Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine’s Day is celebrated simply in our house. With a card and a kiss. (I did also get a lovely bottle of perfume – thank you very much!!)


Speaking of kisses, I just happened upon a lovely series of photographs by Brian Harris, entitled, Kiss. Brian Harris has been a professional photographer for many decades and his portfolio contains a huge variety of subjects, from graves and whisky campaigns to Eastern Europe and embracing couples.


I thought that the photo below was perfect for Valentine’s Day:

Kiss in Paris, Brian Harris

You can check out more photographs by Brian Harris, including the other photos in this series, here. (A quick thank you to Brian for his permission to post this beautiful photo on my blog)

Happy Valentine’s Day blog readers.

Much love, SG

PS Remember to enter my first giveaway for your chance to win one of three pairs of Butterfly Twists!!

The camera obsession continues…!!

My Photography and Art course may have finished but my new found obsession with cameras and all things photo-related refuses to go away.

I found this little gem on line at Fred Aldous earlier this week when searching for suitable stocking fillers. It is an Ikimono Mini Camera complete with a film. Of course, I couldn’t order one as a present and not order one for myself!!


It’s absolutely tiny and soooo cute!! I can’t wait to get shooting and see what comes out! I think that is the charm of film cameras – with a digital camera you can see the photo straight away and decide whether or not to take another, whether or not to delete it, everything has become so instant that we have lost the wonder and joy of waiting for something. I love going to pick up a film from Jessops or developing my own films – you never know what you’re going to find!


As soon as I have taken some photos and had the film developed, I will upload some onto here.

Unfortunately, the film needs bright daylight, something which is a little lacking in Cardiff in December.


Just as an aside – this was the first time I’d used Fred Aldous and I was very impressed with the service. I ordered on Tuesday and paid for standard delivery and it arrived first thing this morning. When I contacted the store to ask about delivery they responded promptly. I will definitely be ordering from them again. Perhaps a Lomo Camera next time…


More soon. Love, SG

Art and Photography: Week 7

Photo information: Nikon D40; 38 mm focal length; F/5; 1/60 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 18 mm focal length; F/5; 1/60 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 28 mm focal length; F/5; 1/60 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 55 mm focal length; F/5.6; 1/60 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 31 mm focal length; F/5; 1/60 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 38 mm focal length; F/13; 3 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 32 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 30 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 30 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 30 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 30 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 30 mm focal length; F/13; 2 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Art and Photography: Week 6

I have been a little slack in posting the photos from the course and have just realised that I have not put up week 6 or week 7 photos. So here are some from week 6.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 55 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/50 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 52 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/50 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 55 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/50 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 55 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/50 sec exposure; ISO-400.

Art and Photography: Cardiff Bay: all my own work!!!

At last night’s Art and Photography course we were using the darkroom at college. This is the first time that I had ever done this. I managed to run off a black and white film in my lunch hour yesterday, just out and about in the Bay. The developing takes quite a while so I only managed to print two photos but I plan to go back into college later this week to play a bit more.


Here are the two that I did print:

Art and Photography: Week 5

Art and Photography: Week 4

These are some of the photos that I took during my class last week. We used models again but at the beginning we were given the opportunity to photgraph exhibits from the studio’s recent exhibition. I particularly like these brown paper roses. They have a sort of mythical quality to them and they are all alone in a little low ceiling-ed back room with little light which is a challenge for photographing. So here are a few of the photos of them that I took. I love them.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 22 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 18 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 18 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 18 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 35 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 24 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Photo information: Nikon D40; 18 mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/20 sec exposure; ISO-800

Art and Photography: Week 2

Photo information: Nikon D40; 38mm focal length; F/22; 2.5 sec exposure; ISO-1600.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 31mm focal length; F/22; 3 sec exposure; ISO-200.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 38mm focal length; F/11; 2.5 sec exposure; ISO-200.

Photo information: Nikon D40; 55mm focal length; F/6.3; 1/80 sec exposure; ISO-1600.

Photo information: nikon D40; 20mm focal length; F/5; 1/15 sec exposure; ISO-1600.

These are just a few (of the 360) photos I took at the class last night. Again, I loved it. This time we were at the studio space of our tutor, tactileBOSCH. It is such an amazing space – I could spend hours there and not get bored… ever! Can’t wait for next week.

Will write more soon. Love, SG

Art and Photography

Photo information: Olympus E-510; 32mm focal length; F/9.5; 8 sec exposure; ISO-800.

Photo information: Olympus E-510; 27mm focal length; F/9.5; 3 sec exposure; ISO-800.

Photo information: Olympus E-510; 42mm focal length; F/13; 3 sec exposure; ISO-800.

Photo information: Olympus E-510; 42mm focal length; F/5.6; 1/125 sec exposure; ISO-800.


These are a few examples of the photos that I took on Tuesday night at my first Art and Photography course. I loved it and I love the effects of some of them.