I Live Here (a brief)

 University life is still chugging along, though I feel like I am being left behind and not progressing the way I imagined I would. That's probably partly my own fault, as I imagined that after taking a photography course I'd immediately be able to take amazing photos like the ones I spend hours looking at on Flickr. Obviously that is not the case.

But also the course is very commercial, and geared towards people who want to become commercial photographers. There's very little scope for experimenting in the way I want to, so I feel a bit like the odd one out. Luckily I have made a few amazing friends on the course who feel the same as me, and who have similar interests as me in terms of the type of photography we want to be doing, so I don't feel too isolated.

This turned into a bit of a moping session! On with the show... My latest project brief was titled 'I Live Here' and the task was to take a photograph that illustrates where we live, being as creative or as literal as we liked in our interpretation of the brief. I knew I wanted to create an imaginary living space, a place from childhood, an escape or a sanctuary. So I decided to build a type of 'fort' like me and my sisters created and played in as children. My Dad was a huge help in the building stage, and together we created a wigwam using some scraps of wood, an old sheet, and some fairy lights. How very Blue Peter!

 I shot the pictures above in our living room, using my sister as my model. But there was something lacking in the images, and so I decided to reshoot the project, this time using my sister's friend as the model, and using my neighbour's front room which had more space. I experimented a lot more with different types of lighting to create different effects. (for some reason the pictures look a bit grainy and low res but they're not... apologies!)

 Using the lantern with a candle in, and having Hannah reading a book, really made the image in my opinion. I ended up submitting the photo below as my final piece.

 And finally, a little bit of cute courtesy of my pupster sidekick Jasper (or J-dog as he is known around these parts.) Whilst we were all faffing around with lights and so on this cheeky chap snuck into the wigwam and exercised his squatter's rights. Eventually he was lured out with a cuddly toy and the promise of a treat.

I just wish we could keep the wigwam up all the time, but as my parents were unwilling to sacrifice their sofa in favour of the fort it had to be demolished. When I have a place of my own I'm definitely going to build a wigwam fort. A really big one where I can sit and read and daydream about nice things.