Feminine Mystique

After staring at photographs of Vogue models for far too long last night it seems that I finally kicked myself into high gear to do a little exercise both last night and this morning. I even had a little salad on the side of my breakfast of leftover pasta this morning! I've been pretty slack recently in terms of keeping up with a diet but I really do want to be skinnier this year and look lovely when standing in front of flowers and buy ballerina inspired shoes...

I had meant to take more photographs in the new year, rather than present what other people have been doing and achieving but I have greater motivation to toil away over the keyboard and watch things such as my stats for this blog rather than getting out into the field and getting back into photography again. I have a few rolls of film sitting on my desk and waiting to be developed from last year as well as numerous 35mm film I stocked up on but nothing really exciting is happening in my life at the moment. Instead I'm stuck in this strange purgatorial half living state from when high school has finished and university has yet to begin.

The outfit posts I've contributed to this blog have been amateurish at best- I suppose I don't think enough about the use of props and coordination of accessories. I'm still nervous about positioning myself in front of the camera and delivering a fierce look rather than the overall presentation. Having a large and colourful bouquet of flowers more similar to exploding fireworks would be a good excuse not to look at the camera or to worry about make-up. It's a pity I don't know of any largely weeded gardens or fields to stand in front of for such a photograph though; still, I am quite content with the plain wallpaper of my hallway as well as the framed pictures of birds for my outfit posts.

As damaging as it is, I would like to go blond just once in my life, but with my dark brows the dye would become even more prominent and I enjoy not having to worry about my roots showing and the up-keep of dyed hair. My usual routine is a wash and brushing away fallen bits, maybe a braid overnight or using the hair-dryer but things have been really simple lately and I think since I last attacked my split ends with scissors my hair grew a little bit in response but it doesn't seem to be growing much at all now. Still, I can boast having long mermaid length hair like the model above and it's as shiny as her in my respective colour. Today was the day I was meant to get a trim but the postponement of that appointment can be attributed to the fact that Chinese New Year is tomorrow.

Photographs such as the one shown above of a fairy is the precise reason I favour film photography over digital now. Sure the effect can be achieved by filtering and effects, but the grainy and dream-like quality of an all plastic camera can't be beat. I love the large floral wreath in her hair as well as the shape of her wings, they're very pretty and realistic to that of an actual butterfly. Currently one of my favourite stores, Tree of Life, is selling a large variety of white cotton dresses so maybe you'll see me dancing around my yard in a similar getup one of these days.

My room doesn't quite resemble a studio space but maybe that wouldn't quite be a bright idea considering I may be inspired to put together some crazy photographs inspired by illustrations. I will never be swayed to photograph myself nude, no matter how much pink is involved or how tasteful it is.

As a student under the discipline of science I know that there's no such thing as fanciful mystical beings such as unicorns and sprites but there's still the artistic side of me that holds on to a small seed of hope. Some of my favourite pieces of romantic literature and poems revolve around magical beings and as a child I loved reading about mythology of any origin but like all good things I've had to abandon my childhood dreams and ideals to become an adult. It always seemed a lot easier when I was younger, also a little more fun that it actually is.

Tomorrow if I can rouse myself off my fat ass and get over to the shops I'll be handing in my resume left, right and centre to see who wants to take me on, maybe buy some nice scented candles and finally check my eligibility for my staff discount where I was a Christmas casual. I assume the portal would be closed by now but I have my fingers crossed to get some book bags for university as well as a brown leather looking satchel and cheap Exercise books.

I really do need to read more magazines and literature if I ever hope to splice images together such as this mountain and these pink daisies. I quite like the combination of the two together since they have a similar type of lighting used- it's the sort of thing I imagine I would do if I bothered with scrap booking as well as reading more magazines. Newspaper quality could never do justice to such interesting and colourful tableau.

Green

All this year I'll be travelling to and from university using public transport, a combination of train and bus. So in the spirit of things I thought I would show off a few pictures of serene green settings? I just wanted to share with you my readers some of the photographs that have been inspiring me and similar things that I hope to see and explore. I've decided to study Geosciences and possibly major in it if I never make it to veterinary sciences and I'm enticed by a six digit annual paycheck. It's not just that though- I love the Earth as well.

I don't wear a lot of green in my usual routine but I do have two skirts in green that I love to death- one's American Apparel and long and pleated and the other has a print of leaves in black and white that usually wins compliments. At one stage of my past life, being an awkward and embarrassing teenager I bought some fluorescent green nail polish but only used it once. I don't think I'm brave enough to try and wear the shade again.

At my parent's house we have a few separate climbing vine plants and when we first bought the place my mother ordered everyone to pull them all off. She feared they would eventually ruin the strength and integrity of the bricks but when you think about it, the compression strength of a brick can't be harmed very much by small anchoring roots. To think, I could be sitting on a veranda swarming with vines on the walls and ceiling if she hadn't thrown a monkey wrench into those plans.

It's not often you see such large and tall pine trees but I remember when the house on the street corner had these amazing large pine trees bordering a small fence and house and the fence was inch deep in brown needles. At my father's old work place there were also tall pine trees taller than a second storey building and the lunch room had a small balcony which backed out onto the trees. I've lost all the lovely pine trees in my life but maybe my future of collecting research data in the field and maybe in forests will reunite me with them once more.

All the Beautiful Flowers

I'm in one of the most wonderful romantic moods but I'm also zonked out after sleeping-in today past noon. I've spent the day gathering research and hand-writing notes on a brand, putting together images of Alexa Chung and reading a soppy love story from the library. Another thing I dedicated today to was organising pictures of flowers and arranging my own fake ones that are gifts from my boyfriend. While this is probably just one of my wild moods brought about from a hormonal imbalance I hope it stays; I quite like organising space in my room for an armchair, looking at photographs of pretty flowers and chasing up a pink Yves Saint Laurent arty ovale ring.

About twice a year a line of rose bushes along the back of my garden light up in full bloom and give off a frenzy of budding flowers, it's about as wild and numerous as the roses pictured here but there's less of a red tinge to the pink and the petals are a brighter and hotter shade of pink. Unfortunately since plants are lacking in intelligence they just don't know when to stop and keep growing until they fall over due to their own weight. At one point of the year a few of out best roses were crushed into the ground by the heavy weight of rain and gravity. A real pity. 

Even if my romantic and flower-loving hippy mood dissipate I would still like to make my way to the annual flower show in my city and visit it with my mother and a good SLR film camera in hand. I remember last year when I burned with agony at the invitation from my mother and had to turn down the opportunity due to the amount of study I had to do to keep up with my subjects but this year I am free to do as a I please as long as I keep up with university study which should be a lighter load in comparison.

I love the dreamy purple tinge to the photograph created undoubtedly by the low light and mystery of a camera lens- I wish I could return to final year celebrations with my friends. In Australia it's somewhat tradition to head off for a week or two after finishing exams on what is known as 'schoolies' and drink plenty and head down to the beach. With our collective and emptied bottles of drink I would have loved to find some gorgeous flowers to sink them into just as someone else has done before me.

I'm in desperate need of floral skirts and more vintage or vintage looking pieces within my wardrobe, but before that takes place I really should sell the unnecessary items in my room to make space and money for new things. If I could, pulling together a garage sale would be ideal but eBay will have to do and this way I don't have to deal with haggling and much human interaction. To be fair, my yard and driveway would not make the ideal setting for such a sale anyway.

The filtered effect of this photograph is subtle, but with the darkening edges of the image as well as what looks like gentle distortion I would say a toy camera with maybe a fisheye lens has been used or something that vignettes at the corners such as a Diana of Holga camera. I quite like the combination of pink and red tinged flowers and purple as well. I wish I could be bothered finding an ideal spot for flowers to grow in my yard but goodness knows that I am more interested in flowers I can look at in photographed and film form.

An interior decorating idea I'm currently toying with at the moment is buying a small square of fake grass but instead of using it as a rough rug I could place some small potted flowers and species of cactus with a little piece of outdoor furniture like a patio chair or a beach chair. My father was a great fan of gardening but he doesn't seem to quite have the energy for it anymore and when I played basketball he would always volunteer to drive me to games and watch on a Saturday. One of the things I guess I can look forward to when I'm an adult and own my own home is looking after plants and enjoying beautiful flowers.

I'd love to have one of these trees in my own garden- some of my favourite and more artistic film camera shots have come from photographing the flowers and the blue sky of this tree. Everyday from walking home from school I would pass a neighbour's house and in their front yard was one of these trees and its seasonal cycle is quite different from many other trees- there's little growth in Winter and bare looking spindly branches and a sudden explosion of petals and flowers and what follows that is new growth. I would love to be able to have one of these trees in my garden, especially if I live to be a little old lady.

Nothing makes me feel more in touch with nature than cruelly ripping a flower from a nearby tree or bush and pushing the sprig behind my ear and in my hair. Flowers are on of the more traditional affluent symbols which have been incorporated into design for years and years but with so many different species the possibilities are endless and they will never truly tire.

Floral Wreaths

What better way to reign sovereign over the realm of nature than while wearing a crown of flowers shaped in a wreath? I've lusted over a crown of fake flowers for a while now, but I haven't been able to find anything suitable- not even on eBay while searching all manor of words to aid me in my search. I saw one vintage reseller sell a cool one a year or two ago now and I should have snapped it up but I didn't have the money at the time. Being reminded of losses on eBay are what spur me and push myself to accept every shift I'm offered- preventing being in the poor house as much as I can. This is why I'm so jealous of stylists, they have access to a series of great fashion accessories and pieces to bring out the best in a collection while I'm here, sitting at home and stuck with squat.

Still though, it's not all doom and gloom. I may not be even able to view all the lovely photographs of other fortunate girls adorned in floral wreaths. Now that's the kind of thing that would really bring you down when sitting around with spare time on your hands during Summer holidays. I think that if I were able to get my hands on the raw materials of fake flowers and their stems, I may have a slim chance of being able to figure out how it all fits together to make a crown as it were. I would love to do it wit real flowers, but the practice is time consuming and the flowers die after a few short hours as a crown sitting atop my head.

There's so many beautiful photographs featuring I'm missing out on recreating due to my floral wreath withdrawal- unfortunately their a bit of an oddity and a rare item to com across. What I really need to do is do some honest-to-goodness second hand shop scouring for pieces of such finesse and quirk. Everything I can find online is an ornament for a wall and not your head. It looks like if I'm to get the gypsy and natural look I'll have to source it from America or use real flowers- if only I had been alive in the sixties.

The intertwining of natural flowers and leaves on a mountainous setting at sunset- that's supposedly when magical powers are first at play progressively getting stronger till the witching hour; midnight. Fake flowers are best teamed up with a material to soften the look and make the flowers look more realistic by comparison, whereas when using real flowers I think using stems and leaves is quite charming and becoming.

I love the effect of a floral wreath arranged with matching shades of tulle and silky ribbons, the kind you would find on bridesmaids at a wedding. I like the new modern take on it though to wear it with casual attire. It makes you look like a fairy queen and more romantic- all of which are characteristics I now cherish after having undertaken Literature as a subject in my final year of high school. It was one of my more enjoyed classes too and a lot of fun. The floral wreaths and halos remind me of poems such as the Lady of Shallot as well as La Belle Dame Sans Merci.