And......relax!

Oops, it's been a while :-( Sometimes life just gets too busy to manage! The last couple of weeks have had some major highs and serious lows - but here I am, trying to decide what to share!

I just wanted to say a little about an e-course I am currently undertaking. It's called Unravelling and helps in learning more about yourself through photography and journalling. I can't say too much but it's proving to be more revealing than I dreamed... it's hard work finding out things that are a bit scary but it's also inspiring some great creativity and giving me an excuse to take more photographs.

Work has been crazy busy - we have just launched a whole week of new educational programmes. This has meant several weeks of planning and resourcing and then the most tiring week presenting them to different schools. The highlight surely had to be the WW2 days - this was my dream and it has been a triumph - hooray! I got to play Peggy the Land Girl and showed lots of gardening skills. I also got to be in charge of the air raid drill where we all took cover in the real Anderson shelter (complete with planes overhead, thanks Brize!!) We were loaned a 1930's Austin truck which we used to stick the magnetic mine to and to ferry lucky evacuees to the centre... I haven't driven it yet but I will!

Land Girl Peggy reporting for digging duties....

Me and Private Clark with the lovely truck!

 

 

 



We got to Friday so tired that we could barely think straight, so glad it's the weekend! But the week was a huge success, we already have bookings for the new programmes (and the boss was very pleased!)
Next week will seem almost quiet by comparison - just some tents to sort, a WW2 shop and house to dismantle, a Victorian explorers kit to pack away.... oh yeah, just another normal week!

Making the most of the sunshine!

I had a day off work today - had to go and collect the new car. However, this didn't take too long and so the rest of the day was mine!
It's still wicked cold out there but the sun is shining and so I thought it might be a good opportunity to get out and have another practice at the TTV photographs.

Sunshine and flowers. Almost like Spring!

 

Yes, it's a dead heron. Doesn't everyone have one in the garden?

 

Sculpture thingy.



 



Pretty pleased with how they've come out so far. I am rotating and cropping via Picture Manager, have tweaked the colour a tiny bit in a couple of them.

The strawberry patch - a bit bare at the moment :-(

 

Wouldn't trust sitting on this bench to be honest...



I mostly used a very professional looking bucket to balance the camera on - thought it went well with the cardboard tube tower!

Off to make a list of other creative things I can do this weekend while DH is away drinking ber and talking bikes... might even finish my knitted hat, just in time for the weather to warm up!

Bunnies and buckets...

Here we are nearly at the end of the Easter weekend. Mine has been fairly quiet - I have been enjoying lots of chocolate and creating my Springtime tree which is truthfully too big for my kitchen and has the tendency to poke eyes out when you sit at the table. However, I feel it is a thing of beauty and we all know that beauty comes at a price!!

The tree in all it's eye-catching glory!

Pink bunny - ahhhhhh!

I made the butterfly!



Mended Sylvac bunny and soon to be eaten chocolate ones.

 Sadly the weather is still not feeling Spring like, I have to say I can't wait for some sunshine. It would be nice to go out without having to wear 28 layers!

Sunshine would also give me an opportunity to experiment further with my cameras. I bought a new book recently - 'Photocrafty' by Sue Venables. It's a book stuffed with projects and inspiration and some cunning make it yourself accessories. One in particular caught my eye, let me explain... I am currently looking to buy a TLR camera which takes 120 film - still weighing up the options at the moment. I have my Uncles old Baby Rolleiflex which is beautiful but takes 127 film. This is nigh on impossible to get hold of now. Sue has a project by which you can use a TLR camera with a DSLR and an elegant looking cardboard tower to create 'through-the-viewfinder' pictures. Apparently it's a whole genre of its own!
So, today I spent some time in a Blue Peter type homage and turned an old shoe box into my own TTV tower. After all the time spent making it I tried it out and was more than disappointed that it didn't seem to work :-( However, I thought I'd upload the trial pic anyway and crop and rotate it and...voila!




Bucket

I'm actually quiet pleased with the result! I think with a little practice this could be an interesting method although I can't imagine taking my homemade cardboard tower out in public...what would people think?? Actually I can probably imagine!! :-D