February 27, 2011

Coming into the light...



After last week's illness I was very eager to get out of our flat and enjoy the glorious weather. During the winter it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon and it seems in the last few weeks that it is now closer to 6pm, which is what it is like back home in Florida.

This makes me very happy because when you have to work your day around a certain amount of light it can be frustrating. During the "summer" it doesn't really get dark at all and at midnight you can still see light in the sky. Its a bizarre place and I am slowly acclimatizing. Slowly.

Anyway, this weekend Billy and I packed our lunches and took off in the car to North Berwick, one of our favorite sea-side retreats. It was such a beautiful, bright and sunny day that I didn't want to go home. I am so happy that the worst of winter is behind us.

February 25, 2011

Cabin Fever...

This week I've been ill. I got a viral infection and it really knocked me out. Each day has been bringing new symptoms and I'm so miserable. I hope I can leave the flat on Saturday because I am going crazy. The light is lasting much much longer in the afternoon (it's getting dark at 6 instead of 3 in the afternoon woo hoo) and I am stuck inside.

Because of this, I have been watching loads of movies free on Love Film (Science of Sleep, Napoleon Dynamite, Grey Gardens and some random rom-coms) reading trash mags and eating anything that doesn't make me want to gag. Had all these things not happened I never would have noticed the bizarre similarity between the new Swarovski ads and Napoleon's Glamour by Deb/girlfriend in Oklahoma photo. Coincidence?

February 16, 2011

Photo shoot...


I did a photo shoot for Billy's company today and I took some shots of the location. They rented the library in the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and it was incredible. I felt smarter just being around all the old books and I look like a little girl in that huge chair. The shoot was a photo for a book cover and it needed to look like the guy's study. I wish I had a study like that.

February 15, 2011

V-Day


Valentine's day isn't one of my husband's favorite "holidays." But he knows that I am a sap so he came home with pretty flowers, a lovely card and the most amazing book ever.

"Make Do and Mend," a book from the second world war put out by the government and republished by the Imperial War Museum. It taught women to make the most of every bit of clothing they had and it tells you the proper way to store clothes, dry boots, mend stockings... I am grateful I don't need to do those things, but I do appreciate not wasting clothes.

Unfortunately we had workmen in our flat all day putting in new windows and they got there so early I literally rolled out of bed and answered the door bra-less and with unbrushed teeth... poor guys... My flat was/is covered with wood dust blah.

So for my part of V-Day, I made my husband red velvet cupcakes in heart shaped molds with a hot pink butter cream frosting. When Billy came home from work the workers were just leaving, I was covered in dust, still bra-less, with hot-pink frosting all over my hoodie. What a catch!

This makes me really really happy that I am married and he loves me regardless.

February 10, 2011

Radar's first photo story



I have been working on this photo story with Billy for a few weeks. Boy did I feel like an old lady.

February 9, 2011

I can see!


After years of hating my glasses, I finally took the plunge and got contacts today! It is really weird being able read the menu at Costa without having to squint for 10 minutes annoying the barrista.

I hated wearing glasses because the frames were blah and I refused to wear them most of the time.

I feel a bit woosy so I have to take it slow, but it feels like a whole new world for me!

February 8, 2011

Working...

I have spent the past few weeks revising a powerpoint presentation. I give private photography and photoshop lessons and I had been using a powerpoint from my previous job where I taught coppers and civies how to shoot.

I have been trying to use my own photos to avoid any copyright infringement, so I've been going through years of stuff I haven't seen in ages. Its been fun but I need to finish by Friday when I have a lesson booked. Eek.

COLOR, RULE OF THIRDS


HORIZONTAL HORIZONS


COLOR, RULE OF THIRDS, PATTERN


PATTERN, SYMMETRY


COLOR, RULE OF THIRDS, PATTERN & TEXTURE

February 4, 2011

A rant...

It really annoys me when I get called certain things. Do you have pet peeves with it comes to what people call you?

I hate being called a Yankee. In the UK a Yankee is anyone from the states. But in the states, a Yankee is someone from New England or just the North in general. Being from Florida, as south as you can get, you can understand why that bugs me.

I hate being called "sweetheart" or "darling" by men. It really grinds on my nerves. Even in the north of Scotland, in the middle of nowhere I got called "darling" by an old man in a petrol station. Grr. But here's the kicker; I call guys "sugar" all the time. I can't help it. Its weird and I know its a double standard.

I don't like to be called Susie. My momma is the ONLY person I'll let get away with it. I was called Susie during my formative years and when I became a teenager I forbade anyone from adding the "sie" to my name.

And, the reason for this post, I hate being called a "Snapper." In the UK, a snapper is someone who takes photos. Pro photogs call themselves that and I find it terribly derogatory. To me it denotes someone who has no skill what-so-ever, someone who just picks up a camera, sets it on automatic, and click there's a photo.

Not that there is anything wrong with someone who uses an automatic setting, but for a professional it is incredible annoying. I have worked my butt off for years in university and in many, many internships, freelance and full-time photography jobs to get where I am. I don't just snap, I take time and compose a photograph.

So please, I beg you, don't call me a Yankee Sweetheart Susie Snapper.

February 1, 2011

New design!

Hiya. So here is something about me that you don't know. I work better at night. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it just gets more attention during the pm. This said, I also get bored really easily and make drastic changes. I can't count how many times as a teenager my parents would wake up and I had totally changed the layout of my bedroom while they slumbered.

This also goes for hair. I hate having hair on my neck so I often will get out my razor (the kind barbers use) and shear off my locks. I have cut my own hair for over a decade and it is usually on a whim in the middle of the night.

So its no wonder why at 9 o'clock last night I decided to come up with a new header for my blog. I know that some people think it needs to be well thought out and have great meaning but well I think as long as it looks pretty and I like it its okay. Also, I am trying out a new font that blogger now offers. I'm not a fontist, but I do appreciate a nice sans serif so we'll see how long this one lasts.

I am actually surprised the old banner lasted that long. But now it contains a few of my favorite things.

xoxo

*UPDATE* My husband hated the font I chose because "it looked like a kid wrote it" and it wasn't very readable on his computer. So I'm trying out this font to see if it works better.