I flippin love trees...

Sorry..... I know it's lazy and I know I'm just filling up this blog with tree pictures...... but I just can't help it. It's made worse by the fact that I currently power walk with my dog in the same woods everyday, in an attempt to lose weight on my wedding dress diet (if you're interested just over a stone now, with another 1.5 to go), so have trees on my mind constantly.  BUT... I will have some Christmas portraits to post very soon....

More laziness...

I just can't help myself, I love autumn too much!  This is taken in Whippendell Woods, behind the famous Grove Hotel, where I walk my dog... when I say walk, I mean he runs around the woods chasing stuff whilst I stand still taking pictures... laziness on 2 levels!

Lazy...

Lewis Lewis says this is lazy photography!  I think nature is amazing, it's my favourite season and I can't help myself, I have to take some autumn pictures... although I'm not 100% sure the colours are translating properly from my computer to this blog site???... grrrrr!

Woolly jumper and radiators....

Sat by my radiator in my woolly jumper, reminiscing about the summer (?)...

Motherly love...

I finally got to meet lovely baby Xac and took this photo of him and beautiful Em Lar...

All hail...

JOHN... God of tennis ball throwing...

Action photo for John...

See John, I can do action shots...!!

PM Gallery, Ealing...

My Image, Veritas #Maeve, at the PM Gallery, Ealing...

The Exhibition is on until 29th Sept...

Veritas...

Veritas... The final images for my Photography Masters Degree...

As ever, thank you to all of my long suffering friends, family and neighbours for sitting for yet another of my ideas... 

Details for the final exhibition can be found at:

www.engaze.co.uk

MA Photography Show Website...

enGaze

Private View Thursday 13th September, 

Public View Friday 14th - Saturday 29th September at the PM Gallery, Ealing.
www.engaze.co.uk

The Olympic Stadium...

An amazing day out with Lewis Lewis...

My MA Muse Maeve...

This is the WIP for my MA Final Project...  following on from the style and theme I created for the last project I wanted to progress the idea of the untruth of images and the perception of the body...

This idea is twofold and circular - 1) it's about women's bodies being put on an unrealistic pedestal (esp.in the media) by body beautiful actresses, models etc who've had surgery or who have been airbrushed.  2) it's about the camera distorting and not being able to show the truth in a single photograph.  This second point adds the dimension that returns the concept to point no.1...

These images are influenced by Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud and I want them to have an almost painterly quality, playing with the notion that the camera, the photograph, never lies.

This image is a composite of 35 layered images of my lovely cousin Maeve...

What have you got yourself into...

My cousin Maeve, who I only met 2 weeks ago, has come to stay... why oh why did nobody warn her that this would happen...?!

Paul behave...

All you have to do is look at the camera and behave...!

PPPP.....

I don't want to turn into a PPPP (Pet Picture Post Person), but I love this photo of our little 19 year old cat Bernie :)

Lordy lordy...

Lordy Lawrence and beautiful Liss...

Wedding daze...

On a summers day in Henley... CONGRATULATIONS Emma & Mike!

Summer evenings...

Been a bit of a while since I posted - essays, weddings, interior design shoots... just the usual!  

Finally got a chance to sit down and relax in the garden ... :)

MA WIP contd...

I think I've re-sized and colour balanced as I want to now, although they do appear to look a bit yellow on this blog?  I think these 3 images will be the final 3 for display in the Conversation series, still deciding and playing around!  These 3 images seem to be more obscured and give a sense of the essence of a person, a sense of Benjamin's aura.

Three different decades are represented here in conversation - as Pena noted in the previous comments below, what do these images reveal about the person, about their age and experience?  What limitations can be revealed about the camera capturing a person in a halted 60th of a second?  How do we see our friends, family and people we meet, can we truly describe that person facially when we own myriad expressions? What is so different about arrested images and these blended images? - I would argue that anyone who knows these people would recognise them from these photos, even though no clear facial features are represented...

Another MA WIP...

Another image from the Conversation series, 50 images layered to form 1 image.  I think the colour balance is a bit more accurate, but still work to do! The framing works much better as well, especially for the series, possibly a bit more refining still required... They're slowly coming together :)

A conversation with Liz... 

Thank you Liz yet again for your help with another photographic project... I imagine Liz regrets the day that she found a house that "would be perfect" for Lewis Lewis and me, just around the corner from her!

MA work in progress...

This is one of my WIP images for one of my MA projects... N.B. There is still much work to do!
It's 50 layered images of one conversation.  The idea is to challenge the limitations of the camera and to bring to attention the fact that when we see another person, they have myriad expressions and facial features, all of which blend to create our understanding of that person's appearance. The camera only captures a halted moment of the depth of expression that we're capable of.

This is my lovely nearly mother-in-law Mia.

Going all political...

Many of you may know that I have a very brave and courageous friend who has been extremely ill and requires a complicated package of care in order to recover...  Today I passed the 300th email I have sent/received in trying to get the appropriate care for her...  

I thought it was a significant landmark to celebrate, especially as after 6 months of emailing, phoning, writing and attending numerous meetings across the country, my friend is still not being provided with the care she requires and the only care she is receiving is being paid for from her own money...

Helloooooooo...... is there anybody out there......?

Bitumen Lewis Lewis...

So we bought some bargain parquet flooring, only 6m2, to go in our hallway - beautiful thick solid oak...  cost us £5 - thank you eBay.....

For 3 flippin weeks now we've been scraping bitumen off the sides of our £5 bargain flippin parquet - AND whats more, in so doing, we have also ruined 1 £35 mattress protector (thanks to bitumen residue left in the washing machine) and have a trail of bitumen throughout the house, over all of the carpets that I spent £50 having cleaned.  

NOT only that, but we bought a new mattress protector, for £20, only for me to take it out of the pack, throw away the packaging, wash the protector, put it on our bed and discover some sly s0d had swapped it in the shop for a single mattress protector... so we then had to spend another £20 on an actual double protector.  

AND, not only that, but when we went to Dunelm (we're all about the bargains in this house) to get the mattress protector, and even though we definitely don't get lured by advertising and pretty coloured cr@p that is essential for an idealistic and successful lifestyle, we came away with £25 worth of decorative, nice smelling, debatabley essential, additional household items!

WHAT'S more, we still have stinking granny carpet in our hallway, because we're still scraping stinking bitumen off our bargain flippin parquet blocks, which have cost us £120 so far, with a further bill of £50 weekend sander hire, underlay, PVA, filler and varnish to come...

Notice my absence in the photo - I'm inside the house changing Lewis' passwords to eBay...

PhotoSoup 2012...

For those of you London based or London bound, check out PhotoSoup...

Photographer Eti Wade's Nuclear series at Gallery 24, 20 Great Guildford Street SE1 0FD is part of the latest PhotoSoup show.

Exhibition on until to the 12th of May.   PhotoSoup 2012

Also featuring the work of; 
ANIA CERELCZAK (AnCerel),   
ALEX DRAGO
GIANNI FORTE
MARK HAMILTON GRUCHY
BARBARA van den HEUVEL
EJ MAJOR
HEATHER MCDONOUGH
NADEGE MERIAU
CARLOS SALADEN-VARGAS
ROLAND SERANI
MELANIE STIDOLPH

Happy Easter...

To celebrate Easter here's another image from the "Amateur Calendar" series.  April... Happy Easter!

Lissi...

Here is beautiful Lissi who I met today, another "willing volunteer" for my MA :)  What's more, she came round with cake... now that's a trend I'd like to see replicated...  Thank you Lissi...

Grey Day...

Thought we could all do with a bit of cheering up after such a grey and miserable day (although, actually quite thankful for the rain and hope it continues for a bit longer)...
More blossom... but believe it or not I am STILL FLIPPIN ILL, so still allowed to upload pretty pictures of flowers and blossom!

My Beautiful Sister....

Looking through some photos today I found this lovely picture I took of my beautiful sister Yani, mother of my equally as beautiful (but ever so slightly more bouncy) niece Amalie...

Complete Self Indulgence...

Every year I can't wait to see the stunning Magnolia trees in full bloom and this year I found the most impressive one yet! BTW... I'm still ill, so feel that it's OK for me to post more pictures of flowers and blossom..... *cough*..... *sniff*...

Thank You Natalie....

No-one can escape my camera lens... not even my neighbours daughter who innocently thought she'd just come to visit her Mum for a few days! Thank you Natalie :) ......

Happy Birthday Anna...

Don't like to make a fuss...

It's been a bit quiet on this blog because I've not been feeling very well, so I'm sending myself a picture of some flowers to cheer me up... but I don't like to make a fuss... hardly mention it really.... the fact that I'm not feeling very well that is...

Towards the future....

Happy Anniversary... Here's looking to the next 6 years of fun and stupidity...

Dillon's cone...

Mine..... mine, mine, mine................... mine...

Mothers Day...

For Yani... My beautiful niece and god-daughter Amelie...

Happy holidays...

From the "Amateur Calendar" series... The month of July, "Happy Holidays Are Here." !!!

Sprunging Spring...

Some spring cheer.... plus an excuse to self indulge with photos of flowers :) ........

Enduring love...

No words required...!

Heavenly love....

The perfect couple...

Lewis Lewis...

Lewis Lewis, I've got a great idea for a Christmas card... it'll be ironic; you'll be in a suit looking stony faced and demure.....

Serene Scarlett...

Serene Scarlett... mere moments before the strop induced realisation that yet again I'd only popped round for a cup of tea and happened to bring my entire camera kit, lighting and make up with me!...