Monday 12 March 2012

Time at the beach and a bloggy friend meet-up!

Good evening everyone, I hope everyone's had a lovely day. 
It's been beautiful weather here the last few day's and we've been out making the most of the sunshine. 


Yesterday after our Sunday lunch, Rose (and Ray!) went down for an afternoon siesta and strangely they both woke at exactly the same time. The weather was still really great outside so we quickly packed a bag, made a flask of coffee and we headed down to West Wittering beach.



We haven't been down to the beach with Rose for quite a while, not to this particular beach since September when she wasn't even crawling yet! It was so enjoyable to just watch her exploring and taking it all in, the day's of eating handfuls of sand seem to have passed thankfully but she still managed to get it all around her face while attempting to chew on a pebble or two! Yummy!




We've got two wedding's coming up that we're going to and Rose's party dress is red so we wanted to see if we could get some shoes for her that would look a little better than her scuffed-up pink toddler trainer type shoes. We ended up going to Clarks to see what they had and thought we may as well get Rose's feet measured again whilst there. Well, they'd grown! She's not even 14 months yet and she's got size 5F feet! Somehow I think she may be quite a tall girl when she's older..! She now has some very pretty mary-jane shoes that look far too grown-up for my liking!




Here are just a few more photo's to show you of our time at the beach... as you can see, I'm still loving my camera's as much as ever. I don't know what I'd do without it now..! I'm looking into different lenses I could get for it now, I really love the photo's I see on people's blogs where the background is blurry behind the figure in a photo. I think this is called Bokeh..?! Can anyone tell me what kind of lens I need to get this effect? My camera is the Canon EOS 550D... I'd be ever so grateful for Any advice! :-)





Rose and I had a lovely day out today, Sarah came to mine first and then we headed over to Gem's house where Annaboo was also waiting for us with their children. I say 'waiting' as they really did have to wait quite a while for us to turn up... Trust there to be a hugggggeeee stand-still traffic jam on our way there, a journey that should have taken 35 minutes took us 2 hours and 20 minutes!! Rose actually coped really well with being strapped in all that time, usually she's not great on long car journeys and I was so grateful to have Sarah next to me to chat to! :-)

Gem had put together a delicious lunch and we all had a great time chatting, we'll definitely have to do it again sometime soon but without the traffic jam which would give us a little more time together! Thank you for having us Gem xxx



29 comments:

  1. Gorgeous photos! Love the one of Rose running towards you. (And your boots are lush too.)

    Look at all of you bloggy girls... so lovely. Makes me feel all warm and cosy to think that we've all made friends through our blogs. Sniff! :-)

    I've got the same camera as you and bought the 50mm-f/1.4 USM lens which gives that blurry (bokeh) effect but I'm struggling with it a bit. I bought it for the bokeh but also because I wanted a lens that was good in low light because our cottage is so dark. To let in light and get that bokeh effect I think the shutter speed is slower which means there is a bigger window for shaky hands to affect your shot. I really struggle to take a picture with a steady hand so I had a tripod and a remote control for the camera for Christmas too - just need to work out how to use it!!

    I really want a telephoto lens, a macro lens and a wide angle lens now - it's addictive!! :-)

    xxx

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  2. Ah, the Witterings. So beautiful. I grew up not all that far away and we used to go there often. Great shots of the beach. I have a Canon Eos 1000d and looked into lenses then nearly died when I saw the price!

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  3. Love the pics of you all at the beach- so beautiful!!
    And the bloggy party- I just wrote over at Sarah s how incredibly jealous I am!!!
    Love the last photo of you all

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  4. They are really lovely photos Ash xx

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  5. what a lovely post lovely beach pics ,looked very relaxed chilled day x How lovely you all meeting up and a lovely pic lucky girls xx

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  6. Sounds like you had a lovely weekend. I quite fancy a pair of shoes like Rose's myself!

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  7. I meant to say - I will look around for where I saw it but I saw a website with info on how to 'fake' the bokeh look...

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  8. What lovely pictures. I remember Little Son being let loose on the beach for the first time; he was so excited he was whooping with joy.

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  9. Those shoes are just gorgeous!!

    Love, love, love your pics, the one of the sand is fab - I'm so excited to get our camera!! Maybe we can find a DSLR class/workshop we could do together?

    Hugs,

    S xx

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  10. Adorable shoes! Rose is such a beauty.

    Tres green over your lovely day at Gems. Am dying to go over but it's quite tricky to arrange as she gets so booked up over school holidays, I alwayd=s get in with my invitations way too late ad living 3 hours away means I can't get there and back for the school run. Bummer!!

    I have the same lens as Nicki and I swap and change my lens depending on the shot I want. I have so much to learn. My sister in law has the same camera and lens yet she gets hers to perform so much better than I do. She gets perfect shots without a tripod or a remote. She never has it on auto either. She constantly fiddles with the settings.

    We really need to get on a course together me, you, Nicki and SarahB.

    xxx

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  11. You are so lucky to be able to catch up with lovely blog friends, a little envy going on over her in Australia :)
    Beautiful photo's, my daughter is the star in our home as far as photography is concerned.
    Oh and I love the Mary Janes, you Rose is growing up so quickly.
    xxx Sandi

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  12. Such lovely photos...you all look so happy together :) Love, love, loving Rose's new shoes!!! Gorgeous...do they do them in grown up sizes!? Love her polka dot tights too. Looks like you all had a lovely bloggy meet up.....great stuff!!!!

    Jo x x x

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  13. Beautiful pictures! I have almost the same camera as you, except it's the 450, I only have one lens too so far. I'll be keeping an eye on your comments to see what tips you get!

    Rose is starting to look grown up isn't she? Love the new shoes too!

    S x

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  14. Beautiful pictures, looks like you had a great time!

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  15. Good morning Ashley, just popping back to let you know I have 'tagged' you on my blog. I hope you enjoy it!

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  16. Beautiful pics Ashley, I'd love to be a bit better at taking photos. Rose's shoes are so cute! xx

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  17. so young, so stylish, so cute :)

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  18. Beautiful moments of life! Great Monica

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  19. Such gorgeous beachy photos. Little Rose is just the cutest and cheekiest!
    Lovely to meet you yesteday- it was brilliant fun. (shame about the dreadful traffic).
    Hope to see you again soon.
    Much love.
    Xxx

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  20. Hi there,
    I just linked here via Annaboo's House. And I'm glad that I decided to take a little look..... You have a lovely blog! I'm going to become a frequent visitor from now on..... :-)
    Carly
    x

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  21. Great photos, it looks like you all had a marvellous time, on the beach and with the girls.

    You don't need to buy another lens. To get the effect you want you need to reduce the depth of field. This means that you need to open the aperture wide regardless of light levels/shutter speed. If you're not confident with manual settings your best bet is to use aperture priority mode - your handbook will explain how. Basically you choose the widest possible aperture setting and your camera automatically adjusts for the correct shutter speed. An easier if possibly less effective option ... have you tried the camera's automatic portrait setting and it also might be worth playing with taking portraits with the automatic close-up setting.

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  22. Ah West Wittering. Can't wait to go. How far is it from me do you think?
    Is it possible to all meet there? There is a cafe isn't there? Maybe one for the sumer holidays or something.
    LOVE the sand beach, with the ripple effect.
    Totally gorgeous.
    Was lovely to see you yesterday with Rose. The Prince LOVED her. Had such fun and was gutted when it all came to an end.
    Let's do it again soon.
    x x x x x

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  23. Lovely photos! Rose looks like she enjoys the beach : )

    Bloggy meets are so fun, I had my first one the other day and I loved it!

    Gemma x

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  24. Gorgeous photos - love Rose's tights and shoes!! Looks like a lot of fun, glad you have had sunshine lately - it has been foggy here for days :( Jenny x

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  25. Hi, just found your blog, and your crafty makes look lovely.

    Look forward to reading your future posts.
    Fleur xx

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  26. so glad i found your blog Ashley - i love it! I wish blogs had been around when i was a young mum. Rose is very cute. I am working my way through your archives and then have your lovely blogging friends above to check out too!
    Looking forward to hours of enjoyment ! Rachel Fx

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  27. Just stumbled across you! Beautiful photographs and blog, and your daughter is absolutely gorgeous - SO cute. Can't wait to get stuck into reading more!

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  28. Such a lovely post, looks like you all had a beautiful day at the beach... I do love living by the sea :) LOVE Rose's new shoes too!! xx

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