2013: A Recap.

This is the last photo I published to my blog in 2012.
A lot has happened in the months since then, and many moments were captured.

So… here’s my recap of 2013 in pictures…

January

I took my first 50 Week Photo, named “Steaming Mug Of Ice”.

Grant came to visit and we frolicked in the snow…

And I used a 5×4 camera for the first time.

*

February

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary…

And Dom got me some lovely presents…

… and the sun shone for the first time in months.

*

March

We played chess…

Pulled stupid faces…

And spent time with my little girl.

*

April

Grant and I went to see and met Derren Brown.

And sipped free champagne for his 21st!

Oh… and I turned myself into a puppet.

*

May

I dyed my hair orange…

Sweep wore a coat…

We laughed… ❤

Spent time with friends…

And I watched a lot of Dexter… 🙂

*

June

I started rereading all of Harry Potter… (In the bath… ahem)

Summertime started peaking out of hibernation…

I went to Download Festival for the first time…

Finally saw Slipknot live…

Plus Rammstein! (Among others)

And turned myself into an Elf!

*

July

We went to Oxford for my 21st!

Celebrated with Misty…

Tried Jason’s amazing cocktails…

Drank yet more free champagne with these rascals!

Jason, Tav and Grant. 🙂

We saw Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria in London…

I made my first piece of pottery!

And we sunbathed the month away!

*

August

I dyed my hair back to its natural colour for the first time in 5 years!

Dom and I went on our first holiday, and my first one in 7 years!

We went to Venice!

And we had an amazing time!

*

September

We went to Yorkshire and spent time with my “little” brother…

Plus Vladimir the Impaler!

My sister came to stay…

My laptop died right before term restarted…

So I got my first Mac!

Some friends came to Manchester…

And my precious little baby girl sadly lost her fight with cancer…

*

October

I got my new winter coat.

Found the first conkers of the season…

Developed a little obsession with them…

Got dressed up for the Manchester Zombie Walk…

And made brookies!

*

November

I got a surprise present from Dom!

Shot my photographs for the exhibition…

Got the seal of approval for my images from my tutor…

Went to bonfire night at the Alma…

Visited Alton Towers with friends and saw the fireworks!

*

December

I got my business cards…

Spent most of my time getting the exhibition together…

Put up my first Christmas tree in my own home…

Watched Elf with my friends…

Opened my first exhibition of my work…

Went drinking after the exhibition with my fellow photographers…

We had our first Christmas spent together!

And I got Christmas bow ties for all the animals!

I finally got Starbucks to call me “Gandalf”…

And we saw in the New Year in Reading with my lovely sister and her boyfriend.

*

2013 was an absolute whirlwind. Some incredible memories created, new friends made, and sadly some goodbyes too.

I want to wish all my beautiful followers a Happy New Year, and I sincerely hope you all have a great 2014.

❤

Read Full Post »

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! ❤

Read Full Post »

2013: The Best Yet…?

It may be a little early in the year to start having musings like this, but… I get the feeling 2013 may well end up being my best year yet.
I’m a person who absolutely LOVES having a full diary. I love being busy and I have so much lined up this year that I feel it will be very rewarding.

My personal portfolio  of work is growing rapidly with help from my 52 Week Project on Flickr, I have my first ever wedding shoot coming up (which is also my first commission! EEE!!!!!!) in the summer, and a few shoots with aspiring models too!
I’m hoping to donate a few posters to the Every Day Sexism Project campaign in exchange for some publicity, which will be amazing for getting my name out there; plus helping out a cause I am so passionate about will be so rewarding in itself.
I am determined this year to GET SHIT DONE.
“Ohhh I want to read more, but I don’t have the time”. NO. You DO have the time. But you spend it on Tumblr looking at photos of cats when you could be lost in Middle Earth. STOP IT AND PICK UP A BOOK.
“Ohhh that novel I wrote when I was young- I want it to be published but it has to be rewritten first.” SHUT UP. Just bloody WRITE the damn thing then! Sit down and just WRITE for hours like you used to do when you were young. Get lost in the story. SEND IT OFF.
“Ohhh I’m not as skinny as I’d like to be.” YOU ARE A STUDENT. That means you have free access to the swimming pool in designated time slots. FUCKING GO AND SWIM OFF SOME CALORIES. It’s not even that far to walk to get there! (Do NOT get a taxi.)

Quite besides all my personal projects of the year so far (and it’s only March; JESUS!), I also have so many exciting plans lined up for the summer!
Dom’s 21st birthday is next weekend, and we’re going to Laser Quest. I’ve never been before but I’m really excited! Basically paintballing without the pain! ME LIKES!

Plus, as a birthday present to him, his mum and dad are sending the two of us to Venice in the summer (?!?!?!?!?!) !!!! Which I am BEYOND stoked for! I’ve never been to any part of Italy before, and Dom’s always wanted to go to Venice. It’ll have some incredible photo opportunities for me, and it will be amazing to see it before it sinks. Plus, I’ve not been out of this country for about ten years now. I need to go somewhere with SUN, dammit!

This year is also my 21st, and for that we’re going to go and see Cirque du Soleil in London! I am SO EXCITED!! I’ve wanted to see them perform ever since I was a little girl and I FINALLY get the chance to!

In April it’s my best friend Grant’s 21st; for that him and I are going to see Derren Brown for the second time. It’s an all new show that’s not even been announced yet. I love Derren Brown so much and I’m so looking forward to seeing him perform again! I might even get to meet him a second time!

As if all of this wasn’t enough, we’re also heading to Download Festival in June! Which means I will finally get to see Slipknot live!!!! Not to mention Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Rammstein, 30 Seconds to Mars and Bullet for my Valentine!!!! AHHH! I’m so stoked I might be sick!!

This year looks as if it might well be the best yet! Now just to get through these fucking assignments and the fun can begin! 😀

Read Full Post »

Summer of Love…

 

If Love was a currency, I’d be the richest man on Earth.

My boyfriend just came out with that. ❤

Read Full Post »

Summer Bound…

Well, the first year of University is over. Dom and I have been on break now for a few weeks, and are currently house sitting for his mum. The weather’s been shocking so we’ve mainly stayed in- it’s been okay though as we’ve been baking, gaming and keeping the dog amused. He bought be Crash Bandicoot last night on Xbox and I wound up being stuck in nostalgia for a few hours while he played Minecraft. He also introduced me to Eve Online. In Eve you have a set of beginners tasks to complete in order to get to know the game, and overall contributes to your character’s skill set- the game is fairly complex, but I impressed him by completing 2 weeks worth of training in under an hour (about 25 tasks in total). 
Well… looks like it’s finally happened… I’ve become a gamer. I’ve been playing Halo, Minecraft, Blur, and now Crash again, my favourite childhood game, and Eve.

The sun is finally out today so we’re planning on going into Manchester soon to go to the cinema and get some Japanese food.

Next week we go to Oxford, yet again to house sit. Dom will get to meet most of my friends for the first time, and more importantly, my cat. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone- my best friend Tom is picking us up from the train station, and he’s the one Dom will have to impress. I can’t wait! 😀

Summer’s looking good so far. (:

Read Full Post »

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. (:

Read Full Post »