With the recession looming, many shops are slashing their prices this weekend, in a bid to entice customers back in to their store, so go out now & grab some amazing presents for friends & family, & maybe even a bargain or two for yourself while you’re at it!
Look out for:
Dorothy Perkins (& Wallis) have 20% off everything until tomorrow, Friday 21st November. Go, go, go!
Debenhams have their up to 25% off spectacular, which was also meant to end tomorrow, but has been extended until Saturday. (I expect this is because of the massive amount of demand they’ve received online– they’ve had to shut down the website for the next few days!) This is includes a super 10% off cosmetics, so stock up on your Urban Decay & Benefit, now!
Looking for gifts for your mum & boys toys? Head over to M&S! They’ve got a lovely 20% off for today only, which includes their 3 for 2 offer on Christmas gifts! As well as clothes & accessories, there’s 20% off homeware & furniture too.
Asos.com have got 20% off brands for one week only, so grab that perfect outfit for your Christmas party while you can! Asos are notorious for selling out quickly.
And I’m sure there are many more price-slashing events this weekend. It’s late night shopping tonight, so I’m going endure the ravenous crowds & attempt some present-buying myself!
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Filed under: Shopping, Style and Beauty, WWW |
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Last month, I was contacted by an agency that are currently working with Ford on a unique European collaborative art project, called This Is Now, where the public are asked to take a photo, make a video or illustration, that they believe define “now” & submit it to the This Is Now Flickr Group. They also kindly asked me if I’d guest-edit the blog for a few days– so of course I jumped at the chance! You can see my first post, here.
To find out more, visit the official website & make sure you contribute to the Flickr pool!
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Filed under: Articles, Photography |
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Something to perk you up right now — 5 minute chocolate cake! (Although, perhaps I should’ve used a bigger cup.)
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Filed under: Food Fix |
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Most people I know have a camera these days & increasingly more people have a DSLR, even if it’s used just as a hobby, so I thought it’d be nice to put together some photography tutorials, so you can get the best out of your camera! I’m sure you know some of the basics already, but I’m going to start right from the beginning & assume you’re a complete novice!
Types of Camera’s:
Point & Shoot — the clue’s in the title! Simply point your camera at the object, click the shutter button et voila! There are usually a few basic modes you can choose here e.g. Portrait, Fireworks, Landscape, which means the camera will do all the work for you & decide whether you need the flash on or not, but you don’t have much manual control.
Film Cameras — these vary quite a lot, but the main one you will find on the market, is the 35mm SLR. 35mm is the size of the film & SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex & refers to how the light enter the camera. There are interchangeable lenses & you have much more control over how you use your camera and focus on objects. Other worthwhile film cameras are from Lomography. You rarely have control over the camera (some don’t even come with a viewfinder!), but they’re really fun & easy to use & produce some amazing results! Just search for “Lomo” on flickr.com & see what you find! And of course there’s the amazing, but expensive Polaroid! They’ve discontinued making the film, so even eBay prices have risen, but it’s worth looking for bulk lots to save money.
DSLR – Digital SLR camera’s. These work on the same basis as the original 35mm SLR — i.e. lots of control — but give you the ease of the point & shoot camera’s, as you can view & delete photo’s straight away!
Choosing your camera
So, now you know a bit more about the different type’s of camera that are available, which one should you choose? This largely depends on what it is you wish to photograph.
If you just want something you can carry around with you daily on a non-professional level (e.g. for when you’re out with friends, documenting daily outfits etc), I would choose a point & shoot camera. You can get some super deals on Amazon for £100-£150 & often even less if you look at the right time! Look out for the amount of megapixels the camera has– the higher the amount, the better the quality of your photos. 6+ should be perfect for your needs!
If you enjoy processing your own photos in a darkroom, you should consider buying a 35mm SLR. These aren’t made nearly as often anymore, so have a look on eBay for some fantastic deals! I got my Pentax SLR for £15 on eBay along with some other lenses & a carry case for it all.
If you want to take up photography on a professional level, or turn your hobby into a career, then I’d suggest buying a DSLR. These can range from £300 to well into the thousands, so it depends just how professional you want to go! If it’s your first SLR, spend about £500 — anything more & you won’t be making the most of everything your expensive equipment has to offer! Again, make sure you get the maximum amount of megapixels, for your budget.
Other Equipment
For most people, just a camera is enough, but for those of you who want to take it a step further, you might be interested in these accessories, that you can find on Amazon & eBay at good prices:
Camera Bag — or something sturdy to store your camera & other accessories in, like a Lowepro camera bag. If you’ve spent loads of money, the last thing you want is your camera to get damaged!
Tripod — even if you’re not a professional, just taking self-portrait with your point & shoot camera can be hard if you’ve nothing to stand your camera on! You can get them for reasonable prices — I have this one from Hama Star & it takes the weight of my DSLR (Canon 450d) easily!
Lenses — the standard lens that your SLR/DSLR comes with is fine, but you might want to branch out & get a telephoto (massive, big paparazzi-style zoom) lens or a fisheye lens if you want to have a quirky distortion to your images.
Filters — you can get filters for everything, but the most popular & useful one is a polarizing filter. This fits over the end of your current lens & will make blue skies bluer & green grass greener & just generally make your photo more colourful!
Photo-editing software — the most popular is of course Adobe Photoshop & it’s what I use as it has the most features. I’ve previously used Paint Shop Pro, but Photoshop is much better! It’s pretty expensive to buy, so try splitting the cost with a friend or downloading a free trial.
Remember, if you’re using a film camera, don’t forget the film!
Now you’ve got all your basic equipment together, we can get started on the nitty-gritty exciting stuff!
If there’s any terms you don’t understand, please read the Jargon-Buster & if you don’t find your answer there, then leave a comment & I’ll add it to the glossary. if you have any questions, please leave a comment!
Next time!
Learn how to use the different functions on your camera & take your first amazing photo!
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Filed under: Articles, Photo Coach |
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What with global-warming, fairtrade & organic products saturating the daily news & our supermarkets, it won’t be long until eco-fashion hits the high street at full speed.
So, what is eco-fashion? It’s about making clothes that take into account the environment in which they’ve been made, the welfare of the people who’ve made them (i.e they’ve been paid a fair price & have decent working conditions), using organic raw materials, such as organic cotton & silk from worms that have been fed on organic trees & recycling other materials to make new clothes.
Eco-fashion might cost more (organic cotton costs more to manufacture, because there’s relatively small demand), but it’s worth it for you, for others & for the future, in the long run. Already, we’ve seen some high street brands collaborate with fairtrade designers, such as Topshop with People Tree, but here are some more places for you to shop guilt-free (well, apart from the bank balance!) this season:
American Apparel — sweatshop free!
EcoCentric — UK based company offering homewares & gifts
Pure Design — fashion, accessories & gifts
Love Eco — quirky jewellery, accessories & other eco-friendly gifts
People Tree — lots of clothing for men, women & children
Ethical Superstore — does what it says on the (recycled) tin! Anything & everything you could want.
It’s hard to shop green all the time on a small budget, but it’s worth keeping these places in mind & maybe saving up for one fabulous hard-wearing item that’s come from sustainable roots, than blowing everything in Primark! I’m now a contributor at GreenMyStyle.com, so keep an eye on it for future posts by me. I will, of course, post a link here to any articles / features!
Do you have an eco-friendly store? Maybe you recycle old clothes & make them into fabulous new items & sell them on Etsy? Whatever it is, if you sell eco-fashion related items online, then leave a comment, as I’m going to add Eco-Shopping to my blogroll!
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Filed under: Articles, Shopping, Style and Beauty |
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