Instagram-itis

Is there such a condition?  Instagram-itis.  Because if there is, I think I've got it!!  I resisted for such a long time.  I didn't need another *gadget* to play with, I didn't need another time-stealer.

But that said, I was just a tad envious of the Instagram chatter I was hearing ... after all I love photography and I'm a visual kinda girl.  It seems a natural progression for me :  cut and paste in scrapbooks, collect beautiful images on Pinterest, share photos and be inspired by others on Instagram.

So now, when I finish a book I photograph it and share it on Instagram!!  And this was such a jolly fun read.  If you haven't yet read it, do yourself a favour and jump right in.  I think there may be a movie on the horizon too.

And there's been a lot of fun things happening here at Playing in the Attic to capture and share on Instagram.  Loom Bands for one.  Has this craze reached your shores?  Apparently it's the biggest craze since Barbie, because even the boys love making them as much as the girls.  We have a loom band for every occasion here!!

There has been a huge chunk of time taken up by patting, cuddling, brushing, feeding, walking, playing, photographing and poop-collection of these two adorable girls who are growing before our very eyes.  I just don't get other things done, because I look at them and have an overwhelming need to cuddle them!!

There has been a bit of catch up of the crochet-kind as we are now in Winter and there is a promise that this will be finished Very Soon.  This Winter in fact.  Every night (well, almost) there is another square added to the stack!

 

And of course there has been work, and a birthday celebration, baking and some fog.  I think that pretty much sums up my life at the moment.  All photographed.  All Instagrammed.

 

If you would like to follow me on Instagram, I am Playing in the Attic.  Perhaps I'll see you there?

Enjoy your day!!

Trudy

Tim Coulson's The Nursery

One of the main reasons for travelling to Canberra was to attend Tim Coulson's The Nursery - a photo course, given to me by my husband for my birthday last year.  I had stumbled over Tim's blog and was pulled in by his honesty and warmth, and amazingly beautiful photos.  His course is to teach people to take their camera setting off automatic and start playing with exposure, aperture and shutter speed.  Daunting?  Yes!  And take a look at my first attempt, trying to remember what I was suppose to do ... I let way too much light in and therefore totally overexposed the photo.  At this point there could only be improvement.

Tim's beautiful wife, Kesh, stood so patiently for us to photograph her, and this is the photo I took at the end of the photo shoot.  There were moments when I was completely bamboozled, and Tim was there with his patience, understanding and skill, and a reminder not to be too hard on yourself day one!!

But even more importantly was Tim's teaching of shooting with emotion.  How to make a connection with the person you are photographing, how to notice and anticipate the small, beautiful moments.  To feel the love of another person.

I have a lot of hours to put in and the only way I'll get there is if I keep my camera off the automatic setting.  So, I'm in for the long haul, but I know it will be worth it if I can create more meaningful photos.  It was a lovely day and I so enjoyed meeting all the other women on the course.  Thanks Tim!

Trudy

A Hearty Artichoke or Two

Hello.  Hope you've had a peaceful Christmas and now have some time for putting your feet up and relaxing.  If giving roses is a symbol of love and irises a symbol of friendship then what do you think giving a bunch of artichokes means?  Whatever it is, it has given me a fabulous photo opportunity!  So here you have some artichokes in amongst my next set of Reverb 12 questions and answers.  Do ponder some of these questions.

What's on your dream list?
This is an easy question with lots of answers ... where to begin?  I'd love to live in a rambling, old farmhouse on a few acres of land.  I'd love to visit Italy.  I'd love to lose 20 kilos!!  I'd love to master the art of my soldering iron.  I'd love to travel through Cornwall in a caravan.  I'd love to learn Italian.  It's so lovely to have dreams, and one that came true this year was to have a piano in the house, and next year I will begin lessons again.

Your greatest gift received and given?
Let's just think about Christmas here, as it's uppermost in my mind ... the look of joy on the faces of my girls as they rushed into the sitting room Christmas morning, and the antique metronome that now sits on top of our piano, but hasn't improved my playing just yet!  I'm hoping the greatest gift I gave was bringing my family together for our big Christmas Dinner earlier in December.

What will you let go of?  Excuses/stories you tell yourself that are holding you back?
Doubt, lack of focus, and lack of time are excuses I'd like to let go of, but whether I do or not is another story!  They're big ones really and if they hit me all at once I wouldn't achieve anything.  To have written them down, to have read over them and put them *out there* for all to see, might go somewhere towards an acknowledgement of those thoughts I tell myself and may help to squash them.

Your most important habit?
I'd really, really, really like to think that I will form the habit of walking in 2013.  I'd really, really, really like to believe that I will do this.  I'd really, really, really like to look back on this at the end of the year with a smug, self-satisfied grin on my face and say ... "Well look at you girl, you did it!!"

How will you tend to your vulnerabilities?
Over to you ... 

How will you make time?
I will find a little piece of old, faded linen, hand stitch some numbers on it and a couple of wonky hands to show my favourite time of day, add some pretty touches Julie Arkell-style, make it into a watch that I can wear around my wrist so that every time I look at it I will have plenty of time left in my day to do whatever I wish!

How will you honour your creativity in 2013?
I will keep saying "it's okay".  The bath needs scrubbing, the windows need washing, the children need feeding!!! but I've just got this fabulous idea for a new project and I need to jot it down, do a couple of sketches, pull out some fabric and throw some colours together.  The bath, the windows, the children (hmm, maybe not the children) can wait, " it's okay", "it's okay".

Are you thinking about your plans for next year?  How you might do things differently?
Trudy

Be Funky Pic Monkey!

Are you wondering what I'm talking about, from my title?  Both Be Funky and Pic Monkey are photo editing websites that are fast becoming my greatest waster enjoyer of time.  Both sites are free, fun, easy to play with and don't require any personal details or registration.  What's not to like?!

This is me, in my new red glasses.  The amazing red glasses that allow me to seeeeee!  Aren't the colours in the photo super?

And look at what you can do with one little ol' piano photo.  Immediately this creates an interesting picture that screams out for words, for a story.

 

"... she replaced the lid, slowly rose from the chair

and walked to the window.  She realised in that moment

that her whole world was about to tilt on its axis ..."

 

 

And what about this fabulous effect?  I love it!!  Would you believe me if I told you I painted it?!!!  You would, wouldn't you, because it does look like it was painted (hmmm, perhaps not by me) but no, just a couple of choices on Be Funky and voila!!  (Sometimes I think I couldn't speak without exclamation marks!!)

 

 

Have a play, I know you'll love it too.
And you can become a part of my very special Funky Monkey Club!!
Trudy

Days 25 through 30

Here are the last six photos of my photo-a-day challenge for the month of September.  It has been quite a commitment to take a photo every day for a month, and sometimes a challenge to find something to fit the word but a good excuse to keep my camera at hand and to become alert to photo opportunities around me.

The final six day's are 25. frame, 26. near, 27. love/hate, 28. a good thing, 29. errand and 30. me, then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My words to fit my photos.

Frame - No-one I know.  Purchased in an antique store.  Love her grin, the old wooden surfboard, the beach houses in the background and her sense of spirit.

Near - I know, this photo was taken very, very near.  My gorgeous pooch, who is never far away from me where-ever I am in the house, unless she gets very comfortable on the couch!

Love/hate - The scales.  Obvious really, love some numbers that come up, hate others.  There hasn't been much loving of these scales for quite some time now!

A good thing - A very good thing that I have these, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do very much at all.  Just sleep.

Errand - Little lists and lots of trips to the shop just around the corner and up the road.

Me, then - Somethings never change.  Less use of the dummy these days though!

 

30 Days of Photos.  The End.  Thanks for looking!

And today is the day of picking a winner of my give-away.  Thanks so much for entering and sharing your dreams of your perfect studio.  I loved reading them all and have saved in my head some of your fabulous ideas.  After writing out the names and twirling them all around in a bowl, a name was pulled out and it is Claire of Sweet Birdy Love!  Congratulations Claire!  If you email me your address, I'll pop this little parcel into the post to you : -)

Enjoy October!
Trudy

Days 19 through 24

I've been busy click, click, clicking with my camera, and here are the next six day's worth of photos.  They are 19. underneath,  20. man-made, 21. sometimes, 22. up, 23. before bedtime and 24. 3 things.

 

 

 

 

My words to fit my photos.

Underneath.  An old, disused trestle bridge, just near to where I live.
Man-made.  Came across this fabulous, old campervan just parked on a hill.
Sometimes.  Just sometimes I wished I lived a tiny bit closer to a city.  Just sometimes.
Up.  It's Spring here in Australia and I looked up through the wattle tree to the blue sky.
Before bedtime.  You're glad about this one, aren't you?  Clean teeth!!
3 things.  The handles of three beautiful Japanese paint brushes.  Missed that bit of teal the other day!

If you would like to join in this photo-a-day challenge, Chantelle has the list of October words up on her blog already for you to have a bit of a think about.

Okay, I'm off to enjoy some sunshine in these school holidays!
Don't forget to enter my give-away below for a chance to win some goodies : -)

Trudy

Days 16, 17 and 18

Decided to go kind of weird and crazy with the colour of my photos for these three days, and I have saturated them with colour!  The words to go with the days are, 16. strange, 17. in my fridge and 18. price.

Strange to attempt, with the use of a red and white polka dot paper pom pom, to make this room pretty in any way when the background is pure renovator's "delight".

Who wants to see inside my fridge?  I like you I do, but I certainly don't need to see inside your fridge, unless you have some left over Chocolate Ripple Cake that you would like me to finish off.  So do you really want to see in mine?  Well here's a little bit of it, just a bit.  And in this photo I think the colour works best in a colours-of-India kind of way, matching with the Patak's Curry Paste.

Price.  The price of grannys in our community.  They're cheap.  And they're loose!!  But I promise I won't talk about your granny in this way : -)

Have a happy day.
Trudy

Days 10 through 15

Gee, these days are rolling by so quickly!!  Missed the opportunity to post my three photos, so here are six photos for days 10 through 15. The words for this set are 10. hero, 11. black and white, 12. together, 13. table, 14. favourite and 15. first thing you see.

 

My hero, my husband, my best friend. A hero because he never "dropped his bundle" during the time of firstly being told he'd had a heart attack, then being told he needed heart surgery, when he realised he couldn't work in his own business in the same capacity as before, that he would have to rely on others for a time, that there would be a time of rehabilitation and times of pain. During all that he has never complained, or felt self-pity or done anything other than what a true hero would do and just get on with things.

 

 

An outdoor seat that was once white and was then painted black, and now the white is showing through again. Time for a repaint.  Add it to the list.

 

 

Us together, in shadow form, snapped while out on one of our daily walks. Looking a bit like we're part of a map, that we are the sea and are surrounded by land, or maybe not, maybe just shadows!

 

 

On Thursday Girl 2 competed in a chess tournament, representing her school. It was fabulous to watch the concentration on the childrens faces, to hear the constant clicking of the timing machines and to see the glee on their faces if they won. There were long rows of tables, with lots of games happening all at once. Girl 2 came home as part of the winning team and is off to the State Tournament later in the year, in Melbourne.

 



 

 Favourite. Lindt.  No more to be said really.

 

 

This is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning.  My bedside table with lamp, photo, bowl of trinkets and my wedding rings on a shell.  Love that there is no clock.  I wake up with the sun.

 

Thanks for looking, and reading to the end.

Have a fabulous weekend and take some photos!

 

Trudy



Days 7, 8 and 9

Continuing on with my photo-a-day challenge, here are photos from the last three days, and the words are 7. natural, 8. at night, and 9. something I do most weekends.

 

 

 

We've been having some crazy weather here in South Gippsland the last few days, wind bringing branches and whole trees down, and it's also been raining gumnuts, and I just can't resist picking them up.  Love the different colours and isn't the green amazing?

 

The second photo shows a little corner of our sitting room with piles of books at the ready.  Our night time generally means lamp light.  I love lamp light or candles and find overhead lights way too bright.

 

And, yes most weekends I am very lucky and get breakfast in bed.  I know a lot of people don't like breakfast in bed, something about the crumbs in the sheets or something, but it is one of my favourite things indeedy!!  This morning I had some chocolatey pops on top of my seriously healthy cereal.

 

Hope you've had a happy weekend.

Will be back soon with crochet, craft and quilting!

 

Trudy

Photo-a-day Challenge

This is fun.  And makes me take more photos!!  Here are the next three days' photos.  4.  in my letterbox.  5.  bright.  6.  every day.

 

Okay, I should confess, the first photo was staged!!  Wouldn't it be a fun mail day, opening up your letterbox and having all those letters, postcards and parcels spill out?  I think I would do a happy dance.

 

The 'bright' photo was taken in our house, in an unrenovated room, soon to be Girl 1's bedroom, but at this stage has no light covering, just the bare bulb and yes, it's bright!

 

And finally, something I do every day.  Every day I open my laptop, hit the go button and connect to the world.  I love it.  Best Present Ever was this laptop.  It has changed my life, changed how I go about my day, changed how I stay connected with people.

 

Have you taken a photo today?

 

Bye, Trudy