Getting creative with my DSLR camera

Last Sunday I went on a photo walk as part of the Worldwide Instameet. I joined around 20 others in Bristol who love using Instagram. Waking up on Sunday morning I felt nervous but excited to be getting involved. We all met at St Nicholas Market in central Bristol and were lucky to be greeted by a morning of wonderful weather, fantastic light and surrounded by enthusiastic photographers. I was so glad to see a group of people had formed by the time I had reached our meeting point. There were familiar faces that popped out from the group too which was comforting. The plan was to take photos of the details of Bristol that people may not normally see or associate with the city and upload them to Instagram with the hashtags #WWIM12 and #igmeetbristol_details.

We spent over an hour wandering round central Bristol looking for inspiration and things to photograph to illustrate our theme of Bristol details. I've never been given a photography brief before and I had a lot of fun trying to capture it. I spotted so many things I had never seen in the city before. Early on in the photography walk my phone battery started dying very quickly so I tentatively got out my DSLR camera. I have a touch and go relationship with my camera, some days I manage to get it to capture what I want it to, but other times I fail, especially when taking photographs inside.

I got into the swing of taking photos with my camera and really enjoyed the quality time being creative. I felt a real flow of creative energy as I walked around. I really loved using my camera again.

My Nikon D80 camera was set on the auto setting to give me chance to really focus on the images I wanted to take and think about composition. Just by picking up this camera again I felt energised and know that I will pick it up more and eventually get off the auto setting once again.

I enjoyed the morning so much that I wanted to share with you a few of my favourites photos here.

Discovering the details really made me connect to the city in a different way, exploring the beauty and colour that we can find.

At the end of the photo walk we all met up in Cosy Club Bristol, a stunning and beautiful location on Corn Street. We drank coffee and chatted to each other getting to know everyone a little more.

By taking just a few hours out of my normal Sunday routine I managed to take away a few key things from the experience.

The morning showed me that looking for the details of things around me each day that we take for granted can be a fun way to connect to places and get an alternative view of the space. There is so much beauty in the things around us, even in an urban environment, and we don't have to head out to the countryside to take photos.

It reminded me that taking a step out of my comfort zone and doing something new is energising and an experience I do really enjoy, even if I feel a little nervous beforehand.

For me one of the biggest take aways was reconnecting with one of my very favourite hobbies, photography. My love of taking photos and capturing details pushed me to start this blog. Picking up my DSLR camera after a break away from using it made me realise how much photography means to me.

Thank you to Laura, from the beautiful blog Circle of Pine Trees, and Lou from Little Green Shed for organising the event. It was lovely meeting you both and talking photography. I'm very grateful for the experience last Sunday as it got me back in a photography flow once again.

Scrapbooking September

I love September. It’s a month that brings a crisp feeling to the morning air signalling that the seasons are changing, the days get shorter and you can enjoy guilt-free comforting food like apple crumble!

With the change of season starting in September, it brings with it a symbolism of change and a new start for me more than any other month. Perhaps it was because a new school or university year began in September, but at this time of year I always have the urge to start a new journey and learn something new. In September I feel the desire to buy fresh stationary supplies, a new pretty notebook and a pen. Last September I took an evening class to learn to knit. I had a huge sense of satisfaction when I got to take notes on the first page of that new notebook for the first time and picked up the basics.  

This week I wrote about my love of photography and posted up two photo collages. I love taking photos and really enjoyed putting together the collages and the short blurb to go with each image. I think the blog post came from my underlying desire to start scrapbooking. For many months I’ve been thinking about dabbling in scrapbooking either with paper or digitally so that I can combine photos, memories and my love of patterned paper and fabric. I’m so inspired by those who craft beautiful scrapbook pages for their albums, keeping a lasting memory of events that have happened, whether they are big events such as a special birthday or small things like going for coffee at a cafe.

I haven’t made any progress to start scrapbooking yet, partly due to the cost of setting up a stash of embellishments, partly because I’m trying to focus my learning on sewing and gardening, but perhaps there is room for one more new thing to try out!  I have some pretty papers, some clear stamps, plenty of photos and a keen desire to go for it and document what I’m doing. I’ve enjoyed making cards for friends and family this year so hopefully I’ll like scrapbooking too.

Something happened on Saturday morning that made me take that leap I’ve needed.  An email newsletter landed in my inbox that I felt I was drawn to read and follow up on. The newsletter was from Shimelle.com and was about her annual class that she runs called Learn Something New Every Day. Shimelle is a highly talented scrapbooker with a fantastic blog that I regularly take a look at and am inspired by. I was drawn to this statement that Shimelle posted on her blog the following:

“Learn Something New is all about being aware of the world around you and taking away one little lesson from that world each day for a month. You can approach it in terms of gratitude. Or patience. Or steps toward a goal. You can then take on the documentation in any style you want: write in a journal. Make a minibook. Write daily blog posts. Take a daily photo”.

It sounds great doesn’t it?...and with that thought I signed up! I’m hoping that by having something to inspire me everyday and to focus on will be the gentle introduction to scrapbooking I need. Take a look at Shimelle.com to find out more about the course.

September is a great month to learn something new, start a new routine and begin a new journey. I’m looking forward to seeing what I learn over the next month of experimenting with paper, using my photos and writing, to hopefully create something by the end of the month. I’ll let you know how I get on!

Little achievements and inspirations

You may have noticed that I’ve had a few weeks where I haven’t posted on my blog. Outside of blog land I’ve been super busy with my day job...For 8 months I’ve been working on a variety of projects to help the team that I’m part of deliver a better job and improve what we do day to day. The final stages of the projects have been particularly tough as each project interlinked. We have had some big highs, as things worked, and huge lows when things weren't going to plan…However seeing the pieces of a huge puzzle fitting together and each day for the past few weeks making little achievements was really satisfying.

Many months of planning and decision making came to a head last week when we launched the projects. I’m very pleased, relieved and so very proud of what our project team have achieved and I hope that our hard work will make a difference. I work with some incredibly talented and creative people who have been a real inspiration to me and they've kept me going during one of the hardest and biggest projects I’ve ever been part of. At the end of our busy launch week I was greeted with this fantastic sunset on my walk home, it made me smile...the calm after the storm...

The projects at work have been a key focus of my time, especially for the past few weeks, and this has meant that I haven't felt like doing any projects of my own. My weekends have been precious, using the time to catch up with friends and to relax. I found myself documenting things that have inspired me or made me smile while I've been out and about...

I’ve enjoyed being outside on a super sunny Saturday sitting next to the river eating a yummy ploughmans lunch with my amazing man, Mr C, and seeing our fab friends.

I caught up with a very special friend from uni who lives nearby and had some fantastic home-made ice cream from Swinky Sweets we then sat in the park soaking up the sun, enjoying spring and chatting for hours…

I laughed so hard at a comedy night I went to this week that my cheeks and jaw ached!

…I met a friend in London who very kindly treated me to a coffee and delicious cake while we caught up on news and talked about how life is changing...

...I celebrated with friends who are expecting the arrival of a little bundle in a few weeks time...we ate yummy cupcakes and sipped champagne…

I love taking photos and capturing the little details...whether it's food I'd like to try and make myself, moments that make me happy, or things that have inspired me to think about creating new things...I've felt inspired in many different ways over the past few weeks...I'm looking forward to getting back onto the projects I've had to put to one side...I can't wait to put my energy back into what I really love doing... creating, making, baking, getting inspired and learning new things.

One of the most important things I’ve learnt during the past few months is to enjoy the little achievements and inspirations that happen everyday, they really do count towards an end goal…I hope that for the rest of the year and going forwards I will share with you more of my little achievements and inspirations and get to finish some projects of my own...What little achievements have you made this week? What has inspired you to do something new?