Photography n Adventures

Photography for me is something that I'm really passionate about, I didn't actually discover my love for it until a few years back whilst doing my Art Foundation. As bad as this is going to sound I didn't appreciate & the realise the amount of skill and work it took to get that perfect image. 

I know I say all the time that I am on the most perfect course for me but in actual fact I really wish I'd explored photography as more of an option. Still it's not too bad because my course does cover it too...

4 month of Summer is a really long time when you don't have any plans, so spontaneously one of my closest friends, Michelle (Mich), and I decided to go into town do to have a catch up & do a bit of shopping (cos lets face it when am I not shopping?) last week. Randomly we actually didn't really do a lot of shopping but we took the opportunity to explore De Montfort University's campus whilst it was quiet. Surprisingly it was very new to me, whilst I did study there for a year, they have actually renovated it a LOT since I left just over a year ago. 

Black & white photography is possible my biggest love, purely because I just think everything looks so poignant and simple in b&w. Colour is such as beautiful, fantastic thing to have but strip all that colour complete back and then you really get to appreciate the beauty of the world in simplictiy. Honestly it's a dream of mine to have a wall full of black & white photography pieces from around the world when I have my own place. 

These three photos above were actually a complete accident, whilst I think any image looks amazing in b&w, these are some of the best ones I've ever taken. Personally I think the contrast of focus levels really works and pulls the whole image together. The two lines down the centre of each image breaks up the contrast and gives different perspectives on the view. These were taken from a little rooftop seating area which was the most adorable thing I've ever seen! Like if I was a student at DMU I would legit want to eat my lunch up there everyday- I have never seen Leicester look so beautiful before in my life!

As a campus I feel DMU has massively improved since I left, I really didn't like what it looked like before... I could never quite put my finger on what it was I didn't like about it but it was definitely something. 

Recently my love of interesting architecture of buildings has massively grown. I really think people need to appreciate the architecture of a place a whole lot more, let's face it buildings are hugely underrated everyday of our lives, yet they're somewhere we spend most of our lives in. I am obsessed with the slit windows and zig zag shaped stairwell, why couldn't the art building have looked this cute when I was there?

Shout out to my model of the day Mich, we got some really cute artsy style pictures from the day which I was SO happy with. I think I also shared my love with Mich of b&w too.

Up until recently I hadn't really put a lot of thought into lighting when shooting images, it sounds stupid I know but I just didn't really think it mattered. We were probably on the rooftop from around 3-5pm on a cloudy day, but the lighting just seemed perfect!

Panoramic views of the city, we even discovered a street that looked the spitting image of Coronation Street (neither of us knew it even existed).

These iced gems from Tiger were another star find of the day, not even joking they taste exactly like party rings- throwback to every party pre 2008. 

I loved exploring Leicester, who knew I'd lived here for 20 years already and I still didn't realise how pretty it actually is. That being said though I still can't wait to move to other cities in the future. The main lesson learnt from this adventure though, was to never underestimate your home town- there are hidden gems everywhere you've just got to look for them. 

By the way, before anyone asks I took all of these photos on my lil iPhone 5SE camera- just goes to show you don't always need a fancy camera just a good eye & a dry day. Although I am really interested to know what rain would look like in black & white...

What are your thoughts on black & white photography?

Let me know in the comments below.

Hope you all enjoyed this post & I'll see you Friday for a super exciting post about Reading festival. 

X

Photo Credit: Own & Michelle's.

Festival Style inspiration

By the time you guys are reading this I will be on my way to Reading for my first ever festival- EXCITED? WHAT ME? 

Going to a festival is something I've wanted to do for years now but I've either never quite had the money or the courage to actually book the tickets. I mean I wouldn't say I have the money to go this year but I thought 'screw it- what about making memories?'. As much as I wanted to go for a whole weekend I am actually just going for a day- partly because it was cheaper & I mean maybe it's just me but I'm not really a tent person...



Still I'm super excited, so of course I had to find the perfect outfit for the day- gotta get that photo for insta. I started pinning ideas on Pinterest pretty much the day after I booked the tickets, I wanted something that would be practical but at the same time said 'I going to a festival'. Obviously glitter was a must so that's been ordered and arrived already...


If you'd have asked me a year ago to describe my style I almost certainly wouldn't have said 'grunge inspired' but nowadays that's more of my 'thang', I don't really know what's prompted my style change but I guess I've changed so it's kinda a must.
Festival style really depends on the festival you're going to I think, cos if you were going Coachella you'd almost definitely wear something different to what you would going to Reading. Most probably because in LA nice weather is almost guaranteed and lol in the UK it certainly is not.



This look above I am obsessing over, personally I love the 'high waisted denim with a belt' look anyway but it couldn't be more perfect for a festival. I love this top as well- they had similar things on Misguided & PLT but it wasn't quite the look I was going for. If I had been going V fest then this would have been THE outfit for that... Reading? not so much.


Omg this has Coachella vibes written all over it, like sequins, with sequins, paired with even more sequins sounds like actual goals. Not quite sure I could pull it off as well but still it's the outfit of sequin dreams. What I lack in sequins at Reading is definitely gonna be made up for in glitter- a girl can never have enough glitter in her life...


When I saw this look OMG, firstly I was like damn I need that top in my life because I love retro vibes anyway and secondly I was like why can't my hair look like that???
I know I definitely won't look half as cool as this but this is my main inspiration for the day.


Not gonna lie whenever my Mum told me I need to take a coat on the day I kinda did an eye roll because is it just me or do you guys find a coat ruins the look you were going for? Cameo print isn't my first love but I do own a rather old but very loved cameo jacket AND it has a hood & big pockets (bonus points) -I think it'll be perfect. I thought pairing it with a band t-shirt (sorry am one of those people who don't know the band), denim frayed shorts, black belt and army style boots will be fab!

I'm already buzzing to get ready, I just really hope it doesn't rain on the Sunday (or any day over the weekend if I'm honest), obviously I will be blogging about the day so lots of pictures will be taken don't worry. Follow my twitter & instagram if you want to keep super up to date though.

What's your festival style?
Let me know in the comments below.

Take care & I'll see you guys very soon.

X

Photo credit: Pinterest. 

pls Gimme your style

Instagram for me is my favourite social app, just because the whole process of taking & sharing images of whatever interests you really excites me! Particularly when fashion is such a visual subject. 

As a fashion student I love nothing more than scrolling through Instagram at any time of the day for a bit of 'inspiration'. Whilst I do believe everyone needs to have their own style, there's nothing wrong with seeing how influencers work and style out trends their own way. To be honest it's something I love to do in my downtime- 100% it's my guilty pleasure. 

For todays post I thought it would be good to share my top 5 influencers whose style I literally can't get over: 

@jordanlipscombee

There is nothing I don't like about Jordan's style, hands down she is one of my most favourite people to look to for inspiration! Literally everything she wears she looks good in- btw her hauls on YouTube are some of my favourite so if you haven't already you should totally check her channel out.

Two things I've learnt from Jordan's channel are, first reworking your clothes are the way forward- if you don't like a particular top because it's too long then don't be afraid to crop it yourself! Secondly, damn this girl can do an amazing makeup look- if ever you're in need of a good tutorial this is the place to go.  

@amb_d

On Love Island, Amber's style was one of my favourites so obviously being a huge Love Island fan I had to include her on here. She's currently teamed up with Motel Rocks producing her own edit of their clothing line which is definitely worth checking out if you love her style. If only I could wear those sequins dresses as well as Amber!

@jessicaannewoodley

Whilst on Made in Chelsea, Jess's style was in my opinion the best by far. I love her quirky taste in clothes that normally I totally wouldn't even look at, because I wouldn't know where to start with styling them. But Jess's Instagram has given me the confidence to give these things more of a try & I love it. Experimentation is key when it comes to fashion!

@poppydeyes

Poppy's style is probably the one which I feel I share the most similarities too. I don't know what it is but virtually everything she wears is something I have/want to own. If you know me well then you'll know I love my blue denim jacket more than I love chocolate, and I always get my inspiration to wear it from Poppy. Plus her Instagram theme is just beyond words!

@lydia_connell

@lucy_connell

Okay so I know I said that I was only going to include 5 of my favourites but I literally couldn't choose between Lydia & Lucy, and I couldn't not include them. On paper their Instagram feed is 100% what I would love mine to look like- I love like every single post! Whilst I can still carrying on dreaming about having an Insta half as cool as theirs, their style is majorly where I get my holiday/ festival looks from!

Hope you guys all enjoyed this post- if you haven't already give the influencers Instagram's above a cheeky little follow, promise you won't regret it! 

If you know of any other influencers insta's I might like then feel free to comment them below bacause I don't think I'll ever get bored of following other peoples style. 

Take care & I'll see you guys for more on Friday.

X

Photo credit: Jordan Lipscombe, Amber Davies, Jess Woodley, Lydia & Lucy Connell. 

Why I deleted Tinder?

Tinder is probably one of the most hyped up dating apps in the world right now, so what made me want to delete it? 

Okay so I joined tinder, half for a laugh and half because I genuinely wanted to meet someone. Two months later I'm deleting it after hundreds of matches (no I'm not exaggerating), countless hi, hellos and 'how are you doings' later I've still not found anyone. But it was a laugh and an eye opening experience, eye opening for several reasons:

1. No matter how many hi, hellos or hey they pretty much all start with the same small talk convo. 

This is what I actually hated about tinder, I just got so bored of the basic hey or hi, it actually made me stop replying to vast majority of them. I know what your thinking 'how else are you meant to say hello?' and truth be told I'm not quite sure but I just wanted someone to surprise me & do something different. 

2. It's actually quite surprising who you match with.
At school I was the awkward, quiet one who if I'm honest very few people wanted to be friends with let alone date. It's safe to say that the first year of uni brought me out of my shell a LOT. Still it shocked me a little when I matched with guys from school- as I tweeted though 'too little too late'. Fair enough I'm all for second chances and it was nice to catch up & see what they're up to now but if you didn't give me the time of day back in school then why would I want to know now?

3. You'll think you've found the perfect guy then all of a sudden you're un-matched. 
*eye roll please
This happened a little too often for my liking, it's weird cause we'd be having a good conversation then the next thing I know I'd find out I'd been unmatched. I watched Jack Maynard's tinder video on YouTube a while back & he seemed to find the same problem- I'm kinda glad to know it's not just me...

4. Thank god that tinder messaging doesn't have read recipients.
Okay so I not gonna sugar coat this some people are WeiRD on tinder, normally I'd just unmatched as soon as I can, but I was so grateful they couldn't tell I've read their message. C r e e p y...

5. Looks aren't everything.
For me one of the most attractive qualities in a guy is if they can make you laugh, I mean like laughing till you cry laugh. So really tinder wasn't for me on the sole basis on this. Fair enough I know there's got to be a physical attraction but looks REALLY aren't everything. I value a guy who'd have me laughing within the first 5 minutes over a guy who's profile is basically just how many gym poses he can show off.

6. It's SERIOUSLY addictive.
If you've got a spare five minutes, bored at any point of the day, or just simply want a laugh then what do you do? Of course it's go on tinder! Turns out those 5 minutes could end up being an hour or more, like seriously time would fly!

7. Make your bio catchy. 
Mine was (do I really even want to share this?) 'Most probably laughing' because it's true! For me I hoped it said I'm a funny, laid-back kinda girl who just looking for someone to have a laugh with. I mean I got quite a few matches but I still couldn't help but think it was still a lame bio.

8. In my experience guys who have there snapchat in their bio's are fuckboys.
Maybe I'm too quick to judge this but I added a few guys on snapchat from here and they literally only wanted a quick hook up or pictures which really shouldn't be shared (so we all know what they are). One guy I even had on there seemed like a stalker too, like if I shared a picture on my story of a particular place then he'd want to know why I was there, how long for, even who I was with- safe to say I blocked him quicker than he could ask another question.

9. Please don't share exactly where you live with people.
Obviously tinder works on matching people with how many kilometres you are away so locations can't really be kept completely private. But what I mean by this is be careful who you tell exactly where you live- you never know 100% who you're talking to online. Please remember your safe wellbeing should be a priority.

10. Would download it again?
Potentially, maybe I would in the future but right now no I wouldn't. Tinder just wasn't what I'd expected if I'm completely honest- I know life isn't a fairytale but I still kinda hoped I'd find the perfect guy within my first couple of matches and I didn't. Don't get me wrong I matched with some great guys who'd otherwise I probably wouldn't have ended up talking to but it wasn't 'the' guy if you get me. I've got friends who are in relationships now because of tinder which is kinda why I joined in the first place, but that just didn't happen for me.

Potentially the biggest lesson tinder taught me though was probably that I'm happy just being on my own right now. 
Don't get me wrong it's fun and I'm glad I tried it but really it felt like a weight had been lifted the second I'd deleted it. If that means I'm gonna end up being like 40 years old, single, with a house full of dogs so be it because guess what I know who I'd rather be...
Ask me that in a month you'll probably get the standard 'I'm gonna be forever alone' moan I usually have to my Mum but seriously I've probably been the happiest I've been in years in the last 6 months or so and I really don't think finding a guy could have made that any better for me.

Hope you've all enjoyed this post- let me know in the comments below.
What experiences have you had with tinder?

Take care & I'll see you all soon.
btw. if you haven't already guessed I'm loving blogging again and finally have schedule *hooray.

X

Image: Own.

Land of pink & blue dreams

Very few people have heard of the beautiful island which is La Palma. 

La Palma is a small Canary Island, predominantly known for it's volcanoes. The island's capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma, is a port town with narrow cobbled streets and houses with wooden balconies. The words 'simply stunning' doesn't quite do this island justice.

I was lucky enough for this to not be my first trip to the island, I previously visited around 9 years when I was only 11 years old. We always said we'd return, not quite sure why it took us 9 years to do so, still it was worth the wait. Not surprisingly we stayed at the same hotel as we did the last time, La Palma & Teneguia Princess, and it was just as good as we remembered. 

As you're coming from the airport to the hotel, it's located right at the bottom of the mountain to which you have about 9 zigzags to go down/ come up. Personally whenever I go on holiday, I like to feel as if I'm in the middle of nowhere, because that way I feel far from any stresses and worries of everyday life. So it didn't bother me that it took around 20-30 minutes to get to your local shop outside of the hotel. Really though the village at the top of hill, was typically Spanish, aside from a bus stop and local supermarkets there really is nothing to see apart from the views out to sea. 

The hotel itself was massive with a whole 11 pools much to my glee, honestly I am at my happiest when swimming and when you have 11 pools to choose from, life really isn't bad- not bad at all! 

We went as part of an all inclusive package- yep the dreaded band colour anxiety kicked in- but I had nothing to worry about seeing as it was silver so went with all of my outfits #winning. Food/ drink was free through-out *raises a glass to celebrate, each night in the main restaurant they had a different theme ranging from Spanish to Mexican to Oriental (all very yummy), even the alcohol was decent. Maybe it's just me but in the past I've found all inclusive alcohol to not be very nice but the cocktails were delicious and the whiskey cream was heavenly. 

I have to say I quite enjoyed life here at La Palma Princess. The biggest worry I had of the day was what to wear at night, because as you know being a fashion student the stress is real. Especially when you only have a 20kg suitcase. 

I know people usually do the whole eye roll thing at me whenever I say a certain place is really 'instagrammable' because I know you should be living life in the moment not via a screen. But I mean who doesn't like to take a pretty picture whilst they're away? And this island is full of pretty picture opportunities- just saying. 

Much to my Dad's dismay my idea of a holiday is not trekking over mountains, sweating enough to provide England with rain for at least a month. Although I do have to agree it is nice to see more than just the walls of the hotel when travelling abroad, so we did hire a car for a day. Personally for us, 1 day was enough to see everything we wanted to. We visited Los Llanos (if i'm honest it was a bit disappointing, not much there at all) and Santa Cruz (the capital of the island & a hidden gem), both places shuts up in the afternoons for there siestas so if you're wanting to do shopping whilst there, you're better off going in the morning. 

Santa Cruz was the place I seriously fell in love with, the buildings were just beautiful- even writing this now I still can't believe how pretty they were! Probably just my fashion student eye but I wish photoshoots with big budgets who go abroad to shoot campaigns would really consider coming here for the stunning backdrops. My instagram has never looked so colourful! 

The hotel setting is gorgeous! 

I already know this won't be my last trip to island of La Palma, who knows I may even someday be able to return as a full time blogger then I can snap pictures to my heart's content. A girl can only dream, seriously though La Palma has been a dream. The island, hotel, staff, animation team, everything about this place made it what it is- beautiful (sorry I've used that word way too often in this post). So next time you feel like doing a bit of travelling to dreamland why not look at La Palma because this is where a dream really can be turned into a reality. That's what this trip was to me after all...

Hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any more questions about my visit to La Palma feel free to leave them in the comments below. 

Take care & I'll be back Monday with more. 

X

Images are all my own.