Lightroom and Christmas Street Decorations

If you aren't interested in my adventures in Lightroom, page down to get to the Christmassy Pictures!

I have this week at last  begun to get to grips with Lightroom. I got it back in the summer prior to signing up to Kim Klassen's   Round Trip course - then the problems began. I had started to use it just for organising my photos and had imported my Photoshop Elements catalogue. Then I realised my hard disk was amongst completely full and that I need to find a solution quickly. Panic! delete a few photos and realise this isn't going to cut it. Next step was to buy an external hard drive and then panic again about transferring the photos without them becoming disconnected from the Photoshop and light room catalogues, or worse still losing the lot!

After extensive research we found out that you needed to transfer the files from inside the programme so I had to choose which to keep connected. In the end I choose Elements as I was more familiar with the programme and felt altogether more comfortable with it. So we spent a day transferring the photos in batches and to my great relief it all worked - I had space on my hard disk and at least I could still use elements!

Next to tackle Lightroom - in theory this wasn't too difficult; delete every thing in the catalogue and then re-import the photos from the Elements catalogue - it took several days before I managed to make myself bite the bullet in case it all went horribly wrong! Then success, I was able to start using lightroom and start on the Round Trip course which I had bought extended access to my this time!

The photos I am sharing today have layouts done with the Lightroom print module - my first attempt and very much a work in progress Enjoy!

These two are taken at the iconic Conran shop in Chelsea. I loved how they decorated their windows and the the pink delivery bike was awesome. 

The Chelsea Conran shop is in an old Art Decco building that used to be a Michelin garage and is absolutely stunning!

I love Christmas decorations and the pictures above were taken in St Christopher's Place just behind Oxford Street, I think  all the silver balls and reflections are just wonderful!

This final set of photos are window displays from shops in the streets just off Oxford St and Regent St.  I adore the rich lush colours and textures

Invitation to an Autumn Walk

I though I would like to invite you to join for for a short photo walk in my neighbourhood (can you call a load of fields a neighbourhood?). We are going to start in the garden go out the gate turning right along the farm track past the farm then up the lane and back in by the main drive - not as grand as it sounds there are a number of houses!

 I am always amazed by the treasures I discover in my garden, new perspectives, small details, changing seasons.

I don't often stand at the back of the trellis  in our dustbin area and take photos looking out -  it gave a new perspective on the plants in the bed. Walking down the garden I was struck by the sun on the beech hedge we planted last year, it was so bright you would have thought it a pile of gold, and I loved the bright yellow of the Forsythia leaves by the gate.

Walking down towards the farm I loved the frost tracks on the grass with the brown leaves providing a contrast.

 Past the farm now - we could take this footpath but I think we'll continue on up the lane. When you're on a photo walk its important to keep looking in all directions to find the beauty around you and especially important to look both up and down!

 Nearly home now with a chance to admire the winter fields to our right as we turn in the main drive, and straight ahead as we head back towards the house. I hope you enjoyed our walk together!

A Taste of Poitou Charente

Folowing on from last week's post I have put together a short  slide show  giving a flavour of our French holiday. I hope you find it relaxing - enjoy!

A Taste of Poitou Charentes from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Not taking photographs in France

At last the French holiday post which as you can see I actually started when still there!

Having got to day four of our trip so far we have been to our local small town of Parthenay, the Marais, a marshland with inland waterways and picturesque villages, and La Rochelle a medieval port on the Atlantic coast. I have taken very few pictures! Only 265 Why? On a weekend on the Isle of Wight I often take several hundred, why not here?

Perhaps it is because everything is new yet familiar; pretty houses, stone walls, flowers. New because I have not been to this exact location before, familiar because I have been to many similar places. Some of the best views are panoramic, I can't do these justice without a wide angle lens. Anyway my passion is for the small view, the detail, the sacred in the ordinary. 

 

This is the first time I have been on holiday with my new camera, the first time I have tried to make a distinction between 'holiday snaps' which perhaps can be seen as photos of record  of the 'I was here' variety and something I am more emotionally engaged with.

 

I think this is also related to one’s phase of life and the law of diminishing returns. The first time we took a car to France was in 1976. We were living in Cornwall at the time so we landed in Roscoff and drove first to the Dordogne with its beautiful medieval villages then on via the Corniche de Cevennes  to Provence where we stayed for a few days before driving home. I was a fabulous holiday everything was new and interesting. I had previously only been to Paris, Belgium and Austria all of which were very different  - there were photo opportunities galore, novelty ruled.

 

During the nineties and noughties  we visited various parts of Europe with our son, seeing  familiar places and scenes afresh through his eyes, and visiting some attractions that might otherwise have passed us by. Though happily for us he was always very keen on castles and other old buildings (now reading history at university). Now when we travel in familiar parts of Europe it does feel a bit, been there, done that, still nice, but subject to the law of diminishing returns.

 

On son joined us for the last few days of our holiday and I realized this was the only point at which we paid to go in anywhere (this was partly because we had saved one of the key trips until he arrived). So we visited the maritime museum at La Rochelle the day of his arrival followed  by Fontevraud and  Chateau de Breze the following day. I like to think this was partly because we were not in an area with loads of major attractions, but rather lots of pleasant places to visit, but I think we will need to keep an eye on ourselves during our next trip abroad! 

A Sense of Place

No sooner back from Call of the Wild Soul than I was off on another workshop, this time in London, with the wonderful Kat Sloma.  You can find out more about Kat here. 

This workshop ‘A sense of place’ based on Kats successful e-course took place in Hampstead  for the classroom session, followed by a photo safari in the Spitalfields / Brick Lane area of East London. The course also took place on my 39th wedding anniversary but I was given dispensation by my husband on the basis that I let him go to a Grateful Dead concert on our anniversary in 1981 (I didn’t like the Dead at the time I do rather now!)

Having introduced ourselves it turned out to be a small world. I already had a connection with Justine through a photography based Facebook group I belong to, and it transpired that Kat and Fiona had met some of my fellow Wild Souls at an art retreat in Yorkshire last year where Flora Bowley was also teaching. It was also great to meet the other group members Alyssa & Becs. 

The morning was spent looking through the workbook and thinking about what a sense of place means to us individually. The time raced by and after lunch it we headed over to the East End for the photo safari.

I have made a couple of trips to the Spitalfields / Brick lane area recently (here is a really good art supply warehouse there) and taken quite a few photos. There is always something different to see, however, and I had previously only been on a weekday when it’s rather quiet with no food stalls or pop up markets. Also it was really interesting to notice what my companions noticed / were attracted to that I wasn’t and vice versa. All the picture in the post were taken on that Saturday I haven’t included any that were taken on my previous visits.

The first thing that caught my eye was this old fashioned looking  that seemed to be in its own private time zone

Next I  was attracted to this window with its colourful lamps

Then we were into the main drag of Brick Lane itself full of sounds smells and colour. I wished we hadn't just had lunch, the food looked and smelled wonderful!

 Some of the restaurants had very interesting decor!

Another feature of the lane was the fascinating graffiti which was everywhere - I rather liked this one which was more of a collage - is that Patrick Moore in the centre?

I also really liked this sign in a book shop window

Finally as we were heading back I was struck with the wonderful colours of this display of shoes

the whole day was fab - many thanks to Kat and my fellow photographers