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. 

2011 - My year in Flickr photos...

I write my most philosophical and reflective posts at this time of year. A lot can happen in twelve months. You meet new people and build new friendships and if you are lucky, ones that last a lifetime. You can begin a career, or take the baby steps towards that big goal that you know will make you and everyone who knows you, proud.

I have come some way over this year with my photography and though I have mentioned some of my achievements in some of my recent posts; I can't help but relive them in my mind and the influence that those achievements will have when the bigger picture comes in to sight. 

In the last few days of the year, I look over what I have done. I like to keep journals and blogs as such, as a reminder or what I have done, what I have thought and what I have felt, but not only that. I like to see what I have done on certain days that I may have done differently in other years or write about new experiences or even life-changing ones like starting University and really knowing what it is like to grow up. 

I don't always write about Photography in a direct way but you will know that I gift-wrap it in somewhere. You can record many memories in many ways. This can be through writing, through song, through video but sometimes it can be the pictures that we take, whether they are captured with our minds eye, or through a camera. I'm an owner of a few cameras now and each one that I look through; I get a different experience. We can look at the same thing but our minds place a different significance on it, no matter how similar we could argue against it, but it is the same world, and that is what I find interesting. 

Since 2008, I have been a Flickr member. Each year, I create a Set and fill all my pictures I have uploaded from that year and review them at the end. I would like to share with you my photos of 2011. 

I wish you a very happy new year. 

Commuting through pictures and video...

Beautiful Sun (morning commute) a video by brown_eyed_dreamer on Flickr.

Did a bit of videography on my commute, one beautiful morning this week. ( You will have to mute the audio from this post to watch this one if you watch this from the homepage)

The song is called Gravity Happens, by American singer and (One Tree Hill) actress, Kate Voegele.

My theme of commuting continues in my first print of my Digital Photography portfolio.

Photography by Zoe Bull 

First semester of University - Over. It seems very surreal and so grown up and sophisticated. I have definitely felt that I have grown up over 2011, but only in the work side. I think I will always be a child inside. 

I will always have the story to tell of how I fell in love with photography. It was yesterday when I was presenting my Digital and Film prints to my course, that I actually fell in love with Photography. Before, it was most likely a Lust or Infatuation - certainly an obsession that I couldn't do much with. It was the day after I left school that I felt this overwhelming lust for it. I had no knowledge of where to go or let alone use a Digital SLR or a 35mm camera. The fact that I have learned so much about Photography in just a few months has made me get to know it and therefore fall deeply and head-over-heels in love with it. They say you can not love a person unless you really know them. I definitely go by that but we are all infatuated to begin with. I feel now that I can start building my skills on a higher level. I am ready to progress and feel so determined to get a career out of this because this is what I want. Photography is what makes me happy. I have never really thought of it as a hobby, but I guess it is. I have always seen it as a little more than that, and now more than ever, I feel like I can work hard and eventually get to being a true professional. 

I shall end this post with a few words of wisdom from Kate, that I find more than inspiring. 

"..I have gathered that the moments that shaped me
Were the ones that have tested my faith
And all that matters is the courage they gave me
I fell down and my fears were erased

'Cause in the wreckage of heartache and hindsight
A new beginning starts to unfold
And if you let it, it just might save your life..."

                                                                -- Kate Voegele, Gravity Happens 

Prague Through Pictures... - My Refections

Desire for a perfect life is simply inaccurate. Not everything we do in life has pointed us to the right track or the right direction, as much we try to take the best route. We make mistakes and we learn from them. Like many, I don't like the feeling of regret. Maybe some people do, but to me it feels so wrong, but in the long run, it is something we learn from. Life is for Living but it is also for Learning.

Trams of Prague (November 2011)

I had a regret the other day for going to Prague during the mid weeks of the just gone November. I regret pushing myself too hard and making myself ill, but the thing was that I am learning from my mistake and therefore no longer regret it. I had to be ill so I could be better; not just in my general health but in my well being and how I look and approach life. Though I didn't get out what I wanted to that month to go, I have managed to appreciate that I was given an experience. An experience to visit a new place and enjoy my youth with many like minded creative people on the Photography and Film courses of my University. It was a chance to bond and feel accepted in a thriving society. I also was given the opportunity to capture the significant parts of my stay on my camera. And that, made it personal.

Without further ado:My Top Photos of Prague.

Architecture of Prague (November 2011)

Prague (November 2011)

Prague (November 2011)

Center of Prague (November 2011)

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/

The Lovely Linda...

Linda McCartney was an inspiration.

I have just been reading and admiring the Photographs of late wife of Sir Paul McCartney in the tribute book 'Linda McCartney, Life in photographs" in a cosy little bookshop in Prague. In hope to pass some time, after my trip to the National Museum (was quicker than I would have thought) I stumbled across some books in English, that happened to be on Photography. While flicking through a book on Portraits, I noticed in the corner of my eye familiar face and recognisable photograph of my favourite Beatle and Musician, Paul McCartney. With a large interest in his music and the man behind the persona, I have started to take more interest into his first wife who was one of the first female photographers to go about her own. I found this inspiring. I felt I was loosing my way a bit. Was I big enough for this but I feel more secure now. Using 35mm film made this book more exciting for me. Linda certainly has a special way of taking photographs and capturing the emotion beyond a subject. She described photography to her as an "inner thing". If she felt the need to "click " then she would. I see where was coming from. Absolutely!

I am picky with what I take. It has to have some value to me. My family often say "Why don't you take a picture of that?" and I would simple say "..because I don't want to". Photographers want to photograph the unique aspects of life or even taboo subjects at a different angle - Their Angle.

Prague is very unique and as part of a brief; we are not allowed to take tourist shots; the pictures everyone takes of the same statue or landmark and so on.

Photography is certainly about finding yourself, Linda mentioned something along the lines of this in her book. Paul said that "Photography was an extension of Linda's personality and I feel that is an extension of mine.