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Dec 22

Cardiff Arcades Christmas special and last minute Christmas crafting ideas

As promised, here’s the links to the two Christmas posts on my other blogs, The Cardiff Arcades Project and Look, I Made This.

If you’ve never seen either of the blogs before, now is a good time to check them out as they’re full of festive cheer!

Don’t forget to have a look at the previous blogpost on the wonderful Birmingham Christmas market, if something is going to put you in the Christmas mood… this will be it!

First up, the Cardiff Arcades Project takes a look at the beautiful Madame Fromage shop in the Castle Arcade, which is packed to the rafters with festive treats…  here’s a tip, if you’re in any way a foodie, you’ll appreciate these. Click on any of the pictures to be taken straight there.

Next, it’s some last minute crafting ideas. If, like me, you like to make things but are either a little bit lazy or very busy (I’m both), then all of these will take less than two hours to complete, hooray! Click on any of the pictures to be taken straight there.

 

All that’s left to say now is Merry Christmas to all my subscribers and visitors, thanks for everything this year…. hoping to bring you lots more posts in 2012!

 

Dec 18

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Twinkling lights, festive frivolity and oodles of glühwein…Birmingham Christmas Market 2011

As it’s just one week until the big day (scary how this has crept on me this year), I thought I’d bring you a special festive post!

I actually visited the Birmingham Christmas Frankfurt Market in November just after it opened, but I knew I wanted to save the pictures until a more appropriate time… so here they are.

The market is the biggest Christmas market in the UK, and it really does seem huge. I’m sure it’s got a lot bigger since the first time I visited it when I was living nearby a few years ago. It now stretches all the way from Centenary Square just outside the ICC all the way down New Street until practically outside the Bullring.

Even though it was still a full six weeks until Christmas when I visited this was the busiest I’ve ever seen Birmingham city centre. I kinda dread to think what it must be like now we’re close to the 25th, but at least it should be full of festive cheer.

After visiting this market you are pretty much spoiled. It’s difficult to look upon other markets without thinking “but it’s not as big/good/fun/wide-ranging/foodie as the one in Birmingham!”. One of the best things about this market is that it’s open right up until Christmas, not closing until the 24th. Hooray, a real Christmas market!

So if you’re in that area you still have six days to enjoy it… if not, I hope you enjoy the pictures, I’m especially fond of the gnomes and the helter skelter pictures. Feel free to leave your own thoughts, comments and views in the box below.

I have other Christmas posts for my other blogs, I’ll post a link to them on here soon, all this leaves me to say is Happy Christmas!


Click here for more Christmas market pictures

Dec 4

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Barcelona: Cross Processed

This is my final set of images from the beautiful city of Barcelona. I do have a few more stored on my hard drive, but, none of them make a coherent set so I think, for now at least, that’s where they will stay.

These photos are all taken with my Olympus PEN E-P3, whereas all the others were shot with my DSLR. As you can tell these are all using the Cross Process filter, which I’m pretty unashamedly in love with. Some people will love it, others will probably hate it, and believe me I’m absolutely fine with that.

Quite a variety of places are included in this piece, so we have lots of Gaudi stuff – naturally – including La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Battlo, La Pedrera and so on. But there’s also shots taken around the wonderful streets, up on Montjuic and more…

There’s not a lot much more to tell you about these, other than, please enjoy – and I really hope you enjoyed the rest of the Barcelona photos, I certainly enjoyed shooting, editing and sharing them.

I can’t wait to go back to Barcelona one day, but for now, I have these photos to look at to remind of how fantastic it is. Please do share your thoughts, opinions in the comments box below.






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Dec 3

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Portraits: Lee for We Are Cardiff

I love shooting portraits, in fact if I had to pick one genre to only shoot from now on, it’d (probably) be that. There’s only one downside – finding willing victims volunteeers. That’s why it’s really a privilege and a lot of fun to be involved with the wonderful We Are Cardiff project, which brings together the stories of the people who live in the city.

For this latest set of shots I photographed Lee, who wanted to be pictured on the beautiful balcony inside the Castle Arcade, It’s a gorgeous place to hang out, and like me, Lee said he often finds himself just people-watching the passers-by below. Next time you’re around the area, be sure to check it out.

While we were taking these photos, one of the security guards working at the Castle Arcade stopped us to ask what we were doing. In the end I  had to repeatedly assure him that this wasn’t for anything commercial before he, reluctantly, let us carry on. Now, I really do understand that the arcades are private property, so ostensibly, they can make their own rules, but what I don’t understand is why.

Repeatedly, we hear about how the arcades are struggling against the behemoths of St David’s and Queen’s Street. Yet, they’re not treated by its owners (or maybe it’s just the guards) as something unique, something for tourists, something worth visiting because of what it looks like, not just what it contains within it. While it’s true that not everyone who visits the place to look at the stunning architecture will buy something, you have to assume that at least some of them will. So, being suspicious of anyone taking photos seems more than a little shortsighted.

Oh well, just my opinion of course, feel free to share your own. In the meantime, enjoy the photos, as always, any comments, viewpoints, opinions and more are always welcome. Oh and don’t forget to check out Lee’s story on the We Are Cardiff website.

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Dec 1

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Barcelona: Parc Guell

This is my penultimate set of pictures from Barcelona – I’m saving something special for the very last one (or at least I think it is…).

These are all taken in Parc Guell, Gaudi’s beautiful park space that was originally intended to be a little “village”, but sadly never quite worked out. Well… it’s not that sad as it means we all get to share in its splendour.

It’s one of the busiest places in Barcelona, so trying to get pictures of the famous lizard in the centre of the park is difficult – but it’s not like there is a shortage of photos of the little guy.

As always, any comments and feedback very much welcome on the photos… and I promise it won’t be long until I’m all done with these and then it’s on to… Christmas photos…. quite the theme change eh?





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Nov 22

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The beautiful colours of Cardiff in Autumn

Autumn is one of my favourite times of year, photographically at least. The beautiful colours, gorgeous tones and fantastic light… it’s a real no brainer. And while I may be a bit slow in getting these up, with December just around the corner, I still wanted to make sure they were shared.

I didn’t spend hours and hours on these photos, I’ll be honest, but it was just one perfect afternoon in November where the sun was shining, the air was crisp and the leaves were a wonderful array of colours. This is the first year I’ve had a whole host of photography equipment, so I was pretty excited to get out. Since last year I’ve got my Canon EOS 60D, a macro lens, a wide-angle lens and an Olympus PEN E-P3, (it’s been a good year!) so there was lots of camera and lens switcheroos to be had. It should be pretty obvious when the E-P3 pictures kick in, feel free to let me know which you prefer if that’s your inclination…

With winter not far off, I’ll be posting more seasonal images soon… in the meantime, I hope you enjoy these.




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Nov 13

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Barcelona: Casa Batlló

On to another Gaudi masterpiece… I hope you’re not bored yet (personally I could look at Gaudi all day…), and here we have Casa Battlo.

This is another of Gaudi’s designs located on the Passeig de Gracia and is one of the most colourful buildings you will come across in Barcelona (and that’s saying something).

I love both the outside and inside of this one, with the beautiful chimneys and roofing proving that you can have style and function in one.

Local people apparently call this the “house of bones” because of the appearance of the balconies on the front of the house, which some say resemble skulls.

Originally built for a wealthy middle class family,  you won’t find any straight lines anywhere in this property, with everything down to the hand rails going up the stairs designed with curvaceousness in mind.

I came back again at night, and it’s possibly even more stunning in the dark … simply beautiful. I hope you enjoy the photos, any comments are very much welcome.

If you liked this, please check out:
Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia
Barcelona: La Pedrera
Barcelona: La Boqueria




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Nov 12

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Barcelona: La Pedrera

The first time I visited La Pedrera – or Casa Mila as it is sometimes known – in 2004, I barely noticed it. Odd thing to say isn’t it? I remember taking a couple of quick snaps as we walked past it, but nothing more than that.

Well this time, a little more informed and realising what wonders lie inside, or strictly speaking upstairs, on the roof, I made it a must-see destination.

Unfortunately, it’s a little pricey to visit La Pedrera, so I visited this one on my own – but I think I would probably still recommend it you for a visit if you can stretch to the entry fee.

This is, of course, another one of Gaudi’s marvels, and was built around 1905-1910 and can be found on the swanky Passeig de Gracia in the centre of Barcelona. Like Casa Battlo (pictures of that to come soon!) down the road, this was built as a private domestic residence for a couple, Roser Segimon and Pere Mila.

It was originally planned to be a religious symbol, owing to Gaudi’s Catholicism, with statues in the original plans of the Virgin Mary. These statues were eventually left out due to fears that anarchists might target the building. It also faced problems from the local government, who objected to the height of the building.

Casa Mila was only restored to its full glory in fairly recently, apparently being painted a dull brown colour in the 1980s. It’s said that the statues at the top of the roof were the inspiration for the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. It would be really cool if that was true – let’s hope so.

I hope you like the pictures I took here, they are some of my favourite from my time in Barcelona, and what’s more I just love how gorgeous the blue Catalonian sky looks. I also took the time to visit it again at night to see how beautiful it looked after dark, and I wasn’t disappointed. Enjoy!

Like this? Don’t forget to check out:
Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia
Barcelona: La Boqueria





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