A great end to a wonderful year (22.06.2015)

A great end to a wonderful year (22.06.2015)

So I've finished my first year at university. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be that great - but it turned out to be really fun! I learnt a ton about technical stuff like studio lighting, and business-y things, and met lots of wonderful and unique people.

 

From one of my last uni projects this year. 

Most of the memories I made this year ended up on my wall. Or should I say my old wall, because I no longer live there. I had a big wall(s) filled with Polaroids with friends and photoshoots.

Lovely Polaroids from my last few shoots

It's been a brilliant year, a huge thank you to everyone I've met and have helped me along the way. I hope 2nd year of uni will be equally as enjoyable. 

Hitting the wall (12/02/2015)

Hitting the wall (12/02/2015)

"Everyone hits the wall at some point in their lives". That's what people tell you, but what people don't tell you is the signs that you've hit the wall, and the actual feeling of hitting the wall. It's a shit feeling, to be blunt.

I've hit the wall - I'm currently hitting the wall. It's a long time coming, ever since Christmas I've felt myself slacking more and more. The biggest clues were when I had many opportunities to shoot but I never took them. My excuses were; I don't have any ideas or plans, it's too short notice, or I'm busy that day (when all I did was just sleep in and play video games).

The honest truth was I hated shooting. There was a period between Christmas and now, where I was unmotivated to shoot. I still loved the idea for being a photographer, working on projects and shooting. I loved the idea, but I didn't like the reality of how much work is needed to plan a shoot. I hit my low when I was thinking of changing universities, and even changing careers. I was having doubts about if it was a mistake not carrying on studying Media Production at university.

This week is Enhancement Week at my uni, we had a 24hr shoot which involved using Phase One cameras. For those who are not familiar with Phase One cameras, they're high end medium format cameras - worth a pretty penny and are every photographers' dream. Essentially, 24hrs was a whole day event where we as first years had the freedom to shoot whatever ideas we had with over £10,000 of equipment. I... passed that opportunity down. I didn't have any ideas or concepts. It was too short notice.

Right now, I'm looking back on my previous shoots and reminiscing. Wondering how I came up with ideas for shoots, or how I even shot without having any concepts to begin with. This isn't a Wikihow article on how to be more productive, or how to avoid hitting the wall. I don't currently know how to do that. What I can say is, it's good to stop and look back at your progress. Compare your current work to your older projects and see how much you've improved, or if you've improved.

I haven't done a post like this before, but I felt the need to vent. Hopefully someone in the same position as I will find this useful.

The Five Year Plan (02/06/2014)

The Five Year Plan (02/06/2014)

So, I'm currently finished with college (in British terms it's education between high school and university) and I'm shit scared of what's going to happen next. I wrote down a Five Year Plan on a Post-it note, but I've managed to lose the note. I'll try and remember it from my memory.

1 - 3 Years: University. Try to make the most out of uni. I've applied (and hopefully got into) to Ravensbourne, it's really good for this industry and networking with clients and creative people. I really hope to build a team during my years at uni. Also, there's like two or three studios at this uni; which means - free studio space! It'll make experimenting with studio lighting much cheaper and accessible.

2nd Year: Get published. I know, it's in a bit of an awkward chronological order. In my second year of university, I hoped to get published in something, an indie magazine, a fashion blog or something more commercial (might be dreamin' a bit here).

4th Year: Stay in London. London is one of the fashion capitals and would be the best place to network. I really want to stay in London after uni, even if it means doing shitty jobs.

5th Year: Own/Live in a studio. All the greats seem to have done it; Wolfgang Tillmans, Joey L, etc. They've seemed to live in their studio, or convert their apartment into a studio. That's the end of my Five Year Plan. I think having my own studio will help to move further and present my opportunities. 

But... nothing ever goes to plan, does it? This is what I'm aiming for in the next five years; it's good to have a goal to keep me on track. 

Lomography (15/02/2014)

Lomography (15/02/2014)

To kick start my new photography project (Growth and Evolution) I took the Lomography Action Sampler and hit the streets of London.  My new theme is based upon the evolution and development of Photography as a medium. I aim to pursue different forms of photography; analogue, instant, digital and maybe even darkroom experiments.

 A flock of Birds

I went to London to visit the UAL: London College of Communication. I took these while we commuted around. I'm quite surprised with how they turned out. They have this pale colour which is visible in colour film - particularly with this brand of film (Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400). Quite a lot of the shots were taken in dark conditions, it was cloudy and raining all day. Some shots that I took after sunset still retained a lot of detail. It's quite versatile compared to digital - where if you have an underexposed shot it isn't manageable.  

Experimenting with Lights + London (11.12.2013)

Experimenting with lights + London (11/12/2013)

London. With university stuff happening lately, I felt like I've not really expressed why I chose universities based in London. As someone living in -I would say a small town, but it's not very small anymore- a town, there are a lot less opportunities for me to find models, to find creative work. From what I've seen on websites like ModelMayhem a lot of models in the UK are situated in London, the fashion capital of Britain. London will help me progress and experiment further in fashion photography by providing opportunities. As someone who's very shy, I think hope London will help me get more contacts in the industry, and force me out of my shell.

I never got around to uploading this experiment, so here it is! This experiment is for my A2 Photography Project, 'Colour and Experimental'. In this experiment I just played around with lights and tried to create some really unusual images. Some of these images are unedited, the ones in a square crop have been edited with the Polar Coordinates filter in Photoshop.

I loved this photo in particular. There's just a sense of emptiness and loneliness. It fit well with one of my artists I'd chosen for inspiration, Wolfgang Tillmans. A lot of Tillmans' work fit with the theme of nothingness. Nothingness in the sense that it's physically there but it's usually overlooked and uninteresting. The photo reminded me of two comets travelling through a worm hole in deep space, the beautiful nature of an event like this happening without any influence from man or technology. I believe things like this happen in the universe almost every second, but the universe is so vast that it's overlooked or the moment is missed and forever lost in time.