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I woke up to the most gorgeous shades of gold. this new morning light feels exciting. x

tags: canon 400D, fake film, flowers, london, mornings, toycamera analogcolor.

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it’s been a while since the last hello monday. and to be honest the couple past mondays have been less than great, as in break-up less than great.

but today already feels perfect. I took our bunny peanut into the garden. he just loves being in the grass and eating too many flowers.

later, I will go for lunch on the beach with a new friend, get some new pied-de-poule pants for work, and help my sister on her poetry report.

have a lovely monday, wherever in the world you’re stuck!

tags: animals, canon 400D, fake film, flowers, hello monday, home, peanut, polaroid, toycamera analogcolor.

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here is our new friend who followed us through hyde park. he was so adorable. and really liked pecan nuts; which are also a favourite of mine.

so are: having friends visiting, going to a nice restaurant, being in love with foodbeam, making cheesecake, and getting wet with spring rain showers.

have a lovely week!

tags: animals, canon 400D, fake film, hello monday, hyde park, london, polaroid, toycamera analogcolor.

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I know it’s actually not monday, but I have one reason good enough not to have posted yesterday.

namely, macarons.

after weeks of experimenting, I’ve finally come up with the perfect recipe that gives me lovely macarons every single time.
I’m thrilled because those little guys are so going to be part of the book I’m – deceptively slowly – trying to write.

it feels so good to start the week with such a great achievement.

so, how was your monday?

tags: canon 400D, fake film, hello monday, macaron, polaroid, toycamera analogcolor, writing the book.

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have a nice week. I don’t know about you but krispy kreme doughnuts always manage to make me happy.

tags: doughnut, fake film, hello monday, polaroid.

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how was your monday? mine was packed.

with Aïda and our endless laughs.
with noodles.
with the littlest snowflakes.
with delicious pastries from Sketch.

hello monday is a new – hopefully – weekly feature to make us happy and grateful for the week to come.

tags: aïda, architecture, fake film, hello monday, london, photography, polaroid.

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yesterday was a cab day. in fact, I was so tired after having worked all night on cakes and cupcakes for a photoshoot that I simply couldn’t deal with the tube.

transport luxury is good to me. plus, I got to see so many places I had never been before.

today, after a soothing sixteen hour sleep, is going to be a walk day. it’s bright and sunny out and I need some art supplies to make our very own version of London’s map.

tags: fake film, london.

remember how excited I was when I first came across the toycamera analogcolor application thanks to Anne-So? I mean, in a second, you can turn any bland picture into a sweet one with an old film look.

sure, I could just as well grab my pentax and play around, but well, this feels like instant gratification (and I have had the pentax me super for a short few days).

with this application, things do feel like fun. you drag a picture (large size, straight from adobe bridge for me). tweak around until you get a result you like. export picture. resize in photoshop (you can resize straight from toycamera analogcolor, but I must admit I have to use my dear photoshop at least once a day, otherwise I tend to get nervous).

just below, you’ll find my own fake-film version. quite obviously I forgot to record the parameters, but you can clearly se some differences from the raw picture (see before/after above).

if you’re a little uncertain with how to use the application, I recommend you start by applying the preset actions, which are: high key – warm room – randomize – sunny day – white room – toy camera – green pola – blue pola -yellow pola.

high key.

warm room.

randomize.
now, this is interesting since it randomly changes the parameters, and well, you should be lucky enough to create a couple of versions that you like.

it’s also the appropriate time for me to discuss those parameters with you. below is a screenshot of the application after I applied the randomize preset action.

start. to create dark corners. the higher the setting, the smaller the corners.
amount. to enhance the dark corners.

blur. to create a fog around the image periphery.

noize. to add grain.

dodge. to brighten the centre of the image.

color. to adjust the color tones. from cold to warm (left to right).

contrast. to adjust the contrast.

X. to control the intensity with which the parameters are applied. the lower, the more your picture will look like the original.

and then come the different processing types.

back to preset actions for more fun.

sunny day.

white room.

toy camera.

green polaroid.

blue polaroid.

yellow polaroid.

although they all look pretty sweet to me, I must admit I have a full-time love for the warm room and toy camera presets.
now, grab your camera, take a couple of pictures, and have fun post-processing them into fakes.

tags: fake film, photography, post-processing, toycamera analogcolor.

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I was looking through the pictures from my recent trip to fouras, and came across these two little bébés cows.

it reminded me how much fun we had walking them from the road back to their enclos. they were indeed two funny guys who thought it’s be exciting to visit the surrounding countryside.

gold and blue do make the prettiest colours, don’t you think? especially with the slightly aqua-ish tones.

tags: animals, colour palettes, fake film, fouras.

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yesterday, as I was biking my way through fouras, looking for architecture eye candy, I spotted this tiny house with huge windows, and the prettiest little garden.

my kind of studio. small, with good natural light, and an outdoor space.

what does your ideal studio look like?

ps. as you might have noticed, I’ve made a couple of changes to the categories; I was tired of the abundance and thought the simpler the better.

as off today, you’ll find posts that are either about:
- food
- handmade things, from me or others
- what inspire me, from what surrounds me (including other people’s work)
- my daily life

tags: blogs, fake film, fouras, studio.