PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS > WEEK 4

This weeks photography class was all about panoramic images and how to create this in Photoshop with my favourite "tool" ever; Photomerge! This is where you import 5 or 6 images and click "Photomerge" and it "stitches" all your images together for you.
First of all we had to get the photos so we headed to the Glasgow Necropolis, (a Victorian cemetery) that sits on a hill and has amazing views of the city.
This week was pretty important to get our settings correct to suit the light and objects as next week we are working with black and white FILM!
Yeah that's right no option to flick through the images you've taken and delete the ones that aren't. Eek!
This week I was pretty pleased to finally get my head around setting the right exposure, it helped that the evenings are a lot lighter than they were when we started back March. The last image is actually 6 images stitched together and this was an excellent class.

www.ramaform.com

WAYNE HEMINGWAY - "THE STORY SO FAR"

I might be giving away my age here but I used to love watching Wayne Hemingway in the fashion section on The Big Breakfast (I've mentioned this to younger friends and have been met with blank stare and the question "What was the Big Breakfast?" You know Zig and Zag, Johny and Denise, More Tea Vicar?!?! No? ok I'll move on).
So when my friend asked if I wanted to see him speak at the Old Fruit Market about his 30 years experience in the design industry I was like "Hell yeah"!
He is probably most famous for founding the global fashion label "Red or Dead" where he started on a stall in Camden Market and brought an affordable designer label to the high street and when he sold it he then started the multi discipline design studio Hemingway Design designing everything from clothes to houses.
His down to earth attitude and advice to research your market but then "just go for it" really hit home with me and I loved how even after 30 years as a designer he still wouldn't class himself as one which he feels helps him to remain adaptable moving between architecture, digital and advertising projects. This along with the belief that you make your own luck and to do business with people you like seems to be THEE winning combination for a successful career.
I thought he was great before I went to see him and came away totally inspired and loving him even more after it. 

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS > WEEK 3

It's week 3 of my photography class already and it was all about composition, oh and exposure as always. We managed to get outside and the aim of this weeks class was to take pictures of objects that looked like letters and to create a word out of the letters we collected.
I created the word "Glasgow" and found that the letter "G" is really hard to find, that's why I had to feature an actual letter "G", well we were on a time limit.It was a really great exercise to get you thinking about making the shot look different and a bit more creative.

EASTER IN SWEDEN

I have been meaning to write this post for ages but you know how it is, life and work happen.
So for Easter CJ and I were invited to his little cousins Christening in Gothenburg. His uncle has stayed there for 13 years so he has been over about 10 times but I've never been and it's one place that's on my list to go to. 

It just so happened to fall on our 4th anniversary so it was a no brainer. We booked our 6.30am flights, packed our bags and jetted off at 4am in the morning eek!
The weekend was a bit of everything, a lovely "couplely" couple of days and nights (is that even a word?) with some family stuff with 7 other people.
It was everything I thought it would be! It's so cool, clean and modern with a vintage twist.
We stayed at the gorgeous Radisson Blu in Gothenburg for 2 nights and then headed to Lindome for the Christening and stayed here for the rest of the trip.
There are tons of things I didn't take pictures of and I really want to get better at recording moments as well as enjoying them at the time. When I go to a place I try and fit in some culture as well as eating and drinking and try and ignore the 16year old voice in my head "but museums are boring!!!"
We made it to the Rohsska Museum, a fashion and product design museum which was great and had dresses by Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen on show. They constantly rotate and update their exhibitions and the Coco Chanel exhibit had just been moved which would have been amazing to see.

When we had done the "culture" stuff it was time for some "nightlife" stuff and the hotel bar made amazing cocktails that we tried before we went out, my favourite was definitely a tasty (but dangerous) alcoholic strawberry milkshake.
One thing I noticed is that everyone is stunningly gorgeous but there is no pretentiousness which is nice and ensures the bars are nice and relaxed too. We found a sort of gentleman/supper club place, a Kino bar and a place called Cicero and on our last night we met up with some friends in Gothenburg who took us to an app bar called Pincho's where we snacked on tapas and cava that you order with your phone and pick them up when you get the alert, so much fun. As we were staying at Lindome just outside of Gothenburg we headed off for the last bus. It was great to see the city but spend some time in a little town aswell.

I tried to show a mixture of pictures but when I started looking through them I realised I am slightly obsessed with trams and fish for some reason which I''ll have to keep in mind in future. For some reason I was totally fried with work before I went away and this trip came at exactly the right time, it is such a chilled and gorgeous city I came back totally relaxed and inspired. Just what I needed and I'll definitely be going back.

http://www.birdyandme.com.au/

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS > WEEK 2

This week we were working in the studio focusing on white balance and the depth of field. 
This is basically making sure anything that's white looks white in the image and creating the effect where the object that's closest to the lens is in focus but the object in the background is blurred.
There's so many things to take into account when your taking a photo, even the temperature of the light that is being used can effect the image but it was a really interesting class working with the focus, shadows and light.

MARCH GLOSSYBOX

How nice is it to get things in the post other than bills?
My friend first told me about GlossyBox, a service that you pay a monthly subscription to receive 5 beauty samples wrapped in a beautiful box straight to your door. The samples are a mystery so it's like a suprise gift to yourself.
Sign me up I thought and as my very first GlossyBox dropped in my letterbox I wasn't disappointed. 

The theme was City Chic and contained; 
Nails Inc nail varnish
Jelly Pong Pong Lip Blush
Tresemme Hairspray
Juicy Couture "Couture La La"
Elizabeth Arden Eight hour Cream

The lip blush and nail polish was red, perfect statement colours that I always add to brighten up my outfit and day. I was even glad of the Hairspray as I had just ran out and it was even my usual brand. Result!
To be honest I wasn't sure about the Couture La La perfume but it turned out to be a lovely light spring scent.
And last but not least I found some Elizabeth Arden in there too!

And that's not all, as well as the 5 products they included some stickers and a little Travel Book with facts and places to go in some main cities like London, New York and Stockholm. I was quite excited about this as I am heading to Copenhagen for Easter and although it wasn't mentioned it was nice to see some pics of Sweden to get me in the holiday mood.

Can't wait to see what's in the April Box!

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS > WEEK 1

I've always wanted to take better pictures and at the start of the year I made it one of my goals to learn how. So I booked myself on an photography evening course for beginners in January that started in March and before I knew it I'd been to 2 classes!

I wasn't sure whether I should post the images I took as they are nowhere near how I want them to look but you have to start somewhere so here they are.

www.jroper.co.uk