It's the 'Little Things'

Sometimes the little things are the things that get you through the day...

...like floaty tops and straw hats...

...my new ribbon tie wedges...

...creeping ivy...

...and the perfect shade of lipstick...

Happy Bank Holiday Monday!

♥ Rachel ♥

Honing my 'Creative Eye'

So it seems I have very little drive for creativity these days. It probably has something to do with essay and exam season looming on the near horizon. (A miserable month of May coming right up!) I'm horrified, as I have never before been cut off from my creative self for so long. I feel blocked.

These are some of the latest experiments I've been able to pull out of the bag. Really, after making notes all day I was prepared to do anything, even photograph my mum's tomato plants...

And the view of the cherry tree from the warmth of the kitchen...

Hello to everyone else awake at 12:45 in the morning...

♥ Rachel ♥

An Extension of Myself

I am the luckiest 21 - year - old in the world. Re-wind to about eight months ago, when my dear cousin who is getting married asked me to be her wedding photographer. I was thrilled and honoured and of course I said yes.

What I didn't realise was that she and her lovely fiancee intended to buy me the camera to do it.

Fast-forward to the present, and here I am, gazing lovingly at my new DSLR, feeling like the luckiest person ever.

I intend to practice over and over and over until I can be the best I can be by the wedding day. I want these pictures to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t. So where better to start than by recapping what I thought I already knew (but had mostly forgotten in the years since I last held a DSLR) and by learning a creative technique I have been desperate to master?

First thing was first: White Balance!

Both of these were taken of the same flower at the same time on the same day. Mmmm the power of White Balance.

Secondly: Depth of Field!

The difference in DOF in these images is controlled by the size of the aperture. The top image is at F5.6 whereas the one on the bottom is much smaller. I was excited to notice that I achieved a Bokeh effect in the first image, which got me thinking about doing a Bokeh shoot.

So at last, but not least: Bokeh!

This was my first attempt at intended bokeh. It was frustrating and I forgot to do several things so I will need to give it another go, but I'm not expecting to be good at anything without some practice! For instance, my manual focusing skills leave much to be desired (they always have!) as can be seen on the terrible focus on the perfume bottle.

But anyway, practice makes perfect. Am I right?

♥ Rachel ♥

They call me 'Mellow Yellow'...

Yellow is synonymous with spring. And sun. And daffodils. And and and...!

♥ Rachel ♥

Experimenting with Self-Timer

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. The sun was out, it was warm, you could hear the birds, see the blossom. Finally it feels good to be a student.

I have an essay on Freud due in next week, and I was supposed to be working on it yesterday (and right now, funnily enough...) but I couldn't. Not with the sun shining so warmly for the first time in months!

So I did what I wanted to do:

Our garden has turned wild over the winter. Somehow it looks prettier than when we first moved here.

So happy I got to wear my favourite Spring jacket. It's coat weather today, but I will cherish the memory of sunlight warming my bare arms (EDIT: Oh the sun decided to say hello! Serves me right for being up too early!)

Self-Timer Success!

♥ Rachel ♥

Spring is Coming...

It really is ♥

Noah and the Whale, First Days of Spring, from album The First Days of Spring ♥



♥ Rachel ♥

Is my degree as pointless as it seems?!

I needed a break from analysing a poem. A poem about a halibut. Mmmhm.

I'm getting assessed on this. Urgh.Luckily I have developed the skill of making stuff up. Which - according to the degree handbook - is something that employers love!

Well, maybe I am being unfair when I say that it is making things up. I believe the technical terms are 'analytical thinking, 'close reading' and 'interpretation.' Which means what exactly?

The employabilty course got me thinking about the skills that I will achieve from an arts degree, which is all well and good, but when I'm sat spending my Saturday afternoon counting metric feet and providing delectable metaphorical insight to the life of a fish it is very easy to wonder why! To what end are these skills useful?!

It's so easy to get caught up in questions like these, and I often catch myself over-thinking issues such as the FUTURE. But what about life now? The future is important, but surely life is for living, and not just for securing the future. Because if it was the latter, then when would it end? When would 'securing the future' end, and when would 'living life' begin?

As you can probably guess, I'm feeling a tad hopeless these days. I don't know what it is all for. I've lost sight of the finishing line.

Oh dear.

♥ Rachel ♥