Summertime

Ive been sunbathing in the garden today..well for the last 3days actually..in an attempt to get a suntan before my cousins wedding in September. After 3days in the sun..nothing..not even a pink glow..not that i want that but still..anything is better than nothing. From the elbow down im abit brown..but thats normal,they are always out in the open..and the mixture of a hundred freckles and tattoos make them look darker anyway. But the top half of my arms are as white as a ghost..not even a single freckle..they dont look like they've ever seen the sun before in my 21years of life...and well...dont even get me started on my legs. Ive got 5wks to loose 14lbs (at least) and get a tan..and at the rate im going in..its gonna take me more like 5months!!!


Bordem in the garden earlier led to me messing around and taking photos of pretty much anything to do with ME : )
I searched my wardrobe for my newish surf shorts..that havent seen the light of day since they were bought last summer in Newquay when i last went surfing,pulled all my shoes out to find some vans that matched the colors and then found some daisies and snapped. Bordem leads me to such stupid stuff..i mean i found shorts and matching vans just to take a picture of my feet on the grass..like anyone cares if they watch my shorts..you cant even see my shorts anyway!

After this i lay around for abit longer..getting a giant tennis ball dropped on my face everynow and then by my dog Holly and pulled out piles of grass from by my sides until i decided to take a couple of pictures of my tattooed arms.

Bordem is a terrible thing..but i was home alone..well apart from my dog..and sunbathing was getting me no where. Lets home tomorrow is a better day..more productive and well..alittle bit more fun.

365

Ok..so after thinking about it even more i decided to start my 365 project on http://www.flickr.com/ and im today is going to be Day 3. Ive already had comments and a good amount of views which is great..it inspires me that people are taking the time to look at my pictures and sometimes comment. I dont have that many views and even less comments but even some views are better than none and my comments have been encouraging,caring,constructive...every little bit helps. Hopefully as my contacts grow and my photography gets better and more varied i'll get more views and more comments and that'll inspire me even more to keep trying and improving.

DAY 1

This was my day 1 self portrait. Nothing special but i was sitting in my car really bored and so i just snapped this for fun. I have a really goofy look on my face but its better than that no smile stone face that i usually have in photos. I thought i'd use this as my first..a starter..just typical and boring and then see where i go from here.

Day 2

This is my day 2 from yesterday. Its crap i know but i had this idea in my head that unfortunately i wasnt able to pull off. I have some ideas but at the moment..my skill isnt upto my imagination. Hopefully...somewhere down the line my skills will have improved and i'll be able to re-visit this and produce something clever and closer to what i see in my mind..but for now this will have to do.

Thanks to my folks for having whiskey.brandy and baileys in their cupboard..the vodka and martini are mine : )

Let the fun times begin!!

Today I....

...Went for a walk around my neighbourhood. Its been a boring day and there wasnt much to do. I popped to the shop and noticed that the Reform Church just around the corner from me has had this new big metal cross sculpture put up outside...it looks great!

Im not sure what the building was before it was turned into a church..i cant imagine that it has always been a chuch especially because its surrouned by so many houses..although saying that St Pauls' Church is just down the road.
On the way back past..i stopped to take this shot. I was stood across the road from the church and used my wide angle 17.5-45mm to take the shot. I had to wait til there was no cars as the road runs right in front and i was getting a couple of funny looks..but thats normal now as i walk around with my camera and a tripod sticking out of my bag 24/7.

I walked down past the river where i normally walk my dog and cut up this lane. Ive walked up this lane many times in my life..when i was young i used to walk up here with my friends and then duck under or jump over a fence on the right
side...just past the bend...into an orchard owned by Bulmers Cider Company who make Strongbow and other ciders. We used to walk through the orchards,picking the apples and playing stupid games...we could spend hours in there doing nothing at all. Further up the lane of the left side theres a field that backs onto some houses where they have a kids playground and basketball court where i used to play 2 on 2 with my bestmates. And,right at the top of the lane there are more fields that belong to a local farmer..we used to play hide & seek in his crop fields..ducking in and out of corn and hay growing in them...where we used to make rope swings and tie them to the big oaks.
When i was a kid living in this little town was soo exciting. It didnt matter that it was in the middle of the countryside..that instead of giant shopping centers and motorway links we had farms and villages. I got to play outside all the time..go fishing with my big brother down the river and make up endless games in big open fields. Now that im older..living in this little town isnt as exciting as it used to be. The jobs are limited and the houses are expensive. There arent the opportunities here that there are in other places..in bigger places. As much as i love this town and walking around memembering all the good fun times..i long for the day when i can leave again..when finally my adult life becomes more important than my childhood!

Self

Since ive been on flickr ive noticed this thing called the 365 project..basically,you have to take a self-portrait a day for a whole year. Some of the pictures ive seen are absolutely fantastic..the imagination of some people just blows me away. Recently ive been really wanting to get in on the 365 action but i think it takes a certain skill and imagination that i just dont possess. This guy Pete http://www.flickr.com/photos/arkworld/ has the greatest imagination you can think of,awesome skills and such beautiful little girls aswell..his 365's really inspire me!

The more i look at everyone's 365 projects the more i want to do it and ive been taking afew self portraits..and trying to think of good ideas for them..none of which ive been able to pull off so far..more practive is needed i think.

I took this one last week...using my new tripod to enable more freedom/flexibility. Im using my brothers old bedroom..the spare room...as a sort of studio at the moment..the walls are bare and neutral and the natural light is better. I cant smile in self portrait..i cant really smile at all..but in a self portrait..it feels stupid smiling..i mean,what are you smiling at..theres nothing there : )

Anyway,i took this for fun..i wanted to mess around in acr and play around with color and exposure etc and eventually i came up with this. I like it but as yet havent found any other pictures to use it on. Because of the tint..it gives a green look to everything and makes my red hair look redder.

I took this picture this afternoon..i spent about 1/2 hour taking a bunch of photos trying to achieve what i wanted but it just wasnt happening so in the end i snapped this just before i gave up. I have a slight smile for a change but for some reason it looks like i have a lazy eye or something...lol. I neve manage to take a picture where you can actually really see my eyes either so they just end up looking like black dots. I think it might be because of the lighting or by the looks of them in this picture..they arent open enough or enough of a focus in the picture. I'll get better...like i say..its all part of the learning process.

Worcester

I went all the way to worcester yesterday with my mate Dave...all the way..like its really that far! Hes doing work experience at Wyvern as part of his university course so we drove up there so he knows where hes got to go in Sept when he starts. The place was pretty easy to find and we went in and he had a quick chat with the woman he'll be working with..she gave us abit of a tour..doesnt look all the impressive i have to admit but what he'll be doing sounds exciting.
After that we headed back into worcester town to do some shopping..i say we..more HIM! I had a look around the shops though and looked longingly at all the things i couldnt afford to buy. It was a really nice day..the sun came out at last despite loads of rain in the morning.
After Dave spent all his money we headed for a late lunch and just chilled out abit before the journey home. I took my camera with me but for some reason didnt take a single picture... Next time i'll make sure i take some..its shame,it was such a fun day!!

Photo of the Day:Friday

My photo of the day today is from another walk down to the river. This time we were able to walk the field..along the top bank,down the side of the field and back along in front of the river.


I took this on July 30th in the late evening so the light was great. I used photoshop to edit using a lomo effect. This is one of the first photos ive used lomo on..i really like the look it gives.

Photo of the Day:Thursday

Photo of the Day for Thursday is this beautiful flower. Ive been watering my neighbours garden while they're on holiday.


I took this on July 27th in the evening just after id watered all the pots. I used a color pop setting in ACR to boost the brightness.

The Woods

At the weekend we decided to take my dog up to Queenswood for a lovely long walk somewhere different. My mum called my brother and we picked up his dog Meg and step-son Ty and headed up to the woods. Ty was really into it and made sure we followed the right route up to the viewing point.

Every so often we stopped to check maps that were dotted along the paths and read signs that had been put up on the trees about the wildlife in the woods. I havent been upto Queenswood since i was a child so it was great to go back up there and see how much Ty enjoys it,just like i did when i was his age. We followed a couple of different routes and wondered around the woods for at least an hour before we reached the viewing point where we stopped and rested.

When i was little it seemed like the journey to the viewing point took forever..it seems like miles and miles of walking before we got anywhere..but now,as an adult it feels like no effort at all. I must admit,the view has changed abit since i was a kid though. Nowadays the countryside views are dotted with polytunnels and there isnt a field in sight without something on it. S&A Davies the fruit farmers use all the fields to grow strawberries an so there are polytunnels as far as the eye can see.

On the walk back down from the viewing point we took another route...which turned out to be a pretty long one : )

We met more people on the way back and stopped to talk to a woman and her dog. I noticed something among the trees that looked like a gravestone so Ty & me ventured into the trees to check it out. It wasnt a gravestone but more a marker for some trees planted in honor of Queen Elizabeth's coronation.

The stone looked alittle worse for where and was in need of alittle TLC but considering its been there since 1953 and is in the middle of the woods..it still looks ok.

By the time we got back to the carpark we were in need of a rest again so got a couple of drinks and and ice-cream for Ty and sat down on the benches while Ty played on the great kids park they have on the edge of the woods.

It was great being somewhere different even for a couple of hours even if it was only for a short time and wasnt very far away it was nice being out and doing something different rather than sitting around at home or going into town to look at things you cant afford and probably wouldnt buy anyway. Next time,i think we'll spend a few more hours there and take a picnic aswell.

Photo of the Day:Wednesday

My photo of the day for today has to be a picture of my lovely dog Holly. Still one of the only people i can take pictures of...because although she looks away,she can be tricked into looking at me or even given treats : )


I dont even remember when this was taken,i do remember that we were out on a walk though and she was staring at a squirrel on the other side of the dog park..she really wanted to chase it!

Having fun

I spent the afternoon at the park today with a couple of mates. I felt like i was a teenager all over again,hanging out doing nothing with nothing to worry about. We sat around talking,remembering high school and the crazy things we did and wore back then like it was soo long ago..a distant memory strained to remember. We talked about how back then..we could never imagine life after school,how we were determined to 'make it work' and stay the bestest friends that we had been all through school. Being a '20 something' seemed like forever away when we were at high school and now..being '20 somethings' is lasting forever. We complained...alot!! None of us have children yet,nearly all of us have jobs..none of us have actually decided what we want to do with our lives but for some reason we all feel like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders.

Best of all...we talked about how great it would of been to have been the ones to 'make it work'

Ok,so we stayed in contact through college but after that..the last 2/3yrs have left us with on/off contact..being in different cities..sometimes different countries meant that we just didnt make the effort that we should have. But now that some of us are back in our home town..back in the place we know best..we can meet up and act like we've never been apart..like the last 2/3yrs are just in our imagination and though we've changed and experienced new things...ultimately we are still the same people deep down and the things that drew us to each other and made us friends in the first place are still the same!

For a change,i handed my camera over to someone else and instead of being behind it i was infront of it. Im still not completely comfortable with it..but whats the point of being with friends if you cant feel comfortable with them. It was just like the good old days all over again..god ive missed these guys over the last 2yrs. It looks like im gonna be back home for a while now..at least until i have the money to move away again so im definately going to make the effort to meet up with them more often...even if all we do is hang around at the park or go to the pub for a few too many beers.

Its soo much fun being yourself around your friends and not having to act like a grown up anymore..i need to do this more often..i need to get the fun back into my life and stuff worrying about everything. I know we all need to worry sometimes..worrying is part of what makes us human..and if i didnt worry about where my money is gonna come from and what im going to do with the rest of my life..well there wouldnt be much point would there?! But eventually...we all have to just learn that there is more to life than money and sometimes..not knowing what your going to do is the best part..it leaves us more free to experience new things. Life is all about learning and i intend to learn in my own good way!