February 7th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Victoria
There’s nothing like an exhibition opening to get you excited about art. During December, I took part in a group show at the Plane/Site gallery entitled 16.4.1. The show consisted of a range of 16 artists from textile to multimedia installation to pen and paper. In some way, the space defined how the installation was structured and hung. Each of the four areas installed aimed to emphasize a different theme or point of view.
My work comprised of a number of equine prints entitled Shiver. Above is the piece that I sold, the other two were set aside for some crafty Christmas presents. Probably the most inspiring component of the exhibition however, was the installation of the art and seeing everything and everyone come together. The opening night in particular, is a time to learn from others. You find yourself seeing a different perspective from the feedback offered. From artists, performers, and buyers to those who have just come for a bit of a laugh and a good chat. I’ve only been involved in half a dozen exhibitions, having a hectic schedule as a research student. The enjoyment of taking part in a show is infectious. It’s because of this that I jumped at the chance to take part in another group show, opening later this month.
The next group show that I will be taking part in is Natural Progression. Opening on the 20th February the exhibition features a number of Sligo born/based artists. The show is being held at the Art Mart Studios in Sligo and will run for two weeks.
Also taking part in the show are Nicholas Grey, Michelle Granville, Mark, Tom and Sean Mullery, and Lisa Powell. If you’re about Sligo, be sure to call in. If not, you can see some of my photography at flavorso.me. I can only imagine in the future, with luck and time willing that I will be involved in many more shows.
Posted in: 101in1001, Inspiration, Personal, Photography, Uncategorized
January 22nd, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Victoria
Inspired by Sinéad’s recent blog post, my picture for the day yesterday is of the stack of books that I’m going through at the moment. I’m hoping to get at least 25 books read this year. That’s a nice reasonable target, I just need to find some good novels to add to the mix!
The most recent fiction that I got into was Hearts of Horses. It wasn’t what I had imagined, more about the culture and the history of the people. Since getting back to work after the holidays I haven’t touched it. Still, if I can manage to put aside a couple of hours I might be able to tick it off as 1 out of 25.
This photo, despite its ugly backdrop is an example of how I’ve been approaching my own project365. A photo a day for a whole year, for those who haven’t heard of the project. I’ve been trying, most days at least, to focus on some small scene and try and figure out what is the best two point lighting with flashes. Most days I struggle with some ambient light source, be it daylight or the overhead one. I’ve nearly made it a month, with only one slip up so far, so by February I’d like to do a compilation of the shots and see how my lighting skills have improved.
Posted in: 101in1001, Inspiration, Personal, Project365
January 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Victoria
Gingerbread Dunny Xmas tree decoration
I’m not looking forward to taking down the xmas tree. Ours is decorated with dunnys, pez, and orgami. Usually they live on the book shelves, but over christmas they came into their own on the tree. So far, my project 365 has focused on the these little guys, but I don’t know if I could take one for every day of the year. Time will tell I guess, at least I’m getting the camera out. Today I got to play around with the 550ex some more. This shot might have looked more warm if done with a tripod and a longer exposure. I’m happy though, because I managed to keep some of the bokeh while using the flash.
Posted in: 101in1001, Learning, Personal, Photography, Project365
January 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Victoria
Yako is not impressed
I’m hoping for third time lucky. The first time I attempted project 365 I managed to get through about half way, the second never took off properly. Since then I’ve gotten a new small camera and some more lenses to play with. I’m first going to just try and get into the habit of taking a photo everyday without worrying too much about the quality. I hope that eventually, it will give me a chance to start tackling those photography techniques that I have avoided because of lack of knowledge.
Posted in: 101in1001, Personal, Photography, Project365
September 15th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Victoria
I went for an evening photo walk with some friends this evening. We’re planning to put together a piece for a photography/multimedia exhibition over the coming months. It’s early days, but it’s great to be thinking creative. There’s something very motivational about working in a group. The ability to bounce about ideas, get some feedback on your work and learn little tips and tricks is fantastic. I’ll be able to use all that precious knowledge and file it away to inspire me in the future. I always find that getting started is the toughest. Once you start, be it taking photos, drawing, or even writing, you remember why you loved it in the first place. It’s been a bit like that with my attempt at NaBloPoMo this month. Now that I’m thinking about writing up my thesis, I’m finding a good flow. Writing has started to come easier. I’ve just learned that I should start, or at least think about starting a blog post early in the day. When it comes to the time where usually I’d be sitting watching some evening telly, I can whip out the laptop and blog away. Well, anyways, I think we’ll be out and about Sunday morning early. This time to catching the rising sun instead of the setting one.
Posted in: NaBloPoMo, Personal, Photography
September 14th, 2009 / 1 Comment » / by Victoria
I’m going to bake some new cupcakes.
Posted in: 101in1001, NaBloPoMo, Personal
September 13th, 2009 / 1 Comment » / by Victoria
The lads are flying through their nuts and seeds. In the image above, you can just see the peanut dispenser. I also have a 500ml bottle that is filled with a mixed seeds. Now that all the lads have figured out how to use the bottle they are flying through the stuff. At a 500ml bottle a day, I’ve run out of my big bucket of seeds. I don’t know where to buy them cheap enough in Dublin, but I don’t want to interrupt their feeding routine. Anyone know how I can get them to slow down? Or where you can buy large quantities of seeds that are relatively cheap?
Posted in: NaBloPoMo, Personal
September 12th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Victoria
Fashionings.com have likened this Fleet Ilya handbag to something medieval. While it does distract from the otherwise potato sack jumpsuit, I wouldn’t call it just medieval. I see more of a steam punk influence to this. What caught my attention was the wearer. If Rihanna can appear in New York wearing something decidly steam punk, does that mean that other items are going to be brough into the main-stream? I for one would love to see kids wearing goggles, strapping their elbows with elaborate pads, and bringing back spatts.
[Images via Fashionising.com]
Posted in: 101in1001, NaBloPoMo, Personal
September 9th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Victoria
If you’ve spent more than a couple of days using the Internet as a communication medium, chances are you’ve used an emoticon. One of these :) or maybe a more old-school :-) Email originated around 1965 when people who shared the same computer terminal needed to leave messages for the next person that would be using the same machine. Over the next 10 years computer to computer and email over a network came in to play. Followed closely by mailing lists, usenet, message boards, and instant chat. It wasn’t until around 1979 that the first emoticon came into play -) which represented ‘tongue in cheek’. Some people even used :-) as ‘tongue in cheek’ where the colon represented teeth. It’s strange really, because when I look at :-) I can only see a little smiley face. The teeth, tongue, and cheek are much more obscure. Surprisingly it took several years for the paradigm to shift to a smiley. What spurred on this change were the flame wars. These arguments were regularly being triggered in message boards by people misunderstanding another users intentions.
A while back, when I joined twitter, I found myself quickly throwing in a :) or a :( to qualify my intentions. Sometimes I want to make sure that someone knows that I am making a joke and not being rude. More and more however, I can’t help but go back and remove the smiley and rephrase. I’ve started to feel like smilies are somehow an extension of geek speek and therefore something to be avoided. Good grammer and a clear argument are key to getting your point across. Of course, they always were, but with 140 characthers it seemed pretty difficult. I guess that over time, I’ve learned how to formulate more short and concise thoughts. I can’t imagine discarding the :) or the :( but I have noticed that I am slowly editing them out of my online vocabulary.
Posted in: 101in1001, Learning, NaBloPoMo, Personal
