Motivation...

Hipstamatic 365

Starting a post with some positivity is much more exciting and interesting compared to a moan. I find a lot of people including myself can be quite negative. We don't want to see ourselves fail and we complain about it because we think that we will get some sympathy. On some scale, that is ok but if we do it all the time and complain about the same things, it then gets boring.

I can drift on a tangent quite often but I believe that you can have transferable thoughts that can relate to any kind of interest and body of work. It's life. Everyone loses motivation sometimes, particularly if a project we are working on is falling behind, it can be easy to give up, sometimes we just lose interest and want to work on a new project.

I came to writing this post wanting to be more true to myself and to be more positive but in the back of my mind I was writing about how I was going to give up my Hipstamatic 365 project, just because I had hit a few stumble blocks. I have missed about a week in total and I thought to myself that it wouldn't be a 365 project if I hadn't got 365 photos. So what?! I have been trying to tell myself that every photo won't be fantastic and a work of art but what I want to create at the end, won't matter if they are in such a state. The fact is that I would have been more determined and carried on through the rough moments that simply reflect life itself. Challenges are difficult, they are not supposed to be easy and they acquire effort. For too long I have been trying to skip round the effort pole just so I achieve things the easy way when really I would feel like I would have achieved something more if I spent more time on it. I need to get out there and take more photos rather than sitting around hoping that these pictures will find me.

At the beginning of the year, my aims were take photos everyday of the year and select the twelve best ones to present in a slideshow. I may still do that, however I thought a large collage would be more exciting instead. This project is about the bigger picture rather than the individual pictures that I am living through.

Once you have achieved then you can celebrate.

And what a better way with my latest Hipstamatic photos and indulgences from the week before last.

Hipstamatic 365

Hipstamatic 365

Hipstamatic 365

Venice, Coloured Film and Tourist to Professional Holiday Photos...

colour film
Venice (2012)

colour film
Venice (2012)

colour film
(Venice 2012)

Venice is beautiful. I'm a lover of Italy and I have travelled to various famous cities that include Rome and Florence.  There is something about the reddish hue in the landscape and the buildings, that really fascinates me and that it would look stunning through the slight enhancement of coloured film. I use a pretty standard coloured film of 36 exposures with an ISO varying from 200-400 that you can get from somewhere like Jessops or other photography shops. The problem with film is that it is running out, the is less and less of it these days and comes at a price. I think it is important that have a purpose for it. Earlier this year I remember thinking how I was going to take a single roll of film on my next holiday and to try and capture subjects that were not so tourist and were more unique and professional. However I think every person with a camera wants to make their shots interesting and professional as possible, whether they want to get involved with the industry or not.  As I have mentioned before: Everything has been done before and ideas have been created before. 

The fact that I made conscious effort of deciding what I wanted to capture rather than just going 'Oh that looks nice' was what differs the amateur to the professional. The first photo I took is of the water's wake frothing in an almost solid form which I thought looked rather beautiful. I also liked that I was at a lower angle compared to be high up on a cruise ship, looking down at the 'V' . I then found that once I had taken that picture, it gathered interest from my family and they started taking pictures of this scene too. That had selfishly frustrated me a little because I didn't think they were really thinking about what they were taking and they had merely imitated my ideas. The amateur photographer is at lust with their scene. They look into the camera and feeling instantly attracted to this sight, ignoring all else in the frame apart from their chosen subject. Once they press the button, the scene is captured, they move onto another, before being re-aquainted with that scene on their home computer screen, giving it a blank look, feeling forgetful that they took that picture in the first place. 

It doesn't mean to say that enthusiasts and professionals don't have this problem too. It just means that they can handle the situation better, probably capturing more what they want too then what they don't. 

I have tried my best and some of my photos, yes do have those tourist qualities but I was a tourist as well as a photographer. Afterall, we are always learning. 

Midsummers day thinking

Burano, Venice
2012

It felt like I was writing one of my early posts, when I wrote this one. There weren't many of my pictures, but only the thoughts of photography that were going through my mind. I have plenty planned for this blog as I continue to upload 35mm work and discuss the difference of snap shots and real works of art. I also have a few weeks worth of my Hipstamatic 365 project to upload and justify why I haven't been keeping up with it as much as I should have done and how I have been trying to promote my blog to the industry and realising that this blog is more of a personal documentation of my photographic journey rather than a showcase of my work. This blog is a mixture of things of photographs and words that I want to share with the world and I'm grateful for all the views that I get. Thank you. 

It's usually the big things that we like to put off and sometimes that is because it may scare us. Many people have finished their exams this week or perhaps left school, or like me, finished university for the year. If we are not working, then we have a summer holiday. I remember back in the day six weeks would go on forever and the colours of these summer memories were highly saturated with echoes of laughter and pretend games in the garden with a the water sprinkler. As a got into my teenage years I realised that I didn't do those things as much anymore and I would sit around watching TV, which then moved onto sitting around at my computer all day. Looking back, it kind of feels like I wasted that time, those few summers but I wanted to relax, chill and do nothing for change.

With the 'Freshman' year over, the reality of what summer is until you are getting on sixty-five, is that you have to work. As a growing photographer, work experience is extremely important. It gives you an idea of where you want to go and what you want to achieve. I have an Industry Experience module next year which can begin at any time from now. I've been gathering my ideas and looking at possible opportunities and writing that all important CV. There is so much to do, as well as organising yourself and planning your work placement independently and that feels really grown up.

I have been on my summer holiday abroad this year already and there was definitely that sense of relaxation and freedom from life back home, but I always find that I am a home bird. There comes a time in a holiday where I am ready to get back because there are things that I need to do and people that I care about, and all that builds up as a stress and anxiety. It drizzles away once I work through each to-do but this is what life is going to be like. It is going to be busy and it's going to be full of decision-making and working through summer. I get more time off being a student than I ever did a school-student but somehow with much more work, the less time I really have off.

The future is unknown and that is probably the scary part. If you believe in yourself, you will go where you need to go. It's not always so straightforward and sometimes you will have to double-back on yourself and re-think your options but it's much better to say you have achieved something than sitting around wasting your time.

Most people have a dream, some people may have not recognised this yet but if you want something, you should go and get it. Go with that dream as far as it may take you. It won't be a waste of time.

Jubilation, June 2012

Best of British
Zoë Bull

I hope everyone had a fantastic Jubilee Weekend.
It is not often that a monach will reign for 60 years and I felt that celebrating the Queen bought everyone together. Many villages, towns and cities all over the country had street parties and tea parties with bunting hanging from building to building and even on homes. My family had a discussion about this said and agreed that it was like a massive Christmas, New Year, Village Fete, Last Night of the Proms celebration that was all about being British and feeling proud to have a monarch like the Queen. I particularly enjoyed the concert, though I know others may have enjoyed the boat pageant or when the red arrows zoomed across Buckingham Palace as the Queen smiled.  There was something for pretty much everyone to enjoy.

I took some pictures over the weekend that signify what being British means to me, in addition to developing my Lightroom Skills.

Best of British
Zoë Bull

Best of British
Zoë Bull

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/