The Colors of Mykonos

Oh, the debate I had with myself over the title of this blog post.  My readership is pretty much evenly split between the US and UK (with about 10% various other countries).  So...  do I use the American spelling "colors" and let half of you think I just can't spell.  Or do I use "colours" and risk the other half think I'm a wannabe Brit who will next start speaking with a fake British accent like Madonna.  Dilemma. Anywho,  I posted before about all of the reds of Mykonos.  Here are some more photos of this beautiful place sorted by color colour... err chromaticity.   

Garden Beauties and a Life Update

You'll never guess where I'm writing this.  Well, actually you probably will.  I'm in Texas!  I was supposed to fly home on August 8th and stay for three weeks.  But as the birth of my first grand baby approached, the possibility of not being here for the birth took over my thoughts.  All signs point to this baby coming early and I had to get here.

Happy Mother's Day, Love!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers and mothering souls out there.  Mother's Day is one of those days with the potential to bring up some of the harder emotions, isn't it?  There is love, happiness and joy, but sometimes loss or sadness. 

I'm experiencing a whole range of emotions today, but the primary one is love. Absolute love for my wonderful mother, pure love for my beautiful daughter, excitement and joy that she will now know the joy of motherhood, and a new fierce love for a grandson that I will soon meet. And for my husband who loves me enough to know just what I need on a day like today when I'm far from home. Today I'm celebrating all of the love. So whatever emotions you are dealing with today, I wish you love.

A Prickly Life Lately

I thought it was time for a Life Lately update, just to catch up on the day to day stuff.  I started to make a list of the things that I would mention and quickly realized that my update was turning into a "proper moan," a "whinge" even.  Two very British expressions but they certainly fit.  In truth, I don't have a thing to whine about.  Life if really good.  So what did I manage to come up with?  Well...

Food, Photography and Smiles

A few weeks ago I was invited to a photography workshop taught by

award winning photographer, Paul Hames. 

I was invited by Joe Blogs Blogger Network and Simply Health.

What brought these three various things together?  Smiles.

 What makes people smile?  Food.

Y'all know how much I love my camera.  I love the way it connects me to the world.

My blog is obviously very photo heavy.  Which is why I'm so embarrassed to admit to anyone

that I always shoot on automatic.  I've tried manual a few times but I have a complete brain block.

So you can imagine my reaction when Paul instructed us first thing to turn our cameras to manual.

Terrified and excited, all at the same time.

For the next few hours, my camera was on manual!  I was very tempted to turn it back.

But, I resisted.  And I'm actually pretty proud of the results. 

After sitting us down and taking us through the basics,

we all walked over to the Kerb Food Market at King's Cross to

try out our new skills with the camera and have some lunch.

Before turning us loose, we had one more lesson on Capturing the Perfect Smile.

Here are the tips from Paul:

• Don’t say smile. This is the worst thing you can say. It will produce a false smile and is unimaginative.
• Engage with your subject. Make friends. Appear interested but also be yourself and genuine. Make your subject feel special and tell them how easy they are to work with. This will put them at ease.
• Clichés do work. Hands on hips makes someone project and feel more comfortable. You can also make them look round then back again with different smiles.
• Make sure you’re smiling and projecting positively yourself. It’s infectious.
• Say something funny. We all have a good joke or a story. This is otherwise known as an icebreaker. Do everything you can to get that smile.

  With beautiful models like these three, it wasn't hard at all to capture that perfect smile.

Melanie from Sunny in London

Sarah from The Wanderblogger

Mandy from Emm in London

Then it was time to check out the food offerings.

I'm much more comfortable photographing food rather than people.

But, I did find one willing subject.

This is what I had for lunch from Bill or Beak.

It was amazing!  Shredded duck and pork in a Vietnamese dressing with coriander,

chili and mint salad topped with tempura shallots.

It tasted even better than it looks which is fantastic.

It was a fabulous day which all combined to make

taking my camera from auto to manual not nearly as scarey as I expected.

Photo courtesy of Joe Blogs

 Simply Health provides affordable healthcare with a focus on exceptional personal customer service.

They have over 3 million customers and their services include Simply Dental Plan.

Thanks so much to Simply Health, Joe Blogs and Paul for a day full of smiles.

 Do you have any tricks for capturing the perfect smile?

Special Announcement: I have the date & venue for the next #LDNBloggersTea.

 Festive Afternoon Tea
Sunday, September 28th
£30 per person with champagne
Intercontinental Westminster

We will previewing this year's holiday tea for review.

Space is limited, so email me asap at Selena.Jones@me.com for your spot.

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 *I was invited to this photography workshop by Simply Health for the purposes of review.
 All photos, writing and opinions are my own.
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  
 

London Street Photography Walk

I've been limping around in pain for the past few weeks.

Matt thinks that I'm just trying to one-up his dislocated knee.

But, according to Dr. Google, I'm suffering from Retrocalcaneal Bursitis.

It's also known as "pump bump" which I find pretty ironic

as I haven't worn heels since I moved to London.

All I know is that it hurts and makes me hobble like an old lady.

I'm pretty much over it.

A few weekends ago, I hobbled my way through a  

London Street Photography Walk with Fox & Squirrel.

Our guide for the day was Stuart Beesley who is an incredible photographer

as well as a great teacher and encourager.

(Not to mention 2010 Travel Photographer of the year.)

We didn't focus on the technical stuff or the camera settings.

The six of us all had different cameras and often people just use their cell phones on the tour.

Instead, we focused on expanding our eye, finding inspiration

and stretching our comfort zones when shooting out on the street.

As we walked through Camden Market and Primrose Hill,

Stu gave us simple assignments and then 15-20 minutes to see what we could come up with.

He was always close by with a suggestion or feedback.

The first assignment was pretty easy.

I'll see if you can figure out what my instructions were.

A bustling place like Camden Market can be very overwhelming.

Sometimes you just get into Point & Click Mode.  This assignment trained us to focus on the details.

 This next assignment was my favorite and it's definitely something that I want to explore further.

As we walked up and down the High Street, we were told to pay attention to the reflections.

Lighting, architecture, color and people.  Everything seemed to suddenly pop

when viewing it through a pane of glass.  Pretty cool, huh?

There were several assignments that were extremely challenging for me.

But, I'm so glad that I did them.  I really struggle with taking photographs of people.

I feel very conspicuous and naughty.   And I ALWAYS get caught and often yelled at.

Stu said I should just relax, act confident and calm.  Like I might actually know what I'm doing.

This was extremely challenging for me (because I don't actually know what I'm doing.)

I'm sure I had this crazed, stalker smile on my face.

And, to make matters worse, my Nikon has a loud, satisfying CLICK whenever I take a picture.

So just imagine.  The limp.  The crazy smile.  And the loud clicking noise.

Not very stealth like, I can assure you.

I did get a few sneaky shots, usually of people's backsides.  (Cuz that's not creepy at all.)

But, mostly I just got caught, so then I'd bolt away.

(Well, not actually bolt, because remember?  The limp.)

 You know this guy is thinking "Why the hell is that lady limping around,

taking pictures of us with that weird, frightened smile on her face? Stalker much?"

We ended up back at Camden Market for our final project.

I'm convinced that I was being trailed by two security guys because of my suspicious behavior. 

I'm proud to say that I completed each and every assignment.

I now have some tricks up my sleeve for finding inspiration and interesting shots.

More importantly, I spent some time outside of my Camera Comfort Zone

 and gained some much needed experience in getting more people in my shots. 

Which is a really good thing, because let's face it,

as beautiful as places are, the best stories are always in the people.

Fox & Squirrel offer a variety of London Walks including

Art Walks, Architecture Walks, as well as Fashion, Film and Food Walks.

The Street Photography Walk starts at 12 noon and ends at 3:30pm and costs £50.

How do you feel about photographing people out on the streets?

 Any tips and tricks to getting great shots without offending?

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  *I was a guest of Fox & Squirrel for the purposes of review.  All photos, writing and opinions are my own.
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

 You can find this review and many others in my
London Attraction Guide.

Capture the Colour Photo Blogging Challenge

 You've probably seen some of the Capture the Colour Photo Blogging Challenge posts floating around the web.
I was tagged by two of my friends, Jaklien at Passport and Toothbrush and Molly at The Move to America and I'm thrilled to participate.  
My assignment...  "publish a blog post showcasing five of your favourite travel photographs which best capture the colour of our five categories: red, blue, green, yellow and white."
So here are my submissions.

Red

Blue

Green

    

Yellow

White

Blue//A bright blue lizard sunning on a rock in Aruba

Red//Red leaves at Blenheim Palace, UK

Green//Brances from Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK

Yellow//Dew kissed English rose in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK

White//Horse from Mary Arden's Farm in Sratford-Upon-Avon, UK

Here are the instructions for Capture the Colour Photo Blogging Challenge from TravelSupermarket: 

Step 1 - Publish a Capture the Colour post on your blog with an image for each colour

Step 2 - Spread the word and nominate 5 of your fellow bloggers to take part

Step 3 - Let us know you've entered by tweeting or emailing us

Step 4 - Keep an eye on the TravelSupermarket Twitter account to find out who wins!

To get involved with the conversation on Twitter follow the hashtag #CTC13.

I am nominating the following bloggers:

Gina from Sweet Serenity

Jade from Jade Moat

Amy from Via Fontanelle

Tina from Girl Meets Globe

Sarah from The Wanderblogger 

and You! (Consider yourself tagged.)

I can't wait to see what your colorful photos!

Have a great week!! 

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