House Beautiful Magazine visits The Digital Iris

Saturday was a very exciting day in the Digital household ~ we spent the day doing a photo shoot with House Beautiful Magazine for a feature about the refurbishment of our living room.

I really didn't know what to expect from the experience, and if I'm honest I felt a little nervous about the whole thing. I was going to be interviewed and photographed for a major interiors magazine ~ what was I going to say? What were they going to take pictures of? What was I going to wear?

But my fears soon disappeared when the lovely stylist (Bethan) and photographer (Penny) arrived and immediately put me at ease with their down-to-earth friendliness.

I was of course very interested in Penny's camera equipment and in seeing how she worked from the shot to her laptop to make the most of the room (and me!) and select the best images. She used a kind of mini tent on a tripod to house the Mac and allow her to see the pictures she'd taken more easily by reducing external light sources. I was quite surprised at how little kit she brought with her, only really using a light reflector for a couple of shots. This was mainly due to the small size of the room and the fact that the large bay window in the room gives quite good natural light.

After each batch of shots, Penny transferred the pictures from her memory card to the Mac and we reviewed them together to make sure they were good enough quality and fitted the brief that the magazine had given Bethan ~ they had asked for a list of specific shots (wide angles, details, me(!) and so on).

Bethan brought a number of 'props' with her to help dress the room, including a lovely bunch of flowers. The props also included a packet of choccie biscuits, which we managed to polish off between us in a fairly short space of time ~ this was becoming my kind of photo shoot!!

When it came to the 'owner' shots (the moment I had been dreading!), at first I found it a bit difficult to relax and be natural ~ you don't normally have someone pointing a huge lens at you when you're sitting on your sofa, even in the Digital household! But with Bethan's help, smiling and chatting to me, we managed to pull off some pretty good pictures which we were all happy with. I was really glad that they were both open to me seeing the shots and saying if I didn't like them ~ imagine having a totally awful photo of yourself end up in an article which might be seen by 200,000+ people!!

By the end of the day we were all chatting away like old friends. Social media contacts and blogs were exchanged, and I hope to go along to the 2013 Blognic next month, where I'll meet other London bloggers.

After Penny had taken all the shots she needed, there was a short interview with Bethan for the article, to talk more about how we planned the room and the inspiration behind it. From her notes she'll write the copy to accompany Penny's pictures in the magazine.

All being well the feature should be appearing in the October 2013 edition of House Beautiful Magazine (on sale in early September), so watch that space!

This Week, Digitally

These last few days I've been...

 
Experimenting //
...with alternative ingredients. Here's a tasty recipe for Cauliflower Crust Pizza ~ it's delicious, I promise!
 
Buying // 
...denim cut-offs, even though it's been freezing in London!
 
Planning //
...an outfit for Saturday, when House Beautiful magazine is coming to photography my living room for a feature later this year ~ exciting!

Wondering //
...about the best places to buy vintage tea cups for crafting these ideas. If you have any tips, let me know!

Pinning //
...furiously!  Check out my latest boards here.
  

 

Favourite Links this Week

8 tips for maintaining original blog content
Michelle from My Creative gives the lowdown
  
Crazy Art
Check out how Adam makes & photographs planets from old fire hydrants ~ weird!

Free Film Festivals
Who knew there were so many?

20 reasons to give yoga a try
I'm already converted ~ could you be?

Blue hour photography
Inspiring pictures from that special time of day

8 photo projects to do at home
No need now to even get out of your PJs this weekend!

Enjoy the weekend, catch you later! ♥
 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I've seen a couple of similar recipes for this recently and was curious about them, so thought I'd give it a whirl.

A low-carb and gluten-free alternative to a traditional bread-based pizza base, this recipe uses a mixture of grated cauliflower, soft cheese and egg. You may be thinking 'yuck!' at this point, but actually it tastes pretty good! This is a great way to use cauliflower and get it away from being boiled and boring or drowning in cheese sauce...

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

 

Makes 1 medium-large pizza

For the crust
1 medium-sized cauliflower, grated
100g goat's cheese (the creamy, spreadable kind)
1 egg
Salt & pepper

For the topping
I like pesto or sundried tomato paste, topped with grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers, grated cheese (any kind you like) and fresh basil to finish.

 

1 Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and grease a baking tray.

2 Remove the outer leaves of the cauliflower and grate it as finely as you can ~ I blitzed mine in the food processor.

3 Add the grated cauliflower to a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve or colander to remove as much water as you can.

4 In a bowl, mix the grated cauliflower with the cream cheese and egg, and season.

5 Pour the mixture into a circular shape on the baking sheet and pat down to make it about 1-1½cm thick. Don't worry if it seems rather runny ~ it will firm up when cooked! Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until golden.

6 While the crust is baking, prepare your toppings.

7 When the crust is done, add the toppings. I like to add the basil at the very end after cooking.

8 Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes at 220C/450F/Gas Mark 8 until the toppings are cooked to your liking.

I found it a little tricky to get the pizza off the baking tray at first ~ it seemed to be a bit stuck ~ but a little easing with a plastic slide and it eventually came away in one piece.

 

If you're looking for a way to increase your veg intake, you're gluten intolerant or you'd prefer something a little less heavy and bready to regular pizza, this is a perfect alternative ~ I'll definitely be making it again.

Do you have any 'alternative' recipes for favourite dishes?

 

Boden, Blogging & Bubbly!

Very excitingly, last week I was invited to attend the Press Day preview of Boden's Autum/Winter 2013 collection at Somerset House in London. Would I come along and blog? You betcha!! It's one of my favourite fashion brands: how could I refuse?

It feels a bit like autumn in the UK at the moment, when it is in fact supposed to be spring, so it really was no hardship to pop along to Somerset House and spend an evening perusing rails of delicious outfits which will be on sale before we can say 'Where's the barbeque?' and we're back in our winter coats again.

The new collection is an eclectic mix of patterns ~ lots of stripes and spots still around ~ and colours ~ a mix of neutrals and gorgeous pops of lipstick pinks, aqua blues and mustard yellows. All of course in the great quality that we've come to know and love from Boden. Quite a lot of fabric stroking went on over the course of the evening!

Loving this chunky grey knit...

And these cute shoes!

Somerset House provided a lovely setting for ooing and ahhing over all these lovely things...

 

Gorgeousness was everywhere you looked!

 

 And a glass or two of bubbly didn't go down that badly either!

 Each room was brilliantly styled ~ especially Boden kids collection ~ such fun and great colours

Crafty, cool and a touch retro ~ right up my street!

All in all, a great way to spend an evening ~ camera in one hand, champagne glass in the other ~ and a chance to start cherry picking my Autumn/Winter wardrobe: what more could a girl ask for? I'm just glad nothing was for sale, or there might just have been a credit card mash up before the end of the night...

~ With special thanks to Boden ~

 

This Week, Digitally

These last few days I've been...

 
Learning //
...more about social media ~ I'm picking up some great tips on Home of Social's courses, currently running at my workplace
 
Selling // 
...posh junk in the countryside! I blogged about it here
 
Getting excited //
...about a couple of events coming up ~ a fashion preview and an interiors shoot ~ watch this space!

Watching //
...The Apprentice on BBC1 ~ compulsory, cringe-making viewing

Tweeting //
...you can catch up with me here
  

 

Favourite Links this Week

Panoramas
Search for 360 degree views from around the world
  
Bluebells
A round-up by the National Trust on the best UK locations to see carpets of blue this spring

Cinemagraphs of crowds
See if you can spot the solitary figure sneakily moving in these photo stills

What Ali wore
A tongue-in-cheek look at one gent's daily outfits ~ fun if you like 'What I wore'-style blog posts!

Tips for improving your food photography
Yep, I'm into this!

How to organise a photowalk
Maybe this'll be my next thing?

Same view, different season
Photographer & colleague Raphael takes us through a year in Regent's Park ~ I love this kind of photo project



Hope you've had a good week ~ Happy weekend! ♥
 

A Girl's Guide to Selling Posh Junk

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that we headed off to the countryside for the holiday weekend. My parents live in rural Gloucestershire and every year around May Day they hold a fair at the Village Hall. Last week I received an email from my Dad, asking if Mr DI and I, as we were going to be around over the weekend, would mind helping out a bit. Ok I said, why not? What were we to be doing? Running a stall he said, let's call it posh junk. Images of interesting and covetable vintage items popped into my head. The reality turned out to be more like selling posh people's junk, but it was all great fun, we enjoyed a lovely sunny day and made a tidy profit for Village funds to boot.

So here's my guide to selling posh junk, village-style...


1. Get up bright and early, you might be unexpectedly rewarded for your trouble...

2. Chat to the locals a bit before you get started, it's important to get them on side

 

 

3. If the sun's out, get yourself some shade ~ this umbrella was supposed to be for sale! And you need something to put your takings in ~ a pint mug (also from the stall) worked well for us

 

 

 

4. Make sure you have a good view, for those times when business is a little slower. We had the table tennis and skittles in front of us, and I kept a close eye on the bottle stall with my long lens!

 

 

 

5. Make sure you grab a bit of time to check out other stalls ~ I bought myself a good amount of wool for an absolutely bargain ~ and of course eye up the best stuff on your own stall: just check out this old washboard and pretty tea flask ~ I won't mention who ended up packing those into her car at the end of the day!

 

 

6. Keep yourself properly fuelled up ~ it's hard work this stallholder business ~ tea, cake and perhaps an ice cream or two are essential! 

 



By the end of the day we had sold a fair bit of our junk ~ posh and otherwise ~ including a trouser press, which I thought no-one would ever want! I really enjoyed chatting to the people who came to see our wares and listening to them talking to each other, reminiscing over items they or their family used to have years ago, or speculating about what things actually were...

As the afternoon came to an end, people slowly began to make their way home, warmed by the sun and the atmosphere of the day. I'd happily do it again, and now have thoughts of my own little market stall bubbling along somewhere in the back of my mind. 

Have you ever manned a stall? What were you selling and what did you enjoy most about the day?