Vintage Provence

Yep, still lovin' on the Hipstamatic. In fairness, Provence doesn't exactly need the aid of a cute vintage makeover to look incredible, but I still enjoyed taking the pictures.

Presenting - two weeks in Provence as interpreted by The Mighty Hipstamatic...

Le petit déjeuner:

Freakin' delicious apricot juice:

Man, this stuff is so good. And you just can't buy it in the UK. Well, you can, but you have to order it online and it costs mucho dineros, whereas the French stuff is available in every grocery for about £1.50 for a large bottle. I cleaned out the local shops before we went home, and now have a large store of it in the kitchen cupboards. Sweet.

Tarte aux fraises:

Travelling Weber braai (yeah, it's all about the food):

Obligatory new holiday-flip-flops-from-Accessorize:

Obligatory huge bug-eye sunglasses:

Lavender:

The view from the shady vine-covered pergola of Cottage Number Two:

And the vines themselves:

Sleepy boy Jack Russell:

And sleepy girl Jack Russell:

Le sigh. Je t'aime, Provence. We haven't had a drop of sunshine in Manchester since returning home two weeks ago. Boo, English summers! On the plus side, I have another two weeks of holiday right now, which means that although it's only 10:30 am, I'm feeling a little bit sleepy so what the heck, I'm going to gather up the Jack Russells and go take a nap. Liking it.

À demain!

I'm Loving It - Our Retro Nest

So clearly I am at least six months out of date with the whole Hipstamatic thing, but I downloaded it over the weekend and it is AWESOME:

For purposes of comparison, here's a regular shot of our living room chandelier:

And here's the Hipstamatic version:

 Kitchen take 1:

And kitchen take 2:

Loving it. Now someone just needs to invent Hipstamatic contact lenses so I can enjoy life through a gloriously vintage haze on a permanent basis.

Stunning Manchester Photography By Neil Roland

In the course of undertaking jury duty (I'm now in the second week) I've visited various buildings and rooms within the Manchester courts complex. One of them is a very modern building with a huge foyer, cathedral ceilings, and several gorgeous large-scale photographs hanging on the walls in front of the main entrance.

I felt immediately drawn to these photographs, went to take a closer look, and immediately realised that I had responded to them in this way because they were taken by Neil Roland, a well-known Manchester photographer. 

I have admired Neil's work for years (his photographs can be found all over the city in galleries, restaurants, cafes, even my local GP surgery) - in fact I like his work so much that I commissioned him to create a bespoke set of photographs of the West Didsbury area, which I gave to Andre as a wedding present.

Neil takes photographs of Manchester and the surrounding urban area - usually with a focus on capturing particular colours, street signs, and types of buildings, which he then displays in sets. He often takes the photograph at unusual or close-up angles, so it's not immediately obvious where the photo was taken, and a little detective work is required to identify the location. He also uses film rather than digital, and therefore has no reliance on PhotoShop to alter his images in any way.

Here are some of Neil's photographs of our local area - Didsbury, and West Didsbury:

And here are some of Neil's photographs of Manchester city centre:

It's very dark and gloomy in Manchester at the moment, so taking photographs is a bit tricky. But if it ever lightens up, I'll take a photo of our very own Neil Roland, which hangs in the living room, above the sofa.

Psst! If you like this, you may also like...

Neighbourhood: Winter morning tour of our local area

Shopping: Assembling our Perpetual Paris calendar

Garden: Our magical garden by night