If you're a regular reader, you'll know how much I bloomin' love this place. It's basically just a park, with a few benches, a river, some ducks (and mardy swans)... And that's pretty much it, but I love it. In my opinion, it's the jewel in Belper's crown. This is a very picture-heavy post, you've been warned!
July was an iffy month. (I'll avoid mentioning that situation in detail again.) So, in general, it was difficult to venture out with my camera.
However, in the midst of all that stress, something good happened too! Of course, I was offered a place at Uni, starting this September. I really, really didn't expect to get onto the course, so it was an overwhelming, but lovely surprise! I'm pretty much still coming to terms with the shock now, weeks later.
Hello there! It's been FAR too long hasn't it? I thought a good way to catch up would be to take you through some of my recent Instagram photos. (Totally a lazy blog post. Sorry...!)
Party Time! Firstly, yes that's a colouring book. An adult colouring-in book. Yep. I've just turned 24 and I'm regressing back to childhood. I took this photo as I was 'celebrating' my blog hitting a great milestone with a glass of perry, a Bakewell Tart and some stationery. Because I know how to party!
Flowers. My parents very kindly bought me a selection of pretty roses to try and cheer me up after all that trouble with my neighbour. Flowers always brighten everything up, don't they?
Face for Radio. I've been volunteering at a local community radio station called Erewash Sound FM since June now. They're currently training me up to be a producer, which is very exciting! I took this photo when I was learning the ropes, and being taught stuff like how to top and tail songs, so that the presenters know exactly when to talk over songs without crashing into the singing.
Graham. On most trips to Belper River Gardens I end up meeting this swan. We've christened him Graham. (Graham the Swan... Graeme Swann. Get it...?) He hates me with a passion. In this photo, he was trying to work out how to eat my feet or something. He's always hissing at me. I really don't think he likes me, although that doesn't stop me going there and peeing him off.
Tidy Workspace, Tidy Mind. Yeah, my desk is ALWAYS a mess. It doesn't matter how much I tidy it, it just ends up an absolute tip within a matter of minutes. This was a photo I snapped while I was trying to rectify some issues with my blog layout. Basically, I was procrastinating by endlessly scrolling through Instagram and snapping that photo; instead of trying harder to fix the problem...
Yet Another Derby Sunset. This is a little photo I snapped in the car on the way out of Derby, after having done some late night shopping. I love the scenery from that stretch of road; with Derby Cathedral, the Council House, and the River Derwent. And that sky!
A Bit of a Shocker. I've been offered a place at Uni, starting this September! (Yeah, it was a bit of a shock to me too.) All being well, provided I cough up the cash required and they don't change their minds, I'll be off to Nottingham Trent University to study for a Masters in Broadcast Journalism!
Flowers. My parents very kindly bought me a selection of pretty roses to try and cheer me up after all that trouble with my neighbour. Flowers always brighten everything up, don't they?
Face for Radio. I've been volunteering at a local community radio station called Erewash Sound FM since June now. They're currently training me up to be a producer, which is very exciting! I took this photo when I was learning the ropes, and being taught stuff like how to top and tail songs, so that the presenters know exactly when to talk over songs without crashing into the singing.
Graham. On most trips to Belper River Gardens I end up meeting this swan. We've christened him Graham. (Graham the Swan... Graeme Swann. Get it...?) He hates me with a passion. In this photo, he was trying to work out how to eat my feet or something. He's always hissing at me. I really don't think he likes me, although that doesn't stop me going there and peeing him off.
Tidy Workspace, Tidy Mind. Yeah, my desk is ALWAYS a mess. It doesn't matter how much I tidy it, it just ends up an absolute tip within a matter of minutes. This was a photo I snapped while I was trying to rectify some issues with my blog layout. Basically, I was procrastinating by endlessly scrolling through Instagram and snapping that photo; instead of trying harder to fix the problem...
I Like Stationery. This is a photo I snapped of my shiny new Moleskine planner, which I got for a ridiculously cheap price from The Works, complete with my iPad to show everyone about my latest YouTube video. Y'know the one with the River Gardens? (You can also see the shiny new YouTube Channel header I made, which I'm much happier with.)
Yet Another Derby Sunset. This is a little photo I snapped in the car on the way out of Derby, after having done some late night shopping. I love the scenery from that stretch of road; with Derby Cathedral, the Council House, and the River Derwent. And that sky!
A Bit of a Shocker. I've been offered a place at Uni, starting this September! (Yeah, it was a bit of a shock to me too.) All being well, provided I cough up the cash required and they don't change their minds, I'll be off to Nottingham Trent University to study for a Masters in Broadcast Journalism!
Birthday Train Fun Times. The last photo is of my friend and I. That's Amy on the left, and me on the right. We were on our way to London to celebrate my birthday, but more about that soon! (Amy also writes a blog with her boyfriend, Tony, which you can check out here if you fancy!)
To see more photos like this, you can follow me on Instagram!
A bit of tranquility in an otherwise bustling town.
I love this place. In fact, sometimes when I get overwhelmed by wanderlust, this is the only place that reminds me that it's not so bad being stuck in Belper. If you read my last post, you'll know that things have been a bit rubbish recently, and it's going to places like this (where I'm not constantly looking over my shoulder) that keep me sane.
It's just a park, basically, but it's so serene compared to the rest of the town, that it's easy to forget that you're by a busy road, a train line and in a bustling town centre.
So, I thought I'd shoot a little video just to show you lovely readers one of my favourite places right now! Hope you enjoy it!
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June's been a bit of a hectic month. I've had so many opportunities to give my lovely new lens a try though, which I've relished! I've spent FAR too much money, and I've been working on some new opportunities which I'll go into detail about as soon as I can!
Not beauty. Not really lifestyle either, but I felt the need to share this little Derbyshire gem with you all.
Alport is genuinely one of my favourite places ever. It's only about 15 minutes out of town, but is staggeringly remote. Apparently, on a clear day, you can see SEVEN different counties from there!
Let's face it, I'm not the world's greatest photographer but, for this weekend's post, I thought I'd talk you through some of my photography kit.
I was interested in photography way before I started this blog, so I'd already picked up some skills here and there. My main camera is the Canon 600D DSLR, which I bought last June. Before that, I had the Pentax K-x DSLR, which I got when I was still at Uni.
I love my 600D, I'm not going to lie. Most of my blog photos are taken with it, and my YouTube videos are shot with this too. On offer, it cost me around £450, with the kit lens, an 8GB memory card and a camera bag included. I know that sounds like a pretty hefty amount of money, but if you're an avid photographer, it's definitely a worthwhile investment. DSLRs can be a tad daunting to begin with though. Despite the fact that I've had mine for the best part of a year, I still feel like I'm learning new things about it. There are loads of settings I've yet to fully explore and new effects to try out, but that's all part of the fun!
The 600D is really handy for videos, as the LCD screen on the back can be flipped, making it easy to see yourself whilst filming a piece to the camera! (If you're a budding YouTuber, that is.)
I love my 600D, I'm not going to lie. Most of my blog photos are taken with it, and my YouTube videos are shot with this too. On offer, it cost me around £450, with the kit lens, an 8GB memory card and a camera bag included. I know that sounds like a pretty hefty amount of money, but if you're an avid photographer, it's definitely a worthwhile investment. DSLRs can be a tad daunting to begin with though. Despite the fact that I've had mine for the best part of a year, I still feel like I'm learning new things about it. There are loads of settings I've yet to fully explore and new effects to try out, but that's all part of the fun!
The 600D is really handy for videos, as the LCD screen on the back can be flipped, making it easy to see yourself whilst filming a piece to the camera! (If you're a budding YouTuber, that is.)
This week, I finally invested in my first ever prime lens. For the uninitiated, a prime lens is one that's fixed and doesn't zoom. You have to physically move the camera (and yourself) instead of just zooming in, like you do with the kit lens or a zoom lens.
It's 50mm, but as my DSLR is a cropped body camera, it's a bit more like an 85mm; as the body sticks out a little. I have done so much research into different prime lenses over the past few months before I settled on the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8II lens. At £74 from Currys PC World, it's probably the cheapest lens that I've stumbled across.
The main reason that I decided I wanted a prime lens, rather than a zoom one, was because I've become a little obsessed with the bokeh effect (out-of-focus lights in the background) that these lenses are so good at creating. It's so beautiful, honestly. Here's a photo that I've taken while experimenting with this lens over the past couple of days, complete with the bokeh effect:
It's 50mm, but as my DSLR is a cropped body camera, it's a bit more like an 85mm; as the body sticks out a little. I have done so much research into different prime lenses over the past few months before I settled on the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8II lens. At £74 from Currys PC World, it's probably the cheapest lens that I've stumbled across.
The main reason that I decided I wanted a prime lens, rather than a zoom one, was because I've become a little obsessed with the bokeh effect (out-of-focus lights in the background) that these lenses are so good at creating. It's so beautiful, honestly. Here's a photo that I've taken while experimenting with this lens over the past couple of days, complete with the bokeh effect:
With regards to lighting, I don't really have a lot of kit. A pair of softboxes are definitely on my wishlist, but they're expensive and tend to take up a lot of space. I bought this affordable LED ring light from Amazon a few months ago, which just screws onto the end of your lens. I don't tend to use this very often as it's SO bright. Seriously, look into it at your peril. You'll be seeing rings for ages afterwards. So, at the moment, the majority of my blog photos are taken in natural light. I've recently bought a set of 5 reflectors from Amazon, to try and improve the brightness of my images, but they haven't arrived yet! The whole natural light thing is okay at this time of year, but I'm dreading autumn and winter, as I know that there's a pretty small window in which to take relatively decent blog photos in.
To see more photos from me, follow me on Instagram!
To see more photos from me, follow me on Instagram!
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I love this time of year. The sun's out a lot, but it's not too hot or too cold. There are so many beautiful flowers around at the moment too, which I don't think I've ever fully appreciated until now.
I've taken my camera here, there and everywhere to snap away: From Carsington, Alport Heights, or even just to Starbucks. This month I also braved Photoshop for the first time since I was at school and I've been slowly teaching myself how to use it.
And as you can see, I bought a Fitbit and surprised myself about how much walking I actually do each day. It's definitely helping me to stay focused during my 'training' for the Race for Life.
Let's hope June brings even more pretty sights to photograph!
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Excuse the picture-heavy post, but I felt like showing off a few photos that I took last night at Carsington Water.
Do you remember when I visited a few weeks ago and made that video? Well, I thought I'd nip back and take a few photos in what's dubbed the 'golden hour'. The hour after sunrise and before sunset where the sun is lower in the sky, creating fantastic conditions for artsy photography.
Whilst there, I discovered that I'm a dab hand at scaring geese away. Who knew? They kept on quietly honking at me as they walked away en masse. In the end, I looked like some weird camera-wielding goose herder. I also very nearly stepped in goose poo on several occasions, which is pretty gross. Although, unlike last time, I didn't get any swans trying to pick a fight with me, thankfully.
I love the fact that Carsington is only about 20 minutes away in the car and that it's just so stunning. I don't think I'll ever tire of wandering around there with my camera. (Even though the geese might have already tired of me.)
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