24.6.12

a year gone by.


 



***



A simple self-portrait, taken a year and a week ago, that I stumbled upon while going through some old folders on my hard-drive yesterday. I don't know why I didn't notice, and make something of, it before now, but I thought I'd just have some fun with it and experiment a little bit in Photoshop! I actually really like what I came up with; it makes me think of light and grainy old film photos, all hazy light and faded memories of someone/something that once was... Also, I couldn't choose between the colour and black & white versions of it (terribly indecisive to my very core, I am indeed!) and so I just decided to show you both of them, too. 
I'm gradually going through all of the folders , collecting all of the pictures I meant to share with you here, over these past few months, and sorting them into some new blogposts that I'll be doing soon. I've missed blogging... it feels nice to have a little somewhere to go to where I can just show you all my pictures and memories of things, places, people I see around me and just be myself and to have a voice in my own little corner of the big Wide World Web. I don't think I've said it before, so I'll take the chance to now- thank you for listening to me babble on about everything and nothing :)

Lots of love, Mari-ann 

23.6.12

first impressions.


















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Now, these are a little overdue (as are the hundreds of photos that I'm continuously going through, and still have yet to share with you, but alas, that's a whole other can of worms.), and I took them back in October, but here we are! These photos were taken as part of a project that I did in while I was at uni, called 'First Impressions'. We were left to our own devices and asked to create a personal set of images that encapsulated our experiences, thoughts, opinions, etc. in response to the project title about our first impressions of Swansea, university life away from home, yada, yada, yada. Ever the sunrise/sunset/landscape-lover, I chose to do a little project that would basically consist of me taking photos of the view from out of my bedroom window at different times of the day, come rain or shine, every day for almost two weeks. What I liked most about this project was all of the different colours that came across at all of the various times of the day and in all sorts of weather conditions (typical Britain, going from boiling hot and oh-so-sunny to gloomy and pouring down with rain, although I love the rain so I'm not, and was not, complaining!) Hope you like them, simple though they may be :)

Lots of love, Mari-ann

miranda kerr.

#2.


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Voila! Here is #2, my drawing of a photograph of Miranda Kerr for KORA Organics. This one took me about half a day, and, I kid you not, at least 6-7 of those hours were taken up by me drawing her hair alone! It was so frustrating; it felt like it took forever, but alas, I got there in the end. (But, goodness me, did my hand was such a mess and hurt so badly after I'd finished, haha!)

 WIPs.
 
I'm really happy with this drawing, and, while I sincerely hope that I don't have to endure another hellish ordeal of hair-drawing with my next drawing, I can't wait to get started! Hope you like it! I wonder who I'll draw next...?  :)

Lots of love, Mari-ann ♥

natalia vodianova.

#1.
A little experiment I did in Photoshop.


***


Since the end of March/beginning of April (when I drew this drawing of Sølve Sundsbø's photo of Natalia Vodianova), I've been drawing again. It feels so nice and fulfilling to be something other than simply photography 24/7; as much as I love photography, it can get so dull, irritating and choreish trying to constantly be on the look-out to be inspired and create 'amazing' pictures, (which I never do anyway- I'm such a sore excuse for a picture-taker, really) and honestly I've missed just drawing and painting so it's been really therepeutic, calming. I'm actually thinking of making a project out of it, a portrait a month for a year or something along those lines. Maybe something with watercolours, and/or oil painting, as well? Who knows! :) I've still got to do this month's drawing, so once I've done it, I'll post that here as well. This really isn't as 'perfect' as I'd hoped it would be, but despite that I'm still really quite proud of it, and, after all, I'm still only practising, so hopefully I'll get better as I go along... Fingers crossed!

 
 WIPs.

So, this will be #1, and #2 is being uploaded as we speak (or, as I write this, rather)... let's see if I can do this and get near to reaching #12, or even further if inspiration catches me, shall we? :)

Lots of love, Mari-ann ♥

berlin.

sunny mornings in the sky on the way to berlin.
early morning flights to anywhere and everywhere.

 
doodles in the raindrops on the holocaust memorial.
an art installation with a brain brain made of clay in the graffiti building.
'kermit the frog' art in the graffiti building.
a piece of art in the graffiti building.
a graffitied (and rather chewing-gummed) section of the berlin wall.
oranienburger straße.

neue synagoge.
colourful water-pump pipes that ran throughout the city.

brandenburg gate.

a couple of living statues.
a statue at the edge of monbijou park.

monbijou park.
 
a couple of graffitied sections of the berlin wall.


the river spree.
the graffitied staircase in the graffied building near our hotel.
  

it had loads of cool, quirky art/artists. (jewellry makers, painters, a man who sculpted vaginas... all sorts.)
there were at least 5 floors.


  fenced-off areas of the city.
 
the holocaust memorial.



sticker-covered traffic lights.
market day.
monbijou park.
graffitied sections of the berlin wall.
the fernsehturm from monbijou park.


the sunset on the flight home.
pillows of cloud.
wind farms off of the english coast.

the motorway as we were approaching luton.


home.



***



Well, here we go! I have finally managed to finish a big batch of going through/selecting/editing folders upon folders of images, and amongst those folders were these photos from my trip to Berlin at the end of February! (Only 4 months later...) So, yes! Berlin! I absolutely loved being in Berlin and hopefully, I'll be able to go again in the future. It was so good! I stayed on Oranienburger Straße, right by the metro and down a road filled with restaurants, clubs/bars, shops and galleries. Plenty of walking, plenty of alcohol was consumed, shisha was experienced, my faux-Converse trainers got a hole in the sole and got more broken and more soaked over the trip, blisters were endured, pictures were taken, yada yada yada. I didn't get as many photos, or rather as much variety, as I'd hoped, but I'm still happy with them :) they're my tangible souvenirs from the trip. But anyway, I can't really think of anything more to write about Berlin, other than it was AMAZING and that I miss it and hopefully I can go back again soon.
That week was a rather full-on week, really. The first four days were spent travelling back and forth to, and being in, Berlin, and the other three days were spent in Bristol with my one of my lovely friends to have a nice catch-up, and to celebrate my birthday, too! Yep, on the 2nd of March, the morning after I got back from Berlin, I turned nineteen! :) It really was quite possibly one of the best weeks I've had this year- it was rather busy but it was so exhilarating and exciting! It really set my wanderlusting daydreams off to a whole other level, too- now I just want to travel around and just see places and meet new people and just take zillions of pictures along the way! :D Hopefully, one day... I'd better get saving, eh? Anyway, I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore so I'm going to curtail this catch-up and stop waffling on and boring you!

Okay so, fingers crossed, (and I realise I keep saying this but still) I'll start get better at posting more frequently soon! I hope you're all superbly happy and well, that you're enjoying the beginnings of your summer, however the weather may be (it's raining a fair bit over here at the moment.) and that you are having a wonderful weekend :)

Lots of love, Mari-ann 

 a nineteenth birthday polaroid.

(p.s. On that note, actually, I just thought I'd forewarn you that I have literally hundreds of Polaroids to share with you all, eventually! Honestly, I'm dreading scanning them all onto my hard-drive, but I am looking forward to finally sharing them with you all, so it won't be all bad :) I think I'll show you them all in small blogposts rather than one big, fat one, but yes, since December, reawakened my love for the ever-wonderful, yet ever-expensive, art of instant photography, so there will be a fair few! So, keep your eyes peeled for lots of polaroids coming your way. )