Too Much Coffee and Irn-Bru

The inevitable has happened. The blog's turning into a diary! I think it's mostly because I don't have the time at the moment to go out and look for interesting photos. I don't have so much uni work now (two of the three deadlines I mentioned in the last post have passed now), but this third one is a whopper: a 2,500 word essay on how I would give a presentation on Postmodernism.

Ok, so 2,500 words isn't that much, but I don't know squat about Postmodernism! So the research portion of the assignment is pretty epic at the moment. I've got some good quotes, and a rough idea of what I'm going to write, but I think there's going to be a lot of guessing/covering up my lack of knowledge! I'll be glad when this is handed in. All I have then is a composition (still a lot of work, but hopefully more enjoyable), and revision. FUN TIMES. But! I'll have time to actually try and plan what I want to do when I go on vacation in May.

I'm going to Australia for three months. I'm staying in Sydney with some relatives, but beyond that I have no idea what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go. I'm not exactly going to be loaded on this trip, so lots of cliché(d?) student shoestring-type activities will be on the cards I reckon. I know I definitely want to go to Melbourne. It looks like such a beautiful city, and I hear it has one of the best qualities of life anywhere in the world, so I want to check that out. The architecture looks very interesting too, so hopefully that will mean some good photo opportunities.

I'll be glad when my classes finish. This first year at uni has flown by, but there have been plenty of down points. I've felt homesick at times (which never happens to me), out of my depth (my music theory knowledge is pretty poor, though not for lack of trying!), and some of the classes here have been less than stellar. However! I really do think it's been good for me. There have been some really great and interesting classes, I've learnt some really cool things about music, been to some very interesting arts nights, and been able to experiment with some more outlandish ideas.

I'm really getting fond of living away from home as well. Uxbridge isn't the most exciting part of the world, but it feels more like home than where my parents live in Sussex. I've got my own way of doing things now, and generally feel more comfortable than when I go and stay with my folks. 

I'm also more pro-active than I ever was. I've had a lot of difficulties academically this year, and because these things never go away, I've had to sort them out of my own accord.

I'm growing up, basically.

Black and White

I've never taken a photo with the intention of it being black and white. It's never something I've given a great deal of thought to until recently. I've played around with a couple of photos from my collection in the past, and they look reasonable in black and white, such as the photo below:

I took this in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. It was around 100˚ when I took the photo, and I don't think that the colour version of the photo really shows that, wheres the black and white version does. I also prefer the black and white one because it adds a sense of loneliness; something I think that Black and White is very effective in expressing.


A more recent attempt demonstrates this to a greater extent. This is the view from my university room, during the irritatingly-named "Big Freeze" of early 2010.

I like the colour version a lot; I think the mix of the brutalist architecture and the solitary character make it feel quite lonely already, but I put a black and white effect on it, played around with the blue colour levels, the exposure, and the contrast, and I ended up with this:

I effectively just made the photo darker, but I'm really pleased with how it came out. The buildings and the trees contrast with the sky more effectively than in the colour version, and the character in the picture draws the eye in now that he's much darker than before.

Aloha!

Welcome to my photography blog. I'm going to use it primarily for sharing my photos, and different things I've tried regarding photography.

I've been into photography for as long as I can remember. I don't know anything about photography itself i.e. what different lenses do, what ISO means etc. but I've been told I have a pretty good eye for it, and it's a lot of fun. I'm not planning on learning about photography any time soon; I think it'd spoil my enjoyment of it.

I like photographing cityscapes, landscapes, and wide open spaces. Most of the photos I've taken have been from when I've travelled to the US; I've been there seven or eight times now and there are always plenty of good shots.

Here's a couple of photos whilst I think of a theme for a post. Enjoy!