ShareMondays2020 – The Shielded

ShareMondays2020 – The Shielded

So just who are The Shielded?

Well the media are rather misrepresenting us I think! We are the unseen 1.8million. We’re not all in care homes, aged over 70 or “people who would probably have died at some point this year”. If I hear, or read, one more report that claims that many of the Covid-19 related deaths don’t really count, because that person would have likely passed away soon anyway, I will scream! Every death is a person, an individual with loved ones. All the World War rhetoric inspired me to get hold of a vintage gas mask. DON’T wear one of these to protect yourself against Covid! It’s a representation of the suffocating mask I feel has been placed upon me. I can’t help but think of Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce et Decorum Est! Please read it. I am stumbling and floundering.

Many people in The Shielded group are there because they have a lifelong illness that requires immunosuppression. This could be because of cancer, organ transplant or autoimmune disease. The aim of our treatment is to give us as long a life as possible! Many people in this group are young. Most people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) – Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis – are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 25. I was 19yrs old. My mother was told that it was 50/50 if I would actually make it through the night. I stay shielded so that she, and the rest of my loved ones, don’t have to hear that kind of news again, because I’ve contracted coronavirus!

While the majority of the population are now thinking about the easing of lockdown, The Shielded know that we’ve got a few more months of being shut away in our own homes, before we can even get that “one exercise outing per day”. Count your lucky stars people! We’re not superheroes, just ordinary people who would like to get on with our lives in the usual way too. Some people are waiting for operations, new therapies, hospital referrals or local treatments. Part of normal life for a lot of us. We’ve accepted that certain things have had to go on hold. You can help us get back to our normal by Staying Home, Protecting The NHS and Saving Lives. Who knows, you might even save mine!

ShareMondays2020 – Queuing For Groceries or It’s Two Metres You Tits!

ShareMondays2020 – Queuing For Groceries or It’s Two Metres You Tits!

So, I might have finally lost the plot from being stuck indoors so long! But, hey, if the children in Spain can spend six weeks without being allowed out of the home at all, then so can I. Honestly, I salute them! I was hardly ever indoors as a child. My love of the natural world was encouraged from an early age. Even now, the children of Spain have only just had the lockdown relaxed as far as letting them outside for just the one hour. The majority of people here in the UK have always had that one freedom! Please be grateful for it and continue to social distance as much as you can. You are saving lives!

Meanwhile, my new bird feeder has been a big hit with the starlings and tits. They’re giving me a lot of joy and plenty of amusement too, when there’s a fracas over feeding rights. The starlings do actually form quite an orderly little queue, but they sometimes forget the queuing order and it all gets rather flappy and noisy! They’re really garrulous little characters and the range in vocalisations is incredible. I must try to get some recordings! I do love keeping the windows open and hearing a range of birdsong from outside.

It’s not just the starlings and tits! I can hear the blackbird singing away at the moment, the wren serenades us every morning and evening, goldfinches chatter as they flit through the trees, the magpies seem to be in constant disagreement with everyone, the wood pigeon coos soothingly and once or twice a day the parakeets add their voice to the general cacophony. It’s a heavenly symphony! I hope you’re all taking good care of yourselves, enjoying a few simple pleasures and staying safe.

ShareMondays2020 – Circle Of Life

ShareMondays2020 – Circle Of Life

Circle Of Life

The circle of life
Constant in change
What begins
Must cease
We bud
We bloom
We wither
All too soon
Time is linear
Our pathway
Often twisted
Seemingly occluded
Cannot be resisted
Only forward
Straight backed
Stooping
Drooping
Fading
Decaying
Another will rise
And fall in time

I’ve spent the last week watching my tulips bloom and wilt, documenting their decline in photographs. Entropy is the constant in life. This composite is a visual representation of that journey. Every stage is beautiful.

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Gold Dust

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Gold Dust

Gold Dust

A trail of gold gust
Leading to the very heart
Sweet nectar of life

Dispersion and Twirls in Photoshop

Dispersion and Twirls in Photoshop

With the current restrictions on going outdoors, many photographers are using this time to go through their back catalogues and learn new techniques. I am part of the fantastic SheClicks community for female photographers. Last week one member shared her experiments with the Twirl technique. I will add links to YouTube tutorials for both techniques at the end!

By the end of the week, we were all hooked! Between us all, I think we could fill a few galleries with these fun abstract pieces. You can also use the twirled images as overlays or textures. Some members used the effect to create an abstract background, revealing a part of the main image through masked layers. I loved some of the peacock twirls that others had done so I thought I’d have a go too! Here are my before and after images.

I decided this was the perfect time to finally learn a technique that I have wanted to do for years! The dispersion technique can be used to great effect to make your subject appear to be disintegrating, or exploding outwards. It’s a fun way to create a story for a portrait shoot. I went back to some images I made last year with my dear friend, singer-songwriter, Julia K. I’ll start with a simple edit where I have kept the background clean and simple. The act of singing appears to be reverent, a prayer to the gods.

Initially we wanted to visualise sound through shapes and movement. It was a great opportunity to use long exposure and light-painting to frame a story within my images. We took inspiration from the name of her studios, Firespark, and brought in some indoor sparklers and fireworks. Yes, we did set off the fire alarm a couple of times! It’s such a joy to be able to work with a fellow creative, just exploring different ideas, even if they do sound a bit bonkers.

I wanted Julia to be static in the images, with the sound emanating from her and surrounding her. We tried a number of different poses that allowed me to create in-camera double-exposures, as well as single images that I could turn into composites within Photoshop. Both techniques are creatively satisfying with similar, yet distinctive results. In-camera multiple exposures always have a more organic feel to them. Creating a composite using Photoshop gives you a much crisper end result. In these three edits of my image of Julia, you can now see why I had her looking up into the space above her. The spirit of music is reaching out to her.

I think I was attracted to the dispersion technique because it brings back that organic feel to a digitally created composite! In addition to using dispersion, I also brought in some overlays of musical notes that I warped, to give them a sense of movement as they explode out from the microphone. Including a bit of texture, with an overlay to the background, added to the organic feel I was looking for. I made three final images for Julia to choose from; full colour, monochrome and selective colour, that revealed the vibrant red against the black and white. Selective colour is very much Julia’s signature look, her brand. I knew she’d choose that one, but which look do you prefer?

I have called this piece Set The Music Free. It’s given me inspiration for creating more stories from other images in my back catalogue, as well as some future projects that I really hope to be able to do with Julia in the future! I hope this has given some of you a bit of inspiration to learn some new techniques and keep creative during this turbulent time. You can learn how to do these two techniques in the following video tutorials. Have fun with them!

Twirling:

Dispersion:

ShareMonday2020 – Songbird Of Shadows

ShareMonday2020 – Songbird Of Shadows

Happy New Year everyone! A new ShareMondays tag and my favourite muse to start it all off. Happy Birthday to the wonderful Julia K, dressed as Brandon Lee (aka The Crow) for her Dead Famous party on Saturday night. She’s singing I’m In Love With A German Film Star with purity and passion, well, one of The Passions in fact, Clive Timperley on guitar! What a great party and I absolutely loved hearing two dear friends performing this beautiful and haunting song together. Thank you both!

Video by my wonderful hubby, Simon Williams!

ShareMondays2019 – Put A Spell On You

ShareMondays2019 – Put A Spell On You

So this is what happens when a coven of six, female creatives gather together for Halloween fun, food and photos! I couldn’t resist getting Nadie to create some poses that I could work a bit of magic into in processing. I even managed to take a couple of spooky selfies!

ShareMondays2019 – Let’s Go Fly A Kite

ShareMondays2019 – Let’s Go Fly A Kite

Red Kites regularly fly over the wetlands at Heather Farm on Horsell Common. Such a glorious sight! I wanted to use the photos I took yesterday to try to convey a sense of the movement as this kite swept in a lazy arc across the wetlands. Rising and falling on unseen thermals the kites can suddenly shrink from your vision as they’re carried ever higher. Of course their vision extends far beyond our own! As the kite soars out of sight it’s probably already got its’ eyes on something a mile or more away. Have a great week everyone!

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Dive! Dive! Dive!

This composite of a common tern, performing an aborted dive at Thorpe Lake OWS, is for Wex Mondays and dedicated to my Dad. When Mum and I are out swimming with the birds and fish, Dad stays on the lakeside, keeping a watchful eye on us and our feathered friends. Can’t wait to dive back into the waters of the lake tomorrow in this crazy, hot weather!

Encapsulate

Encapsulate

This last week has been a complete write-off thanks to sinus and chest infection. I know many of you have suffered similarly just recently! I’ve been back at the doctors today for stronger, more targetted antibiotics and phlocodine. Increasing my steroid inhalers has helped me breathe a little easier today but it always gives me the shakes. In short, I’m totally fed up! I just about managed to set up a piece of blown glass yesterday, so I could take a series of macro shots, from which I created a composite for today’s photo challenges from Wex and Fotospeed. Encapsulate is an abstract expression of how I have been feeling with this bug; trapped, dizzy, fuzzy, short of breath, drowning in mucus. If you’ve had one of these Winter bugs, I hope you are on the road to recovery as I very much hope for myself! I don’t do well being stuck indoors. The winter skies, misty landscapes and busy birds are calling to me!