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!)

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?)

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.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

 During the time my sister was in Melbourne for a few days and my darling godsister - Jazz, was staying over, I had found that my sister had bought Lewis Carroll's 1920s Miniature Edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. When my Mum told us this, it had seemed so very funny at the time, given that the shoot we'd done that afternoon was Alice in Wonderland themed.

As I read this beautiful book, I feel immersed not only by the story but by the care one must take with the the fragile pages and delicate binding, and I was glad to discover that I wasn't the only one who loved the scent of old books and enjoyed that sweet smell that invades your senses as you read. I love old books, especially ones that need to be handled with extra care because they threaten to fall apart in your hands, recently my Mum and I visited a Book Trader's store, where I found myself instantly darting to the back of the shop where the old classics were. My eyes had scanned for A tale of two cities and Pride & Prejudice but settled on The Bronte Sisters and I found myself picking up Wuthering Heights. I also spotted many other classics I'd heard of, and then I started just stroking the spines of the books and picking out books not for their names but their covers - Beautifully bound with leather, pages so ancient they look as if they're about to crumble, pages that actually are about to crumble, or their size that have a satisfactory weight in your hands.

It was a different and wonderful experience, too, when I found myself in the penguin section, I've always loved the orange and white covers of penguin books. After leaving, I realised how much I missed old book stores.

This beautiful vintage ball gown was bought by my mum in the 80s (I'm pretty sure anyway) and was shortened a bit due to my mum's height. The vintage T-bars were a charity shop find for my mum to sell on Etsy, and having a small foot size, Jazz managed to fit into them. Other than the fluffy second-hand top hat in one photo, the only other thing added was the lace sash - as the beautiful colours and pattern of the dress are enough. The addition of orange lipstick went well with the orange colour in the pattern, as well as the beautiful blue sky that showed the weather was on our side for a shoot that day.

 Something that has always been a part of my love of old and vintage things, is the history of it, the mysterious life it had before it was worn wandering about fields for photoshoots or part of an outfit for going out. Whilst reading this Miniature Edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I would wonder about previous owners, maybe if it was read aloud outside under the shade of a tree, while the listener made a daisy chain, like Alice herself.

Just a little update

It's been quite a while since I last updated my blog, so here I am. My sister, Ireland is currently in Melbourne with our dad to see a Scottish Motorbike Trials...err...thing. So my gorgeous godsister, Jazz, is staying over for a few days - which means lots of fun, craziness and photoshoots...which will probably show up here after I get round to posting the photos from our previous shoot together (which was when I took the photo above.)

The weather recently has been rather grey, but I'm sure it will go back to cerulean blue skies in no time - that's the weather lately, either not a cloud in the sky or so many clouds you can't see the sky. But I've always been more of a "grey day" kind of girl, as I love cold weather and rugging up, and it was the perfect time to cuddle up and read when I had several new books to do just that (the reading involving barely ever coming out of my room until the book was done, and then moving on to the next.)

I recently got an album from a new favourite musician Florence + the Machine and have been loving the songs from the album Between two lungs. Not sure if that would be an interest to anyone, but she certainly has a very distinct and lovely voice, and the songs in her albums never all sound the same.

Anyway, hopefully the next post won't have too much distance in between.