times are hard for dreamers.

[6] Crow's Nest

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:45:03 GMT

I know, elusive much. In my defence, there were essays, and essays, and essays, and then a terrible attempt at a photo that I'll probably try and retake soon-ish, right up until today (when my last essay until Easter was handed in!! Yusss..). I'm so so happy with all these pictures; the title one is my favourite.

And no, I didn't bring my own ladder; someone had left it against the tree. I saw it yesterday and was filled with photographic glee XD.

[6]b:

And then today you get a bonus photo, which isn't actually part of the Time Are Hard... collection, but it's kind of how I'm feeling at the moment. I go home in less than a week!

Carry Me Home:

Carry Me Home in black&white here. Can't decide if I prefer it or not. Thoughts?

[5] The Lovers; Dancing In The Lonely Places

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:36:23 GMT

I can't help feeling that I look far better semi-invisible, but anyway - I'm so pleased this worked; apparently my photoshopping skills are better than thought they were XD. And it's sort of a Valentine's picture? Um.

The title is a variation on the quote, 'the threefold man, he dances in the lonely places' from Series Four of Doctor Who (Russell T. Davies).

And finally, I recently discovered www.poladroid.net/ and have been having far too much fun with it ^__^:

[4] Gone Or Forgotten; Love Is A Shadow

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:17:10 GMT

This didn't turn out much like I'd planned (um, at all), but I think I prefer the result to the one I had in mind. Tbh there's not a lot to say about this one - notice my hair has finally been cut since The Fool, haha. It's shorter than I like it, but... meh, it grows. I hesitated over posting this cause I wasn't sure if it was too emo (lol) but I'm actually pretty pleased with it =].

'Love is a shadow' is from 'Elm' by Sylvia Plath.
I took about a billion pictures of branches and shadows myself with this in mind but they all looked like a pile of crap, so the branches/thorns in this are from CG Textures.

[3] Veni Coronaberis

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:33:58 GMT

I like this one =]. It did involve me wandering down ~~Rapists' Lane~~ Lovers' Lane in the dark, alone, carrying bulky equipment, late at night... but as my last photo proved, it wouldn't be fun if there wasn't at least a small chance of me meeting a gruesome and untimely end. I've wanted to photo this path since I came to uni in October, so it was worth it. ♥

'Veni Coronaberis' is from a poem of the same name by Geoffrey Hill.

[2] The Fool

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:44:10 GMT

I'm not sure about this, I think it looks a bit overworked/ artificial (not to mention that my hair REALLY needs cutting). I had the idea in my head but was missing a first floor window (I live at the very top of a block of flats) so I had to use my own bedroom and set up the camera in the kitchen of Flat 34, from which you can see my window. This meant I had to set the camera up, aim, lock the focus &c., and then leave it to my friend Bex to press the button while I ran between flats XD. Plus 34's kitchen window wouldn't slide all the way up, so the tripod was too tall and I had to balance the camera on top of an upturned washing up bowl with a pair of folded oven gloves and a wooden spatula to keep it level, haha.

I may be uncertain over the finished result, but this was the most fun photo shoot ever <3. I had practically everyone in our block of flats hanging out their windows to gawk; when my flatmate Millie realised what I was doing she almost had a coronary and insisted on tying 'some rope, or something!' around me in case I lost my balance; eventually she hooked a belt around the loop on my jeans and sat behind the curtain holding onto the other end, rotflmaodkfjns <333.

I have outtakes for this one and everything, just to prove I genuinely was hanging out of a fourth floor window all afternoon, lolol.

Trying to explain to Katie in Flat 28 exactly what I'm doing..

'How high up am I again?'

'Ah, right. Just checking.'

James decides to join in the general photography fun. He looks like such a creepy paedo here, lmao. Caught in the act!

[1] An Awakening; A Recollection; An I-Do-Not-Belong-Here.

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:50:14 GMT

First post! = The beginning of the story. And my first staged photo; I had to balance the tripod on top of my drawers since my room is so narrow it was the only way I could fit myself in the picture. I must have picked up and put down that damn teapot a gazillion times, lol.

The shadow in this kind of cuts out the props on the left, and the contrast loses some of the detail from my top which would've been nice to keep, but since it's my first time playing with digital manipulation, I'm actually quite proud of it. My favourite part is my knee, in the bottom left hand corner, but I'm not sure why.

Comments/constructive criticism are welcome x about a billion. Like I said on my personal journal, I really don't know a lot about photography or digital manipulation, but that's sort of the point, at the moment. And even if you don't, thoughts on composition/colour/general ideas would be fantastic.

Texture is from CG Textures.
Taken with a Nikon D40.
Digital manipulation uses GIMP 2.

Alternative Title: 'What on earth have you given me this teapot for?'

♥