Celebration..

Celebration 'First Anniversary'
Summer Project
Zoë Bull

Celebration is a word that can be many things. 2012 is a perfect year for celebration, particularly for us Brits. It was simply fate that the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics were to fall this year. If you set those large scale celebrations aside, there will always be someone out in the world celebrating something. Everyday there is a birthday to celebrate or an achievement, like passing your exams and getting into University or passing your driving test or getting a promotion in your dream career. As people we take for granted what we have and focus all our energy on the negative because thats what we want to improve on. Perhaps it is time we celebrate that we are living and that this is the greatest gift of all, no matter what our emotions are telling us.

It was hard to find something that would represent celebration that didn't seem so cliche. I wonder how many people would have taken pictures of fireworks or the Union Jack bunting for their celebration piece for the Summer Project for Uni. My sister got married a year ago, and since I didn't have a present for them, I did a double whammy and took this for her and her husband.





Visit my second phase of of Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoebull/

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. 

Absorb and observe...Hindu Wedding

It's almost every girls dream to put on that white dress, feel like a princess for the day and walk an aisle to be re-united with the man that has chosen her to marry. That is how Christian weddings go but over this last weekend, I saw two weddings with a completely different arrangement and culture and that was simply fascinating. 

I have stepped up my work experience to assist some Hindu weddings over the next few weekends. Going back 3500 years, many marriages were arranged and the groom would not meet his bride until they were about to be wed. The tradition follows in the same line but with a more relaxed approach where the couple can choose each other, but will be separated by a white sheet until the bride reaches the groom under the Mandap. This is a small covered area held up by pillars where the ceremony takes place (image below taken before the ceremony) It is considered very holy and therefore people under Mandap must not wear shoes, showing their respect to Lord Vishnu. The ceremony is spoken in Sanskrit 'the world's most ancient surviving language' (according to the wedding programme given out on the Sunday ceremony.)

Mandap

Not only is this arrangement different but rather than taking half an hour going straight to the vows and 'I do's', there can up be to thirteen different stages that consist over two hour period.  

Var Agaman (welcoming of the groom)

Stage 1: Var Agaman

The ceremony begins with the welcoming of the groom. In the image above you will be able to see a wooden arch way which is known as the Marriage Pavilion, where the groom is surrounded by his family and friends. The grooms mother then welcomes him by lightly dusting him with red power called kum-kum and rice, which symbolises luck. The groom is the then led to the Mandap for the main ceremony to begin. 

Stage 2: Var Puja

The honouring of the groom - before the bride arrives, her parents honour the groom with offerings of Panchamrit (yoghurt and honey) These ingredients represent purity. 

Stage 3: Ganesh Puja

All Hindu ceremonies begin calling upon Lord Ganesha. This is done through a prayer to rid of any obstacles that may occur during the ceremony or later in married life. 

Stage 4: Mangalashtak 

In English this term translates into 'Request for blessings' that includes a eight versed prayer which requests all the gods, goddesses and planets to bless the couple with a harmonious married life. 

Stage 5: Kanya Agamanand Puja 

The bride now arrives, being escorted to the Mandap. 

Stage 6: Jayamala

The white sheet is removed and the bride and groom exchange garlands of flowers. 

Stage 7: Hasta Melap

Also known as the 'Joining of the hands', the bride is now given away. The brides father places her right hand on to the groom's right hand which symbolise the respect, responsibility and the love that he has towards her. The brides parents then ask the groom if he accepts their daughter's hand in marriage. In the Hindu culture, this is the greatest gift a person can give. 

Stage 8: Vermala

The 'Sacred Thread' is made up of threads of cotton that are placed around the shoulders of the bride and groom. This symbolises the sacred bond of marriage, blessing their happy lives together. 

Stage 9: Mangal Fera

'Circling of the sacred  Fire' symbolises  illumination of the mind, happiness and knowledge. The circuit  includes four rotations:

Dharma/Duty

Artha/ Prosperity 

Kama/ Love and Family

Mosksha/ Engligtenment

The first three rotations are lead by the groom symbolising his lead to achieve the first three goals. The fourth rotation lead by the bride, shows willingness to achieve the last goal. Once the final round is complete they couple are officially man and wife. 

Stage 10: Satapadi

The couple now takes 'Seven Steps' to begin their life together. Each step is a vow:

- To achieve prosperity and help one another fulfil their dreams

- To be lifelong partners and walk through life's obstacles together, to grow in strength

- To preserve each other's wealth

- To share a lifetime of fun and laughter, sorrow and happiness

- To raise a family, to be strong and healthy in mind, body and soul

- To always be honest and faithful to each other

- To be loyal and true to each other, and remain the closest of friends

Stage 11: Mangal Sutra and Sindoor Daan

The groom gives the bride black beaded necklace that symbolises their sacred love union. He now places stindoor (red powder) onto the parting of the brides hair which signifies that they are now married. 

Stage 12: Akhanda Saubhagawati

Married women from both sides of the family whisper blessing into the brides right ear, before the rest of the immediate family and friends.

Stage 13: Vidai Ceremony 

Family and friends bid a farewell to the bride as she embarks on her new life with her husband. This is also known as the "Crying line"

If I have made any errors, please do let me know and I shall change them.  

This was a perfect opportunity to explore a different culture. 

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/