In my first post in this series of photography tutorials for beginners I offered some practical tips to help you get started. Today I’m going to assume that you have been taking photos on full automatic mode for some time, and that you are interested in taking more control of your camera settings and exploring the semi-automatic and manual modes that your camera offers.
Read more…
I’m relatively new to watercolour painting. I’ve been teaching myself to draw and to paint since last September, and as it’s completely new to me and I knew nothing about art supplies to begin with, it’s been a steep learning curve. I have been vegan since October 2005 and my veganism influences not just what I eat, but what I wear, the cosmetics and household products I buy and use, and any products I use for work and my hobbies. Whilst the environmental benefits of being vegan are important to me I am vegan for animal welfare reasons first and foremost.
I thought at first that it wouldn’t be too complicated to find vegan watercolour supplies. I assumed I’d have to be wary over certain red pigments (because of cochineal) and black pigments (because of bone char) but what I didn’t realise was that many of the artist grade paints contain a substance called ox gall which (correct me if I’m wrong) influences viscosity and the way paint holds together in suspension as well as on paper.
Read more…
This is the first in a new series of blog posts I am writing for beginners in photography sharing tips, techniques and practical advice that I hope will help you to learn how to take better photos. I first picked up a camera nearly eight years ago, and have taken at least one photo every single day since March 2011. I am completely self-taught, and I taught myself photography for free (minus the cost of my second-hand equipment). You can teach yourself photography too, and I’ll show you how.
In this first article, I share a few practical tips and ways of thinking about photography that have been really helpful for me and that I hope help you in the early days of your photography journey. Later in this series I plan to add articles about how you can improve your composition, how to master exposure and the exposure triangle, how to understand the difference between different focal lengths and how a longer or wider lens will change your image and much, much more.
Read more…
After a few years of not really reading all that much I’ve got back in the habit of keeping a list of books I’d like to read so that I always have something on the go. As such, I thought I’d start to keep track of the books I read. My secret to reading lots seems to come down to not being afraid to give up on a book I don’t like, and to borrow the majority of my books, which means I then don’t feel compelled to finish them if I don’t like them, I can just return them to the library unread.
Read more…
Minou is going through a phase of sleeping on our pillows at night, so I gave her her own by way of compromise. It means that we don’t wake up with a headache from dehydration, and she seems happy too.
On a very cold day at the start of January I found kitty napping on the hot pipes at the Botanical Gardens. Meanwhile, in the parrot house, a mischief of mice were busy at work climbing up the wall and squeezing themselves through the tiny mesh gaps to pinch grain from the yellow crested cockatoo’s food bowl.
Read more…