365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 22

This week we’re looking at the Corktown Hipstapack which consists of the Aretha T65 Lens which “Gives a subtle color shift with warmth and desaturation”, and the Miles TMAX film, an “aged film (which) adds subtle light leaks to your prints”.

Sunday 28th May
Ben and Lewis and Marc were still wiith us and we decided to take them back down to the coast, but the other end, and we visited Souter lighthouse and climbed up to the top to see the views. Then we went off to Marsden rocks for coffee, it was quite cool down at the coast so there wasn’t, (should that be were’nt? ~ doesn’t sound quite right, never mind) the herds of people like there were on Saturday.

my boys

Monday 29th May
Yet another Bank Holiday Monday, lovely weather again and time for (Phil) to do more gardening! The guy who’s garden backs on to ours has a ginormous leylandi which was towering above my shed. Every year he attacks it from his side and Phil gets on top of my shed and attacks it from our side. Neighbourly co-operation is still a thing.

Leilandi wars.

Tuesday 30th May
Back to work, sigh, I was getting the hang of 1 & 1/2 day weeks! Never mind busy of course with the deaf and the desperate. When I got home the sun was backlighting one of the flowers on my California Flannelbush (🤷‍♀️) plant, the hipstamatic has desaturated the bright yellow, but I still like it.

California flannelbush

Wednesday 31st May
I might be obsessed with Bonnie & Clyde, I get worried if I don’t see them at work.

B&C

Thursday 1st June
Yay! Summer! and 15 degs C and my winter wooly pully back on! 🙄 I went for my chiropractor appointment this morning, and on the way home went through the ASDA carwash, I love taking pictures whilst I’m going through, I liked this one best.

raise automatically

Friday 2nd June
A nice sunny day though not that warm, and Phil and I went off to Morrisons in Shields to spend the Christmas voucher he got from work, finally, and then we called in to see our chums Lorraine & Paul. I am very jealous of their huge garden and a view of the sea. Which you can’t see on my photo but trust me, it’s there.

Paul & Lorraine

Saturday 3rd June
Hot and sunny today, so nice. More gardening jobs, getting ready to make hanging baskets, putting out the solar lights and repotting the bamboo. Vinnie has sat under a bush in the shade most of the day, Winnie has been in and out and has cystitis again, sigh. She finally settled down in the furry tree. Tomorrow is the Northern Scale Model show which Phil’s club hosts every June, and Phil’s up and down in the loft getting boxes out, packing up models and getting stuff ready to sell second hand. I’m just mucking about with my Pentax, plucking up courage to use the damn thing.

Winnie

Not a bad combo this time I think, the lightleaks are subtle and don’t get in your face,and the muted tones work well, especially with the sea shots I think. That’s it for this week but

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 21

This week I chose the Coney Island Pack and just in time for a mostly sunny week which was very serendipitous. The Coney Island pack consists of the Big Bertha lens which is “inspired by the carnival and summertime fun, this lens pops saturation in cyan”, and the Ringmaster 71 film, which “compliments the Big Bertha lens, and adds subtle contrast in the shadows to increase the drama in your image”.

Here we go.

Sunday 21st May
A really nice sunny day and Phil and I cracked on with some gardening. Or, Phil cracked on with the gardening and I re~potted my spider plant which, considering how pot-bound it had become, is still a thriving entity. Now transplanted from my bathroom to the conservatory.

Spidey

Monday 22nd May
The rhododendron in our front garden has taken a few years to settle in, but this year it has done nicely, and I was chuffed to catch the bee on it when I got home from work.

Bee & rhody

Tuesday 23rd May
Another workday, I loved what the Hipstamatic did to the sky, and accidentally caught a street light receiving a text, or on his kindle app 😉

reading lamp

Wednesday 24th May
I took Phil down to the riverside pub in South Shields where he and some old school chums get together once a month for a glass or two and a natter After I dropped him off I took a picture of this huge vessel, The Spirit of St. Petersburg sailing out of the River Tyne towards the sea. I googled the ship and “The City of St. Petersburg is a roll-on/roll-off, pure car carrier cargo ship made for Nissan Motor Company Ltd, designed with a sleek semi-spherical prow to reduce wind resistance, thus saving 800 tons of fuel annually“. Why it’s named after a Russian city I know not, maybe the Japanese were being all sucky uppy to sell their cars to Russia. Anyhoo there’s a huge Nissan plant up here so I expect they were picking up some Jukes or the like.

The City of St Petersburg ship.

Thursday 25th May
Back to the Chiropractor today, and then on to my manicurist (WTH does that sound like! 🤣 La-de-dah indeed) with 45minutes to spare between appointments, so I took myself off to ST.Mary’s lighthouse after having my bones cracked, and had a little walk on the nature train there.

St.Mary’s Lighthouse

Friday 26th May
Nearly a rubbish shot, I was quite busy on Friday with an iminent surprise visit by my son Ben and Grandson Lewis and their pal Marc who drove them. up. But this view is my fave part of the house, so it’s not really rubbish.

view of green

Saturday 27th May
A gorgeous day, and we went over to South Shields fairground to take Lewis out for the day. Unfortunately everyone else, their dog and their mother had the same idea and getting a parking space was a nightmare. The place was packed. Still, we found a little part of the beach that wasn’t crowded and played in the sea and the sand.

Beach Boy

So that’s it for this week. I’ve loved this combination, it goes so well with sunshine. I don’t want to do a different one next week, but I must, so that’s that 😦

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 20

This week I’ve gone with the Marshall lens which adds ‘unexpected color shifts reminiscent of infrared photography’, and the Cheshire film, a vintage film which ‘adds a nicely aged border to your image’. So this week we’re looking at the world through rose tinted spectacles.

Sunday 14th May
Not much happening today, weather is meh. I cooked a Sunday Roast dinner which was yummy. Took a test shot of the new combination and was pleasantly surprised. No more grey skies this week!

test shot

Monday 15th May
Another day another dollar. Our office manager is back from her holiday and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. When I got home there was a bit of evening sunshine and the Happy Eater tree looked good in pink.

In the pink

Tuesday 16th May
Bonnie and Clyde await the apocalypse.

Bonnie & Clyde

Wednesday 17th May
The weekly ‘rubbish’ shot, sorry. Busy day and this was the best I could come up with. Sigh. It’s some sort of wildish rose thing in our front garden.

flowers

Thursday 18th May
Another busy day as I worked extra as the OM had to go to hospital today and I had a chiropractor appointment. I shot the next door neighbour’s magnolia which pokes a flower through our fence quite fetchingly, though I could have done without the hole in it’s petal. I suppose it gives it character. Not sure why this one was more purpley than pink.

Magnolia

Friday 19th May
I had an optician appointment this morning, to have my new blinkers fitted. Whilst I was in the waiting area I noticed the gentleman across from me was holding a bag that was a skull wearing goggles. It’s a strange world we live in isn’t it?

Skull & Goggles Man

Saturday 20th May
Sophie was back from Spain this weekend and it was a gorgeous sunny day to go out with our cameras. We went to a few different places but first to South Shields to shoot the cool new graffiti I’d spotted the day before, and the umbrellas in the sky. They’ll be on Film Friday at some point.

The two toglateers.

So that’s it for this week and it was a fun week Hipstamatically speaking. Not always easy to get a decent colour or exposure (Thursday) but mostly worked out OK, well I like them anyway!

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 19

A better week this week I think. I chose the Peel-apart hipstapak which consists of a Peale lens – “Add a saturated and contrasty colour quality with this instant film inspired lens” and the Type 10 film, which adds the “lovely analog quality of peel-apart instant film to your arsenal”.

Sunday 7th May
A day and night out for Phil and I. A blue sky day too! We went into Newcastle in the afternoon as I wanted to visit The Baltic, ( a flour mill converted into a centre for contemporary art) to see the “full career retrospective by one of the UK’s most important and influential post-war documentary photographers, Chris Killip (1946–2020”) who spent 2 years immersed in the North East in the 70’s and 80’s when everything had gone to ratshit up here. Well worth a visit. After, we had a bite to eat and then went to the Anarchy Brew Company to see one of our favourite up and coming bluesy bands, Cardinal Black. It wasn’t a large venue and I was lucky enough to be at the front, had a great time!

Kitiwakes nesting on the side of the Baltic.

Monday 8th May
A coronation Bank Holiday and Shelley came to visit with Cal and Liddy. Phil’s clearing out the loft of stuff including old toys and he inveigled the kids into checking out that the jigsaws going to the charity shop had all their pieces. Turned out to be more fun than a phone!

analogue kids

Tuesday 9th May
Oh my days what a nightmare back at work. Lynn our office manager is away in Thailand so I’m in an hour early to ring back and book in all the people who have emailed in to get appointments and after the Bank Holiday weekend they were legion. This on top of doing my plethora of clients. I was glad to get home. This evening Phil cleaned some of his newly purchased LP’s, the machine he uses is louder than a loud thing on a loud day, sounds a bit like a chainsaw on speed.

analogue man

Wednesday 10th May
Same poo different day applies here for work, though at least I finished at 2pm, but then had to go and do the weekly shop at ASDA. Phil cooked a pub-grub dinner, I know, I know, Scampi,chips (fries) and peas are not the healthiest, but oh my was it lush.

pub-grub Wednesday

Thursday 11th May
I did an extra morning at work to do the bookings, postage and sales as I had an appointment with the chiro anyway. It was a beautiful sunny morning when I got up and at 7am Winnie was rolling around catching the rays and being cute on top of my shed.

Winnie

Friday 12th May
It was Phil’s daughters 39th birthday yesterday but she was at work. So after I’d been to specsavers to get some new blinkers and Phil had perused the record stall on the market, in South Shields, we went over to Shelley’s house for a cuppa and to give her a card.

Birthday girl and Dad

Saturday 13th May
We are at war. Over the past couple of weeks, a big bruiser of a cat we have named Billy~Big~B****cks (for obvious reasons when you see him from behind) has been visiting our driveway and back garden, spraying his urkiness and being aggressive with Lord Vincent and Winnie. Not too much a problem for Lord V, he’s big and stands his ground until attacked, when he runs back home, and really not a problem for Winnie as she’s faster than a speeding bullet getting away from him, but it stresses her out and of course the cystitis she had that we’d just got on top of, is now back. Lord V has taken to policing the catflap at night for hours so at least Billy~Big~B’s will not get in the house easily. I sent for weaponry which arrived today, and we will prevail.

H2O weapons system.

So that’s it. I liked this combo more than I thought I would, and took a lot of shots with it so had a hard time choosing the daily! It also reminded me of my Mum who had a Polaroid land camera back in the jurassic era, which used peel apart film, fun memories.

Onwards dear chums!….

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 18

This week the randomiser chose the Jack London Lens, inspired by vibrant Jack London Square in Oakland, California, this lens apparently adds a pop to any scene. I am not convinced. The film it chose is W40 which supposedly ‘heightens the excitement with this full-of-contrast film’. Wasn’t convinced about that either, but hey ho. Not my best week for taking photos, for various reasons, but here they are such as.

Sunday 30th April
A visitation from Phil’s son Carl and his kids this afternoon.

Livvy and Matty

Monday 1st May
We had a quiet bank holiday today, a bit of housework and gardening done. Phil went out to the model club in the evening and took some of his work with him.

On manoeuvres

Tuesday 2nd May
Our office manager is on holiday so I get in early to open up and sort out the answer-phone emails and call back all the people who want appointments, so have been mad busy doing that and all my clients too. I was glad to get home and put my feet up. Bonnie & Clyde are still manning the rooftops.

Bonnie & Clyde

Wednesday 3rd May
I’ve been going to the chiropracor twice a week, usually a Monday and Thursday but this week Wednesday instead of Monday because of the ruddy King’s thing. When I got home a little bit of sunshine happened, and Vinnie sat himself in a patch of it.

Lord Vincent the Gorgeous

Thursday 4th May
Just before the Burritos and Movie night here started I remembered I’d forgotten to take a photo, so I took a quick snap of the making-of burritos, it’s pants, sorry.

pants shot.

Friday 5th May
The sun came out this afternoon and I got quite excited and went to sort my camera out for a walk. 15 minutes later it was chucking it down so I stayed home. Another rubbish shot but I wanted this to remind me of it’s rare appearance.

🌞

Saturday 6th May
Couldn’t leave Winnie out, she’s much better now, and not having to have painkillers at the mo. Phil and I watched a 2011 movie called The Guard tonight, starring Dominic Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong & Liam Cunningham, I can highly recomend it. Synopsis ~ Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town Irish cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door. A good story, a lot of humour and we liked it better than The Banshee of Innesherin but it’s got a similar vibe. Gleeson is great as the Irish cop.

Winnie

Anyway, a bit of a lacklustre week photographically speaking, and I wasn’t all too keen on the results from this combination, I had to take and delete a lot to get anywhere. But onwards chums!….

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365 ~ Hipstamatic week 17

This week a random shake produced the Mark lens, which adds nice desaturation and vintage colouring, and the Cinzano 36 film which adds cool tones and additional emphasis on your subject. Apparently.

Sunday 23rd April
A lazy day, and I’ve been enthralled by my new book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig. The basic synopsis of which is “a compendium of new words for emotions. Its mission is to shine a light on the fundamental strangeness of being a human being – all the aches,demons,vibes,joys and urges that are humming in the background of everyday life.” As someone who regularly adulterates or makes up words, this appealed to me, but this guy is much cleverer.

booking

Monday 24th April
Back to work and I was taken with these two seagulls which are around our carpark most days, and today standing guard on the out-building.

Bonnie & Clyde

Tuesday 25th April
Bonnie & Clyde were back on the roof today and I tried to get a closer shot, but they flew of just as I was about to take the shot, but I like it anyway.

B&C flying the coop.

Wednesday 26th April
I tend to take photos throughout the day when something appeals, and then choose the one I like best at the end of the day. My shot in Lidl won today.

Lidl Lady

Thursday 27th April
A long weekend coming up with a Bank Holiday on Monday next week. Phil decided to attack the back leilandi with his chainsaw and Winnie went up on top of the shed to supervise.

Winnie

Friday 28th April
Winnie has still been plagued with cystitis and needed a Daddy cuddle.

Comfort break.

Saturday 29th April
Sophie is back from Spain this weekend, and we went off to Alnwick Castle Gardens to see the blossom orchard. A bit late for full bloom, they’re losing their blossoms beautifully though. A group of ladies turned up and started banging drums and chanting ‘oooms’, ‘oms’, “hy-oh’s” and such like. I thought they might be a tribe of Native Americans but Sophie reckoned it was a kind of woman meditation & wellness group type thing. She was probably right but I liked my thought better 🤣. Yet another crappy weather day but we did the best we could in the circumstances.

Ladies wot drum.

So that’s that for week 17. Lots of brown tones for this combination, which is a bit like Week 15 but more so, and more contrasty with the blacks havng a purple tinge to them. But it did the job. Now onwards to 18! so

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 16

This week I chose the Jalisco Histapak which consists of the Chivas lens, which adds cool contrast even in dark conditions, and the Estrada 83 film, which is a grungy film with a tatty border.

Sunday 16th April
It didn’t rain today though there wasn’t any warmth in the air, we did bits of housework and Phil mowed the lawns which are in pretty poor condition having been overrun with moss.

cold mowings.

Monday 17th April
Back to work, and busy as always on a Monday. It was a sunny day, not that I had chance to appreciate it until I got home and saw the view from our bedroom window is getting it’s spring greens.

Spring greens

Tuesday 18th April
It’s been a while since I got a chance to take a picture of Teddy the boss’s doggy. The little chap has been ‘done’ now but it hasn’t calmed him down any, he’s still as mad as a box of frogs. So cute and happy though.

Teddy Boy

Wednesday 19th April
The sun was out again early doors, and as the light crept up over our garden fence some rays started touching the new leaves on Mum’s plant, so I got my shot done before I even went to work.

Pieris Forest Flame

Thursday 20th April
We had an appointment to take Winnie to the vet today which was quite traumatic for all of us. She might be little but she can up up a good fight when the cat box beckons. We managed to get her in, and then to the vet, the howls on the car journey break your heart and mind. When we got there she wouldn’t get out of the box of course, so another palaver, and when eventually she did come out, she squashed herself right up to me and stuck her head inside my jacket as if to hide. But she suffered being examined, then the vet prescribed painkillers, and gave us advice on stuff we already knew. She went back in the catbox no problem, and was quiet as a mouse on the way home. Back home and she was right as rain. It was also our 11th wedding anniversary and Phil had booked us in at Bellini’s, which I hadn’t been to before. It wasn’t a cozy romanic place by any stretch, and reminded me more of a canteen. It was quite busy and noisy, and we wondered how long we’d have to wait for service, but it was all very timely and the food was really good. I liked their ceiling deco!

Hands across the sea-ling.

Friday 21st April
Phil at work this morning so I did some chores and had intended to take the Pentax out on it’s inaugural session, but it was cold and grey and I had no enthusiasm or motivation for it at all, so I did the washing instead and did a Winnie shot. She seems a little better today.

Winnie

Saturday 22nd April
It’s really annoying when my work days have all been nice weather, and my off days are damp and miserable, the best today has to offer is a concrete sky and muddy greens. It’s been raining all day, but not proper photographic rain, just a continuous fine mizzle. Phil was at work again for the morning, so I read my book and drank tea, and cuddled the cat.

when all else fails..

Another week gone, and I think this combination worked reasonably well, gave a little bit extra without being too arty farty.

Fingers crossed for some nice weather for me next week! Onwards!!…..


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365 ~ Hipstamatic week 15

The hipstamatic app has a random setting, so if you have the app open and then shake the phone it randomly chooses a film and a lens, so this week I gave it a shake and it came up with the Ranger 66 lens, which gives you low contrast warmth, and the Blanko C16 film which gives subtle warm desaturations to the colours.

Sunday 8th April
Today was Phil’s sister Annette’s husband Brian’s birthday, as well as being Easter Sunday, so we visited with them for the afternoon. I was going to take a nice picture of A & B for the 365, but they have a cat. 😁

Monty

Monday 9th April
We just chilled at home today and I cooked Easter Dinner, which is the same as Sunday Lunch really. The blossom tree is just about deblossomed now, but I noticed on one of the cut back branches, a little blossom was still hanging on

last man standing

Tuesday 10th April
Back to work and it was full on. Especially as I had to go in an hour earlier to make up for finishing early on Wednesday when I have to take Phil to the eye hospital. Our Winnie has been in the throes of a bout of cystitis and sits on a warm radiator to ease her discomfort when ever the heating comes on.

poorly Winnie

Wednesday 11th April
Another early start – I was so glad it was half-term and the traffic wasn’t as bad as it usually is at this time. A busy busy morning but I got away on time, went home to have a quick lunch then took Phil to the eye hospital for his cataract operation. I had to wait for him of course to drive him home after, and the waiting room was hot and stuffy so I kept nodding off trying to read my book, 9 times it happened! I then started taking surreptitious  photos of anyone sitting across from me to keep myself awake. I took Phil home,completely forgetting to pay the hospital car park fee on the way out. As there’s a £70 fine for that I got on the phone to the parking department at the hospital and apologised profusely and pleaded with them to let me pay now over the phone. Don’t worry about it, said a nice lady, I’ve put a permit against your visit so you won’t be charged a fine, and no need to pay. Flabberghasted by kindness was I! Anyway after that relief, I made dinner, then went and did my weekly shop at ASDA as I usually do it Wednesday afternoon. We call this sort of day a Jack Bauer day.

ladies in waiting room

Thursday 12th April
Phil’s eye was a bit sore today and leaking tears a lot. Luckily I had had the forethought to get him some protective eyecovers. 😃 I had my first appointment with the chiropractor today, he took measurements and karate chopped my collar bones 😳.

Captain Hubby

Friday 13th April
Phil’s eye was a lot better today, though he still can’t see clearly through it, and we went off to South Shields Market which is a euphemism for checking out vinyl record stalls. Phil bought a couple of 12 inch discs and a CD and I took some photos. And back to parking, I paid for 2 hours via the paybyphone app, which I’ve used succesfully many times. When we finished in Shields we returned to the car with 54 minutes left to go on my parking, but found a PCN notice stuck to my window screen saying I have to pay a fine for not paying! I was completely unamused. Tried ringing the paybyphone people but got nowhere. In the end we read on the PCN notice that we could deal with any dispute by going to the Town Hall, so we trudged up there, most peed orft, where I was given a form to fill in describing the problem. They put a hold on my fine until such time as someone has looked at the form and either cancelled it or said it must go ahead. If the latter, I shall be having a day in court at some point as I’m not paying a fine.

Discoholic.

Saturday 14th April
Winnie seems a bit better today, other than that, an unremarkable day, except it was sunny 😊

I like this combination, the warm subtle tones are really nice and there’s no silly bits.

So that’s week 15 over, onwards dear chums…


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365 ~ Hipstamatic week 14

This week I’m using the Long Isand Hipstapak. It consists of the Florence lens which gives desaturated tones with sunny highlights, and the Black Keys extra fine film which is a black and white film adding subtle contrast and a super clean edge to pictures.

Sunday 2nd April
We had a visit from Shelley and the grandkids today, and as always Liddy had a huge wodge of cake to see her through the afternoon.

Hi, I’m Liddy, I’m a cakeaholic.

Monday 3rd April
I travelled down south again today. The journey wasn’t too bad but heavy enough with people going on holiday or days out or whatever. It was nice weather when I arrived in the afternoon, and it was necessary for Louie to have a coke and an ice cream.

Lewis

Tuesday 4th April
A lovely sunny day today, a cloudless sky, but not too hot, and Ben, Lewis and I went down to the canal, parking up near St Mary’s Church and walking along the canal path to The Globe Inn where we sat outside and had cheesy fries. I gave Louie my X100F for the day and he took lots of pictures, there’ll be a post!

St.Mary’s

Wednesday 5th April
And then it rained most of the day and we played monopoly and chilled out. Mrs Miaow Miaow doesn’t like the rain.

Catnap

Thursday 5th April
I packed up my things, cleaned the place I stay, visited with Ben et al, and then got on the road back home. More heavy traffic, and one 10minute standstill, but on the whole an easy ride.

My down-south hideaway

Friday 6th April
The blossom tree is shedding like crazy, it looks like it snowed out there. Am sure our neighbours love having their cars decorated with little pink petals though. I do 🤣
Blossomfall

Saturday 7th April
There’s a saying around these parts ~ ‘you can never have enough cameras’…
and so my latest turned up whilst I was away. A Pentax 645 medium format film camera. A basic one at that, not as coveted by the filmoscenti as a Mamiya or Hasselblad, but also not in their lofty price brackets. I loved my old Rolleiflex medium format but it’s not repairable and I want to get back into the format, hence the Pentax. Just need to finish the 2 rolls of film I’ve got on the go in the Contax and Ektar so I can get this one up and running!

Pentax 645


And that’s a wrap for the Long Island Hipstapak. I do like how it does the black and white so a 👍 from me.

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365 ~ Hipstamatic Week 11

This week I’ve gone with the Madalena lens which is inspired by the warmth and vibrance of Vila Madalena in São Paulo, this lens adds a strong flavor to any print. The film is Blanko, a simple film with a light border.

Sunday 12th March
My pal Connie is doing the hipstamatic 365 with me, and I am also doing the Sunday Coffee series with her, though on Flickr not here on WP, but today I did an extra one for the 365, which is killing 2 birds with one stone, a phrase I’m not keen on as I wouldn’t kill a bird ever but I can’t think of an alternative. Anyhoo, I may do that again, being a lazy~daisy.

Sunday Coffee

Monday 13th March
Back to work, nothing new there and no time for photos. I thought I was getting a cold as I had the sniffles and a slightly achy neck. Still trying to get the hang of this Hipsta combo, it seems to do better with close up things than landscapes. This is my water feature lamp Shelley bought me for Christmas.

Zen thingy.

Tuesday 14th March
Still feeling a bit rough though nothing mega and I had an easy day at work. I took a picture of my flowers when I got home. I bought these in ASDA 2 1/2 weeks ago, they appear in week 9’s set of photos. There’s no water left in the jug but they just don’t seem to give up the ghost, magic!

zombie flowers

Wednesday 15th March
A steady morning at work and then the weekly shopping on my way home. My neck was more achy now and I needed to take ibuprofen for it. Phil had been practicing his bass guitar when I got home, so after we put the shopping away I had him give me a performance. He’s trying to play Hysteria by Muse, which is hellishly fast and difficult.

Hysteria

Thursday 16th March
Neck even more painful and restricting the movement of my head, wasn’t easy to drive over to Kendal’s place to get my manicure but lots of straight roads thankfully and not too much traffic. Had to park up and get a shot of the crocuses/croci (take your pick, both are right).

crocuses

Friday 17th March
Last night was an experience. My neck was so painful I couldn’t sleep, and so I spent the night in the spare room ouching in between dozing fitfully. More ibuprofen today and we tried the tens machine, but that didn’t work. We went out for a walk as I’m desperate to get out and shoot some film, but it was too much pain and we came home not long after we set off. Plus I took one shot with the Contax and it packed up because the batteries went flat. I’d left the spares in my other camera bag, duh. I took a couple with the Hipstamatic though.

Hawthorn

Saturday 18th March
No way was I going through another sleepless night, so had a diverse cocktail of medications that would floor a buffalo, and managed 4hrs straight before I got up and redosed before another 3 hours kip. Whatever it takes. Today I’m still in a lot of pain but keeping it at bay just about with 4 hourly meds. I HAVE to go to work on Monday so this HAS to be gone, and I’m FED UP, but my Happy Eater Blossom tree is gearing up for the big bloom regular readers will know from past spring posts, and that lifted my spirits.

Pinking up

I like this combination, took a while to get the hang of it but came out with some nice results, at least I think so 😊.

Anyhoo, time to be movin’ on…

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365 2023 ~ Hipstamatic week 10.

This week I chose the Kantõ HP lens which adds moody cool tones and Panaji Film which adds subtle texture and a warm vignette.

Sunday 5th March
As usual, a quiet and chilled day today, rubbish weather. Read the paper, read my book, ironed my uniform for work tomorrow and played with photos until I found the combination I liked for this week.

Winnie.

Monday 6th March
Back to work and as usual Monday is full on. I noticed daffodils and crocuseses appearing on the grass verges on the way to work, so on my way home I parked up where I knew some grew near me, and took a picture of them.

Spring~time!

Tuesday 7th March
We had a smattering of snow overnight, and I guessed it would be gone by the time I got home, so I took this shot in the morning before breakfast, and before it disappeared.

Winter~time!

Wednesday 8th March
No snow today, but a chilly sunny day. I finished work at 2pm and went off to recce one of the Ray Lonsdale statues that’s on the next art trail Sophie and I do over on the Universe Blog.

Fiddlers Green.

Thursday 9th March
SNOW DAY!!! Yippee! Lord Vincent is not impressed. He doesn’t like getting his toes cold. It didn’t stay around, gone by the afternoon, sigh.

Winter~ time 2 & Lord Vincent

Friday 10th March
SNOW DAY the 2nd!! Yipee! this didn’t last long either. Sigh.

Winter~time 3

Saturday 11th March
No more snow, there’s a few patches where the sun doesn’t reach it, but that’s it. My blossom tree is budding like crazy though and I was a bit worried the snow would kill off the buds, but everything is carrying on regardless and I can’t wait until it bursts into pink!

Spring 2

Mad weather, but not unusual when I think about it, am sure last year was all over the shop too. Anyway, that’s it for this week. I like this combination, not too arty farty but some nice tones and subtle texture in the vignette. But onwards we go… so

📱😊

365 2023 ~ Hipstamatic week 9

This has been a fun week. I’ve been using the Malasaña pak which consists of the Franco lens which is a simple lens that adds much warmth and emphasis in the yellow tones to images, and the Libros film, which adds abstraction and mid-frame effects to photos.  Named after Malasaña in Spain, which sounds a groovy place to be ~ Malasaña is a happening, student-friendly area, with streets filled with coffee shops, bakeries and vintage clothing stores. The Plaza del 2 de Mayo, a historic square lined with lively bars and weekend market stalls, is a popular meeting spot. At night, edgy dance and rock clubs host live bands and DJs, and the Conde Duque cultural center shows art and open-air movies in its 18th-century halls and courtyards.

These won’t appeal to everyone as they come in on the arty~farty side of life, but I really liked using this and shot loads more than I usually do. I think you have to look more into the photos and try to put things together in your brain, so not just an easy look-see image, and I used it with that in mind.

Sunday 26th February
Nothing much happening today, which is normal for Sundays when the weather is pants and the kids don’t visit. I took this slice-of-life shot in my little room, this is the board on the wall behind where I sit at the computer. I like how the sun sent some shafts of light to illuminate parts of it.

The Board of Everything

Monday 27th February
Another manic Monday at work. I didn’t have time to do anything there with photos so took some shots of some flowers I’ve got at home instead.

Flowery things.

Tuesday 28th February
Tuesday has become the absolute worst day for driving to work and then home. I have to go through the Tyne Tunnels, and lately the queues to get to it in the morning and evening are horrendous. I don’t get it because Mondays used to be busy too but the traffic on Mondays is much less now, whereas Tuesday is much worse. 🤷‍♀️

Losing the will to live.

Wednesday 1st March
A slow day at work, and then to ASDA for the weekly shop, but nothing floated my boat photographically speaking. Another slice-of-life shot from the little room.

The Shelves of Loveliness

Thursday 2nd March
Today is Phil’s birthday, but he was at work from 8am to 6pm. I got him some books I knew he’d like as a present, and cooked his favourite dinner- beef and broccoli in black bean sauce.

Books

Friday 3rd March
Today Phil had his birthday part 2, and we went out to meet up with Shelley for lunch at the Red Lion. Completely forgot to take a photo but later Phil called me to see Winnie who had joined him in the bathroom to oversee his ablutions by sitting on top of the towel rail.

Winnie & Phil

Saturday 4th March
Phil had his birthday part 3 when Richard Sounds (a hi-fi dealer) texted to say his new thingumty-bob for his sound system had arrived. So he went off to Newcastle to pick it up, and is now replacing the 10 year old thingy for the new one. (Which looks exactly the same as the old one but hopefully improves Phil’s perception of the sound he gets from his system!).

Birthday part 3.

That’s another week done and time to move on to a new combination or hipstapak, I’m going to miss this one!

📱😊