hop farm.

sunday 3rd july.

Aloe Blacc smooth-talking and livening up the crowd.

someone hang-gliding above the main stage. 

some of the crowd & Imelda May.

the crowd with their hands in the air during Tinie Tempah. (and a couple conversing.)

Tinie Tempah.

and again, Tinie Tempah.

hop farm sunsets. (taken through my sunglasses lens)

waiting for Prince!

Prince's wonderful and beautiful band and singers.

the crowd went wild when Prince came on stage!

ah! PRINCE coming onto the main stage :D

this was set up to be a great photo of Prince, and just as I clicked the button,

this guy pushed me out of the way and then stepped in front of me. I was not amused.

possibly my best 'close-up' photo of Prince from the night!

so close and yet, so far!

Prince.

a huge piece of purple cloth 'crowd-surfed' numerous times. (this was during 'Purple Rain'. :))

an attempt to capture everyone behind me. it was in vain,

I failed spectacularly haha.

(Boots fails at aligning and printing photos.)

Larry Graham and the Graham Central Station with Prince came on stage

 for the third and final encore! 

Larry Graham & Prince.

and then, unfortunately, it was all over!

***

Here are the photos that I took while at Hop Farm festival on the last day of the festival using a disposible camera with some pink tissue paper stuck over the flash (I wanted to see what sort of photos I could get... I'm trying to be more experimental and free with everything :) so they may be amazing, but I had fun so nevermind!)... I hope you liked them, some of them were quite pleasant surprises! Ahh, the memories...

This was quite literally one of the best nights I've ever had in my whole life :) Once Prince and his singers and Larry Graham & the Graham Central Station finished playing and the lights went off, I almost didn't want to leave, just in case Prince came back for just one more song... but alas, we left at the right time. There was no more singing by the time we'd walked to the car, so I think it's safe to say, I didn't miss anything! Which is always a good thing :D We got back to our car at around 11:30pm and we did not move even an inch for over an hour and a half... it was insane! Although it wasn't too bad, because my dad put on his Prince playlist and I got to play Angry Birds while my sister slept next to me. We finally got home from the festival at about 02:30am and I was still buzzing from it all so I didn't get much sleep!

         While we were there, my sister and I got giggly on coca-cola and lemonade, I ate a hot crepe with lemon juice and sugar (nom!), we bought a flowery headdresses each and had a yummy little picnic sat on the grass in front of the main stage soaking in the sun with our dad. Let's not mention the hot-red-cheeked-embarrassment that we (mostly me) suffered stood next to our dad during the music sets... Basically, our dad was clapping, whooping and bopping from side to side nearly all of the time. Hopefully you are able to visualise such an image? I imagine we've all endured, and can recall, moments just like that... When we mentioned his 'moves', he simply answered, "Well, it's my job isn't it? To embarrass you both.". He's so kind :P haha But nevertheless, we all had bundles of fun, so it was easy to just relax and soak up the atmosphere and the music.

       Also, a couple of days afterwards, I saw my friend at college while we sorted out our art for the Art Department's A2 exhibition at college, and she told me that she and her boyfriend had been in the very same crowd, just on the other side of the stage! We ended up reminiscing about Prince and the whole festival over some much-needed sustenance in between putting up our artwork. :D Sorry, random facts #1+2, but anyways, I thought it was pretty cool!

Ahh, it was an amazing day! I keep think about it and having waves of huge grins and happiness and excitement! The next morning, my sister and I both has tummy aches from the music being so loud and powerful from the speakers which were right in front of us :P hopefully, no permanent damage was done. I think I'm still in the Hop-Farm-Festival-bubble because I keep thinking about I should be there when it's Sunday :) I definitely would love to go again next year! All in all, I saw The 1945, Aloe Blacc, Imelda May, Eliza Doolittle, Larry Graham and the Graham Central Station, Tinie Tempah and the one and only, Prince! I missed seeing The Pierces which was a bit of a downer, but I've vowed to try and see them whenever they're performing near me, wherever I may be! So all is not lost :) I'm sure I've missed something out, but I think I'm going to draw this to a close now. If I do remember anything, I'll add it in for you to read. Well, it'll be there if you want to, anyway.

I'm sorry for not posting this past month. I've had posts planned and I have even started some but I've never really had the motivation to finish them off :) but I'm trying to shoot more frequently now so that I can get back into the habit of it. I think I was in a rut, and I sort of fell out of love with it. We're still not on the best of terms... but time heals all wounds. (fingers crossed, anyways) I have lots of posts coming up, with lots of photos I've forgotten to post, so keep your eyes peeled, whoever you may be! ♥

Lots of love,

Mari-ann xxx

p.s. I apologise for the not-so-great scans, Boots didn't do a very good job of aligning the negatives and so I have lots of split images. Nevertheless, I hope you like them as much as I do :)

hushabye mountain.

 ***

... The winds of night so softly are sighing-
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain.
Wave good-bye to cares of the day.
And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from lullaby bay.

~ Caractacus Potts, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

***

I've been humming along with this song all day long, so I thought this post would be wholly appropriate! On another note, I think I'm going to buy some new watercolours... I need to add some colour to this new-found freedom I have acquired, as well as my blog, it would seem. Colour posts are on their way, I promise! Cross my heart and hope to die...

Maybe I'll post some of my drawings/painting for you to see, as well as my photos? Hmm, I think I might just do that, as soon as possible! I wonder what you'll think of them? :) ♥

Love,

Mari-ann xxx

p.s. There's a lunar eclipse tonight! The sky is going to be so beautiful and milky-moony, and I'm so very hopeful that the skies will clear of these stubborn, grey clouds so that I can stare up at it until my I'm too sleepy and too chilly to continue. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I may get some more moon pictures, and lunar ones, at that... Who knows? (I'm not promising anything however... This is England, we're talking about, and whenever I've wished for a cloudless sky, my wishes have, sadly, never been granted. But positivity is key, so... :D. And, I mean, even if Monsieur Lune is determined to win a simple game of hide'n'seek, I'm sure there'll be other photos to be taken, so I'll share them with you, instead! ♥) 

on paper.

  

Land's End. 35mm film, 2010.



Same Place, Same Time, Different Sky. Instax film, 2011.



Cornwall, 35mm film, 2010.

***

Back in April, I sent an email to Rebecca, the editor of ON PAPER magazine, about possibly contributing to their first issue. She and I spoke about the images she may have wanted to include, and so I sent her five photographs that I had taken while on holiday last year, and a collection of instax photographs I had taken of sunsets from the same place, at the same time, over a week and a day. After talking with her via email for a week and a bit or so, and everything was agreed upon and finalised, I waited in blissful anticipation for the magazine being printed and recieving my own copy!

I was at college and extremely stressed, trying to get all of my photography coursework done for my final exam unit, and my sister texted me that a big envelope had arrived with my name and address written in lovely handwriting, and it just made that previously frantic-and-hectic-and-extremely-intense day infinitely better! :) It's made me so very happy when I got to open it and see three of the six of my photos included in a real magazine, credited and everything, more than you know! I 'eee' and 'ahh' and smile with a hideously large grin whenever I see it, and touch and flip through it's lovely, soft pages! All of the photos and interviews in it are so interesting and wonderful to see and read, too, so it makes me even more excited to be included in it! I really can't believe it, that it actually happened! Nothing ever happens to me- I mean, I'm a nobody, really!

You should definitely have a look at their website, and if you live in London, you could maybe even have a look out for the actual magazine in shops! :D Mmm, I am so giddy with happiness right now. Aaand, I've hopefully got some new photography projects in the works, so fingers and toes and eyes and legs and arms crossed, all goes well! I'm also hopefully going to be brave and ask to meet up with some lovely and talented people sometime soon... I'm not sure if I will, but I'm hopeful nonetheless. I want to be brave, and I would love to make some new friends :) ♥

Hope all's well,

Mari-ann xxx

sun rise, sun eyes.

Here are a few self-portraits that I took yesterday morning, as the sun rose in the sky, all orange and alive through my bedroom window. Brightening the world before her, she reached out her warm arms and shone smiles of golden light into my sleepy eyes and onto my pale skin, bringing stripes of warmth into the nightshadowy room that I call my own.

***

Bonjour! :) Sorry it has been another long month (minus a single day) since I last posted- all of my exams took over my life, especially Art and Photog., but now that is all out of my life, I'm going to start dedicating more time to photography, a renew the passion and love I had for it, before college turned it into a chore and endless coursework projects... On top of having photography back in my life, I have all the time in the world to my own disposal, as of last week, because I have officially finished college! :D :D :D FINALLY! Freedom is such a wonderful feeling. Ahh ♥

Well, I haven't taken any self-portraits for such a long time, for various reasons that I shan't bore you with, and I've sort of missed it. I've certainly missed seeing faces looking back at me from my camera screen, although, truth be told, seeing my own face isn't exactly what I'd really like to see! Hopefully, now that I've finished with my college and education for the next four months of summer, I'm going to try to devote some time to being brave and shooting with real models and meeting up with creative and lovely photography people, while of course soaking up the sunshine, hopefully going out with friends and everything (although, I don't know if that'll happen- I don't really know what's really happening right now with my friends... I've become a bit of an outcast, it would seem. :| sigh), going away for a little bit and just have a wonderful time! :) Well, that's the dream, anyways. I'll probably write a blogpost saying how I was too cowardly and shy and how I didn't excercise my photrographic muscles or meet anybody creative and wonderful at all throughout summer. sigh I really want to change the fact that I never do anything I actually want to do! In fact... I think I'm going to make a New (Years) June resolution to be braver and more outgoing to have more fun- I mean, I'm eighteen now and haven't really done anything interesting. I need to not be so self-concious and shy, too. Otherwise, I'm never going to meet up with anyone, for the fear of being rejected, thought of as horribly fat and ugly, and just being plain boring and quiet! Hmm... Hopefully, I'll be able to make some changes and make everything better and myself happier, starting from today. Right here, right now! I want to make this summer one of the best ones, before I go off to the lovely and beautiful seaside city of Swansea for three years for uni... sigh Well, I don't deal with change very well, and don't want to leave home, so that'll be interesting(!)
     I'm hopefully going to be shooting soon, so I'll be posting plenty of work soon :) I just need to reply to, and send off, some emails, plan some thingsn and get this 'being proactive' show on the road! Eee, it's exciting, I hope I can turn this year around and make it much better! Oh, and I'm going to do a post about being featured in the first issuse of ON PAPER magazine, so look out for that- I got it a couple of weeks ago and I'm still grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat! :D (<-- much like that, in fact) ♥

I hope you are happy and well, (I apologise for this being so waffley and dull, I just needed to put some thoughts into words.)

Mari-ann xxx

p.s. I just realised, these are some of the first self-portraits I've taken of myself as an eighteen year old, and I hadn't taken any for a couple of month before them either! I mean, I've been eighteen for over three months. Holy moly... time is going so, so fast!

self with sunrise in my eyes - 5:21am.