Invitation to Exhibition

Some of you might already know - as part of finishing my course, we’re having an exhibition at the beginning of June, our final show. If you’re in London I hope you can make it - I’d love to see you there!
Below are the details:

Private View: Thursday 5th June 2014, 6-9 pm

Exhibition open: 2nd – 7th June 2014, 10am - 5pm (except for 7th June 10am - 4pm and late night opening on 3rd June)

Location: London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle, London, SE1 6SB

You can see a sneak preview of our work right here.
There will also be other courses exhibiting during the same time, e.g. BA Photography.

Brainstorm with me

I’m back. Thank you all so much for your patience, and most of all for your kind words, tips, and encouragement! It really means a lot, and I appreciate all of your support!!

Now, I’ve also had a bit of time to think about where I’m taking this blog and where my life is going in general. I’m about to graduate, and have got lots of thoughts and ideas on what to do next. I want to share some of those ideas with you today, and would love to hear your thoughts.

While I love photography, I’ve been interested in psychology for a long time now. The more time passes, the more I seem to be drawn towards topics like psychology in business, perception, branding, body language, marketing, presentation, the subconscious mind. I love understanding how the human mind works, and applying this knowledge to creative business situations. I love presenting something in a meaningful way, analysing situations and people, and thinking on a deeper/subconscious level.
I’ve been taking a lot of branding, presentation and body language courses over the last couple of years, and have watched many videos about the human mind, and how our subconsciousness works and influences situations.
I can’t quite find a general or summarising word for all these things, and haven’t managed to bring it all together yet. I would love to work in this area, and have just been brainstorming ways of how to put it into words and make it more tangible.

I also want to quickly talk about personality types, which relates to what I just mentioned as well. There are loads of personality tests out there, and I believe that most of them provide interesting insights. I wouldn’t call any of them ‘the one and only’ personality test, I think they all have downsides and benefits, but I believe that combined they can give you a pretty good picture of yourself. Let’s quickly talk about the Myers Briggs Test: I’m an ENFP. You can read more about it here and here. If you want to take the test, I’d love to hear what your type is as well.
ENFPs have a hard time focusing - I can tell you that ;) We love coming up with ideas, get all enthusiastic and excited about a project until the next one comes up. And the next one. And so on. While I think I managed pretty well to keep this blog focused on photography, there have been A LOT of ideas coming and going in my head over the years.
I’m mentioning this, because apart from my interest in psychology which I talked about before, I’ve been considering going deeper into food photography and making a baking book. This idea’s been floating around in my head for a long time now as well, but I’ve pushed it away every now and then when new new ideas came up. And then there’s another big idea I’ve got, based around NGOs and business. Well, more on that some other time.

I thought I’d share my what’s going on inside of my mind - I want to be completely open and honest with you, and of course I’m hoping to hear your thoughts and insights as well. Let’s have fun and do some brainstorming. :)

Change

I came across the following quote on Pinterest yesterday, and felt like it was speaking to me:

“Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be.”
I want to talk a bit about change today - which is what this quote is all about for me.

As much as I would like to think of myself as someone who embraces change, I’m surely not accepting change easily. I get used to things being a certain way and I get comfortable. In my head I always know that change means opportunity, growth, and new beginnings, and that I should be open towards it - approaching it with positivity. Still, I’m not quite there yet, and change can be hard for me.
At the moment I’m going through some personal changes in my life, and I feel like there are a few more changes to come over the next few months. It’s scary and it can be hard to accept. And I think that is the case no matter what kind of change you’re going through.
I do think the quote above speaks a lot of truth, yet I find it hard to really accept and live accordingly. I think mindfulness relates to this topic in many ways - trying to be present, and enjoying the moment. It’s such a great concept, but so hard to live by.
I believe a lot of it is also about whether we make a conscious choice to make a change, or whether we are being ‘forced’ into it. But either way, the challenge is to deal with it and accept it.
Apart from personal changes, I also want to change a few things around here. I feel that I need some time to think things through and will take a week or so off blogging. Maybe even a bit longer if I feel like it. Sometimes you need a break to deal with change ;)
You see, I’m definitely not there yet - I have a hard time accepting what is, and moving forward. Have you gone through change recently, or have made any deliberate changes (not matter whether personal or work related or anything else)? I honestly would love to hear your thoughts on it, and please do share any tips you have for dealing with change in a healthy way.

P.S. While I’m gone, I have a few suggestions for you to work on: are you using your camera in manual mode yet? If not, why not give it try? Play around with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I promise taking your camera off automatic will make a huge change to your photos.

P.P.S. My friend Emma is sharing a little bit about me and my work in one of her regular blog features. If you’re interested in being part of this feature as well, do drop her an email.

P.P.P.S. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway. :)

Discussion: capturing the beauty of a moment?

Image via Instagram

The other day I read an article in a magazine about enjoying a moment just by yourself, for yourself. The article was encouraging us to see something beautiful with our own eyes more often, not through the viewfinder of a camera. It can be so easy to get sucked into the urge to document everything - an amazing moment you don’t want to forget or really want to share with your Instagram community. But how much do we really enjoy that moment when we always feel the need to capture everything?

I certainly feel this inner conflict of just wanting to be fully there without any distractions, and feeling the need and desire to document the beauty - all the time to be honest.
So when I went for a walk the other day I told myself not to take any photos - but I still ended up taking some. And while I was starting to feel ‘guilty’, I realised that actually it felt freeing to allow myself to capture the moment. I’m a photographer - it’s something I just can’t always resist. Sometimes it helps me to see the beauty of something even more and to really observe and engage with it.

So my take on this is to try to enjoy moments without a camera, without the need to share every single situation, but to allow myself to document a moment when I just can’t hold back that urge. Not to think about it too much, but go with what feels right in that specific moment and relax.

What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear, and open up a discussion - I’m sure it’s something that we all can relate to.

The Photo Brunch Shoreditch / 03

Last Saturday I held my third Photo Brunch in Shoreditch - it was awesome again. I could repeat myself and tell you about how great it is to take photos with a group of like-minded people, but I already mentioned that here and here. So instead I’ll talk a bit about the weather and brunch - it was such a nice day (can you see how sunny it was in the pictures?). We had brunch at Dishoom again, since the food is so good and I really love the atmosphere there. Definitely go if you can - do book a table though, as it gets very busy.
I also really enjoyed teaching and seeing everyone pick up new skills. Seriously, everyone did so well - it was great to see Candi and Alistair, Imo, Yvonne, and Crystal starting to understand their cameras and getting their head around exposure. Even just seeing them having fun was fun!
I also met Crystal for the second time after having a one-on-one session with her a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely getting to know her a bit better!
And being in Shoreditch was a great experience as usual, I feel like I've never really noticed how many different areas there are within Shoreditch alone - we moved from lovely, quiet streets into the more arty and busy area around Brick Lane, and ended up somewhere that made you feel like you were back in old London a few decades ago.

By the way, I’m handing in my business plan today. I’m applying for funding for the Photo Brunch, so I can grow the business and offer more value to you in a few different ways. I’m excited to share more with you on this soon.

I’ve set up the next Photo Brunch for 18 May - it’s a Sunday because I want to take you to Notting Hill (and a Saturday around there would be way too busy to teach). You can book your place right here if you want to take your photography to the next level and get some pretty pictures. I hope you’ll join. :)

What have you been up to over the weekend?

4 Practical Mindfulness Tips for Photographers

As a follow-up from Tuesday's post, I thought it would be great to share some specific tips on how to apply mindfulness to your photography work. I truly believe that working mindfully creates stronger photos, and can help you to have more fun while taking photos.

Here’s how you can apply mindfulness to your photography:

1. Be all there when you’re taking photos. Completely focus on what you are photographing, what you are trying to say, and what your story is. Engage with your subject, and forget about everything else. Most of the time this happens naturally when you love what you’re taking photos of. Which takes me to my second point…

2. Take photos that you enjoy creating. Don’t worry about what you’re supposed to take photos of, or what you think others will like. Just go with your gut and trust your feelings. Have fun taking photos.

3. Take your time. Don’t rush taking your photos - no matter whether you’re just photographing some flowers, or are working on a story over a few days. Don’t let people walking past irritate you for example. Just do your thing and concentrate on it.

4. Take someone with you who’s just as passionate about photography as you are. It’s so much more fun going out and shooting with someone you can relate to, someone who you can talk to about photography, and even other topics you share an interest in. You’ll also feel more comfortable taking photos - that’s why the Photo Brunch is so great. You get to meet like-minded people, share your thoughts on photography, and explore London together - taking photos will feel more comfortable and natural, and you get to take your time.
There’s one spot left if you want to come along on 29 March.

What are your thoughts on mindfulness, especially when applying it to photography? Do you have any tips to add?

Guest Post - Mindfulness Tips

I’m very happy to have Katie here today to share some insights on mindfulness with us. 

I might have mentioned before that I’m trying to simplify my life, be more present, and appreciate the small things in life. At the moment I’ve got lots of stuff going on, both personal and work related, so Katie’s mindfulness tips come just at the right time. I hope that you can relate as well - please do share in the comments below if there’s something in particular that resonated with you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Katie:

This year, one of my goals is to become more mindful. To help me to focus my thoughts and take more notice of my life as it happens. It’s so easy to dwell on the past or on the unknown future when we should take more time just to acknowledge and enjoy our lives as they happen.

To help me on my journey, I started doing a mindfulness programme, as just sitting about thinking ‘I should really stop overthinking things’ isn’t very helpful. The mindfulness programme I'm following is a book and audiobook that feature a series of guided meditations. Each day you're given a number of tasks to help you tune in to your body and your environment, and that help you to see or think a bit more clearly. Most exercises focus on breathing, but there are also other tasks that focus on movement, and others that are about changing the way you see your regular activities.

I’m only halfway through an eight week programme, but have already been feeling the benefits.
When I started, my husband made fun of me a little for being a hippie “off to meditate” but as we’re in the middle of house buying, using mindfulness to help manage stress has been really important for me, and even when we’ve had setbacks, I’ve been feeling pretty calm and generally maintained positive thinking.

I’m obviously still learning every day as I do this, and I can't say that I'm now completely zen and one with the world, but so far the things that stand out to me are:

-Every time you do mindfulness exercise, it will be different - and it’ll get harder before it gets easier. When I started, it was fresh and new and exciting, but after time, there were definitely some days where I had to force myself to do it because I just wasn't in the mood. But those days were when the practice made the most difference. So do make yourself do it.

- Mindful walking is amazing! I usually walk around with my iPod on, but every few days I have started leaving the music at the office and focus instead on sounds - all sounds - of birds, of cars, of people walking, and taking time to smell the air and feel the wind. It’s so refreshing - even 10-15 minutes makes me feel more awake and present. When I come back from a mindful walk during lunch, I actually feel as though I'm starting a brand new day.

- If you’re having trouble focusing on your breathing, choose two words to focus on as you do it. Say one (in your mind) as you breathe in and one as you breathe out. This was really helpful to me when I first started, as it gave my head something to concentrate on and helped to stop my mind from wandering again and again.

It can be hard to find the time to actually do some mindfulness exercises every day. But it makes such a huge difference, so I’d say it’s definitely worth making the time. And now I find that I’m actually excited to do it.

Have you ever taken up a mindfulness programme? How did you find it? What do you do to integrate it into your life?

VSCO Grid

Just a quick post today to share with you my newly created profile on VSCO Grid. I made a selection of some of my favourite photos taken on my phone, so you might have seen these pictures on Instagram before.
I love using grid type platforms, such as Instagram, Pinterest, and VSCO Grid - apart from being able to find so much inspiration and seeing everyone’s talent, it’s such a great way to craft a portfolio. I think making a tight selection, choosing only your best photos, and combining them in a way that works well, really helps to develop a sense of colour, composition, and layout in general. Something that’s really important when it comes to creating an actual portfolio - I’ll talk about that soon in more detail, when I’ll launch my new portfolio.
Have you got a profile on VSCO Grid? I’d love to take a look!

February on Instagram

I haven’t shared my monthly Instagram pictures for quite a while, so I thought I’d get back into it this month. February has been busy, but fun. It’s really starting to feel like spring now, we’ve had lots of sunny days here recently, it’s so nice!

1. I held my second Photo Brunch in Covent Garden. Again, it was great and I really enjoyed sharing advice, helping everyone out with their photography, and getting to know them over coffee/tea. The next Photo Brunch is open for booking now as well - it will be on 29 March.

2. + 5. I obviously really like those flowers. And they go well with my new notebook - spring always puts me in the mood for red, pink, white, and lots of pastels…

3. Elephant & Castle in the late afternoon before the sun went down. I love this view, especially on a sunny day.

4. Documenting the circus has been lots of fun - great colours and light. It’s so exciting to see what’s going on behind the scenes, it almost feels surreal. It’s like being in a different world when you’re there as ‘part’ of the circus. I couldn’t live and work in the circus though - going back into ‘real’ life feels good after spending lots of time there. I’ll share more about this project soon.

6. I got to be part of a food photography shoot for the Sunday Times Magazine, which has been a great experience. Read more about it here.

So, this has been February. Now that I'm consciously looking back at the month again, I feel like 'man, time goes by way too fast'. I always felt like this when I last did my monthly Instagram series.

What have you been up to this month?

Now & Then

A while ago Hanna invited me to play along in a fun series called Now & Then - it's basically a way to get to know each other better online, and to share some fun facts about what life was like back then. I loved reading Hanna's answers, so here are mine...

Now (2014, age 23) & Then (2006-2008, age 16-18):

READ

NOW: Harry Potter, The $100 Start-up, Contagious, Branding Yourself, Isabel Allende, Rafik Schami

THEN: Harry Potter, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

WATCH

NOW: Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, New Girl, Forrest Gump, The Help, Breakfast at Tiffany's
THEN: Pretty Woman, Harry Potter, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Sex and the City

LISTEN

NOW: Lorde, Adele, The XX, Lana del Rey, Chase & Status, Lykke Li, Two Door Cinema Club, Macklemore, Marina & the Diamonds, Phoenix, Lianna La Havas
THEN: Kanye West, Chase & Status, System of a Down, Lil Wayne, T.I.

ATTITUDE

NOW: seize the day, simplify life, ambitious, pro-active
THEN: ambitious, believing, big dreams, have to look good

DREAMS

NOW: run a branding business, travel, live a simple life
THEN: work as a photojournalist (preferably for National Geographic), change the world

LEISURE

NOW: yoga, running, eating & drinking tea, baking, painting, church, learning/reading/taking courses

THEN: running, painting, dancing

I'd love to read Carrie's, Ana's and Marta's Now's & Then's - I hope you're up for it :)

The Photo Brunch Covent Garden / 02

Last Saturday I held my second Photo Brunch workshop in Covent Garden (click here to read about the first one in Shoreditch). It was loads of fun, I really enjoy being around a group of like-minded people which all share an interest in photography, and at the same time work in different creative areas.
We (Emma - who was there last time, Karen, another Karen, and Alexandra) had a chance to chat over brunch when we first met at Notes, before we headed out into Covent Garden. It was great having a variety of people come along, all at different stages in their photography. I shared some advice on composition with Emma, and helped Karen out with her camera settings.
We came past the greatest, probably most colourful and fun backyard in Covent Garden - Neal’s Yard (see below). I remember being there once before, but this time I actually got to take it all in. When you’re with a camera you really notice all the details. I think I could have photographed that space forever. It felt like so much positive energy on a rainy day. Definitely go when you’re in London.
After a while the rain and wind came back, and we decided to warm up in another coffee shop. It was lovely to sit and chat, and getting to know each other better.
Thank you guys so much for coming along, you made it heaps of fun! :)

If you want to get practical, customised help to improve your photos as well, let me know (via email, Twitter, or in the comments), and I will find a date that works for everyone.

Want to swap skills, collaborate, or guest post?

I’ve been thinking a lot about collaborations lately and working with others, and the power that comes with it. I believe that collaborations can open up so many new opportunities, they create relationships, and bring fresh ideas with them.
So, I've decided I want to do it. If you’re interested in collaborating, including guest posting, shoot me an email.
I’d love to hear your ideas, and will consider all kinds of suggestions. It doesn’t necessarily have to be photography related, it could be anything going through your mind right now. Your thoughts and talents are all welcome. Just let me know why you want to work with me or guest post, what idea you’ve got in mind, and how you can contribute value to the collaboration.

Also, I always love learning new things. If you’re the same and you’ve got a different skillset to mine (pretty sure you do), let’s ‘swap skills’. I’m thinking of sharing each other’s knowledge, maybe coming together once a week or once a month, and basically teaching each other.
There are a few things I’m good at, the most obvious one is photography (but I'd happily talk you through some other skills I could swap). So let me know if you’re up for it, and what you’ve got to offer :) This idea probably works best if you’re in London as well, but I’m still open to your ideas even if you’re based somewhere else.

If you’re not so much into any of the above ideas, but still have thoughts on what you’d like to see around here, do let me know as well. Excited to hear from you!

Update on current projects

So, a while ago I told you I was working on a project documenting creative business owners as part of my final major project. Well, I started working on it (the pictures in this post are from a cafe I photographed in relation to the idea), then for whatever reason got a bit bored and lost interest in it, just not feeling the passion anymore. SoI started brainstorming new ideas, and put this specific project aside for now.
I just wanted to tell you, since some of you have been really helpful in coming up with ideas, suggesting businesses, and putting me in touch with people. Thank you! I really appreciate your help!
Now I’m focusing on a couple of different projects (and got a third one in mind which I’m not quite ready to talk about yet):
1. Documenting a farm in Iceland
2. Documenting a circus

Both projects have taken a while to come together, but everything is going really well now and I’m making progress. So I’m really looking forward to sharing more with you on those soonish.

While I’m at it, I might as well let you know that I’ve been very inspired by fashion related and more abstract photography & art recently, so I’m hoping to get some personal projects in this direction going at the same time. If you’re up for some modeling, or are working as a stylist or hair and makeup artist, please get in touch.

Liebster Award

Laura from Little Travel Bee nominated me for the Liebster Award, so this post will be a bit more personal - keep reading if you want to get to know me better.
Thank you so much for nominating me, Laura!

The Liebster Award is a blogger award, it is a way for bloggers to promote some of their favourite bloggers (with under 200 followers). When you receive a nomination you can pass it on to your favourite bloggers. 'Liebster' is German for beloved, dearest or favourite.

So the rules are:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the 10 questions given to you by the nominator.
3. Nominate other bloggers for the award that have fewer than 200 followers.
4. Create 10 questions (or less) for your nominees to answer.
5. Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.

Here are Laura’s questions and my answers:

1. Why did you decide to start your blog?
I’ve actually had 3 other blogs before starting this one - initially I started blogging just because I wanted to gather some inspiration, and because I had been reading inspirational blogs for a while and wanted to do what those people were doing.
Once I set up my photography portfolio I wanted a blog to go with it, partly to build credibility and also to have an online presence so that I could build relationships.

2. What has been the best piece of advice you have been given about blogging?
I listened to a podcast with Jeff Goins the other day, and he pointed out that it’s important to keep doing your best work and be persistent.
There’s always another mountain to climb, and when you think you’ve finally reached your goal you can still go way higher - so you have to love the work you do and you need to be able to continue to do it. You’ll only find your right audience if you create work from a place of deep passion.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, money no object, where would you go?
Ha, almost anywhere would be cool. Who doesn’t want to travel the world? There are four places on my ‘travel wishlist’ at the moment: Iceland (will share a bit more about my plans regarding this soon), Bhutan, the States, and Morocco. I’ve actually been thinking about trading my photography skills, like this guy, so we’ll see where everything goes :)

4. What has been your favourite holiday/trip?

Spending 7 months in New Zealand and Australia was awesome. I loved travelling on my own and meeting new people along the way, feeling free and independent, and having to manage to survive on my own pretty much (although my parents did support me, and I’m very grateful for that!). It was a great time to explore, work random jobs, such as kiwi fruit thinning (picking the ‘bad fruits’ at an early stage so the ‘good’ ones could grow better), blueberry picking (was probably the worst paid job I ever had, but my friends made it a lot of fun and the blueberries tasted amazing), and working at the cookie shop (pretty cool and yummy as well). Now I actually regret not staying longer. But, well, I was homesick.

5. If you could only eat one type of cuisine ever again what would it be?
I was just thinking of something kind of ‘neutral’, and Italian came to my mind. As much as I love all types of food, I probably couldn’t eat Indian a few days in a row. So Italian seems to be the answer to this one, pretending all the carbs didn’t exist ;) (And it should include pancakes and waffles, too).

6. Which country/city do you think is best for shopping?
London.

7. Which photograph that you have taken are you most proud of?
I love the photo I took of Lady Gaga during my first year at uni. It was at the ITV Studios, and it felt very Paparazzi-like. But I’m still really proud of it, and it always gets people’s attention when I mention it.

8. What is the best hotel you have ever stayed in/visited?
I haven’t stayed in many hotels yet, the last few times I travelled we always stayed at AirBnB apartments. Our Rome Apartment was lovely, very arty, and Rome was great as well!

9.When you go on holiday what do you always have to bring with you?
Just the basics really. No particular item. Clothes, shoes, basic cosmetics, … Maybe lip balm would be ‘the one thing I definitely have to bring’. Did I forget anything really important? I’d love to hear everyone’s answer to this one (feel free to share in the comments).

10. What are your travel plans for 2014?
As I said above, definitely Iceland - and then we’ll see how much money I’ve got left ;)

So, here are my nominations:

Siobhan
Hanna
Giulia
Jo
Kate
Charlotte

And these are my questions for you:

1. What are you really really good at?
2. Where do you see yourself in 50 years?
3. What is your biggest problem/challenge when it comes to blogging?
4. What do you value the most in life? (There’s a cool trick to figure out your true core values: imagine you’re being sent to an island, and you can pick 5 people to go with you - assuming your family and close friends are already there. Who would you chose? And why? What is it that makes you want them to be there? These are your core values.)
5. What do you feel is your true identity? I.e. what do you think you’re really supposed to do in life, what is your dream/true talent?
6. If you were a character from a movie or a different world (e.g. from Space), who or what would you be, and what would your story be?
7. What did you do and play as a child?
8. What does a normal day in your life look like?

Really looking forward to reading all your answers - I hope you’re up for it! :)

P.S. You've got till Sunday to enter the Giveaway, if you want the chance to win a one-on-one Skype session with me, or come along to the Photo Brunch:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Space Party

I’m on work placement at the Sunday Times Magazine for the next couple of weeks, so I prepared some posts which I’ve been meaning to get out there for a while. Today I’ve got some photos to show you from our New Year’s Eve Space Party.
It was so much fun, especially going crazy on the 'dance floor'. I also loved preparing and getting everything ready, really focusing on the details. Luckily Louis wanted it to be just as perfect as me, bought a whole roll of fabric from the market to put up in our living room, borrowed a smoke machine, got a laser, more lights, loads of drinks, and created the playlist (you can listen to part of it here).
I created a secret Pinterest board for inspiration, wrote invitations (sadly don’t have any pictures of them), made lots of food, and was obsessed with my outfit and ‘character’ and coming up with a name and story around it.
I even downloaded the Google Sky Map app (which is pretty cool!), which helped me to come up with my name - Vindemiatrix from planet Alphekka ;) Louis was called Unukalhai (forgot the planet's name).

P.S. Of course we had a lot more people show up than the ones in the photos - but you know, I like things to look good, so these ones are definitely the most spacey looking ones ;)

PPS. Have you entered the giveaway yet?