« May 2009 »
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Entries by Topic
All topics  «
100 people
365 days
aradale
art
artists wanted: exposure
bars
blogged
book covers
books
brisbane
budapest
calendars
collaborations
commissions
death
digital post-processing
divine diptychs
dreams
eastbourne
edinburgh
england
events
exhibitions
f-stop magazine
fashion
film
gig photography
greeting cards
holga
hospitalfield
jpg magazine
life
london
melbourne
minutiae
mixed bag
mooncruise* magazine
paris
phirebrush
photographers
photography
photography books
portraits
portraiture sessions
prints
road trip 2009
road trip 2010
rosebank, nsw
saatchi showdown
self-portraiture
sepulchre
shots magazine
the big issue
the bubble
toyota travel award
travel
travels with kyle 2012
twohundredby200
vignette press
visible ink
workshops
You are not logged in. Log in
scrawl
30 May 2009
part of the furniture
Now Playing: catatonia - equally cursed and blessed
Topic: self-portraiture

untitled #12

untitled #11

untitled #21

untitled #3

untitled #2


I've been a bit frustrated of late.

I have been very inspired with self-portraiture and non-self-portraiture ideas, but for various reasons have not been happy with the shoots that have come out of my self-portraiture attempts of late.

In some instances I've chickened out of doing shoots. For example, I have a specific idea for a (respectful) shoot in the burnt out bush around St Andrews and Kinglake but was aware of how conspicuous I would have been to folk driving by the perfect location I found, and how, despite my intentions, my actions may have seemed disrespectful.

In some instances I've not found a location that suited for what I was after and decided I'd rather just have a relaxed day enjoying chilling out on the beach (Lorne and Mooloolabah).

And in other instances I've gone ahead with the shoot but not been happy with the results, despite feeling quite positive about the shoot at the time. And then I'm not sure whether this is now me expecting much more from myself, not being as easily pleased as I perhaps used to be. Case in point, the above shots aren't bad per se, they just don't rock my socks like some of the work I've done in the past 12 months, though previously perhaps I'd have been quite pleased with them. I didn't even think enough of them at the time of the shoot to bother to edit any of them until two months later, and I've now edited a few more and am posting them almost a further month later...

I think I've also become more critical of my body in the past 6 months, since losing so much weight last year, then putting a little bit of it back on in the past few months.

It's a phase, I'm sure, so I'm not letting myself become too disillusioned. And I'm trying not to push it and become further frustrated. Just focusing on other things that have looming deadlines anyway and I will come back to it later.

One of the things that has been thwarting my attempts I can at least change a little though. My "new" abode (I say "new" though I've now been in here about 6 months) is lacking in the natural light department, and even in the artificial light situation it's not ideal. Being a former commercial property the lighting is predominantly harsh fluorescent lights, which is obviously not suitable for many of the shoots I want to do. Even the light in my bedroom is one fluorescent tube and one household tungsten bulb, both running from the same switch.

So I've decided I will (with the aid of a friend with a ladder) remove the fluorescent tube and the yellow paper lampshade on the hanging bulb and seek out a suitable secondhand shade (possibly just a simple one along the lines of the ones in my last place) and increase the wattage of bulb in that socket, if necessary. At least then I will have one room in the house where I'm not forced to work with shaded lamplight or ugly fluorescent lights.

I so wish I had a proper studio though. Something with natural light, as well as the option for studio lighting, a reasonable amount of room, privacy, 24 hour access. Le sigh... Anyone know of anything available for peanuts? Cos that's about all I've got right now.

Posted by Bronwen Hyde at 14:24 BST
Updated: 3 June 2009 12:31 BST
Post Comment | View Comments (6) | Permalink | Share This Post

30 May 2009 - 17:02 BST

Name: "Jen"
Home Page: http://holgajen.blogspot.com/

I don't know why but the photos aren't showing up for me on this entry... anyways sounds like you're going through a "phase" like you mentioned - happens to us all.  Keep shooting!  :)

31 May 2009 - 02:42 BST

Name: "bronwen"
Home Page: http://www.bronwenhyde.com

thanks for the encouragement jen :o) not sure why the images aren't coming up for you, just might have taken a while to load and you just need to refresh the page?

3 June 2009 - 10:50 BST

Name: "allan"

you need to edit the page and remove width="x" height="y" from the image tags.

 Cheers,

 

Allan

3 June 2009 - 12:34 BST

Name: "bronwen"
Home Page: http://www.bronwenhyde.com

oops! thanks allan! i usually amend those to the correct dimensions but must have missed it this time. have fixed them up to the right sizes and updated. i don't know what browsers you folk are using but firefox for mac saw them fine despite the x's and y's, and other friends viewing my LJ post of this saw it fine.

3 June 2009 - 12:59 BST

Name: "allan"

HTML programing like art is interpreted differently by everyone, unfortunately that includes programmers!  

On a less nerdy note; You should defiantly do that photo shoot in Kinglake! its very humbling as to our place in the universe and inspiring to see the green shoots of life after such devastation.

4 June 2009 - 08:03 BST

Name: "bronwen"
Home Page: http://www.bronwenhyde.com

thanks for the encouragement. perhaps i will see if someone is available to drive me there on a week day when there are less folk on the road to draw the attention of.

View Latest Entries