Photography - Shoreditch, Spitalfields Market & Brick Lane

I've been working on my photography recently, something to fill my time with during the summer holidays and it's something I've wanted to learn about for a while. So I treated myself to a groupon voucher for a walking photography course, booked the course and waited for the date.

When the day arrived I made sure I had a fully charged camera with an empty memory card and headed into London. Trains were a bit of a mare that day so I turned up a little late but a quick e-mail to the tutor to let him know and they waited for me near Shoreditch station. He quickly went through what I was aiming to do and really encouraged us to look carefully before taking a picture. We had to play with what level we took the picture from, standing in different places, sitting on the side of the road - never did I think I would be sitting on a kerb in the middle of London.

We wandered then round to the market at Spitalfields where our tutor set us the challenge of asking if it was OK for us to take a picture of them working or their stand - this was really scary for someone like me who is normally very shy but I manned up and did and got some great pictures as well as feeling incredibly hungry around the food! A little bit of wandering around, he pushed us to take pictures of people without them really being aware, being 'natural'. We also worked on our people photography, finding nice places to stop and getting someone to pose, I ended up sitting on the step of a gorgeous house, it was slightly embarrassing as I hate having my picture taken! From here we walked round to find the graffiti! 

When we found a good spot filled with amazing art work - spent about 30mins here taking pictures before it was time to head home. Once I got home I hit up a bit of editing of the pictures, I took so many and I'm still working my way through editing, playing around with contrast and brightness - its great fun really and something I never thought I would have the courage to do!

So here are just a few of my edited pictures, some are my favourites, others are ones that work, but I've never put my work up on the Internet before for people to see so I would love some feedback! 

Let me know what you think!

Healthy Snack Ideas

I'm really enjoying my healthy eating at the moment, I feel like I have a lot more energy, I've cut out a lot of overly processed crap and am finding a balance with food that is better for me as well as still being tasty.

I thought I would show you some of the things that are living in my cupboard for grabbing when I need a quick snack. I keep a lot of these items in my desk at work for when I need them.

Caramel or chocolate coated rice cakes - I didn't think I would like these but they are amazing! I picked these up in the free from aisle in Tesco and keep these in my desk when I'm at work or in my bag when I'm out and about - perfect as a little pick me up.

Graze boxes - I love these, I've been getting them for ages and I adore them. I love that these are all calorie counted out so you can easily track them plus there is such a wide range of boxes - my favourites are the popcorns, flapjacks, beef jerky or all of the dippers - especially the caramel dipper! you can choose how often you want delivery and then chuck them in your bag and you're good to go!

 Fruit - My arch nemisis, I'm really not keen on eating fruit, I'm really fussy about texture of food and fruit has bits in it so I only pick 'smooth' fruits that I can make into a smoothie or eat quickly but it wouldn't be my first choice of snack!

Peanut Butter - Since taking the pictures for this post I have discovered Pip & Nut peanut butter and it is love! I've always loved peanut butter but paired with apple, in a smoothie with frozen banana or just straight from the jar and I'm happy, perfect for a quick energy hit!

So there are some of my favourite healthy snack ideas, I have a load more if you would want any more ideas! Would also love to know what snacks you go for!

xx

New Look Wishlist - August

Woohoo - finally feel like I want to blog so here I am! 

So I start a new job in September, still in teaching but back with the year 6's  as well as being a Phase leader - basically I'm going to be in charge of both years 5 & 6 so I have to learn to manage people which is a bit scary but I hope that I will pick this up quickly!

With that in mind, I need a bit of a wardrobe revamp - I've got lazy too comfortable at my previous school and was happy to just throw on a smock dress and leggings, but this isn't the impression I want to give off at the start of a new job so I need to pick up some new bits.

I know for my shape and height that I look best in pencil or A-line skirts as they look smart without being too dressed up. I like to pick skirts that are either plain or have a simple pattern so that I can wear a top with a pattern. I love the black pencil skirt as its quite structured but would look great with the tops tucked in, especially the shirts.

Tops are really important, especially when working in a school, I have boobs like most girls, but the kids in my class do not need to be looking down my top when I'm working with them (especially Y6 boys!) so I try and wear higher necked items or tops that I can wear a little vest top underneath! The roll neck top isn't something I would normally reach for but I just liked it! I have spotted another one somewhere else so that might pop up soon in another wish list.

As for shoes, I'm all about chunky heels as they are super comfy and I can move around the classroom easily, plus you can't go wrong with chunky Chelsea boots!

So those are my picks from New Look at the moment - there are loads more bits that I want so keep a look out for some more wish lists coming up soon.

Also, I'm thinking of doing an NQT series as I'm going to be mentoring an Newly Qualified Teacher come September - is this something anyone wants to read?

xx