Playing with my new lens

On Monday it was my birthday! Yay! This obviously means I am a year older now, but it also meant that I got presents! Woooo! I have been wanting a new lens for so long now as my interest in photography has been growing, so finally this birthday I got one! I did know I was going to get it though as I bought it myself from Ebay for less than 50% of the original price, and it is in mint condition! I love a bargain!

The lens that I got was a 45-200mm telephoto zoom lens, so it is perfect for the close ups that I love doing, without having to get extremely close to the subject, like I used to have to do with my 14-42mm lens.

It is also great for wildlife shots as you don't scare them trying to get close to them, so when I get the chance to go out and about in the woods this summer, hopefully I can get some great snaps.

It's such a great present though as it will get so much use! Thanks parents! Alongside this I also got a camera backpack to hold all of my equipment from them. Sadly this was too small for me but another one is already on its way! This also comes with a tripod holder on the outside, so I am in the process of buying one of those too, to go along side my Gorilla pod.

Keep an eye out for my soon-to-be updated 'Camera' page when it all arrives to see my new stash!

Here are the first photos I took on my new lens, in a field across the road from me:

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Manchester City Centre

As I got off the train in Manchester a couple weekends ago, I walked to Piccadilly Gardens to meet Hana to go stay at hers for the weekend. When I got there I got a call from her saying that she had walked to the train station to meet me, doh! So, as I waited for her to walk back to meet me, I went to take some snaps.

In the city centre they have recently just put up this wheel which has been across the country, and we actually went on it in York. It's like a mini London Eye as you have your own enclosed capsule, so it's pretty cool. Anyway, at night it is lit up and it looks awesome. 

Also there is a water feature at the bottom of it which now lights up! It's really eye-catching with lots of different colours and patterns etc. Kids seemed to love it too, running through the water trying to avoid being hit! Moving water usually gives some pretty good photos, and can make some really nice effects, however shooting water fountains is a whole different kettle of fish! With only a few seconds to actually pick the best point, focus the lens and take the photo, you really have to be on your toes ready to go!

So, here are the photos I took:

And the winner is....

Jess from This Analogue Adventure!

Jess was one of the first people I started to follow and has helped me to grow my followers by hosting the Photography Friday link-up that I do most Fridays, so it's great for me to be able to give her something back! Go check out her blog by clicking the picture or following the link above.
Now I have to figure out how to post this thing to Canada!?

Thanks to all of you who follow me and have entered this competition and thanks for all the blog love. Hopefully there will be some more luck for you in my future giveaways!

Don't forget, you can still grab my button and share it on your blog, and I will do the same back for you!

9 hours - GIVEAWAY!

That's right folks, only 9 hours remain until the competition closes! So for everyone who hasn't already got their entries in, you better hurry up!

I will post the winner of the competition tomorrow! The winner will also get links to their blog posted on here.

Good luck!

See my review of the prize here - Camera Stand - 100 Follower Giveaway! It is well worth a free entry!

image copyright of cameralabs.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For those of you who are new, or those of you who haven't yet entered, it is completely free so you might as well do it! So follow, share and get your entries in to make sure you are in with the best chance of winning this great little piece of kit!

Here are the Rules:

1. All you have to do is enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway above to get your name in the hat! Once I reach 100 followers I will give it 2 weeks for the competition to close, to give the new followers a chance to enter themselves!

2. There are 4 ways to enter the competition:

a) Follow me on Bloglovin for 3 entries

b) Follow me on Google Friend Connect for 3 entries

c) Grab my button and share it on your blog for 10 entries! Yes, TEN! Also if you let me know, I will share your button on mine too! Buttons must be shared until the competition closes, you can keep it on there longer if you want!

d) Write a post about the competition for 10 entries! Yes, another TEN! Simply write a post about the competition and include either a link to this post or include the rafflecopter competition widget itself by following this link: Rafflecopter Widget and pasting the HTML into your post.

3. The winning entry will be checked before the prize can be awarded. If the winner is found to have entered without completing the entry rules, for how they entered the competition, they will be disqualified and the prize will be awarded to someone else. Let's be fair folks!

4. I will send the prize to ANYWHERE in the world! Once you are announced the winner, we can have a chat and I can get your address and I will post it as soon as I can!

5. Once posted I will inform the winner and all responsibilty for the item shall then be theirs. Should it not arrive for any reason, a new stand will not be re-sent, I only have the one!

6. Good luck!

Any questions then just post a comment or email me!

Find Beauty Friday

So I am writing this with a pretty severe hangover so excuse me if nothing makes sense! Last night I was out celebrating my 22nd birthday (even though that is actually on Monday) so I am a little worse for wear.

Anyway.....

Today I am co-hosting a blog link up! Yay! The blog is co hosted with my friend Aimee from Dear Harper who does these little link ups and I always do my best to enter them. The idea is to bring together people from different blogs to link up in the same place, allowing them to share their photos but to also get to see plenty of other blogs who do similar things to them. So post your link and enjoy!

Here is my photo for the day, take a while back but as I am not even entertaining the idea of going outside yet, this is all you get!

An InLinkz Link-up

5 Days! Enter Now!

There are only 5 days left to enter the competition! And many of you haven't entered at all, even though you have completed some of the ways to enter!
See my review of the prize here - Camera Stand - 100 Follower Giveaway! It is well worth a free entry!

For those of you who are new, or those of you who haven't yet entered, it is completely free so you might as well do it! So follow, share and get your entries in to make sure you are in with the best chance of winning this great little piece of kit!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the Rules:

1. All you have to do is enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway above to get your name in the hat! Once I reach 100 followers I will give it 2 weeks for the competition to close, to give the new followers a chance to enter themselves!

2. There are 4 ways to enter the competition:

a) Follow me on Bloglovin for 3 entries

b) Follow me on Google Friend Connect for 3 entries

c) Grab my button and share it on your blog for 10 entries! Yes, TEN! Also if you let me know, I will share your button on mine too! Buttons must be shared until the competition closes, you can keep it on there longer if you want!

d) Write a post about the competition for 10 entries! Yes, another TEN! Simply write a post about the competition and include either a link to this post or include the rafflecopter competition widget itself by following this link: Rafflecopter Widget and pasting the HTML into your post.

3. The winning entry will be checked before the prize can be awarded. If the winner is found to have entered without completing the entry rules, for how they entered the competition, they will be disqualified and the prize will be awarded to someone else. Let's be fair folks!

4. I will send the prize to ANYWHERE in the world! Once you are announced the winner, we can have a chat and I can get your address and I will post it as soon as I can!

5. Once posted I will inform the winner and all responsibilty for the item shall then be theirs. Should it not arrive for any reason, a new stand will not be re-sent, I only have the one!

6. Good luck!

Any questions then just post a comment or email me!

Flowers in the wind

Outside of the MOSI, which my post called MOSI actually talks about, there were these beautiful flowers that I had to snap. The only issue with taking these was the wind! It was quite windy when taking with them, and so using manual focus made it extra tricky to get them in focus! Eventually I caught them well enough to be satisfied, even though at one point Hana had to hold the stem of one of them to help out as I was getting so frustrated! Oh well, I got them in the end!

Don't forget to enter my competition where you can win one of these for yourself!

 Click Here to Follow Me on Bloglovin!

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MOSI

Whilst visiting Hana in Manchester, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, otherwise known as MOSI. It's a free museum in the centre of Manchester, and with nothing else to do and wanting to go take some photos, we set off to go and try capture something interesting. It's actually a pretty big place, with loads of interactive things to do, so it'd be really great to take kids to. They have 5 different sections all looking at different things and with different experiments to do! even at 21 and 22 we still found them entertaining, and I am proud to say that I took the top spot on an interactive game, with my name there for all to see! yay! The only issue with it was that it was all pretty dark and not the best for photography, especially as I hate using flash! So a lot of my photos came out a tiny bit blurred as I had to turn the shutter speed down to get it a little brighter. Either way, it was still a challenge and that's always fun!

So here are the photos from MOSI:

1. Loom parts

2. A typewriter

3. A globe filled with an orange gel that you make patterns in

4. A HUGE mural on hte side of a factory wall

5. An engine fan

6. The front of a red arrow

Don't forget to enter my competition where you can win one of these for yourself!

 Click Here to Follow Me on Bloglovin!

... and that's the century - GIVEAWAY!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have done it! I have finally reached a combined 100 followers! Thank you so much to all of you for following. Now true to my word, I shall now give it two weeks for the competition to close before giving away the gorilla pod camera stand! See my review of it here - Camera Stand - 100 Follower Giveaway!

For those of you who are new, or those of you who haven't yet entered, it is completely free so you might as well do it! So follow, share and get your entries in to make sure you are in with the best chance of winning this great little piece of kit!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the Rules:

1. All you have to do is enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway above to get your name in the hat! Once I reach 100 followers I will give it 2 weeks for the competition to close, to give the new followers a chance to enter themselves!

2. There are 4 ways to enter the competition:

a) Follow me on Bloglovin for 3 entries

b) Follow me on Google Friend Connect for 3 entries

c) Grab my button and share it on your blog for 10 entries! Yes, TEN! Also if you let me know, I will share your button on mine too! Buttons must be shared until the competition closes, you can keep it on there longer if you want!

d) Write a post about the competition for 10 entries! Yes, another TEN! Simply write a post about the competition and include either a link to this post or include the rafflecopter competition widget itself by following this link: Rafflecopter Widget and pasting the HTML into your post.

3. The winning entry will be checked before the prize can be awarded. If the winner is found to have entered without completing the entry rules, for how they entered the competition, they will be disqualified and the prize will be awarded to someone else. Let's be fair folks!

4. I will send the prize to ANYWHERE in the world! Once you are announced the winner, we can have a chat and I can get your address and I will post it as soon as I can!

5. Once posted I will inform the winner and all responsibilty for the item shall then be theirs. Should it not arrive for any reason, a new stand will not be re-sent, I only have the one!

6. Good luck!

Any questions then just post a comment or email me!

Tatton park details

As mentioned in my last post, I went to Tatton Park recently. You can see all the details of that trip on my last post - Tatton Park.

Going to be a quick post today as I'm a little busy but here they are:

1. Flowers

2. Bristly buds

3. Leaves

4. Tractor name

5. Dead leaves

6. more leaves

7. Lichen

8. Flower

9. Bamboo

10. Vine

11. Last leaves

Don't forget to enter my competition where you can win one of these for yourself!

 Click Here to Follow Me on Bloglovin!

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Tatton Park

Tatton Park is a little place just outside of Manchester which has a deer park, a large mansion house and some lovely gardens. One day Hana and I decided we would make the trip over there whilst we still had the car, as we were getting rid of it at the end of January. Booo!

Anyway, we drove on over, and after discovering that the house was closed were a little disappointed but went for a wander anyway. The gardens themselves are really well kept and there is a little Japanese section to it which was really well done. Here are some of the photos taken from the day, with close up shots coming in my next post, so keep an eye out for them!

1. Deer in the distance

2. Trellis

3. The gardens

4. Garden wall

5. A tree

6. A pond

7. The Japanese hut

Don't forget to enter my competition where you can win one of these for yourself!

 Click Here to Follow Me on Bloglovin!

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