Today I finished my second year of Uni - yay! There has also been a gigantic change of plans and due to Topshop falling through and my house falling through and many other reasons I am now heading back to my parents house in Oxford for the Summer. I pretty much already have a job lined up so that's grand, to be honest as boring as it sounds I'm just looking forward to earning some money and seeing my Oxfordshire friends and maybe a very cheeky trip up to Sweden. I also have nine full books to read over the Summer as dissertation research so there's no rest for the wicked!
How are you planning on spending your Summer?
Monday, 14 May 2012
Hi guys! Sorry I haven't updated for a few days, I swear I'm still recovering from the partying and antics that Great Escape and this weekend in general have bought - I'm tired quite literally all of the time! It's gone midnight right now so I'm going to try and go to sleep early (yes this is early for me) and hopefully wake up feeling fresh in the morning, where I will try and fill you in on the Great Escape Festival via the mediums of written word and photography. I hope you're all keeping well!
Just wanted to very quickly share a link to a poem I've become fascinated and intrigued by - Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, there's just something about it, I'm going to sleep now as it's gone 2am here and I have a six hour shift tomorrow! Bisous mon ami.
Hi guys! Sorry I haven't had much to share with you recently, but here are some songs I've been really enjoying, including a beautiful video at the end, which puts an almost hypnotic twist on those cliche Tumblr quotes. Hope you enjoy.
It's funny how things can work out and take a turn for the better when you least expect it. I swear I have someone watching me from up there... (Flavia and/or Nick I'm looking at you)
I also need to stop worrying so much or I'm going to give myself a heart attack or a hernia. (maybe even both if I'm lucky).
Uni has finished for the week, but there's no rest for the wicked. I have two presentations due in next week, which are also my final two presentations for second year (eeek), and in true Lewi fashion I've started neither of them. I have a photoshoot tomorrow with a friend from London where I'll be wearing strange contact lenses and posing on the beach, which I'm genuinely looking forward to. Friday spells work (but only from 10-2pm) and it's also PAYDAY which means I can finally afford stamps to post some vital forms up to my parents, amongst other things, which include coffee with my friend Clare. Saturday I have work again and Sunday will be dedicated to doing Uni work - thankfully I finish for the Summer in six weeks eh? Time will also be made in-between all of these shenanigans for xBox, tea and napping.
I'm also having a problem with my DSLR! When I put it on aperture priority mode, the picture becomes grainy and yellowish - any ideas what I've done wrong? Any assistance from you clever people would be much appreciated.
Here is a photo I took last night when I was tearing my hair out and worrying about things that don't even matter.
What are your plans for the rest of this cold, rainy week?
Today I took another University related trip to the capital with Nathan to check out the Damien Hirst exhibition. Although it was raining, windy and very cold it did nothing to dampen our spirits as we ate croissants on the train and caught up.
Being back in London almost felt like returning home in a strange way. As previously posted I fall in love with London more and more each time I visit and although the place is still kinda strange and daunting, it's definitely where I see myself in the very near future.
Unfortunately I only have one photograph of the Hirst exhibition (which I was strictly told off for taking, although I saw no signs prohibiting photography) so I think it's probably best that I don't upload it on here just in case the Tate come and kidnap me and force me to work underground making missiles for World War III or something. I can however tell you that the exhibition is a feast for all five senses (you'll see what I mean when you see it) and although parts of it are ugly and perhaps an oddity to the collection on display, most of it is carefully thought out and incredibly beautiful in a unique way. The use of colour and sentiment comes across strongly throughout the exhibition. This is a photograph of my favourite item, titled "The Inescapable Truth":
After Hirst & the Tate, myself, Nathan, lovely fellow coursemate Jade and our tutor Fenella took the Tube to Whitechapel, where we went to see an exhibition by Birmingham born artist Gillian Wearing. This was a combination of film and photography based on the idea of people "hiding" their true selves in public, and looking at the difference between how people act when out in public, and how they act when in private and/or comfortable spaces. This included several short films (most of which were incredibly disturbing) a selection of photographs of Wearing dressed up as family members and idols, wearing wigs, prosthetic masks and even painted on abs and scars to achieve a realistic look (she makes a very convincing man!) and a booth which Wearing set up, inviting members of the public to come in, don a mask and wig and confess their deepest, darkest secrets. These ranged from sexual abuse to domestic violence to a man who likes to drink women's period blood. I think I'm going to leave this degree mentally scarred.
The four of us then went for lunch in a really cute family run pizzeria three doors down from the gallery, which Fenella kindly treated us to. Fenella then went home so we then headed back to Victoria via a stop in Brick Lane at Rough Trade Records' store, where we had a browse and took some photobooth pictures (as you do). Brie and bacon panini's and very large coffee's were also purchased. Unfortunately we missed our train and the tickets myself and Jade had meant we had to stay in London until after 7.15pm because we couldn't travel at peak times. So we said goodbye to Nathan (who could travel home) and went window shopping down Oxford Street, where I took several silly photos in Pull&Bear's photobooth in the guys section. Here are the fruits of my labour:
We then caught the train back to Brighton, where I had to walk home in the rain because my card got declined at the station's cash machine - uh oh! I now plan on doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the evening.
And photos you shall receive!
The below images were taken by me on a long walk on Easter Sunday with one of my best friends Liam. It was nice to meet up with him and have some quality catch-up time which didn't involve video games, alcohol or the cinema. Liam thinks we walked around ten miles, which for a lazy art student, is a mission! I'm proud of some of these photos and it shows my photography is improving, but I also have a lot to work on, but I now know how to go about this :)
I've also been asked to take photos for my friend Adam's tattoo studio, my friend Mel's tarot and alternative living website, and for my very close friend Joe's wedding next year - I'm not the official wedding photographer (thankfully! I think I'd buckle under the pressure) but to take photos of people smiling, dancing and just generally having fun will be a fantastic reminder for both him and his fiancee of what a beautiful day I'm sure they will have.
Tomorrow I go back to Brighton after two weeks of being back at my parents house. It's going to be strange going back as I've just gotten comfortable here again, but I only have two months at University before the long Summer begins and second year finishes. Just where is the time going? I had a lovely send-off lunch this afternoon with Joe, his fiancee Lyc, Duncan and Jemma at the Hollybush (check it out @ http://www.hollybushwitney.co.uk/) and it was so nice to get the little group together for some chilled out food and lots of laughter before I go back to Brighton. Although I'm growing apart from several people, I'm very lucky to have the friends that I do.
How are you spending your weekend? & Please feel free to leave any feedback on the photos!
Or, the times I remembered to bring/use my camera.
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1. This was taken on Monday morning. The light that was coming through my room looked peculiar in a beautiful way, and I loved the effect it was having on my (thin shitty) curtains, so I decided to snap a shot.
2. Just the clothes I wore to bed that night, but taken from my windowsill r.e. the aforementioned lighting that I spoke of.
3. Lasagne the stray cat has now been officially BANNED from our house after he MAIMED MY FACE on the Tuesday night. I was picking him up to let him out of my door, which is normally something he is fine with to the point where he mostly purrs, but on this night he decided to stick his claws right into my lower eyelid, quite literally 1cm or so away from my eyeball. If he'd got the tiniest bit higher I would have been blinded so I'm grateful! It's left a tiny mark but I'm still pretty pissed off about it. If it was on my arms or my chest for example I wouldn't care because you can cover those areas up, but your face - that's something people have to see everyday! Not cool man.
4, 5, 6. Last Tuesday as we all know was Shrove Tuesday e.g. Pancake Day! I hope you all had fun eating lots of pancakes! What toppings are your favourite? My housemate Matt made myself and him a stack of them with bacon and lots of maple syrup, and my goodness they were so good! I wanted chocolate spread on my next round by then remembered we only had nutella, which also belonged to my other housemate who was back home in London. Fate is keeping me and chocolate apart!
7. This is a polaroid picture of Matt and myself taken at the Vice Issue Launch Party at Brighton's Green Door Store on Friday night by my coursemate/future housemate Lulu. I love it!
How have you all been? This week spells madness and mayhem for me - I'm heading to my first houseviewing in an hour! I know I can't afford the deposit but it's something to start us off with at least and I'm going to see if I can negotiate the cost of the deposit and such. It'll be nice to meet Matt's friends/my future housemate's Matt and Ellie too. After that I'm going food shopping then will desperately be cranking out my presentation - which is only about 10% done, due Wednesday and my lecturer isn't replying to my e-mails about the content of it! Shit shit shit.
On Tuesday I am gracing London for the day with a University organised trip to Shoreditch, which I'm very excited for. It'll be nice to get out of Brighton for the day and I'm with one of my close coursemate's Rhys, who, through him being constantly stoned, makes everything funny. We have open return tickets to the capital so I'm excited to see what the day will hold for me. Wednesday is Uni all day, and we have another houseviewing on Thursday (the other two got cancelled!), working Friday and Saturday but I am also heading to Jack Beats Saturday night with Matt and some of his friends from home, so that should be good. As I have (attempted to) shown with this post, I'll try and illustrate as much of my week as I can via the medium of photography!
Right now I must finish getting ready and have a quick snack before heading to the viewing. What do you have planned for the final week of February?
P.S. If you haven't already heard of him, check out 'Baths'. I've been listening to his music for months but only very recently have I gotten back into it and I've had the 'Cerulean' album on repeat for a day solid now. Check this out below whilst you enjoy your Monday afternoon, you won't regret it!
Sunday, 11 December 2011
today, i went to the beach with emma to finish my photography project, and i got some fantastic photos! which made me feel 10x better after the awful shoot i did with amy last week. i snapped several good ones of emma (if i do say so myself) and then it was her turn behind the camera, which she took this one of me where for once, it doesn't look like i'm chewing on toffee. we then came went to mine, cooked some homemade garlic bread and listened to amy winehouse's new album 'lioness: hidden treasures' which is so, incredibly sad. oh amy, if only you'd asked for help...
