Documentary in the Workplace

Hey guys
So I know this post is long overdue and well to be honest with you I've started and restarted this post so many times I've lost count.
However I thought I would write it now seeing as I can't sleep and I'm hoping it helps with the situation seeing as I have uni in the morning. We've been given a new brief which I'm kind of struggling with as its based on medium and large format colour film and working in the studio whilst also shooting portraits.
For our last assignment we had to go out and photograph someone working, with the idea in mind that our work (which had to be a series of between 3-6 silver prints) would be posted in a newspaper called The Guardian. I completely forgot about this part of the assignment and went off to do my own thing not really thinking if my work would be selected for a paper, Whilst also bending the rule of photographing someone we didn't know. I'm a bit shy at times and so approaching someone I had never met before and expecting them to let me take a series of pictures of them was massively daunting for me, which is why I chose someone i knew.
As you can see I went into a tattoo shop and given that our assignment had to be shot on 35mm black and white film I was in absolute heaven. As some of you may know I am massive lover of film photography, so I already knew what to expect in the outcome of developing the 6 rolls of film that we had to shoot.
There was one incident where I had gone into the shop as planned only to find out that the woman I was meant to be photographing had called in sick. In a way this did work in my favour as , even though I was put out by the fact I had wasted a morning, it made me want to go to other shops to make sure that my whole day wasn't a total waste of time. So even though I had originally decided to twist one of the rules a bit I did end up following them.
I do really feel that this project made me a better person and a better photographer as I had to try things that I had never done whilst I was at college. This was mainly pushing the film ( upping the ISO to 800 from 400) as the lighting in the shops weren't ideal for using the faster shutter speeds that were needed to get any form of decent photo's and its definitely knowledge that I will keep with me for the rest of my career.
I will include the photographs that I chose for my final 6 images in a separate post which will allow me to talk about the photographs one by one.
However right now its late and I should really try to get some sleep as not to fall asleep in my class tomorrow. I'm also planning on going into the darkroom to get some prints done for the guys that let me use them as my subjects however this will only be possible if the shop is open to collect my paper from.

I shall write to you all again soon I promise.
Sarah x

New Post Coming Soon!

Hi All,
I just wanted to let you know that I have been rather busy lately doing work from University. However, I shall be writing a brand new entry at some point this week (or if I get the time, maybe 2) I have a lot to fill you all in on from whats been going on in my life. So don't fret I haven't forgotten about you guys.

I hope you will all like the new changes I will be making to the layout too (It's going to be pretty big......I hope lol)

Sarah x

London bound

I'm currently sat in a cafe at uni waiting for us to all get on the coach for a trip to London that my course has arranged.
We've been told we're going to the Barbican and Tate Modern. I must admit even though I've been to Tate Modern before I'm still looking forward to this and I'm seriously hoping that seeing as I'm taking my camera I get the chance to get a few shots whilst I'm there.
The last few times I've been to galleries in London (all times being just to look at old paintings that don't interest me in the slightest) finally I get to go and look at some actually photographic work, possibly by people I've researched for projects back when I was at college.

If I do manage to get photographs done thats what my next post will be about. And if not then I'll just have to write about the exhibitions.

Until next time byeeeeeee

Old Cars

I've been a busy little bee over the last couple of weeks. I've moved into my student accommodation ready for when I start my university course in October and I have also been on holiday. I stayed in the U.K but I think you don't have to always go abroad to have a great time. This year I went to Pickering in North Yorkshire.

Whilst there we went to a small village called Goathland. There wasn't a lot there a few shops, a couple of pubs and a train station that was only used by steam trains, which I must admit was pretty cool as it was used as Hogsmead Station in the Harry Potter movies. Some of you from you UK might even remember a TV show called Heartbeat. It was set in the 60's and it was a bit like a soap opera but was only on once a week. My parents loved the show. Anyways we found an old petrol station/car repair hut that was used in the show and it still had some of the old cars parked at the side of it. 

This is Morris Minor was one of those cars I loved that you could tell that it had just been left to the elements. As you all know I love old things mostly old derelict buildings. However when I saw these cars I couldn't help myself.
I tried to draw some inspiration from Melissa's work from Fractured Porcelain that I showed in a post a couple of months ago. (click the link to go to her facebook page) Her photo's are absolutely amazing, they're such beautiful images and she has such talent for someone of such a young age.
I'm not really sure what else I can really say on this. I apologise for such a short post today. Remember to check out my facebook page as there's plenty more images on there from my trip last month.
I'm going to Brighton in about a month so I'm hoping i'll be able to get some photo's when I visit. If I manage to then I shall post something on here :).

Good night all.

Out With The Old In With The New

This is so cool, right now I'm typing this on my brand new phone. I downloaded the app for this so that if I'm ever out and about and the idea for a blog pops into my head I don't have to wait till I get home to type it out. I'm hoping this will only encourage me to to write more. Also seeing as I start university soon I might even be able to blog as I'm working on something such as a project or even just an idea of a personal project, the possibilities are endless.

St Andrews Church

I took this photo today on my phone using an application called instagram. I'm guessing most of you would have heard of this, it's absolutely huge in the UK pretty sure anyone and everyone uses it lol.
Anyways I love the effects you can get in the editing section and as I visited the cemetery I looked up at the church and knew I wanted to take a photograph straight away. I visit this church quite a lot and last time I went I didn't have my camera with me so was unable to do anything.

Next entry will have some photo's on there that I took last week whilst I was on my holiday in Yorkshire. I took some that I'm hoping you guys will like.
Until then. Byeee

Another One of My Favourites

I'm continuing on from last months post by talking about another photographer I've discovered in the last couple of years. She goes by the name of Fractured Porcelain Photography and has recently had a show in New York being featured along side Mat Marrash and Matt Lambros, 2 photographers whose work I am yet to check out for myself (I shall keep you informed and do a post when I do.)

Riverside Psychiatric Center

As you know I love abandoned buildings and photographs of nature taking back the space which is so rightfully theirs. Recently Melissa was part of a New York exhibition called Urban decay, and may I add that the title was perfect.
She went to the Riverside Psychiatric Center which is in New York. She photographed many things around the building but this one is my favourite.
Alot of her Urban Decay photo's, including this one, remind me somewhat of photographs I've seen of Chernobyl and Pripyat. Behind each and every picture there is a story and a mourningful yet beautiful one at that.
Eventhough it's not slap bang in the middle of the photograph the wheelchair in the pool automatically draws your eyes straight to it, despite there being a lot going on around it. It's almost like when you seen a bunch of grey pigeons and your eyes go straight to the white one in the middle. For me I can also feel the suffering seeping out of the chair and in a way I for myself can sympathize with that along with many other people.


I would love to be able to visit this place one day along with other abandoned Psychiatric Wards when I get around to travelling across the U.S. In fact if I had my way, and the money, I would move there, but a girl can dream right? I am in complete awe at the pure talent that Melissa has at capturing a moment or a feeling just in one shot it's just simply remarkable.
You should really check out her facebook and flickr pages.

It sucks that I only discovered this girl last year after my College's final exhibition had finished, otherwise I know for a fact her work would have inspired my final piece massively and maybe do a piece of work I was completely happy with rather then having to settle for something else.

I hope you enjoyed this entry,
Over and Out

Change Of Plan

If you guys read my last post you'll know that I went to Canterbury to visit the local university with my sister. Sadly I didn't get the chance to take any photographs. However, I'm going back this summer so I will make sure I get some then. That means that this post won't be about my own work but the work of one of my favourite photographers.

This photographer is Francesca Woodman, an American artist who lived in New York.

Francesca Woodman

I've loved Francesca Woodman's work ever since I layed eyes on it during a photographic project whilst I was at college. Most people see her work and think it's depressing or don't really understand any of it. Personally I think her work is inspiring and in a way I feel like I relate to some of it. For example the photograph I've chosen to show you was part of a series about space. The series involved works of woodman hiding behind things such as fireplaces and mirror, almost like she was trying to blend in. Her work gives off the sense that she was trying to portray how she felt either psychologically or emotionally without using words to express herself.
There are apparently around 800 photographs that she produced all or a majority of which were whilst she was a student. However only about a quarter of these have been made public.
The one thing about Woodman's work I love is the fact she didn't really owe it to anyone, she did it for herself and nobody else. I think that's why her work was never published world wide whilst she was alive. Sadly Francesca Woodman killed herself in 1981 at just 22. It's a scary thought that she was just a year older then I am now when she died. But in a way I don't think she died in vein, simply because her work was never really seen whilst she lived. Of course I'm not the one to say she wouldn't have made it living, but I suppose it's one of those things that we will never know.
I would love to one day be able to actually see her works in person rather then through text books and the internet. The University I'm going to be attending from September hold an annual trip to New York and eventhough I've been there before I would love to go back, so I have my fingers crossed I'll be able to afford to go this year. If I do get to go I might be lucky enough to finally see some of Woodman's work. If not then I can always get a train to somewhere in the UK that's showing some.

I must warn anyone under that gets uncomfortable about nudity might not want to research Woodman. Not all her work has nudity but I just thought I should warn you before you choose to take a look. I hope you fall in love with her work as much as I have.

Alive & V Dubbin'

On Sunday I went to a festival at a local farm for Volts Wagen's it mostly consisted of camper van's and beetles with the occasional golf. There were lots of people there that were mostly selling camper van merchandise such as cushions and car stickers. After spending most of the day walking around and listening to music we all decided to go onto the nature trail that is part of the farm except you have to pay. As part of the nature trail there is a butterfly house (for those of you that don't know what that is, it's a big greenhouse type building that is filled with plants and butterflies)

The butterfly house was so beautiful but ridiculously humid. There were so many butterflies fluttering around almost aimlessly it was absolutely amazing. I've been to a butterfly house before but I was so thankful that I had the chance to take my camera this time. A couple of friends saw these 2 butterflies flying around together and I instantly went after them. I had seen them land on a leaf but when I took the picture the settings were wrong which meant the photograph came out took dark. I followed them round for a few minutes and finally got this shot. I love the bright colours on the flower and the leaves. The brightness of the flower compared to the darkness of the two butterflies really makes them both stand out. Even though the flower is really bright I feel like the butterflies stand out a lot more due the huge contrast in colour.

Not sure when my next entry shall be but I shall try my hardest to do it with in the ext couple of weeks. I'm going to canterbury tomorrow so I've got my fingers crossed i'll get the chance to take some photographs. If not I'm sure I'll find something else to talk to you guys about.

Goodnight everyone

Rather Rainy Afternoon

Hey Guys
This is a rather delayed post which means I'll be writing two entries this week rather then one aren't you lot lucky.
I've got a few busy days ahead. Firstly I'm going to Canterbury on Saturday whilst my little sister looks at the university and I'm hoping to get some photo's, fingers crossed the weather holds out. And then I'm off to my Nan's old house on Sunday to go through her things. I'm moving out of my parents house in September which means I need pots and pans for the accommodation I'm moving to. If I manage to get some decent photographs on Saturday then I'll be writing three posts this month in total.

This entry though is about some photographs I took at a local Agricultural show. For those of you that don't know what that is I'll explain it for you. It's basically I big fair type thing where people sell expensive clothing, show off flowers and farmers get to compare the size of the tractors. It's usually a lot of fun and I thought this year would be the perfect chance to take my camera and get some photo's, so that you can all see what other parts of my country were like and also I thought I'd get some amazing shots. Sadly However the British weather as typical and predictably unpredictable it is did not want to play along. This resulted in me not getting as many photo's as I would have liked. However I'm hoping I'll have the time and money to be able to go next year, seeing as it's an annual event.

From this years Suffolk Show I only managed to get one or two decent photographs and I like to think this is one of them. As you can see the weather was absolutely terrible and we all got drenched down to the bone. I took this one when me and my sister were stood under a shelter this all of our wet belongings. I'd noticed that this child that had come with us didn't seem to be phased at all by the rain and was still enjoying the live stock show that was taking place in the ring in front of her. She just stood there with the umbrella I had given her just watching almost in awe of what was going on. I knew there and then that I had to get that shot. I love the way her black coat stands out against the green grass and the white tent. It's almost as if she's a silhouette. I also love that if you look closely on the umbrella you can see the tiny little rain drops, I love tiny little details like that. I'm not really sure why though.

My next post will be about a festival I went to on yesterday. Though as of yet I'm not sure which photo's I'll include as there's a lot of different ones.
And talking of the festival I want to do a little promo for a local singer that we saw and spoke to and for a change its not Tom Law (sneaky little promo there).

This guy is Adam Moss. I first saw him live when he supported Matt Cardle for a Charity gig that is very close to my heart. He played a set yesterday which were songs from his soon to be released album called Get A Grip Kid. It's available only on pre-order at the moment you can get it from http://www.adammoss.bigcartel.com/.
He also has a facebook page- http://www.facebook.com/AdamMossMusic and he has twitter-https://twitter.com/#!/AdamMossMusic so now you have no excuse not to check him out. Trust me you should his music is really really good.




Until next time my little buddies. Byeeee

The Norfolk Broads- Part II

This is one of the photo's I took whilst along the river. The boat captain told us an interesting story about why this Oven/Arguer (i'm not really sure if that's spelled right or not) was on its own at the side of the river surrounded by rubble.
Apparently there used to be a house there that ended up needing to be knocked down for some reason that I can't remember. Of all the items that were in the house the builders decided to leave the oven there. Nobody really knows the exact reason, but seeing it just stood there kind of inspired me to take photo's of any other 'random' objects by the river.
If you want to see the rest of the photographs I took on holiday head over to my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Sarah.Thompson.Photographie Don't forget to click like and share.

I took this one evening after I had been to dinner. I loved the way the sun was setting behind the trees and also the colour of the sky and the clouds. It was so beautiful. I took this because of the way the silhouette of the trees really made the sky stand out. To me I think this is my version of negative space whilst using a photographic media. What do you think? I did take a couple more but I don't think any worked as well as this one did.

Don't forget to check out my Facebook page.
And keep a look out for my next post.

The Norfolk Broads-Photographs

    So I know I was meant to write an entry once I got home from my holiday, but I've just been so unmotivated to do anything. In fact when I have been motivated I've then been asked to do something and completely forgotten because I have the memory of a gold fish sometimes.


Whilst on my holiday I did the usual things of staying in looking over the river and reading books and when I wasn't at the house I'd do things with my family or go out to have a look around the local village and take photographs. I took the above photograph on my last day of my holiday when me, my mum, dad, brother and his fiance and my little sister and her friend all went on a boat trip called the Mississippi River Boat trip. I mentioned the boat my previous as I had seen it go down the river one evening. The photograph on your right is of the boat I had been telling you about.


 We went down the river and thankfully I decided to take my camera, as I did ponder it as it was raining when we left, so I got to take lot's of photographs most of them were of wildlife, such as birds that were swimming along the river or standing along the rivers edge though there were was the odd that I saw things that looked out of place. One photo that I took was of an oven that had been left at the side of the river. I'll explain and show you that in the next post. There will be an extra post linked to this as I have a couple of photos I want to talk about. 
I also took a photo of some boats that I had seen pulled in and tied up at the side of the river between 2 houses. I loved how the sun was reflecting off the paint and also just simply the different shades of blue that they were all painted in. It caught my eye, on a day that I had gone out to look around the village, because I found it cute the way they all looked like they were all waiting to be taken onto the main water, yet at the same time they looked like they had just been tied up and forgotten about which kind of made me sad.


I'm going to go now as I'm very tired and shall be getting into bed as soon as Jerry Springer has finished. If you want to check out my other photographs then head over to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Sarah.Thompson.Photographie
Don't forget to share my page and the link to this blog. I would love each and every one of you for it :).


Look out for part 2 of this blog.

Happy Easter!

I'm on my holiday but decided to write a little post for you guys.
Sadly I won't be uploading any photo's onto this post as I had no idea the house I'm staying in would have wifi and so therefore did not bring my camera cable. however if I do manage to find a place that sells one cheaply I shall upload a couple of photo's. If not then you'll have to wait until I get back to Ipswich.

Today's weather is a bit clouded over and miserable but that hasn't stopped me going to the shops to buy an easter egg from the village down the road. I know i'm trying to lose weight but it's easter and i'm on holiday so technically i'm allowed. I've taken a couple of photo's already of some of the boats that are parked up along the river, if thats the right term I have no idea. Some of them are beautiful and huge. my nephew kept calling them pirate ships yesterday when they visited. Some of them are huge. There is one boat that looks a bit like a southern river boat that you would see on the rivers of mississippi or somewhere like that. I got a photo of it last night with all it's lights on it looked so cool.

If you haven't guessed our house we're staying in is right next to the river, like literally if you fall off the decking you're going to get wet. When I walked to the village earlier today I saw a couple of things that I want to go back and photograph at some point this week but seeing as it's abit cold out and looks like it might rain any second I'm not going to risk getting wet and wrecking my camera.

I'm hoping to go out with my camera tomorrow to photograph boats and the wildlife. I'm very much looking forward to it maybe a little too much haha. I'm sure you'll love the photo's I take and upload once they are uploaded.

Sorry for the short post just wanted to update you on what's going on. Keep a look out for my next post.

byee x

New York

I can't believe that this time on this date last year I had just touched down in New York after a 7 and a half hour flight. A city that I have always wanted to go to for as long as I can remember. It's kind of scary to think how fast this past year has gone. I miss that beautiful city so much, with it's gigantic buildings and bustling pavements.

I wanted to spend today's post showing you a couple of the photographs I took whilst I was there and also tell you a little bit about what I got up too, even though it was a year ago :).

I think all the photo's on this post were taken on my first day there, whilst travelling from the JFK airport in New York to the Hotel Pennsylvania which was where we were having to stay.
The weather was beautiful whilst we drove into the city and I loved how busy all the streets were. This is the reason behind this photo. I loved how it seemed like nobody had a care in the world, just walking out into the road not bothering to wait and see if there were any cars coming. And yet they still wouldn't care when a yellow cab driver would beep at them for crossing in front. It was amazing.
I must admit it's not like I've not seen that kind of thing before. People seem to do it all the time whenever I've gone to London, but somehow it was different this time. In the past when I've gone to London it seems like people wait for the cars to start moving before they decide to cross the road. Yet in New York if people saw there was a line of traffic people would wait for it to clear first before deciding on having a death wish.

Apart from the traffic and the hustle and bustle of the city I also loved how bright and big everything seemed to be. Whether it be the bright yellowness of the taxi's against the dullness of the massive office and historical buildings, or better yet just big bright coloured buildings.
On our first day in the city, we decided to walk around and get used to place we would call home for the next 3 days. Whilst walking around we accidentally made our way to the Empire State Building and decided to buy tickets and go up to the top. The view was beautiful, though I must admit if I ever got the chance to go back I would definitely go at sunset as I hear the view is amazing as the sun disappears over the horizon and the city lights start to switch on. It started to get dark on our way back to the hotel. As we were walking back I noticed a big bright police van (or truck as they call it over there) parked at the side of the road and decided to take a photograph of it. I'm not really sure why, maybe it was because it was something I had never seen before. who knows because I certainly don't.

                     

We spent the next 3 days doing touristy things like going to Madame Tussaud's and shopping in Macy's. I shall be off now as I'm out for a girls night out and must finished getting ready.

Goodybye

x

April Fools Day

Hey Guy long time no speak,

It's so scary to think that today is the start of april and this time next week I'll be on holiday soaking up the sun in the Norfolk Broads. I'm planning on taking my camera so don't worry I'll take lots of photographs which for the readers that are following my facebook page I shall upload them onto there and write a blog about it when I get home, I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about.

I have some absolutely amazing news which I keep meaning to tell you but kept forgetting to write on here. As you know in my last post I was getting my portfolio ready for university interviews and was very nervous. However it seems I didn't have anything to be worried about as my interview for University Campus Suffolk went alot better then expected. He asked me many questions like why I wanted to do the course and he loved my determination for reapplying this year after getting rejected last year. With that he offered me a place there and then on the spot which was amazing. I was smiling like a goon the whole walk home and my mum is so proud of me. I can't really say much for my dad he didn't give much away but I'm sure he is proud too. I cannot wait to start uni in September. I was distraught last year when I didn't get in but I'm so happy now knowing I got in by doing it all by myself.

For those of you that are interested I'll tell you what my portfolio consisted of. First of all I put my black and white film photo's of my Childhood Memories project that I'm doing (I'll write an extra blog entry about that once I've scanned all my images). I then went onto my macro and nature photographs some of which you have seen already in past entries. I ended my portfolio with my photographs of Charlie Simpson and Tom Law. The guy that interviewed me really liked them and the way i took advantage of the available lights.

I didn't get the chance to use these photographs as I took them at my nan's and by then I had already had my interview. I took them with my digital camera and loved the chance to photograph all the toys that my dad grew up playing with. My brother, sisters and me also played with most of them whenever we visited. I think these two photos are my favourites out of the ones I took. But I'm not really sure as to why. It might have something to do with the contrast and the feeling of being a kid again when I opened the cupboard and saw all these toys and games that haven't been touched in literally years.

I'm going to go now as I've just seen the time. My next post will be about my trip to New York I took last year, so make sure you come back. I'll being posting it on Wednesday.

Good night. 

P.S remember to follow Tom. You can do that by clicking on his name (it's highlighted)

Photography and Gigs

Hey guys.
I can't believe its been almost a month since I last wrote an entry. I'm so sorry about that. I suck at keeping up with this thing.
Anyways I've not really been up to much in the past month. However, I am starting to get ready for my university interviews which are in a couple of weeks. I'm going to be printing my digital photography work tomorrow, which seeing as I don't really have a theme for it it will be a mixture of stuff I've taken over the last couple of months. I'm also going back to college on Tuesday to use the darkroom so I can print my film photography work. This will have a theme as it's a personal project I have been working on lately. I'll upload the photo's once it's all finished and ready to go :). One of my old tutors from college has been so lovely and is letting me go in so I can use the facilities. She's one of my favourite tutors and I had her for 3 years. She's so helpful and really encourages you and helps build up your confidence. Plus you can talk to her about pretty much anything.
I'm actually sat here multitasking right now. I'm typing this up for you whilst choosing my digital shots and also watching Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos. It's his newest one and it's hilarious.
Anyways I'm drifting off topic. I have interviews on the 14th and 15th of March. The 14th is my interview for UCS (University Campus Suffolk) my local university and one I have applied for a couple of times and was sadly unsuccessful. I have my interview for Anglia Ruskin University on the 15th. Thank god it's on payday otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford my train tickets to go there and come back. Which would not be good at all!

Tom Law

Last month you might remember I mentioned I was going to a gig in London. It was amazing. I finally got to meet the lovely Tom Law, who is even more amazing live, and he is such a lovely guy. I got to take a fair few great shots, some had to be deleted due to the fact that I couldn't get the settings on my camera right due to the lighting. I eventually decided to try out shooting in Monochrome and Sepia. This one is one of my favourites out of them all. I sent him the "non ugly" shots as he asked and the lovely fellow that he is uploaded them onto his facebook page. He's even given me the go ahead to use a couple of the photographs in my portfolio for my interviews. My younger sister bought him a blueberry muffin simply because he has a new song called "Don't Go Saying" which includes a line about them. I'll upload the video below. If any of you haven't already you should really go check out his music. http://www.tomlaw.bigcartel.com/ - You can buy his CD and he even has stickers which he designed himself (bless him) his CD is still pretty much on constant replay on my ipod. The only times I don't listen to him is when I feel like rocking out to a bit of My Chemical Romance or Escape The Fate. Yes I know my music taste is very strange and very muddled. I have to admit I'm a bit of a rock-chick at heart but I do have my moments of wanting to listen to something a little more subtle. If you saw the music on my iPod I think you would actually get confused at how much my music taste can vary between one end of the spectrum (ie Tom, Adele, Andrew, Ed Sheeran and Charlie Simpson) to the other end (such as Blink 182, Sum41, Simple Plan and Taking Back Sunday) I actually confuse myself sometimes haha.

Andrew Balkwill

Another person gigging was Andrew Balkwill, who was great as always too. They both met us at the venue Tom gave us hugs and said hello then went off to do his soundcheck as he was a bit late, and Andrew stayed with us and had a beer whilst we all sat and had dinner before the gig. We (me Abbie and her friend Leanne) made an afternoon of it as we traveled down to London on the train in the afternoon. We had to get the tube which we hated but we couldn't really avoid it.
Anyways back to the gig. Andrew played first, and I got a few shots of him whilst enjoying his set. I haven't asked him yet but I'm hoping he'll let me use the shots of him in my portfolio too. He doesn't have any new songs out at the moment, but he did tell us was recording his new E.P before he goes off to Texas. I'll definitely be getting a copy once it's released. Don't worry I'll keep you informed for those of you that have checked him out and like his music just like me. And those of you who haven't yet, he has a couple of songs on his youtube channel. My favourtie is "Lady Light the Way" it's such a great song. We'll get to see him again when he plays with Charlie Simpson on the 21st of March in my home town. Seriously cannot wait to see him live again. As of today it's only 18 days :D. We get to meet him and get a photo and a signed set list and a guitar pick. I'm definitely taking my camera again to get some more photographs.

I'm going to be off now, I'm getting tired now which is very surprising as I don't fall asleep til about half 2 usually but it's been a very long 2 weeks of very early morning, and I need to catch up on my very much needed beauty sleep.

Wish me luck for my interviews if I don't write before then.
See yars

A Couple More Photographs

 I absolutely love this house. It's in my local park and is currently standing completely empty. I'm not really sure why it's there but surrounded by all the woodland and plants, it feels kind of lonely and it seems sad to see such a beautiful house stood there, going to waste.I've photographed it a couple of times, the last time was using my film camera (Pentax K1000) for my college Final Major Project.

This is another photograph I took on Sunday. I had to edit this photo a tiny bit as the snow looked very grey and the rest of the image was a bit dull. Whilst I was editing it all I did was adjust the contrast in the photo to brighten the whiteness of the snow and making the rest of the image slightly darker. The only thing I would change about this photo was that if I took I would get the couple to hold hands, just to add a bit of emotion to the photograph. I think it would also add a bit more sincerity to the photograph.

Don't forget to comment below and also pass on the link for my blog to other people. And also check out my photography page on Facebook, I'm sadly only at 23 likes. Makes me a little sad.

Long Overdue Blog

Hey guys

I'm sooooooo sorry about not writing even though I keep promising on twitter and facebook that I was going to over the past couple of weeks. I've been so lacking in motivation lately that I just haven't been able to think of anything to write so when I did open my blog page to write a new entry I would just sit there blankly looking at an empty text box. Anyways I'm here now so I suppose thats what counts right?

Just to give you a little image in your head of where I am right now and what the weather is like, I'm sat in my bedroom at my desk waiting to see if my best friend will ome online tonight though I don't see that she will be as she's usually talking to me by now lol. I'm sooo glad I'm inside and not out there it is freezing cold and I don't envy you one bit Russia or any other European countries. From what I've seen on the news a lot of countries have had about 10 times more snow then we have so I could say that we've got off lightly though it is still about -3 to -4 during the night. (Thats just a guess as I haven't tried to go outside to check)


So today I'm going to talk some more about my photography work again, finally. I went out on Sunday, wrapped up nice and warm in my scarf and and bright pink coat, and took a fair few photographs of a few things that were covered in fluffy white fresh snow :). I love snow simply because it seems to bring out my inner child not that it takes much for me to act like that anyway. One of my favourites is this photographs off a squirrel sitting in a tree. Nature photography is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as you can capture some very beautiful and magical moments, and people will always wonder how you took them. Without being big headed I kind of feel like this photo is one of those moments. It was so amazing that the squirrel seemed to sit there and waited for me to take my camera out of my bag, attach the appropriate lens ( I used my canon EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 lens), which allowed me to zoom up nice and close from the ground, and then stayed in that same position whilst I took 3 or 4 photographs whilst adjusting the manual settings. Once I had got my wanted image, only then did the squirrel move.

Another photo I really like is one I took of our local allotment area. There's something special about this. The way all the sheds rooftops are covered in snow and even the houses in the background makes everything seemed, some what peaceful. Especially as not surprisingly there was no one on the lot that day. I don't blame them it was absolutely freezing. I also like  the way the depth of field works in this photo. Alot of the time when you take a photo using an SLR the background blurs to draw attention to the foreground. However this time the foreground was what went out of focus, which resulted in the background being what catches your eye instead.
I did take a few more photographs which I will upload separately on here. For the rest of my photography you can fid it in the usual place of: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Thompson-Photography/145795518848615. More news on my photography work is that I have an interview for the University Campus Suffolk, one of three uni's I applied for. So up until the 14th March I shall be focusing on my portfolio work. So my apologies if my next entry isn't as frequent as my previous entries.

I have a fun filled next couple of weeks. I'm going to London on Saturday to see Olly Murs in concert ( some of you might not have heard of him) then on Sunday I'm going on a photoshoot with my friend Josh visiting lot's of abandoned buildings around the county of Suffolk. Then on the 25th February me , Leanne and Abbie are all going down to London to see Tom Law and Andrew Balkwill (I've mentioned them a couple of times in previous blog entries) as they are gigging together. It will be the first time I've seen Tom live and my third time seeing Andrew, he's amazing live and such a nice guy I can't wait. Don't worry I'll make sure I take plenty of photographs of the guys performing.

I'm now off to bed now as it's 10 past midnight and I'm getting fairly tired.
Goodnight everybody
x

Gigs and Things

Hey guys and welcome to my new readers,

I know I've kind of put this post off seeing as, well most of you may have noticed that I had said that I would post something on wednesday or thursday and clearly I didnt. So I'm super sorry about that, but there is a reason behind it. Firstly I've been soooooo busy this week, what with babysitting my foster sister on all day whilst my mum went shopping (kind of gutted she didn't take me with her) However, she did buy me an amazing Animal t-shirt from the Disney store. As some of you may know Animal is my all time favourite muppet, though Kermit is closely following behind. I'm not really sure why he's my favourite he just is, maybe its to do with his crazy personality and his wild nature who knows. Anyway I'm drifting away from what I was talking about so back to the babysitting thing. I had to babysit my nephews on thursday afternoon which was hilarious and I loved it as always. I even got to start my personal project.
My personal  project is about childhood, which will involve me taking photographs of toys, games and books. so far the only photo's I've got are of a teddy bear and a wooden train set. I promise I will post some of the pictures on here and write about them once the project is complete.

Hopefully, by then I'll have some university interviews. This is my second time applying for uni as I was unsuccessful last year. I'm convinced I'm the only person off my college course that applied for uni and didn't get in. It sucked so much as all my friends are usually now always busy everyday during the week so I hardly ever get to see them. As a matter of fact I can't actually remember the last time I saw them all together. The only friends I really get to see is soph (whose my best friend) and the guys from work, and that's only when I'm working. If I go out clubbing then I see a few more of my friends or the 'clubbing gang' as we used to call ourselves, sad I know but we were young then lool.

Another reason I'm only just writing this blog is because I was busy Friday finishing off my ucas form and sending that off and then ended up going to a gig in the evening down at a localish pub. Two of my friends are in bands that played at the gig. You should go check them out, both bands are amazing live and both have E.P's. Sadly I'm not sure how you are able to get hold of either e.p's unless face to face but I'm sure they'll arrange something at some point. Callum is in a band called Turning Days and Jamie is in a band called Rogues Cradle. The facebook page for Turning Days is -http://www.facebook.com/pages/Turning-Days/171711936204475 they have some of their music on there. I can't actually remember the name of the song I like the most but I know that if Callum was to read this he would only say that I like it because its about alcohol and something about me being an alcoholic. Which I must add I am not lol. It's kind of a little joke the 2 of us have with each other. Rogues Cradle also have a facebook page- http://www.facebook.com/roguescradle?ref=ts&sk=app_178091127385 . Make sure you check them out.

Lastly I had to do a double shift at work yesterday which seemed to be the longest day ever. Thankfully it was the last christmas function of 2011/2012 so there are officially no more parties until the end of the year (you can let out a cheer if you like haha) All the customers were very drunk and one or two of the male customers said that I had a gorgeous smile and could get away with murder with it. Now I wouldn't have minded this if both men hadn't been old enough to be my dad. Another worrying thing was that they started talking about kidnapping me because I knew where they were. It was all abit weird and I was so glad when they all went home.

I'm going to go to bed now seeing as it's nearly half 1 in the morning and I'm getting tired, plus the roulette casino is on the t.v and the guy is doing my head in. Sorry about my blog not being up to much this week guys  I feel like all I did was explain why my post was late. I hope you enjoyed reading it anyway. Remember to let me know what you think and don't forget to check out my photography page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Thompson-Photography/145795518848615 :)
Speak to you soon everybody. Goodnight

New Year, New Start.

Hey guys.
I hope all of you are having a fantastic start to 2012 and a fabulous Christmas. It's scary to think how fast 2011 went. I promise this weeks post won't be as long as my last one but don't hold your hopes up haha. Also I won't be writing about my photography work this week just to give you a little rest :). However I shall include a couple of photos that I took over the Christmas period.

As always I'm watching the television whilst I write this though I'm not really sure what I'm watching and seeing as my sky remote is near my pillow and I simply can't be bothered to get up and get it, it looks like I won't be finding out anytime soon (lazy I know but hey what do you expect from me.) So far all I can tell is that it's a programme about a bunch of large woman trying to lose weight and become beyonce lookalikes, it's a bit weird :/.

I've decided that 2012 is going to be one of my best years yet, I don't care what gets in my way. So this year I have a couple of resolutions. My first one is to lose weight and get in shape. I started slimming world in 2011 but so far it hasn't gone to plan so this year I'm going to really buckle down and work super hard to get to the shape and size I want to be. I've already written a food plan which I will try to follow as of Friday, which is the day after I weigh-in. It's my first weigh-in of the year and after feasting out over the past couple of weeks on Christmas pudding, sweeties and booze, I'm ready to jump straight on the horse as they say and make a fresh start. My second resolution is to completely stop biting my nails. I try this every year but I always seem to fail face first haha, but this year I will do it even if it means having to wear nail varnish everyday, which for me isn't a problem unless I have work but I usually end up applying a new colour when I get home or the day after depending if it's a night shift or not.

I really feel like 2012 will be great. You may remember last weeks post where I mentioned that I had been asked to do the photography work for a local gymnastics centre. Well you will be happy to know that I received some amazing news that I will be doing it every year. I am so excited, I know I said that I wasn't going to talk about my photography work but I'm just so happy that I got this gig :D. I'll get to use my brand new flash gun which I bought only the other day :). I may even try and take it with me when I go to see Charlie Simpson in March.

Talking of gig's or concerts I can't wait to also see Olly Murs in February (wow thats alot of capital letters) even if we haven't quite worked out how we're getting there yet. I'm also hoping to see a few of my friends bands play at local gigs and the such. I'm a big supporter of local talent and I'm always willing to give people a helping hand in getting their music out there. That is why I go on about Tom Law and Andrew Balkwill a fair bit. I haven't been able to stop listening to their music, it's on constant replay on my iPod. I even got Tom's E.P Dropping In for Christmas from my younger sister for Christmas with a little message from Tom written on the inside cover :)

I have a new singer for you guys to check out now though. His name is Calvin Roche. I saw him at a gig at the  Relentless Garage about a month and a half ago when me and my sister went to support Andrew. His voice is beautifully soothing and I'm looking forward to him releasing an E.P at the begining of this year :) Check him out he's on facebook:-http://www.facebook.com/pages/Calvin-Roche-Music/104116106353241 where you can find some of his songs. So far my favourite has to be 'Lie About The Truth' (I'll post the video below) I'm not sure why but it's one of those songs that I can easily find myself listening to without even realising it. He's also on twitter so head over and follow him - https://twitter.com/#!/Calvinrocheband. You'll regret it if you don't trust me. Here's a little video for you to all check out :).

I've realised I'm starting to drag on abit now, which isn't surprising. So i'll love you and leave you now with a couple of shots I took over christmas. Please don't forget to check out my photography page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Thompson-Photography/145795518848615 and don't forget to let me know what you think :). I love you guys, I don't know how to say that in all your languages but I do appreciate your support :).

Happy New Year Everybody!

x