Things have been a little quiet here on the blog, but that's because there are some exciting things happening behind the scenes that I've been busy working away at (plus life has just been a little cray).
Read moreExperimenting With Our New Camera - Olympus Pen EPL 8
I'm diving into my photo archives once again for this post. There's no particular theme to this one - just a few cool photos I took while experimenting with my new camera that I wanted to share!
Back in November, I finally decided to take the plunge and invest in a new camera. I've been using my little Sony one for years and I figured it was time to step it up a notch. After doing a lot of research, I finally settled on the
I wanted something that was fairly compact but that still had the option of using different lenses, so this one seemed perfect.
After much discussion with my photographer uncle (it was so handy getting advice from him although his recommendations were definitely on the very expensive side - which I guess is to be expected), I decided to skip the kit lens that it usually comes with and instead invest in a few prime lenses - the
and
. They were pricey, but they are really really nice lenses that I will use for years to come. I've been blogging for 4 years now and have been using my same little camera this whole time, so I decided it was finally time to just take the plunge.
These also seem to be the lenses that a lot of fashion bloggers use, so I figured they would probably be perfect for how I plan to mainly use them! I do also want to add a zoom lens to my collection at some point - it would have definitely come in handy while we were travelling!
I won't go into all the details about the camera because I am no photography buff, but I am really enjoying playing with it and (very slowly) learning how to use all it's different features.
This year I'd really like to learn more about photography so I can make the most out of my new camera. I'm happy to say I'm no longer shooting solely in automatic mode but I still have a long way to go!
So that's it for today!
Hope you're Sunday is off to a great start! I'm just about to do some
now!
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx
Re-thinking Blogging?
Heya :)
This is probably going to be a long post, but I've been feeling pretty uninspired with this whole "fashion blogging thing" lately and I feel like I just need to sit here and have a bit of a ramble. Kind of to share with you what I've been thinking, but mostly to organise my own thoughts on the subject!
This is actually my fourth year blogging and I feel like I've lost that spark of excitement that I had when I first started. I'm at a point where I need to figure out what I want to do with my blog, where I want it to go. A few weeks ago I was questioning whether I even wanted to continue with it, but I think I just need take it in a new direction.
Back in 2013 when I first started "Lauren Loves Laughter", I'd just finished uni and had a fair bit of extra time up my sleeve. I'd been reading fashion blogs for years so I figured it was the perfect time to jump in and try my hand at it, and I remember really enjoying it. It was fun learning how to set up a blog, putting together outfits and taking photos, and it was a great place to document my style and new purchases (of which there were many) as well as little snippets of what I'd been up to. Although I never considered myself a particularly "fashionable" person I was definitely enjoying experimenting with my style, sharing the exciting new additions to my wardrobe, playing around with different looks, and it was fun to record it all here on the blog.
One of the downsides though, is that this little hobby was never something I felt comfortable sharing with others, so any time friends would mention or ask about about my blog, I would clam up and get super embarrassed. To be honest, I'm still like this almost four years on, so it's really had me questioning why I still continue with it if I'm so embarrassed by it.
I think part of the problem is that, although I've technically had a fashion blog for three and a half years, I've never felt comfortable referring to myself as a "fashion blogger" (even though that's essentially what I am). I've always felt a bit of a fraud as I'm not a particularly stylish person. I don't really follow trends and I'm not very adventurous with my style, so I never felt like I could call myself a "fashion blogger". Another thing, is that it always felt a little narcissistic. I didn't want people who weren't familiar with fashion blogging to find my blog, because I felt it would be perceived as being really shallow and frivolous (particular as my outfits weren't particularly exciting or creative).
I continued on blogging my outfits though, and I genuinely enjoyed it - sharing my new purchases, talking about what I loved about a particular piece, the different ways I planned to wear it, all of that kind of thing.
Lately though (well it's been a while now really), I've just been totally bored of it! I feel like I have nothing interesting to say and so I feel my posts are just very stale and aren't really offering anything of value.
I think I've stuck with the fashion blogging and outfit of the day style posts for so long because they became easy. Simple to do and simple to post about - an easy formula of a few photos and a couple of sentences about the outfit. They started out from a place of excitement but they've turned into a bit of a cop out - an easy post so I feel like I've been "good" and updated my blog.
I used to get a lot of value and enjoyment from fashion blogging, but I wouldn't say I'm particular passionate about it anymore. I'm realising now that I want to step outside of this niche and share different posts about other things I'm interested in. Posts that I feel are helpful and that I'm actually proud of (and then maybe I won't feel so self conscious about my blog). I've always loved the "online diary" aspect of blogging - how it allows me to record moments in my life and be able to look back on them. The thing is, I want my blog to better reflect who I am
now
and my interests
now,
and that's shifted a little from what it was a few years ago.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy fashion - I like getting dressed up, I like putting together outfits (and I'll probably still do outfit posts here and there), but I'm not as obsessed with it as I used to be.
Over the past year or so I've become much more interested in simpler living and minimalism, pairing down my things and not embracing the constant need for more. I want to write more posts about that kind of thing as well as my other interests - new recipes I'm trying out, podcasts I've been enjoying, more posts about capsule wardrobes. (I feel much more comfortable with the title "capsule wardrobe blogger" compared to fashion blogger!)
Okay so this has been a long one, but it's been helpful for me to write down what I've been thinking. Well done if you got to the end, and I hope you'll like the new content that will be coming soon!
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx
The Liebster Award
The other week I was lucky enough to be nominated for the Liebster Award by not one, but two lovely bloggers -
and
, so thank you so much!
The post would be a little bit lengthy if I answered all their questions, so instead I've picked my favourites from each of them. Hopefully you guys don't mind!
A little background - I did a bit of googling, and apparently "Liebster" is a German word meaning beloved/kind/dearest/sweetest, and the The Liebster Award is a way of giving newer bloggers, or those who maybe haven't had as much recognition as they deserve a little bit of love. It's a great way to find out more about them, as well as a great way to discover some new blogs to read!
The Liebster Award rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link them in the post
2. Answer the questions provided by your nominator
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers, all with under 200 followers, and link them in the post also
4. Create 11 new questions for your nominees to answer
5. Notify all your nominees through a form of social media, such as leaving a comment on their most recent blog post
Okay - let's jump into the questions!
1. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
I'm not sure about what my absolute favourite thing is, but I just enjoy the chance it gives me to be a little more creative, and I find the whole blogging process in general really fun. I like coming up with different ideas, taking photos, putting posts together and just making my little corner of the internet as pretty (and hopefully inspiring) as possible.
At the moment my blog is mostly my "style diary" and very outfit-post heavy because these are the easiest and quickest posts for me to put together, but I have so many different ideas that I'd like to include on here (recipes, beauty, more general lifestyle content) so I really need to make the time to blog more!
2. If dying your hair had no effect, what colour would you go?
Pink! (but probably not all over, just the ends!)
3. If you could share one piece of advice, what would it be?
Be kind to people and try not to judge anyone... you never know what's going on in someone else's life. This is something I've particularly realised lately.
4. Summer or Winter
?
Summer... always summer
Everything's just that little bit easier, simpler, more relaxed and generally just more fun!
5. What are your goals for 2015?
There are a few but the main one is to not let worrying about what people think stress me out and stop me from doing what I want to do.
I also want to read more and learn at least one new song on the ukelele (a recent hobby). There are others but I don't really feel like putting those on the blog right now :)
6. If everything was free for a day, which five shops would you visit?
A tricky one, but off the top of my head -
(they have such beautiful pieces),
,
,
(I am a stationery nerd!) and Chanel - I don't think I'll ever own a Chanel bag, but maybe if everything was free?? hehe... a girl can dream :)
7. Favourite hobby?
In the past few years blogging has worked it's way up as one of my favourites, but if I had to choose just one it would be reading. There's nothing more relaxing than curling up with a good book and getting lost in another world. I used to constantly have my nose in a book but I don't read nearly as much as I would like to these days!
8. What's your favourite book?
It's way to hard to pick just one so I'm going to list off a few that I've loved and that are sitting on my bookshelf -
Harry Potter
(of course),
The Obernewtyn Chronicles
by Isobelle Carmody,
An Equal Music
by Vikram Seth,
The Silent Shore
by Ruth Elwin Harris,
The Happiness Project
by Gretchen Rubin,
Northern Lights
by Phillip Pullman. I recently finished reading
A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness and that was pretty good too!
9. Favourite Album of 2014?
Taylor Swift's 1989
10. Who is the most important person (or people) in your life?
My family, Tom (my boyfriend) and my best friends (stereotypical answer, but it's true!)
11. Where in the world do you want to visit?
There are so many places, but I think the next place I want to visit is Scandinavia
My Nominations
(I mostly went off Bloglovin stats so I'm sorry if you have more than 200!)
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
My Questions:
1. Why did you start blogging?
2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?
3. Favourite TV shows?
4. What cheers you up if you've had a really bad day?
5. If you could only eat one type of food for the rest of your life what would it be?
6. If you could meet anyone (dead or alive), who would it be?
7. A quote you love?
8. Your guilty pleasure?
9. What song best describes you and your personality?
10. What is your favourite post that you've written? (and link it if you can)
11. If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
Also I just wanted to mention that I got the picture up the top from the beautiful blog
. I didn't nominate her because she just recently did a liebster award post but I wanted to mention her anyway! Also just a quick mention to
who nominated me for a Liebster Award ages ago and I never had the chance to do it!
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx