The perception of the colour green is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, "to grow". Culturally, green has broad and sometimes contradictory meanings. In some cultures, green symbolizes hope and growth, while in others, it is associated with death, sickness, envy, or the devil. The most common associations, however, are found in its ties to nature. For example, Islam venerates the colour, as it expects paradise to be full of lush greenery. Green is also associated with regeneration, fertility and rebirth. Psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye report that someone with a green aura is typically someone who is in an occupation related to health, such as a physician or nurse, as well as people who are lovers of nature and the outdoors. In Hinduism, Green is used to symbolically represent the fourth, heart chakra, Anahata. Key issues involving Anahata involve complex emotions, compassion, tenderness, unconditional love, equilibrium, rejection and well-being. Physically Anahata governs circulation, emotionally it governs unconditional love for the self and others, mentally it governs passion, and spiritually it governs devotion
65/365 The Suspense / ion
Question: What to do while the Royal Wedding is on and you only have limited interest? (although yes I loved her dress, and thought the maple trees in the Abbey were adorable) Answer: Strip down two MacPherson struts (part of the suspension on a car) and then re paint them. It was surprisingly fun to do! Most of my week is spent in mental exercise at work (or going mental more like!) And to have something entirely physical to do, which is all absorbing was like a days holiday for my mind.
64/365 caffeine addiction and 365blonde
Not a real photograph of the day (as in i have taken it) but a new photo to me, taken by the BF on my birthday which he just sent to me today (stretching the boundaries of 365 here i think!) This is a fairly typical 365blonde pose, coffee / tea mug in hand, intense concentration. I drink more coffee in the morning than anyone i know, it might be easier to just set up a drip about an hour before i want to get up... hmm now there is an idea.... :)
63/365 Guardian Angels and tattoos
There is a belief in spiritual circles that if you are out and about and come across a snowy white feather in your path that it’s a calling card so to speak from your guardian angel. I went through a stage of reading everything there is published on psychic phenomenon, angels, channelling, reiki, astrology, telepathy, ghosts, you name it! Then I went to the other extreme and read all of Stephen Hawking’s and Brian Greene’s books on Universal Theory, relativity, black holes, string theory and quantum physics. My own Universal Theory of How Things Works, is still in progress :) But I do believe there is more in the world than can be explained by science alone, which believes if you can’t measure something in a repeatable manner it doesn’t exist. Yet we know every day with something as simple as our likes, dislikes and emotions, that there is plenty about life that can’t be predicted or measured. So although when I see a white feather in my path now I don’t always think it’s a “hello” from my guardian angel, sometimes I do! And hey, what’s the harm in that? Some kind of belief in a higher force, even if that higher force is your own intuition or gut instinct about the decisions you make in life is both comforting, and I think undeniable. Which is why tattoo number two, is of a tiny feather on my wrist. Just a reminder that there is more to life than deadlines and shopping and grass seed!
61/365 Feline grace and power!
No the title, doesn’t refer to me *wink* This is a close up of the famous Jaguar mascot on a bonnet, which I shot at the “Spring Vehicle Meet” at Andover yesterday.
2010 marked the 75th anniversary of Jaguar Cars. Sir William Lyons founded Swallow Sidecars in 1922, and went on to create a range of 'SS' branded motorcycle sidecars and automobiles in the 1920s. When it came to the launch of the all-new SS 100 in 1935, Sir William wanted a new and evocative name for his company. He chose 'Jaguar', and the SS 100 model became the world's first Jaguar.
The ‘Jaguar’ name represented “the feline grace and elegance, power and agility that set his cars apart” Sir William is quoted as saying that a car "was the closest thing we can create to something that is alive” Which any woman who has a SO (Significant Other) in a car club will know is OH SO VERY TRUE! J (or that they are in fact considered to be REALLY alive, moving an engine from one car to another is called a “transplant”!!)
Over the years Jaguar has built some of the world's most iconic cars; the XK120, the C Type and D Type race cars that followed, dominated motor racing in the 1950s; the E-Type, launched in the heady 1960s defined a whole generation. In March 2008 the Jaguar E-Type ranked first in the Daily Telegraph’s list of the "100 Most Beautiful cars" of all time.
Ian Callum Jaguar’s current Design Director, says “Designing cars with a presence that demands a turn of the head and an allure that pulls at the heart has been central to the Jaguar brand.”
Ian Callum Jaguar’s current Design Director, says “Designing cars with a presence that demands a turn of the head and an allure that pulls at the heart has been central to the Jaguar brand.”
Head and heart, I guess that HAS to sum up car ownership, if it was all about the head we’d all be driving Skoda’s for economy, rather than buying £50 pots of wax to shine up the mechanical loves of our lives ;)
On the photographic side of things, I am really starting to be “at one” with my new Olympus, I hardly had to crop or edit or correct this set of shots at all, and the quality is immense, I love that you can see every tiny detail in the metal of the jaguar and its only a few cm in size. I spent most of my time in close up mode yesterday, as I just love the quality and attention to detail on classic cars, every tiny part of them is a work of art, and could stand in its own right. I can’t help feeling we have lost something in the design and build or cars over the years, I am for example not sure people will be taking close up shots of a Vauxhall Corsa in the year 2040 ??
60/365 "I can't get noooo satisfaction.... hey hey hey! That's what i say!"
Today i start with a question..... why can't every weekend be a four day weekend??? Day three today, and still one more to go, whooop! Today the BH (Better Half) and i met at a friends house in Chelsea to help move a HUGE piece of furniture, which unfortunately didn't escape going up two flights of very steep stairs with its glass shelves 100% intact... we then drowned our sorrows and overcame our hard work (well TBH my hard work was the occasional "oh dear that DOES look heavy, are you sure that glass isn't going to...." *crash*!!!) by having some drinks and a MIGHTY fine lunch at Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman's Sticky Fingers restaurant in Kensington with the BH's friend and his sister! I almost literally couldn't walk i ate so much! and the BH got stumped by the largest rack of ribs i have ever seen on a plate, and actually had to leave some uneaten (unheard of!) YUM! On our journey back home we drove home alongside the river from Chiswick to Richmond and people were out tartan blankets aplenty, BBQ'ing and picnicking in their droves, you have to love the UK in the summer, we just don't hold back! I saw several attempts at British summer fashion, and some people that clearly thought just because they were lying down with their eyes closed, no one could see them... when in reality there wasn't much of them left that we couldn't see! TMI people. Speedo's if you MUST, are just for your own private time pleeeeeease :) This photo was a little outdoor setting created by a flower shop just outside Turnham Green tube station, and it looked so inviting, I just wanted to sit down and order an espresso and get a book out, only thwarted by the lack of book, and the fact it wasn't a cafe....... But still - i liked their work, and the attention to detail. And now? Well i'm gearing up for more sunbathing in my garden, and looking askance (have to love that word!) at that damn grass seed to see if it is doing anything! (is this grass thing on the tipping point of an unhealthy obsession yet do you think??)
59/365 Sunshine and gratitude (again!)
This is the prism of light cast on my living room wall from the crystals i have hanging in the window. The sun is SO strong today, i am trying to sunbathe in the garden (with those foil flags waving about and STILL no grass but lots of dried up seed - starting to loose hope there!) But it's so very hot, I have to keep coming inside to cool down, and the UK Government has published a SMOG warning for England and Wales due to the heat affecting the ozone levels cased by pollution....erm is it still April!? Did i fall asleep and wake up in August!?!? And the gratitude bit, well i am just feeling it today, it strikes me how little i need to be really happy, my wonderful boyfriend, friends and family, health and sunshine, alot of the time we only really put things into perspective in our lives when something goes wrong, and you realise what you had before. Sometimes it's good to take stock of everything you do have in your life and be grateful. To understand what it is that really brings you the most happiness, as opposed to what you might inadvertently think does, or what other people tell you should make you happy.As my list on the right hand side shows, for me, most of what makes me happiest is free and abundantly available, and so i feel pretty blessed, and everyday at some point i am grateful for something or someone, and when i am being a completely irrational cow (sometimes / often?) i try to give myself a verbal slap about the head and remind myself of this fact :) (but sometimes it doesn't work, and i have to give myself a right telling off!)
58/365 Great start to the Easter Weekend
Lunch with my Mum here was delicious, at 12 noon every table was already taken and it was 26 degrees! It doesn't get much better than that! We then drove 10 minutes to Ashridge Woods to see the bluebells! I took 164 shots! A little bit of overkill but since reading the extended instructions for this camera, i am all of a dither about what settings to dial in now and spend twice as long faffing, and i am not 100% sure that the shots are any better than if i allow the camera to choose! Composition definitely played second fiddle today, and i had a mass delete once i had downloaded! Which just shows that photography is like all creative pursuits in my book, you need to learn enough to do what you want to do, then throw the rule book out and just feel it instead. (or this could just be because i hate rules!) We walked for about an hour amongst the bluebells, it was the most beautiful experience, even though there were probably 50 or more people there (25 of which were photographers!) it was quiet and serene and they smelt so fragrant (the bluebells that is, i didn't get close enough to the photographers to check...) It was just what i needed to recover from a week at work and the torture of e mail, if i was pretentious i would say my soul has been "rebalanced by the forces of nature" but since i am not (overly) I will just go for "it rocked" :)
57/365 Tattoo thoughts
Started a dangerous train of thought today.. "hmm shall i get another tattoo?" That's a thought i am guessing most people have at some point in their life (ok not you Mum!) the dangerous part is that for me, that thought can be followed by action in under 24 hours! The last time i got "inked" i had got back from holiday with two girlfriends, and on the day we landed, they went home and chilled out before we all came back to work the next day. I had a "tattoo thought" and came into work the next day with a new one! I was going to stop thinking of what else i could get, i now have 3, and that should be enough! but the cliche about them being addictive is true, and i currently have 3 others in mind that may or may not ever come to fruition! So the photo is off course of one of them, as to where it is on my body, you can guess! And maybe the other 2 will make it into later posts, and maybe number 4 if i do get inked again! They are all in places that can be easily covered up, and in fact it's usually a surprise to people that i have any at all, let alone 3! I don't really look the "type" to have any. But then what is that type? I am also constantly amazed by people i thought would never have one, having a huge tattoo covering half their back for example! I am a terrible influence in encouraging people to get their first one too, and have been blamed as such by friends of friends and their family! But hey, life is too short to be put off by other peoples opinions of whether tattoos are "nice" or not, or indeed anything!
56/365 Olympus Rocks!
My new camera (Olympus PEN EPL1) is turning out to be even MORE fabulous than its dashing good looks alone can describe! Due to the instruction manual coming with the camera being drier than a Mormans wedding reception to read (! i just made that up, i hope i don't have any Mormans reading in the US who will now be blacklisting my blog!......... I've weighed it up, its a risk i am prepared to take....) Where was I ? Oh yes camera instructions... so i bought the book recommended by the "community" in Amazon which is the size of a small bible (AGAIN with the religious mockery with me today, what's going on? Maybe because we are coming up to Easter? In which case i should be pro religion you would have thought, since i am getting a 4 day weekend!) Anyway... i will get to the point! The camera is far more awesome than i ever suspected, it has all the functionality and control of a DSLR with the compact and lightness of a 4:3 camera, the lenses are literally as light as a mobile phone, i have a 14 - 42mm zoom lens which is equivalent in 35mm terms to a 28 - 84mm, and a 40 - 150mm (equiv to 80 - 300mm) So i am covered for everything from wide to super zoom and the whole thing weighs the same as a hardback book! And finally the point of these pictures the quality is astounding! The top shot is already a crop from the full frame, i can't believe how sharp and detailed the daisy is, so i cropped in even closer and using my new found knowledge of how to work the camera to get the shot i wanted, i can see it has focused exactly where i wanted it to, on the front part of the yellow centre, that's got to only be about the size of a 5p piece and yet its so detailed! That's it really, i seem to have taken a really long winded route to writing all this, i might have a lay down now!!
55/365 Type "what" ?
On doing a spot of gardening today (and capturing some drops of water on my fast growing lily plants) I found myself as usual, not looking at how much work I have put into my garden, and how good it is looking at the moment (in general – strange art installations of foil and tape aside that is!) and instead looking at everything else there is to do. This is such a common thought process for me that I decided to do a bit of research on the whole personality typing theory as I have had “Type A” thrown at me a few times in my life.
Originally published in the 1950’s, the Type A and Type B personality theory is a theory which describes two contrasting personality types, the highly-strung Type A , and the easy-going Type B. The theory describes a Type A individual as “ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with their status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence. Type A behaviour is expressed in three major symptoms: free-floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents; time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperation; and a competitive drive, which causes stress and an achievement-driven mentality. “
“People with Type B personalities are generally patient, relaxed, easy-going, and at times lacking an overriding sense of urgency. Because of these characteristics, Type B individuals are often described as apathetic and disengaged by individuals with Type A or other personality types.”
So I thought I would just double check and find out what I guessed to be true (and what anyone who knows me, and is reading this will already be nodding their head at!) and do one of those online questionnaires: http://cl1.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest=2986 and I came out being 83% Type A, which surprised me as I thought I would be more like 99%! Actually not really, I temper my temper as much as I can, and am aware of the more negative manifestations of being this way, so clearly I do control my “free-floating hostility” to some extent (what a hilarious description / statement!)
But I did think later as I was driving how much of this I do manifest in even the simplest of tasks, like commuting to work, it pains me to admit that when listening to music I get so impatient that I actually press the track forward button at the end of a song, so I don’t have to wait the 2-3 seconds in between tracks! I mean surely that’s almost certifiable levels of impatience???
Then there are the larger questions of “nature” or “nurture”, did I learn this behaviour? Or is it innate in me genetically? In this case I guess I got a double dose, both parents are like it in personality type and behaviour, I grew up in a house of lists of things “To Do” and holidays planned from 8am – 10pm every day, so really I had no choice I am proposing (and using for an excuse also!) In some ways its no bad thing, it makes me achieve a lot in my life, I am successful at work, and strive hard and give 100% to every single thing I do, and every relationship. But, and it’s a big but for me, it does lead to burn out and migraines, sometimes at the weekend I can sleep for 14hrs to catch up from the week before. Sometimes I can’t stop long enough to just sit back and enjoy my achievements, as as soon as one thing is done, I am planning the next thing. Sometimes I have to be almost forcibly restrained to relax without scanning for something else to do. And sometimes (often!) the person I get most irritable with is myself!! Hence my interest in and semi adoption of Buddhist practices such as Mindfulness, of which more in later posts I would guess!
54/365 Yes but is it ART ?
There are several possible explanations of this scene...
1) I drove past the Runnymede open air sculpture park on the way home and stopped to shoot this modern artwork in natural surroundings, which comments on the industrial destruction of our modern world.
2) Aliens have started their invasion in the wooded seclusion of Windsor Great Park, they send out these information gathering "probes" ahead of plans to make landings on the day of the Royal Wedding, when everyone is glued to their TV saying "oh i am SO glad she wore her hair up / down etc etc"
3) These are poems of positivity written on silver foil, to catch the eyes of the nature spirits who are believed to bring those with a positive heart all they desire....
3) Or this is my attempt to keep birds off my newly grass seeded ground? (but it can STILL be art right ?!!)
53/365 More London, and some questions for you
As I suspected I couldn’t resist the urge to publish another London shot today – you can see the rest in the photostream links on the left. Along with the comedy show 30 Rock, my current other favourite obsession TV wise at the moment is Inside the Actors Studio which is showing on Sky Atlantic HD, it’s an interview of some of the most famous actors and actresses you can think of, in the format of the presenter James Lipton interviewing the star in front of a seminar hall of acting students. Apparently they film 2 hours of interview which includes Q&A from the students and then edit down to an hour. The result is that you really do get to see the real person behind the celebrity, the questions are more around their art and craft and film choices, rather than personal lives, but they do touch upon that along the way. The result is you get to find out a fascinating amount about the stars and see them looking relaxed and at home, and hear about who they are as a person and not the public personna. As part of the interview James asks a list of quick fire questions, which apparently is based upon a concept first introduced by a French TV presenter (Bernard Pivot) and the answers to these alone are totally fascinating! It’s amazing how MUCH can be revealed of a personality by such few and seeming inconsequential questions. So I keep thinking every time I watch one “what would I say?” and so for me, and you the reader, here’s my answers…. And since I had 56 page views of my blog on Friday alone last week (What the WHAT!?) what would be fun is if in the Comments section, people cut and paste their own answers to these questions – no pressure though… :)
1. What is your favorite word? Excitement
2. What is your least favorite word? Patience
3. What turns you on? People having the strength to show their vulnerability
4. What turns you off? Egotism
5. What sound or noise do you love? Nature – forests, birdsong, rivers, oceans, rainfall
6. What sound or noise do you hate? People - crowds, shouting, nightclubs, airports
7. What is your favorite curse word? F*** !
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Photographer
9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything medical
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Well done on that life, 10 out of 10! Now what next?”
1. What is your favorite word? Excitement
2. What is your least favorite word? Patience
3. What turns you on? People having the strength to show their vulnerability
4. What turns you off? Egotism
5. What sound or noise do you love? Nature – forests, birdsong, rivers, oceans, rainfall
6. What sound or noise do you hate? People - crowds, shouting, nightclubs, airports
7. What is your favorite curse word? F*** !
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Photographer
9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything medical
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Well done on that life, 10 out of 10! Now what next?”
52/365 - London baby YEAH!
My “official” birthday treat, was just the most AWESOME day out in London organised by my wonderful BF (boyfriend!) Starting with lunch and a cheeky glass of wine at Auberge in Waterloo, then a walk across Westminster bridge to the Churchill War Rooms – what an amazing place, I can’t believe I have waited this long to go, its No.2 on Trip Advisor of best things to do in London (Imperial War Museum is No. 1 and I have never been there either.) I think it’s the best museum I have ever been too (closely followed by the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik) Then a walk to Trafalgar square where “Holland House has brought a taste of Holland to the UK and is a free entry festival on London’s most famous square where the Dutch gather to celebrate Holland’s national day known as “Queensday” Which consisted of live bands, lots of Dutch people wearing orange and drinking lots of beer! We skirted that and then went for much needed tea and chilling in the St Martins Church Café, which is in the crypt of the church and is so cool! And the BF found out another crazy little known BAC (BlondeAriesChick) fact - i love brass rubbing!
Then onto the National Portrait Gallery to check out “An Englishman in New York: Photographs by Jason Bell” which I liked but is it arrogant and possibly (probably) misguided of me to say I think I could do better myself? I liked the way he had shot his subjects in their natural surroundings, whether at their workplace or on the New York Streets, and each photograph was accompanied by a mini paragraph of interview which set the scene and provided some depth. But i thought they lacked the “capturing of the moment” which is the whole point of photography to me, and in the case of portraits means capturing the real essence or soul of the person. Which reminds me of one of my favourite photographers Henri Cartier Bresson who was a founder of the famous Magnum photographic agency, who said: “To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." Taken from his book “The Decisive Moment” - "Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression. Through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us, which can mold us, by which can also be affected by us. Photographers work in unison with movement as though it were a presentiment of the way in which life itself unfolds. But inside movement there is one moment at which the elements in motion are in balance. Photography must seize upon this moment and hold immobile the equilibrium of it"
But I digress, back to my day in London! After the exhibition we headed to Silk, A Michelin-recommended restaurant is in the Courthouse Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Oxford Street “Lit by a stunning vaulted glass ceiling and framed in English Oak panelling, the restaurant features the original judge's bench, dock and witness stand from its days as the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court, which witnessed the trials of Oscar Wilde, Mick Jagger and John Lennon. Now a destination for more culinary pursuits, the restaurants' past has been superbly incorporated to create a charming, romantic dining venue.” Which it has! The food was just STUNNING, a mix of Silk Route inspired Asian fusion dishes, I had scallops, fillet of beef and finished with chocolate mousse, with rose / chilli jelly and a champagne cocktail. YUM!
We then walked back across the river in the last light of the day, my camera had been with me and "working" all day, but I took the most photos here, as dusk made the river become inky blue and all the lights came on, in fact the picture for tomorrow may well be a cheat and another one from today’s trip, since I took SO many! Today’s picture is the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in silhouette, I like the fact its such a common London scene and yet kind of hidden by taking out all the detail and focusing on the sky.
That was my longest EVER post, props to those who stayed with it!! J
51/365 My Office
Yes REALLY! I know we could be easily confused as the Royal Family celebrating the wedding a couple of weeks early... but no, this really is my team at work! As for an explanation as to why... nope you're not getting one ;)
50/365 - The real birthday deal.....
Ok so you can't actually see here what i was aiming to show you, which is a beautiful pair of rose and white gold earrings (it looks more like i have earrings of light here!) which came from none other than Little Gems Jewellers, and are my real birthday present from the S.O. (Significant Other) (ie NOT a car bumper!) Oh the JOY of the S.O. having really really good friends who are Awesome and Talented (and generally wonderful and adorable too) jewellery designers :) it even makes all the car stuff bearable! especially since Little Gems are part of the Car Club and thus inseparable from the whole package! Anyway you can't see them, but they Rock, as in they are gorgeous and ALSO a little rock chick, which is always a good thing in my book. I have to say as i type this, it does strike me that for someone who says they hate being in front of the camera this is about the third shot of me in about 2 weeks ......... errrmmm....... Windsor's Next Top Model wannabe anyone !?!?!
49/365 - Birthday Celebrations!
Yes really! :) What else to do on a Birthday night other than play with Sierra Cosworth bumpers!?? ok ok ok so this isn't really my Significant Other giving me a bumper wrapped in bubble wrap for my birthday..... But i DO now have enough car spare parts in my loft (where this little "gem" was headed for) to make at LEAST 3 full size Sierras i would say... maybe 4!? As to the birthday bit, yes he did come over cook me a feast and shower me with presents, more on this tomorrow and Little Gems... :)
48/365 - 24 days later...
This is the same laurel bush in my front garden that was iced up on day 24, now in full bloom in the Spring sunshine! Ahh what a difference a day makes (and even more of a difference 24 days make!)
47/365 Warm fronts from Africa!
BBC weather says its 18 degrees today and that the balmy spring sunshine is apparently caused by a warm front moving up from Africa, continue moving up i say! Although i am sat inside with the blinds down unable to look at the brightness due to a migraine! Boooooo! And the photo? Is of my wind chimes, now revealed in full glory on the sun patio in the corner of my garden and not covered in ivy. I counted 3 different types of butterfly out there yesterday, 2 types of bees and numerous birds including of course the green parakeets! It's like a mini wildlife park out there now since "The Great Work of April 2011" as it will now be known........... :)
45/365 On soul destroying activities....
..... like 3 hours of solid garden clearing, and then taking two huge car loads of rubbish down the dump! Need i say more! Still it had to be done, and with the angelic assistance of my father and boyfriend, it could all have been MUCH worse! I am now covered in scratches and cuts and every muscle aches BUT my garden looks so much better, this patch of sun dappled ground was a dead fir tree and a mass of ivy and will soon be springy soft, green grass :) The weather is outstandingly awesome here in the UK at the moment, it has to be about 26 degrees and sun all day long! long may it last!!!
44/365 Summer is here!!!! (well if certainly feels that way!)
Windsor last night was beautiful, and buzzing with people eating outside restaurants, in the warm evening sunlight, is it really only April?
43/365 My daily commute
Looks like this! The road takes me right through the middle of Runnymede, a historical site which witnessed, in 1215, King John's sealing of the Magna Carta. It always strikes me as funny when i think about it that somewhere like this and Windsor with it's Royal Castle are places i spend time and money going to see and experience "properly" on holiday, and yet because i live near them i take them for granted, and using the example of Windsor Castle, have only been once for about 45 mins (i get free entry as a resident of Royal Windsor!) If this post was going to go spiritual now, it would be about gratitude being the foundation of happiness (and no not just about castles, or even castles at all! but generally in life.) We all tend to spend time thinking about what we want and we don't have, instead of reflecting on the people, experiences and life we do have and being grateful for that. My desk buddy (Shilpz) and i at work have this quote stuck on the wall between our desks "in daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy" It sounds a simple blah blah quote, but if you think about it - its quite true, rather than always thinking about what you don't have which can lead to frustration and disappointment, really take a look at what you do have and realise that many people don't have anywhere near that, and be grateful! Bit of a meander into spiritual thought there, but i actually DO think these thoughts whenever i drive this stretch of road, even though its always at 5mph in the rush hour commute, but i am grateful for having this as my view rather than a motorway or inside of a tube train, and even grateful for the slow moving traffic, so i can take it all in, and in this case wind down a window and capture this shot! Life is good. Amen. :)
42/365 Narcissistic - Moi?
More playing around with Self Portraits last night, don't worry, by the weekend i will have a tripod and reflector and can start taking pictures of other people, no longer hindered by the lack of tripod (and the embarrassment of my current substitute for one, which last night was a stack of DVD's atop a bread bin,with my camera balanced precariously on top!) At photographic college "back in the day" i hated hated hated having my photo taken, we used to do studio sessions and practice on each other and it was awful! Even now the best photos of me are taken when i am totally not aware it's happening, as soon as i see a lens looking at me, i become like an aborigine (they believe that taking a photograph of them steals their soul) and the real "me" seems to disappear and i look uncomfortable and not even really like myself at all. Even last night when it was just me and me, 99% of the shots i took, i look like i am about to be speared or properly shot, and yet it's fun trying to capture an expression or thought. I think i look a bit confrontational / argumentative / cheeky here, which of course is nothing if not a habitual look for me, perhaps that's why i think it was the best shot of the session :) There is comfort in the familiar!
41/365 "Leaf it OUT!"
Thats it..... just a silly title... no further ramblings.... just a lovely textural shot! Nuff said :)
40/365 Mean, Moody & Grainy
..........just like me today! :) Actually it was a pretty tough and full on day in the *Corporate Circus* (I would be the Lion Tamer, clearly...) I could feel as my Mum so colourfully says "the top of my head about to come off and go flying around the room!" So before i went home (and dove head first into a bottle of wine) i drove to the Eton playing fields and deliberately took a shot with the express intention of making it B&W, and as contrasty and grainy as i possibly could, to create an air of sinister expectation....... SO SATISFYING! Now i feel all rebalanced and calm, who knew i could vent my spleen via the medium of photography, as well as all those many other ways i find it possible to vent!
38/365 - 38 days later
Well here i am! i am one tenth of the way through my 365 project! It's been easier than i thought it might be, although i am not claiming that every one of them is Magnum award winning! But i have managed to shoot something everyday and vent a little spleen here and there, and hey that's got to be good right? I am up to the heady heights of THREE followers now, and that doesn't even include my boyfriend (which reminds me... What the WHAT ? :) So here we go into the next 327 days! wooooooooooo!!!
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