Light

Light is a glorious thing. Glorious in the way it shows colours, in the fact that I wouldn't have any pictures to show you if not for it - many things would cease to exist without light. The right light can make the mundane and ordinary transform into something utterly spectacular, giving the illusion of something magical. It can shine through water and make a droplet look like it contains an entire star nebula in its sphere.
It's incredibly fitting that we use variations of the word 'light' to describe people. How we can shine, glow, radiate and illuminate. How someone can bring out the best (or the 'light') in others much like the way the sun illuminates the intricate veins of a leaf or the strands of a spider web. 

Experimenting with light - particularly sunlight - is one of my favourite things about photography. I'm fascinated by the nature of some of the shadows it creates and I'm delighted by the way it's caught by single strands of hair, transparent materials and droplets of water. Different days, different skies and different light has all kinds of wonders to be experimented with and explored. 

So yes - light is a glorious thing. This post is simply a brief appreciation of that. All of the above images were snapped by me. The photo of flowers plaited into hair is of my mum and the second image is of my god-sister Jazz. All other portraits are of my sister, Ireland.

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.)