deedeeobrien

Topshop!

2011-04-18T22:18:00.000+01:00

When I first moved to Dublin, the idea of being able to go to Topshop whenever I wanted was one of the most exciting proscpects. However, over the years, I found myself getting less and less impressed by their stock and, for several years, I just haven't bothered going in at all. But lo! Times have once more changed and I have fallen in love with the place again. Every time I go in there I see so many perfect versions of what's in fashion and what's stylish. The quality of the clothes is a step above a lot of high street shops but it always remains pretty affordable.

Here, I've popped some links down to my current Topshop wish list. I'm loving the colours and shapes of these, so pretty.

At the end is something I just came across on the Urban Outfitters website... I love satchels and I do love pink... so luminous pink satchel should be everything I love in one luminous carry all! I don't know though... I think I like it.

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2282056&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&pageSize=200

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2282028&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&pageSize=200

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2281984&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&pageSize=2

http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/the-cambridge-satchel-company-neon-pink-satchel/invt/5771466140344/&bklist=

All dress images from Topshop,com and image of bag from urbanoutfitters.co.uk

A Ghostly Trip to the Country....

2011-04-17T14:46:00.001+01:00

Well not really but I took these on my Holga on long exposure on B&W white film so a sunny walk at home in the country - ok the graveyard was quite apt - turned into quite a spooky looking roll of film. Down home, if you take a stroll, there are quite a few run down old houses, overgrown with weeds and grass with rusty gates. Rather perfect for the medium I thought :)

Autumn Winter in Dublin and a day in Belfast...

2011-01-21T13:14:00.000Z

My first trip to Belfast ever Halloween weekend. Lovely city!

Autumn turning into Winter in Dublin...

Canon AV-1 Black and White

2011-01-16T23:46:00.001Z

I've been experimenting a bit with film and such and I really like the B&W with this camera. These are my favourites takes around Dublin in late autumn. The one of the old man is my favourite. I was sitting on the LUAS with Alan one Sunday as we were going into town and he was sitting opposite us and started chatting to us. He was I think originally from Czechoslovakia... I think. He said he bought the Canon AV-1 when it came out and, at the time, it cost a small fortune but he said it's a lovely camera. I think he said he passed it on to his son who he was about to meet in the park with his grandson. When we said goodbye Alan said I should take a photo of his so I ran after him and he gracefully obliged! What a lovely man!
Dee.x

If you're able to, these are best viewed a bit larger if you click on them individually...x

Happy New Year!

2011-01-16T01:11:00.001Z

It's been months since I've updated this so I have a bit of catching up to do.

First things first, I have delved further into the world of film photography and veered further and further from digital in the past few months. Two amazing presents from Alan for my birthday and Christmas have been amazing me. The first is the Canon AV 1, which I'm in love with. The quality of photos it takes I love. More recently I became the proud owner of an instant camera, which I've wanted since I was young. It's like magic. So I've spent several hours scanning everything in and I'm going to post up the best of.

Hopefully more coming soon.

The first batch was taken in the early autumn...

xxxx

Berries and Cherry Blossoms

2010-05-05T21:01:00.001+01:00

Bank holiday Monday in Dublin reminded me how lovely the city can be. For lunch I interviewed the lovely Sorch Gillett where we feasted on some berry delights in Avoca. View her beautiful blog here:
http://dandeliondaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Afterwards I went for a stroll with Alan and finally got to take a couple of snaps of cherry blossoms and a clear blue sky.My photo taking is a wee bit off at the moment, must use camera more!
xx

Last of the Holga backlog

2010-05-01T22:18:00.000+01:00

I know these are a bit out of season with the lovely weather we've been having but I think this is the last roll of photos I hadn't scanned in til lately. Snow and Holga is pretty magical I think and had a wonderful time taking these. Seeing Stephen's Green as a winterland was a magical once-off. I've just put in a recent roll to be developed so I should have that mid next week.

xx

Happy Birthday Alan!

2010-04-29T12:59:00.001+01:00

xxxxxxxxxxx

Bray and Cupcakes

2010-04-24T18:56:00.005+01:00

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my Canon 350D out by the sea in Bray on a lovely day just after Easter. A group of girls had balloons and they escaped out of their hands or they let them into the sea... it looked pretty interesting!

This other pic is from a recent trip to the wonderful Cake Cafe... Chai tea and a cup cake! A fabulous afternoon treat! Also try out their home made beans on toast and mini cupcakes in an egg carton... mmm. It's a yummy place to eat and the atmosphere is so laid back too. Here's their very suitable website:
http://www.thecakecafe.ie/

Dee.xx

Recent acquisitions of the vintage variety

2010-04-23T01:33:00.001+01:00

I spent a couple of days wandering in town this week researching articles and basically seeing what's been going on in the city - especially in terms of boutiques and vintage shops. On my travels I came across a few gems!

Firstly Om Diva (http://www.georgesstreetarcade.ie/om-diva/index.php) had a one day only one euro sale. I didn't get there until 1 o clock and they had sold everything! Very fortunately the lovely ladies did a bit of rooting over lunch and when I got back I got two dresses, two pairs of shoes, two belts and a scarf for seven euro. Om Diva is my favourite clothes shop so this was all pretty unbelievable! I took some snaps of my goodies!

I don't usually wear heels but decided recently maybe I should start and lo! Shoes I had been looking at since last year for a euro a pair!

This is a gorgeous vintage dress they found on second inspection of the store room!

The pink and green belts were from the one euro Om Diva sale and the silver one is from Bernardos charity shop in Liffey St for three euro!

I also stumbled across a little treasure chest under Se Si called Lucy's Lounge (http://lucyslounge-dee.blogspot.com/) which is a thrift and vintage shop full of wonderful clothes and accessories! I found this vintage silver sequin dress for five euro. Love it!

That's all for now,

Dee.x

Black and White 120!

2010-04-18T16:10:00.006+01:00

I put a couple of rolls of black and white film into my Diana F+ and my rather fetching pink Holga and this is the best of the lot! Quite happy with these, I think I prefer the look of the black and white than the colour film - especially with the Diana! If they look a bit odd it means they're double exposed!

35mm Film SLR

2010-04-16T01:28:00.000+01:00

Here are some shots I scanned in. I took these on my Canon Rebel 35mm camera. Really love the look of film more than digital at the moment... Lots of possibilities and more is left up to chance which is quite exciting!

I'm still in the learning phase with this so they're a bit rough!

xx

Drip drip drop little April showers

2010-04-13T23:53:00.004+01:00

For such a young blog, I have been away from this for an ashamedly long time. This is mostly due to a move and an absence of the internet. Finally I picked up one of those 3 mobile broadband keys as I still have no home to lay my hat; not for another while anyway.

I have also been reading as much as possible of late (works well when you're on trains and buses a lot). Finally got around to reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. Very emotive read. It's pretty apt in some ways for the times we're living in now as it's based in the 1950s when the country was poor and many of the youth had to leave to make a living. The novel centres around Eilis who lives with her mother and sister in Enniscorthy. Since the most work she can aspire to where she lives is the Sunday shift in the local grocers, Eilis is led to Brooklyn on the urging and advice of her sister and a priest from the locality who has moved over there. I have to say, it wasn't exactly what I expected but this wasn't a bad thing. Really great, compelling read.

At the train station I came across a stand that had 'The Best Books of the Noughties' so I picked up We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Shadow of the Wind and Everything is Illuminated. I'm in the middle of The Shadow of the Wind at the moment. Like it so far, after being there last year I love the descriptions of Barcelona, where it's set. Seems like an intriguing tale too. Had never heard of it before now.

Living out of the suitcase (sort of) has been an interesting experience and I don't think I will ever enjoy getting a new place more than the next one, merely because travelling up and down from Tipperary to Dublin and back makes one feel like wherever they are they should be heading back to the other place soon.

I also wrote an article about Enid Blyton in light of the 60th anniversary of Noddy and her granddaughter writing a new Noddy book recently. Enid Blyton is a tricky subject... On one hand she provided my young self with hours and hours of entertainment and escapism from the age of about 4 to 12 but, on the other hand, one can't help but ignore the Gollywogs and Julian, Dick and Timmy the dog's blind sightedness of equality when it came to poor Anne and George. "You can't do that, you're just a girl"... I'm sure it was something along those lines anyway. I suppose it was a different age when the books were written but she was a hugely successful, independent industry in herself. It does make me glad about how much has changed since then...

I shall leave you with one of my favourite songs from Yann Tiersen (not sure who is on vocals) that I was listening to today,,, this doesn't really sound too good when you sing it out loud in the French accent. Believe me, I can't resist. Zere iz life out zere...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISCcj9cPy-M

Dee.xx

Holga and Fisheye

2010-01-16T03:11:00.003Z

I was very, very lucky this Christmas to get both a Fisheye and a Holga in my proverbial stocking. I will admit now they are both shocking shades of pink... I'm going through a phase.

I got the first batch of photos back from Gunn's camera shop during the week. Like the Diana F+ it was great to see how they would turn out so I'd know how to use it a bit better. Anyway, here's the best of my first bunch!

Holga:

The last one of me in red and blue was taken by Alan :)

Fisheye:

Like everyone else in Ireland my Christmas mostly involved the crazy weather! Hence the many snowy/frosty pics!

Happy New Year

2010-01-11T23:41:00.003Z

First post if the new year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, successful and happy year ahead!

Things I'm looking forward to in 2010:
Halves debut album
Alice in Wonderland
Using my new Holga and Fisheye

Reading more Neil Gaiman

30 Rock
Shutter Island
A year full of gigs and new books!

Lomography

2009-12-05T21:43:00.001Z

Here's a selection of my lomo pics. Have become a bit obsessed with lomo pictures and cameras in the past few months. I ran into a few hiccups but beginning to get the hang of it. What I love about these pictures, shot using 120 film and plastic cameras is that the can make the most mundane scene look pretty magical. Really looking to explore it further.
Dee.xx

John the Revelator Nominated for First Novel Award of The Costa Proze

2009-11-25T01:17:00.001Z

I was delighted to hear that Peter Murphy's début novel, John the Revelator has been nominated for the prestigious Costa literary prize. The novel - which was published earlier this year - is one of the most exciting pieces of literary fiction to come out of Ireland and my favourite book of the year. A big congratulations to Peter. If you haven't read it already, I'd highly recommend seeing for yourself how good it really is.

I was lucky enough to interview Peter about the novel earlier in the year for Verbal magazine:

http://www.verbalon.com/magazine/index.php/interviews/view/peter-murphy/

And here's my review of the novel for the same magazine.

http://www.verbalon.com/magazine/index.php/reviews/view/john-the-revelator/

Peter's work is an inspiration for burgeoning writers.

Dee

xx

Blur

2009-11-22T18:40:00.003Z

If you haven't seen it already and you're willing to brace the weather to get the newspaper, there's the most amazing Blur pull out, live CD and article in The Sunday Times today... Well worth checking out - if even just for the photography in the supplement.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article6921898.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=6921898&nSlide=1&sectionName=VisualArts

Halves

2009-11-22T01:26:00.009Z

I'd like to draw as much attention as possible to this Irish band called Halves. Their album is due out mid-next year and I'm very excited about it. I've been lucky enough to be involved in a certain element of it so I'm pretty excited about that too. Here's my favourite of their songs so far called 'Blood Branches', recorded for Other Voices down in Dingle.

Hello

2009-11-22T01:22:00.003Z

This will be a blog about everything. By trade I am a writer but I have noticed recently my interests go a lot further than that. So here, I'm going to post about writing, music, photography, art, craft, fashion, books and whatever else sparks my interest!