Monday 31 March 2014

Featured Monday: Rosa Furneaux (Rosa Joy)

#3

This week's feature is of Rosa, known mostly as 'Rosa Joy' on Flickr. She's only 22, but has traveled, studied and volunteered in many countries (England, Tanzania, South Africa, New York, California etc) and continues to go further. Hailing from my own home county in England, I have always felt a close affinity to her work and experiences. Rosa's photography is mostly documentative, but she also has experience in portraiture and conceptual work. She has been featured in numerous online publications and a couple of art galleries in England. Rosa's earlier work, such as her 52 weeks project and 100 days of summer series have been featured in other publications in the past, so I've decided to showcase her more recent work here.









Q. What inspires you?

“Big changes in my life are often catalysts for my own photographic creativity. Figuring out where to go next, falling in love, travelling. At the moment I am living in California, 5000 miles away from my home in rural England, and I shoot almost every day. An impending sense of loss ‘inspires’ too; I fly home in about four months, and my camera is one of the best ways to preserve the things I’ve found here.”

Q. Who inspires you?

“At the moment, my biggest inspirations fall somewhere between the worlds of fine art photography and photojournalism. My own work is settling somewhere in this space while I graduate, although eventually I would like to work as a photojournalist. Kate Holt, Luc Delahaye, and James Nachtwey are particular favourites. Closer to home, I’ve found great friendship in young photographers from all over the world through photography sites such a Flickr. Of these, particular inspirations are Rona Keller, Lexi Mire, Laura Zalenga, Elizabeth Gadd, and Ana Luisa Pinto. In my personal work I also take inspiration from Julianna Swaney’s beautiful illustrations, and I’ve recently become reacquainted with work by Gregory Crewdson for a darkroom project, which has been a real joy.”

Q. Do you have any advice for beginners?

“Shoot lots, shoot often, but shoot with a critical eye. Find what you like and explore it in depth. Keep an open mind, listen harder to constructive criticism than flattering internet praise, remember Google is your friend, and always quote your source. The camera doesn’t make the picture. Travel as much as you can.

You can find Rosa on FLICKR, her BLOG, her WEBSITEFACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM

L x 



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Monday 17 March 2014

Featured Monday: Caterina Neri (Violaselvatica*)

#2

Caterina, mostly known as Violaselvatica* on Flickr, is 23 years old and Italian. She is currently trying to bring her photography to a professional level, along with illustration. She specialises in macro and portraiture photography, often depicting scenes of home or nature.






All images used with permission. 

Q. What inspires you?
"My biggest inspiration is life itself. I find inspiration in nature, music, feelings, emotions, sensations. I'm fascinated by moments of unique beauty: a certain kind of light, mood...I'm grateful I can capture them with my camera."

Q. Who inspires you then?
"I'm always amazed by the great talent I see in people who create for passion. Whether It's a photograph, a painting, a music piece, I feel privileged to see such talent arise. I enjoy watching talent come to life in beautiful works of art.
Some of my favourite photographers and artists from the past truly inspire me too."

Q. What would you advise beginners?
"I think I still have to learn a lot :) the only advice I feel like giving is...if you love doing something, don't stop. Don't quit it because maybe someone thinks it's "wrong" for you. Protect your passions and your dreams, cultivate them, because your heart resides in them.
More specifically for photography: Take photos, take photos and take photos! This is the best way to understand what's your "call". What you prefer to portray, how and why. This is the most natural way to start creating a connection with your inner "photographic eye/view". "


Caterina can be found on FLICKR and INSTAGRAM

L x 

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Friday 14 March 2014

Sea Portrait - behind the scenes

Hey! 

This month has started off Spring with beautiful sunshine and mild weather. I went for a walk with my friend Faith last week to the seafront, and had a good time playing on rocks and having a late lunch in town. Despite living by the coast I rarely take photos of the sea, so I thought I'd change that a bit (since I'll be leaving this summer)! 

This first photo of Faith was a composite of nine photos in the end, and you can see how I began the rough stitching of it together here. It took me hours and hours editing, and I'm fairly inexperienced in layer masks and cloning so I found it very difficult and frustrating. It's not nearly perfect but it's really the best I can do with the limited free time I have (university work is so time-consuming!) 

Before:


After:



As you can see, I just about managed to put it together seamlessly, and enhanced the colours in Curves, Levels, Colour Balance and Selective Colour. After about three or four hours of editing I did get quite lazy (and angry haha), particularly with cloning, but hopefully it's not TOO noticeable. 

Thanks Faith, for being my model, and here are a few other (unedited) snaps I took:







 Hope everyone has fab weekends!

L x

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Monday 10 March 2014

Featured Monday: Katherine Hodgson

Hi, just wanted to try out a weekly feature post on some great photographers, so here's number one. Let me know what you think!

Katherine is 21 years old, a student in England and a personal friend of mine. She's got experience in a wide variety of photographic genres, from macro to landscape and bands to wildlife. In addition to winning second-place in a photo-competition for her local area, she has photographed numerous famous bands and musicians for her university, such as Alex Turner (from the Arctic Monkeys) and Tom Odell.







All images used with permission. 

Q. So...What inspires you?
"I don't think there's anything in particular that inspires me. I'm very much a fan of utilising natural light and so enjoy taking photos outside most, so I guess the sun plays a big part in inspiring me. I did a 365 Project (which I never actually got round to uploading all of) in 2011 and the winter months were the toughest for me due to lots of miserable weather and so few daylight hours. I definitely use my camera more in the summer months."

Q. Who are your favourite people?
"As far as inspiring people, to be honest, [Leigh-Anne] inspire me. The first person I followed on Flickr (who wasn't a friend) was Rosa Joy, after [Leigh-Anne] introduced me to her work, and also Rona Keller, also introduced to me by [Leigh-Anne]. I'm also a fan of Shelby Robinson and Kitty Gallannaugh. From there I became interested in self portraiture, though I didn't attempt it myself for quite a while. "

Q. Any advice for beginners?
"I would advise beginners to take a camera everywhere, be it on your phone, a compact, or a (D)SLR if you don't mind carrying about, and just take pictures. If you're unsure as to how to use an SLR, just adjust settings and see what happens. Perhaps look up the exposure triangle so you have some idea of what each thing does, but other than that, just experiment and don't be afraid of going manual."


Katherine can be found on FLICKR, TWITTER, FACEBOOK and on her BLOG.

L x



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Saturday 8 March 2014

Post-Christmas // January 2014: Part II

Hello again!

A slightly more positive note is that without being too fastidious about it, I have tried to be healthier, in regards to diet and exercise. I know, it’s very cliché, and I’m trying not to put too much emphasis on it because I would like it to be a lifestyle change, rather than a fad. With a push from my friend Natalie, it looks like I’m going to the gym Mondays and Saturdays every week. Again, nothing strenuous as I am so unfit it’s not even funny. Kind of inspired by Youtubers Louise and Lex (told you I watched too much Youtube).


Now I know it is absolutely ridiculous to post about January in MARCH, of all times, but I need to update you on my promised film photos. Well, first off, I have never used this camera before, and rather cockily, I thought I could handle it. I was completely misguided. My first mistake was not reading the instructions! I loaded the film incorrectly, so when it came to unwinding it, I did it wrong, and opening the back (thinking it was unwound) I exposed half the film. Exasperated I left my camera for a good month before braving taking it to Boots and begging them to take care of it! The young man behind the counter was very nice and informed me, while unwinding the rest for me under the darkroom curtain, that the film had torn. I was expecting any photos I had taken to be lost. However, I did get some photos (yay) and here they are:

York Cathedral (in the rain)

 York, can't remember where

 Lincolnshire, Fens (on a train)
 Scarborough, North Sea 
Scarborough, on the way to university 

I'll try and do a better job next time! And here's to catching up... 

L x
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