Bunkfest [Day 3 of 3]

Finally the third day...

I sound like I didn't enjoy it, but the thing was I really did. It has been a long day and after taking photos and editing as many as I can before I goon holiday tomorrow is stressing me out a little. I am feeling negative.

Before I go on about the festival today I will show you how I felt this morning and my opinions about yesterdays photos.

"I'm going over and editing the photos. It is always a long process especially if you

have shot them in RAW. One thing I'm finding annoying is the same mistakes I have been making in

some other the pictures, now i can really see them. there may be a blurred hand or I hadn't

checked thed depth of field or when I have been focusing on taking a picture of one person, I've

cut half the guitar of another person. I'm feeling dissapointed with myself. I felt so happy

and proud yesterday I'm missed out some of the major details. I'm worried what the oraganiser

will think but I'm trying to use as many of the good ones as possible. Oh well, this what

pracice and learning is all about.

I just hope I can do better today and remember the details and check my camera. "

Yeah, I didn't feel too confident about how my photos would turn out today and I had some mixed views about my progress. I basically filled in any of the gaps I hadn't done yet, such as visiting live bands in pubs, I hadn't yet been to etc. I kept a close eye on my camera settings and made sure there wasn't any blurry pictures. I felt a did a good job as I was aware of those things. I even visited more of the interesting workshops that were set on my list and met some friendly people, who weren't at all photo-shy.

By all the means the experience was exciting and if I wasn't so tired then I could probably go on and on about my day. I think if you are not used to working it can be very over-welming and hard work on your body. I still think photography is what I want to do right now, the photo-editing though and just get a tad boring at times.

Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/

Bunkfest Festival...familiarity and contentment [Day 2 of 3]

It has been so refreshing this weekend, taking my own pictures with my own camera. I feel so at home.

Today was the second day of the Bunkfest festival and arriving this time made me feel more confident with what I had to achieve because of the familiarity I'd been met with yesterday.

I focused more on the afternoon and evening events as my main job was to capture the live bands in the pubs. No I didn't tie them to chairs, but you know what I mean from a Photography point of view.

There are many pubs around Wallingford so I knew there would have to be a bit organising going on. I am not the best organiser but before I headed out today I got a highlighter and underlined the things I needed to do and the pubs I needed to visit. Ha my job sounds so easy, but no alcohol was involved, sadly.

I began at the George Hotel, as there were workshops I had to take pictures. First off there was a music and song workshop, with a group of three people singing operatically with their soprano voices and telling the audience what there journey was to be a singer. To be honest I wasn't that interested and that comes from a person who sings everyday because she enjoys it so much. I was really expecting little children or early teens working together, writing and performing songs, hmm not so much. I didn't stay in there very long and got enough shots to prove evidence and then I headed out to the courtyard where the supposed to be dancers. (I saw no dancers) Instead there was a man dressed in Medieval attire with an unusual instrument - the name has slipped my mind. He was quite a character in himself and I found his music and comedy more intriguing than the previous workshop, as I got many photos of him.

Next there was a theatre group who told a story through change of costume etc. The acting was okay but I managed to get better photos.

Mid-way through the performance I decided I had enough and moved onto my next venue - the Old Post Office. To be confusing, it is now a pub, hence why it is called the "OLD" post office. There were a couple bands playing and as I was inside I had a practice at changing the ISO and figuring out the depth of field and aperture ( I still need work on that, where's Stuart when I need him?) Anyway, some of the shots came out a little blurred, due to the focus but after a while I got the hang of it and started moving around to get some interesting angles.

After the two bands, I continued on to the next pub (on the pub crawl), where me and the family had some burgers and chips for our dinner - yeah I brought them along to.

Soon after eating some groups were performing on the live stage outside in the garden. It was a lovely atmosphere and I started to feel really comfortable moving around, capturing the artists expressions and hardly a blur insight. I think the "press badge" is really working to feel more like a real photographer and I'm looking forward to showing the Stuart the photos once I have edited them.

The day ended when the battery of my camera went flat and the sun had just gone down. Now I have the happy job or cropping and tweeking.

I'll put some photos on again once they are done.

Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/

Bunkfest Festival...not quite a fancy wedding [ Day 1 of 3]

It is sometimes natural for me to think, because it is September, the weather should be over-cast, trees should be shredding their leaves and the atmosphere of England has generally headed out of Summer.

Instead it was a surprisingly warm day, perfect for the Bunkfest Festival in the historic town of Wallingford. I'm not going to go into the history of it (much like my mum would) but it is a really beautiful old fashioned town combined with its modern English elements.

I was there today as part of my work experience. It was the first time without Stuart, but he was busy at a bigger festival so he suggested the job to me. I felt that he trusted me enough to do a good job on the photos, which felt like big step for my career. Bunkfest is an annual event and Stuart has gone for a few years now, being included with photographers to capture the feeling of a festival and it's community. He got in contact with the orangisers, which sent me anemail with their desired Photo-wish list. There were about five other photographers listed with different jobs.

The event is set over three days which gives us the oppertunity to go all around the venues in Wallingford and support them with photos for their website.

Today was the warm-up day - the putting up of stalls etc. Though all the photographers had their jobs, we were able to go around and take pictures of visitors and the stalls. I was able to get some head-start practise for the weekend ahead.

As I am not a driver yet my parents accompanied me on this trip and made some effort to help me find my way around a suggest things to take pictures of. We went to one of the pubs where the some of the music acts were held, for a bit of lunch, andwe managed to bump into the main orangiser of the festival who allowed me to take his photo. After finishing my fish finger sandwhich, a group of three people arrived at the pub, playing music with violins and accordions. I managed to get some shots of them, which I was pleased with and it helped me see what I needed to capture over the coming days.

It is hard sometimes writing, recording what you have done over a day. Your mind remembers the main parts or the exciting parts and then it forgets the tiny details that connects one section of your day to another. Therefore I'm sorry if I jump from one thing to another.

I met some more people in the afternoon, running stalls and who asked to have their photos done. As well as learning how to use a camera properly and using techniques this work experience is helping me build my confidence with people. I can be very shy around new people and I know that photographers talk to people a lot. They have to be demanding and initiate conversations. There was one stall in the arts and crafts tent who had an interesting story about how they are recycling old things they don't want into new things. There was one bag that caught my eye. It was made out of old Whiskers packets (cat food) and had been weaved together which I thought was a very good idea for people who like cats. My mumhad previously been saying to me to talk to people and ask if they want their photos done for the Bunkfest website. I kept replying with "No, they don't want to talk to me, I don't want to bother them" but then I remembered that I had been given a "Press" pass when I arrived, which meant it was what they would have expected from me - this was my job. And with this stall the people were so friendly I managed to pluck up some confidence and they allowed me to capture them. It doesn't sound like a big thing to all you extraverts out there, but for an little introvert like me, it's a breakthrough.

I retired gently into the warm afternoon and felt like there wasn't much to take photograph until tomorrow. I will be based in the pubs with the music acts, but I'll go into more detail later.

What a way to spend a day at work... here are some photos from the days events.

Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/