needle in a haystack - newnham

My brother and my Dad were out working in Newnham the other day, a local village, and noticed the haystacks in the stretch of fields surrounding/through Newnham and Ashwell. They recommended I go there to take some pictures so I drove there this morning and took a few shots. Not my best of photos but it was something different nonetheless. Here's my first edit, I'll add more if/when I get the chance.. chance being a fine thing seeing as I'm off to Mauritius for two weeks tomorrow (eeee!)

Before edit

Post edit

The sky is looking a little heavily edited as it's my first proper edit of using a gradient layer on Photoshop - I haven't quite got to grips with it yet haha..

I was in Newnham for all of something like four minutes, and I was lucky enough to snap these four horses and jockeys riding by

chasing light

Anybody who follows me on Instagram will recognise how often I fill my feed with shadow/silhouette type images. It started from an inspiration from Leanne Surfleet (previously mentioned in an older post, click here to see it!) who I used as an artist link for my AS Photography Unit's 1 & 2. Ever since I've been obsessed with photographing my shadows and other peoples and [copied] L. Surfleet by hashtagging #brbchasinglight and continuously referring to that phrase. The hashtag itself is broadly used on Instagram and I love the meaning of it. I love working with light, shadows, lens flares, reflections and mirrors.. and now I'm beginning to sound like my photography teacher getting far too engrossed (he goes by the name "L man" - his choice, not mine). But yep that's the basis of the chasing light obsession.

Click on the Instagram icon on the upper right hand corner of this page to see my gallery!

portugal: sun, sand and- other shenanigans

So my first holiday abroad with friends and no family. Not quite sun, sand, sea, sex and suspicious parents but definitely good enough for me (that's for next year in Zante..). I had a lovely 10 day break in Portugal, Albufeira with two close friends, my friends family, and her family-friends. The twelve of us shared a huge, modern villa, us three girls in a room with a balcony, pool and table tennis table on poolside. I can definitely say I can now tick a few more tried and tested cocktails off of my list, some of which won't be revisited (Long Island Iced Tea you absolute bugger).

Enjoy a trail of cliche holiday snaps, a vain collection of us three girls and a few random fancy landscape-artsy-fartsy shots.. (hint: click on the photos to view them larger/in better quality!)

Footprints in the sand (why does this sound so cliche..)

Amy and Alex, chasing light

Loving life all but too much

Nope, don't even no who this dude is but I'd like to thank him for his artful cliche pose on these rocks overlooking the sea

Relishing the sunshine

Odd tattoos on the beach hut barman

Chasing light

One of my favourite photographs, like a beach promenade

Chasing light

Salgados beach

Salgados beach

Salgados beach

Chasing light..in the pool

Our beautiful villa

Sand sculptures, amazing!

"I'l never let you go Jack!"

Cocktail fun on the strip

Lone stone on Salgados beach, Albufeira

Lovers reflection 

Chasing light

Sand streaks

The see all of the pictures (although low quality unfortunately) follow this link to my Facebook album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201015546649593.1073741828.1195060859&type=1&l=28bbdc8afe

punky allsorts

Punky Allsorts are a brand I squealed across when I found a teeny tiny advert from them in LOOK magazine. They're a handmade jewellery boutique with exquisite pieces that I've never seen around before. Think being in an american department store, with every pic'n'mix choice of sweets, treats and toys you loved as a kid. Punky Allsorts turn those childhood novelties into everyday accessories. So I went and spent a hefty £20 on just two rings.. but the money was so worth it. Especially as I'm so in to having individual statement pieces. Honestly, it gets extremely wearing not to mention uncreative when you look identical to every other girl on the street.  After clicking through every page on her (the Punky lady who runs the boutique) site, I finally came to buy the 'Slice of Strawberry Cake' ring and the 'Pound Coin' ring. Love!

http://www.punkyallsorts.com 

lee friedlander

If there could be such thing to be knighted for being such an amazing photographer, then Lee Friedlander would be first in line. Beyond and over the line. So far past the line that you can't even see the line- the line is a dot to you!  (Friends quote, sorry got carried away).

Over summer we've been given photography coursework to do to get ahead with A2 work. One aspect covers doing an in depth study on a photographer who really inspires us, moves us. With a little help from my teacher, I chose Lee Friedlander. His photos epitomise the finest ends of photography and its potential to grab our attention. He heavily incorporates shadows and mighty reflections in his portraits, self-portraits and scenic landscapes which is wa-la; right up my street. My teacher gave me a 480 page book on Friedlander. This book was twice the size of my head and probably twice the weight of it. So what did I do first day of my summer? Spent over two hours with my head stuck in this book, researching, scribbling quotes, aspiring to every word and image on the glossy print. These photographs were made to be printed, not flashing on my Mac screen for christ's sake! This is what photography is, photos should be printed to show their true meaning. Getting a little deep here I know I know.. and it'll sound stupid to some, but there is an indefinite difference between a digital image of pixels on an LED screen and a physical printed image on glossy paper.

I've never written a post that has been this hugely influenced or passionate about photography in particular before. Like, it's a great hobby and the subject really interests me, but this is the first time I've really gotten my teeth into it. 

When do I get to meet the man? 

More images to come..

gcse media magazine

This file has caused me a lot of havoc! Trying to display it has been really difficult due to the format that I designed it in. For example the first page needs to be viewed as a single page file but both the contents page and the DPS need to be viewed as a double page file.. Other difficulties involve the fact I used my own fonts for the masterhead for example, and when trying to send these to people it simply changes it to a boring Arial font. I hope that made sense..ish! Here are the pages I designed for my GCSE Media Studies magazine. A female golfer's magazine because quite frankly, where have you seen one of those before? Exactly, you haven't. As niche as the market may be, it was a fun creative task. Apologies again for the low quality due to the file format - but you get the idea!

ciao bella. italy

I went on a four day break to Italy with my Mum primarily for two reasons; relaxation and escape from the end of exams, and secondly; for the picturesque countryside, terracotta roof top scatters and intense architecture. All of which I avidly photographed at every oppurtunity- even when climbing the 463 steps of the Duomo cathedral in Florence! (My absolute favourite memory of the holiday. A typical idealisation of Italy- terracotta roof tops filling the entire city, sweeping infinite alleyways and rustic green countryside on the outskirts)

Click on any of the photos to view them larger.

Tuscany; Casole D'elsa, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Florence

First stop, Pisa. A drink and lunch after the journey from the airport and energy for us to climb the leaning tower

The slanted view from the leaning tower of Pisa

Actual slanted view..

Straightened view!

The roof of a church. Amazing, so incredibly detailed. The photo doesn't do it justice

You guessed it, it's the leaning tower of Pisa

Cute rustic souvenir shop in Siena town centre

Siena

Siena

Siena

Siena

Gourmet food shop in Siena

Gormet food shop in Siena. The Italians one true love (and my one true hate) olive oil!

Siena

Siena

Inside a church

San Gimignano

Museum of Torture, this is the wall of the museum, creepy but cool!
 San Gimignano

Aquaviva Hotel. The gorgeous Tuscan landscape 

Florence

Florence, an artist painting the Duomo which we were later to climb..

Florence, a singer on the market.
 I wonder where I could buy myself his Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat?

Roof inside The Duomo, Florence

463 steps later and we reached the top. Definitely worth the view though!

You can see the shadow of the clouds looming at the top of this photo, the heavens later opened bringing thunder and lightning despite the 28 degree heat and sunshine!

                   
     

                         Love padlocks on the Ponte Vecchio. Similar to the Ponte Milvio love padlock lampost

Along the Ponte Vecchio

       

Next to the Ponte Vecchio

Next to the Ponte Vecchio

         

Florence, town centre

An accidental shot.. zoomed in at the same time as taking the picture. Thought it looked quite cool still though

                                                                                             

Last drink of the excursion (drowning our sorrows to go back to England, school and work boo..) (Except I drowned mine in Diet Cola ha ha) Beautifully poured glass of Chianti in a cute, folksy Italian restaurant