Knitting

Recently I made some time to start knitting again! I also downloaded an app for my phone which let's me blog on the go :) so here are some of my knitting updates!

Live on BBC Essex Radio

Today I was on the BBC Essex Radio, talking about my fashion club and the Essex Stereotype!! Being interviewed was quite nerve racking, I was asked to come into the studio and if I didn't have an upcoming deadline I would have loved to! We talked about the typical Essex girl, and how it is perceived as 'glamourous' by aspiring wags, and almost a combat against it, through the fashion club and Daphne Field's Ewag Group!

We talked about how fake eyelashes and this ambition to be glamorous was acceptable in the 40s/50s (all eras really), but I don't think it was mentioned enough how it is not the fact we want to look good, rather the associations with the Essex Girl. Women fought hard to earn the right to vote and to aspire to be a footballer's wife by following the stereotype can't be a good thing. There are so many creative and uniquely styled people all over Essex, we should aspire to be creative and successful, and be proud of personal style, rather than living up to this bad image.

On another note, I'm shooting a Vajazzle image for my project tomorrow - we can't take ourselves too seriously!

Ewag website: http://www.essexwomensadvisorygroup.com/

Listen online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gb2yg

Essex

Land Girls

Yesterday I shot for Aisha, a third year student at AUCB, this part of her project was based on the Land Girls and myself and a lovely team of people went up to a dairy farm to shoot the images! Just posting a quick edit now but I'll write more later!

Tired Starlings Final Series

Just finished editing Emma's fashion series I've blogged about before! I'm pretty happy with the final images! I've got so much to do in 12 days, so I'm trying to get all my editing done in the next few days, and shoot until the cows come home tuesday-friday!

Page 10

Had a small article written about me in the Essex Chronicle, some-what strange but I guess a good thing for the Fashion Club

Essex Essex Essex

This project is driving me crazy.

Vintage Trail

Today I shot for Kyla, a second year fashion student from Bournemouth but lives relatively close to me in Essex so I drove down to hers and some to do a vintage styled and inspired images (naturally lit!!), I've quickly edited one, playing with the grain tool in photoshop! Driving back to Bournemouth tomorrow, so I can start editing the images I've been shooting over the last few weeks!

Shopping for Prams

Yesterday I continued shooting my Essex project, around and around the county for my locations. My rough edit from the shoot has hardly been retouched, I guess I'm not used to taking photos so quickly and it being done, so I'm still a little unsure of this project. For this image I used the photographer Nick Turpin's (http://www.nickturpin.com/work/street) work as inspiration as he shoots real street moments but they become somewhat constructed as he lights them. I managed to get hold of a couple of prams and models and drove to Lakeside with the explorer kit to take this.

Swimmingly Good Fashion

Today was my second Essex shoot, I managed to find a pool to shoot in that had the most beautiful butterfly shape in it! I started working with a lovely new model called Emma, who I found on model mayhem and she was brilliant in the pool! My stylist, Youles, and I found the dress in a charity shop for £15 which was great because it matched the palette I wanted to use for styling. I've been working on a couple of rough edits, debating if it should be darker!

My inspiration for this shot was the Micheal Barrymore pool incident, but using a fashion twist, its somewhat obscure at the moment but hopefully will work in the whole series as the final image; 'the parties over'. Everybody keeps telling me to watch The Only Way is Essex, but I don't get why I should when its outside my back door! Its hard to shake the stereotype, but I guess there are people like it everywhere!

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Bournemouth any more

The last few days I've been busy settling in at home, still doing a retouching job and playing on my iphone! Now I'm back I've started shooting my next project, which is based on the Essex Stereotype but taking it into a high fashion concept. Heres a rough edit of my concept, taking the well know white stilettos, ankle bracelet and tanned legs. I've pin pointed various Essex aspects and will be transferring them into images! Got hold of a bar that was used in The Only Way is Essex, I guess this project is my response to that stereotype the programme has cast on us. Just a bit of humour at the end of the day, but I'm excited as I'm usually quite studio based! Really thankful to my friend Tasha for letting me use her lovely legs in a photo, figured I might crop it into a square!