Making the most of your abilities...

The Olympic Park
Zoe Bull

Viewing the world on a television screen or even a camera screen is never quite the same as actually seeing the world for yourself. I spoke lightly on the subject on Monday, when I visited Buckingham Palace. I again, visited London yesterday to another iconic place that has been all over the television channels - The Olympic Park. It was fantastic.

I never imagined to be involved in watching the Olympics or Paralympics for that matter but the whole situation of it being in your own country (well, for us Brits) has made it so much more significant. I'd never heard of any of the athletes before August and now they have become like family names and you find yourself cheering after them, even if they don't belong to your country. How bizarre is that?! Brilliant though...

Those who have been to a Disney park in Paris, Hong-Kong, Florida or California may have felt the same feeling that my family and I did when we entered The Olympic Park; the family feel and the vibrant atmosphere of different cultures and the buzzing excitement of all the attractions. Maybe it represented the other kind of buzz...of Rugby and Football and entering their parks for those more masculine hardcore sporty types? Whatever feeling was present, it was certainly a positive one. 

Through a sea of people we queued to the nearest water fountains to fill our bottles and passed the cheery volunteers pepping us up in some (how I imagine) American style Pep Rally. They had that charisma! The one that some us Britons lack in polite yet cold reservation. 

It was exciting to wave the flags and clap until your hands went fizzy and your grin was about to take off once the biggest Mexican Wave I'd even seen filled the stadium with such a cheer. The athletes were phenomenal and as it was an Athletics session in the stadium, they weren't just running with sheer strength like the Olympians, they were turning the wheels on their custom made racing wheelchairs and running with prosthetic legs, throwing javelins at 3ft tall with sheer strength. It was incredible. Not to mention the Long Jump heats with some completely blind athletes who ran towards the sound of their Guide's clapping, jumping incredible lengths. It was out of the world. I feel a bit guilty to have missed it all in previous years because ALL the athletes in the whole London 2012 games have put so much effort into this. They get on with their lives despite being born without legs and losing an arm or being visually impaired and make us think "Why can't we be that strong?" and we can be. I feel that these people have motivated me to be a stronger person and that all these problems we think we have, are really nothing in comparison to what they could be.  

The Olympic View
Zoe Bull

Imagine not having any arms at all...   One swimmer didn't. And swam amazingly, just using her legs. 

Imagine we never know what it's like never to have been able walk, because you have been wheelchair  all your life or never been able to see the rich colours of life, to see your friends of families because your vision is darkness.

We take so much for granted, and when the fire from the Paralympic torch will be snuffed out like it was for the Olympics tomorrow, we may very well forget the strength and power of the disabled and focus selfishly on ourselves, our problems which we deem more important. 

I wouldn't have been able to write this post or take these photos if I hadn't the arms, hands and fingers to do so. You wouldn't have been able to read this post without the ability to see.  

Think About It.

Brownsea Island...

Red Squirrel 
Brownsea Island
Poole, England

Summer is always a time where day outings happen. Everyone wants to explore the sunshine covered country in it's rare moments. I went to Brownsea Island the other day. I wasn't expecting it to be much; National Trust and all. However once the clouds parted and a perfect combination of breeze and warmth came through, it was a lovely day in a picturesque set of woods and cute little beaches full of escapism and full blown wanderlust. Red squirrels are very rare in the UK, we don't have many, so it was great opportunity to see one and let alone capture one on camera. I must say, it wasn't easy and with a little clever focusing and a good deal of cropping, I'm quite impressed with my shot.

Dramatic Sky
Pool Harbour
Brownsea Island

Take a seat
Brownsea Island
Poole, England

Little Boat, Little Beach
Brownsea Island
Poole, England

Fairy woods
Brownsea Island
Poole, England

I feel I am really starting to get the hang of Lightroom. I can't get enough of those dramatic skies using the Graduation Tool and with a better understanding of the manual controls on my camera, I feel a great improvement from last year. 

Hipstamatic Summer...

I do love Summer and after much trying and pushing to keep up with my Hipstamatic 365 project, it simply wasn't working. I have, however taken a few pictures here and there to capture the summer of 2012 and rather bit them in a slideshow I decided to keep the text short overall for this post and let the pictures do the talking. 

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

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.

York on film...

York, United Kingdom (2012)

Would you have perhaps imagined that I took this picture using coloured film? It sure wasn't that long ago that cameras used film and you had a limit of 36 exposures. Technology has certainly developed over the years. I remember my childhood was captured on various film cameras and from time to time, selecting a wallet from the draw with a random date kind of just takes you back. I find coloured film nostalgic.

I never imagined York to be an old place, the photo above, says it all really, but even the roads were cobbled and mainly untouched by the modern man. It was a coincidence that I wanted to try out coloured film here. I had been using black and white HP5 film during my first two semesters at University, but other than the odd disposable camera, I had never used a proper coloured film with a proper film camera.

Black and white is one thing. It is very classic, very vintage and the grainy quality is one of a kind. I wondered if I would get such an effect with colour but I have found that once a print has been scanned, there is almost a clear-film like texture overlaying the image and I quite like it. It is what a photograph is supposed to look like, in my eyes anyway. I have learned over this year that photography is about truth and capturing what the eye can see, unlike in painting. However my style and my interest in photography is making the photographs a little different from what you see and I like this because it is almost like an escape to from the real world. You can take bits you like from them and make them richer or desaturate them and I guess from saying this that the digital world suits me very much, however I still love using film.

What I have found, also, when scanning in a film print is that if you don't deselect auto-exposure then that is how you get a more saturated image. In addition, by comparing the images below is that the auto-exposure image is more like the digital cameras of today. There is certainly more definition and more truthful to reality but it is the fact that anyone these days can take an image like that and it is the quality of the film that makes it unique.

scanned - straight from print
   (no alterations)

scanned - (+ auto exposure)

Not much of a difference?

foggy - natural

auto exposure - more definition

There is a subtlety but it depends on what you are looking for and how fussed you are. 

The great thing about photography, these days is that you can experiment to your hearts content. However new cameras and the progress of technology wouldn't have happened without experimentation in the first place. I believe it can get you far. 

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 [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/

on the way 'four'ward....

Almost a month later and I have completed my fourth wedding. It took place at Silchester and was a pleasant day.

The weather this week has been all over the place, raining cats and dogs, and Stuart and I were wondering if the weekend would be nice and sunny. For most of the day it was, which was good.

I met Stuart at his house at noon, with only some biscuits I ate in the car for a lunch, though I took some sandwiches with me. I didn't take my camera today as there hadn't been much point as I had been using Stuarts. When he saw me without it, he agreed, which was good because I imagined him saying just to bring it incase.

We firstly drove to the church where the wedding was being held in Swallowfield not too far from the reception venue.

The church was beautiful; flint work on the outside and a warm cream, statue carved interior. Maybe it is not exactly as elaborate as that but if you ever go there your expectations will be raised. We arrived early so we could get some pictures of the groom, best men and ushers. Naturally this was done round the back of the church with the men leaning casually on the wall and looking like good pals. I took in to account how, though it was a wedding how casual and relaxed poses and help reduce nerves and create a calm atmosphere.

All the brides posse arrived on a Horseman coach and there were a lot. The brides maids came in a car and were dressed head to toe in baby pink. I observed Stuart as he took their picture and the bride as she arrived in her ribboned BMW. Meanwhile I was to set up the tri-pod at the front of the church. Some guests had already come in and I felt proud that I was part of the setting up and made me feel like I was doing a useful job. Cheesy?

The service was on it's way and as normal, I stood at the back to capture any key moments. I also had a go at taking some photos of the bride as she came into the church - she was in focus, her dad wasn't...ahhhh ooops. Maybe pulling a face and biting my lip wasn't a good idea for the odd guests who were generally watching.

I managed to take some better photos during the ceremony but looking back I could have stood to in the centre of the aisle rather than cutting out half the left side. I felt like a real amateur photographer then, I wondered what Stuart would have thought once he got home and uploading the pictures. I still felt a bit embarrassed but how can I improve if I don't make mistakes? There is a lot of pressure to be that gets piled on with wedding photography. I was thinking this morning if this is really what I thought it would be. It's hard word. I have probably mentioned this before, but every job is hard, but I still feel I wouldn't enjoy a job quite like this.

There is huge nerve build up before the service - there is the bride to capture as she arrives, the groom and best men, the guests, making sure you have everything you need, there is plan, you are on time and so much more. Fortunately, Stuart was giving a few tips about this and was agreeing how there is a lot to think about. With three Canon's there are different set ups and they can easily be disrupted and changed, so there is that too think about as well.

He was also mentioning in the car, on the way to Silchester that it is best to give couples a realistic expectation of what they have ordered for the day. When a wedding is fairly local to Stuart he is able to take the photos, go home and then edit and give the couple one of pictures as a sample of the finished albums. If he were to set a high bar, then there would be more pressure to keep that status.

The day has been similar to all the weddings I have been to of course and I never want to repeat myself in a way that totally bores the mind. On a short note, there was a private photo shoot for the newlyweds (as normal). Stuart likes to experiment and try unique things such as on the outskirts of the ground there was some long grass, which we asked the bride to stand in and looks as if she was blowing in the wind. It was very elegant.

To finish off the day there were group shots and my mind wondered over the day and what I had learned. It was more theory than practical. Any practical aspect was already mentioned but we had a long talk about settings, editing and just being organised. You don't want to feel like you are bullying or nagging away to guests or the bride and groom to make them do things. You still have to be firm and direct in a polite and reasonable manner otherwise people will never do anything. That is what you are being paid for.

I'm still not being paid but I don't think I'm good enough yet. On the other hand there is a festival in Wallingford that I have been asked to do over next weekend(still unpaid). Stuart told me he can't make it as he is going to a higher paid festival on the same days. This will hopefully give me a chance to relax a bit and go at my own speed, taking photos of interesting and exciting things.

I am to look out for happy people, interesting stalls, music acts and basically illuminate the a village festival feel. I also need to remember to change my camera settings too at least ISO 1000 to get enough light for the night time acts.

That is pretty much what I have to say today, as I will be going to my fifth wedding shoot tomorrow.

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/