Paris

So  it's been a while since I've posted... but now I have something to post about - I went to Paris!
My boyfriend and I went for 5 days, and even though the weather wasn't amazing, it was still better than England. This summer has been rubbish so far! For a lot of the time we were away, we just wandered around all the streets exploring, but we also went to some touristy places. We went to and up the Eiffel Tower (to the top!) which was a looong wait (4 hours!) but we kind of had to - you can't go to Paris and not go up the Eiffel Tower. And it was a good view once we got up there - the sun even came out (although it did rain while we were queuing).

We also went on a river cruise which was very posh with a sit-down meal. We got to see a lot of the city from the boat, and the food was good (although Ben thought the portions were too small - they were fine for me!)

We also went to the Catacombs which were tunnels underground with lots of skulls and bones - it was dark and not good if you're claustrophobic, but luckily I'm not. It was pretty cool getting so see these bones up so close, and there were so many! However I got told off for using flash - whoops :/
There was a fence on a bridge going over the river, that was covered in locks, and people had written their names on the locks and attached them to the fence. I thought this was pretty cute, and there were a lot of locks!

That's about all of note to say - now I'm back to my usual Tesco work, Ph2o work experience and general stuff. Here's a few photos I took :) :

The locks on the bridge

The Eiffel Tower! And Ben sitting in front of it.

Rolls and dessert from our meal on the cruise - far too small a dessert for Ben!

The Catacombs

I have also done my first engagement shoot for a couple of friends of mine just before I went away, but I don't want to post those photos until they're completely ready and have been given to the couple :)

Update #2

I've had another very busy week - I'm so much busier now after having finished uni for summer, which doesn't really make sense at all! However, I have got a part time job, and I'm doing work experience about 3 days a week, and I have my photography course to do as well, so it really takes up a lot of my time.

There isn't a whole lot to report - my job doesn't provide anything of interest to talk about, and I haven't been doing much new in my work experience at Ph2o photography studios. I have been doing lots of Photoshop editing for prints or discs to be given to clients. Last week I went to a children's festival to help promote Ph2o, with a stand displaying examples of their work and going round asking people if they would like to participate in a prize draw (and therefore gaining leads). I also photographed the festival along with the MD Mat.

The Co-op's Charity of the Year - this is Ella, the demonstration dog at the festival for Canine Partners.

Ph2o is within the Quadrant, which is a Co-op, so we are linked with the charity too.

Update

Hi! Not much has happened over the past week, and yet I've been so busy! I haven't really had a lot to post about.
I've now done 3 days at my Ph2o photography work experience, and so far it's going pretty well. I have been taught how to edit photos their way for clients, and I've done a few myself to be printed and handed to clients, which is pretty cool. One of the things they do at the studio is edit different photos together onto one background to present to clients (a 'mix'), and I decided to give it a go with some of my own photos:

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, as I had limited photos with plain studio backgrounds to work with (most of my work is location or with the darker, moody studio lighting). I want to take more studio shots now to do more of these, but I now have no access to a studio over summer as college is closed :( I really wish I had my own!

Apart from work experience, I've had a couple of models-to-be asking if I'll do a TF shoot with them to build their portfolios, which is a compliment I think. I've only ever done TF shoots before, and models I've asked have agreed to do them for me, so I'm happy to do the same now others are asking me.
My cousin has asked me to do her wedding for her next year, which I'm pretty nervous but also excited about - I have a whole year to prepare, but at the same time I don't want to let her down! Hopefully I'll be able to do work shadowing of a wedding or more this year to get a better idea before I do it myself. My work experience boss was a wedding photographer for many years, and he can give me advice as well as a contact that does hundreds of weddings, so I'm hoping I can call him and shadow his weddings every now and then.

Well I think that's everything for now! :)

Work experience!

So for my course, during my second year I'm expected to find and do some work experience. So, I decided to try and get some work experience over summer to have a bit of a better idea of what I'll be doing when my second year starts.

I have just started a work placement at Ph2o photography studio in Chelmsford - I'd emailed loads of photography places as well as fashion places, but it had been ages with no reply. Then I got a response from the managing director of Ph2o, agreeing to an interview. It's a pretty small place, but it doesn't really need loads of people to keep it running, and it also means I get to see all sides to the business, since it's pretty much one guy that does almost everything (at the Chelmsford one, anyway). I've only just had my first day, so most of it was just watching and learning, but I've been told that soon I'll be editing the photos to present to clients and I'll be allowed to just play about in the studio experimenting when there's nothing else I have to be doing, so I'm pretty excited, especially about editing work for real paying clients!

It's a really small place so I don't expect to get offered a job with them later on, but there's always a chance I guess - and the managing director said that he shouldn't really be editing the photos himself anymore, he should be training someone up to do them for him.. so I'm hoping there could be a slight chance there??

Anyway, I have waffled a lot, and I don't have an image to go with the post, so this probably looks like a boring wall of text... sorry! :)

Beauty shoot

The other day I had my first ever beauty photoshoot, so I was a bit nervous but it turned out OK :) I used the same model as for my last photoshoot in the studio, Beth Chambers, but this time I also had an MUA and hair stylist, Louise Hall. Apart from one of the lights stopping working half way through, it went pretty smoothly :)
Beth also wanted some full body lingerie photos for her portfolio, so we did some of those too.
I think this is the last time I'll be able to use a studio until I go back to uni in September.

Necklace

The last post about my Accessorize nail varnishes reminded me about my Accessorize necklace that I wear all the time, and thought I'd post about it :)
I really love this necklace, and I have had it a while now but I do wear it a lot! I like how much detail has gone into the small pendant pieces, and although I'm more of a silver person for jewellery than gold, this is an exception. I like the tourist theme, with the little camera, binoculars and dice, and there's even a little gold plane on the catch. I especially like the camera, what with my interest in photography :)

I think I have a bit of an obsession with Accessorize! Although I don't shop there often due to lack of money, I really like their products, particularly necklaces and bags. Although they're not particularly cheap, they're really pretty and good quality - I haven't had any problems with any bags I've bought from there, and some are years old.

Accessorize nail varnishes

I bought these nail varnishes a couple of months ago so they aren't brand new, but I just thought I'd just do a quick post about them because I really love the colours, and they last really well. I would recommend them! I just love the range of interesting colours Accessorize offer, and also I really like the bottle design with the little butterfly (I love butterflies on everything!) These were £4 each. Unfortunately I haven't taken a photo of what they looked like on when I've worn them in the past, but I'll try to remember to put a photo up next time I use them!

The red one goes a yellowy colour in certain lights, and the purple one goes greeny in certain lights - that's why I chose these colours, because I liked how they looked different in different lights.