Sunday 9 August 2009

Photo Time!


My Nikon SLR is in for "repair" at vast expense...R2750 to be exact...for front & black plate replacing (whatever the front & back plates ARE - your guess is as good as mine LOL) almost USD350. The repair being that the flash has NEVER worked...So I took these photos yesterday with my Panasonic Lumix (definitely the WORST camera I have EVER owned) & not one I would ever recommend...despite it's 8 megapixels it operates not better than a cell phone camera. Nonetheless, it's all I have right now & not one to be perturbed I soldiered on during my outing yesterday with 2 of my kids.

Some of these are for a new album I am working on, called "Little things that matter" for my online course with Shimelle Laine over at Two Peas in a Bucket. USD25 (R200) for 20 days of pdf's & printables...too good! Just day to day photos of the things we get up to as a family that "matter" to us...so here is Cami, on the escalator at the mall, she loves the mall AND the "esky"!

The section at the newsagent that I always head straight over to!

The toy store that we always "have to" pop into on our way past...

The hats & sunglasses section...a never-ending source of curiosity & amusement...

You can tell these two have been hanging out with teenagers too much...(their 2 older siblings)

"Angels" by Monsoon, within Accessorize, a "look but don't buy" kinda store - with the little girls dresses at an an average price of R1000 each (USD125)...VERY super-cute though...

I want that bag for myself...

My little princess...

Inside Claire's...another gorgeous store to visit...

Cami loves to "cheer-lead"...

Of course we had the occassional curious onlooker watching us...but there are a lot of tourists visiting from the UK & Europe at the moment so I just tried to sneak in a quick shot here & there without too much of a scene...

She's rockin' it now baby...finally...the shot I wanted!

In the Mega CD/DVD store...If there's too much going on in the background or it's not very attractive then an aerial view shot is the way to go...

Forget the traditional rules of always having to have the face in the photo...back-shots are often cool...

The yellow tinge is what I get indoors so if it doesn't print up too well I may convert it to black & white...always solves that problem...

There is no such thing as no time to take photos...you do it while you are out & about doing what you do...

That's the advantage of the little point & shoots that fit into your handbag...

Where do you usually hang out? EVERY time we pass Ooh La La! we have to pop in so that Cami can drape a glittery monstrosity over her shoulder!!!

So I'm glad I finally caught a record of it on film...let's just hope her taste improves...

Who says you can't take photos in the car? Here she was on her way back into school, having changed with me in the car during lunch, just before trying out for the talent show.

The light is always great...with sun streaming in from all windows but a roof overhead so no big shadows despite it being midday.

The background doesn't worry me but if it did I could always blur it "out" in Picasa or PSE.

Why not capture someone else capturing life themselves? Cami loves making videos on our Flip...

I'm always thinking about the background...even if I can't move the subject entirely I can ensure that the TV aerial isn't popping out of the back of her head & turning her into an alien...

Sometimes backgrounds are great for recording "eras" - other times they're just plain ugly...in which case zoom right into your subject - even if you lop off the top of their head!

Sometimes black & white really CAN say it all...

Other times playing around with the saturation levels can be fun & funky...

Over-saturation = Andy Warhol Pop Art Funk. Desaturation + old world nostalgia...as in the above photo.

Don't forget to capture relationships aswell as events...these two are too precious together...

Cami is very blessed to have two older brothers who love her very much...I don't want her to forget that!

Can't wait to scrap these with my sheet of Webster's Pages paper from Cocoa Daisy.

I like to record my junk jewellery buys...just can't decide if I prefer it on the white background...

Or the fabric one...but I do know that I love the colourscheme & will use it on a layout soon.

I bought a bright pink file for my "Go to Press" online class notes (in honour of Shimelle's favourite colour!) & some A4 sticker sheets to print on now that I have 5 sheets of yummy printables already...

Aren't these flowers amazing? What a find! I bought these HAIRCLIPS at Claire's (R45 for 4) & pulled them off the clips (it's not the first time, believe me...) to use them as funky scrappy flowers...

You could actually make these quite easily if you had the time...As you can see here each flower is just a strip of fabric (hemmed & "pulled through" then pressed) but you could always just use ribbon...folded into the middle with a mini-rose in the centre & a diamante adhered on top - beautiful...

There is not ONE scrapbooking store in the whole of Gateway (the largest mall in Southern Africa) (if you know the rest of Africa you will realise that this is not such an achievement LOL) but I still managed to come away with this from Mr. Price.

It is a tin cannister for my scrappy desk. Ain't it delicious? I bought it in the kitchen section, it is divided into 3 compartments & is designed to hold cutlery but I am going to use it to store my smaller letter/alpha sheets.

Doesn't it look like it was just MADE for my space?

So there you have it. 40 photos taken in about an hour. Come on. You can do it too.


9 comments:

Jacqui said...

Absolutely beautiful pic of "Elton John" - Bing looks incredible.
And the one of Cami in the dark glasses is so cute - a true glimpse of what she is going to look like in a few years time.

Vicki said...

Looking forward to seeing all those photos on some scrappy pages. I have a tin similar but mine has a liftout top which holds all my big stamp pads, glues and adhesives and underneath is all my acrylic stamps. Very handy it is too. LOL

topkatnz said...

Great flowers and love that tin. As Vicki says we can get similar ones, but just in plain colours - I love the butterflies. Great pics at the mall.

Penny said...

LOVE that tin - will have to pay a visit to our Mr P!!

Lynette Jacobs said...

Helen...how do you get your children to still play along for the camera...even my grandkids run away when I take mine out. You are blessed!

Sandra said...

Looks like you and the team had a fun day out. It's neat that you recorded it on film too. Lots of gorgeous shots here, Helen!

Desire Fourie said...

Gorgeously well composed pics. My favourite though is your daughter at the window with the cat peeping in.
Hugs
Desire

Ella Swan said...

Yes got some classic pics in this lot! The scrappy tin is obviously a hit too!! Mr Price here always has something cute & purchaseworthy...my 2 younger kids are not a problem in front of the camnera...only too happy to pose for me - sweet things! It's the 2 teenagers that are giving me a problem these days...hmmmffff!!!! LOL Desire - our poor cats get chased by Cami constantly as she is always tryhing to film the poor creatures...

Michelle Ramsay said...

Your children are lovely and looks like they had lots of fun at Gateway. Yes, I can't believe they don't have a scrapbook store there!!! I liked the cat peeping in the window whilst being filmed too - classic. Your Mr Price tin certainly looks like it was made just for your room - will have to check out Mr Price and see if there is anything purple/mauve for my room.