Exhibition Update!

Well, today, after weeks of stress, screen punching and swearing, I’ve finally finished my final images and printed them ready for the exhibition! 
Tomorrow I will be framing them, and we are putting together the space ready to hang our work as a group tomorrow too.
It’s gonna be a busy week next week- every single day is accounted for in a 9-5 to get the space prepped and ready and full of our work ready to open to the public on the 9th.

Although I’ve so enjoyed the experience of putting together our own exhibition and the learning curves have been so beneficial, I am so looking forward to it all being completed so I can sleep for a week.

I will be writing a new Life in Letters hopefully over the weekend before next week kicks me full in the face. 

Watch out for that! But for now, it is over and out.

Update- I’m organising an exhibition!

Well, well, well… long time no see, huh?

I’ve not posted a blog post in a LONG time… for various reasons that I shall get into in a moment. But this post here, marks my come-back to blogging and I will be posting regularly once more as of now. 

Now, as for the reasons behind my extended absence from WordPress… In early September my beloved cat Misty passed away. This was a really hard time for me and my family, and I felt as if I needed to write a blog post about it. I felt as if I had to write SOMETHING about her before I could continue with anything else, but I didn’t feel ready yet. Now, I feel as if I can address this and continue writing.
Some people may think it’s silly to be so devastated over the death of a pet, but to me she was a lot more than that- pets become a part of who you are, and you develop bonds with them you just don’t with anyone else. Misty was only 6 years old too- she wasn’t meant to die so young. She developed a form of blood cancer about a year ago and she had been battling it ever since. She had a nice last summer, but her condition deteriorated within a matter of days, and we ultimately had to decide to have her put to sleep. I stroked her and relaxed her and held her paw as she slowly passed. It was awful but we know we made the right choice for her.
I will miss her forever and life will definitely be a lot less bright without her.

 

Well, that was September. As for the time between then and now- I’m now in my final year of university. This semester my class and I are putting on an exhibition of our work on 12th December in Bolton, Manchester. Organising this and getting my work together has taken up a LOT of my time these last few months. Hence my delayed absence. 

HOWEVER, I am now back! I will be aiming to post weekly blogs again, probably updates on the exhibition between now and when we open mostly, but I’ll fit in some other stuff too. 🙂

To check out our exhibition website go to: www.exposure13.co.uk. 
You can also follow us on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram and like us on Facebook. All of the information about the work and the dates we will be open will be announced on those sites. Go over and share the links and support our work! 😀

Until next time, kids!

My Life in Letters: V.

I’ve decided to talk about my recent trip to Venice for this letter, because it was my first holiday with my boyfriend and also the first time in seven years that I’ve been abroad. 🙂

Our trip was only for 3 days and it was incredible. I completely fell in love with the city, the people, the architecture, the food, the language… everything!
It was really really hot- 37 degrees Celsius most days (which is really hot when you’ve been in England for 7 years :P)

We really want to go back sometime, as we felt like we couldn’t take in everything we wanted to in only 3 days. Such a beautiful experience though. 🙂
I loved it there, and I managed to take some really nice pictures. Here are a few of them for you to enjoy. 🙂

2013: Half-Way.

 

Well, now that it is a little over the half-way point in this year, I thought it was a good idea to maybe do a little life update and ‘review’ of the year so far, haha.
At the beginning of the year, I had a few resolutions. One of them was to be healthier. This has both worked and… not. 😛 I have been eating pretty well, but I’ve been slacking exercise wise. However, in September I plan on buying an exercise bike for the spare room. The reason for this is because it works out cheaper than going to the gym and paying a membership fee. Plus, I can work out anytime I want, three times a day if I wish. I will have the motivation necessary knowing I don’t have to put any effort in to get to my exercise location, haha.

Another resolution was to have a night a week where I had a technology free night, with no phone, no laptop and no TV. This has not worked in the slightest. I haven’t had even one of these nights. 😛
However, the aim of this night a week was to force me into doing something creative more often, like spending time just me and my camera, or a notepad for poetry or crafts, or even just reading; and I’ve done these things.
Even without the aid of an evening a week, I’ve managed to do all these things anyway. Since out of university for summer I’ve written a bunch of poems in my spare time (something I never do unless it’s for my course), and I’ve been doing my weekly photo project, which has had me working on my photography regularly too. I’ve also been reading a lot more. I absolutely love reading; it’s one of my favourite things to do, but I found that in the last year or two at university, I’ve just not been making time for it. Any spare time I had, I wasn’t spending it reading. I’ve really changed that. Since the beginning of the year I’ve read seven or eight books in total. Which, considering in the whole of last year I read maybe half of three separate books, and none the whole way through, I thought was pretty good going.
I’ve also been doing crafty things, and really enjoying them! I finally finished customising a denim jacket I started on last year and then forgot about, and now it looks awesome! I also went to Art in Action this month, which is an art festival with workshops down south. There I made a clay Green Man mask and it looks amazing. I’m really proud of it as I’ve never really done any clay molding before then!

My final resolution was to DO things more. Last summer, I spent most of it doing… nothing. We had so many plans and so many things we wanted to do, but we found that money limitations and weather really restricted what we could do. This summer, I wanted to do ALL of the things I had planned. And I’ve definitely been busy!
We kicked off the summer by redecorating our house. Its just a student house, but it’s also somewhere we have to live in for two years, and I wanted it to be somewhere I enjoyed being. So we completely revamped everything, and now it looks awesome!
After that, we went to Download Festival! And boy, can I tell you… it was INCREDIBLE. I finally got to see Slipknot play live after wanting to for over ten years, so that was a dream come true. Plus all the other bands I saw were amazing. It was such an incredible experience, despite the torrential rain and the very unreliable tent. I met awesome people and generally had an awesome time!

These last two weeks I’ve spent with my family down south for my 21^st, which was really awesome. We went to see Cirque du Soliel: Allergria in London, something else I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade and I finally did! I also got to spend some time with my nieces who are adorable and I don’t get to see often now that I’m living so far away.
It was lovely to spend time with everyone and I had such a blast the whole time.

Next week we are going to Venice for a few days courtesy of Dom’s parents for his 21^st, which is incredible and I am so excited for! This will be the first time I’ve been out of the country in seven years, so I am really really looking forward to it! Plus I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go to Venice. We’re going for three days which will be really awesome! I may even manage to get a tan for once!

We are also planning a trip to Wales at some point in August for a long weekend to see Dom’s old hometown and his friends and stuff- something else we wanted to do last summer but couldn’t in the end. So that should be awesome if we can sort that out! I also plan on going to see my friends and family in Yorkshire in August and have a belated celebration for my little brother’s 16^th birthday which is tomorrow!
To finish off the summer, we are planning a big house party right before we start back at uni for our final year, which should be amazing if we can pull it all together in time!

Overall, I think I’ve done really well in my maintaining of resolutions! And I’ve had the best summer so far! I passed my second year with a 2:1 and I’m looking forward to my final year as a student! I think it may be the best yet!

Overall, this year has been great so far! I feel like a lot of stresses and toxic negativity has been lifted from our lives from last year, and that this year has overall just been better! Here’s hoping the second half is just as good! ❤

My Life in Letters: U.

University.

If I had never gone to university, I would never have had the courage to move to Manchester and find my true home.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have discovered an interest, and hopefully a talent in poetry.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have become informed and involved in various aspects of activism.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have learned how to use a 5×4 format camera, or how to use studio lighting.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have started, and stuck to, my 52 week project.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have met some amazing new friends.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have met my boyfriend.
If I had never gone to university, I would never have learned how to be self-sufficient.

If I had never gone to university, I would never have gotten a degree in the fields I love.

For these reasons, and many others, University is my topic for the letter U in my life in letters.

 

Review: Lush’s Sex Bomb Bath Ballistic

I wanted to do something a little different today. So I’ve decided to do this!

There’s pretty much nothing better, on a rainy day when you’re generally feeling rubbish, than a hot bath. Even better if you have some Lush bath bombs to put in it.
I absolutely love the brand Lush, as for one thing everything in their store is completely cruelty free and vegan, which is really awesome. I find that it is really hard to find completely cruelty free products these days, as frankly, most places that claim to be, actually get other companies to test their ingredients on animals instead. Which sucks.

One product line, among the many, that I love from Lush, is of course their bath bombs. They are incredible. All of them have natural ingredients and always smell incredible. They usually have some kind of secret little surprise inside when you put them in the bath and fizz away also!

Today, I chose to use my Sex Bomb Ballistic, which is one I’ve not tried before now. I think it’s so pretty with the little rose and the colours are incredible (mine unfortunately faded slightly since I bought it since I kept it in the windowsill. oops).
It’s made from jasmine, clary sage and ylang ylang, and it smells incredible. The jasmine is the primary smell in my opinion, but it also has a hint of powdery lilac flower to my nose.

When put into the water, as expected, it fizzes into a bright pink, which is, almost impossibly, both a hot pink and a pastel all at once? I think the pastel comes from the purple elements of the bomb.
The smell was absolutely beautiful, and really powerful! I left the bathroom door open while I was running the water and the smell of jasmine filled the whole of the upstairs of my house!

I’ve got to say, it was one of the most relaxing baths ever. I absolutely love the smell of jasmine, and it’s such a calming scent that I was just blissed out the whole time.
Apparently the bomb is also filled with soya milk, which leaves your skin feeling ridiculously soft! (No complaints here.)
I got out of the bath about five hours ago now and the scent is still on my skin.
Happy customer!

The Sex Bomb bath ballistic is a permanent product in Lush (as far as I’m aware) and costs £3.20. Thoroughly worth it. 🙂

* Please note that all of the photography in this post is my own. Do not alter, re-post or in any other way reproduce these images without my prior permission.
** Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to write about something a little different for once. 🙂

My Life in Letters: T.

Well, I’ve finally finished my second year at university. I say ‘finally’, but it feels like I only just started it… either time is flying by, or I’m paying four grand to be in Uni for 3 lectures a week and for only 6 months a year. Or both.

The summer is now stretched out before me, with Download Festival fast approaching, a trip to Venice not far behind and then finishing off with my 21st birthday. When the hell did a quarter of my life disappear? Wowzers.

Over the summer I’m also planning on doing a few personal projects, one of which is starting to really dedicate my time to my 52 Week Project. I’ve neglected it so badly within the last few weeks of semester, with it turning more into a 52 Week Project Over The Space Of (Undisclosed Amount Of Time.) That’s going to change over summer- I have a lot of photo opportunities coming my way, plus the time to really focus on it.
I also aim to do some writing projects, including getting back into blogging frequently again. Maybe even start a YouTube channel finally. We’ll see on that one… (I’m shy).

ANYWAY, onto the letter ‘T’. (I’m taking so long to do this series- I swear I started this over a year ago now).
The obvious person to talk about for the letter ‘T’ is my oldest friend Tom.
I’ve known Tom since I was four years old, and he was only two. (aww).
We’ve consistently been BBFL and never once had a falling out.
We don’t get to see each other often now that I’ve moved to the other end of the country for uni, but when we do see each other, our friendship just falls back into place like no time has passed, which is something that I think is a very rare thing to happen in a friendship. I’m very thankful to still have this guy in my life, even though he’s an unreliable bell-end. 🙂
He is like my brother, and I love him to death.

 

Tom and I- 2006. (HAHA).

Tom and I, 2011. (Look how much we’ve grown! *cough*)

Love ya, buddeh. ❤

My Life in Letters: S.

This letter marks my 50th post. It also marks the day I’ve finally submitted my research project! So thank you to those I interviewed, and not thank you to the eighteen people who liked my post pleading for help but didn’t send me any interview answers. 😉
(I’m joking, thank you, dear readers.)

So, the letter “S”… I think I will have to go with my old family dog Spike for this one.

Spikie was a japanese spitz crossed with an akita. A strange mix, which made him, particularly when he was younger and before his muzzle greyed, look almost exactly like a wolf with a collar.
When he was young he had a pure black face all the way up to his ears, which steadily greyed over the years.

We had Spike for 12 years before he eventually passed away. He was a part of the family. We grew up with him- he was the forth sibling. He was fiercely protective over us and was the most loveable dog in the world. There wasn’t a single person who met him who didn’t fall in love with him.

We all felt so lost when Spike passed away. He had been with us for so long that it felt wrong not to have a layer of white fur over everything.

We’ll always miss him and his old tricks.

Spikie,
They called him Spikie,
He was the biggest, bravest doggy in the world.
Spikie,
They called him Spikie,
He was the biggest, bravest doggy in the world.

– A song my sister and I made up for him when we were little. ❤

Dear Readers (Part 2)

Okay, so I got a lot of likes on my last post, but only one person commented. 😛
GUIIIIISE.
Right, plan B. I am going to write the questions here in a blog post, and if you wish to be SUPER HELPFUL and make me super grateful then please PLEASE send me a tweet at https://twitter.com/CameraMemories and let me know if you’d be willing to answer them. I will then DM you my email address and you can send me your answers, along with your name and username on WordPress. Thank you, kids! (At the end of the post there’s a zoomed in version of my cats nose. YOU’RE EVEN MORE WELCOME!)

What sort of blogs do you like to read on WordPress? Why?
Why did you choose WordPress over all other blogging platforms?
What are the main benefits of using WordPress for a writer?
What effect has WordPress had on your exposure as a writer?
How many hits on average do you get per post?
Have you ever gained any career opportunities as a result of publishing with WordPress?
Would you recommend WordPress to other writers over other platforms?
As a writer, what are the negative aspects of using WordPress?
What are your concerns about plagiarism while publishing with WordPress?
How do you protect yourself against plagiarism?

PLEASE HELP MEH!! I don’t want to fail. 😦
(Plus my tutor is mean. I NEED VOLUNTEERS GUISEEE! <3)

Dear Readers,

I call upon my followers and readers to please help me with a research project I am doing for university about whether or not WordPress is a good platform for aspiring writers!

It would be massively helpful if you could leave comments saying what you like about WordPress, what you are here to read about, whether you feel it is beneficial to you as a writer, and if there are any notable bloggers you feel I should take a look at for this project!

As a thank you, here is a picture of my cat’s nose. (I laughed at this for a good hour. You’re welcome.)

THANKS!! ❤