Monday Mornings Come and Go

Monday Mornings. Oh Joy. Mine started out with a run, and then a trip into town to sign lots of paperwork for our flat! We move on Thursday and it's soo exciting!! We can't wait :).  But this is how I spent my Sunday evening after work, I love watching the first half about her as a person and more importantly as a business woman. It's so nice to see that side, and to see the normal her that isn't just a superstar.

Abiento x

Friday Fun

Abiento x

What I've been pinning

Need some inspiration art or otherwise? Well follow me on pinterest to see what I find and love! If you don't want to, check back here each Wednesday to see my most recent pins!

Abiento x

I have a tumblr!

I wanted a place to randomly share images I love and find inspiring, so I started a tumblr! Click here to see it and follow me! :)

Abiento x

A bit more inspiration

So in my life at the moment, my biggest annoyance is my finger. I pulled out a hang-nail, and now it is infected, swollen and HURTS. Man does it hurt.

However one of my greatest pleasures this weekend was to re-read parts of this lovely cookbook by Sophie Dahl.

image source

One our projects for this week involved finding a passage from one of our favourite books. As my collection of books has been in storage for a couple of years, I have a very limited supply of books that have been bought or given as gifts in that time. One of these is a much lusted after recipe book, full of Sophie's memoirs of her relationship with food.

I can honestly say that it touches me. I received it at Christmas last year, and spent the whole day lying in bed reading it. It was perfect, heart warming and inspires me to eat better, cook better and live better.

Have you read it? Or found a recipe book just as inspiring? Now on my wish list is her follow-up book... :)

Abiento x

Pinterest finds this week

Pinterest always comes up trumps, but I thought I'd share these two beauties as I love them so much :)

This is a genius way to make and store pancake batter! Thanks to Cathie Heart for repinning.

Original Pin. Source.

So true. Love it. Nike always win me over with motivation. I mean: Just Do It!

Original Pin. Found here

Abiento x

Friday Fun

Three videos to end the week; a set created to show, in 3 short videos-and 3 short minutes, how a 'trip of a lifetime' comprised on moving, eating and learning- across 11 countries in 4 days.

from FStoppers

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.



Abiento x

It was this

I decided not to take up my place at Falmouth this September due to many reasons. But it only took one thing for me to change my mind. Yep, you heard it. I've changed my mind. Again. (I'm not very good at this decision making lark am I!?)

Well these were the images that did it;

When Ryan, from Pacing the Panic Room posted these backstage images he shot recently on a job in California, I flipped inside. The colours grabbed me and screamed at me. They were telling me that this is what I wanted to be making, and that I need to make a change. They said that what I'm doing isn't good enough and it isn't me.

And so, I let my mum persuade me to take up my place at Falmouth. Hell, it's a short course. It's only 6 months of my life. So, in a month I will no longer be in full time employment- but be back to full time education. Just for one more year.

I want to learn more, I want to push myself more, and most of all, I want the time to do this. I don't want to feel guilty or rushed about doing things in my life. There is too much on my plate at the moment, and not enough space (physically, mentally or time wise) in my life to continue to do it all whilst being creative and happy. It's just not possible. So I'm taking a year for me. A year to be, and a year to figure out me and what I want to do. Hopefully it will continue to be brilliant, like the last 6 months have been, and hopefully I will continue to meet fantastic people who will along the way help me to figure out what it is that I am going to do.

Fingers Crossed eh!

Abiento x

P.S I just wanted to point out that interestingly it was these 4 images (all shot on digital with a Canon 7D, that I preferred over the film images he shared. This is quite rare for me....but like I said, the colours just grabbed me.)

Too much to share

I have found so many videos lately that I am desperate to share, and seeing as I've been a bit mentally absent from the blog this last week, I thought I'd go crazy and share them all throughout the week! Plus I have some exciting news coming soon :)

To begin with though, here is yet another video that makes me want to live my life like this. I hope that one day I will have similar videos to be able to show to my kids; to show them how they were when they were young, and how me and their {dad} were when we were young :).


Our Saturday... from Naomi Davis on Vimeo.

Abiento x

Film Inspiration

It's not so much the cute content of videos like this that inspire me, as much as it is the way it has been filmed. From the music that has been chosen to the angles and views that are chosen to help tell the story.


Muliono + Elizabeth Prewedding Film "Where are we going?" from Paper Cranes Productions on Vimeo.

Abiento x

Nice things from around the web

A few nice things from around the web....

A lovely father-daughter holiday.

A very clever Monkey! (via A Cup of Jo)

Such a beautiful description of watching your children grow

A fun and inspiring video of a backyard make-over

A bearded groom's cake

A stunning explanation of the urges of wanting children-plus she is now pregnant!

Such a great birthday suprise!! (via A Cup of Jo)

Plus thanks to A Cup of Jo for the post idea!

Abiento x

I like film

And I love this film!

Made for Kate Spade by King Burza (who also made gorgeous videos for some great British Artists like Kate Nash and La Roux!)

Found here

Abiento x

Tattoo Inspiration

Tattoologist always inspires me, and after a conversation with Cara yesterday in a coffee shop, it's got my brain wirring!

I love love love the simplicity of these on Zoe Kravitz

Abiento x

In light of

In light of these posts last week, have a read of what this guy wrote about being an artist......

Abiento x

NYC traffic

via Cup of Jo


3-Way Street from ronconcocacola on Vimeo.

Abiento x

I want to make beautiful things

I would say nuff said. Cause it's midnight as I write this. But really this has been bugging me for a while. Art, and what it means to make art. I want to make beautiful things, sure. But I also want to make art. Making art is hard though. As much as I appreciate that I would probably get just as much done if I didn't work, but my 9-5 jobs sure does suck the energy and creativity out of me.

I find inspirational things on a daily basis. Inspiration and ideas come at me all day long. But they don't do much more than that. I LOVE them. I am jealous of the creators. But I am yet to start actually making stuff myself. I don't know whether going to Falmouth and taking the year program in art and design would help this. It probably would. But I also want to start my business. I am immersed in the world of photography businesses and want to jump straight in.

 I don't know what to do, but I do know that I want to make beautiful things.

Abiento x

Wardrobe choices

Lately I keep thinking about how bad my wardrobe choices are, and wishing that I dressed a bit more like this....

Photo by and from Sterling Style

And that I was this hot in a baggy jumper and red lipstick........

Photo by Madison of Fiction Living

Abiento x

Finding Inspiration in yourself and then using it

As you all can easily notice, I often find things that I find inspirational. You all know, cause I share them here on a daily basis. However, when it comes to my own work, I often feel really uninspired. I'm so tired and busy from living life and working etc. that I don't put as much effort into my photography as I should.

I'm trying to work out if I'm just lazy and making up excuses, or if it's okay to slack off a bit because I'm so tired. Most people (especially my friends and family) would agree with the latter- but I want to be better. Now. I'm quite impatient really. I want to be as good as everyone I find inspiring- NOW. please?!

Jenn Stark wrote about it briefly here, and I know that other bloggers and photographers also get down sometimes too.

One place I have particularly noticed I have started to become lazy, is with my 365 project. I want to document a year of my life in photos, but often when I come home from work, all I do is sit on the sofa, respond to emails, and do research. Not really something I can photograph every single day. Plus I don't want to take my camera to work and be the ponce that takes photos. Especially because about half the people I work with are photographers too.

So I just take snapshots, leave them unedited, and well, leave it at that. So this week I decided to actually care a bit more about them. And then I forgot to post them.... Well done Lucy. So Friday night I posted them up, and I thought I would share the before and afters to show the difference. It may be minimal, but it means I'm a bit prouder of my work. A lot of what I photograph for my 365 project is just of stuff around my house. It's pretty boring, and the light is bad, so they are never gonna be my best photos.

Before

After

 Before

 After

 Before

 After (B&W)

 After

 Before

 After

So now I'm gonna try to take my camera out and about with me more, and do stuff in my day more. It might help my sanity a bit too :).

I have noticed this 'laziness' in other areas of my photography too, and I really hate it. Where has the drive gone? I can back from Canada so desperate to be inspired and creative again, and I threw myself into it wholly. I went full steam ahead and did all that I could. Now that I have had a full time job again for a month, the time and energy I put into that, is now going into my work. I find starting new jobs quite tiring, and it really effects my back too (I have quite a serious back condition). So apparently keeping up the inspirational momentum is just as hard as finding it to begin with!

It's noticeable here too; I forget to post, and my readership goes down. I get tired, quick and lazy; my readership goes down.

So hopefully we can start fixing these problems. And hopefully you will notice the difference!

Abiento x

Making Cake (and other things)

When you can make baking look so good, why would you want to do anything else?

beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

Abiento x

P.S. I find that work like this often makes me jealous, and wish that I was as creative or ingenious as the creator. But it also pushes me to take my own work further. I just need to find some more energy and time to put into it so I can achieve the results.

Coiffee

Did you know I don't actually like Coffee? Yup I can't stand to drink it. Shocker huh? Especially considering how much I love to make it. I have to say, when I told my manager, I think she nearly had a heart attack. No joke. She was open mouthed in shock for quite some time. Admittedly she had had a few drinks by this point, but she was extremely shocked to discover that her newly hired "coffee geek" doesn't actually drink the stuff...

But boy do I love making it. And smelling it :). Plus, having just perfected my consistency for latte art, I'm loving the images from this article my mum sent me...

All Photos by Chrissy May

Can you tell who each film/ cartoon character is? They're great aren't they! Wish I knew how he did it.... 

Abiento x