To use instant sheet film I had a Polaroid back, connected to a P Adapter, which allowed the connection of the Polaroid back to a Mamiya RB67. The Polaroid back has a dark slide in it and meant that you could take the whole lot off mid-way through a pack of film, shoot some roll film, then swap them back again later.
I don't shoot loads with my Mamiya - I love it, but it's expensive to buy and develop film. I come back to it now and again, and whenever I do I look up whether anyone has come up with a good replacement for the peel-apart film or an adapter for Instax/Polaroid Original. There are a few things about, usually on Kickstarter, often more expensive than I can justify for a personal project, and they tend to go very quiet after the initial launch. I don't even know why I wanted one so much, but there's something about taking instant pictures on my Mamiya that I really enjoy.
One day while I was pondering this I remembered that I had an Instant Back for my Lomography Diana F+, which shoots Fujifilm Instax Mini, and I had a spark of inspiration - perhaps there was a way to attach this to the Mamiya? So I spent a very happy afternoon with some foamboard, velvet and a whole lot of gaffer tape.
I was pretty focused on the job in hand and a bit impatient so I can only apologise for not documenting this better, but hopefully this gives you the general idea, in case you enjoy messing about with things like this as much as me.
I started with the Mamiya body with the P adapter attached - this was needed to be able to attach a Polaroid back to the body, so it made sense to use this as the platform I'd attach everything to.
First things first, remove the part that connects the Instant back to the Diana F+ body - remove the screws. Easy.
There are parts at different levels, and a curvy bit on the Instant Back so I needed find a way of filling all the gaps. Cue the foamboard, velvet and gaffer tape - the goal being to create a flat surface to attach to the P adapter, and not let any light sneak in.
This image is mainly here because it looks a bit like a face.
I didn't have felt, I did have velvet, which is great, but be warned that velvet bits get everywhere!
Once I'd got the Diana Back flattened out it occurred to me that there might be a way to attach it to the Polaroid back, rather than just to the P adapter, so I could make use of the dark slide too. It turned out to be super simple as the back section of the Polaroid back popped out at the hinge really easily. It was then just a matter of gaffer taping everything together and I had a nice secure unit!
Sorry this was shot vertically, it was for Instagram Stories!
At this point I remembered I didn't have any Instax Mini film so I ordered some and waited for it to arrive.
Three days later, late in the afternoon, the Instax arrived! I set myself up at my electric piano - as the film would be sitting further back than roll film or the actual Polaroid back I knew that the focus would be off, but I thought a good starting point would be to focus as normal, and with a piano keyboard it might be easier to see what sort of compensation was required. I took a light meter reading and went for it: remove the dark slide, switch on the back, make the exposure, press the develop button, take the exposed film out and put it in my back pocket, put the dark slide back in, switch off the back.
As expected, it was totally out of focus, but the exposure looked pretty good and more importantly - I was amazed it worked at all!! So I had a guess at what sort of compensation I'd need to make for the focus, which was basically to roll the bellows right back in, and I was pretty impressed with the result!
By this point it was getting pretty dark so I ended the day on a high (ridiculously high from the success!) and came back to it at the weekend when I had more time.
I took a couple more shots inside (by a window, just to make things harder for myself, but these were actual test shots for film), then I thought I'd try outside to get a sense of what focus limits I had. It was a really sunny day. I took a shot and the whole thing was completely blown out. Yes it's 800 ISO film but even making massive adjustments to the aperture wasn't working. I went back inside and took a few more shots - the first few were also blown out but it started to get better. I deduced from this that there must be a leak somewhere. When I took those first shots I was inside so it didn't matter so much, but being outside there was no hiding. Thinking about it now, I also took the back off to take a shot on film before I went outside, so that's also a possibility.
So I went over everything with another layer of gaffer tap, being extra cautious on the corners and joins, started a new pack and began with shots inside in case I blew everything out again. I was really pleased with how these came out - I went for high apertures to increase my chance of focus, guessed a position and went for it. Lovely yellow tulips. I shot through a window, too, to get a sense of the focus but keeping in the back out of the light (plus it was raining and I wanted to stay dry). At f32 the raindrops on the window are sharp, but the building in the background is softer.
As you can see, towards the end of the pack I ventured outside. For extra caution I popped a beret on the Instant Back too, and thankfully, it seemed to work!
So, with my 127mm lens I can shoot pretty lovely, sharp images about 1m away from the camera, and softer images of things further away. For test shots that's still helpful though, the exposures match up nicely, as you can see from the test shots leading to the final image, below. I'm sure with further investigation there'd be away of correcting the shift, but I'm happy with what I have for now!
So there it is, a Mamiya RB67 with a Diana Instant Back+, a success!
Hi, I'm Jayne Lloyd, a freelance photographer based in the UK. If you would like to have a chat about working with me, messing about with cameras or zines, get in touch by email at [email protected].
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We were there on press day to capture all the stunning gardens, latest trends, award-winning plants and products, and a few famous faces visiting the show. It's a busy day trying to get all the details but a lot of fun and full of inspiration - now if I could just put some of that inspiration into practice in my own garden that would be brilliant!
Here are some of my photographs from the day - I've kept it reasonably short and sweet here but you can see the full album here if you'd like, and do check out The English Garden's blog for the full story and plenty of other garden inspiration.
The M&G Garden by Andy Sturgeon
The Morgan Stanley Garden by Chris Beardshaw
‘Back to Nature’ garden, designed by The Duchess of Cambridge in collaboration with the RHS and Davies White
The Warner’s Distillery Garden, designed by Helen Elks-Smith
The Dubai Majilis Garden by Thomas Hoblyn
The Welcome to Yorkshire Garden by Mark Gregory
The Resilience Garden by Sarah Eberle
The Wedgwood Garden by Jo Thompson
The Trailfinders Undiscovered Latin America Garden by Jonathan Snow
The Savills and David Harber Garden by Andrew Duff
The Greenfingers Charity Garden by Kate Gould
RHS Garden Bridgewater by Tom Stuart-Smith
Dame Judi Dench
Facebook: Beyond the Screen by Joe Perkins
The Harmonious Garden of Life
Giving Girls in Africa a Space to Grow by Jilayne Rickards
The Silent Pool Gin Garden by David Neale
Kampo no Niwa by Kazuto Kashiwakura and Miki Sato
The Manchester Garden by Exterior Architecture
The Roots in Finland Kyrö Garden by Taina Suonio
The Montessori Centenary Children’s Garden by Jody Lidgard
The Art of Viking garden by Paul Hervey-Brooks
Family Monsters Garden by Alistair Bayford
The High Maintenance Garden For Motor Neurone Disease Association by Sue Hayward
The Donkey Sanctuary: Donkeys Matter Garden
Green Switch garden by Kazuyuki Ishihara
Walker’s Forgotten Quarry Garden
Miles Stone: The Kingston Maurward Garden
Alitex Greenhouse
A Gorilla sculpted from sweet potato (I think) by Medwyns of Anglesey
Plant of the year:Sedum takesimense ‘Atlantis’
Come What May by Festoon Flowers‘ Charlotte Smithson
Don't forget to check out The English Garden's blog for the full story and all the latest news from Chelsea, you can see my full album here if you'd like.
I am a professional photographer based in Essex. If you would like to have a chat about working with me get in touch by email at [email protected] or call 07751233292.
A browse of synonyms and a look in a dictionary later and I decided to call the zine series 'amass': to accumulate or collect.
Issue one is titled 'obsolete': no longer used; out of date, and focuses on my collection of images of empty notice/advertising boards, which I've mentioned before: Why I like abandoned noticeboards.
It's a 'foldy' zine, made from a sheet of A4 folded and cut to make a 6-page A7 booklet with an A4 poster on the reverse - three different image variations. The bright white paper is quite thick (200gsm) and I folded it by hand so it doesn't line up totally perfectly, but that's part of the charm!
If you know me in the 'real world' I'll have a few on me if you'd like a look, but if you'd like to buy one online they are available to buy on Etsy for £1.50 + postage (65p within UK, £1.45 international).
I'll be sporadicly making new ones with different collections so check back to see what I'm up to, and I'd love to know your thoughts!
I was there capturing the day for those who were there and to publicise these and future awards. It was a fantastic day with a drinks reception, delicious three-course lunch and much celebration at the awards ceremony itself, hosted by the fantastic David Domoney in the stunning surroundings of the Savoy.
Below are a few photographs from the day. To see the complete gallery on my website visit: www.jaynelloyd.co.uk/gmgawards15
Congratulations to everyone involved in a fantastic day – to see all the winners visit the GMG site here: www.gardenmediaguildawards.com/2015-awards.html
If you are holding an event and would like a photographer to document it for you, please get in touch – I’d love to have a chat to see how I can help you. You can contact me using the contact form, email me at [email protected] or call me on 07751233292.
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About the artwork:
'Carpet of Stars' is a light and sculpture installation which reflects in real time pollution levels through live streaming data that changes the colour of the lights according to the air pollution level: Red=high pollution, White=low pollution. The four green leaves with shaped stars which project onto the floor were made from over 1000 green plastic bottles collected from Chelmsford City Recycling Centre. The pollution data was processed by a Raspberry Pi computer the size of a credit card, which then changed the lighting depending on the pollution levels.
This project was delivered by local artist Victoria Button along with students from Chelmer Valley High School, supported by engineers and software developer David Bower from www.lessonate.co.uk and jointly funded by High Chelmer and the Essex County Council small grants scheme.
The project won the Anglian Ruskin Award in the CSES schools competition for science and engineering: http://www.chelmsfordses.org.uk - congratulations to all involved!
For more information about the project or any of the organisations involved please use contact Victoria Button at The Explore Project: www.exploreproject.co.uk or www.facebook.com/Victoriabuttoncreative/
Here are a selection of the photographs I took, or you can view the full gallery here: www.jaynelloyd.co.uk/vbutton01
Jayne Lloyd is a freelance photographer based in Essex. If you are interested in working with her get in touch - she'd love to have a chat about how she can help.
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This year the festival theme was 'Connect' and the aim was to encourage new and lasting links between Chelmsford City communities: connections between business, local authorities, schools, Anglia Ruskin University, Writtle College and voluntary groups. I love documenting the festival each year as it's a fantastic opportunity to meet wonderful people from the city and get a glimpse of the great work they are doing locally.
Here is a taster of the events I documented, you can see more photographs in the gallery here: www.jaynelloyd.co.uk/ideasfestival2015 and see photos from previous years here: www.jaynelloyd.co.uk/chelmsfordideasfestival
To find out more about the Festival and Changing Chelmsford visit their website at http://www.changingchelmsford.org and http://www.changingchelmsford.org/if2015/
Enlightened City Making, hosted by the Royal Society of Arts at Chelmsford Cathedral
Engineering Fair, hosted by the Department of Engineering and the Built Environment, Anglia Ruskin University
Raspberry Pi Workshop, hosted by Chelmsford Science and Engineering Society at Anglia Ruskin University
Stave House Children's Concert at the Cramphorn Theatre
Jayne Lloyd is a freelance photographer based in Essex. If you are interested in working with her get in touch - she'd love to have a chat about how she can help.
]]>If you like my snaps come join over on Instagram to see more!
How was your week?
]]>Then we managed to escape for a quick city break to Berlin - a wonderful few days in a fantastic city, looking particularly incredible with all the autumn leaves. I took loads of photos but haven't had chance to process them yet, so most of these are my phone photos from Instagram.
How was your week?
]]>There are loads more events happening this week so check out the programme here and get involved!
How was your week?
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It was great seeing how everyone responded to the brief - such a variety of work and a lot of alternative processes too - really diverse. I recommend having a look if you are in East London. I was quite taken with the lighting on display too!
My piece was from a body of work documenting the traces of previous residents in my new house - in particular for this brief I was looking for signs of things that they did for love. This image is from my dining room, where there are nails in the chimney breast, upon which used to hang lots of family photographs - daily reminders of happy times. Other images from this series are on display as part of the Firstsite Open Exhibition, which I'll be blogging about soon.
The exhibition runs until 26 November - more details on how to visit can be found here on the Shutter Hub website.
]]>Commercial work
Another busy month for commercial work, including shoots at the Geffrye Museum, profile pictures for local businesses. I was also asked to take photographs for Star Well Being at the Fling Festival in Chelmsford, which you can read more about that at my blog here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2015/07/event-photography-the-fling-festival-at-hylands-park-chelmsford/
For more of my commercial work visit my other website, www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
A family wedding
I had a lovely long weekend in Cornwall for my wonderful cousin Charlotte's wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony with a fabulous party in a huge tipi, and so good to catch up with family I haven't seen for a while.
Personal projects
I've been so busy with work that it's been a bit tricky to really push some of my personal projects, but they are continuing and hopefully taking some shape. The group I am documenting meet on Saturdays so wedding season has made it a little trickier to get there, but I'll be back in full swing in the autumn! In the meantime I'm messing about a bit more with other types of art, and had a proper go with my Grandad's letterpress this month.
Resolutions update
Exhibition of the Month: I don't think I managed to get to an exhibition this month - I did a lot more reading and saw some great work in magazine but, nope, failed on this one!
Learn: I went to a great symposium on 'Thinking Home' at the University of Essex - a lot of my personal work features home as a theme so I found it really interesting. I also went to a Speaker Expert training day on public speaking as that's something I need to sharpen up!
Make more art: Along with playing with the letterpress I've been keeping up the Instagramming and I'm carrying a sketchbook everywhere now too. I used to sketch a lot so I'm hoping to pick that up again too.
Enter more competitions: I'm keeping this one up and trying to enter even more competitions. As I said last month, having the the deadlines to work towards is helps push me along and encourages me to look more closely at my work, which has to be a good thing!
Weekly montage
I think my favourite montage this month was probably this one from 6th July So much colour and happiness!
Well, that was my July - how was yours?
]]>Engagement shoot with Tom and Elena
As you may have seen in my previous blog post, I met Tom and Elena at Marks Hall Gardens and Arboretum, Essex, to take a few portraits before I photograph their wedding there in October. It was quite a damp morning but we still had a lovely time and got some lovely lush green portraits of the two of them!
Commercial work
It was a busy month for commercial work, with consultancy work and corporate shoots. I was the official photographer for the TEDx Chelmsford event at Anglia Ruskin University, which was fantastic. You can read more about the day on my commercial blog, here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2015/07/corporate-event-photography-tedx-chelmsford/
For more of my commercial work visit my other website, www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
Personal projects
I've carried on pushing my personal projects further and am working towards putting them into something at some point too. Being in the new house I've been exploring that a lot with my camera, which I'm really enjoying.
A new profile picture
I had my haircut by the fab Verity of the Vanity Box so thought it was time to update my profile picture!
Resolutions update
Exhibition of the Month: I went to Revelations: Experiments in Photography at the Science Museum which was very interesting. It was great to see a lot of photography I've seen in books up on the wall. Particularly a piece by Ori Gersht, who I saw speak at Photo London last month. They also had the Kraszna-Krausz and First Book Awards 2015 on display in the media space, which I particularly enjoyed.
Learn: I learnt a lot from the exhibitions I visited, and have been doing a lot of general reading etc, but didn't go to any dedicated 'learning' events this month as such.
Make more art: Still enjoying Instagramming in a more creative way, and exploring my new house in an abstract way too!
Enter more competitions: I entered even more competitions this month - still no wins, but having the the deadlines to work towards is helps push me along and encourages me to look more closely at my work, which has to be a good thing!
Weekly montage
I think my favourite montage this month was probably this one from 15th June!
Well, that was my June - how was yours?
]]>Commercial work
Through my work at the Business Woman's Network I met a new client, with whom I did a cookware shoot. The images are yet to be released but it was a fun shoot!
For more of my commercial work visit my other website, www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
Personal projects
This month I've been taking some time to really push my personal projects. I shot a lot more, and went to a portfolio review looking at my more documentary work. I think it's really important to push these projects as the improvements come through in all my other work, commercial, weddings - it sharpens my skills and creativity.
A new home
I moved house this month! That probably explains why things have been a teeny bit random... it's very exciting, I'm loving setting it all up.
Resolutions update
Let's not mention One Line a Day diary and 1 Second Everyday anymore :-/
Exhibition of the Month: I went to Photo London with my good friend Louise - it was a great event with so much photography on display we didn't quite manage to see everything in one day, but came away super inspired! We attended a couple of great talks by Ori Gersht and Todd Hido - will definitely be back next year! I also went on a tour of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year exhibition, which I was shortlisted for this year. Very inspiring and spurred me on to try again next year!
Learn: I think the exhibition of the month covered that! As I mentioned before I also went to a portfolio review at IdeasTap - that taught me a lot and I'm working hard to put it all into practice now.
Make more art: Really pushing this at the moment, as I've said above. Still enjoying Instagramming a lot too!
Enter more competitions: This one is still going strong - this month I entered a couple of competitions. It's keeping me creative and thinking more...
Weekly montage
I think my favourite montage this month was probably this one from 6th May - lots of fun times!
Well, that was my May - how was yours?
]]>A Beautiful Spring Wedding
I photographed Georgie and Matt's beautiful wedding at Kentwell Hall this month! A full blog post is coming soon...
I also had some great venue visits with couples whose weddings I am photographing later in the year - stunning locations, can't wait!
Commercial work
This month saw some image processing work at a picture library, and some portrait photographs for the fabulous Liz Leatherdalde at Colchester Classics, amongst other, yet to be published work!
For more of my commercial work visit my other website, www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
Editorial work
Following on from the publication of Old Tat magazine last month, I collaborated with Alice Freeman on another feature this month. It's off with the editor now so hopefully we'll see it in the next edition!
Resolutions update
My One Line a Day diary and 1 Second Everyday have pretty much completely stopped. How rubbish! One line each day and 1 second of video should be easy to keep up! I might try to restart them again - I should!
Exhibition of the Month: I'm sorry to say I didn't make it to any exhibitions this month- terrible! I'll be making up for it in May... I did go to check out Kentwell Hall prior to the wedding though, and enjoyed the Tudor reenactments with Tim. Not an exhibition, I realise, but lots of learning and looking at the amazing building and grounds.
Learn: Well I did learn about Kentwell Hall and Tudors... The BWN had another great masterclass where I learnt a lot from Mary Keightley
Make more art: My personal documentary project is still going, and I've been enjoying Instagramming lots this month too.
Enter more competitions: This one is still going strong - this month I entered a couple of competitions. It's keeping me creative and thinking more...
New recipe of the week: I'm very sad to say that this came to an end this month :-( having been desperate to carry on it just got too difficult as I moved house. I think I kept it going for about 3 years so I'm still proud of that, but a bit sad to have lost it. Once I'm settled in the new house I'll probably try to keep up regularly trying new recipes each week if I can, though maybe not as strictly as before.
Weekly montage
I think my favourite montage this month was probably this one from 14th April - lots of spring colours!
Well, that was my April - how was yours?
Here are a few of my March Highlights:
Wedding Season begins
The end of March saw my first wedding of the year, at the lovely Maidens Barn. I haven't shown the wonderful couple the photos yet so I can't share any, but will put up a blog post about it very soon. It was a fantastic day with so many fab details I can't wait to share them!
Commercial work
I was at the Geffrye Museum quite a bit in March, photographing some new items in the handling collection, and some new products for their online shop. Do go and have a browse - there are some lovely things, I struggled to stop myself from buying one of everything! I also did some work in the Picture Library, helping to prepare and upload images into their system. It's always lovely going back to the Geffrye, and particularly lovely in Spring!
I also worked with a few new clients this month - one requiring object photography, another in the beauty industry who wanted to illustrate their processes, and also have some beautiful styled images they can use in their promotion, and one involving a shoot with a celebrity. Most of these are still to go to press but I'll be sharing more about these soon on my commercial website www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
Editorial work
This month saw the release of the Spring/Summer edition of Old Tat magazine, for which I shot images to illustrate a feature by Alice Freeman. It was a project I really enjoyed and it's great to see it in print. I'll be blogging more about it on www.blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk, and you can buy your own copy here: http://oldtatmag.com/purchase/
Resolutions update
My One Line a Day diary and 1 Second Everyday are wavering a little. I'm going to have a massive catchup on the diary, and the problem I'm having with the videos is that when I'm busy (and things are most interesting), I either forget to do it or can't really do it because it's not appropriate. I'm going to try to give them another push though - will let you know how I get on!
Exhibition of the Month: Having gone to lots of exhibitions last month, I didn't do quite as well this month. I did pop along to Rivington Place which was quite interesting, and I spent some time checking out magazines, picking out a few interesting ones from Artwords Bookshop.
Learn: Well the French is definitely still on the sidelines, I'm afraid. It was just to busy to even thing about picking it up again! I did go along to a session at the Business Woman's Network which was all about LinkedIn, so I feel I learnt something there. I also did some posing and lighting practice - always good to keep those skills well polished! Oh, and how could I forget - I went to a Lindy Hop dance lesson! I was absolutely terrible, having never properly danced before in my life, but I had so much fun. Hopefully I'll go back again soon.
Make more art: My personal documentary project is still ticking along nicely and I'm looking forward to see where that leads. In fact I've sort of started a few different mini projects so I'm feeling quite creative at the moment!
Enter more competitions: I've kept this up! Just the one entry to my new monthly competition this month, but I had a bit of success this month as I found out I had an image shortlisted in the Pink Lady Food Photography of the Year Awards! You can see my entry here: http://www.pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com/peoples-choice/ (in the Sn-apping category), and if you're reading this on or before the 16th April you can vote for me in the People's Choice!
New recipe of the week: I'm still managing to keep this up - in fact I'm a bit worried it's an addiction, as I managed to whip up some shortbread around a full day shoot just because I didn't want to miss a week... I haven't been that great at photographing them though. I think this month my favourite was chicken chow mein - super quick and super tasty, though maybe not the most attractive in a photo!
Weekly montage
There was a little gap where I didn't manage to get the montages out each week, but I did put them together and had a 3-in-1 montage day on the blog. It gets a bit tricky when I'm doing a lot of work for clients, because although I'm taking loads of photos, I can't often share them straight away! I've been trying to take more Instagram snaps to get around this. I'll go with this one today, as it is the only one without images you have already seen!
Well, that was my March - how was yours?
]]>Here are a few of my February Highlights:
Commercial work
Not really commercial work, but not wedding-related, was a shoot I did to raise money and awareness for Farleigh Hospice. The #Love4Farleigh event was with artist Tracy Shave and other local businesses, and is continuing as an online project. You can read more about it on my commercial blog here: or joining the Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/Love4Farleigh
I also had another great day working with the team at WFP Fire and Security, this time taking new team portraits as well as a bit of on-site documentary photography.
Resolutions update
My One Line a Day diary and 1 Second Everyday are sort of still going - I'll admit I've forgotten to do videos on a couple of days (or run out of space on my phone!), and my diary is a little behind at the moment. But the beauty of it is that I can work backwards and catch up on one line a day fairly easily. Must do better though!
Exhibition of the Month: I actually went to a few exhibitions this month including the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery was interesting to see, but what I really enjoyed was Grayson Perry: Who are You? I loved how it lead you round the gallery (some parts I have to admit I hadn't actually been to before!) and the work was incredible. It's on until 15 March and is free so I highly recommend a visit. I think we can also watch the Channel 4 series on 4oD so I'll be trying to do that later: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grayson-perry-who-are-you I also managed to pop along to the Photographs' Gallery, which is always good for inspiration.
Learn: I went along to another meeting of The Old Girls Club, where I listened to some excellent speakers and came away feeling really inspired. Still trying to read more, but the French isn't doing so well I'm afraid...
Make more art: I'm still working on my personal documentary project, so that's ticking along nicely and I'm looking forward to see where that leads. I'm having lots of fun on my iPhone at the moment too just messing about on Instagram, but it's a little bit of creativity in everyday life.
Enter more competitions: Now this one I'm really going for - I entered a few competitions this month, and I've signed up to a monthly competition which I hope will be a lot of fun and get that creativity really going!
New recipe of the week: Is still going strong! I've even got a bit better at photographing them, so I'll be boring people with my creations in my weekly montages! The oven is fixed now too so I can go beyond the hob...
Weekly montage
Still going strong here too! I think my favourite February montage was from the 23rd:
How was your February?
Here are a few of my January highlights:
Jo and Dick's wedding album
Jo and Dick opted to have a beautiful 12x12in Folio Album for their wedding photographs. I love seeing photographs in print and especially in a beautiful book.
New prints for my portfolio
I had a good sort through my printed portfolios and chose some new images to have printed from weddings I photographed last year. Although I have a portfolio online I think it's important for people to see the quality of photographs in print too, so I always take a print portfolio along when I meet couples.
Commercial work
I had a lovely day photography the Geffrye YAP's take-over day at the Wallace Collection in London. It was a busy, lively afternoon and they had organised lots of fantastic activities. You can see more of the images on my commercial blog, if you're interested!
My Resolutions for the Year
I still set resolutions as i think it does make me more likely to make positive changes than if I didn't do it at all. You can see how I got on with last year's resolutions in last month's blog.
This year I'm pretty much going to try them again, but I've also added a few '-a-day' challenges into the mix. I'm using the 1 Second Everyday app to record one second of video each day, which should produce a 6 minute-ish video of my whole year. Part of the reason for doing this is that I hope it pushes me to do something interesting each day, even if it's just go out for a walk to break up a full week of image processing!
I've also got myself a One Line a Day diary - I've always liked the idea of keeping a diary or journal, but I've never been any good at it. I think a few short words each day is more manageable, and I like that I'll be able to easily see what I was doing in previous years.
So, to update so far...
Exhibition of the Month: I went to Tate Modern to see Conflict, Time, Photography, which is an excellent exhibition with some powerful and extremely moving images from a range of photographers with very different approaches. I highly recommend going to see it if you can.
Learn: This was always a fairly vague resolution, so I should probably be more specific, but so far it's been about revisiting notes from workshops and talks and putting them into action. I've also been making an effort to read more - about photography, about business, and just for fun!
Make more art: I'm carrying on with my personal documentary project, and vaguely keeping a little sketch book for arty ideas and to stick my instant photos into.
Enter more competitions: Well I have entered one this month, so that's a reasonable start!
New recipe of the week: I've kept this up, but not photographed them. My oven is broken at the moment so it's mostly stir-fried dinnery things, which I'm generally quite keen to eat quickly, and don't always look that photogenic. Will try to do better here!
Weekly montage
Still going strong with the weekly montages. Actually it was pretty hard to pick my favourite one this month as I like them all! I've gone with the first one of the year, 5th January, mainly because it has nice holiday memories for me! You can see each montage weekly here if you'd like: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/tag/weekly-montage/
I hope your year is off to a good start - what did January bring for you?
]]>Here are a few highlights from December:
Commercial Work
Christmas Fun
Resolution Update
1. Go to at least one exhibition a month
2. Learn
This was a fairly broad resolution anyway, really just being to 'make an effort to learn more and push myself'. With the variety of work I did this year I think I can say I did that. My lighting skills developed a huge amount, I took on new challenges photographically, and learnt a lot about running a business too. I wanted to improve my French but that fell a bit by the way-side. One to pick up for 2015!
3. Make more art
This was an attempt to do more of my own personal work and I did take steps to do that. Introducing a weekly montage way a good way to make myself do it as I can't always share commissions straight away and need something else to fill up the spaces! This is my favourite from this month: 29th December, which features lots of lovely Christmas moments:
I've also started a personal documentary project - it's still taking shape at the moment but in 2015 this should develop more.
4. Enter more competitions
Well I think I did enter more of them, but didn't quite give it the huge push I should have. I'll carry this through to 2015 and take it up a level!
5. Carry on trying a new recipe each week
Here are a few highlights from November:
A 50th Wedding Anniversary
The first job of November was a wonder 50th Wedding Anniversary party in Ipswich. It was a fantastic night, filled with dancing and laughter, and a lot of fun to photograph.
Commercial Work
Resolution Update:
Here are a few highlights from October:
A Gorgeous Autumn Wedding in Danbury
I'll be sharing a proper blog post about this wedding very soon, but in the meantime here's a quick shot! In mid-October I had a wonderful day photographing Jo and Dick's beautiful wedding at Danbury church and the Warren Golf Course.
A New Do
I managed to get myself an appointment with the fabulous Lucie Luella, who managed to get my over-grown hair back into shape and far more glam. She is now based at Hula Nails in London, which has an incredible interior decorated with bright colours, flamingos and tiki galore!
Commercial Work
October was really busy with commercial work. Following my work last year, I was commissioned by the Ideas Festival to document this year's festival. It was a great fortnight filled with a wide variety of workshops and events, and I loved getting to know more about what was going on in Chelmsford.
I've also been working on a project with several museums, and during half-term I had the pleasure of working with the Geffrye Museum at the Wallace Collection and Dorich House Museum to document some of their events. They were both fantastic events and wonderful locations to work at!
Resolution Update
Recipe of the week is still going strong - I had a few tasty ones this month but the most photogenic was probably the chouquettes, inspired by watching Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen.
I managed to get to an exhibition this month too! I went to see Constructing Worlds at the Barbican and it was great - very inspiring, and a great opportunity to see many photographs printed at full size that I have previously only seen in books. These were my iPhone snaps inspired by the trip:
I'm also managing to keep up the weekly montages too, and am really enjoying having that weekly goal. This month my favourite is from 29 October:
How was your October?
]]>Here are a few highlights from September:
Days Out
Tim and I had a lovely couple of days out - one at Kew Gardens at the beginning of the month, and another at Hampton Court towards the end. Kew looked beautiful and I loved the treetop walkway and the beautiful Sackler Crossing. I'll have to go back again to see all the bits I missed (it's such a vast place!), and see how it changes in the different seasons. Hampton Court was fab too - I really liked the free audio guides that let you explore how you wanted, but provided plenty of information.
Lovely things
This month I heard about My Little Paris - a French blog with articles on hidden gems in Paris, and the Parisian lifestyle. They also have a monthly subscription box 'My Little Box', which was extended to the UK in September. Now you all know I have a huge love for Paris, and cosmetics, so I thought I'd treat myself and try it out! I've heard of Beauty Boxes in the past - a monthly delivery of high-end beauty products so you get to try things you wouldn't normally buy, and I've been tempted but always thought I'd end up being sent loads of things I didn't really use. My Little Box seemed a bit different because although there are some beauty products there are also lifestyle bits. I received my September box and was really impressed with it - there were some lovely beauty products, a nice book, some fun stickers and a tablet case, and it was all beautifully put together!
I also made use of one of my lovely birthday presents this month, some mini milk bottles, which I popped some purple stocks into - how cute are they? They'd make lovely decorations at a party/wedding I think:
Commercial Photography
On the commercial side I had some lovely jobs including photographing the new exhibition at Harrow Museum and some portraits with a local business woman, which I'll be blogging about on www.jaynelloyd.co.uk soon.
(Not part of the shoot, but an interesting bit of topiary in the car park!)
Resolution Update
The recipe challenge continues, with lots more yummy recipes discovered this month. I think my favourite this time was probably Kouign Amann, which is a Breton pastry recipe which was the technical challenge on an episode of The Great British Bakeoff this month. It took a really long time as there was so much proving involved, but it was very satisfying to make and very tasty!
I picked up the 'learning' resolution again this month as I started trying to get my French back up and running again. I studied French to A-level and could understand a lot (even if my speaking wasn't all that confident). I lived in France for a while as a child so I have always wanted to learn it fully and have decided to give it another big push. I'm giving Duolingo a go and already feel like it's made a big improvement in my comprehension.
The Weekly Montages have continued too, and I think this month's favourite is probably Sept 1-7:
How was your September? What have you got planned for October?
]]>We have been pretty lucky with the weather here in the UK this year! August was another lovely month, and it was even sunny on my birthday for a change!
Birthday by the Seaside
I wasn't sure Monday was the best day for a birthday, but it's a great day if you have the day off - I was incredibly lucky to have lots of celebrations over the weekend with friends and family, and a lovely day by the seaside with Tim. I took my Holga 'toy' camera along and got some fun snaps of the day.
Commercial Work
August was filled with lots interesting commercial work, including some product photography for an online shop, and a fantastic Centenary Celebration Family Day at the Geffrye, Museum of the Home. To see some images of the day visit their Facebook page:
Days out in the Sunshine and Holidays by the Sea
We went for a couple of lovely walks, including Hadleigh Country Park, and managed to get away for a few days to the Gower Peninsula, where we had some gorgeous sunny walks along the coast.
Resolution Update
Recipe of the week is still going strong, with this month's favourite being plum and almond crumble slice, made using plums from our mysteriously appearing plum tree.
I've also continued the weekly montages, though no longer called 'Monday Montages' as the day varies a bit, but they've stayed weekly at least! I think my favourite was the week of my birthday:
How was your August? What have you got planned for September?
]]>July was probably my busiest month so far this year - I did lots of second shooting with Chanon, and ended the month with a beautiful wedding on a glorious day at Vaulty Manor in Maldon. A blog post on this will follow as soon as the lovely couple have seen the photos!
Here are some more general highlights from July (they mostly seem to involve food, sorry!):
Tour de France
The Tour de France came through Chelmsford, quite near where I live, so I popped along to cheer them on. There was a great atmosphere and we had a lovely picnic by the side of the road while we waited. A very nice afternoon!
Out and About
We've been having some lovely weather here, so I've been enjoying spending more time outside, and the odd barbecue too. I love the summer!
Resolution Update
Again a bit lacking in the visiting of exhibitions, but the recipe of the week continues to go well and I'm still sticking to photographing them:
I've also kept up my new resolution of a weekly montage of photos:
Commercial work
I had more exciting commercial projects this week - both with existing clients and new. To see my commercial work pop over to my other site www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
New Profile Picture
I decided to go a bit more abstract with my profile picture this month!
How was your July? What are you planning for August?
]]>
The year continues to whizz by... here are some highlights from June
Weekly Montages
In June I decided to start doing a weekly montage of photographs I've taken in the past week - to encourage me to try some new things each week and to give you a glimpse into my day-to-day. They are a mix of phone snaps, work and sometimes my messing about with toy cameras. You can catch my weekly montages by following me on social media or on my other blog, http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk
Great Gig
Tim's band How's Alice had a gig at the Bassment in Chelmsford, and it was great!
Home
My friend moved out of the home he had lived in for a large part of his life, so before he went I took some photographs for him to remember it by.
Busy with Commercial Work
I had lots of great commercial projects this month, with lots of great businesses. If you are interested in seeing more of my commercial work do pop over to my other site, www.jaynelloyd.co.uk.
Resolution Update
The exhibition visits are really slipping I'm afraid, but recipe of the week is still going strong, and I'm photographing them more now as part of the montage, so that's an improvement! I think my favourite this month was the strawberry scones.
How was June for you?
Argh - where is the year going?! Here are a few highlights from May:
Business Networks
This month I worked a lot with Business Networks, including the Business Woman's Network and the Chelmsford Breakfast Business Club. They are both great groups with fantastic business people, and I always come away from each meeting having learnt something valuable.
I also gave a presentation at the EBN Lunchtime meeting, but I'm afraid I was too busy speaking to take any photos on that occasion!
The Best Gig of My Life
As you probably know from previous posts, I love going to gigs, and my favourite band is Nine Inch Nails. This month we went to see them at the O2 and it was an absolutely incredible show - the sound, the visuals, all of it was amazing and I was buzzing for days! I find music so inspiring and I definitely came away from this re-invigorated!
Going Analogue
I have quite a collection of old and toy cameras, so I decided to test them out and get the films processed! I'm waiting for them to come back from the Lomo Lab at the moment, but I'll include them in next month's round-up if they turn out well!
Resolution Update
Sadly I don't think I managed to get to any exhibitions this month, but I did do some online learning, so that's something! The new recipe of the week is still going strong - a particularly tasty one was this lovely prawn risotto:
How was May for you? Got any exciting plans for June?
]]>Here are a few highlights from April:
Holiday Keepsake Boxes
This month I actually made something I'd seen on Pinterest! You can see the full blog here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2014/05/holiday-keepsakeboxes/ but basically I finally got my holiday snaps printed up (very exciting!), and put them into boxes with the little mementoes I'd kept, like maps and ticket stubs. It was incredibly easy and I feel very saintly for being so organised :-)
Easter
I enjoy any excuse for eating chocolate, so quite like Easter. We had pretty good weather on our little trip to Wales and enjoyed some tasty treats.
I also went on some lovely spring walks locally.
Thomasin Newton Image and Style
As well as wedding photography, I work with businesses and organisations to create promotional photographs. This month I spent a lovely morning working with Thomasin Newton, an image and style consultant, to create some images she could use on her new website. To see more images from the shoot visit my blog post here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2014/04/promotional-photography-thomasin-newton-image-and-style/ and to find out more about my promotional photography visit my commercial website www.jaynelloyd.co.uk
Resolution Update
Well I'm not totally failing on the resolutions... I'm still sticking to a new recipe each week, still not managing to photograph them all (I'm too hungry, and they aren't always that visually appealing!) I went to an exhibition with a difference this month - Collider at the Science Museum, which I really enjoyed!
Did you have a good April? What did you get up to?
]]>Another month gone... very, very scary! Here are a few highlights from March.
Food Photography
This month I had a bit of a focus on food photography. It's something I love to do but want to do better, so I'm trying to challenge myself to shoot more food more often. I started with sweets, which you can see over on my other site here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2014/03/sweets/
Recipe of the Month
This also links nicely into my recipe of the month, which I think has to go to the home made chocolate truffles I made for Mothering Sunday. My scales broke so I couldn't do anything too complicated, so these were perfect, and very tasty!
The Business Woman's Network's Fifth Birthday BAsh
This month was the Business Woman's Network's Fifth Birthday Bash. It was a really busy event with many businesses holding stands. I had a stand where people could view my new sample wedding albums (blog feature coming soon!) and have corporate headshots taken. To read more about it visit my blog post here: http://blog.jaynelloyd.co.uk/2014/03/bwns-big-birthday-bash/
A Family Do
I haven't had chance to work through all my photographs yet, but I had a lovely weekend visiting family to celebrate my Grandad's birthday. It was lovely to see family I hadn't seen for a little while and it we were lucky to have lots of sunshine!
Spring is in Full Swing!
Here in the UK the parks and gardens are really coming back to life, and it's great to see all the colours coming through! I've been trying to get myself outside more, and taking my camera with me. It's amazing the difference the extra sunlight makes!
Resolution Update
The resolutions are still sort of doing alright. I'm managing to stick to a new recipe each week (although I haven't photographed most of them, so I'll have to get that going again).
Sadly I don't think I made it to any exhibitions, though. I'll try my best to make up for it this month!
How was your March? Do get in touch with your news, I'd love to hear it!
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