Snapshots on life

Location, location

The camera club girls and myself checked out a fantastic local photo location on the weekend. We were so lucky with the weather - it rained up until I left home but was dry from the time I arrived at the location until we left.

Monsalvat consists of a series of unique and distinctive buildings in the European style set in over 12 acres of parkland.

We had  great day - I was hampered by trying to carry Will and shoot one handed for some of the time, so unfortunately I have quite a number of out of focus shots. I'm keen to go back on a slightly less wet day (and without Will!). Will's not quite at the stage of being able to be sat down alone in a place filled with stone steps and terraces!

Splish, Splash

We just started giving Will a bath regularly. Hmm - that sounds like we didn't wash him before. We did - but he usually had a shower with one of us. He had so much fun splashing around the bottom of the shower that we thought we should let him enjoy a bit more water in the bathtub. Of course - I went snap crazy (click to see larger as usual):

Obsessed by Photowalls -- part 2

I wanted to do something similar to this above our dining table - but our renovations will get rid of the wall in question and replace it with a wall of cupboards. I'm debating the idea of hanging pictures on the cupboard doors -- just not sure yet.

This was my other plan for the same spot. I even bought shelves from ikea to do it. I love the idea of easily being able to re-arrange/add/subtract and keep it updated.

The casual air of this one really appeals to me - however, I don't think I could do it in my house. My 'virgo'/perfectionist/must.have.everything.lined.up  side would get in the way.

Finally, I'd love to have the space to do something on this scale. although this pic makes me want to straighten the frames. The Husband is used to me walking into houses and itching to straighten their frames! A tip for those with frames the repeatedly end up crooked  - blutack is your friend. If you choose to ignore the skew then don't be offended if I nudge it back in line!

Meet Bella - Superstar!

A month or so ago The Husband entered a snapshot I took of our labrador Bella into a competition to be in the 2009 Home Hardware 'Dogs on the job' catalogue. A week or two ago we got a phone call to say they loved the photo and she was a winner.

 

Technically it was a pretty bad shot (taken with my point and shoot before I knew anything about photography) and it's actually come out quite dark on their website, but it is pretty cute.

She's the one on the top right - inspecting our deck!

On Monday she has her professional photo shoot. I'm looking forward to seeing a professional animal photographer work. Not looking forward to trying to control our still puppylike labrador!!!

Obsessed by Photowalls

I am in love with photowalls. I have spent hours arranging and rearranging frames on the floor, placeholders on the walls and mocking up ideas in Photoshop. I currently have one photowall done in my living area,  I was planning another in the meals area but we are now planning to rip that wall out in a few months and enlarge the area so it  is on hold.

Some inspiration I have collected from my searches:

heart photowall via cookiemag

 

image source unknown

Better Homes and Gardens

 

Tips on arranging and displaying your photos:

RealSimple & BHG

Thanks to the gorgeous Kylie from All Things Lovely I have discovered a new time waster. Wordle lets you enter a string of text and it turns it into a cool little piece of art.

{Mosaic Monday}

I have been indulging in some flickr love this morning while Will sleeps. I am always inspired, amazed and in awe of the talent of so many wonderful photographers on flickr. Here are just some of my many faves.

 

Eye Candy

I'm considering doing one of these online workshop's being run by one of my fave photographers Sheye Rosemeyer. Seh has a fantastic, quirky style and gorgeous processing. Be sure to check out her blog.

I think I'll end up doing the Evolve workshop - I'd prefer to feel a little out of my depth and challenge myself rather than go over stuff I have already picked up (hopefully).

I found the SLR course I did at a Camera Club earlier in the year useful but wasn't as specific to my interest as this online workshop should be. I also learn much better in a self paced kind of environment rather than a classroom style environment.

Inspiration wanting...

I have once again lost my phojo.

I'm hoping this Q & A project by Tracey will kickstart it. Then I will follow up with another project I have been meaning to do for ages.

My goal is to get the Q & A project done by next weekend. I give you permission to nag me if isn't done!

Flock

I stumbled across a few sites talking about a new browser "Flock". It's based on Firefox which I prefer over IE but is hyped as a "Social Web Browser". Knowing nothing else I downloaded it to try out (I'm totally a 'give it a go' then read the manual type of learner!).

I'm sold.

Once you log into sites like Facebook, Twitter and of course Flickr it shows your friends in a sidebar and then will show their media in a bar across the top of the screen. I've just had a brief playaround but so far it looks great and really works for how I use the internet.

You can also type blog posts direct from the browser and upload to typepad/wordpress/blogger etc. It links to del.icio.us and other 'social network' sites as well.

I'll keep using it I think. Shayne can keep using Firefox and then FLock can be setup just how I like it!

Want to give it a try:

Flock - The Browser For The Modern Web