This is the second part of my last shoot with Jac from Tip Top Hair Design and Steve Bond Images. If you'd like to see the first set of images, you can do so here. I know it's very different to my usual style but it's always fun to try something new.

For my birthday last year my brother bought me an assortment of vintage magazines. Among them are a lot of different war publications but my favourite is this issue of Illustrated from November 1947, all about the royal wedding. I have a similar modern magazine from when Kate and Wills got married so it's nice to make the comparison. I've photographed some of my favourite sections of the magazine so I hope you enjoy perusing it.



One of my favourite parts of this magazine are the adverts. I really like seeing the pictures as well as how many brands are still around today.



I love this section below showing the different ways people were trying to get a glimpse of the royal couple. Some of these are very inventive! I must remember to fashion a makeshift periscope out of a shooting stick and a mirror next time I need to see over a crowd.











Look at the bridesmaids' dresses! So pretty with all that lace.



And more vintage adverts to finish off. Of all of these I'm most surprised to find an advert for Tampax appearing here. I had assumed it was a much more modern brand.



I hope you've enjoyed having a look at this magazine. At some point I may share some of the other magazines from the stash, but I haven't yet decided whether they will really appeal to my main audience here as they're not fashion or women's magazines. If you are in fact interested in seeing some of the reporting on the war then do let me know and I'll share.

I'm always fascinated by derelict buildings. I don't know if this counts as urbex strictly speaking as these buildings aren't in the city (does that make a difference?). They are mostly derelict industrial buildings of some sort, obviously with the exception of the houses in the last photo. I am ever so curious to know what is inside the ones that were completely boarded up, and why they're not in use any more.

**I did not enter any of the buildings to take these photos. Photos of interiors are taken through windows.**

Today we went for a walk in some bluebell woods, and I used it as an opportunity to take this new skirt for a spin. I'm very proud because I made it myself and it came out really pretty well overall. It's just a simple gathered skirt made out of what I believe is an original 1960s or 70s fabric that my mum was given by my granny. I have another skirt that I made myself which I haven't had the opportunity to photograph yet but this one is better. I'm slowly improving even though it's all a little bit trial and error but at least this is one sewing success. I've also got a little bit of knitting on the go, so it's all creative for me at the moment.

I really enjoyed seeing all the pretty bluebells; it's a wonderful feature of certain English woodlands this time of year. Some of them are much more dense than this one (although I think they're not all out yet so there might be more coming out here soon). I kind of wished I'd been dressed like a beautiful elf maiden; this woodland was just crying out for a fantasy photoshoot of some sort.












I also posted the following image on Instagram recently when I wore the skirt for work. I really like it with the polo neck and brown shoes for something a bit different.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Apr 25, 2017 at 5:16am PDT