Hello again

Going to start using this again, started my second year of uni a few weeks ago and in full swing of it all! Today we handed in our first image, which was an image we took in response and with the same qualities as a random image we got in an envelope. Here is mine:

I attempted to create the fear emotion and in particular fear of the dark. I think i was quite successful in doing so but i think i could have perhaps made the figure in the image more prominent. 

Updates :-)

After finally figuring out my idea for my project I bought a 'home studio kit' and started practicing taking pictures of flowers :-) I don't reaaally like the outcomes that much but with some more practice I think they'll look a bit better! I do like the way I've edited them though, which I think I will carry on for my final images. Here are a few: 

This is my favourite because of the tones and shadows the light has created! I also quite like the black and grayish backgrounds together, but you can see the Velcro strip, which I don't like! This is the kind of thing I want to achieve for my final images, in the style of Robert Mapplethorpe. I added a grainy filter in Photoshop  which I wanted because I wanted to make it look 'old' and less commercial. 

This was just sort of a 'recky' practice shot and I don't think I want to do anything like this because to me it's something i'd of taken when I first got my DSLR. But I like the coldish colour tones and I added grain again and a softening filter :-) to make it look again less commercial and softer... if anybody knows what i'm going on about!

I also quite like this one, don't have much to say about it apart from the all white background I do like! It's all natural lighting too :-)

For my next practice I'd like to do really low key lighting with a black background and see if it creates anymore 'darker' emotions etc. I think i'm going to stick to the grainy images... maybe I just need to take loaaads of pictures and then decide which ones i'm going to use/take further :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoealicevenables/

What i'm watching...

Thought i'd do another post because i'm bored and I have been meaning to do this one for a while. I like to watch a lot of tv series, and I watch episode after episode so I thought i'd share a few which i'm watching right now!

Pretty Little Liars

I've only just started watching this, think it was a couple of days ago but i'm already so hooked! I'm halfway through the first season and I literally cannot stop wondering who 'A' is! It's quite scary at times and so many different things happen in one episode, I just have to watch another straight after. I think i've watched about 6 today! It's basically about the four girls shown and their friend was murdered and they're trying to figure out who did it. And at the same time (the main plot) an anonymous person, 'A', is texting/emailing/writing them with all their secrets and making them do things. It's weird because 'A' knows everything that only their dead friend could know.... I can't wait to find out who it is, except there's like 4 seasons.

Revenge

I've been watching this since it first came to the UK, I got hooked after the first episode and watched the whole series online and then started to watch the second. The only annoying this is that its airing in America so I have to wait ages for the next episode, so I don't feel as interested in it anymore! It's about halfway through the second seasons and after last episode I feel like Emily is back on track seeking revenge on those who killed/framed her father. I pretty much know the story back to front and it is so addictive. Definitely deserves more credit for what it is!

Deception

I'm not as hooked on this as the previous two, however it is along the same lines as those, with all the mystery etc. I've only watched a few episodes because Pretty little liars has taken over, but it's about the mystery of this girls death and her friend (a cop) has gone undercover in the family to find out who did it! I can't see it lasting very long series wise but it's still good and something to watch to break everything else up a bit :-) 

Sex and the City

Every single girl should be watching these episodes. I bought the entire box set a couple of weeks ago and I watch a few in bed at night, they're so good! The first season is in the 90's so its pretty old school but still so relevant and just good to watch if you're single/a girl basically. The episodes don't follow on from one another, but they have storylines which flow through, like Carrie and Big... which everybody probably knows from the films! But it's such a feel good show to watch, and not so serious like the others :-)

I feel like a woman,

Photographers

This needed updating and I don't have any recent/good pictures to update it with so I thought i'd leave a post of some of my favourite photographers I have recently found. Was looking for some relevant photographers for my semester at uni and came across a few who I adore. All thanks to a lecture and Hannah :-)

Robert Mapplethorpe is definitely my favourite right now. These are just a few pictures of his Flowers but he also does male nudes and things of the sort, which are really nice :-) The light and shadows work really well and I like all the tones and just, ah... these pictures have really helped me see what i'm going to do for my project, which is hopefully going to be along the same lines, and all I want to do is get taking photos! But I shall need to buy some flowers first....

And here are a few other pictures I found (I don't know the photographers) which are really going to help me taking my own :-)

As you may have guessed, for my project i'm focusing on dead flowers! Which may seem strange if you don't know what i'm going as a whole, but basically I have a cemetery in my grid square and they kind of link together, for what people leave on gravestones :-) morbid but I think its interesting!

Pictures

Feels like it has taken bloody hours to do all that, probably because it has but nether the less I am quite happy with some of the pictures I have taken :-) Always makes me hate life when I take around 150 images but only like about 50.... or choose to use that many! Ah well, here are some of them:

I quite like taking pictures of benches, and I have no idea why!

I also like all the old flowers which have faded in the sunlight or died 

The war memorial in my square 

And a war grave I found :-)

Also some pictures from Ellen's and Vikki's squares:

These kind of pictures is what i'm more used to and I guess I like the outcomes more

Also also, please look at more on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoealicevenables/

Thanks, ciao!

The weekend

Can't even remember what I did yesterday but today we went to the National Memorial Arboretum :-) it was a really nice place and I couldn't believe how big it was! It was sunny too, which was nice and I was very warm! Sun meant I got easy good pictures, i don't think they're that great though, but it's hard to take pictures of war memorials in an interesting way! May try and edit them in Photoshop to make them a little more interesting :-)

Here are a few of my images I like the most:

You can obviously see more on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoealicevenables/

:-)

First film :-)

Got my first film developed which I took on my new diana mini! I got the negatives developed and put onto a CD at Asda for £2.97! Which is really cheap compared to most places and they asked if I wanted my negatives cut so I said no, because I heard some places cut them wrong. It's a good job I said that though because the majority of them didn't work, only the ones with flash showed up, which is annoying and strange.

Here are a few of the images:

And I've just loaded another film and taking half frames so 72 exposures :-) which will be good! Just hope it works because I think I took the first few images wrong because I got confused, still am but o well! Shall have to take them all with flash now, so it's a good job I got them developed tonight! Been taking them without all day :( 

Look forward to getting the next roll developed :-)