Bother, bother, triple bother.

[insert rude word here]

On Tuesday, I woke up. Good mood. You know the days. Then I decided to take my dSLR with me to school, to just get some casual photos of my friends, as you do. Bad move.
As I stepped out of the car outside school, the camera bag fell of my shoulder and hit the floor with a resounding thunk. I thought nothing of it, considering I've dropped the bag many times. It's a reasonably protective bag.

So break time, I open the bag. And BOOM, my life ends. All I could see was the completely shattered lens protector, and the lens top, bent in at a 5 degree angle. I actually cried.

What made it worse was that my 'friends' were telling me to shut up and it was only a camera.
OK, so let's set things straight here. That camera I take EVERYWHERE with me. It cost a fortune and It's my lifeline. I adore it. And it's smashed. Totally broken. I wanted to die.

And then I remembered.
I'm doing photography for a wedding on Saturday. PANIC!

So I carefully unscrew the lens protector from the lens. Thankfully the lens itself is not smashed, but the autofocus is totally broken. It is my only lens that isn't a telephoto, which is a pain.

Anyway. I go home early, feeling sorry for myself and jump straight on the internet to find a new lens. In the end I found one. The Canon EF-S 17-88mm USM lens. It's beautiful. Amazing. And £350...

So I bought it. I know, I know, big splurge. It arrived yesterday (next day delivery) and it is FANTASTIC. Totally worth the money.

And this morning, I woke up to my brother screaming in my face "I FIXED YOUR LENS."
It was true. He had fixed it. Managed to prize it to being straight again, and somehow the autofocus still works. SO, I have two lenses.

Happy photographer c:

Shoes

We went into town, with the intention to buy hair dye, seeing as my roots are shocking. So we went to TKMaxx, as you do, and discovered this delicious pair of heels. I don't actually own more than 2 pairs of heels. One pair is a smart office set, and the other pair is an open back black pair, which I wear every time I feel the need to be that little bit taller.


Now this new pair is beautiful in my opinion. Snakeskin effect on the heels and soles. Mmmm. I fell in love.
So to make a short story shorter, my aunt bought them for me, as an early birthday present. Only 3 days early mind you. 



We also got hair dye. I've got a plan with this though. I'm going to dye my hair platinum. Then if I like it, I'll leave it like that. And if it's too much, I'll cover it with ash blonde. If there are any hair colourists reading this who think that's a really bad idea, please let me know, seeing as I'm no hairdresser. 


So that's it. Good day overall c:


Later readers.

Bra Humbug

So I've had an awful day. Woke up late, then found a dead baby bird on the swinging chair outside. My immediate reaction was to take a photo, so I could show you guys. Cause I'm a little bit strange like that.
So, I run to get my camera. I get back to the bench, bird still there, and take a photo. I go to look at the photo and the camera screen is flashing [No Card]. Ok, I think, and run back upstairs to the laptop, to get the card from the card reader slot.
No card.
I'm a bit befuddled, so I search the room for a while, the the other bedroom, then the lounge, then the bathroom. 
No card.


Now I'm getting panicked. No card = no photos AND no more photos for the rest of the holiday, or til I have the chance to get a new card, seeing as my camera has no internal memory. Anyway, I settle down, thinking if it's going to turn up it will do.


And then we go on a walk, the regular walk, up and around the woods. I'm walking slowly thinking 'what did I do with that freaking card?!' What was I wearing yesterday? Jeans and a dress. I'd checked in the jeans pockets, and it wasn't in there, and there's no way it could go anywhere in the dress as the dress doesn't have pockets.
Last night I was so tired, I just fell asleep in what I was wearing. Aha! SD card = FOUND.


I'd put it in my bra, for some idiotic reason. I hardly ever do that, but obviously the bra has more uses than just the one. I actualyl recall my mother once losing the car keys, getting frantic and finding them there.


Lesson to be learned? Oh yes. Whenever you lose something - check your bra. 

That moment

Do you not just HATE that moment where you're flicking through countless channels, and can't find anything to watch?


I've come from a household where we don't have a TV. Shocking. Here come the floods of questions. "What do you do in the evenings?" "How do you survive?" "I couldn't do that..." Well it's actually rather easy. You go do something practical. Like take photos, or go and meet friends. Read a book, or study! I honestly think it makes you a better person.
But on the other side, as you know I'm staying with my aunt in Loughborough, and they have a television. And there is like NOTHING on that interests me in the slightest.
I'll admit. When shows like Britain's Got Talent and X-Factor come on, I'll watch them. I tend to enjoy those a lot, but regular daytime TV is appalling. I think they've run out of original ideas so fill up the time slots with replays and other junk.





Producers for TV need to move over, and let the public choose what to watch, and when. It will solve so many timetabling issues. Like SKYplus. You can fast forward, rewind, record, pause. What CAN'T you do? It's obvious the the machine was built to satisfy a public that is restless with the current timetabling. That's also why the iPlayer was built. That and money.


Just a thought. Turn off your TV for a week. See what you do instead. I think, you might just surprise yourself.

Rihmix

Rihanna and Britney have collaborated, and made a new version of S&M. 

Now I'm not sure what I think about this.

Firstly, the original song. I love the tune, but not the lyrics. They're catchy, but obviously we can see the highly deep and meaningful words... Or not.

Now Britney. I mean, she's had her rough past, but is a fantastic artist in her own right. But personally, I don't think she's as good a singer as Rihanna. Britney doesn't even sing most live shows! Anyway, point is, their voices don't particularly mould together very well. They both have very specific styles which, in my opinion, don't really sound amazing together. 

Don't get me wrong. I love both of them, but they need to be doing their own thing rather than trying to collaborate. 

Anyway, mini thought over.

Go listen to the song, it is good. I just prefer the original. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leJ84aTDH3w&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_956965

And aside from that. I went for another walk, and kicked myself, because the views were fantastic, but my battery died. I ALWAYS take spares, and I didn't. So no photos of rolling hills and fields of rape and dandelions. 

I also had sushi for lunch, and had to be taken through how to eat it step by step, seeing as it's about 4 years since I've eaten sushi... 

All the same it was tasty stuff!

I'm sure I'll find something more interesting to blog about later.

Til then.

Walking

I walked for around 2 and a half hours today, through woodlands, fields, estates and farmlands. Saw a fantastic butterfly, and several swans, however, being as aloof as swans are, they stayed far away from my camera. I often kick myself for not carrying a telescopic lens on me all the time.


The little piece of string that connected my lens cap to my lens also snapped, which annoyed me a great deal as it's had me used to simply letting go of the lens cap when I take it off, and then letting it hang. I've kept that habit, even though it's no longer there, and take off the lens cap, only to find it rolling across the floor in front of me.


Basically it was a photography experience and I manages to get about 120 shots, about 30 of which I adore. I'm going to show you a few of my favourite ones.
I warn you, most of them are of ducks, so if you have some strange phobia, look away now.


Ok. I'm like currently sat here gazing at the stupidly slow uploading photos on Imageshack. It really is taking forever.


I'm still sat here and its like 5 minutes later.


Maybe I should say something interesting.




Nah, it's only a blog.









These photos may make me looks like a nature photographer, if a photographer at all. If they do, then WHEE, but seriously, I take photos of other things as well. Like money. And pillows. And pieces of paper with heartfelt over used and clichéd messages on them.


And seeing as I can't actually see any of these photos; all I can see are white boxes which it is letting me resize, I'm just going to hit and hope you can see some of them.
I'll blog again later about the failings of technology if I must.
Or shoes.


Or lemon meringue ice cream.

Top Tips?

I took on a project suggested by my aunt, who I am currently staying with in Loughborough.
The project is that you blog about something different each day, so I have decided to follow suit.
Today's topic was tips. So. What am I interested in?
Collecting of cans from around the world.
Stamps of the queen.
Annoying my younger brother...


No. Something that others might be interested in too. So here are my top tips on amateur photography (especially in the summer).


Tip Number One.


Take your camera everywhere. End of story.
It doesn't matter what camera you have, but it shows that you have passion. It will be the days that you don't have it with you that something different will happen. For example. I usually live around the Dover area, and the one day that I decided not to take my camera out when I went to visit a couple of friends, the sea was smoking. It would have been the most magical moment to capture and remember forever. On the flip side, I will remember forever that every time I think about how stupid I have been, I think about that moment. So take your camera with you. It's so worth it. My friend took his photo of me, while we were walking home together, and it is probably one of my favourite photos of myself. And it's here because she had her camera. That's it.





Tip Number Two.


Take off those sunglasses.
Simple tip, but really important. Last week was beautifully sunny, so I decided to go outside and take photos of the garden, which I did. Unfortunately I didn't take my sunglasses off and adjusted my exposure settings so that what I was seeing looked good. Maybe that was just me being ignorant, but every photos from that shoot turned out hideously underexposed. So take them off.


Tip Number Three


Unless you have a good filter, don't point the camera directly into the sunlight.
Usually this goes without saying, but in summer you have to be careful where you position the camera in order to get a shot that is not overexposed from too much sunlight, or underexposed and overexposed at the same time. You can easily overexpose a photo in the summer, simply by having your subject in direct bright sunlight.  You can also underexpose the photo by having the sunlight directly behind them, which of course will let a lot of light through the filter, but will underexpose the subject's side that safes towards you, especially when using models. Here's an example of an overexposed and underexposed photo, that actually works reasonably well.





Anyway, so those are my top 3 simple-pimple-easy-peasy-should-be-general-knowledge tips for today.


Until tomorrow!