The London Architecture Journal: Day 1

   As we are drawing to the end of another academic year, and AS exams are over, it was time to look towards our plans for A2. My subjects began by diving in at the deep end and I think it has shown me that I greatly prefer my creative choice of subjects and consequently have solely focused my spare time on them rather than the others. Hence it was no surprise when it was time to initiate my photography project for the next year, that I was incredibly excited and eager to begin. It didn't take me long to decide what my theme would be for the next year because, although I have loved photographing people and editing on Photoshop, I wanted to bring what I love outside of school into it this year. Recently, my fascination by London architecture has grown tremendously and I find myself exploring all over the city looking at all variation of building work. From the tall town houses in South Kensington and the muses that hide just behind them, the Natural History Museum to the V&A and the Shard to Canary Wharf, all mesmerise me. Therefore my chosen theme would naturally have to be architecture.

   Since setting this theme into motion, I have been to London to begin taking some initial photos to spark some ideas and I decided that I would keep an online journal of how my ideas and photography progresses over the next year. I have titled this project 'The London Architecture Journal' and there will probably be weekly or monthly updates about what camera techniques I've picked up when photographing buildings and how I plan to develop my theme and ideas. Below are a selection of the photos I took on my first day photographing for this chosen theme.

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR at The Natural History Museum

   Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has never been as inspiring and powerful as this year. The talent across all age groups, from entries of children aged eleven to professionals who having been photographing wildlife for decades, has not only created a pool of stimulating photos, but intelligent resources from which we can see human impacts on the wild as well as the distance we have from our world. The scale of this exhibition is extraordinary with photographs ranging from the depths of the ocean to the northern lights of Iceland, and it ties together the growing impacts of human interference while still showing the calm and peacefulness these creatures maintain as some of their ecosystems and habitats lay untouched.

   The exhibition is split into 6 sub-categroies: interpretations, first shoots, Earth's environment, documentary, portfolio, and Earth's diversity and the room was sectioned accordingly. The dimly lit expansive room curved around, making it easy to follow from one section to another.  Beginning with interpretations photographers had to create experimental representations of the shapes, colours and patterns within nature. The intricate detail of these photos allows us to view things we have never seen before - for example, the intimacy of the lava and the camera meant that the camera was too hot to touch for several minutes after the split second it had been held over the lava but the final photo was outstanding.

The Marvel of Lava - Bryan Lowry (Natural History Museum)

Cardinal Sparks - Patrick Bartuska (Natural History Museum)

   The first shoots category called on photographers seventeen and under and the content of this category was impressive for their age. Each photo was unique and distinguished and the exploration of different camera techniques at such a young age is an encouraging message to all aspiring photographers.

Snowbird - Edwin Sahlin (Natural History Museum)

   The subsequent category of Earth's environment shows the power of natural forces that sculpt the planet and the phenomena that come with it. Within this category we are presented with the naturally occurring beauty of the Earth as it catches one moment in time that has not been touched or tampered with, but something that the Earth can create without human interference. This generates a significant thought that perhaps the most magnificent thing on Earth is nature itself, not something created by man.

Magic Mountain - David Clapp (Natural History Museum)

Delta Design - Hans Strand (Natural History Museum)

   The following section of the exhibition hosted the documentary photos that illustrated how attitudes, decisions and actions impact the natural world. The category showed the negative impact humans are having on the diminishing wild animals and plants and puts our world in a cruel, harsh light. These confrontations are necessary in the rapid way our planet is developing today because it shows the warning signs that what is going on is a dangerous enterprise and needs to be stopped. The 'Sea of Death' by Paul Hilton depicts the barbaric fishing for shark fins and the increase in sharks being killed each year. This number has risen to 100 million but this public awareness that is slowly being brought to our attention, is having a positive impact as shark conservationists are becoming more active but no where near to the scale that it needs to be. Hence why exhibitions like this are incredibly important in making change to the relentless activities all over the globe.

Sea of Death - Paul Hilton (Natural History Museum)

Hollywood Cougar - Steve Winter (Natural History Museum)

   The penultimate category was a series of entries under the title 'Portfolio' of which photographers submitted a body of work that reflected deeper and broader subjects that could not just fit into one frame. These pictures taken by Michel d'Oultremont were rather different to many of the other entires this year because of the unique composition of the photos. Rather than close-ups of animals or plants, he has instead chosen to distance the subject from the lens - almost so that it becomes an isolated silhouette and it becomes far more interesting than the, amazing, yet over-done macro photo of a tropical bird.

Dusk Transition - Michel d'Oultremont (Natural History Museum)

Feather Heavy - Michel d'Oultremont (Natural History Museum)

Reed Pastels - Michel d'Oultremont (Natural History Museum)

Forest Stag - Michel d'Oultremont (Natural History Museum)

   The final category is Earth's diversity which celebrates the familiar to the less well-known, the widespread to the endangered, and the urban to the wild. It shows diversity across all spectra of the Earth's scale and I think it was the perfect way to round off the competition showing not only a colossal range of technical skills but what is left on our planet and how we must protect it.

Beach Guardian - Mac Stone (Natural History Museum)

Glimpse of the Underworld - Christian Vizl (Natural History Museum)

Sailing By - Matthew Smith (Natural History Museum)

   Overall, the entrants from all over the world have produced phenomenal outcomes that have sparked so much interest and controversy that this world needs in order to make a difference to how we are treating the growing extinction rates of animals and the globalisation of natural habitats. With this relatable imagery presented before us, we are given the opportunity to make a difference and I hope that one day this wildlife competition will not have to be used to teach humans to care but to display how we have protected the animals that inhabit this planet too.

Exhibition: Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Host: Natural History Museum

Run time: 24th October 2014 to 30th August 2015

Price: £14 or £7 concession

Nearest tube: South Kensington

Topshop x Olympus Pen Summer School

After hearing that Topshop where hosting a series of summer schools over May/June to do with Photography, I leaped at the opportunity. Usually, the creative subjects are lacking a diverse range of courses, the sciences (medicine, veterinary) and essay based subjects (English, history) are bursting full of chances for students to spend the day at a University listening to talks and partaking in classes to do with that subject to get a "feel" for it. Sadly, I am often let down by the lack of creative push from my school - roughly every week I receive 4 or 5 emails abut a new science or law talk, yet only twice has there ever been something about the creative arts. This disappoints me but I am at an academically driven school so I am not surprised when it cannot cope with the growing demand for creative opportunities. Nevertheless, there are classes and courses being run frequently (admittedly it is hard to get onto them and they are mainly for older students so they run throughout the day) but after digging around a bit you can find something. Being on study leave meant that I was free to do what I wanted with each of my days without an exam (I assume my school would have wanted me to stay at home and revise) and I chose to attend to one of these classes.

Admittedly, when I first arrived at Topshop for the 'Shoot Street Style' class with Jay McLaughlin (street fashion photographer) , Yanin and Leanne (both fashion bloggers) and released that I was probably the youngest (17 years old) and least experienced (after all I am no blogger or photographer yet, I am still doing my AS Levels), I was definitely nervous. Surrounded by fashionistas, bloggers and uni students, I did feel out of place and quickly sent a text to my mum stating it might had got the wrong idea about this event. But there was no time silently slip away (one reason being the fact that there were only 11 of us and it would be incredibly obvious) as the talk began. Thankfully, it was a relaxed and easy environment, with Jay sharing some top tips that will certainly be of use at some point in my future. We then got to grab an Olympus Pen Pl-7 camera, which unfortunately might have been the most beautiful camera I have ever held and that I may have to spend £400 on one for myself, and shoot some photos of a model that Topshop had provided for us. As I'm used to shooting some of my closest friends I found it a bit awkward at first, but because we were shooting as a group at the same time on the streets of London, it started to become a lot easier. Initially I had the camera on the usual colour settings after swapping the 35mm for a 45mm lens to get a shallow depth of field by putting the camera on a shocking low f1.8, but then I began to mess around with it to increase some of the contrast in the photos (and I do mean mess as the camera was set to German meaning I had no idea what I was doing) and was really pleased with the outcomes. The camera was so easy to use and the touch screen and WiFi capabilities made it all that much better. Thrilled with the outcomes and below I have included some of my favourites from the day. Big thank you to Topshop, Olympus, Jay and the model Charlotte.

(High colour contrast setting)

THE GENERAL ELECTION 2015

Initially when planning this post, it was going to be unbiased without stating what political party I lean towards by using code words and confusing language to disguise it, but frankly it just didn't seem worth it. And also because I'm not ashamed of the party I support, and nor should anyone else be - we have the privilege of freedom of speech and the right to say what we like and yes we may come into conflict with people but isn't that a good thing? It makes our values stronger and fortifies our beliefs when we have to defend ourselves. And as women, I believe we have the responsibility to vote every time an election comes around as my mother once told me as a small girl, "women fought for us to vote. Women died to secure us this right, so you must always vote no matter if there is no one you agree with". As a turning point in my life I think it has been deeply embedded into the person I am today hence why I get upset, and frankly angry, when women all over the country take no interest in politics and refuse to vote based on outdated views such as "it makes no difference" or "there's no one worth voting for". There will never be one party that reflects everything you want to happen but as cliché as it sounds, every vote matters and truly does make a difference.

 

Polling Station - photo by The Guardian

So what was the General Election result? Conservatives have won a majority of 331 seats, Labour with 232, Liberal Democrats with a measly 8, Scottish Nationalist Party with an outstanding 56 (out of 59) and UKIP and Green Party winning 1 each. And this was just the beginning. Conservatives have increased since the previous 2010 election where they won 306 seats meaning that they had to join coalition with the Liberal Democrats. However the backlash from this formation has hit the Lib Dems the most with them now dropping from 57 seats to the shocking 8. But the biggest shock of all from this election was the fact that the predicted polls had it so wrong. Going to bed on Thursday night, we all imagined we would wake up with a hung parliament - a parliament where no single party had won a majority but as the votes were counted and the numbers flooded in, the decision of the British public was clear: Conservatives would get another 5 years in power. For me this was a shock, had people actually bought Cameron's miserable attempts at relating to the working class and pretending that he would genuinely try and make the country better for them? Because obviously tax evasion and avoidance, zero-hour contracts and non-dom status is a great thing for our country and that by putting Cameron in power we are definitely doing the right thing. But it's clearly not this easy and voting is a difficult task as we have the Lib Dems who have predominantly back tracked on everything they said they wouldn't do (University fees, VAT increases, tax cuts to the millionaires, the list goes on) and Labour who wrecked our economy in the previous term in parliament.

What will the next 5 years bring? With Conservatives stealing the majority of seats, their plans for the next years are mainly decent but can we trust a party who seems more concerned with making the rich richer and poor pay for the funding our country needs? David Cameron plans to provide £5000 of free childcare, have an income tax-free minimum wage, seven day access to GP service and give an annual £8bn boost for NHS funding. These were just some plans that stood out to me but some stood out even more such as repealing the Hunting Act and that they are committed to four-boat Trident nuclear deterrent. Honestly to me these don't seem like things the country should be trying to promote - increase the sport of hunting and the development of submarine and war machines which, as Plaid Cymru, SNP and the Greens have said, are "unusable and indefensible". And I'm obviously against the fact that Cameron has turned a blind eye to the rich avoiding tax and pursuing the elitist nature in our country. And what I find most unfair is the fact that Conservatives can get away with the fact that the banker's bonuses have risen by 64% in 1 year (while my mum is 12% worse off under Conservative leadership because her salary hasn't increased with inflation), food banks usage have risen by 700% and 1 million people are employed on zero-hour contracts and the list goes on (in fact 100 more reasons are viewable here) and to me this doesn't seem like a successful 5 years at all.

After the news this morning we have had three resignations; Ed Miliband (who's speech can be seen here), Nick Clegg (who's heartwarming speech can be seen here) and Nigel Farage (which can be seen here). It's sad to see the Labour lose so many seats after such encouraging attempts at trying to prove they are the better party but most of all, the Lib Dem catastrophe has to be the worst with Clegg loosing so much because of being the smaller party in the coalition and having to take the backlash of it. Especially as Nick Clegg's speech was heartfelt and honest, something that seemed to be genuine and truthful, which sadly we haven't seen a lot of lately.

All in all, we have dangerous yet exciting times ahead of us, what will happen with the EU question? How will the Scottish problem be solved? Who will become the new leaders of Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP? Hopefully we'll find out soon, if not see you in 5 years time...

Black and White Film

After handing over £20 to get 35 6x4 photos and CD of my black and white film, I made a silent prayer that this would not be wasted and that the photos would come out well. A week later I turned up again bracing myself for the worst, but all in all, bar the few that came out blurry, I am thrilled at my first attempts of black and while film all taken on my Canon AE-1.

Somerset House - Canon AE-1

Some of these were the first photos I took on my roll of film and as you can see the top left photo was underexposed (shutter speed was too fast) meaning it has come out rather dark at the top. Some came out rather grainy but personally, I quite like this look in the photo as it adds to the aged feel of the photograph.

Somerset House

The next set of photographs were from the Secret 7" exhibition at Somerset House that I recently went to (review about it here). However from this, I have come to the conclusion that because they were such colourful pieces of art that they would have worked best on colour film as black and white doesn't quite capture quite how bright and unique they are and that black and white is better suited to people and buildings.

Below is a photo of just some shots I took when travelling around London one night - surprisingly film is perfect for capturing night time scenes as everything looks more atmospheric. 

London at night - (from top left clockwise - Albert Bridge, Piccadilly Circus tube station, Piccadilly Square and London Victoria station platform 10)

My final photos are from a lovely day that felt like summer when myself and Anna went around the park on our bikes. It was a beautiful day and makes me excited for more days like this in the future.

I love the lack of colour in these photos, particularly this photo to the left, as it increases the contrast between the light and dark tones and for me it makes the photo more detailed as you are less distracted by colour. I love the complexity of the branches and the shadows they have created and it makes the photo look slightly surreal.

Below is a picture of Anna (I love secret photos) who only realised the photo was being taken until it was too late and then promptly asking to see it, I had to tell her that she could not because neither I nor her could as this was film. She was just going to have to wait until it got developed.

Anna - Canon AE-1

Overall, I am pleased with the black and white outcomes, but sadly this is a far too expensive hobby to keep up, so after I use up my last roll of black and white film, I may have to limit myself unless I start developing the film myself.

Pick Me Up Exhibition at Somerset House

Pick Me Up has been a regular event hosted at Somerset House for 6 years now but it is beyond me why I haven't stumbled across it before. It hosts a range of work from graphic designers, photographers, illustrators and artists, as well as up-coming shops and some pop-up stores as well. To visit the exhibition you can pay an entrance fee of £10 (£8 concessions) however this allows you to only see the exhibition one time and this is where a clever sales pitch has come in. Due to the fact that the exhibition has live speakers throughout the day, it changes speakers throughout the short time that the event is on, therefore Somerset House sells a 'festival ticket' for £17 (£14 if you got it a week before the event) which allows unlimited entry into the exhibition. This is a much better cost option if you a planning on visiting it more than once.

The work displayed in the main section of the gallery is from Gaurab Thakali, Hattie Newman, Jack Cunningham, Jennifer Argo, Laura Callaghan, Laura Jouan, Luke Evans, Peter Judson, Rop van Mierlo, Sara Andreasson, Thomas Lamadieu and Zoe Taylor, all of whom I've collected my favourite piece from each of them into a small collection for showcasing the range of techniques, styles and art across the exhibition (below).

A piece of work from each artists. From left to right and top to bottom: Jennifer Argo, Laura Callaghan, Peter Judson, Sara Andreasson, Rop van Mierlo, Zoe Taylor, Hattie Newman, Laura Jouan, Gaurab Thakali, Luke Evans, Thomas Lamadieu and Jack Cunningham

This section of the exhibition was inspiring and eye-opening to a range of new methods of creating art such as Luke Evans who uses an old laser printer and static electricity and Jack Cunningham who used a 3D printer. I loved the small sections set up in the centre of the room showing the artists, tools, equipment or thought processes around their ideas. Below are pages from Peter Judson's notebook and I love the satirical aspect to them.

'Why is scale important? Visual representation of how much procrastination took place.'

To-do list: what he should be doing vs what he actually does

The next section of the exhibition is held above all the artists' work displayed below. Up the stairs is a relatively narrow corridor, with a high ceiling, that has the selection of up and coming designers and graphic companies selling their work. But these are no ordinary shops, they display their work but you can also meet the designers/shop owners and talk to them about their products. As well as that many were making custom made items and there were lots of interactive aspects. From getting a graphic design taro reading to getting a T-shirt printed, there was so much on offer.

Following this section, but parallel to it, were the pop-up shops for example, Lazy Oaf which had a little room that was perfectly decorated. Along this corridor was also the 'Pick Me Up Platform' were the live speakers talk. I stumbled in mid-way through a talk from the political cartoonist Martin Rowson. His opinions and thoughts were truly interesting and incredibly humorous with the audience laughing at every other sentence he had to say about David Cameron/George Osbourne/Nick Clegg/the coalition/Boris Johnson or politics in general. His cartoons have such a satirical tone to them and anything that mocks the current politicians is my kind of humour. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the exhibition and I may have to admit that it has been my favourite exhibition in a long time. The atmosphere was so relaxed and inspiring - I loved that it showed such a strong range of work that anyone could have found something they liked and the refreshing and current idea about having pop-up shops has set the bar so much higher for me. I simply cannot wait until I return this coming Saturday for another day.

Where: Somerset House - Embankment Galleries

Event: Pick Me Up

Nearest tube: Temple or Embankment

Cost: £10 per day/ £17 for unlimited entry

Dates: 23rd April - 4th May

Secret 7"

Hosted at my favourite place in London, Somerset House, a very unique and interesting exhibition is brought to us from Secret 7. The project is for a charity called Nordoff Robbins who transform the lives of vulnerable children and adults though music and the team from Secret 7 and Somerset House have pressed 7 well-known tracks from different music artists 100 times on to 7" vinyls (hence the name of the exhibition) and asked over 700 artists/designers/photographer/illustrators to design a vinyl cover for the track. The tracks they chose to press are Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones), Reflections (Diana Ross & The Supremes), Born Slippy (Underworld), Let Forever Be (The Chemical Brothers), Digital Witness (St Vincent), Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel) and Go (The Maccabees).

However, this is where the plot twist kicks in, in the exhibition you have no idea who created the cover (hence the 'secret' part of the name) - it could have been Martin Parr, Sir Peter Blake, Julian Opie or even David Shrigley - or what track it was for. You could then buy a totally unique and one-of-a-kind cover (and receive the vinyl with it) for £50 and then be told who created it and what track its for. Personally I love this idea, it minimises the stigma of buying art for the name of the artist who created, but brings it back to what art is really about, whether you like or don't like what the artists have created. Some designs you can guess what track they would be for or who created them - Julian Opie's style is significantly special and is recognisable to him. But this is rare as each idea of the covers are totally new concepts and display something different.

One part of the exhibition that I particularly enjoyed was the fact that there were several vinyl players in the centre of each room that played the tracks that were chosen.

Vinyl playing of Digital Witness by St Vincent

I think this is a very refreshing idea and makes the exhibition all that more interactive - the atmosphere was cheery and comfortable as people were free to talk and take photos opposed to the stereotypical silent and strict exhibitions that every one secretly dreads. However one critique - the headphones played the music incredibly loud which made it hard for me (who likes my music on a low and gentle level) to listen to the songs for extended periods of time. Nonetheless, I loved the exhibition greatly. Sadly though, we will never know who designed each cover and for what song it was for but this just adds to the mystery of the art.

Location: Somerset House
Nearest tube: Temple/Embankment
Running time: 10th April - 3rd May
Cost: Free