I have other blog posts in the works, but at the moment I am on a quest to 'join up' my internet experience, as well as my online personae (for lack of a better word!). In a surprisingly short time, Twitter has changed the way I interact with several of my favourite bloggers and their blogs. I see blog reading as a relatively passive activity, although hopefully we are reading attentively, learning and connecting. The conversations flowing on Twitter is a different dynamic, and allows a more active exchange of ideas. I'm not saying that either is better, I see a place for both, myself. I do find it interesting that there is a whole group of people that I communicate with in both ways. To this end, after a tweet from the wonderful @unmarketing (who blogs here), I am adding a re-tweet button to my posts (and checking with this post that it works).
Read More5 Cameras I Love
I am a camera geek and proud of it! Part of planning any outing is deciding which camera I will take with me. Some days are analogue and some days are digital. I guess it's odd that I not only have more than five cameras, but that I have five favourite cameras! I am planning to sell or give-away the others, I promise, but it has taken awhile to figure out which way my photography was going.
The Quality Camera | The Nikon D50 is a digital SLR. It isn't the newest model, or the highest spec, but it meets and exceeds my needs. I use it when I travel to new places, when taking portraits, and taking images that I know I will crop in photo-editing software. |
The Old School Analogue Friend | The LCA+ is a film camera from Lomography. It is based on a Russian camera that was out of production and was revived by a group of Austrian students, crazy for analogue. It takes sharp, saturated photos with a degree of vignetting at the corners. |
The Throw-It-In-Your-Bag-and-Take-it-to-the-Gig Camera | The Canon SX200 isn't the smallest point and shoot, but in my view it is the perfect gig camera. It's small enough not to alarm the security guys but it has a 12x zoom and works well in low light. It's new, but I have been delighted with the gig photos I've taken with it so far. |
Well, now you know something that I don't tend to share with everyone! It is a true passion though, so I felt it was worth putting out there.
Blogging for Scrapbookers
This is the first day of my second November class Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers. I hesitated about taking the class, because I'm been blogging for a while now, and sometimes I find it difficult to keep up with the social side of online classes. Once I drop out of that loop, it is easy to step away from the class altogether. In the end, I figured we could all use a little blogspiration from time to time, right? And even if I can't keep up with the boards, I'll discover some great new blogs that I stick with after the course ends.
I have been in a phase of self-exploration, a kind of autumnal feeling and feeling a little shut down and self contained. I've been trying to take it to my journals, but even there have felt wordless, playing in colour and collage and putting off the writing. I bought an inspiring book from Jen Lee, called 'Take Me With You - a journal for the journey' and I feel that it may tip me over, may break the dam and let the words flow forth. I'm greeting this course with the same attitude, challenging myself to dig a little deeper, to share more openly.
The layout above was in Scrapbook Inspirations a while back. It features a rare photo of me, with my old laptop and my old blog layout. I loved that layout, but the white text on blue was hard on the eyes for some of my favourite readers. The 'download here' tab attaches to some hidden journalling:
In July 2005, I started my blog at kelspace.typepad.com. I wasn't too sure what I would write about, but I wanted some gallery space for my layouts and photography. Over the last 3 years, I have found my voice. I mostly write about my creative journey and my views on life and I continue to share my photography and artwork. My blog allows me to keep up with far-flung friends and family more easily. I have made several new friends as well, some of whom I have even gone on to meet in real life. I also read the blogs of friends, people I've met at art classes and events, and artists I admire. These offer me inspiration, laughter, comfort, advice and new techniques. Blogging brings more art into my life and allows me to share and reflect on my own creative work. I love it.