BLOGONX: REFLECTIONS
I’m back and it’s all over for another few months until BlogOnToys is on the horizon in September. What can I say? It was amazing fun and over way too fast. BlogOn is the conference I wish lasted two days because, well, there’s no way you can do as much as you want to in one day. There are friendly brands, welcoming hosts and it’s by far the most sociable conference I’ve been to [and I’ve been to quite a few…. haha]. This year I traveled by train with my favourite local bloggers, Grace from Eats Amazing and Nicole from The Littlest Darlings and we managed to entertain quite a few people on the train during our four-hour trip straight through from Southampton to Manchester Piccadilly. When we arrived we did a bit of Primark shopping [Disney PJs for everyone!] and grabbed some lunch at Taco Bell because Grace and I had never eaten there before. We were pretty sure that there was some kind of scandal over the company in the USA but we were too interested in which sauce to have with our churros to remember and the staff were lovely. We caught up with some other very lovely bloggers including KatyKicker and PinkPearBear and headed for a few more shops [I panicked that I had forgotten my toothbrush], then met Le Coin De Mel and others to catch a taxi to Hotel Football for the launch party. I was sharing with The German Wife who for a change knew who her room buddy was [don’t ask!] and after unpacking, a group of us wandered lost until we found Wagamamas for something to eat before the Paladone Launch Party.
I always feel a bit odd walking into a party but luckily I’ve been in blogging for quite a few years and have met the loveliest people. I got hugs from so many friends, tried a gin cocktail and then remembered that I was speaking in the morning and hangovers aren’t the best for that, and so I took myself off to bed at around 10pm. I think I spent most of the party chatting and wondering who all of these other bloggers were because there was an exciting influx of unrecognisable faces. I wasn’t sure if they were money bloggers, food bloggers or new bloggers. Anyhow, after saying hello to as many people as possible, I headed to bed. Bedtime at will, no resistance from little people! Haha.
In the morning, I had my third shower since reaching the hotel [rainforest shower] and popped downstairs for the fastest made Eggs Benedict ever – which I am eternally grateful for. I inhaled them and ran back upstairs to get everything checked ready for my session which followed the keynote speaker like last time!
If you came to my session, it was lovely to see you all, and I’m so grateful to you all for not minding that due to the wonders of technology I ended up editing on the floor, and secondly that the red light made all of my children look as though they’d had their faces slapped by me. I promise that’s not how I get them to have their photograph taken 😉 I always try to genuinely tell you all as much as I can mainly because I get so tired of reading amazing session titles and turning up to discover it’s not what’s on the label and the presenter is guarding their content like it’s the last chocolate on earth.
If you weren’t in my session, I gave a whistlestop tour of Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw, did some live editing and showed you how you can make the most beautiful memories without losing your marbles in PS. And, as I promised in the session, if anyone needs any help, drop me a line!
Here are the rest of the slides from the presentation…
Hero, SOOC on the beach…
Hero, edited swiftly…
Hero edited with light flare overlay…
We spoke about how you can change the atomsphere of a photograph from a dull grey day to a warm, happy memory…
The original, overcast shot, taken to preserve highlights…
These are what some light flare overlays look like – don’t be scared!
We talked about other kinds of overlays – like the leafy one I used to fool my own mom into thinking I was some kind of timing genius…
And we also looked at my favourite kind of overlays, sky overlays.
I finally delivered this photo to Mel that I’ve promised her for a whole year… #editinggoals
Then we went on to talk about Photoshop actions and how NOT to use them…
And… for those of you who could see the half of my MAC that I’ve cracked and can’t see myself, here is “ItchyGav.psd”. We met so many of you at Paulton’s Park on the press launch and he was absolutely delighted to find out he has a new nickname 😉
After my presentation, I managed to fudge most of the day by talking to people and missing nearly everything I wanted to see. I did meet some very lovely brands downstairs and here, for those of you who didn’t make it to BlogOnX this year, or those of you who love to see this kind of thing, here is what I carried home in my suitcase…
The Toys
The Miscellaneous
The Stationery
Snopake were one of the brands I was excited to speak to – last year the stand was completely engulfed by excited stationery addicts and luckily I managed to find him in a rare minute of peace to try out and AMAZING fountain pen. A non-smudging pen that writes beautifully and is on my favourite things list. Speaking to the Director of Snopake was also lovely.
The Food
So now I’m home, with post-conference blues, and counting the days until BlogOn Toys!
