Surrealist Landscape - My Digital Puzzle

Surrealist Landscape
Zoë Bull (2012-13)

Hello!

Back in October 2012 I posted a link of my introduction page to my Manufactured Image project. I would like to present to you the rest of my project and the final image which is above. Several shoots, several images and several hours of photoshop. It's definitely what I would call, advance editing project.

I've always been good at collages and it's all about being creative. This project was like a digital puzzle. If you want to have a go, then perhaps taking a look at my progress Tumblr site will give you some inspiration.

Enjoy!

Identity

Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull 

'relaxed, chilled out and innovative'

Hello!

I'm very excited to have given In my depth of field a fresh face.
After just finishing my second year of university, I have been reflecting over and updating all my online profiles for you to see.

I have been busy working on various projects which I have now handed in for marking; the most exciting of them all is an exhibition. They are always so prestigious, exhibitions when you go to, say The National Portrait Gallery, or those other fancy places, with stunning photography. Really though, an exhibition can be anywhere that has walls. My exhibition group didn't use walls, not that we didn't want too, but we had quite a unique place to hang our pieces: a bandstand.

This bandstand was in Saffron Walden's Jubilee Gardens, just twenty miles south of Cambridge. There were many um's and ah's from the group members but luckily our member most local to the venue, decided on wrapped velcro around the bandstand poles and attaching the canvas' to them.

So, what was our exhibition about? We had to choose a theme, which we decided was identity and the four of us went about our own creative ways, keeping in mind, that we had to stick with the theme and keep it seamless.

I have an absolute fascination with people. What is beneath that underlying surface? Where have they come from? What do they search for in life? And honestly I could listen all day. I am quite fortunate to know a range of characters, from a range of places and a range from ages also. I'm so interested in the psychology of who people are and that is a question I wanted to ask my potential subjects, combining it with photography.

I began in my head with that 'Who am I?' question along with a whiteboard for them to write their 'defining' word down. However it all seemed so limiting. We can't define our every-changing identities with one word; we have so many different facets.

I was after a conversation with my sister who had studied psychology and she told me about 'The 20 Statements Test'. In short the official survey asks the public to fill in a form of twenty statements beginning with 'I am' (e.g. I am tall). The fantastic thing about it is that the subjects can be as open or reserved as they do wish in their answers, and even then it goes down to speak about who they really are. As my board could only fit four statements on it, I got my subjects to write their twenty and choose their significant few. It was very interesting over a range of ages and gender too.

The exhibition was held over a week from 6th-11th May and it was a fantastic opportunity to receive some feedback from the public rather than same after same opinions of the photography lecturers. My top comment was that my work was 'relaxed, chilled out and innovative.'

Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull

Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull

Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull

Exhibition Poster.

The Colour Of...

Currently working on a film only module at the moment, specifically Fuji Colour Film. A requirement is to enter the FujiFilm Student Awards competition with the title "The Colour Of.."

Now, I absolutely adore colour. All sorts of colour, a colourful world, colourful clothes, anything that is bright and cheery, I love it! So this seemed to be the perfect project for me. It was simply limitless, other than the fact that I had never used medium format or 5 x 4 camera's in my life. The good news was the I have been using Fuji Colour Film since summer 2012. Those of you who have been with me a while may have remembered me trips to York and Venice where I went Fuji Colour crazy and now I'm back with it.

The competition closes on the 29th April 2013, but anyone can enter and it is free, so if it sounds like your thing and your are crazy colourful like myself, then go for it. I am going to be working on my 35mm camera and that is absolutely fine.

Here is the link: http://www.fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk





Via Flickr:
Is the title for 2013's FujiFilm Student Awards competition. As part of my module this semester we have to take a few rolls of film and are allowed to upload four. These images are not my final selection but my strongest out of my first practice film.

She returns...

Hello!

It has been a while and I have been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of writing and taking pictures and living my university life. With anything we go through in life, we can struggle and I had a bit of struggle on what to write. But what has drawn me back here is the fact that this blog has been continuously been getting a lot of views while I've been away from it and I'm extremely thankful that people find what I have been writing and the tips I have been giving interesting. I understand however that there may be a few pictures..missing.

There have been a lot of changes. Now in my second year of university I have been doing an Industry Experience module that takes you into the real world of Photography. In preparation for all that, we had to create CV's and professional looking platforms that would makes us standout. I do have my portfolio and I do have my Flickr, but a new Flickr. I reluctantly feel like I'm starting from scratch when I had so much on my old account and it is however sadly gone. Never-the-less I created a photobook that I got printed so that I could see where I started from and where I have gotten now. In a regretful kind of way I wish I had kept my account up as a personal collection and create new one for portfolio standard. But we learn this way don't we? So I have done some good on keeping this blog up. I haven't created a new Photography Blog. Though it is probably more words than pictures, it's still Photography, it's still my progress and I have photos to upload, but I'll be picking ones that I can talk about and base my posts on them to make it even more interesting for you guys.

So thanks for reading. I'm back and I have plenty of interesting images and stories to upload soon.

Zoë

The Manufactured Image

Follow me as I research, develop and create my ideas upon my latest module at university, entitled The Manufactured Image...

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.

The Classic Tourist and Their Camera...

Hipstamatic
Buckingham Palace
England, UK

It's funny being a tourist in your own country. Many people all over the world come and visit Britain and during the Summer, Buckingham Palace is a popular destination. My family and I have always wanted to go on this 'Royal Day Out' stated on our tickets. It was absolutely delightful and positively British in most the respectful sense. We then rounded off the day drinking tea out of paper cups which couldn't be more of a contrast; quirky though.

Hipstamatic 
Buckingham Palace Garden Cafe
England, UK

Onto more of a photography note now that was the spark that inspired me to write this post...

Hipstamatic
Royal Crown
England, UK

I had a home-bought picnic lunch and ate it in St James' Park just around the corner from the palace and watched foreign tourists take pictures of this immaculate trimmed bush of a royal crown...

 It was extremely interesting because they would walk round all angles of it, finding their place and perfect composition of this...well bush. I wrote a little about Tourist Photography on my trips to York and Venice back in Summer months and it is fascinating how we want to take a picture of the same view a million other people have taken. It could be easy enough to type into Google and search for this sight. After all we all know what the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Hollywood sign in LA looks like, even if we may have never seen them in person. After thinking about this a little, I have come to the conclusion that we want to put our personal mark on things. We go somewhere like the Grand Canyon and we have had the memory of it but we want a picture to be taken to validate what we saw. This crown, this Buckingham Palace, no matter where you live, this picture is a reminder of what you did on a certain day which enhances other thoughts and feelings that were part of this day. I guess that is why Photography is so great. We just want to remember. 

People. Places. The World. Life.

Hipstamatic 
Leaf
England, UK