By Gina. =) Thanks girl! I have to list six interesting/crazy things about myself and then tag 6 more bloggers. So, here goes…

1. I sometimes think my life would be easier if my name was Cordelia.

2. I have written 4 novels.

3. My favourite poets are William Wordsworth and William Blake. A William thing I guess. =)

4. My heroes are Martin Luther King and Anne Frank.

5. I am saving up for a 24mm 1.8 lens…cannot wait for that wide angle!

I TAG Stacey C (of course!), Denise, Mindy, Frederique, Bree and Tara! =) Off to tell them the good news. 

I love cucumber. It’s so juicy and fresh. If cucumbers could be named, I would call one Effervescent. I’m just weird like that. =) Thanks for all your comments. They are fun to read and they inspire me SOOOO much.

One thing to note is that food is MUCH more co-operative than children. =P I am still working on my sister. Have to get her some humbugs (minty striped sweets) to soften her into pictures. I wouldn’t even mind if she let me take them of her back or her feet when she’s wearing stripy socks!! But no! Preteens are hard! =) LOL

Love Miss L =}

Today, at sunset, the pear tree and windfalls were just bathed in golden sunlight. I had to rush back in and grab the camera. Then there was no memory card so I only got three snaps before it faded. But I LOVE them all! Hope you enjoy them. The apples from the orchard have rotted or been picked for apple sauce now so you’ll be seeing lots more pears in the future!

Cos I do. =)

Am going through a big change. Change the header, change my way of looking at things, change my post-processing, change my Flickr, change this, change that….LOL I am overdosed on Calpol. I have been sick for a week and think it’s about time I felt better. Not happening but oh well! Will see you later with some new photos, and you can judge if you like "the new me". =P

Just kidding, it’s still Lulu…I just want to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone. While I’m here, I’ll post this. I like it. ;=) Whilst talking of what we like, I LOVE all your blogs…they are such an inspiration. WTG! Oh, and Amy, my lucky number is 13 too. =) And this is a callout to Stacey C! Where are you, Stacey? I miss you and your pictures! =)

…teamed up again. She’s still camera-shy (or camera-phobic anyways) so not much going on here.  I let her take some of me, with my direction, but her focus is better than mine! LOL! She needs to work on her in-camera crops though….hehe!

I hate this one but my sister (Nora) loves it so I said I’d post it for her…. =) I think the conversion is too dramatic for me, but she chose it so w/e!

Sorry it’s not much of a photo post today - things have been hectic and I have a sore throat so not up to much picture-taking really. And I wholeheartedly apologise for how boring this blog has probably become! I don’t think anyone is reading anymore. Anywho, if you are, thank you! You keep me motivated. =)

Love L :=}

I’m a poet (see title)! =P I am finally realising that I have FREE TIME again after exams…to play with my camera. So today and yesterday I snapped snapped snapped…still have many more to look through but I have almost persuaded my sister to model her jumper for me outside since it’s warmer today so I need to dash!  So have a cup of tea (the only thing I could think of to rhyme with me) and feel free to CC…. =D Loving all your blogs, and thank you soooo much for all the comments. I would give up without you guys.

Love L =)

I think I’ll shoot film more often, and digital too of course! I love the artful simplicity of black and white, the romantic grain that reminds me of old family albums and the feel of the prints in your hand. The instant gratification of digital and the way photographs can be manipulated in Photoshop is something I love too but I’d forgotten about film for a while.

I promise to have some digital stuff tomorrow! My sister got a really cute pink jumper with polka dots so I am going to pay her to wear it for me and let me take pictures….how much do I pay her? =P J/K! Anyways, this was with my Canon EOS 650 with Ilford 800 and 1/100, f/1.8 and the 50mm. =)

I’ve lost count! But first I have to thank everyone who commented on my last post, you gave me some wonderful advice and I cannot thank you enough. I am still undecided but I have a month to think/persuade/choose so…it should be okay. =) Just had a blue day.

Today was my cousin’s 6th birthday and so we went round but I didn’t take the cam and after that it was too dark so I haven’t picked it up today, what with school and all. I’ll share on of my cousin who is 6 today anyway - he is the most lively, funny little guy and I love him to bits. Meet Thomas. =)

Both were with the film camera - a thread at ILP made me yearn for the grain and simplicity of film (much as I love digital) so I broke out the cam and shoved in some black and white film. Gotta love it. They are not technically perfect, but half my pictures aren’t, instead they remind me of my beautiful little cousin who has a spirit as bright as a star. =)

Yesss, snow in England! You heard me right! I was so excited to wake up to it, although we still had school. It had melted by about 2pm but it was still lovely to have any at all! We rarely do. =)

I had a rough day today. I rarely cry at school but today I was told that I cannot carry on with BOTH English Language and English Literature next year and I will have to choose between my two favourite subjects that I love more than anything else in the world. It is not a stipulation of the exam board, simply a regulation at my particular school. I am at a loss as to what to do. I love English more than anything, our whole world is shaped and moulded by language and its history yet literature is equally important and I love to read, so I cannot fathom being told that I have to choose between the two things I love most.  I love English as much as I do photography and I cannot imagine having to drop one in September.  Your passion is something you think will never be taken away from you, something you can always pursue, but to be forbidden to carry on with one of the things I love most because it is "too much work" breaks my heart. 

I am not a normal teenager. I do not go out to parties. I do not drink, I have never had a boyfriend, I have never even kissed! My schoolwork is important to me and I can think of nothing better than having a whole pile of English essays to work through (sad as that may seem). I consistently get A grades and I read all the time, therefore I find it to difficult to understand why my teachers do not embrace such a student who would be delighted to devote her life to the subject.  Perhaps it is trivial to even ponder such matters when there are children starving in Africa and suicide bombers planning attacks in the Middle East but it is hard to know that you will be stripped of what makes you happy. I cannot possibly choose. I don’t know what to do - to go and speak to my own teacher or the Head of Department, to plead, to beg, to write…Next year is the year when we are supposedly given freedom to choose what WE want to study - "Choose the subjects you love!", they say with glee - yet there is me, a quiet girl too shy to protest, who is left without the freedom to choose what she loves. It just isn’t fair.

So today I started crying on the stairwell, between 2nd period and 3rd. The girls huddled around me, hugging and comforting, but I knew they didn’t really understand. They like school alright but they don’t love it like me and sometimes my heart aches to be like them, to only have to worry about hairstyles and MySpace. But I am me and I don’t want to change. I just want to do what I love. And I am heart-renderingly sad that it is being snatched away from me.

Apologies, for the frivolous teenage rant. Thanks for reading, I guess I just needed to let out my feelings. I’ll take any advice I can get!

Exams are over! I had no lessons today, just an introduction to the work we shall be doing next year - have to choose which subjects I want to carry on with (I want to do a degree in English Literature) which is proving quite hard. There are two programmes of study available which both have their advantages and disadvantages so it is hard to choose. Glad my exams are over (until May) though!!

The light here has been dull and boring, and my sister uncooperative, so I resorted to trees! =) I didn’t post yesterday so am posting two pictures - one from today and one from yesterday,. Snow is forecast so hopefully I will have some icy images to share soon!

And a snap of my cousin, who is six this week ((heart)) =) At 1600 ISO, 1.8 and 1/100. Yep, my house is a cave! =P

Love L =)

So I allowed my sister to direct ME in the hope that she would let me take some of her (no such luck) - I did the settings but she focused and clicked the shutter, and I post-processed. Team effort! There are lots of blow-outs (I actually found a place with nice natural light in my house!) but I like them anyways. I added grain and did a conversion via Gradient Map. =)

I think we make a pretty good team! =) Furthermore thank you SO much for all your wonderful comments, I really appreciate them and it keeps me motivated! After exams (one more day to go - yay) I promise to comment lots more on everyone else’s. Promise! Love Lulu =)

I never ever get that really tack sharp focus but today I decided to do a self portrait and I was hand holding so could only get my eyes in with the 50mm and I got this…and I only took one…and sorry for all the ands …. kinda excited! =)  My eyes are different colours in real life hence why they are here and my eyebrows are a bit crazy but still…. =) =) =) Introducing My Eyes ;}

f/2.2, 1/160, ISO 100 facing a window!

I got bokeh! =) Little circles in the background. This image looks better blown up as opposed to small but my blog doesn’t let me post pics bigger than 400 pixels wide. Sorry! If you wanna see it bigger, just ask. Learnt an important lesson - always check your white balance. =) I left it on Tungsten and my photos were really blue, so glad I shoot RAW!

Thanks for all your comments, apologies for the lack of mine, but exams will soon be over and I will be comment queen!

Technically it’s not a violet, but a pansy, but let’s just ignore that. This picture reminded me of a line from my favourite poem - “She dwelt among the Untrodden Ways” by William Wordsworth. We learnt it in school with my favourite teacher and I think it’s a beautiful poem.

Only one more day of exams left now. =) See you!

Love L =)

Not a real cat, just my favourite mug. The light was fading fast by the time I got home so I shot this at 1.8, 1/50 and ISO 800 by a window. I like the warm glow it has to it. =) The slump, you’ll be pleased to hear, is over! Woo! Mainly thanks to all your lovely comments. Couldn’t get outside to shoot since there are 80mph winds here today, the tube was closed and all after school activities were cancelled since there is so much traffic. Crazy! A lot of trees blew down and I saw a car door blow off….no kidding! It’s pretty scary so I figured I’d stay inside. Only 2 more days of exams left too. See y’all! ~ Miss L