I recently had a much needed weekend break in London to coincide with the London Marathon. I travelled down by train with two of my daughters and for our entertainment (or as I preferred to call it - enter'train'ment) my eldest daughter, Liberty, had sourced some goal setting life audit activity sheets from pinterest. Daughter Ivy was having none of it, protesting that her life was fine the way it was and settled down with a book. Liberty and I got stuck in.
We had to list five priorities and set three goals to achieve each of them.
My first priority was: to run the Market Drayton 10K without coming last. As I explained in a previous post, coming last is actually a real possibility! I set my goals which included running the three miles home from the school drop off at least once a week.
I have been without a car for some time. My faithful old Galaxy was definitely starting to get a bit cranky and when an unfortunate trip home from Sussex ended up taking 7 hours rather than the usual 3 to 4 because of the traffic, bit cranky was elevated to somewhere between more than a lot cranky and totally had it. My sister kindly stepped in to transport my kids to and from school each day and on one morning a week (for all of two weeks) I had her drop me off at the school in my lycra and trainers so I could run home. I ran a bit. I walked a bit. I made it home both times without resorting to hitching a lift from a friendly road user. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't too good either. It certainly wasn't enough to give me the confidence to run the six miles of the race I'd signed up to do.
It is too late to worry about it (and the other two running goals I set myself and failed to find the time for) now. The race is tomorrow! I am running it with my husband so my revised strategy to achieve my goal of 'not coming last' is to trip my husband up just before the finish line so at least I can beat him!
My second priority was to start blogging again. Woohoo! Chalk up one victory to me!
My next two priorities were to do with the fact that I will be moving soon - starting a new life in new county. I gave some thought to the people I want to spend some time with here before I go and the sorting out of my belongings so that I only take with me the things I really want or need. So priority number three was all about PARTIES!! and if only the weather would cheer up I would get my big gazebo put up in the garden and launch myself into party planning mode. I have plenty of good party ideas that will actually help with the sorting out part of my plan. More to follow on that (when the sun comes out!) Priority four could not just be a general 'sort things out'. I was already doing that anyway. It had to focus more on the areas I'd been avoiding because I knew they would be difficult. I set my goals and the hardest one of all was to sort out my photographs.
I bought my first SLR camera when I was at University. Over the years I have amassed an insane amount of photographs. Often, when I had my films processed, I would order two copies of each print because it was significantly cheaper than paying for reprints. When I had my children, I would photograph them endlessly. So many similar photos. So many bad photos. So many double copies. Just... so many photos. I have never been any good at organising them. Add to that all the school photography.... and you always buy the biggest pack because it is 'better value for money'.... and again... so many photos.
I have the luxury of a lot of cupboard space in my current house. For the last ten years, my jumbled mess of photographs has caused nobody any trouble behind a closed door, added to whenever it was the school photo time of year. But I could not move it as it was to our new home. It had to be tackled.
It took me two days to sort through them systematically, discarding the over exposed, the under exposed, the blurry ones, the doubles.... and putting the rest into roughly chronological order. I faced memory after memory... most good, some bad. It was emotionally draining.
I am really pleased with the result... a coherent collection of photographs that invites you to dip in and enjoy.
The final part of the process was probably the hardest. What to do with all the discarded images? After a lot of thought, I shredded them. I shredded my own children. It felt very wrong. I have to say that the shredder did transform the photos into a tactile, glistening heap of shreddings. Quite lovely.
Onto my final priority. Back in December, I set myself a New Year Challenge to learn twelve pole dancing moves - one a month for twelve months - in order to put together a routine and finally get the best use of the pole that my husband bought for me years ago. I started off quite well learning to do a reasonable Fireman Spin by watching instructional videos on the internet. Then I had a change of heart. To fit in with my life I needed to fast track my progress. I started having lessons.
Ivy has been coming with me and I am so glad that I got her to come along. She is really loving it and doing really well. We have now both achieved a Level 1 pass and I have already got more than 12 moves to use in my routine (as well as an impressive selection of bruises). My priority isn't really about calling myself a 'pole dancer' but using pole dancing to improve my strength, posture and flexibility and most of all have some fun. I am certainly doing that.
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Thursday, 23 May 2013
The Photo I've Been Waiting For
There were two official sports photographers snapping away at the Market Drayton 10K Road Race that I took part in recently. After the race, images began to appear online. With over 1600 runners taking part in the race, there were a LOT of photographs. Each day, more were uploaded with the promise of yet more to come.
As much as I enjoyed reliving the atmosphere of the event by browsing through the photos, the money shot for me - the one I waited patiently to view- was the one of me crossing the finish line. My position in the race was 1371st. It was always going to be a long wait!
Today, my wait was over and here it is:
I am so grateful to Brian Smith for taking this photo which will be a constant reminder to me of the sense of achievement I felt (and proof that I actually did it should I ever start to doubt myself). I am also grateful to all the amazing people that made the race happen through organisation, sponsorship, support, help and participation. Definitely a day to remember.
As much as I enjoyed reliving the atmosphere of the event by browsing through the photos, the money shot for me - the one I waited patiently to view- was the one of me crossing the finish line. My position in the race was 1371st. It was always going to be a long wait!
Today, my wait was over and here it is:
I am so grateful to Brian Smith for taking this photo which will be a constant reminder to me of the sense of achievement I felt (and proof that I actually did it should I ever start to doubt myself). I am also grateful to all the amazing people that made the race happen through organisation, sponsorship, support, help and participation. Definitely a day to remember.
Friday, 24 August 2012
Harvestman Attacks!
I have really been enjoying experimenting with my camera and taking photographs of some of the weird and wonderful visitors to my garden, many of which I'm sure I would have failed to notice had I not been ready with my lens.
Yesterday, my little girl came running in, exploding with excitement, telling me that I had had to "come and see this quick!!" What she had found was a long legged harvestman lying very flat and still against her slide. I told her we should take a picture of it and went to get my camera.
When I got back, the harvestman (possibly spooked by the close scrutiny) decided to unflattened itself and use those impossibly long legs to make a speedy getaway.
Taylor's boyfriend had other plans.
He scooped it up and allowed it to pass from hand to hand. It did finally stop it's unproductive scuttling and came to rest. As I had my camera with me, I thought I might as well try and get the photograph I'd set out to take.
I used my (newly discovered) macro zoom and placed the lens as close as I dared.
The spider must have seen its own refection in the lens and mistook it for a threat. It launched itself at my camera in full attack mode.
Viewing this through the magnifying lens made for a fairly terrifying experience! I am ashamed to admit that I jumped back squealing, heart beating wildly and desperately trying to dislodge the poor creature before it ran up my arm. Luckily, I had the presence of mind not to just throw the camera! I would have been one very frustrated amateur photographer with a broken camera.
Needless to say, the photograph wasn't exactly what I 'd hoped for!!
Yesterday, my little girl came running in, exploding with excitement, telling me that I had had to "come and see this quick!!" What she had found was a long legged harvestman lying very flat and still against her slide. I told her we should take a picture of it and went to get my camera.
When I got back, the harvestman (possibly spooked by the close scrutiny) decided to unflattened itself and use those impossibly long legs to make a speedy getaway.
Taylor's boyfriend had other plans.
He scooped it up and allowed it to pass from hand to hand. It did finally stop it's unproductive scuttling and came to rest. As I had my camera with me, I thought I might as well try and get the photograph I'd set out to take.
I used my (newly discovered) macro zoom and placed the lens as close as I dared.
The spider must have seen its own refection in the lens and mistook it for a threat. It launched itself at my camera in full attack mode.
Viewing this through the magnifying lens made for a fairly terrifying experience! I am ashamed to admit that I jumped back squealing, heart beating wildly and desperately trying to dislodge the poor creature before it ran up my arm. Luckily, I had the presence of mind not to just throw the camera! I would have been one very frustrated amateur photographer with a broken camera.
Needless to say, the photograph wasn't exactly what I 'd hoped for!!
Monday, 7 May 2012
Pixum Photo Books
Back in the days before digital photography, I would carefully compose each shot on my 36 exposure rolls of film before sending them off for processing. It could be an agonising wait for the prints to be delivered if there were some pictures I was particularly excited about. Sometimes the photographs exceeded my expectations, sometimes they were a disappointment. I never threw any away. I could never quite make up my mind how to organise them.
Nowadays, I take hundreds of digital photographs. Sometimes they exceed my expectations, sometimes they are a disappiontment. I rarely delete any. I still can't quite make up my mind how to organise them.
When I was offered a Pixum Photo Book to review, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get me thinking about my collection of photographs - what is the purpose of it and what do I actually want from it? Establishing that might just help me to decide on how best to organise it.
It can be a dangerous thing - looking back through old photographs. Time slips away and before you know it, your children are hungry and demanding to be fed. The housework remains undone and you have not the least idea what you are going to give the kids for dinner that can be prepared with super speed so you are still on track for a reasonable bedtime.
There were lots of themes that presented themselves as possible subjects for a Photo Book - selections of photographs from recent holidays, the stages of development of my growing children, special days, celebrations, DIY projects documenting the before, during and after.... I even considered a colour themed Photo Book. In the end I opted for an eclectic mix of images that I had used in this blog over the course of the previous 12 months. All the images meant something special to me and they could be tied together by simply titling my book: QWERTY Mum Blog - A Year in Photos.
I put the pictures together in a folder for ease of uploading and decided to not think too hard about the ones I wanted to include - to go with my first instinct.
Then came the tricky bit.
The Pixum website gives lots of different options for uploading photographs, including one specifically for Mac users.
I have never come across an online system that is as simple and quick for uploading photographs as they would have you believe. It is a fiddle and it is time consuming but with perseverance, you get there in the end. The Pixum site was no different.
Once my album was uploaded, I had decisions to make about format, design and layout for my Photo Book. I went for the A4 portrait format for ease of fitting onto my bookshelf. I chose a simple, plain black design to showcase the images without too much fuss. As for the layout, by now I was really running out of time and energy, so I decided to leave it in the hands of the Gods and opted for the autofill.
Could I have done better by manually inserting each of my photographs? Possibly - but the autofill took seconds whereas I would have agonised for hours. The autofill did a pretty good job.
One thing that I possibly should have changed was the front cover. Some cosmic influence meant that the A3 sized image splashed across the front and back cover in glorious colour and perfect focus was the photograph I took during my husband's vasectomy operation. I thought about changing it for about a microsecond! It was far too funny to undo.
My Photo Book arrived within a few days of placing my order. The images were beautifully printed on high quality paper and the front cover looked amazing!
As well as being a great way to enjoy your own photographs, a Photo Book would make a truly unique gift.
I still have no idea how I am going to organise my collection but I do have a shiny new hardback book of memories to treasure.
Nowadays, I take hundreds of digital photographs. Sometimes they exceed my expectations, sometimes they are a disappiontment. I rarely delete any. I still can't quite make up my mind how to organise them.
When I was offered a Pixum Photo Book to review, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get me thinking about my collection of photographs - what is the purpose of it and what do I actually want from it? Establishing that might just help me to decide on how best to organise it.
It can be a dangerous thing - looking back through old photographs. Time slips away and before you know it, your children are hungry and demanding to be fed. The housework remains undone and you have not the least idea what you are going to give the kids for dinner that can be prepared with super speed so you are still on track for a reasonable bedtime.
There were lots of themes that presented themselves as possible subjects for a Photo Book - selections of photographs from recent holidays, the stages of development of my growing children, special days, celebrations, DIY projects documenting the before, during and after.... I even considered a colour themed Photo Book. In the end I opted for an eclectic mix of images that I had used in this blog over the course of the previous 12 months. All the images meant something special to me and they could be tied together by simply titling my book: QWERTY Mum Blog - A Year in Photos.
I put the pictures together in a folder for ease of uploading and decided to not think too hard about the ones I wanted to include - to go with my first instinct.
Then came the tricky bit.
The Pixum website gives lots of different options for uploading photographs, including one specifically for Mac users.
I have never come across an online system that is as simple and quick for uploading photographs as they would have you believe. It is a fiddle and it is time consuming but with perseverance, you get there in the end. The Pixum site was no different.
Once my album was uploaded, I had decisions to make about format, design and layout for my Photo Book. I went for the A4 portrait format for ease of fitting onto my bookshelf. I chose a simple, plain black design to showcase the images without too much fuss. As for the layout, by now I was really running out of time and energy, so I decided to leave it in the hands of the Gods and opted for the autofill.
Could I have done better by manually inserting each of my photographs? Possibly - but the autofill took seconds whereas I would have agonised for hours. The autofill did a pretty good job.
One thing that I possibly should have changed was the front cover. Some cosmic influence meant that the A3 sized image splashed across the front and back cover in glorious colour and perfect focus was the photograph I took during my husband's vasectomy operation. I thought about changing it for about a microsecond! It was far too funny to undo.
My Photo Book arrived within a few days of placing my order. The images were beautifully printed on high quality paper and the front cover looked amazing!
As well as being a great way to enjoy your own photographs, a Photo Book would make a truly unique gift.
I still have no idea how I am going to organise my collection but I do have a shiny new hardback book of memories to treasure.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Boudoir Photography
I am not particularly keen on having my photograph taken. My smile feels weird when I respond to the photographer's command to give a big cheesy one and I seem to have an uncanny knack of blinking or pulling a face when the shutter is released.
I am not particularly keen on looking at photographs of myself either. If anybody else criticised themselves as harshly as I criticise myself, I would tell them not to be so daft and concentrate on what is good rather than blowing what you perceive to be bad out of all proportion. I struggle to follow my own advice.
When my husband told me he had booked a Boudoir Photography Shoot for me, my first instinct was to panic. He did reassure me that if I felt uncomfortable about it I did not have to go through with it. I think it was the combination of his conviction that I should do it and the fact that he put no pressure on me to do it that made me think I could.
I did spend some time looking at my body in a full length mirror.
I was a chubby teenager. At my largest I was bursting out of my size 18 clothes and desperately unhappy about the way I looked. During my stressful divorce 6 years ago, my dress size dropped to an 8 which was the thinnest I've ever been. I looked terrible and couldn't get comfortable because of protruding bones. I had crossed the line between slim and skinny.
I am currently a size 10 having lost my baby weight through exercise, trying to eat in moderation and not beating myself up if I have bad day and overeat. I am reasonably happy with who I am and how I look. However, bearing all under unforgiving halogen lights was going to push me to the limits of my bravery.
As I looked at myself in my mirror, I reminded myself that I am forty seven years old and I have given birth to six children, two of them within the last few years. It would be unnatural for there to be no signs of wear and tear. I started to accept that this is me. My husband has no difficulty in accepting and loving all of me and even thinking I am beautiful (poor deluded soul!) and I should try to do the same.
My Boudoir Photo Shoot started to be less about pushing me to the limits of my bravery and more about celebrating who I am, completely.
I bought new underwear with the help of a delightfully funny shop assistant who made the whole experience one to smile about. I was confident that the bras would maximise whatever assets I have remaining after breastfeeding six children and they made me feel good. I also bought some sparkly new eyeshadow for an extra touch of glamour.
It was surprisingly easy to strip down to my new underwear and pose for the photographs.
The photographer was Midland based Nicola Gotts. The studio was built into her house which made it cosy and intimate. She was friendly and welcoming and very matter of fact about posing me and taking the pictures. I liked her experimental style and the way she found poses that worked for me. An hour flew by and before I knew it I was dressed, drinking a cup of coffee and viewing the digital images.
True to form, there were several images that could be rejected immediately because of face pulling and blinking but I was surprised at how many of the photographs I really liked. It was incredibly empowering to look at a picture of me and think I like that. I narrowed the selection down to a manageable amount and purchased my favourites. We talked about the possibility of improving the images with Photoshop techniques but I actually quite liked the tan lines, moles, wobbly bits and bruises because they were all part of what makes me me. I was starting to get really good at the whole accepting myself thing.
The photo shoot was at the end of October and the disc of photographs with some minor retouching arrived yesterday.
This was the hardest part of the whole process - putting the disc into my computer and opening the file. My "this is me" confidence seemed to have shrivelled like our sad looking Hallowe'en balloons. What was I thinking of - spending money on vanity shots of my middle aged wreck of a body? Madness!
I honestly felt quite unwell - clammy with nervousness - as I forced myself to look.
My immediate thought was that I should not have worried, they were lovely. I looked exactly how I wanted to look - glamorous, womanly, a bit sexy, sure of myself. Then the doubts crept in. My critical eye sought out every flaw and imperfection. So, I chastised myself for my negativity and chanted my new mantra - Be proud of who you are.
By the time my husband came home I had mostly convinced myself that the photos were at least OK.
He LOVED them.
He said they were worth every penny and he was so proud of me.
His enthusing silenced my damaging overly critical side. I am now planning which of the images I want as prints to hang in our bedroom. Now that is definitely a triumph in the battle of self-acceptance.
I would recommend this experience to anyone.
I am not particularly keen on looking at photographs of myself either. If anybody else criticised themselves as harshly as I criticise myself, I would tell them not to be so daft and concentrate on what is good rather than blowing what you perceive to be bad out of all proportion. I struggle to follow my own advice.
When my husband told me he had booked a Boudoir Photography Shoot for me, my first instinct was to panic. He did reassure me that if I felt uncomfortable about it I did not have to go through with it. I think it was the combination of his conviction that I should do it and the fact that he put no pressure on me to do it that made me think I could.
I did spend some time looking at my body in a full length mirror.
I was a chubby teenager. At my largest I was bursting out of my size 18 clothes and desperately unhappy about the way I looked. During my stressful divorce 6 years ago, my dress size dropped to an 8 which was the thinnest I've ever been. I looked terrible and couldn't get comfortable because of protruding bones. I had crossed the line between slim and skinny.
I am currently a size 10 having lost my baby weight through exercise, trying to eat in moderation and not beating myself up if I have bad day and overeat. I am reasonably happy with who I am and how I look. However, bearing all under unforgiving halogen lights was going to push me to the limits of my bravery.
As I looked at myself in my mirror, I reminded myself that I am forty seven years old and I have given birth to six children, two of them within the last few years. It would be unnatural for there to be no signs of wear and tear. I started to accept that this is me. My husband has no difficulty in accepting and loving all of me and even thinking I am beautiful (poor deluded soul!) and I should try to do the same.
My Boudoir Photo Shoot started to be less about pushing me to the limits of my bravery and more about celebrating who I am, completely.
I bought new underwear with the help of a delightfully funny shop assistant who made the whole experience one to smile about. I was confident that the bras would maximise whatever assets I have remaining after breastfeeding six children and they made me feel good. I also bought some sparkly new eyeshadow for an extra touch of glamour.
It was surprisingly easy to strip down to my new underwear and pose for the photographs.
The photographer was Midland based Nicola Gotts. The studio was built into her house which made it cosy and intimate. She was friendly and welcoming and very matter of fact about posing me and taking the pictures. I liked her experimental style and the way she found poses that worked for me. An hour flew by and before I knew it I was dressed, drinking a cup of coffee and viewing the digital images.
True to form, there were several images that could be rejected immediately because of face pulling and blinking but I was surprised at how many of the photographs I really liked. It was incredibly empowering to look at a picture of me and think I like that. I narrowed the selection down to a manageable amount and purchased my favourites. We talked about the possibility of improving the images with Photoshop techniques but I actually quite liked the tan lines, moles, wobbly bits and bruises because they were all part of what makes me me. I was starting to get really good at the whole accepting myself thing.
The photo shoot was at the end of October and the disc of photographs with some minor retouching arrived yesterday.
This was the hardest part of the whole process - putting the disc into my computer and opening the file. My "this is me" confidence seemed to have shrivelled like our sad looking Hallowe'en balloons. What was I thinking of - spending money on vanity shots of my middle aged wreck of a body? Madness!
I honestly felt quite unwell - clammy with nervousness - as I forced myself to look.
My immediate thought was that I should not have worried, they were lovely. I looked exactly how I wanted to look - glamorous, womanly, a bit sexy, sure of myself. Then the doubts crept in. My critical eye sought out every flaw and imperfection. So, I chastised myself for my negativity and chanted my new mantra - Be proud of who you are.
By the time my husband came home I had mostly convinced myself that the photos were at least OK.
He LOVED them.
He said they were worth every penny and he was so proud of me.
His enthusing silenced my damaging overly critical side. I am now planning which of the images I want as prints to hang in our bedroom. Now that is definitely a triumph in the battle of self-acceptance.
I would recommend this experience to anyone.
Friday, 25 March 2011
From Here to There in a Dozen Pictures
Regards Rainbow has set a rather interesting challenge to document a regular journey in 12 photographs, trying to see it with new eyes. I couldn't resist and set off with my camera, on foot, to my local supermarket. This is a journey I take very regularly, sometimes in the car if I have a lot of shopping to do but more usually on foot to pick up a few odds and ends. The sun was shining beautifully which makes you look at the world with new eyes anyway.
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| The hardest part of any journey - getting out of the house. Note to self: SWEEP UP THOSE LEAVES !! |
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| There is beauty to be found wherever you look. |
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| An empty Fruit Cocktail can (large) on a neighbours wall begs the question WHY?? |
 |
| It pays to remember that in a collision between a pedestrian and a vehicle, the pedestrian is never likely to come off best. |
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| If I noticed this at the end of my road, why then do irresponsible dog owners fail to do so?? |
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| The Pie Factory is a lot less discreet since the perimeter trees were chopped down. |
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| Past the shop that inspires ballroom fantasies. |
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| Ready for emergencies. |
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| The Fire Station Practice Tower reaching up into the sky |
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| Nearly there |
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| I love the bark on these trees - it makes me think of the Gruffalo's Deep Dark Wood |
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| In the words of my SatNav - You have reached your destination |
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