Camera Club

 Tonight is camera club night this will be a open meeting reviewing last years events and making plans for the new year. There will also be a chance to find out what photography related presents people got for Christmas. I shall be showing off my iPad and my dslr memory stick from the kids.

How neat is that!!!

First Photo Challenge of 2012

Hi everyone I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are ready for your journey through 2012. 

The first Scavenger Hunt of 2012 organised by Postcards from the PP has been listed....

soft

2

blur

in season

in my bathroom

mess

information

company

warning

odd

in the distance

entrance

12 themes and one month to take them in, if you would like to join in then pop over to Kathy's blog for more information on how to link your photos at the end of the month.

Happy Snapping

Happy New Year

Wishing you a happy new year best wishes for 2012.

A Review of 2011

2011 was definitely a busy time for me photography wise.

There were the numerous monthly photo challenges both here in blogland and on facebook which have often made me think outside the box but which have also made me realise the beauty that you can find in your own back garden!

2011 was also the year that I took the plunge and joined the local camera club. 

This has been both informative, with talks from professional wildlife photographers to local wildlife trust rangers, and competitive, seeing me enter and win some of my first photography competitions.

In 2011 I photographed my first (professional sounds too, well, professional so lets say official) wedding/christening which proved to be exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at the same time. 

Did I enjoy it? - Yes

Would I do it again - yes absolutely!!!

This leads onto my next big thing of 2011, having photographed the wedding/christening it made me realise how much easier it would have been if I had two cameras This set me thinking to saving a bit of money each month to buy another camera in the future - little did I know that Paul had other plans and in September I became the proud owner of a Nikon D200, complete with flashgun and a prime lens.

I'm still getting to grips with having two cameras and tend to grab my D40x as it feels more familiar but I'm hoping that 2012 will see me take a leap into the unknown territory that is the D200!!

Well I think that about wraps up 2011 I know that there has been very little blogging going on on here in the past few months but I would like that to change for 2012 with regular updates from camera club, showing more of my photographs and the techniques used and also pointing you in the direction of any photographers that catch my eye.

Finally I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that read my ramblings and to wish you all a very happy new year.

A Kitten Called Betty - 4/30

I managed some more tidying in my sewing room today and armed with the advice given yesterday about aperture, etc, I set about taking some photographs of my box of zips. These had been cascading onto the floor since I had made some make up bags and I finally managed to squash them all back into their box. 

A Kitten Called Betty - 3/30

3/30

I had a lovely lunch today with my friend Ruth we enjoyed looking through Christmas magazines (some dating back to 2000), chatting and even managed a trial run of some padded hearts for a forthcoming craft evening at Ruth's church. After Ruth had left I set up this magazine style photo and tried out my new flashgun.
I think that it is a little over highlighted in the left hand side, I mentioned this on the A Kitten Called Betty group page and what I love about the challenge is that you can always get some great advice. So I shall be practising getting my focus right by using a smaller aperture to obtain a greater depth of field as well as getting to grips with my flashgun..
I have a real love of bokeh photography (shallow depth of field - like the pink flowers in my header) so when it comes to a controlled still life picture like this I find it a challenge to get the focus right on everything so armed with instructions I think I will be setting this shoot up again tomorrow and having another go!!!

A Kitten Called Betty November Facebook Challenge

I really enjoyed the October 30 day challenge over at A Kitten called Betty and although I didn't manage to post all my photographs here on my blog before the end of October I will endeavour to post them at some point.

A new challenge has been set for November - a single theme photographed over 30 days. My theme is my other passion crafting so I will be photographing my sewing room, the colossal fabric mountain that lives there and hopefully some finished products too.

It also needs a really good tidy up so I am killing two birds with one stone and tidying up as I photograph each area. Good thinking eh?

There were a few problems over at the Kitten Called Betty page as people were unable to comment on some photos and there wasn't an option for separate albums so a group page has now been set up. If you would like to join in or just fancy taking a look at some of the photos then pop over to

A Kitten Called Betty.

1/30 - My Sewing Room

2/30 - My Machines