Instagram photography and floral styling.

I've become such a mahoosive fan of Instagram of late, I guess because its more about pictures than words. My brain is clearly one which responds to visual stimulation, being obsessed with how my house looks, and by that I don't mean neat and tidy, quite the opposite.  I love colour, detail, interesting objects from every era, creating a visual story.  Taking photos and mood shots for myself and others gives me the excuse to hoard, what I call 'props' and have even managed to convince the other half that I need all these 'props' for photos.  Even shoes become props! Darling I need them for a photo idea ...

So maybe its time to talk about photography. My history with a camera goes back to 1978, so you could say that Ive been married to one most of my life, just upgrading now and then.  My first SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic F, fully manual.  I shot on film and printed in a darkroom, oh, how things have changed. 

Without going too far down memory lane, lets jump to now. My latest love is my Canon 5D Mkii. I have two lenses, one zoom and one fixed. This camera is great at shooting in low light and chosen because I hate studio lights and artificial lighting.  Using just a folding reflector to bounce and direct light at times. 

My most recent purchase was a 100mm fixed macro lens which I bought second hand on e-bay.  It is a bit risky buying on ebay, I did once buy a camera body for my step-daughter which totally didn't work, luckily e-bay refunded but it did spoil her birthday surprise. 

Its a shame that camera shops have disappeared, my nearest one is quite some distance.

One thing about Instagram is its format for square photos, having always arranged and shot for old school oblong format either portrait or landscape. Its taken me a few weeks but now Im finding that I arrange and set up for the square format as it works better on social media. 

My drive for taking photos almost daily has been set with Instagram challenges which I have talked about before. And sometimes when I think the subject is out of my comfort zone, I surprise myself. It really keeps you on your toes, plus there are so many brilliant photographers there to aspire too.  I have won some challenges and competitions recently and it is such a thrill to be featured by great taste makers and style setters. 

Next week Im off for a flower styling course I won, so will be bursting to tell you about that. 

  

Making mood boards is a great way to try colour and texture combinations. Flowers usually feature as the colours of nature are the most inspiring and often the most vivid. Move in closer to see the detail and you will see things you never noticed before, I never really liked Ranunculas until I started photographing them.

This Graphite chalk paint background is the perfect muse for pinks and purples.

A lot of my background colours are using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, some of them are left over pieces from my Painters In Residence project.  

Mobile phone cameras are now remarkably good and I believe that its this that has encouraged a lot of women to take up photography.  I would encourage anyone who finds themselves taking more photos on their phone to think about moving onto a basic DSLR like the Nikon D60 or D90.  

My other tip is don't be lazy, don't just snap from where you stand or sit, get up, bend down, move the right distance away.  Think about the angle and how it changes the perspective.  A table wont look like a table if you shoot it from a standing position, get it at eye level so the legs don't warp. The beauty about digital photography is that you can take hundreds of pics and then go through them on the computer to see which works, a good learning curve.  

Ive met a few interior photographers who say that when they go to shoot homes, whilst the homes look beautiful to the naked eye, they don't always look so great on camera.  Hence why every part of my house looks like its been set up for a photo or a shop display, I just can't help myself. What this has taught me as an interior designer is that you don't need an impressive mansion, my home is very modest small roomed house with no period features but you wouldn't notice that if you came round, with your eyes distracted every which way with crazy colours and objects.

To join in on challenges and competitions just look out for the hashtag # followed by subjects like - my still sunday - capturing colour - gathered style - by arrangement - floral friday - my monday moodboard - this joyful moment - styling the seasons.

I actually have my own one #farfromthemaddingcrowd  where you post a photo and tag me @janiceissitt_life_style with a pic that shows your interpretation of "Far From The Madding Crowd". Please do find me and join in, theres a paperback copy of the book for the winner. I should also mention what a wonderful community it is on Instagram.  If you follow the right people you will not be bombarded with pouting selfies, but lovely insights into creative souls who support each other. Find your likeminded doppelganger who is residing on the other side of the world, the girl in Amsterdam who shares your love of tattoos and clogs, the mum in America who also collects Dala Horses and Swedish folky stuff, they are all out there through this portal called an App.  Modern life eh, its not so bad.

See you next week after Ive been to London for my prize of Syling Spring At Mine.

Styling Spring At Mine and Styling The Seasons

Hello and welcome April. I've so enjoyed the blossoming garden particularly photographing flowers and have treated myself to a new lens for my camera, a 100mm macro for super close-up work.  Joining with Apartment Apothecary and Lobster and Swan on their challenge to show how you style your home for the seasons.

Heres some that Ive done recently and I shall add more to the post as the days pass and new blooms appear.

Against my Aubusson chalk paint wall and with this Bitossi vase.

Using my latest car boot treasures, watering can as vase against Graphite chalk paint wall.

I bought a few of the outdoor pots inside for a while.  Books are a great way to get height in your displays

this is a collage made inside a copper bottomed box from Holy Cow Home

a small pleasing arrangement of green themed items to make a pleasing collage

my latest little collection of Observer books are not only interesting but look good. 

gardening has begun

Holy Cow !!! is H.O.M.E.

Recently I've been following my passion for Antique eastern furniture and sourcing with my friends for a new shop opening soon in Aylesbury Bucks. The shop will sell everything that is beautiful for your home, its fair trade, recycled and re-purposed with a super cool colonial scandi shabby edge. Its fusion man !

Hope you like my photos and styling and if you find Holy Cow Home on facebook you can arrange to purchase some of these items for yourself.  I shall be inviting you all to the shop opening as well.

Vintage Circus Costumes and Clowns

The best thing about my life is that no two days are the same, despite my best efforts to just hibernate in the warm and take photos in my home studio, the unusual offer seems to haunt me like a shadow... and here's just one such instance.

I met the wonderful Ruth from Admiral Costumes on a photo shoot which I helped to style, Ruth had just taken over an established costume hire company not far from me up the country roads.

Ruth had come across a fabulous selection of genuine vintage circus costumes, and thought I might like to have fun with them. When finally we found a young lady small enough to fit into them, I set about building a little set and rummaging around for props. The final part of the jigsaw was finding that our student model Charlotte was best friends with another young lady who is training to be a makeup artist, the girls were fabulous, they really entered into the spirit of it. 

Ruth has been looking into the different types of clowns and we took some ideas from these.

There are four types of clown, there's Auguste who is the fool or joker, he falls over with his big shoes on and has makeup with white round the mouth and eyes which is outlined in black.

Hobo clown is a happy go lucky fellow who is always looking for work, typically he wears a bowler hat and tramp clothing, he has a dirty face due to his constant travelling.

Harlequin clown originated in France and wears an outfit made from triangles of coloured fabric with a ruff at the neck. Harlequin is nimble and performs stunts and acrobatics.

The Pierrot clown wears distinctive black and white and is known for mime.  He is a melancholy dreamer and hides his pain from his audience but reveals only a single tear drop on his cheek, under his eye.

We combined some of these clown ideas to style the showgirl outfits, the sort a bear-back rider would wear and another like a Jeanie.

With the addition of a few feminine touches like ballet shoes and veils, we twisted the idea from a male image to a female performer, albeit a rather sinister one, but I can't help but feel that clowns are a bit scary anyway. 

You can hire any of these items or some just like it from Admiral Costumes. Kerri Victoria Pocknell our MUA can be found through facebook or myself.  Big thanks to Charlotte our model too. 

Send in the clowns, don't worry, they're here...

Clarks Orla Betty funky retro shoes!

A slightly unusual review from me today, but as most of my readers are ladies, I thought pointing out these new shoes from Clarks would be appreciated.

If you, like me, wear vintage or vintage style clothes and like the colourful and fun, then this new range of shoes designed by Orla Keily for Clarks will sure be a must have for your summer wardrobe. But be aware, these are selling out super fast, so whilst its not quite sandal weather I have bought mine now so that I don't miss out.

As is usual with Clarks, they have gone for comfort here, so despite it being a high heel, you don't feel like you are walking in heels, as the inside padding and the little platform put you in a comfortable position.

I think the strap is a little thin as it did tend to cut in a little bit but considering my first outing in them was walking around a vintage fair with bare feet, I didn't come home with any aches or pains and no rubbing whatsoever, which is a good sign.

There are so many great styles in this range, I also liked these in blue but it had sold out and there are some that do have a thicker ankle strap and are slightly lower, these could be a good second pair to have. 

The styles remind me of childrens shoes in the sixties and seventies, and Im sure I had a pair like these Orla Betty when I was at school in the 1970s.  Theres are so many cool pairs in the range, Bibi, Bobble and Beatrice all really appeal to me, so I may have to go and try these on soon. 

One last major point, Im a half size, (uk 4.5) and these come in half sizes, which is a great bonus.  

If you can't get to a shop, then order online http://www.clarks.co.uk/c/womens-orla-kiely

Far From the Madding Crowd

for this last month Ive been honing my skills in still life photography, something which I have to do a lot of when I work for others photographing their products.  Sometimes its just fun to play but as Im the sort of person who needs a nudge, the instagram challenges have proved just the sort of push I needed. 

So Im telling you here first about an Instagram challenge Im setting of my own, called #farfromthemaddingcrowd.

I read this book in the 1970s as it was on the curriculum at school for English O Level (gcse).  The books of Thomas Hardy had a big impression on me at age 14, I thought they were very tragic and they still leave me with a haunted feeling. 

This books title reminds me of my new life now in the countryside, getting away from the crowd in London.  But the idea and concept of being having some personal space, some moments of stillness and an escape corner of your house, can be beautifully captured in photos. 

So Im challenging over the next month for people to hashtag #farfromthemaddingcrowd and the entry I like the best will win a vintage copy of the book from me. 

Here are some of my favourite stills from the last few weeks ...

find me on Instagram janiceissitt_life_style

stacked for Kim Klassen

Moody Wednesday

Far From The Madding Crowd

floral for Lobster and Swan

from my kitchen

Silver for Capturing Colour with Capture By Lucy

Gathered Style for A Quiet Style