The ones that got away

All shots above were either taken by me, my god-sister or my sister, and the photos are of us too. 

I have several reasons for not posting for over a month, which include: two faulty computers, a broken camera battery charger, my sister visiting (she has moved 5 hours away from me - boo), and unfortunately my creativity seems to have gone on holiday (I'm having dreams about really mundane things such as grocery shopping - what a waste).
I often feel a little bit stressed if I haven't posted for a while, as this blog feels a little bit like my rabbit hole sometimes. So this just a quick post to finally have something new! The pictures are all (sans a couple) 'ones that got away' from a few blog shoots, or otherwise photos from shoots that never even appeared on the blog. Some of the photos even date back to when I was twelve. As always, the clothes are hand-me-downs, charity shopped and vintage.

Thinking Summer Thoughts

As soon as summer came, frivolous stick battles with my sister were replaced with merciless water fights, and umbrellas were used to shield oneself from the sun rather than the rain. As well as the fact that suddenly everything I think about is summery. While I'm still wishing it was winter, the things I'm pulling from my wardrobe are seventies cotton sundresses, summer shorts, vintage lightweight skirts, translucent silks, boater hats, and long flowing dresses.
I often tend to romanticise the opposite season to the one I'm in. When it’s winter, I only remember the best of summer, and vice versa. In winter I would wish for summer’s longer days, thinking about how the sun comes up at 4:30 AM and goes down at 7:00 PM - though choosing to ignore the fact that the sun is already burning by six in the morning.Instead, I would remember days when my sister, a friend and I would go riding around on our horses bareback, picking mangoes, mistletoe berries and lychees from trees. We would go swimming with the horses, jumping into the water, splashing and picking waterlilies. Then we’d dry off in the sun, watching the horses and laughing as they played and rolled in the grass. Although now, as it’s summer, I’m often thinking of the times in winter when I can wrap myself in shawls and curl up with hot tea or coffee and a book. Or how nice it is to go to sleep because my doona seems to be extra cosy in winter, or the feeling of going to sleep when it’s pouring down with rain outside. I can easily forget about the sluggishness one can often feel in winter, as well as the fact that winter’s weather gives awful grey light (which is not so great when you want to go outside and take photos!)

A couple of posts back, in this post, a few people in the northern hemisphere commented on it about longing for warm weather (while I had been talking about wishing for the cold!) it seems that it's not just me that's craving for the opposite seasons.
But while I don't cope well with the heat, I feel a little anxiety as Summer nears to an end. I want to get some more summery shoots done (and possibly a few more water fights.) And basically just embrace Summer while it's here, because when it's gone I'll be missing it.

So, above is a couple of photos from a very brief shoot last week. My sister's wearing a charity shopped rayon Tree Of Life dress. My dress (which has already been worn over a Christian Dior slip in a shoot here) I got from a local charity shop for $4, it's a Victoria's Secret silk dress that still had it's tags (showing it was $57). It was originally light blue but I dyed it teal (though of course you can't see the colour in the black and white photo.)
And below is some more summery pictures to fit the theme of this post which were taken last year in late spring.

Tea Parties, Light, and Making Things

Here is the third (and last) shoot I did with the gorgeous Jazz when she stayed over. The first photo was taken by my mum, the photos of Jazz by me, and the photo of me was taken by Jazz. All the photos are un-edited. You can see the first shoot here and the second shoot here.
Jazz is wearing a dress that was previously owned by my grandma, the faux pearl bracelet and vintage watch are from a charity shop, as are the vintage shoes and silk scarf. The necklace (and glass bead pendant) was made by my mum.
As for me, I'm wearing a vintage watch (something that I wear on a regular basis for some reason, it's purely for decoration, as it doesn't work - which is very awkward if someone asks you the time!) And the dress was from a charity shop, it had big yellow plastic buttons on it, but I removed them, lace was added, and then I sewed on different buttons (still need to add the fourth button, and then a ribbon bow.)

The yellow dress was just one of the many things that are stacked up on benches and next to the sewing machines. With promises of being shortened, lace added, made to fit, dyed, or being turned into something else. I might come across a pair of shorts that I like and there would be the "I'll just make something similar."
It's quite hard to get on top of it - the piles of clothes, folds of material, large collections of doilies, ribbons, and buttons.
There is so much that I want to up-cycle, make from scratch or using some of the gorgeous vintage Vogue patterns my mum has collected. I found an amazing 70s Karl Lagerfeld pattern for a beautiful shirt, that was the most stunning cut with gorgeous sleeves - but is way beyond my skill level. I have to accept that for now it's just making Pyjama bottoms and cheesecloth shorts for the summer. It's hard to have patience - for both sewing something and just keeping practice until I'll finally be able to make more complex things.
I've found that while some things in sewing are quite laborious, others are meditative, and some lead to a lot of cursing, frustration, and wanting to kick something. A result that I'm happy with gives a feeling of accomplishment and prompts so much motivation to create more. Although of course, if you sew something and make a big mistake..well, cue more cursing and wanting to kick something.
Something far less frustrating is dying (clothes and fabrics, of course.) It's actually quite fun, mixing the dyes, putting it on, squeezing and scrunching. I've been getting some great colour results, especially from a pair of socks that I dyed orange, and the silk dress Jazz wears in this shoot was dyed teal (it looks great, and perfect for summer.)

Big thanks to Jazz for being my willing model, and to my mum for helping us with the tea party set-up (and taking the first shot.)

Horseback

Though blurry, I love this photo - and my sister's gorgeous smile.

My sister and I don’t often plan our shoots - and on the not-so-common occasion that the desire to have a photo shoot is mutual, we often sit and contemplate a theme - and what on earth we’re going to wear.
However, with this shoot Ireland had an idea that she introduced to me by saying: ‘well, I have this nice flowy dress, and a currently (reasonably) clean horse….’

We hadn’t done a photo shoot in about two weeks (hence me not posting for a while – that and slow Internet.) So barefoot, with long dresses and a sweet horse on a warm afternoon: perfect.
I am so happy with the photos I got of my sister, and am glad I got her to flip her hair in that first photo - it turned out to be brilliant (and some great posing on the horse's part, too.) The horse (Crystal) was nice and calm throughout the whole shoot, while we snapped shots, posed, and got covered in lovely brown and white horse hairs.

I've known Crystal since she was born (bred by my paternal grandfather) and we inherited her after he passed away. We can inherit some wonderful things from family members (also a lot of things I hear fondly talked about and wish that my grandma had have kept them) but Crystal was the best thing.

The white nightgown Ireland is wearing is from my grandma, and the dress I'm wearing is also from my grandma (although it was given to my mum to up-cycle, I just borrowed it.)