cooler magazine

Photographed by Katie Cox, styled by Sarah Michelle, styling and photographer assistant me, Helen Williams. Location Regent's Canal.

education in the arts

In Vice Student Guide 2010, Jamie Lee Curtis Taete says "Doing a degree in photography is a gigantic, expensive, pointless scam." and "You will spend three years learning how to "read" photos while unqualified, failed photographers attempt to give you career advice." This makes me question the value of arts degrees these days. To me, work experience is of equal value, and perhaps even more, and if you're in a good position to gain experience in the industry, would going to uni be necessary? This is the dilema I'm in right now.

cooler magazine

Photographed by Katie Cox, styled by Sarah Michelle, styling and photographer assistant me, Helen Williams. Location Regent's Canal.

you can read my alibi

Diana f+ photo using red scale film, taken in Alibi club, Dalston, London

what do i want to do with my life?

Photoshoot went well today, Danii and I were in the forest for about an hour until it started raining so we headed indoors. I dressed Danii in my vintage clothes and photographed her in her home environment, looking comfortable and content. I'll process the pictures and upload them here.

too many layers

restricted within

mark borthwick

A technique photographer Mark Borthwick uses to create his bright, dreamy like photos is after he has taken a photo on his film camera, he opens the back to expose the light to the 35mm film for a second before windng it on. Sounds crazy to me, but he must have practiced it enough to know what is the right amount of time to create the effect he wants.

This photo seems so peaceful to me, it's a beautiful landscape to relax in and read a book, like the model is doing. I've planned a photoshoot day with my friend Danii to take place in the woods, I'm going to bring my tent and we're going to take camping fashion photographs, I'm looking forward to it. :)

just stuff

'Last your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved' Psalm 55:22

What does a burden look like? Does my photo of Lara with the rubbish piled on top of her help to answer that question? Maybe, maybe not.

We gather so much stuff, physically and in our minds; thoughts upon thoughts, opinions upon opinions, it can become unhealthy. Stuff of the past, dark areas of your life, etc. What does the Psalm passage say about our burden? Give it to God. People do pray, and I don't think people see it as an abstract thing. When some people are in desperate situations, I do believe they will pray or think about praying...

And God can give you peace, rest, He can carry your load. And I've witnessed this, honestly, this is the truth. Jesus says:

'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.'

triptych

another photo of lara

A photo I took on holiday this summer. I haven't really had time for art projects, as I have been working at my church now. I have been on this journey though, organising, planning, researching, all in an office! But yeah talking about God, talking about the youth ministry, how can we make it better? How shall we get them to question this in the Bible? As the youth we are reading the Bible in a year.. what a challenge! We're meeting every week to encourage eachother, and it's great, they are asking questions and talking about what they have read...

I'll try to get more photos, I need to... for me as well as for you :)

Whitstable, photos of Lara taken with my Diana f+ camera. A camera that gives unexpected results, as the viewfinder does not look through the lens. A selection of single exposure and double exposure. I had the 35mm film proccessed only and scanned the images onto my computer, and this works out a lot cheaper than getting the images printed at the lab.

Since finishing my foundation course I have a lot of spare time in my hands and have experimented a little with photography. I have two underwater film cameras to use on my holiday this week and have 120 film loaded in my Diana camera for the summer. I have recently been accepted by the members of Pembury Baptist Church as the role of youth ministry intern, which I am rather excited about using my different skills to help the young people grow in thier faith. So I now have five weeks of holidays and festivals to enjoy... and you can see my photos later on!

x

Photographed and Styled by Helen Williams

my favourite places to go in london

rough trade east

cafe 1001, brick lane

truman brewery on sundays

the city arts & music project

viktor wynd's the last tuesday society

broadway market (vintage clothes stall)

wilkinson gallery

st helens church

weatherspoons, liverpool street station

magma, clerkenwell road

leather lane market (magazine stall)

lomography gallery shop

the photographer's gallery

h&m, camden town

stratford picture house

throwaway

Our culture has been described as that of a throwaway one, where we chuck things out nearly as soon as we buy it. Buying something, using ir for a short while, throwing it away, buying something... A never ending circle. Perhaps habits we cannot get out of, or try not to. Things building up in our houses, in bins, in landfills, becoming a burden. We try filling our lives with what we think satisfies us, only to leave us more empty, wanting more and more. In my photographs I represent the building up process, and the more objects that pile on, the more hunched my model becomes. The photos will be presented in a carousel of a slide projector so once we have seen the process, it is repeated again and again, reflecting our culture.

thoughts

Is there any point?
Has science buried God?


... is the title of the upcoming evangelistic event at Central Saint Martins :)
Posters are up, the venue is booked and the speaker is ready to do this.

I'm really excited to see what God has planned for this night, and who will come and what they will want to discuss.

I have been editing my film today and also got my slides back from processing, they turned out well which is good (this is the second try). Next week is my deadline and my exhibition is in mid June. My time in London is slowly coming to an end, and it's very sad. I'm going to miss the people at St Helens as I've become really settled there. I know that I need to be doing something different next year, and God willing this will happen. I have applied for two youth internships, one at a church and another as part of a youth ministry team for a town.

a shell of a person

This is Joanie, with paper plate 'shells' on her.

A shell can be the hard covering of an egg or nut.

A shell can be the hard protective covering on the back of a tortoise, snail or crab.

A shell can be the frame or a building or other structure

A shell is the external proctective or enclosing cover. Like a house, that holds our belongings and protects our lives. This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:7 "We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows the great power is from God, not from us." Here we as human beings are described as shells, that hold God's belongings and treasure. This sounds so much better and amazing than the stuff that we accumilate throughout our lives. If you have read earlier posts, you would know that my project is about consumption, stuff, things that in the end could become a burden on us, or obsessions. But comparing our bodies as shells like in the 2 Corinth passage, it is a much more exciting concept, actually better than a concept, because it is true.

rubber dress

My latest experiment using rubber gloves. Pretty cute dress I think...

initial ideas

I am sitting in my room listening to beach house and painting in my sketchbook. As you know I'm on my last project on my Foundation course, and Joanie and I still want to create a costume. It is going to be of objects, household, etc on the body and becoming a burden on the person wearing them, we have decided to film this on a beach, linking to the idea of survival, and needing food and equipment to survive.

I had a relaxing Easter holidays (too relaxing I think) and it gave me plenty of time to think about what I want to do. I will let you know more about this later.

In the mean time, I am going to an interview soon for another art publication internship. Then Joanie is coming round and we are just going to experiment with objects we have.

AnOther magazine

http://www.anothermag.com/exclusives/marioncotillard

AnOther's own performance of actress Marion Cotillard.

Am in their office right now doing research and thought I'd post here. I'm learning alot about Macs and obviously the magazine environment and it's very inspiring, I've actually had an email back from another magazine I had contacted, Next Level about a possible internship.

I can see myself doing this again next year but am also interested in going to Berlin or somewhere, especially to see a city's Biennale or Triennial.

Meeting Joanie tomorrow and we're going to watch A Clockwork Orange (I know) and Pan's Labyrinth for our project, and start being productive!

regents canal

bodily forms

I was at the National Theatre Costume Store today and check out this outfit! I was playing with bulbous forms attatched to the body and also a cage giving it a hard edge. I wore a tight corset underneath too, it hurt a bit.. So here is the photo of the day.

Looking forward to my internship with AnOther magazine this week. Also really enjoyed the Dazed & Confused party I went to on Thursday, especially when I wasn't on the guest list, mwhuahauaha...

Really tired from my trip to Bristol, was good to see old friends and party inside in the warm. Then again it is getting a bit warmer here in England.. which I like :)

Saw a new member come to CU as she had seen the posters woop. We had our last one on Thursday for the Easter holidays. At the moment though I need to organise a date for the God Vs Science talk that will probably happen in May.

Need to do more work on my proposal, see you later.x

flesh tones

This is definitely already inspiring my thoughts for my current project, it's by Lucy and Bart. Check them out on http://www.lucyandbart.blogspot.com/ it's all about blogspot at the mo. Anyway, Joanie and I have been talking about restriction of movement of the body in a form of conceptual costume.. interesting stuff, and I just got back from Eva Hesse's Studio works exhibition, so I'm all in the 'let's go all organic' vibe.. Also i'm seeing a theme, I saw tights in a group exhibition from MA Wimbledon students at The Nunnery on Bow road (Another exhibition I have literally just got back from, part of Time Out First Thursdays where galleries in east london open later on the first thursday of every month.. nice chilled atmosphere, and the wine helps).

Yeah so in this piece called Coffee Rains, the artist Dari Bae hung nude colour tights from hangers on string from the ceiling. Coffee had been stuffed into the tights, so it weighed down the legs, some further than others, and there was a very strong coffee smell as you could imagine. I felt like coffee may fall on my head, but like the mounds fallen onto the floor, and the effect of the stained and ripped tights.

So do I copy these people and go with tights? Of course not, what would be the fun in that! I take the idea of tights and extend it further... so like femininity, idea of concealing something, tightness, being trapped, etc. The trapped one is interesting because in the Book of Sand, the character finds himself trapped phycologically by the presence of the surreal and living book, which does not have a beginning nor an end. So Joanie and I took this idea back to the costume and the body, and thought of creating something that would restrict movement. Being trapped in it. Physcologically or physically? Only time can tell...

Yay yay Chris Coldfield a staff work for UCCF can do the talk on God Vs Science! He just needs to know dates and times which we need to organise, hurrah hurrah. So excited about this, have never organised an event before but I know I'm not on my own.

It was such a nice sunny day today! I walked from Hackney to Angel via Regents Canal, both beautiful and not so beautiful scenery, ha. Really inspiring though, took some photos on my automatic film camera. And I was reading 'Jesus in College' a book Beth leant to me, about a girl who starts up a CU in her college (sounds familiar...) and organising evangelistic events and the ups and downs that go with it. Encouraging story, I am especially encouraged by the event that will happen at University of the Arts London!

Will keep you posted guys.

Helen x

Sooo inspired after CU training weekend. I want to organise with my fellow CU commitee members a talk called GOD VS SCIENCE. Wow.

A UCCF staff worker did this for a London university a couple of months ago and was a good turn out, I'm not susprised. This is huge stuff. And I believe it can challenge and get the attention from students of University of the Arts London. Yeah so this is something I can see us planning for next term!

Starting my new project (MY LAST PROJECT...) now and I am collaborating with Joanie in my class, really looking forward to working with her, she has a particular interest in costume and styling. Our starting point is Book of Sand by Jorge Luis Borges, which is about an infinite ending book, amongst other themes. So we are again at the process of reading the text and withdrawing from it themes and ideas for the project. The project proposal we have to write ourselves, and identify what we want to for the project and what we want to learn.

Also I will be having a one to one with a member of St Helens every week. A one to one is when a maturer christian meets with a younger christian and study the Bible together and discuss christian issues and debates.. Excited about this.

Hope you're all ok, take care. Helen x

Installation view of Tin Can People

Comments are welcome by the way

I saw his face! (Johnny Depp) We heard screaming and then his face at the back of the car, he had his window down, aww! Horrible weather didn't make us stay long though. Really want to see Alice In Wonderland now, in 3D tooooo.

Also visited William Eggleston's exhibition at Victoria Miro as it ends in a couple of days. Mundane but turned interesting stuff. Brilliant documentary photographer.

The FCP (Fashion Communication and Promotion) interview went soo quick today. The tutor asked who my favourite fashion photographer was, I said Corinne Day because of her personal, grungy photographs, such as the photo of her friend dyeing her hair. He also asked about Performance Design and Practice and I mentioned about my current installation, that we will be critting on monday. Will be cool to see everyone's work because we haven't done alot of that recently, and the idea of this foundation year is to bounce ideas off eachother, etc.. Can't say this is happening alot. For my final project I want to collaborate with Joanie who also tried to get onto the FCP course and failed (it is REALLY competitive though), so both of us our interested in fashion and could make interesting work together.

Anyhow, must prepare for my weekend away, chao for now.
Will let you know how it goes too man.

Take care. x

Ok so no Fashion Communication & Promotion degree for me...
Never mind, might take a gap year.. Alice in Wonderland premier tonight :) x
I'm having such a good conversation with this girl called Sam, she's going to come to CU next week.. hurrah.

There is a couple days left of this exhibition, worth going if you enjoy photography with a good sense of humour. KK Outlet is in the nice area in the East End, at Hoxton Square.

Fashion Communication and Promotion interview tomorrow at Central Saint Martins.

Does sound like a degree that would really interest me and keep me focused...
And our christian union are going to see the Alice in Wonderland premier tomorrow at Liecster Square, really excited!

ALSO I am going on a weekend away in Otford this coming friday for UCCF's training scheme for Christian Union leaders which will be teaching that will help me for life. It's really convinient too because I can pop home then my father can drive me there woop. Lois, Catherine and Tessa are going too so I will know them, thankfully. But that sort of thing doesn't really bother me, weekend/weeks away are made to get to know new people in a comfortable surrounding.

Pretty happy with my portfolio, didn't get to print the image from my previous post on tracing paper, that would have looked so good...

Also gutted that I'm not going to see Hot Chip at Brixton this friday (oh, i wouldn't have been able to... Omy gosh so God's plan pieced together there! And I'm not going to work on sunday because a friend is covering my shift hehe). But I did see Chew Lips and New Young Pony Club on monday night as part of the NME awards, I have to say Chew Lips were exceptionally good as a support band, I am slightly biased because I know more of their songs but still. You should check them out if you like experimental dance beats intwined with indie style melodies.

I'll leave you with a photo by me, as always. God bless. x

I am learning alot, especially about myself.

Hey guys been really busy with organising my portfolio for interviews and stuff. This poster I created for the Tin Can People project, overlaying two images on Photoshop.

Went to Broadway market this morning, it is amazing! There are food stalls and a vintage clothes stall and I got the best coat ever, I love it, I got it cheap too :) Wanna go to the Camden Crawl too, fun fun fun..

Also, I may be getting an internship with underground fashion/photography AnOther magazine for a bit in easter holidays, so that's cool!! yah wanna do it.. :)

I'm watching Take Me Out, the modern day dating game show, at home, so apologies if this blog is a bit all over the place! tata for now.. Helen x

Christian Union went well :) was good to see Aram, Lizzy, Natalia, Beth and Luci who turned up. I'm in that phase currently where I am thinking of what to do with my life. I've been looking at visual merchandising vacancies and at art festivals.. hmm...