I heart my little fuji...

and horses... and terrace houses...

p.s. I hope your Monday's are going better than mine

... so far I've twisted my ankle and cried at work... sigh.

Happy birthday C!

We went to a gig last night (Smoke Fairies and Sea of Bees, amazing!) where every song sung by the Sea of Bees singer was a gift to one of her friends... I loved that idea but as I can't really write a great song, I figured I'd have to write a post instead.

I met C in my first year of University (7 years ago I think? See first picture! How young were we?!) and we've been amazing friends ever since - in fact I have no idea how I would have got through Uni without her!

Our other partner in crime G is coming to Leeds tonight for a day of fun, food, fuji mini's and frolics tomorrow and I'm pretty sure I'll hug them both like the last photo!

Happy 25th Birthday C

(the pink is just for you as I doubt you'll see it often on here any other time...)

I hope you have a wonderful day, thank you so much for being a truly wonderful friend, I'd be completely lost without you even now.

Happy weekend everyone,

I think it's going to be an amazing one!

p.s. I'm pretty sure C will show her Mum this, so Hi C's Mum :) x

Wreck This Journal III

I think this might be my favourite page yet!

To see more bloggers who are wrecking their journals go here!

p.s. Don't you love the Katherine Hepburn stamps?! Thanks Kitty!!

Too much fun on Etsy...

Having joined some teams and started to really apply myself to Etsy (see previous post) I seem to have become rather addicted to making treasuries...

I've made 3 already this week...

{black, white and yellow}

{blue birds...}

{retro orange}

They are pretty though aren't they...

I think I have a problem.

p.s. My lovely friend Megan featured Me as her Artistic blogger on her blog Studio MME today! How great is that? I'd head over just to see her new work, it's rather amazing.

p.p.s. it's a two posts in one day kind of day :)

Redscale can look kind of creepy...

...and I seriously love that about it.

A massive etsy shop update!

I've been a really busy bee in my shop lately...

(It now has 65 items in it, woo!)

Inspired by Diana Mini week, I added some more photos to my diana mini section

(you can click on each image to get to the item listing)

And today I'm adding some more photos from my yashica samurai that I had completely forgotten I had... oops!

And a brand new print of Leeds from our photography date, taken with my superheads yellow peace (that camera seriously love the light!) hurray!!

Feel free to have a good look around!

p.s. If you love my prints (and made it to the end of this post) but aren't quite will to commit to buying (yet... lol, I'll take a photo you can't resist eventually :D) - you'll be delighted to hear that the lovely Meghan is having a giveaway of them over on

The Perfect Compilation Tape

A little photography date...

Last Friday, Thomas and I went on a little date with our cameras (and each other) I had my new superheadz wide and slim... and Thomas had our Sony H7...

{My photo}

{Thomas's photo}

These were my favourite of the photos that we took together - I love how we didn't even have the same orientation when taking them... haha!

I can't wait for our next photography date now!

p.s. I love him...

p.p.s the diana mini giveaway is now closed, thank you everyone who took part!

Diana Mini Redscale...

I meant to post these yesterday but honestly, I hadn't had them developed yet... disaster.
I'm about a day (or three) behind in everything at the moment.

I've been slowly taking photos with the diana mini with Lomography's redscale film for the past month and finally I got them developed...


These were taken when we took Harry for a walk

I kind of adore them...

Why I love my diana mini...

After yesterday's amazing post (which I've updated again) I decided that I should explain why I love my diana mini, so here goes.

Honestly, I didn't adore my diana mini from the start... I had severe disagreements with the advance mechanism (see broken film here, sob. Note: if it doesn't want to move, don't keep trying to move it) and I also struggled with the distances and the bulb setting (though I should really have known better after using my holga...) and I'm not even going to talk about the process of getting the film developed (lets just say, now I've found a great place to develop my films, I'm sticking with it...)

However, once I conquered these problems and really started to look at the final results properly, I completely fell for this camera - the way it captures light, its soft tones compared to my holga, the gorgeousness of the square format, the fun of the half frame... its a versatile little thing which adores the sunshine yet produces beautiful photos without it too and I love that.

My main problem with this camera was that I compared it to my holga and really that wasn't fair - it's really nothing like the holga... they take different photos, they have a different feel and ultimately they both make you a different photographer when using them... and it's taken me a little while to appreciate that and the photos that I took with my diana mini at the start but I'm really excited about sharing some of my favourites in this post with you now.

Compared to my holga 135bc, the diana mini was a little harder to learn how to use and to get used too, a little harder to befriend and a little harder to love... but once you're there, once you've fallen for it - that's it... you've fallen hard and the world is your photography adventure to explore - one camera little diana mini around your neck and the others in your pocket!

For more of my diana mini photos see here and here!

p.s. can you believe I haven't shared some of these photos already?!

We love our Diana Mini's!

I'm so excited to be sharing this post with you - when I thought about putting together Diana Mini week I automatically thought about other bloggers that use a diana mini to share their adventures.... and here they are, hurray!

Why I love my Diana Mini from Liss at Daydream Lily.

"I love my Diana Mini because it's so cute and compact, I can put it in my handbag or wear it around my neck ready to take photos anywhere. I love the square format, the leaked light, the vignetting, the soft focus and the fact you dont have to think to much before you take a photo just have fun."

Why I love my Diana Mini from Katrina at Pugly Pixel.

"My first analog camera was my Holga with a 35mm back. I think my Holga is defective because the camera back unlocks by itself and falls apart while in use, ruining the film! I eventually wised up and used black duct tape to keep it all in one piece.

When my Diana Mini came into my life, it was a blissful transition. The camera is a cinch to load and the camera back really locks up tight as it should with no tape necessary. Most of all, I love the convenient compact size and adore the black/teal camera body. I've taken some of my favorite photos with my Diana Mini."

Why I love my Diana Mini from Elle at Diana Mini Love.

"I love my Diana Mini because she's a friend who's fun to be around. She's easy-going, fun-loving and starts up conversations with random strangers. She fits in well in all sorts of social situations, and puts people at ease (unlike some scary serious DSLRs I've met). She loves the sun and is the perfect holiday companion.

I think you'll find that she can be a bad influence though.... talking you into buying accessories, different films and even more analogue camera friends.

In all seriousness... the Diana Mini camera is the perfect introduction to film photography (or back into the analogue world after going off the rails with digital). It's a relatively inexpensive camera, and 35mm film makes it easy to experiment, to learn and to improve. Because her functionality is so basic, you'll put in the effort to learn what makes a great photo. Getting the composition and lighting right. Mastering the zone focus.

If you're ready for a bigger challenge after the Diana Mini, try the Diana+, the LC-A+, the Holga or even a vintage film SLR."

And here are some of Elle's suggested treats for your Diana Mini: Kodak Portra 400VC 35mm film, Ilford XP2 35mm film, Hot Shots by Kevin Meredith, Diana Mini leather case.

Why I love my Diana Mini from Anabela at Fieldguided.

"I love the Diana Mini because it constantly surprises me. I never know what the pictures will look like once I get them back from the lab, and more often than not I'm pleasantly surprised. The pictures are always charming, and even the mistakes can be remarkable. I also love the fact that it's so tiny that I can carry it in my purse every day, and if I'm going to a party, I just have to pack the flash and I have the perfect party camera. The fact that it does half-frames also appeals to me; I hesitated about trying that feature (maybe because I was used to the regular Diana+ camera), but once I tried it I was happy to see that I could create artful diptychs!

Why we love our Diana Mini from Alex and Mina at Sending Postcards.

"We love the vignettes, the light leaks, and the soft photos that our Diana Mini produces. The anticipation of seeing whether any of the photos on a roll of film turned out is always fun - whether the pictures turn out or not. The kind of retro pictures that come out of that camera is a pleasant change from the digital photos that we take."

Other bloggers that have and love diana mini's:

Amanda from Here Comes the Sun

Rose from R's Adventures

Emily from The Anthology

Christina from Down and Out Chic

Diana Adventures 2011 Calender...

{Image taken from Rose's post on R's Adventures}

You may have seen this already on Elle, Katrina or Rose's blog and honestly, I really wanted to share this with you last week as soon as I saw it but I knew it would be perfect to share this week so I restrained my excitement. (apart from a quick message on facebook...)

Diana Mini Adventures is a FREE calender featuring the gorgeous prints of three incredible photographers: Rose from R's Adventures, Elle from Diana Mini Love and Katrina from Pugly Pixel and their diana mini's. I didn't put together a diana mini calender myself this year so I was so excited to see how their prints look in calender format...

{these two images are from Katrina's post on Pugly Pixel}

You can download the calender from R's Adventures here

as well as instructions in how to crop the calender once you've printed it.

I highly recommend that you do!

Diana Love on Etsy...

As with my holga love post - it was easy to find some great diana related products and this time I've made a treasury so I can share even more with you!

Click on the image, or here

to go to the treasury and check out these amazing items properly, I can't even choose a favourite!

Yeay for Etsy, Diana and Diana Mini's, treasuries and celebrations!