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Posts Tagged ‘photography’

  1. Papua New Guinea

    October 14, 2017 by sarah

    This year our main holiday was to the other end of the world, figuratively and literally, to Papua New Guinea! It was one of the most extraordinary countries I have ever been to. My overwhelming memory of the holiday is the people; friendly and open, quiet but happy, unassuming and generous. Much like my previous favourite place in the world, Vanuatu. We saw some wonderful and unique things and had a variety of special experiences, of which these photos only touch the surface.

    It was very hard to go back through these photos to prepare them to be viewed. For a start there were nearly 6000! Secondary, I did not want to spoil the magic by looking back at photographs rather than memories but actually having a space of a few months then going back through the photos has allowed me to re-enjoy the holiday again. In the interests of brevity, I have not included many of my ‘arty’ photos, instead concentrating on ones which tell the story of Papua New Guinea and our holiday. I have captioned most of them – please ask me any questions!

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  2. Paris Weekend

    May 26, 2015 by sarah

    We have just got back from a lovely long weekend in Paris. The weather was beautiful all weekend, the food was exquisite and we enjoyed walking around, soaking up the atmosphere. A very beautiful and relaxed city. Plenty more to see next time we go; we didn’t even get in the Louvre as the queue was too long!

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    Jim and I outside Notre Dame

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    Bridge with padlocks of love

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    Macrons in the window of Laduree

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    Having macarons and tea in Laduree

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    Eiffel tower

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    Patisserie take away, eaten the Luxemberg gardens – 2000 filles

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    Patisserie take away, eaten the Luxemberg gardens – pistachio and wild strawberries

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    Beer for lunch

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    Notre dame at night

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    Paris at night

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    A famous patisserie shop.

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    Us outside the Moulin Rouge – tourist honeytrap

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    My sketch of the Eiffel tower

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    We didn’t get to go up the tower – the queues were too long!

     

     

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  3. Beetroot, Kale and Walnut Salad

    March 8, 2014 by sarah

    Winter is a tough time for salads; the seasonal ingredients are limited to brassicas and root vegetables and then the weather leaves you wanting nothing but stodgy comfort food. But I craved a salad this week and when I found a beautiful bunch of beetroot in the supermarket I knew I had the makings of a satisfying winter salad. My heart did a little leap for joy.

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    If your experience of beetroot so far has been pickled beets from a jar or even the vacuum packed ones then you need to try cooking your own. The difference is like the difference between canned and fresh tuna; incomparable. And there really isn’t much hassle in their preparation and I actually quite like the ‘I’ve just murdered someone’ hands (or you could wear rubber gloves). I wonder if that could be a Halloween freak night event; preparing raw beets!

    Beetroot, kale and and walnut salad

    enough for 4 people as side salad or 2-3 as main event
     
    bunch of raw beetroots, about 500g
    1 tablespoon of olive oil
    1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
    bag of prepared kale, about 350g
    handful of walnuts, about 50g
    150g goats cheese – I used ewes milk Wensleydale as it was on offer
    lemon vinaigrette – juice of half a lemon, a splash of white wine vinegar, same volume of olive or virgin rapeseed oil, large pinch of salt
     
    Preheat the over to 200 °C (fan) and line a baking tray with foil. Clean the beetroots and trim off the tops and roots; cut into chunky wedges. Put on the foil lined baking tray and drizzle over the olive oil and cumin seeds; toss until well covered. Cook for 30-40 minutes until tender and slightly caramelised around the edges. While the oven is on and hot toast the walnuts for 5 minutes. All both to cool.
    Blanch the kale in boiling water for a minute, drain and dunk into cold water to stop the cooking. You then need to fully dry the kale; either put in a salad spinner, pat dry with clean tea towels or wrap in a clean tea towel and whizz around your head like a lasso (you may want to do this outside, and don’t let go).
    Make up the vinaigrette by whisking the ingredients together.
    Make up the salad by layering the kale on the bottom, followed by the beetroot, crumble over the cheese, toss over the walnuts and drizzle over the dressing. Enjoy!
     
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  4. Food Blog Photography

    February 23, 2014 by sarah

    I have had fun this weekend with my camera!

    I normally take photos for the blog in our conservatory because the light there is good. But that is the crux: the light must be ‘good’ to get ‘good’ photos. So when it is dark, like it is for most of the winter and certainly when I get home from work, or it is very overcast, like it has been every day this winter, I struggle to get good lighting. And photography is all about the light. I have the most success first thing in the morning on a cloudless day when the light is diffuse but these are so rare that I have been thinking about alternatives. So I have made our spare bedroom into a product studio. A spare table top on the bed, sheets of mounting board for the back drops and some white foam board as a reflector. The exposures are much longer so I need to use a tripod which is going to take some getting used to. I am used to hand holding, and often increasing the ISO to compensate, and so adjustments in position small or large were automatic and easy but now with a tripod I have to think about where I want the camera to be to get the angle I want and then move the tripod to get this. Day one, frustrating. Following days, hopefully progress.

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    A high-key photograph of coconut macaroons with a vintage vibe. Low-key photograph of ‘posh crackers for cheese’  on natural wooden background.

    The next stage will be to learn how to use flashes so I don’t need to rely on any natural light!

    I am loving my Nikon D7000 and 35mm 1.8 lens, though I am always surprised by the quality of photos out of my point-and-shoot a Nikon Coolpix P 7700.

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