An impromptu photoshoot...

Thomas and I rarely have our photo taken together, he hates it, I don't pester... (well, too much.)

So I was very excited when my sister and her husband (ha, so weird) gave me a CD with photos from February (at the barn and Heysham) with these on it!

{Photos by my sister and her husband}

Out of focus...

{Sometimes I get over excited about a photos potential and forget to let my Yashica Samurai focus properly, oops.}

Over the weekend I've been reading through the 'Thing's I'm afraid to tell you posts' and I'm feeling conflicted about it - in many ways, I'm so glad that people are being honest but at the same time I'm amazed that people really believe that other bloggers lifes are that perfect...

I don't share my feelings often here, but it's not because I'm afraid, or worried that you'll judge me - I already judge myself too harshly and if I don't share something here, its usually because I'm hiding it from myself rather than a larger audience. I know that I am my own worst enemy.

My photos today are technically bad - they are out of focus, you can't make out what you are looking at and at first I was disappointed with them. But after looking at them again, I think that they are beautiful, they remind me to slow down, appreciate the moment, stop being so hard on myself to take the perfect photo and to just wait a few more seconds to let myself enjoy it, let the camera and light do its thing and then, when I'm ready, take the photo.

I think we all need this reminder sometimes - perfection, happiness, wealth and beauty are all relative - what works for me won't work for you - and thats how blogging is too - read a blog because you love it but know (and remember) that behind every amazing photo there is always one (maybe more) that is out of focus too.


Camera: Yashica Samurai
Film:  Kodak Elitechrome ISO 100
Location: Lancashire, England

Around the Barn...

I kind of wish I'd taken more photos of the barn with my film cameras, but I'm glad that I got a few - especially the one of the back garden area and also the barn from a distance. It really was a great destination!

Camera: Yashica Samurai
Films: Lomo CN ISO 400 and Kodak Elitechrome ISO 100
Location: Lancashire, England

Rolling hills...

I'm pretty sure that when people mention the 'rolling hills of England' that this is what people imagine! These were taken just outside Lancaster and I still absolutely love how many sheep there were haha. The barn we stayed at is somewhere to the right of the panoramic down the windy road.

I think taking panoramic pictures with my diana mini is my new favourite thing, they look so abstract with the overlapping lines... I definitely need to play with this idea more! I think it could look fascinating in colour too.

Click on the panoramic photo if you want to see it larger, I really like it!

Camera: Diana Mini
Film: Ilford XP2
Location: Lancashire

p.s. This is also a perfect example of rolling hills. They are one of my favourite things about England, I have to say.

Heysham Diana Mini's Part 3

It's a miserable day in Leeds... kind of like how you picture wet, rainy Yorkshire to be really.

So it seemed like the perfect day to share some gloomy photos from Heysham.
(yup, still catching up with photos from February, oops)

These photos were taken just after parts one and two, and as you can see, the weather really turned on us - though I don't think that this really explains the darkness to the left of the photos... I'm not actually sure what that is. I did have a few problems with loading this film but these were the only photos on the roll with it, so perhaps it was the weather.


Location: Heysham, Lancashire
Film: Ilford XP2 ISO 400
Camera: Diana Mini

Heysham Diana Mini's Part 2

{That's Thomas relaxing at the bottom, I love this photo} 



I'm always amazed by the different feelings you can get from photos depending on your mood - after a sucessful stress-free weekend (hurray), I find these photos quite relaxing and calm in comparison to the photos that I posted last week, even though it's the same camera, film and location. 

Camera: Diana Mini
Film: Ilford XP2 ISO 400
Location: Heysham, Lancashire

Heysham in colour...

 {I had to take a photo of the yellow of course}
Hi Mum, Dad and Harry :) 
No idea who the boys below are though and we actually didn't see them after that either... weird. It's ok though because I'm populating my photos!


I always like to take two (or more, haha) different cameras with me to new places as they capture things so differently, the Yashica Samurai can zoom so I could capture the birds in the distance as well as the delicate flowers, whilst the Diana Mini seems more suited to tones, light and atmosphere than details.

 I do think they are both important to capture somewhere though - and also represent you and how you see things and sometimes one camera or film isn't really enough to do that...

I'm so relieved that it is Friday, this week has been busy, a bit stressful and I've sulked about things beyond my control a fair bit... but as my good friends have told me - you can only worry about the things you can change... so this evening I'm going to go home, spend the evening with my love and have a nice bottle of wine and hopefully that will be a good start to a worry free weekend.
See you next week!

Update: Before I forget - Susannah Conway's registration for the next Photo Meditations and Unravelling opens tomorrow, I can highly recommend the Photo Meditations and I have no doubt that her Unravelling course is just as amazing, so don't miss out.


Camera: Yashica Samurai
Film: Lomography Colour Negative 400
Location: Heysham

Heysham Diana Mini's Part 1

I really wanted to write something about how I'm feeling today... get it out there, out of me. But the words feel clogged inside, like I'm scared to actually say anything, because then I'll have to think of ways to resolve them... and I don't know how or if I can. Luckily these photos seem to be quite suited to this feeling, so perhaps they'll say the words that I can't seem to say for me.

p.s. Heysham is a lovely little village (in spite of its Nuclear power plants...) just down the coast from Morcambe, I'm really glad we went, we had a great walk and I loved taking photos there.

Camera: Diana Mini
Film: Ilford XP2 ISO 400
Location: Heysham

Lomokino love...

I'm completely in love with my Lomokino and the little home movies you can make with it - In fact my only sadness about the video from Mum's birthday weekend is that I didn't shoot more so it could have been longer. 

The beginning of the video is shot in Morecambe and the rest is in a little village called Heysham just along the coast from Morecambe which I loved. Also, I like to make people wave in videos it seems, haha.

This past weekend I spent with my parents and I didn't really take any photos - sometimes that happens, I just want to remember it rather than capture it and it was a great weekend to remember most definitely.

p.s. Hi Nanna and Grandad, I hope you can watch this video on your laptop :) let me know if you can't! Lots of love x

Lake Windermere Part 1

One of the (many) perfect things about the Barn that we got for Mum's surprise weekend, was that it was a perfect distance from the Lake District. My parents spent a week in the Lakes a couple of years ago and we knew that they both loved it and wanted to take us there, so the first lake that we visited was Lake Windermere.

Lake Windermere is England largest lake at 10.5 miles long and it felt huge! It wasn't very wide but it just seemed to go on and on, especially as we drove along it - I actually thought it was a different lake at one point but no - still the same huge lake.



We decided to go on one of the tourist boats heading towards the south of the Lake and Harry loved absolutely loved it.

As well as the Lakes, the area is famous for its hills (or Fells) that surround the lakes and these were stunning in the distance and provided the perfect backdrop to the slightly choppy waters.



 I can definitely understand now why the Lake District is such a popular holiday destination, you definitely get the feeling that you haven't seen everything when you go there... I'm looking forward to perhaps going back one day to explore more.

Camera: Yashica Samurai Film:
 Lomography CN 400 
Location: Lake Windermere, England.