you can tell a lot about a person....

By karaa007

By CAPTURE photography2010

By * OneLovePhoto.com

By minililimi

...By their Flickr favourites.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellieg/favorites/

A worrying number of pictures of animals, but a distinct theme nonetheless!

Check them out and enjoy them all too. Such an amazing abundance of talent.

an update

I thought it was only fair to post a quick update here about what I've been up to lately.

Firstly, although I originally planned to diet my way through January I failed miserably. In fact after five days of eating tuna omelettes on the attach phase of the Dukan diet I found myself on a wild goose chase in and around a freezing, rainy Oxford Circus and had to get myself a sandwich from Pret, in fact I had their posh cheddar and pickle and a millionaires shortbread, both of which tasted divine and the damp, miserable, hungry me was suddenly revived.

Secondly, I've started a new job; it's been flat out busy and I've been stupidly tired. I've snuck some supermarket cakage in but nothing really to blog about. I've gone flat out against my mantra that if it's not worth getting fat for then don't eat it. A trip to Ottolenghi or similar will soon sort that out.

And then the most exciting development is that I've finally launched my photography website. I've wondered for a while if I could make a little money out of it, I've had really positive feedback from family and friends so I've set up a blog to track my journey. I'm looking to build my portfolio too and looking for anyone who wants a free photoshoot, or to pose for portraits.

Currently I'm planning a couples shoot with my friends Tilly and Lee, which will hopefully be fun and creative, and then one to help my good friend Kathy of 5678 Vintage to promote the work she does selling vintage clothing and accessories.

So please pop over there and say Hi. I just need to work on getting a link embedded into this site too. Let me know what you think about the layout and the design of the blog too, as well as the logo. I'll be getting some business cards printed up soon and need to finalise what the look of the brand will be.

I'm really excited about this new venture but I don't want to neglect LROC like I have been, I'll just be keeping some of the stuff separate; blogging about food (mostly sweet stuff) here, and about picture taking shenanigans over there.

bonfire night

I'm rather late in posting this, but as most of you will know the weekend before last was bonfire night here in the UK and Mr LROC and I went to stay with his mother in the countryside - in Matlaske in North Norfolk to be more precise.

There's an event locally called the Corpusty Bonfire, it's a massively well known night in the area and is a free firework display and a massive bonfire, lit following a procession of people dressed in an array of ghoulish garb. There's a proper ol' Norfolk boy who acts as a compere, and countryside themed covers of Jonny Cash songs. Generally it's all a bit odd but it did give us chance to get out into the country, sleep somewhere with no light pollution (if only it were the case every night) and for me to run down country roads with a grey hound and take some pics.

I took pics of the fireworks, which are blurred but have a nice feel to them, and even videoed some of the display but I can't work out how to get it from iPhoto to YouTube..

People say that one of the best things about Norfolk is that the skies go on for ever - having seen the skies across the fields from my mother in law's house I think I'm inclined to agree.

pretty things

Recently I bought a copy of a magazine called 'Better Photos Now' which has actually given me some helpful insights into some things I had no idea about on my camera - changing the metering type, suing long settings and various other bits and bobs that have been a mini revelation. To that end I assembled a little selection of plates, bowls and various pretty packaged soap, got out my tripod and remote and had a bash at capturing them in natural light. I even made a bit of a DIY reflector with a plate and some tin foil to bounce back some of the light.

My only complaint is that my 50mm 1.8 lens never seems really sharp - maybe the 1.4 is better?

Anyway, I discovered that my dressing table is actually an excellent place to take pics as it's one of the few places that actually seems to have some light coming into it. The plates and bowls have all been bought with a view to using for cake photography, but they do look sweet in their own right.

I've edited the photos to give them the right kind of look and feel - but it would be nicer if the colours were a bit fresher overall. Below is the image pretty much as RAW out of the camera, a bit more punch and it could be there...

It would also be great to have some willing 'victims' let me take their picture - Mr LROC hates having his picture taken so no guinea pig there....

Cyprus part two

Here's some more images from the holiday...

Cyprus

The first lot of images from our recent sojourn in Cyprus - sea swimming, Troodos, Kolossi castle and street scenes in Phoini.

back

I'm back - I've been sunning myself in Cyprus for the past week. In truth I thought I'd accomplish a lot of great things alongside the sunbathing, drinking and swimming in crystal clear water but other than taking a lot of photographs I didn't do much.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd go back to Cyprus, there's too many British ex-pats and the beaches don't match the beauty of those in Sardinia. They also have no idea what a truly dry white wine tastes like!

On the plus side some bits of the Island are incredibly beautiful - one day we went on an off road expedition to the Akamas peninsula, the land rover took us up uneven roads on the ledge of perilously high mountains, we walked a gorge, saw wild goats and drove through a village so high in the Trodoos mountains that clouds blew across the road.

Still, whilst I'm glad to be back in some ways the weather has turned distinctly autumnal, and work looms large.

Once I've edited I'll share some pictures, and I have plenty planned for the next few weeks. For today, since we flew in over night, I'm snuggling down with Mr LROC and catching up on all the TV we've missed.

He has vowed to set up a somewhat less charming sounding blog called London Review of Toilets - I'm hoping it's not an indication of how he feels about this one!

In the meantime here's some Hipstamatic joy from Cyprus.