Blog Spring Cleaning

It has only just started to feel like Spring here in Sydney…but in 10 days it will be SUMMER! Anyway, I decided it was high time I did a little spring clean, as it were, on the blog. I’ve had that uneasy feeling at the back of my head that I’ve let things go on a bit long that really need fixing, and so I’ve started to rectify this.

Links

When I migrated from blogger to WordPress, a lot of my fixed pages (obviously) still had links to my blogger blog. I finally fixed this. My contact lens reviews, outfit posts, tutorials, alternative designers, Japanese nightlife posts…all were gone through so they now link to the posts in THIS blog. Good.

Then I decided I need a few more pages that showcase other things I write about…and one glaring omission was Japanese or Tokyo Fashion. I’ve now created a page for my posts in this area (which of course I’ll be adding to and keeping updated!)

Next up?

Photography

I’m very aware that the quality of  my outfit posts in particular, needs to improve.  I need to get out of the rut of standing in front of the white front door. Or, in Tokyo, the pictures-in-the-mirror with my big DSLR in front of me (it’s really hard in tiny hotel rooms to take pics, OK?)

Co-incidentally, I discovered some posts from Sidewalk Chalk dealing with this very thing.

OK, so many of the locations mentioned in her post “6 Perfect Photo Locations that are right in front of you” are laughable for a city slicker like me (the woods? a farm? railroad tracks? someone just got killed on the tracks near me recently so I won’t be trying that one!) 

However, it is the trying of new places that inspired me – a concrete parking  station could be a go, for example. Other places I thought of – the Park near my house, the lawn in my own apartment complex, graffiti’d walls nearby, Sydney university lawns and buildings, the historical hospital nearby, even the graveyard up the road – could all lend more interest visually.  Then, my problem will be getting over my fear of being seen while taking the pics.

Of course, my big problem is that my best outfits are worn out to clubs, and by definition it is night-time and my husband and I are just about to head out the door! So I don’t have an answer to that one, except we need to buy a house, and one with more rooms! (I fully intend to have a room that is purely a walk-in dressing room, so perhaps that can be something to aim for).

Posing in photographs

Again, JoAnn has tips in her post “7 steps for posing naturally in photos” that are tremendously helpful. Go read the post! It’s great!! But basically, apart from saying you should really get to know your camera, she suggests things like leaning on something or using a prop – so your hands have something normal to do, rather than just hang. Using movement was another good tip…walk away from the camera, jump, dance…or my own personal fave that I tried once was Alicia’s ‘platform booties in the air’ pose 🙂 I also lie down on my couch or the floor sometimes…tricky but more interesting than the door shot!

Kasmira of “What I Wore Today” gave a good little rundown of camera-related tips to help with indoor shoots – another good read.  And quintessential is the post by Jennine:  “How to take your own outfit photos”

So hopefully, I’ll be taking more interesting outfit shots in future..especially once I get a remote control for the camera. Nothing beats a willing friend taking pics of you though, like this day in Shimokita with Utarou from Baal doing the creative photo angle 🙂

There are still a heap of things on the blog I’m working on, but I won’t bore you with them. I’ve also been trawling through my photos from Tokyo and Malaysia and beginning to write posts on them, before my memory fades too much! Especially with Tokyo, there’s more fashion & event related posts (and a few with food) coming your way.

What about you? What are the things you’ve been thinking of to spring clean your blog? (And what would you like to see more of, or less of, in this blog?)