For me the best part of any day is when I get to spend time one-to-one with my little boy.
Monday 2nd July 2012 – 'Busy' (184/366)
Continuing the Instagram theme, The Boy helped me unpack and scan the shopping before putting it away. I love how little ones like to help do jobs around the house, especially the stuff that we normally hate doing!
Sunday 1st July 2012 – 'Self-Portrait' (183/366)
Earlier in the year when I discovered and fell in love with Instagram, I started noticing people using the hashtag #photoaday. Upon investigating it, I soon realised that it was a massive project undertaken by a lovely and talented Instagram photographer by the name of FatMumSlim. She sets a daily prompt for an entire month at a time and there are tens of thousands of people taking part in it, the world over.
I have started and failed to complete the monthly challenge several times now, but as I am currently flagging with 366 ideas (I blame the, quite frankly, bloody awful weather!), I decided that following her #PhotoADayJuly prompts would be a little bit of a different tack this month.
For some of them, I'm going to have to be creative, like today's: 'Self-Portrait'. I'm not going to think outside the box, let's pretend there is no box!
Instagram: #VictorianDecay
Earlier this year I discovered the world of Instagram, but it wasn't until I came across other photo-editing apps that I really found my feet with it. The filters and borders on Instagram are very limiting I think, plus it doesn't tend to save a copy to your camera reel. Both of these factors meant that I started using Camera+ more often than not for my IG uploads.
About three weeks ago, I saw Instagram's weekly blog entry and it highlighted the work of an American photographer that takes photographs of derelict buildings in his home of St. Louis, Missouri. I was really intrigued by them and it reminded me of the amazing houses in my own town in south Wales. Much of the area where I live, specifically my town, was built between 1870-1890 with the boom of the coal industry in the Valleys. The houses, which would have been owned by the mine-owners, are grandeur and almost like estates with coach houses and folly-style Summer houses at the bottom of their garden.
However, a small proportion of these stunning examples of Victorian architecture have been allowed to fall into a terrible state of disrepair over the past forty years. Some (like the three-storey redbrick hotel on the seafront or the four storey detached house with turrets and a roof garden) were bought by an unscrupulous 'businessman' for redevelopment. When permission wasn't granted, they had mysterious fires or internal supporting walls were demolished until they were ordered to be pulled down. Other buildings, through the sheer weight of financial upkeep have become derelict and abandoned.
Luckily in the last three-five years there has been considerable interest in the remaining treasures, resulting in massive renovation and restoration. It meant it was a bit difficult to find any of them to photograph when I went on a hunt, but I did manage to snap some. I wish I'd thought of this three months ago and I would have been able to photograph the beautiful single-storey church school (which I'd had my eye on for when I won the Lottery) before it was ripped down.
I've started posting these photos onto Instagram using the hashtag #VictorianDecay, but not everyone (including my husband) has access to the network. Here they are:
[slickr-flickr tag='VictorianDecay']
I've been shortlisted for the MAD Blog Awards in the Photography category. If you like these photos, I'd love it if you could vote for me please? Voting closes on 6th June. Thank you
Photography On The Go
When the theme of Photographic Resolutions was set for The Gallery a few months ago, I had to have a long hard think about what mine would be. Amongst them were; learn how to use the manual settings on my dSLR (still no idea), and be in more photos (my husband is taking more but he needs to do it more surrupticiously). The first resolution was to learn how to use mobile photo editing apps.
I stated at the time that the reason I don't use the camera on the iPod Touch is because it's shockingly awful, and while the camera on my phone (HTC Desire) is ok for outdoor shots, it's a bit rubbish at indoor photos. Also the photo editing app on my phone is complicated to remember all the different filters, but I do like the Instagram app for the Apple market (there's now an Instagram for Android, but it's not as good because there's no tilt-focus option).
I finally twigged that if I emailed over the photos taken on my phone to my iPod then I could edit them on Instagram there; hurrah! And then I discovered the wonderful app Camera+ for iOS, courtesy of HPMcQ who does brilliant things with it. Now there is no stopping me and I'm Instagramming all over the shop.
I think I've managed to cross one of those resolutions off my list, here are some of my snaps taken on my phone or iPod.
If you'd like to join in and show off the photos you've taken on the go, I've added a linky below so we can all admire each other's handiwork. It could be a blog-post, a twitpic, an Instagram url or a flickr picture. Join in and let's have some fun!
I am nominated in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Photography Award. If you'd consider voting for me, I'd be eternally grateful, just click on the badge above.
Tuesday 13th March 2012 – 'Blue Hand' (73/366)
The World Around Us
The day started looking like this when I opened The Boy's curtains…
… which was just as well as I had to take the car to the garage and then walk home again, and I could really do with it not raining.
In the end, I decided to take him on the train into Cardiff instead of walking home. He's only been on the train once before, and loved it so much that I thought we'd nip in and kill a few hours. I had the foresight to put a couple of Pizza Express/Tesco Clubcard vouchers in my purse a few days ago, just in case!
The Boy adored going in on the train, but I had forgotten how short a journey it is in; six minutes and we were there! We walked over to my hairdresser's salon so I could book an appointment for Saturday for my normal cut and blow dry, but I also begged him to rectify the horrendous balls up my mother made a few months ago with highlights. If you saw me at the Tots100 Christmas Party then you'll know what I mean. I've never had highlights done professionally before; I'm looking forward to it! He'll also be cutting The Boy's hair for me as I can't find a barber or children's hairdresser who can cope with it yet.
After a quick stroll through Cardiff shopping centre, we had lunch in Pizza Express and then sauntered down St. Mary's Street to the train station. And this is when I realised what a vibrant and interesting street it is for photo-taking. So out came the iPod and Instagram and I got snapping.
What I found most interesting on our walk around, was the amount of questions that The Boy was asking about his environment and it made me realise how little he knows of the world, and how often he gets bundled into the car and driven somewhere. If Spring is actually on its way now, we need to get out more!
Thursday 16th February 2012 – 'Eating Hands' (47/366)
I said this week's photos would be taken using my dSLR but I didn't have it with me earlier in Cardiff and this photo opportunity arose. Bring on Instagram!
Saturday 4th February 2012 – 'Splash!' (35/366)
Monday 30th January 2012 – 'All Gone?' (30/366)
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the gastric bug we've all been plagued with since Wednesday, has finally left the house. The after-effects with The Boy haven't though, and he is completely wiped out! As a result, he managed two tablespoons of hoops and milk tonight for tea and I was very hopeful when I saw the message at the bottom. Do you think it has?
