PHOTO CHALLENGE: MOTION & HORSES

15 JUNE 2014

A slightly unusual photo challenge last month with two aspects: motion/speed and horses (or both together if your that smart). I took my photos in various places: a dog park, Solihull Arden Club squash courts, and a small farm down Salter Street in Earlswood. I played around with different shutter speeds to try and capture speed and motion in various ways, and as for the horse? I just thought he was cute! 

Next month's challenge is 'the colour blue' and an additional challenge to change the background of an image using photoshop. This could be very interesting...

SPRING BANK HOLIDAY

18 APRIL 2014

Spring has sprung everyone! And just in time for the Easter bank holiday weekend! Whether you're going somewhere special, or just relaxing at home for a few days, I wish you a very happy and fun-filled Easter break. I'm off to make the most of the sunshine, and take some more pictures like this one...Sayonara!

  

AFTER DARK

18 FEBRUARY 2013

Some people might think it's a little geeky, but I've joined a photography club. The group meets once a month to share tips and techniques, and generally just to appreciate our shared love of photography. Each month we're set a photography challenge to get us thinking creatively, and this month the brief is 'After Dark'. I thought you might like to see what I've been snapping so far, so here's a little taster...

DOUBLE RAINBOW

16 JANUARY 2014

Pouring rain, straight hair and heels don't mix well, but a double rainbow somehow makes up for the resulting frizz and wet toes. Nature and science never cease to amaze me. Beautiful.

LOVE | Hannah

TUMBLR

14 DECEMBER 2013

Apologies for the long, long silence everyone. What with Christmas fast approaching, time seems to be disappearing leaving me with precious little time for the blog.

Photography research has also been taking up a lot of my time lately. I've had a fairly sophisticated digital compact camera for couple of years now, but I'm tired of using the auto-settings for everything. Don't get me wrong, the settings are there to help you achieve the best possible photos with the most minimal photographer effort, and on the whole they produce excellent results. But, I want to learn how to use the manual settings so I can really explore my surroundings and create photographic compositions that are more unique, more me.

So, today I've set up a tumblr account - http://chantillypress.tumblr.com/ - purely to showcase my photographic exploits. I'll still post photos on here, but for a more dedicated, purely photographic feed you might want to take a look at my tumblr. I've put a link on my homepage too, for easy access. Let me know what you think.

LOVE | Hannah

FADING LIGHT

25 NOVEMBER 2013

Normally, I'd be complaining that the days are getting shorter and the sun is almost set by the time I get home from work, but there's something so mesmerizing about a fleeting autumn sunset, that to capture its beauty makes the fading light of almost-winter all the more bearable. Below is an image I took of the sun in the moments as it set on Saturday night. So beautiful.

LOVE | Hannah

LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

17 NOVEMBER 2013

I've been feeling a little under the weather this weekend - husky voice, stuffy nose, pounding head, the works - but still I managed to drag my sorry self into the kitchen for an hour to see if I could bake myself better. Strangely, I've never baked a lemon drizzle cake before, so I thought I'd give it a try. This recipe is from Paul Hollywood's How to Bake, and is probably one of the nicest sponges I've ever made. It's so light and fluffy, one slice just isn't enough! Click here to follow the full recipe.

LOVE | Hannah

AUTUMN

10 NOVEMBER 2013

With annual leave to use up I had an extra long weekend this weekend, lucky me. I had big hopes to get out and about with my camera, but typically it rained all day Friday and most of Saturday. But Sunday lived up to this name and gave me some rays. I love Autumn, especially when it's sunny. There's so many beautiful colours to absorb, and such a short window in which to capture them as Autumn fades quickly to Winter. Here's a couple of shots I took this afternoon...

LOVE | Hannah

MY FIRST SALE

8 NOVEMBER 2013

A little while ago I started an Etsy shop for Chantilly Press to sell off some off some of things I've crafted over the last few months. There's only so many paper flowers one house can take! Last week, I made my first sale! Here's the white and green rose that I handcrafted for the lovely Carol in Middlesex...

 To see what's on offer in my Etsy shop, ChantillyPress, follow this link: 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ChantillyPress

LOVE | Hannah