New Year, New Resolutions.

So, the world didn’t end. Let’s take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for once again avoiding an inevitably firey and painful death because a bunch of nuts once wrote a book, or in this case, stopped writing one.

In other news, another year is gone. I don’t know if it’s how busy I’ve been this year or just generally my increasing age, but the years seem to be going by at very unnerving speeds. I swear it was only the other day I had my 18th birthday. Now this year I am poised to take up my position in the eyes of British law as an “adult”. I shiver at the thought.

With the New Year, come New Years Resolutions. I normally make these with the best of intentions of keeping them… I always fail miserably. This year I think I worked out the source of this issue; I set my goals a little too high. For instance, last year I vowed I would take an amazing, jaw dropping, well processed and original photograph a day. Trying to achieve this after year of absolute zero motivation and inspiration may have been the reason this didn’t happen.
This year, I want to make resolutions I know I at least have a shot at keeping.
So, without any further ado, here are my resolutions:

1/ I want to take a photo a WEEK. Not one every day, just one every seven. That gives me a whole six days to plan out the next photo, and inevitably the end result will be better as a result of proper planning. This project will be called “52 Weeks” and each photo will be uploaded to my shiny new Flickr account, to document my new “style”. I will link my Flickr below. I think you should all, yes even you, you reading this right now, go and check out my stream. Please. Keep me motivated.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryonyharwood/

2/ At least once a week, as well as taking a photo, do something else artistic. I’ve been guilty before of putting one of my arts before the others I enjoy. I tend to be focused on one type of medium so heavily, that a year will pass where I haven’t written a single thing. This will change 2013; on top of a photo a week, I will also either write a poem a week, complete a chapter of one of my many novel projects, etc.

3/ Have one night a week where I have a technology free night. This sounds strange coming from someone who blogs, wants to start a YouTube channel and relies on a computer for most of her work, but I want to give it a go. Turn off my phone, shut off anything that requires a plug to work, and just do something else. Paint, read, draw, even just sit and talk to my boyfriend for a night. I think it will be really nice and therapeutic to take time away from the Internet for a few hours a week.

4/ I would like to lead an overall healthier lifestyle. Now, I’m not one to take on insane diets. I don’t feel the need to go to the gym every day of the week. And I’m not wanting to do that. I feel the “diet” and “slimming” resolution is so cliche these days, I’m pretty sure about 90% of the world are taking on resolutions like this. I don’t want to be one of those.
No, when I say “healthier lifestyle” I mean in general. I want to be mentally, emotionally and physically healthier. I want to consume less sugar, do more home cooking (I do a lot anyway, but I feel it’s limited, I want to try more cooking techniques) and actually start eating breakfast before noon. Overall, I want to be happier in myself.

5/ Finally, I would like to ENJOY this year. 2012 for me was a whirlwind of stress and bad news. And rain. So much bloody rain. So much rain that we couldn’t do half the stuff in the summer we had planned. This year that will change. I want to do all the things I’m planning. I want to go to a load of festivals, go on trips, see more of the world, and just generally get out more. I want to have FUN. I don’t want to spend the whole year being stuck inside with only my degree to occupy my time. I want uni to be more FUN. And the only way to do that is to just bloody DO the things I plan on doing, rain or no rain. If I get wet, then I get a towel and carry the fuck on.

2013, COME AT ME BRO!

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My Life in Letters: P.

There are so many wonderful things in my life beginning with the word “P” that I am spoiled for choice! I’ll just stick to the main ones to keep this post under a century long.

The first and most obvious one is Preeti, my best friend of all my friends. She is otherwise known as Preet, Tav, or bitch. I love her so much. The little freak.
We’ve been best friends for about four years now and not once had a fall out. She’s DABESTK?!
Besides being my best friend, she’s also like my sister. We have been through some pretty rough shit together and always been there to pick the other up. She’s amazing.

Another very obvious “P” is of course, photography. It’s what I’m studying at Uni and it’s what I’m hoping will become my career!
Speaking of photography, I’ve just created a new Flickr page. My old one felt a little outdated and I wanted to start a more “professional” page, to start a few new projects on and start building up a real name for myself in the industry.
It looks a little bare at the moment but I have several new projects in mind for the new year, so watch this space!!
If you could take a look and leave feedback, even keep an eye on it for my soon-to-be regular updates, I’d be really appreciative!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryonyharwood/

I’m heading down to Oxford for a week tomorrow afternoon, so I will be having time to catch up with friends and family down there before Christmas.

If I don’t blog before, then I hope all of you lovely people have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year!! ❤

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University is hard.

It’s come to my attention that I have now not written a blog for well over a month. Whoops.

The main reason for this is the amount of work I’ve had on with my degree. I’m studying a joint honours BA in Photography and Creative Writing. This semester, I’ve had two photography modules and one poetry module.
For one of my photography modules I was expected to create an entire book of 18 individual concepts within a time frame of approximately nine weeks. Pretty tall order, as I had another two modules to find time for too.
However, I’ve done it! I’ve sent my book to be bound now, and I’ve finished shooting for my other module too! So now, I can finally focus on my journal works and essays. Those, for me, are easier to do as they are less time consuming.
I sent my book to be bound last night, and I breathed a massive sigh of relief. However, it won’t be delivered until the 18th… which kind of sucks as I need to hand it in before then. I’m hoping I won’t be down-marked for that though; my tutor said that as long as we all have receipts to show we ordered it before the deadline then it is fine.
The theme I chose was to transform each poem I have written into a photo. It actually worked out pretty well to be honest. My photos translated really well.

I have about two weeks left of this semester now before we break up for Christmas; that means two weeks of trying to find the money to pay for presents and travel and all sorts of things- that’s another thing that makes university a pain in the ass; the amount you have to spend! I’m paying almost 4,000 a year for my degree, another 50 a week in rent, plus bills etc… all without a job or any kind of government help. Plus as a photography student I have a lot of supplies needing to be bought- the book alone cost me 30 and my other final piece will cost another 20 minimum. Then there’s 40 each time my printer runs out of ink- which is does very often as I have to print out every single thing I shoot… Sigh.
Next semester I will be working though. I wanted to work two jobs but my boyfriend has more of less forbidden me to do that as he thinks I will run myself into the ground with the stress of it. To be honest he may be right- a joint honour degree means I have twice the work load most have anyway, and I get the least financial help.

Next semester should be easier- the work load won’t be as intense, and having a job will help with financial problems.
2012 has been a really hard year for various reasons; it’s also been an awesome year, thanks to spending it with Dom.

Here’s hoping 2013 has some cool shit to offer me too. 😉

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My Life in Letters: C. & Spring has Sprung!

Well, this weekend was pretty awesome. Finally, there’s been amazing weather! Really sunny and warm, but with a cool breeze- bliss!
Steph, Dom and I spent the Friday exploring. We can see hills in the distance from our flat, and we were determined to walk to them. So we set off in the general direction of the hills, and after an hour or so of walking through the really, really rough areas of Bolton, we found a Manor House, and a forest with a river and little streams and walking path and all sorts! We were so excited to see something that wasn’t concrete that we spent all day there, walking a total of about 9 miles.

 

On Saturday we continued our adventures and went into Manchester, where we went to the Museum. We went to see the dinosaurs, but mainly found ourselves confronted by a load of stuffed birds and big cats. Which made us all sad. But it was a really good day nonetheless.

Anyway, onto the Letter of the day, and I’ll keep it brief as this is already pretty long.

The obvious one for ‘C’ to define something important in my life? Besides a wide range of people who I love with a name beginning with it: Charlie, Caz, Clara, Chris, Christopher, Craig… the word for me today is “Camera.”
It’s part of my Username, I know, but that’s not the reason. If you’ve read my previous entries you will know I am studying Photography at University. But that’s not the only reason why I chose Camera for my word to define myself. I first developed an interest in Photographs and consequently Cameras when I was about 11. We moved to Yorkshire, Hebden Bridge, and when I first walked to the top of the valley with my sister and my dog, I was filled with an overwhelming desire to have a camera with me to take a photo of the view. I went into town and bought a load of disposable cameras with my saved up money from my cleaning job, and went back up to take photos of the town from above. Technically speaking, that means my first camera was a disposable one. After that, my father noticed my interest, and as we’d never bonded, and he did photography himself at University, he bought me my first real camera- a Nikon SLR film camera. I still use it to this day, 9 years on. It also came with my favourite of my lenses.

So, that’s what the word “Camera” means to me. (:

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My Life in Letters: B.

B.

Well there are several things starting with B that I think define who I am in some way or another.

It’s the first letter of my name: Bryony.

Bolton. I live here now, and I have done for a while. Although the town itself isn’t that great, for me, it’s my freedom, my independence. And for that, I love it.

Another is “Best friends”. I know that’s pretty general, but it’s definitely a phrase that is a huge part of who I am. The friends who are closest to me, who I trust, are those I count as my Best Friends.
And who else can say they’ve been lucky enough to fall in love with one of them? And best of all, have them love you right back? (:

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Photography

To speak technically, Photography is the art of writing with Light. But if I wanted to think philosophically, I can say that Photography is the art of writing with Time. When you capture an image, you capture not only a piece of space, you also capture a piece of Time. So you can have this piece of specific Time in your square or rectangle. In that sense, I find that Photography is more to do with Time than with Light.

To me, Photography is an expression of Life.

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Being Productive

The amazing thing about getting up early, is the amount you can get done in one day! It’s not even 3pm yet, but I’ve showered, cleaned my room, done three assignments and sorted through my paper work from Uni too. I’ve still got to go to Sainsbury’s and pack some stuff for later on, as I’m going to Dom’s for the weekend… it’s the anniversary of his birth or something tomorrow? Ehh. I’ll just give him a pat on the head and congratulate him for not dying another year. As is my usual ritual when an occasion such as this comes along. I’m lovely. (:

I’ve been feeling all inspired and shit, looking at a photographer called Edward Curtis, who took photos of the Native American Indians in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It makes me wanna get a plane out somewhere remote and just be alone, with nature. I might go back to meditating more. I kinda don’t find the time to do stuff like that anymore, but I think it’s kinda important- to me at least. I like to reflect in a positive way and get my head cleared. Meditation used to help me with that so I may start that up again- it may also help my motivation. 

I’ve yet to write a couple of things for other assignments but I will probably get that done over the weekend and on Monday. 

I like getting up early. I even had time to eat breakfast and watch three episodes of Eastenders before I started work- and I’m still almost done at 3pm! *proud of self*

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