My Girls and Me

My Girls and Me, a photo by boo * on Flickr.

We had a lovely, but very quiet Easter day. Although we'd been planning a picnic, the weather was so gorgeous and the garden was looking so welcoming, that we ended up taking all the food outside and eating there. We had the little fountain running, and we pulled the benches around the pond. Perfect! In the cool of the later afternoon, we took the dogs up to Mousehold Heath, a huge expanse of heath, woodland and open spaces we are lucky enough to have just 5 minutes walk away. It always amazes me that in one direction I have acres of wild countryside, and ten minutes walk in the other direction, I am in the middle of a busy medieval city. It's been so lovely having Ella home for a whole week and I shall really miss her when she returns to university tomorrow.

Via Flickr:
It's very rare to have a photo taken of myself with my daughters - they have grown up to be beautiful young women - in every sense of the word. I am so proud of them!

Getting Ready for Glamping!

For the Royal Wedding weekend, 25 of us (a motley bunch of 40 somethings and their accompanying teens) are heading for Cromer for a long weekend in our tents!! I am sooo excited about getting my beautiful Bell Tent out of its winter wrappings! One of my friends who is coming along too - got her Bell Tent as a Christmas present and we can't wait to see them up together! In preparation, my daughter Flora and I spent yesterday making bunting. We chose 5 different Amy Butler designs, and John Lewis cut them into 20cm lengths. This was enough for us to create two lengths of bunting, one for my Bell Tent, and one for Flora's brand new and oh so exciting classic orange Vango tent. She likes to have her own tent, and for the past few camp trips she's had a basic £30 model from Tesco. This has always done the job - until the last two camping trips. In Wales she got drowned out on her first night - and in Norfolk she almost blew away in hurricane conditions. So the Tesco tent is being relegated for festivals (my older teens seem to like these) and we splashed out on the orange expedition classic. Off for my first golf lesson of this season (yes, golf) - you'll hear more about that in a future post - and I'll leave you with these two pics of the bunting in progress.

Quiet Times

This is a very quiet week. I'm back at work, but there are no students, so the college is a vast space with a few members of staff and the occasional student who comes in to se the library. Ive spent the time catching up on my CPD - (professional development) - which as teachers we have to undertake. Yesterday I completed the essential Data Protection online course - and also carried on with my own CPD project. This involves trying to understand what it feels like to be told that your sketchbook doesn't have enough writing in it!! And where there is writing, how to make it analytical and evaluative. So, maybe some shots soon on how that's progressing! in the meantime, some springtime blossoms to give pleasure.

Both pictures above have been processed using Pixel Lounge's fab overlays, which I am enjoying so much at the moment. Below, is one of them with a different colour - I wasn't able to choose which one I preferred!!

A walk to blow away the winter cobwebs

We finally made it out to West Runton, to walk the three miles along the beach to Cromer. Once there we treated ourselves to chips, the best freshly made donuts, freshly ground coffee and finally - an ice cream!! Perfect food for a trip to the coast!!

West Runton looking towards Cromer.

Reaching Cromer, a quintessential English seaside town, full of Victorian charm and the best freshly made donuts we have come across!!

Cromer Pier.

Back at West Runton, the view if we continued along the coast westwards...

What makes me happy?

1. When I spend a while on a photograph and Photoshop and I end up really pleased with the result! I used a photo I had of an acer in my garden, which had very shallow depth of field. I cropped it to the shape I wanted. Using a texture and overlay from the talented Pixel Lounge, I played with contrast, magic brush and contrast levels. Nothing seemed to be working. It was almost there - for a few minutes I was stumped. And then I remembered 'curves'. I love curves! And curves worked their magic and gave me a result I am actually really happy with!

 

It will be interesting to see what the reaction is on Flickr - often, when I really like something, it doesn't pull the same admiration from my contacts!! Conversely, when I'm not that happy with a pic - it tends to gather quite a few faves!

Finding my feet

I discovered photography when a friend introduced me to Flickr. I had been experimenting with a compact Samsung, my first foray into the world of digital, but this new world of other people's creativity stunned me. I tentatively purchased a starter Nikon SLR and began to explore my own capabilities. Someone had given me Photoshop and it wasn't long before I yearned to understand what it could do - and more importantly, what I could do with it! A painful self taught period started, and culminated in me throwing my arms up in despair. I couldn't, just couldn't, understand layers. And the more people kept telling me that "layers are great - they're so easy" the more I despaired. A kindly work colleague stepped in and patiently taught me exactly what I needed to know. Looking back, those first attempts at layers were not good! I think this one was the first to go public!!

But encouraged by the kindness of fellow Flickrites, I pursued my new found hobby. A golden handshake from qualifying as a teacher came through about this time - and with some trepidation I decided to abandon Nikon and move into the world of Canon - a 40D - at that time brand new. It felt fantastic and I began to fly. The past 18 months has seen a real interruption   to my photographic past time - and it has only been in the last few weeks that I have slowly been able to return. I cannot thank enough those who develop beautiful actions and textures which they give away freely. Lately I have been exploring those that come from the ever creative Pixel Lounge  as used in today's photo. Thank you.

Summer Holiday Dreaming

The weather has turned cold again - so unfriendly!! And I am left looking back at last year's holiday snaps and dreaming of next August when once again we'll be glamping in Gower!