cleanliness is next to godliness.

after getting messy i always feel the need to clean everything in sight. i spent friday night at my friends 17th party. i crashed at my friends house, and got about 3 hours of restless sleep thanks to a mosquito that felt the need to buzz in my ear and keep me awake half the night. it also bit me right on the lip, so mosquito, if you're reading this, call me *wink*. but in all seriousness, it was a good night and i took some shots which i shall insert above. when i returned home on saturday, i was met with my bedroom that i could not get into because there was clothes, bags and books all over the floor. so i cleaned my room, but i didn't clean so much as organise all my clothes and throw out all those old clothes and shoes that you say you'll keep 'just in case' except you never ever wear them. so now it looks like an obsessive compulsive chipmunk ran through my room, but it won't last long. i also start work on wednesday. fun.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

shine on.

i love it when a day that is put aside to do a certain thing passes, and you realise as the sun goes down that although you didn't do what you'd planned, you still had a fantastic day. the day was not wasted, but rather took a different direction than initially intended. well, that was what happened to me today. my friend charlotte and i set out to visit some art galleries and get inspired. we took the trip into the city and then a trip of about 30 minutes back out on a tram to come to a house in place of where the art gallery was supposed to be. now, this house was supposed to be a gallery of RMIT artwork, so the fact that we were standing in front of a house in the middle of nowhere after a trip of about an hour was quite disheartening, but never then less we went back into the city centre, sat in a cafe, ate pizza, drank and talked about life. then we went in search of another gallery which we also could not find. we realised that the big guy was trying to tell us that the art gallery just wasn't where we were supposed to be today. so instead we ate, walked a lot and got hit on by police officers. nice to know there is no corruption in our fair city.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

costco.

hard core consumerism makes me feel ill. i spent sunday at the docklands, and as far as i know this is the only place in victoria that there is a costco wholesale store. so after lunch my family and i went to check out this piece of american life; and i walked out shocked and disgusted. there was a huge line outside the store, which we thought was to enter the store. turns out it was a long line to get a membership for costco, as that is the only way that you can shop there. yes, you heard me, a membership just to shop at what is essentially a large supermarket. there was no way we were paying for a membership to walk into the store, so we were allowed access to the store in order to 'browse' as the woman at the front put it. essentially, we were allowed into the store to look around but now allowed to purchase anything if we wished to do so. i don't know if it is just me, but this stores ethics seem wrong on so many levels. in actual life events, had to go back into school today to tie up loose ends, and the weather was so obedient and amazing. my new lisa ho 'boyfriend' jeans are so comfortable and amazing. and to think, i paid two dollars for them. these photos are just shots i took of melbourne and the endless amounts of seagulls that occupy summer. was feeling black and white tonight, so thought i would go with my feelings and desaturate them both.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

interesting thing about melbourne is that it has some of the most unpredictable weather in the world. here in sunny old melbourne we have had about a week straight of great weather, at about 30 degrees (celsius). yesterday, the weather decided it was moody, and it has been raining for about the last 24 hours, with temperature now at about 14 degrees. in other news, i am free of school. officially. tout fini. i start working in about a week, and in between work i plan to party and photograph, and eventually look at my holiday homework. to all of you approaching winter, my heart goes out to you, as i have never been in weather lower than about 3 degrees, and i find this rain, although it smells absolument magnifique, a bit of a downer. now, although i adore photography, i am not much of an artist in other modes, particuarly sketching and life drawing. starting art next year, i am beginning to feel the pressure to get better at drawing and thought the best way to do this is to combine what i know with what i need to learn. so, i am picking my favourite photographs and photos from my photography magazines (GUP especially) and sketching them. i have a long way to go, but it's a start i suppose, and it fills these rainy days.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

coke and wedges.

school is so pointless this week, and it's fantastic! i take myself off to an orientation for maths, then i get my english exam returned to me and then i go down the street to a cafe with my friends and sit there for almost three hours until the end of the day when i have my next orientation or exam return. i have 3/5 of my exams back (history, english and maths). they're all going really well, just waiting on literature and philosophy. i still don't know if dropping philosophy is the right move; i am so indecisive when it comes to that damn subject! anyway, these photos are from earlier in the year when i went away to the beautiful victorian countryside; it was such stunning scenery! will shoot some new photos very soon. have a couple of photos hoots lined up in my head, just have to find my models :)

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

farewell plato, you will be sorely missed.

so many exciting things to tell you all. it's all over red rover. i can finally say it without any exceptions. exams are over, and i am looking at more than 10 weeks of summer and freedom in just three days. my philosophy exam was on monday, and although mill's utilitarianism threw me off i did ok, considering my illness over the weekend, and the fact i spent saturday night out with my fabulous girls. i am suffering from that decision, as i can hardly talk and my throat is killing me, but this is the price we pay i suppose. i had my art orientation today; and it was possibly the most exciting and inspiring thing i have heard in a long time. it saw me sketching whilst waiting for my train and thinking of all sorts of things i could photograph over the summer. dad has said i may be getting the new canon eos 7d for christmas, which is beyond exciting and an absolute dream. being on holidays also means i can fall back into endless days of watching television. at the moment my shows and gossip girl and californication. season 3 of californication has been phenomenal, and gossip girl goes without saying! i hope you are all well, and that wherever you are in the world, in the summer or winter, that you take a look around you and go take a photograph of something you see; i know i definitely will be :)

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

sickly sweet.

exams are over; well, pretty much. i have my last exam on monday which is philosophy, and i still havent started my study (reassuring huh?). thursday were my last exams, which was english and maths. three hours of writing and then two hours of being mathematical. and the gym where we di the exams was really hot from more than four days over thirty, so the heat had time to accumulate (yay!). after exams i went to pick up my new ray bans, bought some art supplies and three seasons of will and grace. woke up friday and im sick. yes that's right....sick. my body was working so hard to fight off whatever i had through my exam period and as soon as i relaxed....it got me. so now im sick and not looking forward to my exam on monday. in more positive news, i pulled out my underwater camera...so i will get some underwater shots in the next couple of days hopefully. these photos are from last night. went over to my friends house to help her get ready and such for a night out. you should also have a look at her blog if you're into shiny things and fashion.
update: unlocked the daft punk remixes for dj hero. nothing more needs to be said :)

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

a disappointing surprise.

i officially can't stand change when it comes to things regarding my childhood! whenever i used to buy kinder surprises as a child, you would open them up; the chocolate tasted good but for the first time you weren't interested in the chocolate, it was the toy that you wanted, well for me at least. i would open up the little egg shaped thing the toy came in, and be amazed at all the tiny pieces of plastic they could fit inside the egg shaped canister. these toys, for those of you that don't know, came in tiny little pieces with a sheet of stickers. you would spill the pieces out onto the floor, sit down with them and build it. i am 17 now, so i am no longer a child (sort of) but i still treat myself with kinder surprises. lately, however, the toys i am getting do not have stickers. not only do they not have stickers, they don't even have multiple pieces to assemble. you open up the canister, and out falls a ready made, stickered toy. this is what happened to me today; not once, but twice. oh yes ladies and gentleman, i bought two kinder surprises to avoid the heart ache of a stuffy toy. but instead i got two stuffy toys, so i hacked them; it was a stress reliever. this isn't just me who is scarred by these goings on; i have heard from multiple melbournians who suffer the same soul crushing pain. leave a comment letting me know what silly trivial thing really ticks you off. the childhood version of me is throwing a serious tantrum.
note: bare with me when it comes to this shocking editing and photography. exams are nearly over!

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

emma.

just want to say, i adore the summer skies; the colours of blues and red. went swimming yesterday for the first time this year, shows summer is here. ok enough of my summer lovin', onto what im here to talk about. if you'll refer down a couple of posts you'll see a large dog that looks almost like a sheep. that dog is emma, and the photograph above is also emma. confused? every year when it starts to get warm, she starts to get really hot under that pile of hair. so every year she gets taken off and....sheared (i know its a term for sheep, but they can't get scissors or clippers anywhere near her. now, this hair cut isn't a problem; and although it makes her look funny she also gets utterly pathetic. she mopes around the house like the world is out to get her, and expects cuddle and pats from everyone. its funny to watch her become like a child. yesterday mum took her out for a walk and she got sunburnt. i laughed and she looked like she hated us all for doing these cruel things to her.
note to readers: if anyone is thinking of getting dj hero, you probably should. my brother got it yesterday and its been very distracting to my exam study. it's addictive and has some good remixes.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

happy 7/11 day.

what an utter disaster this was! don't get me wrong, they probably started the day off well, and had enough slurpee to go around. however, when it's a 30 degree day and people know they can get free slurpees, they're going to go and get them. the 7/11 near my house really couldn't cope with this high demand for slurpees. my friend and i walked up to get our slurpees, but were greeted by a very alarming amount of people queuing up out the door. eventually got our slurpees; they were basically liquid and utterly disguising!

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

school daze.

last day of year 11 classes today; it was a good day. walked into school to find the teacher had got us cake, so we had a table covered in chocolate cake; we ate cake for a large majority of the day. can't say i got a lot of work done in class. received my essay on' 2001: a space odyssey' back; did pretty well. the more we study that film, the more i enjoyed it and enjoyed studying the intricate relationship between man and machine. had philosophy last; there was honestly no point being there, could have gone home at lunch. anyway, it was a fun class and we watched you tube videos. sure didn't add to my revision for exams though.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

out of sorts.

i am struggling to make it to the end of this year, more namely school. i have another six exams and i haven't started studying. after biology i have absoloutely no drive to study, and all i want to do is go outside and photograph the world and paint and sketch to my heart's content. i am also in love with gossip girl season 3, almost as in love with this season as i have been with all the others! these shots are quite old, but it was a great shoot with a girl that i am missing a lot at the moment.

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.

another first.

i am full of firsts this week. i sat my first year 12 exam on monday, hence why i have not posted for a week (sorry!). not only that, but the other night there was lightning, and i knew that i had to go to bed because i needed sleep for the exam, but my photographers side raced downstairs, grabbed my tripod and my camera and started snapping away. now, for those of you who have shot lightning, im sure you have tips and tricks (welcome to let me know in the comments), but i am an amateur at lightning photography and had not much of an idea what i was doing. i simply snapped and snapped and snapped. i got one, and the result is above. it's nothing too focussed or anything, but it was exciting to get my first lightning shot. the other shot leaves alot to be desired and covered in noise, but there's a small yellow flash of cloud down in the bottom to the left. i don't know what it is, but it was flashing all night. in life news, it feels fantastic to have my exam done, and to know summer is the next thing im looking forward to. thanks for everyone's patience while ive been away studying hard!

jusqu'à la prochaine fois.