Photography

A sentence on the Pea Soup blog yesterday really resonated with me. Suse was saying that how after two years of blogging she was starting to "look at things from a photographer's perspective". I think I might be just starting to do this a little too.

My favourite things to photograph:

• flowers
• trees
• blue sky
• food
• fabric
• shadows
• my home

The photography part of blogging is now one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I carry my camera everywhere and am getting less shy about whipping it out of my handbag and taking some photos when I see something funny, beautiful or interesting. I think I am also getting better at composing and taking photos. I have got to the stage now where I want to find out what all those strange settings on the camera's sub-menus are all about.


I am starting to learn some dos and don'ts about photography too:

• you can have too many photographs of geraniums after all
• light is very important
• don't bother getting children to pose for you - you get better pictures when they don't know they are being photographed.
• ask before you photograph a market stall or a shop display.
• there are resources online to make photography more fun and more creative.
  

My favourite online photography resources are:

• flickr - an online photo store where you can display and share your pictures.
• Moo - a print shop where you can make gorgeous stickers and cards from your photos. I have ordered a couple of sticker books from them and am completely in love with their products.
• Photobox - top quality photo printing and next day delivery. Awesome.
  

But the biggest lesson I have learnt from photographing everything I possibly could over the past six months is just how difficult it is to not nag people into looking at your pictures. I am now the online equivalent of one of those tedious people who foists photograph albums full of baby pictures and photos of their building works on you when you go round for dinner.

Here are some I took yesterday - feel free to go and admire yet more on flickr!