Older Shoots

Outfit: hat from my sister, Dotti top,  Supré skirt, vintage Doc Martin shoes, vintage leather backpack (from a charity shop.)
Photo by my mum. The lizard on the table is real, he's a bearded dragon and named 'Gadzooks'.

My stunning sister Ireland wearing a velvet dress from a charity shop, not sure about the earrings.
Photo by me.

Ireland, wearing a vintage velvet dress and bow tie.
Photo by me.

I'm wearing a silk 'Bluejuice' dress from a market stall and vintage boots (previously my mum's.)
Photo by Ireland.

Ireland, wearing a vintage velvet backless dress from a charity shop, unknown earrings, and a bracelet made by my mum.
Photo by me. Hasn't she got just the most beautiful back?

I'm wearing my sister's vintage hat from a market, floral 'maisie' shorts, and a vintage lace bodice from a wedding dress.
Photo by Ireland.

I'm wearing a handmade lace bow tie, Supré button down top, second hand waistcoat, vintage watch and gloves , unsure about shorts.
Photo by Ireland.

I decided to add some photos that have been sitting in 'My Pictures' since early this year (some even from December last year.) They were all photos from when I was twelve, and (other than a bit of cropping) are un-edited (except for possibly the fourth, but it could just be that we had a really bad camera then.)

Well, it's the School Holidays (hooray) I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to be doing, my sister's going to be staying with our maternal grandma soon, to see friends and live music, and pretty much just get out of the house.
So far I've been going to the beach - trying to get exercise and work the muscles around my spine. My Bowen therapist said that while I'm still growing, exercise and regular Bowen therapy could completely fix my back (she also said I was the worst she'd ever seen - yikes) I had a Bowen about three weeks ago and my mum said afterwards that I'd gained height! Going to the beach might even give me a bit of a tan (as you might have noticed: I'm very pale.)

I've also been doing a lot of sleeping, eating sugar, and being grumpy - basically, being a teenager. I made a cubby-house, well, more like a cave or a den. I made it by putting a mattress in the hallway next to our big book shelves, adding big couch cushions and sheets to make it like a den, then threw in some pillows, a vintage tartan mohair blanket, and I was done. I had a camper lamp, a dog, and a bearded dragon (as well as stacks of books) for company. I read children's stories, Oscar Wilde stories, a bit of Roald Dahl and Virginia Woolf's 'A room of one's own' (which since I got to the second chapter, I've found it sort of hard to put down, I'm not sure why. So far, it's really interesting.) My cubby-house/cave/den was especially great for a thunder storm we had, during which was when one of my dogs came in and joined me.

Well, anyway, might go pester my sister to do a photo-shoot with me (she recently got a fringe, and I've got many sixties themed ideas!)

Thoughts Like Flowers

Spring has sprung,
the grass is riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?

I seriously did wonder 'where the flowers is’; after all, it is spring. This morning I wandered down to the garden in pursuit of finding some, the result being a bunch of different and colourful flowers.
As is regularity with me, I started thinking. About everything - the thoughts going through my head were as random as weeds and as variously shaped and coloured as my collection of flowers.
Sometimes I feel as if my mind is a garden. How an idea can be like coming across a fruit on a tree - you might want to leave it for some time to grow and ripen, so it may become richer and sweeter. Thoughts may be scanned like a patch of flowers for one of interest to be picked. Or the way unwanted ones pop up like weeds and even if you get rid of them, they come back.

I guess I was wandering through two gardens, browsing both thoughts and flowers. The real garden is lacking in maintenance, overgrown, and taken over by weeds (which can resemble my mind sometimes.) It's not beautiful, but since I've become a lover of photography, I've been able to admire a place for just a small part of it, because that part - even if it’s only small - can fill the frame of a camera. I could have a subject in front of a patch of flowers, and no one else would see the surrounding weeds outside of the frame. This lead to a few thoughts about appearance and gave me a different perspective on beauty - that nothing has to be completely perfect, because everything has imperfections, and you must admire the features that are beautiful. This is something that has helped me on how I view my own appearance.

It's so easy to find things in ourselves that we don't like. While I'm very insecure that I have permanent scarring under my lip from an accident when I was younger, most people don't notice. I'm constantly looking at how one of my hips is higher than the other, a collarbone more prominent, a slightly twisted ribcage and misshapen back (all of that being a result of slouching all the time, causing my back to curve as I grew), but I'm told it's not as noticeable as I think. What I’m saying is that we often judge ourselves (particularly our abilities and appearance) too harshly, scrutinizing every imperfection until we make ourselves feel terrible, instead of focusing on some of the things we like about ourselves.

Its times like these that I step back and can see how my thoughts can truly affect how I see myself and thus how others see me as well. This makes me realise that I need to endeavour to look at what I like about myself rather than every little imperfection. A goal I will continue to strive towards on a daily basis.

My lovely mum took these photos on an afternoon walk.
The Floral dress was bought second hand at a market stall a long time ago, I bought the orange dress on sale at JayJays (also some time ago), and it's a bit too small for me now. My mum bought me the vintage 60's pin, the memory-wire bracelet is one that I made when I was eleven. Green Colorado leather bag, vintage 70's leather boots, and belt - all from charity shops. The ring was my Grandma's.

Oh, and sorry if this post was little long!

Beautiful Beach

The marks on the sand beneath me show that I jumped quite a few times to get this shot - I'm so happy with it!

The photos above were taken by my sister on a spontaneous trip to the beach one afternoon. The cream silk scarf is vintage, and I'm wearing a silk dress from a vintage market stall (I don't think it's actually vintage though) the brand is 'bluejuice.' 

I noticed the jumping photo was the only photo in which I'm not looking down - I might need to work on some new poses!

 This morning my dad and I went on what we call our "dawn runs." We got up (hesitantly) at about 4:30 AM, put on warm clothes, made some coffee, and went to the beach (the same beach in the photos above). It's about a half an hour trip and when we get there it's just lovely - a previous time it was overcast and the water looked like milk - lilac milk, it was gorgeous! This time the sunrise made the trees look like black cut-out shapes, I gulped my coffee (can't help it - it's too good) while looking at the orange and pink sky. Then we swapped seats and I drove along the beach - I never knew driving was so fun! I started lessons with my dad a couple of months ago and I love it.
 After the beach we did some exploring and the scenery changed from waves, pelicans and seagulls to tall red grass and purple, yellow and pink wild flowers.

The places were beautiful, everywhere we went I kept thinking this would be great for a photoshoot and I'm pretty sure some of the time my dad was thinking this would be great for trials motorbike riding.  Every detail became a note in my head, though to write it all down afterwards would be challenging, I seriously need to bring a notebook and pen with me everywhere I go (like I do with my much loved camera.) And of course, I got lots of educational lessons and quizzes from my dad about the wildlife, parks, water turbidity, etc. I loved it!

Also, I previously talked about World Vision's 40 hour famine, well I just wanted to say that my sister and I have managed to (thanks to the wonderful people who donated) raise two hundred and seventy dollars now - which makes me feel so good!

A photo from this morning's "dawn run."

And...a previous dawn run.

Photoshoot on an afternoon walk

These photos were taken by my mum during a shoot mixed in with an afternoon walk. After going to this place the day before I knew what colours would go with the backdrops: reds, browns and greens. And so, behold: an outfit comprised of black tights, vintage boots (were my mum's), a green silk top my mum found in a charity shop, the belt was my grandma's, the bag is Colorado from a charity shop, and I recently made the skirt from a Supré halter dress that I bought on sale a couple of years ago.

As you might notice (or may have already noticed) - I love charity shops. I have been searching through the racks of clothes and stacks of shoes of them since I was six. At that age I thought charity shops to be the epitome of boredom, and only went into them with my mum while she searched for vintage or clothes to up-cycle. But now sometimes it's me dragging her through them. I became experienced in finding things, determining vintage and an item's era, knowing materials and good brands, etc. Just the other day my mum and I looked through the local ones and I managed to find a vintage book collection including: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Gulliver's Travels, and Oscar Wilde stories - the whole lot for two dollars! So I've got some reading to do. Although I'm already reading three books...Sir Athur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Virginia Woolf's A room of one's own and Rachel Hartman's Seraphina (the first modern book I've read in ages.) So, a lot of reading to do.
Speaking of which, I think I'm going to go make a cup tea and relax with a book (is there anything better?)

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.)

Tape, Paper, Scissors

 When you say to someone "I'm bored, there's nothing to do" the answer favoured by parents is "there's always something to do." But I doubt they'd expect that something to be ripping and cutting up old newspapers and taping it onto your older sister (whom after about ten minutes was regretful she ever agreed to such a thing.) Making the dress took about half an hour (though I'm sure Ireland thought it a lot longer) and although I lost my patience a bit with Ireland when she kept moving, it was actually quite fun. Though the best part was taking photos, and then ripping it off:

I made the flower in her hair the day before (out of newspaper too) to match a newspaper dress currently still on a dressmaker's dummy (this newspaper dress can be removed and undamaged, unlike the one I made onto my sister.) But my dress is still a work in progress - though I'm hoping to finish it soon!

Model: Ireland
Photos by Me
Newspaper Dress
& Flower by me.

Portrait Photography and Writing

An extra photo from my Alice in Wonderland shoot with Jazz.
Photo by me

Felt & Velvet hat - vintage, Jacket - vintage, Dress - Charity/Op-shop
Photo by my sister

Ireland is wearing a fedora from a vintage market stall, not sure about the sunglasses.
Photo by me

Same vintage hat, brown velvet gloves - vintage, top - charity/op-shop
Photo by me

Is this eye-shot still considered a portrait or not?
Photo by me

It has been perfect writing, reading and hot chocolate weather recently (yes, I’m talking about the weather again.) All grey skies and endless days of cold and rain, with no opportunity for a shoot. But I’m perfectly content with lounging about and reading classic literature (finished Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and I’m onto Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.) I’m really enjoying Sherlock Holmes, the writing style took a bit of getting used to, but it’s a wonderful read, has anyone else read it? 
Recently I haven’t been very comfortable with my writing, if I’m in the right mood I can write an alright post, but when I’m not I mostly try to lengthen them and often seem like I’m just listing things. I forget that it’s okay to just post some photos and write a quick bit of text. There’s a lot of self expectancy in the way I write – trying to write a hundred times better than I actually can, which leads to less relaxed posts. (So I’m going to delete my last post, as it was an example of this.)

I’ve only been writing a blog for a short time, but I’m hoping that this will help in improving my writing, because it’s something that I love so much. This blog has been really self beneficial and I’m really enjoying doing the photo-shoots for it as well, it’s also been really lovely getting comments (to me a new comment is a bit like getting a letter in the mail.)

Last year the idea of writing a blog would never have even occurred to me, but after seeing my sister’s blog and knowing how much she enjoyed blogging, I decided to give it a go. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, as the previous writing I did was the occasional short stories and several long ones that never get even close to finishing (all fantasy of course.) And this kind of writing has really gotten me interested in the idea of journalism, it has also, in a way, been helping me with my fictional story writing.