It is another month; another photo challenge. This month’s theme was all about close ups and straight away I had photos piling up. I love close up style photography – most of my favourite photography over the years has been close ups.

Close up of eyesMy first photo is embarrassingly me – I wanted to push my self and experiment with taking my own photos. As someone always behind a camera at events, I don’t get many photos of myself. I’m not great at taking photos of myself – I find it hard not being behind the camera or the ability to set up composition to be perfect.
I recently have been experimenting with a great natural light location and I wanted to see what effects I could do. The more I played with this location taking my own photo, the more I wanted to get some one else to photograph there.

I am actually quite proud of the composition of this photo and the effect of light on my air – it just seems to highlight the layers.

Close up of flowerMy second photo was from a photo day out with a friend teaching her how to use her new camera. It was such a great day being able to share my 10 years of experience; I did however find out that I have no idea what all the technical terms are but it turns out that this is very helpful for someone new to photography.

It was an amazing day as we strolled along Brighton Beach before heading to the amazing Pavilion Palace Gardens. All around us there were people, buskers and flowers providing us both a lot to photograph. It was really a perfect time to show the difference between my lenses so I tried to carefully choose something to photograph a considerable distance away yet able to get a perfect picture.

As it is October the flowers were slowly starting to fade from the beautiful Pavilion Gardens in Brighton. I loved the stark difference between the still flowering background with the dying stem. Out of all the photos of the day this was my favourite – and the rest where not close ups!

I really am proud of this photo and it really does shout October in Brighton to me with its bright colours stark against the browning trees and winter weather.

 

Close up of puppyOctober for me is very special – it is the month that I met the BF so every year we celebrate each year together. This year I was behind the planning and though we were staying in Brighton it was perfect – the only thing I didn’t plan for was the BF getting the flu…

With a plan to take Otto (a dog I walk every so often) to the Doggy Cafe in Hove I still took him by myself. I took my camera with me and was pleasantly surprised when I got there to find so many dogs and adorable puppies!

I love puppies and this photo really does capture his puppy dog eyes. At just 10 weeks old he really did have a captive audience as he flew back and forth or cuddled up with his owner.

Check out my caramel cake recipe nowNext up has to be cake – caramel cake in fact! This month I am starting a Bake Off themed project to attempt every single bake off challenge in order from season 1. It was all about signature cake and for me that is caramel.

I used to make this cake when I was younger but decorating with fudge and hammered toffee rather than creating my own molten caramel. After hours of baking, and a second degree burn, I finally managed to finish and the result was the best caramel cake that I have ever made.

While I wasn’t expecting this to be a close up photo too, I was utterly shocked at some of the photographs that I managed to get of my first bake.

Looking through the photographs I had to include this as the shards of caramel and texture of buttercream made this just add depth and complexity to a rather simple item.

I love caramel and this just makes me proud of both my baking and my photography. I can’t wait to share my post now about this cake with the photos that I managed to get.

 

Portrait close upMy final photo is another one of me – this may seem strange but I managed my favourite close up portrait of the year.

Since getting glasses I have felt old and to have a photo that made me feel baby faced and young was fantastic. To many this photo may not seem close up but when you realise how close I was to the camera then you would.

I adore the lighting as it makes my messy hair the focus with so much texture and layers of colours for something that normally is just a singular mousy brown.

So there are my favourite close ups this month! What do you think of them? Do you have a favourite photo? What is your favourite close up photo? I’d love to hear from you so leave a comment below!

 

 

 

 

 


Pierced Wonderings

Hannah Spannah Coco Banana


Annabelle

Annabelle has lived in Exeter, Bournemouth and London but now live in Brighton as a freelancer. With a love of baking, sewing and social media, she is now starting her own blog.

28 Comments

Amy @ Mum's The Law · October 30, 2015 at 1:49 pm

Wow, you’re really good. That cake has now made me starving and the dog has got me back on the ‘I want a dog so effing bad’ mode. So I’m just going to look at other dog pictures all day! Excellent post! #FindYourTribe

    Annabelle Spender · October 30, 2015 at 7:34 pm

    Awww thanks! The post about how to make it is going live very soon so you won’t have to be hungry for much long! I know what you mean about a dog – I am lucky that I get to walk a dog week through burrow my doggy so it helps

christine · October 30, 2015 at 2:16 pm

The dead flower with the purple background definitely says “Autumn”. Things beginning to die, but others hold out til the literal bitter end.
Your self portraits are very good. I’m terrible about getting myself in photos. There has to be a very good reason. The lighting and angle are good for both of them.
But that cake! Have mercy!

    Annabelle Spender · October 30, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    Thank you 😀 I am much better behind the camera as I can control everything but they did come out well. I have to agree though that cake looks amazing but having it all to yourself is not as amazing as it sounds – I am caramel caked out!

Amaryllis T · October 30, 2015 at 7:17 pm

Your closeup selfie are cute, but my fave is the cake. I love food and desserts are my weakness.

    Annabelle Spender · October 30, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    Awww thanks! I have to admit that the cake is my favourite too!

Jenni @ Chilling With Lucas · October 30, 2015 at 7:57 pm

Great photos! I want that slice of cake x #FindTribe

    admin · October 30, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    Thank you! Well the recipe is going live really soon so you can make some for yourself

Hannah Atkinson · October 30, 2015 at 10:18 pm

You really do have talent. I love how your freckles are picked out on your ‘selfie’, the picture of Otto is stunning and the shards of caramel look amazing! You really should be proud. Thanks for linking to #findtribe

    admin · October 30, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    Oh wow! Thank you Hannah for such incredibly kind words!

Katherine · October 31, 2015 at 12:37 am

I LOVE your portrait!!! What a fantastic idea – you did a wonderful job. And Otto is adorable!!!!

Cheryle Lightwalker · October 31, 2015 at 3:43 am

You did a great job capturing your personality in your self portraits. How brave of you to step out from behind the lens. Of course my fav is Otto. I am partial to animals and he has such big beautiful eyes. In love and light Cheryle

Leola Durant · October 31, 2015 at 11:45 pm

I love your photos, and it’s so true what you say…..once you are the one taking the photos, you find that you have less and less photos of yourself.

    Annabelle Spender · November 1, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    Thank you Leola! Oh definitely – I started as a model too so I have found this even more.

lisa · November 1, 2015 at 12:25 am

Lovely shots! I understand about the selfies. I’m very self-conscious about taking my own photo. Love, love, love the contrast between the brown stalk against the soft background! All nicely done.

Jen · November 1, 2015 at 12:44 am

That photo of the browning plant with the colors behind it – exquisite! And the picture of Otto just makes me smile! So very sweet! Thank you for sharing them with us at Photo Friday this week!

Swathi · November 1, 2015 at 4:38 am

Wonderful job. How adorable is Otto :* 🙂

http://curious-and-confused-me.blogspot.in/

Bexx · November 1, 2015 at 2:15 pm

Lovely photos! I always love taking close-up photos of my food, but I do think I need a little more practice, as it’s harder to get the composition right. This post has inspired me to practice this month 🙂

    Annabelle · November 1, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    I’m so glad that I inspired you!

Clare Barton · November 1, 2015 at 5:05 pm

Its hard to choose my favourite..all your photos are so good. I love the puppy, I’m a dog lover too. I like the self portraits especially the first one your eyeshadow contrasts well with your eyes, they look great.

cmiked · November 1, 2015 at 6:46 pm

Thanks so much for sharing. That cake looks quite tasty!

Denise / Mrs. GeoK · November 2, 2015 at 3:50 am

Wow! I so appreciate that you shared your thought process around each photo. You’ve found a couple of spots with great natural lighting for portraits, including self-portraits. Well done. And now I’m off to check your bake off post…

P.J. · November 3, 2015 at 3:50 pm

I enjoyed your series of photos for the theme this month. The “selfies” are good, too. I’m like you — not into taking my own photo. But in the past year or two, I’ve been more apt to actually get into photos. Seem like you worked it out well. Sometimes it’s nice to let the camera go for a moment.

That cake, now, is something you should definitely have photos of. Yum! I hope it tasted as good as it looks!

Kathy M. · November 4, 2015 at 10:04 pm

That picture of the cake really made my mouth water, but they are all great pictures 🙂

Ky · November 7, 2015 at 11:09 pm

Oh wow these are really good, that cake looks so yummy. The puppy is super cute as well. x #findtribe

Karen · November 8, 2015 at 4:09 pm

Wow! The cake looks great, especially the glistening shards of caramel. Great photo.

Hannah Atkinson · November 10, 2015 at 11:04 am

This is such a fabulous post and I bet the course is interesting and challenging. Thanks for linking to #Findtribe

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