Create Every Week - Week #3

We had SNOW!

I know for many people that isn't very exciting but I LOVE the snow and we don't get it very often here.

I wasn't the only one who was stupidly excited about it, admitedly the rest of the lcoals were under the age of 13 hahaaha


Although I had planned to do some drawing this week I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading out in the snow and not only the snow, we had a misty morning out too - it was stunning.

I love the snow for so many reasons, being a winter babe probably has something to do with it but I also love...

I love the chance to be the first to walk across an untouched path of snow, it is the one of the times when you can truely be The First.

I love the way that it changes the scenery, making the usual boring and mundane look mysterious and intresting.

I love how it changes the sounds, everything seems quieter and sounds are more intense.

I love the smell, that fresh, clean air that your lungs just can't get enough of.

I love the patterns that nature brings us with the snow, the way that the wind blows it or the way that it covers cabbages in the field making them look like mini mountains.

I love how it changes the energy, kids squeal with excitement, adulats remembering the days they went sledging or the best snowman they ever made.

I love that it is a free creative tool that, when just right you can build amazing sculptures or igloos or snow trolls!

I love the chaos that it brings becuae it makes you appreciaite everything when it's running normally.

I also love that I work from home and don't have to commute in the chaos :D

So here are a few, unedited shots from my 2 and half hour walk! I mamnaged to get my 10K steps in before 10am!

Create Every Week - Week #2

Create Every Week

This year I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative just for me, I do a lot of creative things for work but sometimes it feels like everything is work focused and less on having fun and just enjoying the process.

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Week #2 - Photography

I love taking pictures but it is a long time since I did any kind of formal training and I'd love to get out of the habit of putting my DSLR on auto!

I have a Pentax K-50 and it's bright PINK! I went with Pentax because that is what my old camera was and we used them in college, so it's a bit like an updated, snazzier version of an old friend!

Ebi-kun is still off school so we went for a walk, both taking our cameras and just enjoyed the time outside. Not having a focus or theme, just pictures of whatever.

These are my three favourite shots of the day...

I'm not sure what this plant is but they grow in abundance in the neglected rice paddies, they looked so delegate against the winter sky...

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Next up were chestnuts, there were found surrounding a little shrine which was guarded by foxes - statues, not the real thing, I don't actually live in a Miyazaki movie.

The colour of the chestnuts grabbed my attention, I love that rich brown colour, always reminds me of autumn and delicious food.

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The final one today is taken through the wooden grill at the little fox shrine, the grill actually framing what was inside.

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The fox shrine is actually an Inari Shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are almost 3000 of these shrines dotted around Japan, I am better this is one of the smallest! Most of these shrines have a pair of foxes gardening the gate.

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So that wraps up week #1 if you are joining in let me know what you are up to! I'm hoping this challenge will keep me a bit more consistent with my posting too!

Football crazy...

My dad was never into football so we never had that footie crazy family thing going on at home, feels a bit weird to be living in a footie crazy home now!

Ebi-kun does lads and dads footpal on a Saturday and organises games with his mates down at the park and he is always out on the street practicing his lifting, giving me some camera skills practice...

Not quite sure what is going on here though...

A treat for me...

I decided it was about time to upgrade my camera. I have been using a point and shoot type but I do own an old skool SLR Pentax. I haven't been able to use it in recent years because the lining inside the camera has rotted but the lenses are still fine. So when I was trying to decide what type to go for I stuck with Pentax as I know the old lenses will it the new camera. 

You can imagine how excited I was when I found out you can choose the colour of the camera too, there are something like 64 combo's you pick the body - mine is obviously pink and then the grip colour which is actually chocolate. LOVE it.

I have been putting it through it's paces, there are a lot more bells and whistles so it's been a steep learning curve!

This is the local hoikuen - which is a kindy for working parents, it's a beautiful building and very light and airy inside.

Then we had a poke around at the prefectural activity centre - which sounds more exciting than it is. I'm not sure why there is a mermaid in the middle of there!

Of course, I have got one handsome model at my disposal, he looks so grown up in this picture, where did my lickle baby go?

I'm pretty much in love with the new camera. I need to get off the auto mode and do a refresher on using the SLR side of things, expect more photos!

And if you want the same camera it's a Pentax K-50 - I went through Amazon and on the Japanese site there was an option to pick colours. 

Ebi-kun delves into architectural photography...

Saturday, we went for our 2nd rabid jab and typhoid too. Ebi-kun wanted to leave at the same time as daddy who was going to work and we would be taking the same train. Great plan, except we ended up in Tokyo an hour early! Luckily, we were just down the road from the International Forum, which is a great building. i had put Ebi-kun's camera in my bag so when we got there, I let him shoot until he was bored. We explored the building, going right to the top and he got some great shots...

The clinic is about 10 minutes walk from the International Forum, so once we were finished we headed back, as we knew there was a bread festival going on. We sampled lots of types of bread and wandered the streets, found some birthday presents for daddy before heading back home. The typhoid shot is a killer and by mid afternoon we were both feeling rather grumpy along with our sore arms! Only one more jab to have then we are done! Hurrah!

We have been having...

Some beautiful sunsets recently....

We have a couple of blocks of houses then a factory in front of our house but if you go past there, a couple of minutes on the bike, you are in rice paddy and orchard country. It is lovely riding around in the evening just as the sun is setting. It is harvest time for the rice so it smells lovely too, the smell of freshly cut rice mingled with the incense from the temples, definitely smells like Japan to me!

And (s)he was fair as is the rose in May

Our town has a Rose Festival each year. It actually annoys me because they spend a truck load of money on it yet for the last 3 years they have been pulling up the kids play equipment in the same park and not replacing it. They did put in a new slide and climbing thing this year but it is nothing like the great play equipment they had when we first arrived. 

Anyway, rant aside, we were going to the supermarket and the shortcut is through the park so we decided to stop for a while. Ebi-kun wanted to try out the macro feature on his camera again. Just to show my protest we didn't pay to go in, we walked round the edge of the garden to take the photos - that will show them! Ha! probably not...

It does smell lovely though...

And there are some beautiful colours....

If you do pay, you have battle the old people so it was also safer on the outside hahaha!

Ebi-kun's photography challenge....

At the end of spring break we were at a loose end so I came up with a plan - I gave Ebi-kun some camera related challenges to do, it was a lovely day so we packed a picnic and headed down to the park.

When I get a bit of free time I will write up the projects properly for you, I am sure other kids out there with cameras would enjoy it just as much. I must admit, Ebi-kun was rolling his eyes and saying he wasn't really interested - until he started doing them. Before school this morning, he even asked if we could go again this afternoon!

There were 4 challenges, all designed to help him use the camera better and take more interesting photographs, and here are a few of the best shots - he took 75 in all and he was really excited to see them uploaded and make a slideshow for daddy.

Our UK Top Ten & photos by Ebi-kun

Ebi-kun's top 10

1. Tower Of London

2. London Eye

3. Staying with Nana and Papie

4. Going on the steam train and seeing Santa

5. Ice-skating and Santa's Grotto

6. Eating loads of food like...Muller Corner Yoghurts, Christmas dinner, Chinese take-away, Spicy Mexican

7. Meeting Max & Cassie, Declan, Mia and Jasper, Carmen & Frank, George & Iris and RYLAND.

8. Vertical drop slides

9. Pantomime (Cinderella)

10. Saw a badger and fed a squirrel

I would say that my top 10 is very similar but would add in catching up with lots of old friends, rocking it out to The Wonder Stuff and relaxing with relatives is up there too.

If you remember, Ebi-kun got a camera before Christmas, so I thought i would share some of the pictures he took....

I have singled this one out because I love how he has framed the picture, I feel it really captures the moment and could see it in some kind of exhibit on life. Very deep :)

The rest I picked because I find them amusing, it was interesting to see what he was drawn to taking photographs of, I set the camera on auto for the sake of ease but we plan to work through the manual and try out and learn the different functions, I am thinking of setting him a project for each one.

 Probably because he is a lot shorter than me, I really like the angle these are taken at, a little reminder to myself to get down low occasionally. The one of my mom and the clown is fab.

 I think this is a lovely shot of Nana and Papie and the shot below is a of a ghost skateboarder, looks for the skateboard (bottom right) and you can just make out the figure of a ghost. Turns out that this is the exact spot where a teenager was gunned down by a rival gang 20 years ago and on the eve of his death you can see him skateboarding*

*Sorry, I totally made that up :)