A Photo a Day #305

Not in Kansas

Regular blog visitors may know how much I love playing with my Sony A5000 picture effects! This was taken on a sunny, clear October day, one of those days that makes you appreciate the beautiful colours of the changing trees and the brilliant blue of the sky. These kind of days are really a rarity, so I wanted this to be the last day of October before the bleakness of Winter sets in for good. 

P.S. Happy Halloween!

A Photo a Day #304

Pay & Display

Random indeed, but you don't see these machines so much anymore.

The South's First Cat Cafe: Pause, Bournemouth

Having visited Pause Cat Cafe in Bournemouth recently, I wanted to share my lovely experience on National Cat Day! If you love cats and want a calming detox from a stressful lifestyle, this is an amazing place to go. 

A Photo a Day #303

Siblings

The bright sunlight coming through these girders was quite something and when coupled with the figures playing on the beach it makes for a shot with lots of interest. I turned the photo black and white to keep a focus on the light and shade. 

A Photo a Day #302

Waves

The sea at Bournemouth on a sunny Autumn day: I used a slow shutter speed to achieve the soft water effect.

A Photo a Day #301

Seventeen

This used to be the front door to my house growing up. Now it is the back door. It's a charming door.

A Photo a Day #300

Green & Red

Peppers starting to decay in the garden! I liked the colours. Can you believe there's only 65 days left of this year?

A Photo a Day #299

Tea for Four

Tea and birthday cake- this isn't a perfectly aligned, 'Instagram-perfect' shot and I like it that way. Growing up, our house wasn't tidy, but it was cosy. I think this image reflects us.

A Photo a Day #298

Birthday Cake

Taken at my parents' birthday celebration, Daisy is our family pet cat who is eighteen years-old and still sniffing out any opportunity to steal some food. She's a frail and deaf old lady, but she is very sweet and affectionate with a loud purr.

A Photo a Day #297

Pond Life

My parents' pond

A Photo a Day #296 Flashback Sunday

Sports Day

Another blast from the past- this was taken by one of my parents at a Primary School Sports Day. I was never the most gifted with sports, but I did try! I look so lean and long-legged in this photo- I've never really looked like that since!

The original below on the left isn't much different, but I did some brightening and removing of dust specks. I'm not thrilled with my editing skills here, but I am a learner! This photo is probably from around 1994 I would guess.

A Photo a Day #295

Crunchy

Autumn leaves decaying

A Photo a Day #294

Maturing

Another leaf photo today- but can you blame we with those amazing colours?

A Photo a Day #293

Blooming Marvellous

Beautiful bokeh from the sun shining through the trees

A Photo a Day #292

Autumn Leaves

I took this on Saturday afternoon. Before I dragged myself out I felt lethargic, 'crampy' and pretty gross to be oxymoronic about it. Walking around with my camera, taking pictures of all of the colours, I felt a lot better on return home. 

A Photo a Day #291

Hunted

Not taken at night, but on a high contrast black and white mode

A Photo a Day #290

Blanket

Late afternoon Autumn sky

A Photo a Day #289

Wrong Side of the Street

A self portrait: the light here behind me was blinding, so perfect for silhouette photography. Apparently we're due some extreme weather over the next few days in the form of Hurricane Ophelia passing over.

A Photo a Day #288

Into the Light

By chance, two people walked past me when I was snapping away in this subway. I've photographed this before and find the colours and lighting fun to capture.

A Photo a Day #287

Birthday Girl

Maisie is two years old today. She brings us so much happiness, even when things are tough. I made her a birthday cake which she devoured without even offering us a slice. We love this little cat and couldn't imagine life without her.

A Photo a Day #286

Watermarked

I'm not sure what to say about this one at all. Sometimes I try to find the interesting in the mundane; sometimes I succeed, other times I fail. It's all subjective of course! I'll leave it at that.

A Photo a Day #285

Trespasser

Just footprints on the floor; you can make up your own story...

A Photo a Day #284

Love Bomb

This Lush bash bomb was delicious. This is the Monster's Ball bomb from my recent haul.

A Photo a Day #283

Beading

A spider's web in the rain looking like candyfloss with syrupy beads of sugar

A Photo a Day #282: Flashback Sunday

Shelley with Kittens

I scanned some old photographs from my collection. This photo was taken before I was born, probably around 1982-1983. The cat in the photo is Shelley. She was the most sweet-natured tabby cat who lived to the age of 20. She was a mummy to 4 kitten of which 2 were given away and 2 died as young cats. 

The original colour tones are of an era and I wanted to bring out some of the rich purples that were in the original (taken by my dad). I've added some clarity and contrast to show off Shelley's beautiful markings. 

I thought editing some photos from the 80s and 90s would be a fun edition to the 'Photo a Day' project. Whilst these photos will not be originally my own work, they will be images that are significant to me and taken from my collection of album photographs. It'll be interesting to see what modern technology can do to photos that were taken before this technology existed. Watch this space for more 'Flashback Sunday' images.

Trying DECIEM Skincare Products (The Ordinary, Hylamide and NIOD)

Deciem products are much talked about in the beauty world currently. One of the key reasons for this is that they offer ranges of skincare for an array of budgets and focus on the science behind effective skincare. I am by no means an expert, but through my interest in skincare, I have read up quite a lot about the types of ingredients to look when investing in anti-aging products that actually work. I have tried three products- one from each of the main Deciem brands and I have some opinions to share. 

A Photo a Day #281

Armour

Moments before, these beetles were either making love or war. 

A Photo a Day #280

Secret Place

I took a picture at night looking into the shed (PAD #246), so today I thought a contrasting shot looking out from the inside in the day would be an interesting parallel. This is shot using 'partial colour' mode as part of my weekend Photo a Day shoot.

A Photo a Day #279

Model

I know everyone thinks their cat is beautiful, but seriously- look at her. She was having a snooze, but she sensed me moving and posed for a quick portrait.

A Photo a Day #278

Transparency

I shot this below a tree in 'partial colour' mode. Give it a few weeks and we won't be seeing many green leaves, so this I wanted to record this fading of green as we move towards Autumn and the leaves begin to change and fall.

A Photo a Day #277

Antennae

There are slugs everywhere in my garden at the moment. It's a slug party. I've even caught some making slug love. I thought I'd take a photo of one of them. I used the 'miniature' mode, hence the blur pattern.

A Photo a Day #276

Bananas & Salad Cream

Another shot taken whilst playing with the 'partial colour' feature on my camera. It picks out your preferred colour and leaves the rest of the shot in black and white. You can see that the mode does leave some areas untreated in the shadows of the yellow objects which gives it a graphic quality.

A Photo a Day #275

Raindrops and Lines

I used the 'partial colour' effect of my Sony A5000 to achieve this shot in the garden.

My Picks from the Lush Halloween 2017 Range

It's that time of year again when Lush release their Halloween products! I picked up some of their bath bombs and bubble bars and of course I wanted to share my thoughts.