The Finale (but not really)

Evening Surfers!

I'm back for the new year! Sorry about the lack of posts but I started a new job and suddenly became insanely busy!! New years resolution: actually write my blog...

So we're going back a few months to July for this post; it was the final class of my photography course and we all headed over to the beautiful riverside village of Henley-on-Thames to try out some street photography. Below is just a quick shot of the main square; Henley really is the epitome of the quaint, English village, and it is quite an affluent area: riverside getaways, private boats and beautiful wrought iron gates; all of which made for some pretty interesting pictures.

A pretty little cafe which was reminiscent of Paris.

Our main aim for this final class was to put all of our new skills into practice using the village as our setting. Our teacher, Rich, told us to keep an eye out for interesting reflections in shop windows, similar to what I was taught on the Topshop workshop. I loved this vintage flower display with the old tudor building tucked into the background, its a little like seeing Henley as it was when it was first built. It's amazing how such a simple technique can create an insight into the history of a place.

a 'lil bit of old meets new.

Our wandering took us down to the Thames River where we found a striking statue of a woman which stood looking out across the water. It was hard work trying to get a decent picture as the lighting was terrible but I think they turned out quite well.

Wouldn't be complete without a coloursplash photo

Exploring the village with all of my class mates was a really great adventure; we ended the trip with a coffee and an email exchange. The classes themselves were a fantastic way to learn more about my camera and the techniques which made me a better, more thoughtful photographer.

I'll hopefully be back soon with another post.

Love Lily

Impromptu Oxford Adventure (One Year Blogiversary!)

Hey Surfers!

So I have now officially been blogging for one whole year! *cough missed two months cough*
I know my posts aren't as regular as I would like but I am proud to have kept this blog going for as long as I have :) and thanks to all those who have been with me from the start.

Today I'm going to be sharing with you some pictures from my first trip to Oxford. One of my best friends from University moved out there and after a few early morning text messages I decided to hop on a train so we could meet up and explore.

One of the Oxford Colleges

 After a Starbucks pitstop my friend had to go find one of our party who had gotten lost on the way into the city. I stayed behind and  took the opportunity to take some pictures of the near by Oxford University college; I believe this was the History building.

I wanted to try my hand at a bit of street photography and took this picture with the selective colour function on my camera.

After a little while I left my friends to watch the Rugby and decided to have an explore of the city. I finally found a part of the University which was open to the public and got some great shots.

I relied a bit too heavily on the black and white function on my camera for a few of these pictures but they didn't seem to have the same level of impact in colour.

Saying that, I did actually shoot this picture in black and white originally but it looked quite morbid so I switched to colour and made sure to get the flowers in the picture. It came out just as I wanted, though all these signs of spring mean one thing for me: hayfever season XD

Some heavy photoshopping went on here

After a long wander the weather started to turn and I decided to head home. I definitely want to return to Oxford some time soon and have a better look around.

I'm actually planning to start attending a photography course with a fellow blogger in the next month or so, which I hoping not only improves my skill set, but also means much more frequent posts!

I'll see you soon, 

Love E

x

Night Owl

Hey Surfers,

Today's post is going to be a short one as I am feeling slightly under the weather. I didn't really know what I wanted to shoot this week but, as I had a long nap during the day, I found myself wide awake at about 12 am...so I took my camera into the garden and had a play about with some slow exposure photographs.

As far as concepts go I didn't really have one, but I did have some fun experimenting with light and darkness. Hopefully next time these pictures will have improved. :)

I like the way this one looks like a little creature returning home.

Can we say light pollution :P

I used the torch on my phone to illuminate the foreground and also for the light painting. It wasn't nearly as straight forward as I had initially thought...

 These "escaping genie" pictures are my favourite. I had to be a bit creative to get enough light in the image. After drawing the line of the genie I had to put my hand over the torch, then just before the camera finished capturing the light, I'd flash the torch over the whole scene so that the tea pot would be visible.I had to take the picture quite a few times to get the result I wanted.

Taking these pictures was a lot of fun, but you do need to have patience. I'm hoping to try again soon when I have thought of an interesting concept.

Thanks for reading. You can now follow this blog on Bloglovin, just type in Lit-Lilyx :)

Make sure to check out this new blog: Memoirs of a Philistine! It's a refreshingly witty take on the arts, link at the top of the page :)

Love E

She wouldn't stay still...