Photography :: my summer photo collage

I take a camera everywhere I go, whether it's my iPhone, my trusty compact Canon S95, the more beefy Nikon D80 or my newest addition my Diana F+, I am always looking to capture photos to document what I have been up to. I have photo albums full of photos I took at university with my Pentax film camera and have thousands of digital photos stored on my external hard drive from the years since graduating. I love looking back at the trips I've taken, special times with friends and sometimes those odd days out where I've spotted something I like and snapped a quick photo. I'm a real amateur when it comes to taking photos, sometimes I follow the 'rules' and sometimes I don't, I just love capturing the moment.

I struggle to find the time and the desire to upload all my images to Flickr or print out my favourite photos to display at home. I find it so hard to choose what to photos to use, but I know I need to start printing out special photos and putting them on display at home soon. To kick start displaying my photos more regularly I've decided to create a monthly round up of a few photos I've taken. Here are a few Instagram photos taken this summer that I haven't yet shared with you. It's just a little insight into things that make me tick and what I've been up to. I plan to do this each month as a record of some of my adventures during the year and remind myself what I've been doing! I hope you enjoy...

Photos taken in July (above, clockwise from top left) -

A trip to a farm for a small festival. Armed with a brand new tent, we went to a chilled out festival that had plenty of cider and great music. It was my first time camping for over 10 years and really enjoyed it. This friendly goat wandered round the farm enjoying the bands as well as taking in the atmosphere near the cider tent!

Time for tea! July was a month of having afternoon tea with special friends. We were delighted by these tea cups and saucers and a tea brewing timer at a trip to Cordial and Grace.  

Weekend breakfast somewhere new...The Galley, a small cafe near us was a welcoming stop on a rainy Saturday morning. We stopped for a pot of tea, cup of coffee and a yummy breakfast of pancakes, local bacon and maple syrup with strawberries on the side.

Our local pub has started a buzz about chess. We played a few games of chess over a few ciders one Saturday afternoon with friends. I haven't played in a very long time and managed to keep the game going for about half and hour...that may be a record!

Photos taken in August (above, clockwise from top left) - 

Walking along the river and having the rare chance to capture a blue sky with Bristol's distinctive rows of colourful painted houses.

Zip purse success! A crafty project for my best friend Bekka that I gave to her as a present before she jetted off to Singapore to live. I used my favourite fabrics from my stash, followed some instructions for adding a zip and a lining. It was a crafty experiment making a zip purse that went surprisingly well.

A frothy coffee fix with brown sugar lumps to warm me up on a rainy Saturday.

Saturday lunch, a colourful homemade quiche! Well, I bought the pastry, but the rest I decided on myself! I used courgettes, asparagus, yellow and red cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and peas and chives picked from our garden. It was then topped with eggs and milk and baked for about 25 mins. I served it warm with salad leaves from the garden and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Mmm mmm!

What photos have you been taking this summer?