happy birthday jesus.

while the fire is burning out & old episodes of the vicar of dibley are playing, i wanted to pop in & wish you all a merry christmas! i hope you all had blessed days filled with happiness & laughter.
i had a quiet family christmas with just my parents. after church, we went home to get dinner started & spent the day playing bananagrams, watching the sound of music and crying at matt smith's last episode as the doctor (well, i cried anyway). for me, no christmas is complete without a christmas episode of the vicar of dibley - which i thought wouldn't happen this year - but bbc swooped in and saved the day showing "the christmas lunch incident" just before midnight.

self portrait.

as soon as the words "self portrait" are uttered, i shudder. i don't like my face - i pretty much don't like anything about me, but we'll not get into that - so the thought of having to take a self portrait and to then have that in my portfolio is incredibly daunting. i had fifteen minutes to think of what i was going to do and go and do it. i knew i didn't want my face in it, but since i don't like anything else about myself, i wanted to incorporate movement, unwillingness and secrecy.
i tried one shot with a slow shutter speed, but you could see my face and the movement made it even worse than it already is, so i decided to go the opposite route and try fast shutter speed. i ended up with three images that look good on their own - one is even my profile picture on twitter - but together, they incorporate the movement i wanted to show, just more peacefully.
i'm glad i didn't cop out of this assignment & used my imagination and what i've learned so far to create this self portrait.
i'm incredibly inspired to see how i can grow and change and become more confident in my photography during 2014; i'm thinking a few photography challenges may be in the works. you know what i'm like though, i'll post my aims for the new year and (hopefully won't) fail at the majority.

N E W // a series.

as of friday, i will officially be moving out. i am moving out for the very first time into a brand new, unfurnished home and i am so unbelievably excited. i have always wanted to be able to design my own house for the longest time and i have a clean slate to do that with.
i really want to try and keep it as simple as i can, and i think i'll be able to as i'm on a tight budget. the space isn't huge, but it's just me & a housemate. i'm so excited to share the journey starting in the new year with a 'N E W' series.
i am going to be taking tons of before and progress pictures of the whole thing, but for now i will leave you with a quick iphone snap from monday.

christmas wishlist.

if you're having a hard time deciding on things to get for the people you love this year, take a look at the things i've been pinning on my christmas board on pintrest. i know i'd be so grateful if i received any of these presents, and hopefully someone you know would, too. 

one: make your own banner £12.95// two: back to the wild £21.44 (incl dvd) // three: pillow cases £42.76 each // four: tobacco & patchouli candle £19.99 // five: poster £9.17-£16.54 (free shipping worldwide thru sunday) // six: joy division vinyl £9.36 // seven: paramore vinyl £23.88 // eight: imogene & willie candle £33.63 // nine: multi-use towel £45.28 // ten: cardboard stag head £25 // eleven: tartan scarf £18 // twelve: paramore sweater £24.50 // thirteen: kanken laptop bag £80

light.

for my assignment we are are focusing on painting with light and today i had a go and did a few patterns and my name. i also did the alphabet which is a requirement but these are just some of the ones i did for fun. 

i also had to do overlays in photoshop workshop and i thought paramore then & now would look cool & threw a layer of my light painting on top. 

things i learned from having green hair.

when i'm in the shower, i write blog posts in my head. some of them are essays, most of them never come to anything. but they help me process life. reciting to myself an event or a thought process explains things to me. last night, i was washing my hair with medicated shampoo for the third time when my 'internal essay' began. 99% of the time, i never think of them again, or i forget what i had thought but i really wanted to write these thoughts down.

calm.

i like white because it makes me calm. it's peaceful and doesn't make your mind work a million times a second just because your eyes are open. in my current assignment for college, the themes are 'time', 'space' and 'order and chaos'. as soon as i saw 'space' i interpreted it as 'personal space' and my plan is to photograph my room and other places i feel calm and at ease. to see what it will be like, this morning i snapped some photos of my room and things that relax me and although the lighting really wasn't great, i really like the way it's going.

b r a n d c r u s h : byredo.

1996

gypsy water

m/mink

pulp

bal d'afrique

seven veils

peyote poem

bibliothèque

loveless

whenever i smell gypsy water by byredo, i think of my mum. it makes me feel warm and fuzzy and safe and loved. i love that smells can do that, that they can evoke emotions and memories. it wasn't until last year that i really appreciated the perfume and over the past few months i have been swooning over byredo's scents, frangrance names (so important), and design; oh my golly gosh their design just makes me sigh with happiness. i'm a sucker for graphics, and byredo sucked me in. 

one day, i want to have my own byredo scent; a scent that doesn't have a name to the most important people in my life, a scent that is just an overflow of memories and happy feelings. i think byredo is a brand that can encapsulate you in a scent, a scent that comes at the perfect time and it's not one to be rushed. 

a h i n t o f c o l o u r

i am known for my love of black and white. everyone i know teases me for not being a fan of colour. so, whenever i mention that i like something with colour, they are surprised. recently, i have been loving sunflowers. i have always loved vibrant yellow, which is strange because yellow is a colour that can either be so right or so wrong, and i would never wear it/paint a room with it/buy a sofa in it, but sunflowers are just so beautiful and i think my brain is drawn to them, especially while i am lacking the sun during this cold winter. i really don't know whats up with me, i love winter and cold, but nope, i'm reluctant this year. 

one / two / three / four / five / six

crisp.

i wanted to go and shoot at the beach today. i went armed with my DSLR and my film camera, but after two minutes in the crisp, sharp, cold wind, i was done. in my mind it's still summer and as much as i love winter, my mind & body aren't prepared.

the fact i have suddenly come down with what feels like the flu proves that. 

inspired.

is anyone out there?

recently, i have been incredibly inspired. in all honesty, it stemmed from tumblr; sometimes my blog just looks so good and it makes me want to create and gets the cogs moving. there are also some things in the works that are making me incredibly excited and it has made me realise what a blogging rut i was in. i didn't even think about blogging, let alone worry about the fact i wasn't. 

but now i am full of ideas and pinning everything that grabs my eye. i'm hoping to start a new ~series~ next week, if the things in the works come about, that will be so exciting and so completely new. 

i hope you're all having a great week!

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight

acoustic.

i took some photos of st james' acoustic night last night. it was the first time i've been asked to photograph an event and i think they turned out alright, the light was either super harsh or really dim so that made it hard. but i enjoyed it and definitely appreciate being able to practice shooting people. 

in the woods.

today i went to delamere forest with some friends to get some shots for our unit on aperture using a film camera. as well as taking my film camera, i also took my dslr and obviously had my phone on me. 

not suprisingly - but somewhat dishearteningly - my favourite shot was of these trees - my absolute favourite, especially when there are hundreds of them - that i took on my phone. 

it makes me a bit uneasy that i would chose to take photos on my phone rather than my dslr, but i guess built in cameras are really good now, although i do think the real reason is i can edit my photos using vsco on my phone, whereas on my laptop, i only have iphoto to edit.  

w o r k s p a c e.

so, my desk/workspace is looking a little different since i started college. for one of my assignments, i am focusing on where students study/work when they're at home. this is an experimental shot before i get stuck in to it next week.

s u m m e r i n t e n.

the fact that i had to sign into my account just shows how long it's been since i have blogged. but to be honest, life has been pretty repetitive and nothing much has happened.
on monday i start college (officially anyway) and my summer assignment was 'summer'. here are the 10 photos i chose that i feel represent my summer.