn’t been though – I’ve never been that precious with film before and I think that in worrying about ruining it or wasting the film, I forgot to just enjoy it as much as I usually do. Luckily I did enjoy it enough to get some pretty photos though. The last one is my favourite.

Location: Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay, Staithes.
Camera: Superheadz Yellow Peace
Film: Lomography Redscale XR

So it has been a few months since the Olympics and since the Olympic Torch came near our house (you can see my instagram photos of the torch here). I was a little anxious of taking photos of everyone around us whilst we waited, but I’m so glad that I did, I think these capture it pretty well.

Location: Leeds, England
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160
Camera: Yashica Samurai

Oh gosh I miss the sunshine… the only light I see now is my ten minute walk to work and out of my window… but I’ll be honest, a car park does not make for inspiring viewing all day. Even when occasionally a crow gets in a fight with a magpie (its rare and the crow always wins)

This last photo is what happens when I attempt to take a photo over a wall that is a good foot taller than me, by jumping and guessing :) I love it!!

Location: Whitby, England
Film: Lomo Xpro Chrome iso 100
Camera: Refurb LC-A

 I shared some photos of York’s city walls last year but it is one of my favourite things about York and I can’t seem to stop myself taking even more pictures of it whilst I’m there.

It was cold, and overall a pretty dull day but I kind of like that about these photos.

Location: York, England
Camera: Reburb LC-A
FIlm: Kodak Portra NC 160

To celebrate the fact that Thomas and I are still together after a crazy amount of time, we went to York for the day. Our main reason was to go to Betty’s for a ridiculously tasty breakfast (the rosti and the eggs benedict are so good!) but after eating our full we spent the rest of the day looking around the city.

I always find York so charming, even when its busy, there is always something to see and even in the cold it was lovely to look around, and warming up again in the pub with a celebratory world beer was also a treat (I can’t remember what I had though but it was also tasty.) Hurray for celebrations.

Location: York, England
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160

I shared some instax photos from these rocks last week and my LC-A photos have not disappointed. I love that you can really tell that the sun was setting in these, it really was beautiful.

Location: Cow and Calf Rocks, Ilkley
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160

p.s. I’ve had a bit too much fun playing with my blog header this morning, its subtle but I love it, what do you think?

The photos that I shared yesterday using the 40p(!) Olympus OM-40 camera were taken around Rodley Nature Reserve which is only a few miles away from our house, we walked along the canal, around the reserve and then walked home, stopping off for lunch on the way – it was a pretty perfect day for trying out a new (to me) camera.

{I love this house, its just as pretty in black and white don’t you think?}

{Bulrushes are one of my Nanna’s favourites, so I had to take a photo really}

Location: Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds
Camera: Olympus OM-40
Film: Kodak 200

This camera is actually part of my 12 for 2012 series, but honestly, out of 12, I’ve used 8, so I think this project may be a bit of a fail.

Thomas’s Dad managed to find the body of this Olympus OM-40 camera on a market for 40p. 40p!! I kid you not. He’s my hero. Luckily I already had my Dad’s OM-10 camera, so I just borrowed the lens from that to try this beauty out. I was a little worried about the shutter on this camera as it does seem to stick sometimes, but out of a roll of 24, 21 photos came out, so I don’t think its a huge issue, though it is something I would want to try and fix before using it again.

Overall, I am really excited about these photos as playing with the aperture settings on a camera and getting close up detail shots is one of my favourite things (see my first experimentation with them here) even if I don’t do it that often.

Hurray for f/1.4 and depth of field in close up shots. I just love love love these.I’m also fairly impressed that the £1 Kodak ISO 200 film I used to try out this camera captured the hazy light so wonderfully too. A success overall I think!

Location: Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds
Camera: Olympus OM-40
Film: Kodak ISO 200

These are my last photos with this roll of film and I’m pretty sad about that. I never expected to really love black and white results as much as I love these (I am a huge fan of colour) but I really can’t get over these, I think its because there is so much black in them. I love the colour black (it was my teenage favourite for a long time, much to my Nanna’s despair) and the contrast in these is so appealing to me.This is definitely another film to add to my regular films to use (much to my purses despair, haha).

p.s. Did you spot Robin Hood amongst these? I was pretty chuffed that I managed to find him and get a photo.

Location: Robin Hood’s Bay, England
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Camera: Refurbished LC-A

I’m not really sure why its called Robin Hood’s Bay considering that it isn’t anywhere near Nottingham…
perhaps the smugglers that used it stole from the rich to give to the poor?

Anyway, this bay is kind of what I would imagine my quiet, safe place to look like and every time I look at these photos I feel the same as when we were there, calm and relaxed.

I was a bit worried about using a black and white film as the colours were so lovely but I think that I actually prefer the look of the black and white tones here, the contrast is perfect.

Location: Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak BW400CN

I haven’t used my instax mini much this year as I’ve been distracted by my polaroid land camera, but this weekend with my friends I decided was a perfect time to use a pack of film that I’ve had sitting around for a while, and I’m really glad I did.

These photos are a mixture of shots from the Cow and Calf Rocks in Ilkley and also some from feeding the ducks Otley in Yorkshire, I love how the beautiful country side is only 5/10 minutes drive away from Leeds and these shots show the stunning views so well. (You can also see that it was cold, brrr!)

Location: Ilkley and Otley, Yorkshire
Camera: Fuji Instax Mini

I wasn’t originally going to share these photos as overall, I’m really disappointed in them, the colours are dull and most of the results are a little blurry (wrong camera and film choice I think. Bother). However I mentioned before about ‘keeping it real’ and sometimes I think that the process of working towards a great photo is just as important as getting that great photo and these photos are definitely part of the process.

I took all these photos in an attempt to populate my photos, to document the people around me as well as the landscape. This is a challenge for me and something I struggle with when I go somewhere new. I studied Interior Design at university so I am automatically drawn to architecture and perspective photos, so training myself to look for interesting human moments is really quite difficult when I’m constantly distracted by interesting designs, shapes and lines.

{a moment alone and a pop of red}

{Ok, I was more interested in the dogs, but look at the middle ones happy face… so cute}



{I so wish this one wasn’t blurry… I was quite taken with these two ladies.}

{Ok, this last photo, I am actually happy with – I loved the idea of the seagulls being just like the couple on the bench, having a moment to look around, enjoy the view – perhaps they are even all looking at the same thing.}

I think its so easy to fall into habits with your chosen hobby, to know what you’re good at and just stick with it but film (and toy camera) photography to me has always been about the challenge, and I’m hoping that when I look back at these in the future, I’ll see these photos as the beginning of a new, tougher challenge and hopefully I’ll be able to see some progression too (fingers crossed).

I’d love to hear about how you push yourself in the comments – either with photography or elsewhere, sometimes even a small push is all we need to improve, so lets encourage each other!

Camera: Holga 135bc
Film: Lomography ISO 400 (usually a winning combo but not this time)
Location: Whitby, England.

p.s. if anyone tells me how great these photos are, I won’t believe you lol, I’m just saying!

In October my blog friend, the lovely Zoe, from Ladybird Likes came to visit and as well as helping her out with her stall at Reetsweet, we also went for a lovely little photo walk around Kirkstall Abbey.

I love meeting blog friends in person and Zoe was a joy to spend the weekend with, I’m so glad that she came to visit and Thomas and I both enjoyed showing her around Leeds and getting to know her better.

You can see Zoe’s beautiful film photos from the weekend here (with a cameo appearance of my hand) do check them out, I really love them as it was great watching Zoe take her photos and then seeing the final results.

Have a great weekend, I’m spending mine with my girls and I can’t wait already.

Camera: Yashica Samurai
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160
Location: Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds

I think these photos are some of my surprise favourites, this last one in particular. I actually didn’t plan to take as many photos as I did in Norwich but I’m glad I did. Perhaps I’ll take some more in December next time that I’m home.

Location: Cathedral Quarter, Norwich
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Camera: Refurb L-A

It’s funny, I’ve considered Norwich my home city since I was little, even when we didn’t live there but I had no idea that the area around the Cathedral was called Cathedral Quarter. I guess it makes sense though… whatever its called, it is pretty. I think I want to live there one day.
(Also not pictured as it was too tiny was a lady playing with a pug puppy in the park… so I definitely want to move there haha)

I’m going to count the number of door/door way photos I have on Flickr now I think… I see a trend. I just can’t help myself.

Location: Cathedral Quarter(!), Norwich
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200
Camera: Refurb LC-A

p.s. I got a bit bored of Whitby so I thought I’d shake it up a bit this week and then share more Whitby photos next week. Why not :)

I always feel the most homesick for Norfolk when I’m ill, especially for my family. So it was nice to have this roll of film with photos of Norwich that I’d forgotten about in the batch of films I got developed when we got back from Whitby. I think these might be from August, so it looks nice and sunny (which it definitely isn’t here at the moment)

These are seriously making me excited about going home again for Christmas (though I am excited about Christmas already hehe) and I’m glad that I finally took one of my cameras out around Norwich too.

Oh also, I should add, if you live in the UK, this film was from Poundland! I used to get the Kodak 200 film from there but they have this Agfa Vista Plus 200 film now too and I think its pretty good, especially for a pound!

Location: Norwich (finally)
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista Plus 200

So I may have already ordered another few rolls of this film, as I absolutely adore it already. I’m so glad that I tried it (even if I should really have tried it sooner) as I feel that its going to be one of my favourites for a while.

These are the last photos I took with this film around Whitby after our journey on the train, I posted all my post cards (and some gifts) from the Post Office, I thought it was so cute! I also loved the men rowing the boat across the harbour, I’m glad that I caught them next to the other rowing boats too, hurray.

Even though its been well over a month since we in Whitby, I’m still loving these photos, I hope you’re still enjoying seeing them too.

Location: Whitby, England
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Camera: Refurb LC-A

I’ve already posted some photos of Whitby Abbey taken with Lomography ISO 400 film and my Double Dip camera which were so colourful that its almost amazing to believe that these were taken on the same day at the same time…

Whitby Abbey seemed to have so much character and I love that my different cameras have managed to catch the different aspects of the Abbey, these photos in particular seem to capture the spookier aspect of the Abbey that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula (see what I did there, today being Halloween, haha).

Film: Kodak Portra NC 160
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Location: Whitby Abbey, England

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Along the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Oh, I miss the beach! It’s cold in Leeds. Really cold. My right hand is a little bit blue. So I kind of wish I was back here right now. Not that it was much warmer on the day, but everything just seems more tolerable to me at the beach.

I’m going to go find a nice hot chocolate to warm me up I think now, brrrr!

Location: Sandsend, England.
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160
Camera: Refurb LC-A

After visiting Staithes, we came back along the coast towards Whitby and stopped at Runswick Bay. Although not quite as quaint as Staithes, I really liked it here as it was so calm, we wandered along the beach, enjoying the soft sand and sound of the waves and saw some fun little sights.

I also want to live in this white cottage now. So cute!

Location: Runswick Bay, England
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160

Oh how I love this film. I think I’m going to have to slowly stock up on it as its so pretty and soft.
I love how its captured the pretty details and colours of Staithes.

Location: Staithes, England
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Kodak Portra NC 160

As well as looking around Whitby on our week away, we also explored the neighbouring bays, including the fishing harbour village of Staithes which I became quite taken with. A lot of the area around Whitby seems to be frozen in time, I can imagine that Staithes in particular hasn’t changed all that much in the past 100 or so years.

Location: Staithes, England
Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Lomo Xpro Chrome

Our last stop on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway was Pickering, where we spent a couple of hours grabbing food and having a look around before getting the train back to Whitby. I thought Pickering was cute, it’s a small market town, so there wasn’t a huge amount to see and we didn’t really have time to look around the castle but I still managed a few photos.

(populating my photos win)

One highlight was Pickering Church which had wall paintings dating from the 15th century covering nearly all the walls.

We didn’t really plan much for our week away but the one thing I was excited about was going on a steam train and we weren’t disappointed. It felt a little bit like we were on Hogwarts Express which I loved and there was so much to see and to hear, the whistle in particular made me smile everytime.

This is my first roll of Kodak Ektar and I think I’m smitten, the red tones are just stunning and I love how they completely suit the subject. I probably should have used a faster speed film for the inside shots as they are just a little bit blurry (although that could have been the train moving too thinking too) but I would happily use this film over and over again.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Location: Along the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

God I loved this place, it was so perfect for taking photos, there was just so much to see. Even with as many photos as I took I’m not sure I got everything. I can’t get over how quaint it was, the lovely colour of the bricks, the bunting… I loved it.

Have a great weekend, amazingly we’re going out to take more photos together (in an attempt to catch up with my 12 for 2012 project). I’m already looking forward to it :)

{Looking down across Whitby – this was my favourite view – click on the photo to see it bigger}

I mentioned yesterday that I was hugely excited about this camera, and although I loved the results from the single exposures (the colours!!) this is where all the excitement really is – in the double exposures.

I’ve always enjoyed multiple exposures but I’m reluctant to do them too often, I guess because I don’t want to lose that first exposure and often I just don’t make the time to take them.
However, having a dedicated camera for doubles was liberating and so much fun.

I really love these results. Really really. I think sometimes I take my cameras too seriously, and most of the time I’m happy with that, but sometimes you need to kick back, mess around, play with the light a little and have fun. And that’s what I did with this camera and I really love it for that.

I think next time I’ll try and shake it up a bit, I really love the splitzer look and as my LC-A is a refurbished one rather than the plus I can’t get the Lomography attachment to do that so I may have gone a bit overboard with that look here but in the name of having fun and being a bit more abstract (perhaps) I think it was totally worth it.

p.s. The lovely Dawn from Candidly Clyde included me in her list of ‘ten photo blogs you should be following‘. If you love photo blogs then you will love this list, I even found some new favourites too.

I have a soft spot for ruined buildings… and Whitby Abbey didn’t disappoint in terms of photographic potential. In fact I have more photos of the abbey with three other cameras and films, which I’m looking forward to sharing at some point but I knew I had to share these first from my Double Dip as I find them so exciting.

 How gorgeous and saturated are those colours, I can’t get over them, especially as it wasn’t that sunny a day and it’s a colour negative film, not a cross processed slide film – though it is iso 400 which I think definitely helped to get these results.

I realise that I am probably the only person excited about these, but I may have already found the film that suits this camera and I always love that feeling, that click where it just feels right, its almost like I can imagine all the future photos I’ll take with that camera and film, as they are perfect for each other…  In fact, I think I’m more excited about this cheap, home modified, small, plastic, unassuming camera and its potential than I have been about a new camera for a while and amazingly, I almost didn’t take it with me.

Everytime I looked through my photos trying to decide which photos to share next, I kept coming back to these four photos and looking at them it was pretty obvious the connection between them.

{Can you see it?}

I can’t even chose a favourite between them!

Sometimes I can be stubborn about things for no reason… It took me years to watch Moulin Rouge because I decided that I didn’t want to. Of course as soon as I saw it I completely loved it and kicked myself for not watching it sooner.

And, for some reason, when I started taking film photos again, I was reluctant to use black and white films, I’m not sure why, I think because I love colour so much. I eventually tried Ilford XP2 and adored it – especially with my Diana Mini – but I’ve been quite stubborn about trying other films. After some recommendations from friends, I decided to try the Kodak BW400CN film. Like the Ilford XP2 this is a C41 developed film, so not a true black and white technically, but wow… WOW!!!!

I’ve been looking at these photos since I got them developed and been wondering if I really took them… the results of this film – the contrasts and the tones – with my refurbished LC-A are truly gorgeous (I haven’t edited them at all) and I think now, I truly get the appeal of black and white film.

I can’t wait to use it again already!

Have a great weekend.

I wasn’t really sure where to start with these photos, so I decided to pick a camera and a film and then choose some of my favourites from that, and I think these photos are a pretty good way to kick it all off.

I still can’t believe how pretty Whitby was and how lucky we got with the sunshine, its no surprise that I took as many photos as I did really, I would have been crazy not to… right? I’m telling myself right.

Before I kick off my Whitby photos (there are a lot, I love them so already) I knew that I had to share these photos of Harry first. I can’t believe that I completely forgot I had taken them but then these are from May…

I know this last one has everyones trainers in focus rather than Harry, but I still quite like it and his little annoyed face cracks me up. He really wanted to go for a walk and we were all sitting around having cups of tea haha. Also he gets fed up with me putting cameras in his face after a little bit so he does this. I love him.

p.s. If you haven’t seen Harry’s annoyed at me face before, there is another photo here that cracks me up just as much. Poor Harry…

First, I have to say that it was an absolute delight having Zoe from Ladybird Likes visit us for the weekend and even more fun helping her out with her stall on Saturday. I love it when you meet a blogger in real life and they are even nicer and lovelier in person. Also she took me for a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate in Starbucks straight away which totally won me over :)

Knowing that I had 13 films to develop from Whitby, I originally didn’t plan to take any cameras on Saturday with me (gasp) but I realised I still had half a film in my Yashica Samurai, so I had to take that (obviously) and then I remembered that I still had film for my 340 Polaroid camera too (hurray), so in the end I had a lot of fun taking photos.

Unfortunately, and really it pains me to say it, I still haven’t had much luck with this Fuji FP-100C film. I did a bit of research today and I think that despite leaving it for 5 minutes that I needed to leave it for much longer, so next time, I’ll just have to be really patient. If I can. I ended up editing these to make them brighter.

But how amazing does Zoe’s stand look. You should check out her shop. Seriously, her items are perfect and so well made, I saw at least 10 I wanted and I know that when Zoe announces her new range very soon (I got a sneak peak, its amazing) you will all love it!

p.s. I’m getting the 14 films developed today and although my purse is crying (just a little) my heart is very happy, I can’t wait to see the results, woohoo!!!!

Sometimes I doubt why I put the photoswap together each year – I’m not the most organised person and on top of that, every year someone gets disappointed by either the mail or their partner and waiting for the films to be sent often the most tense part for me… but then the photos start to appear in the Flickr group and my heart skips a little beat and I remember exactly why I put the swap on.

So here are some photos from the swap so far that make my heart skip and remind me of the excitement and joy of film.

Eep, that face!
Photo taken by Clio and sent to Amy.

I love these colours!
Photo taken by Michelle and sent to Kelly Ann

The light is so pretty!
Photo taken by Jazzy and sent to Nadine

So simple and stunning!
Photo taken by Kelly Ann and sent to Michelle

There are many more photos in the Flickr group and I’ve loved looking through them all, I think that I get just as excited when they start to appear as the swappers involved :)

{Photos from the last time I was at a Reetsweet Craft Fair}

I am excited!!

Today, the amazing Zoe from Ladybird Likes is coming to Leeds and tomorrow, she will be having a stall at the
Reetsweet Autumn Craft Fair in the Leeds Corn Exchange.

If you’re in Leeds tomorrow come and say hi to both Zoe and I (I’ll be around with my camera(s)
I’m sure) and treat yourself to some amazing crafts!!

Have a great weekend x

As I walked down the hill to work today, I finally started to see evidence that it was Autumn, the air was crisp, the sun was low and glowing across the fields… and as I walked along my own photos started to flash in my head. I can’t think of any times this has happened before, but once I started to think about it, the more I wanted to see more of my Autumn photos, so here are some of my favourites from the past few years.

I guess thats probably enough photos… I should really get those films developed so I have something new to share soon :)

My luck with this camera seems to vary, it’s a very different approach to my other cameras and the learning curve, especially with the colour film seems to be quite steep, but boy I still love it, even when I overexpose or underexpose my photos.

Hellooo!!

I’m back and currently feeling relaxed and refreshed (who knows how long that will last lol) and I’m excited to share my first photos from Whitby with you.

Ohhhhh, how I love this camera/combination, it is so fun to carry around, so fun to use and I love the results (even though I have over exposed the results a number of times). I’m so thrilled with these photos, I think they capture the oldy world feeling that Whitby has and the Abbey ones details are so perfect, I nearly danced around the Abbey when I pulled those apart.

You totally understand that I want to be back there right now don’t you? Lets all go :)

As part of my ‘take more photos’ goal for this year – I decided that I wanted to use more of the cameras that I haven’t actually used before in my collection. I am a little behind on these but I’m catching up and as long as I get 12 cameras done by the end of the year I’ll be happy.

I found this little plastic camera in a charity shop in Norfolk for 99p, I haven’t been able to find much out about it but it is kind of cute.

The photos are a little hit and miss from this camera I think, some are in focus and others aren’t at all, even though it has a fixed lens.

 I don’t think I’ll be using this camera again in a hurry, which is a shame as I do like finding quirky plastic cameras but I do have many others that I prefer the results from. Still I guess they aren’t too bad for 99p.