Renée Alexis

A very warm Happy Easter to you all! How it came around so impossibly fast, i have no idea, but I hope you enjoy the chocolate filled holiday. Whether you're spending the occasion with truck loads of food or indulging in a solo Easter this year, make sure it's a relaxing couple of days.♥

This is just a quick little Easter post! All the photos shown are from my little sisters annual Easter fair (or Easter carnival if you like) which was held yesterday, Easter Saturday. I volunteered to help out with the arts and crafts stall, and we all had an absolute blast. The theme for our stall this year was "Recycled & Re-used" and the ideas that some of the students and mums came up with were so adorable. The materialized flowers (shown above and in a couple of photos below) are made by my beautiful talented mother, using left over patch work fabric for the petals and bamboo as the stems! Luckily I managed to persuade her into making an extra red polka dot one to put on my bed side dresser which is being admired every morning ;). From jars and glass bottles to scrap fabric and old book pages, everything was given a fresh new look and became something quirky and really unique. Other than a light sprinkle of rain here and there, the day really was a success.







 Wishing you all a safe and lovely Easter!♥
XOXO,
Renee.

Good morning (or afternoon) beautiful people :)
Today I really felt like doing some kind of photography post because, well, why not.
For me, taking my own photos and spending hours experimenting with my camera is one of the most rewarding parts of writing for my blog. It takes up the majority of my posts usually and says more than I could ever put into words. I am usually drawn to someones blog by their photos, it just makes everything in writing really come to life and gives the contents of blog posts more vibrancy. I just find visuals more appealing to stare at then words (not that I don't like the writing side of blogging, I think that's also quite important, but in it's own way).




First off I just wanted to note that good photography doesn't need to come from some snazzy thousand dollar camera, sure it helps but it's not everything. Good photography is whatever you perceive it to be, it's one of those completely personal things that everyone thinks of differently and has a unique perspective of.
I've been wanted to invest in this particular camera for years, and I finially purchased it a couple of Saturdays ago. The decision I came to was that I was going to learn how to properly use a DSLR, and I wanted a good quality camera to have in general for everyday use, since using my phone is becoming somewhat restricting. But that's not to say mobile phone camera's aren't decent. My trusty iPhone 4 has definitely given me a great run for its money, and its fantastic for wanting to quickly share pretty good quality photos straight from your mobile to instagram, twitter, etc. Using mobile phones are just that little bit more convenient than carrying around something chunky, but if you do commit to the chunkiness, you most likely won't regret it when you see the end result.



 The DSLR wins triumphantly when the iPhone 4 camera is put against it in close up view photos. I selected the best photo from a group of 16 shots take on the phone, this one was the best of the lot.
The detail is visibly improved in the Canon's picture when it comes to comparing the two together. I love how the focus is purely on the flower and the details in the background are blurred out in a really lovely, accenting way.



The differences between these two however are quite minimal. This is due to the natural lighting. The only main differences are that you get a little more detail on the DSLR photo than the iPhone one, like more visible fingermarks on the magazine in the top left hand cornerand the colour of the Pawpaw Ointment. Other than this they're practically the same.





I believe that stock photos are boring and are a cheats way out of a fantastic blog post. Some people will agree with me on this and others won't and that's perfectly fine. Photos are such personal pieces, so when you add your own photo of a product, especially beauty products, it has the ability make the entire blog post an infinite amount better. Seeing someone with photos of an item that has been used makes it look like it's been legitimately loved and proves that your opinion was created based on your own personal experience.

The key to a good photo is decent lighting. You really don't need studio lighting to achieve this. If you're taking your photos during the day just open up a curtain or two, or if possible take your epic photography skills outdoors into the natural lighting and you will be amazed by how fantastic your photos turn out. Most of the photos i've taken outdoors on a reasonably clear day are better than what the subject looks like in person!

If you can't take photos during the day, just head on over to your local hardware store or even a supermarket close by and pick up what is called a daylight light bulb (heres an example of one here). They're the affordable way out of expensive studio lighting. However, if you do invest in some studio lighting it is worth it if you use it on a regular basis.



I'm fairly confident that most of you reading this right now have, or have heard of the new social networking craze, Instagram. I really love Instagram, and this is quite an understatement!
The given filters are fantastic and can more than likely improve any photo I throw at it and make them just that little bit cuter.
However, some photos don't need the extra colors layered on top. Some of the best looking photos are untouched, or maybe just slightly brightened.

I usually leave my photos unedited if they are clear, but on the odd occasion i will give them a little bit of a face lift. I don't pay for any editing programs, I just type "online photo editing" into Google and use the first 6 options. My go to photo editing website is Fotor, it's quick and really user friendly.

Whatever you do, make sure you have fun with it, you don't have to meet everyone elses needs :) just be happy of what you've produced, that is what matters most! :)


Happy snapping girlies :)
XOXO,
Renee.

Yesterday marked the incredible milestone of my grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary! The love they have always had for each other is immense and has always been inspirational to us all. So congratulations on fifty years guys :)

To celebrate this extra special occation, my mother, sister and my grandparents drove about half an hour to a beautifully secluded winery in Waratah North, Basia Mille (click here to go to their site) where the rolling hills literally meet the sea.

This little replica of Tuscany is positioned so that all guests get a spectacular view of Corner Inlet, Wilsons Promontory and Bass Straight as well as the vineyard and olive groves. The section of Basia Mille we visited was Cellar Door, the cafe part of the property. We had a few antipasto platters to share between ourselves and some sparkling water, which went together terrifically. Overall our experience was fantastic, Jennifer (the extremely kind lady who served us for the day)  was absolutely wonderful and told us some amazing stories about how the acreage came to be the establishment it currently is and the few hours we were there was completely breathtaking.

A tremendously impressive day and I'm looking forward to visiting little Italy again soon :)

Here are a handful of photos I took throughout the day, I hope you all adore the scenery as much as we did!

the view from the side of the property

Gorgeous decor at the cafe

Me ( left ) and the little sister Celina ( to the right )

Heaps of memorabilia scattered along the walls

There were bunches of really lovely coloured candles inside Cellar Door, like these

Again, the furniture is so well suited to all of the surroundings

One of the first things everyone sees as they drive in are these beautiful french style steel gates, perfect.

Celina and I on the steps.

A cute idea they have on one side of the property is a poetry walk, where there''s different posts with different pieces of poetry. My sister and I thought this was such a creative idea and we've never seen anything like it before.

One of the pathways in the poetry walk included 12 cement columns, we thought this would be perfect to be used as a wedding isle.

Celina loved all of the "posts of poetry"

Another perspective of

Inside the steel gates

( from left to right ) My grandfather, mum, Celina, myself and my grandmother

The remainder of our antipasto platters

My OOTD

 This was a whole bunch longer than most of my usual posts, so I apologise for the lengthiness ;)
I hope the photos are as enjoyable to look at as they were to take!
until next time,
XOXO,
Renee