A Beautiful Mess Challenge Nine: Make Homemade Filters

When Katie bought me the lovely A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book for my birthday, as I flicked through, this page stood out as one I couldn't wait to try... homemade filters!

Homemade filters add a new dimension to photos without using Instagram which I usually do. Three of the girls favourite ideas are lace, sunglasses and clingfilm and vaseline - I decided to go all out with the last idea although I couldn't use my iPhone as with other challenges so used our Nikon Coolpix P7700.

I secured the cling with a rubber band and smeared Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream (I didn't have any vaseline!) over the centre of the lens leaving a small area for the camera to focus, as advised in the book.

Here are the results...

I was surprised with the results, in that it worked so well! It only took a minute but gave a really different feel to the image - almost an eerie, dreamy look which I like! I'll definitely be playing with more homemade filters in the future.

Jane x

Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 
Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet
Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details
Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos
Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun
Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light
Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Challenge Seven: Take Macro Photos
Challenge Eight: Understand Depth of Field

Instagram App Review - Beware it's Addictive!

I am not ashamed to admit I am slightly addicted to Instagram which actually makes a nice change for me as in the past it was all about Facebook, followed closely by Twitter and Pinterest. I feel, along with Pinterest, Instagram is one of the more positive social media platforms, or it is at least when you follow the type of people I do (lifestyle, wellbeing, dogs!) so I don't mind being an addict!

I wanted to write a review of the app, I know Instagram (owned by Facebook) isn't new, it's been around since 2010 and there are 150 million active users all over the world, but, it's relatively new for me and will be unknown to many others!

Instagram allows you to create a profile and follow users in a similar way to Twitter. You can then upload or take images which are editable through the app with photography features such as filters, blurs and changeable light gradients. You can add a caption to sit with the photo, similar to the way you would on Facebook with hashtags being important on Instagram to categorise your images and make them easily searchable. The photography features make any photo look a million times better (trust me, I know!) and once posted it gets added to your profile and will appear in your followers feeds.

It's a really simple app to use and I think it's because of that simplicity, people love it. The interface has a handy menu at the bottom with five options; home (similar to a newsfeed), explore, upload, see notifications and view and edit your profile.

Explore allows you to search for other users to follow and discover new images from a feed that is automatically updated by Instagram.

Upload is exactly what you expect but what's nice is if you haven't got the photo you want to upload on your camera roll, you can easily take a snapshot and edit it straight from the app without losing any quality. It's also the place you can then go on to edit and caption your images.

Profile gives you a live preview of your Instagram profile and it's the area you can make amends to your profile too. You have a handle on Instagram, mine is janelw171, your real name (should you wish), a small bio, profile picture and one external link.

In terms of the social aspect of Instagram, I enjoy keeping up with my friends but also love getting inspired every day by those Instagrammers I have never met and choose to follow. I do find the following aspect could be improved as it's very easy to 'like' a photo but a longer process to follow someone. Although, it's great to find likes from people who have discovered your photo through one of the hashtags you've used in your caption rather than following you.

A little tip - follow people with caution as, unlike Twitter where skimming through the newsfeed sometimes without even taking any of the tweets in is easy, the newsfeed on Instagram is much more overpowering so I only want people I have a real interest in filling it!

Obviously Instagram is very visual which means, if you follow the right people, it's nice to check into the app to see some fun, inspiring images to brighten up your day! I do see it more as a place for mobile snapshots so use my Pinterest account for sharing less original or personal images.

Here's a few of my favourite Instagram photos...

   

Score: 8/10

I love... the simplicity of the app, the app icon and the filters (especially useful if you are no David Bailey like me!)

I'd like to... see it be easier for people to follow people as, although liking a photo is simple, to follow someone it's a longer process

Hope to see you on Instagram soon but be warned, it's addictive! In the meantime check out my 'A Beautiful Mess' photo challenges here - I'm having so much fun completing them!

Jane x

A Beautiful Mess Challenge Eight: Understand Depth of Field

 

What is 'depth of field'? As Elsie and Emma say in the book, it 'refers to the amount of your photo that is in focus.' Deep depth is if all of the photo is in focus, shallow is if the subject is in focus and the background blurry.

As I've decided to use my trusty iPhone camera for most of the challenges, I can't use a manual depth of field control but there's an easy fix to manipulate depth of field which I'll be doing with my subject Beau!

In the first photo I photographed Beau directly against the wall to create a deep depth of field...

In the second, Beau patiently (with the help of a treat) moved forward away from the wall to create a shallow depth of field with the wall blurry in the background...

Maybe I should have used a human model for my first venture into testing depth of field but I couldn't resist his little face! I definitely like the effect of the shallow depth of field better with the black and white background blurred into the back making Beau's eyes really stand out.

I'm very much looking forward to challenge nine where I'll be making homemade filters!

Jane x

Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 
Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet
Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details
Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos
Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun
Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light
Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Challenge Seven: Take Macro Photos

A Beautiful Mess Photo Challenge Seven: Take Macro Photos

For this challenge I decided to extend it past one day and challenge myself to take a macro picture everyday for a week. I thought about a number of different daily activities but decided on photographing something everyday on my walk with my labrador Beau as, after getting this far in the challenge, I know that photographing outside is always better on an iPhone.

To be honest, I'd heard about macro photos but never quite knew what they were, the A Beautiful Mess girls said in the book...

'Macro photos are extremely close-up photos of features or objects.'

A few key tips in the book were to pick a sharp point of focus with the rest of the image being blurry, choose a subject with lots of colours or textures and it's ok if you can't tell what the picture is!

Seven Days of Daily Walks in Macro...

 Jane x

View previous posts...
Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 
Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet
Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details
Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos
Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun
Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light
Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Hattie’s Wines founder Becca Reeves talks to us about life, wine, her advice for budding entrepreneurs and who Hattie really is…

Becca Reeves, is an experienced wine buyer, who got tired of the stuffy way wine is talked about and sold, and after a leap of faith and good dose of self-belief, her wine business Hattie’s Wines was born. We had the pleasure of meeting and working with the team at Hattie’s Wines earlier this year while they were working very hard to launch the business and have quickly established its place in the online wine-buying arena. 

Founder Becca has created a fun, interactive and engaging way of sharing and selling her carefully selected wines by tapping into the secondary thoughts that occur when looking for a good wine such as food pairings and occasions, and our favourite feature on the site... the Hattie's Shuffle of course!

We wanted to share the inspiration behind Becca’s venture into business, the driving force behind her brand, her advice for budding entrepreneurs, and of course, a few of her favourite things...

What was the a-ha moment that inspired you to create your own business? 
I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work at some great companies and do jobs that I have loved. But in more recent years, I found that there was something missing, I was looking for a new challenge but I couldn’t seem to work out what it was! I’d always toyed with the idea of having my own business but I had never had the confidence to believe I could actually do it, always finding reasons not to do it. Finally I ran out of reasons and it was my partner (who started his own business 10 years ago) who helped convince me to have the self-belief to go for it and it’s been the best decision I ever made! 

Why did you choose the name ‘Hattie’s Wines’ ?
I wanted the business to have a personal feel to it and have a real name, but I didn’t want to use my name. Hattie’s Wines was not created to promote me, it started as I felt there was a real need for something different, fun and engaging in the world of wine. There’s also a bit of fun to be had with it in terms of hats, and possibly even some kind of “mad Hattie’s” events in the future!

What was the ethos behind the branding and 'Hattie'?
Hattie is not just the name of the company, she is the persona behind it. On the website it says:

“Hattie is the woman we all want to be; she's the best part of ourselves plus the best bits of all our friends and people we know……. I like to think that wine should make women feel a bit like Hattie – knowledgeable, sophisticated and in control but having fun at the same time.”

Too much of what exists in the wine world is very technical, stuffy and serious so I wanted to put a bit of real life enjoyment back in! Hopefully the branding and the look & feel of the website reflect this.

What has been your biggest challenge to date? And how did you overcome it?
There have been lots of very specific difficulties such as massive technical problems delaying the launch of the website, but the biggest single challenge for me was, and still is, how to go about actually doing all the parts that are involved in running a business. Cashflow and financial planning (er?), social media (I had sent about 7 tweets before I started Hattie’s), writing website copy and emails to customers, planning events…… the list goes on! 

I had an idea and a vision of what I wanted it to become but I not a clue on how to get there! It’s amazing what you learn on the way, and the most invaluable and awe-inspiring thing for me continues to be the number of people who want to help and get involved. Friends, former colleagues and new contacts have skills that I don’t and are so generous with their time and advice. If you surround yourself with positive people and you’re prepared to ask for help, you won’t go far wrong. That, and ignoring the negative doom-mongers!

Have there been any moments when you just wanted to pack it all in?
Yes, frequently! Especially as it’s only me making the decisions. There are days when I just want to hide in a cave by the beach with no phone, WIFI or laptop. But, all that being said, and even in the darkest moments, I would still rather be doing Hattie’s than anything else. It has become a part of me in a way that no other job ever was. Don’t get me wrong, getting up in the morning isn’t any easier (I somehow thought that when I had my own business, I would bound out of bed everyday!) but at the end of each day, when you collapse exhausted into bed, you feel like you have achieved so much more.  

If you weren't spreading the vino love with Hattie’s, what would you be doing?
This is difficult, I haven’t thought about it! Work-wise, I guess I’d be buying wine for someone else (which is no bad gig). I couldn't imagine a life outside of wine! If I wasn't working and money was no object, I’d take my friends on a pilgrimage of all the great wine regions of the world, and I would learn to cook on the way! 

What keeps you striving forward in business?
On the good days, the belief that what you’re doing is going to be brilliantly successful. On the bad days, the fear of failure! 

A few of your favourites…

Way to relax? 
Glass of great wine, obviously! Ideally with a book, in the sunshine.
Aid to well-being? 
Er, wine, of course. Aside from that, rooibos tea and as much sleep as possible!
Fitness activity? 
Swimming, again, ideally outside in a warm climate!
Wine? 
Too impossible to choose! There are so many brilliant wines. All I can say is that I don’t drink wines I don’t like or that I don’t think are very good. It’s a cliché, but life really is too short.
Food? 
Mushrooms!! I could have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Song? 
Let’s Hear It For The Boy by Deniece Williams, from Footloose!
Hero? 
Nelson Mandela
Quote?
I have loads of quotes I love, most of them wine related. But I think my favourite is one more akin to my other hobby: 

And finally... what piece of advice would you give to entrepreneurs to inspire them to give their dreams a go?

• I might be showing my age a little here, but I’d say take the Doctor Pepper view of life – "what’s the worst that could happen?!" If the worst isn't something disastrous like losing your home, i.e. if you have the financial ability to do it, then just go for it! 
• There will always be a million reasons not to try, but write down or talk about the reasons to do it instead, and don’t listen to the gremlins in your head that say you’re not good enough, or don’t have the right experience or contacts. 
• Having enough self-belief was and is still one of my biggest challenges. Get your friends and family on board from the start so they can support you. If there are any regrets, it’s always better to regret what you have done and not what you didn't do.

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I love to enjoy a glass of wine (especially with my mum & sister!) but I also get very agitated if I'm not trying new things too, life is for living after all! However, as much as I want to venture into trying a bottle of something new, I find the prospect quite overwhelming as I stand in the supermarket aisle, and almost always go for a trusty old favourite. Not anymore. 

A really great feature of the site is that all of the wines in the Hattie’s range have been independently reviewed by three different writers, all of them wine lovers, consumers and great writers who want to share their love of the Hattie’s Wines, including creator of the Knackered Mothers' Wine Club, and new wine expert on The Alan Titchmarsh Show Helen McGinn. 

However we don't always have the time to invest in researching the little, but lovely things in life, so Hattie's Wines have cleverly made it easier than ever to find a new potential favourite by doing the Hattie's Shuffle which presents you a selection of wines you may like after using a few simple filters to input your likes and dislikes.

Do the shuffle for yourself and find out all about Hattie’s Wines here. Stay in touch with the team on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest too as they inspire you each day with new wine favourites, delicious recipes and fun hat-wearing competitions! 

Katie x

Moleskine - The Legendary Notebook

I thought Moleskine was one of those classic brands that has been around for centuries so I was surprised to discover that notebooks were only brought back to life in 1997 by a small publisher based in Milan. It's the timeless story behind the legendary Moleskine notebook that goes back hundreds of years...

There once was a nameless simple black rectangular notebook with rounded corners, an elastic page-holder and an internal expandable pocket that was used by artists and thinkers including Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. This notebook was created by a small French bookbinder in Paris and became a trusted travel companion of the greats. It was English novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin who named his favourite notebook 'moleskine' and despite all the popularity, in the 1980s, the small family-owned company went out of business and these notebooks were no more.

Sixteen years ago the notebooks were brought back to life and the company fittingly called the brand 'Moleskine'. Today, the name is synonymous with travel, imagination and memories in the real and digital world with their notebooks, diaries and journals, bags, writing instruments and reading accessories, making the brand loved by millions the world over - including me!

Although I love the fun, colourful stationery lines of Australian stationers, Kikki.K when I am looking for a more classic, substantial notebook, it's off to Moleskine I go. I don't hide the fact that the brand is one of my 'best things in life' - see our blog post on the subject here. Not only can you get simple, gorgeously bound lined, plain and squared notebooks, journals and diaries of all different sizes, I adore the ranges of limited edition collections, creativity, themed and travel notebooks.

Moleskine’s unique 'Themed' range features an extensive number of journals from dessert journals to baby journals, film journals to style journals. That brings me onto one of my favourite products which I featured as my 'top pick' for August - the Moleskine Wellness Journal. Read all about it on our 'Products We Love' page.

Next on my list of stationery to lust after (yes I am that sad!) is from Moleskine's 'Limited Edition' collection; an Evernote Smart Notebook. The notebook uses Evernote's Page Camera to capture the pages of the notebook! It then allows you to organise notes through Smart Stickers and Smart Tagging as the icons become searchable - great for those (like me) who love to be organised!

Moleskine's website is stationery heaven and I urge you to have a look. Not only at the vast array of quality products but they engage really well with online consumers. I particularly like the way they promote the Moleskine app by posting tweets from users on the website.

Now... I must stop looking before I get too carried away!

Jane x

A Beautiful Mess Photo Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Shadow portraits are a fun, unique variation on usual photos, especially if you don't fancy your face in the shot! The A Beautiful Mess girls give you a few simple rules in the book... take shadow pictures in the early morning or late afternoon, remember that shapes are very important as you can't capture details and try to capture the environment around you too.

I took the rules into consideration when taking this photo of myself and Mark with my iPhone camera. Of course, being in Autumnal England, we had a window of about five minutes to take the picture before the sun went in again!

 Although we did a number of poses, trying to create different shapes, I liked this simple one the most. I took it in late afternoon on the freshly mowed grass because the vivid green looked nice against our dark shadows.

Jane x

View previous posts...

Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 

Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet

Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details

Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos

Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun

Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light