Time Away - Start New Travel Journal!

Travel Journal - Fail

I worked on my paper journal while I was away on holiday. First day was great filled in were we had been and what we had been up to.
According to my journal I am still in Melbourne about to head home.

Since them I have:

1. Went to Byron Bay
2. Stayed at the Hintered Lands
3. Visited local markets
4. Got married - eloped!
5. Went to the most easterly part of Australia
6. Had a great time

Yes - as you can image none of this has made it in to my travel journal. the pages are blank and need filled in.

Do I back date it and go over everything I can remember - or do I give in.... all those blank pages. I love the idea of having a journal but I suck at filling it in.

Most Easterly Point Australia

Follow-up: Have not had much chocolate - well I did have profiteroles for a wedding dessert.  I have also eaten lots of ice cream... it was really hot. I have finished my course - no results yet. 

Travel Journal?

Write a Travel Journal!

While I have been working on my travel posters, I have been looking at all the places that I have visited and decided that I am going to do a travel journal. I am doing it old school to start with.

I do love to write and take pictures while I am away. I also like to keep wee keep sacks of my travels - tickets, flyers, etc...
So I bought a new travel journal and tomorrow will be my first time writing in it.

Things I love about writing in a paper journal -

• Get to go over stuff slower and in more detail.
• Can write with different colour pens
• and my book is a lot lighter than my laptop

Things I love about writing in a digital journal -

• It corrects my spelling - which is great 
• I can add pictures -without using sticky tap or glue
• I am also quite a fast at typing - but when I write fast even I can not read my writing some times....

oh well - I will start my hand written one and see how I go.  I decided to attach a picture of one of favourite places - Edinburgh... Let the travel journal begin...

Edinburgh - Fun in the City

Follow-up: I had a chocolate milkshake from the Lindt cafe - it was great.... but I felt the fat just stick to my but. I have been struggling with my course - I want to do well but I keep comparing my work to everyone elses and thinking it is not great. Well I have today and tomorrow to post my course work. Wish me luck.

Motivation Lost!

Motivation Were Have You Gone?

I have lost me motivation over the last few days. I seem to have lost my mojo....

I have been working on the poster project and every time I do some work and then go back to it I do not like what I see.....

I want something unique but also some thing that shows me as a photographer. The posters are also getting weirder - and more abscure.

These are the three Edinburgh ones that I have done so far:

Poster 1: 

This is has a small image of added and the writing takes up more of the poster - this emphasises the writing rather than focusing on the picture. I do like the orange writing with the black and white picture.

 Poster 2:

Is a poster were I actually changed the tint of the photograph adding a more red - giving it a sepia look. With the red writing standing out well but not taking up most of the poster. Therefore, the image is still the central part of the poster.

Poster 3: 

Is along the original theme of the retro travel posters from the 1920's to 1940's. This is a black and white image with the white writing - the font of the writing is Artdeco so sets the era but I think it lacks punch.

The motivation and mojo are lost - I am losing the artist love for the pictures and I keep looking at them wondering how I can make them into the theme that I want.

If you find my Mojo please return undamaged and maybe a bit better inspiration. Thanks in Advance.

Follow-Up: Think I eat half a kilo of ice cream yesterday... double chocolate with crunchie. I am not losing weight soon. On a positive not I am going to pamper myself this week - going to get my first ever set of gel nails for fingers and toes.... exciting - I will post pictures. 

Why Photography!

The Passion of Photography!

It is a great thing to have the passion of photography but even greater is to be good at it. I have the passion, the talent less so.

However, in my quest for knowledge and inspiration - I stumbled across a documentary

"Finding Vivian Maier" http://www.findingvivianmaier.com/ 

This is such a intriguing and tragic story of a woman with a great passion and talent but not able to show her work to the world.

We are only now seeing it through someone else publishing and displaying her work.

To view her work http://www.vivianmaier.com/

www.vivianmaier.com

She is able to stop that moment in time with her pictures and capture the exact emotions. She did not have digital camera like me to pick and choose she just seemed to know when to press the button.

I have found this story quite emotional for some reason - I think that she did have some issues but if she was alive in this day in age with the talent that she had - she would have been posting all her work on the web - probably anomalously - but still it would have been out there and she would have saw how much joy her pictures would have brought to other people.

I know that my photos will never ever be that good but I am glad that I have seen Vivian's work to inspire me.

The photographs of street photography make me want to expand my skill base - it was obvious that she was not pushing her self on people to take pictures - as most of them are candid and you can feel the emotion in them.

As I looked through my small amount of photos I noticed a quite disturbing thing, I have managed to make it look most places that I have taken pictures that there is no one there - the people are missing.

If they are there then they are more than likely people that I know - I for some reason to not take pictures of strangers. Maybe I feel as if I am violating their privacy. What ever it is in my mind, I have found it quite disturbing.

I have found some with people: (I have posted one - if you look closely you can see people walking away in the distance.) No were near the talent of Vivian. Thank you for the inspiration.

Paris Street at Christmas

Follow-Up: Had lots of things to do today - did not do much was detracted by the documentary. Need to re-write list of things to do for tomorrow.  oh well - what I can not do today I will try and do tomorrow or not. 

Retro Posters Part 2

Inspiration Retro Travel Posters!

I am running with the theme of the 1920's Travel Posters. I have always loved the 1920's, the fashion, the style, architecture and the flamboyancy.

The issue I have is that I did a few posters - that looked good but when I did a few more they just started to look repetitive and they did not really stand out.

I liked some of them in Black & White - but I think they are just looking to boring - especially compared with the wonderful works of art that were used for the original travel posters.

  

  


The Originals:

LONDON. Art print Travel/Railway Poster of London Southbank

Paris: original vintage 1930s art deco travel poster
 by Robert Falcucci, 1930s

  

Edinburgh Mons Meg. LNER Vintage Travel Poster art print by Frank Newbould c1935

As you can see I need to do some work.... I think the font on the posters to start with needs to be different and then I might do some colour and some black and white. But sticking to the same theme.

This has been a challenge but at least it is a good challenge.

I also do love vintage art work and the idea of being able to make my photos into vintage style travel posters is quite exiting.

Follow-up: I think I am getting fat on Chia Latti - so making my own Chia tea and having with dash of milk there days. I did eat a bar of Galaxy chocolate from the UK the other day... at the time it tasted good but after - sore tummy set in. I also went to get a dress taken in and tried on the shoes I am wearing with it.... Lets just say I am not sure how I am going to walk in them - I have to practice while I am doing house work. 

Travel Retro Posters!

Travel Idea - A bit weird!


So I have been working on the Project 2 for my course and I was really struggling with a theme - as discussed.

I was talking it over with some friends at dinner and they were coming up with some really wacky ideas.

1. Recreate famous classical paintings - yes this is a thing - Google it - some are really funny
2. Macro shots of peoples eye's - I found this one a bit creepy
3. Food - that I have eaten - this is what my partner does - when we are away any were he takes pictures of food. 

After all this brain storming that did not seem to get me any were - I thought I would love to do something different. I was already thinking about the story of travel.

I had edited a few of my travel pictures in Lightroom - cropping them so they were landscape and also black and white - this did require some editing with shadows and highlights.

BUT - this has been done so many times before and how could I make it my story and make it different. I had noticed in FOTOR that there was a section for design that I had seen when I was looking at trying to making invitations for a party (another story).

There was a sections for posters and I love the retro travel posters that are back in fashion at the moment.

I found my theme and my story - My Travels Around the World Set to Posters:

Edinburgh - History 

Paris - Love

Tasmania - Wilderness

I still have to make sure all the fonts match and the wording might change - oh and I have to do another seven posters.

That will keep me busy.

Follow-Up: I have not put any more weight on (go me) - As you may of gathered I have been busy with the course. It is keeping my brain busy. Dancing starts back next week and I have figured out that I am going to miss the first three weeks - I am sad.... Need a solution.