Brrrr can you feel the cold??!? I have to remind myself to not be a pussy and harden up. I have been in Auckland for a year now and I have to remind myself that cold winters days here were like hot Autumn days in Christchurch.. Oh the years of living in student flats where you never had crisp paper and you would burn anything for warmth.

Not to mention sleeping with a
sheepskin underlay
a blanket
flannelette sheets (thats just the bottom)…
Another sheet
sleeping bag
old duvet inner
winter duvet
and a blanket.

And sleeping in your
down jacket
with your hoodie on and up
and also a beanie.

Clutching as many hot water bottles that you could afford.
And wearing every pair of socks you owned.

Auckland you are def not that BRRRRRRRRRRR.

Since it has been awhile since I did a post I thought I would just bunch them all together in a winter update…

First up..

UNI

It’s no secret that I have been struggling with this. Mainly due to lack of self esteem. Silly really and I know I will be kicking myself soon! But I have been making work and making stuff that I am really proud of. We had crits last weekish and I had a really good time listening to my group questioning my work. They asked some really interesting questions of my work and provided me with a lot of options so I am really excited to try some of them out ahead of my mid year submission.

Here are my images I put up for my crit (Sorry about the quality, these are snaps off my phone)

And because I have a few curious friends out there.. here is the room where all the magic happens, the colour darkroom. YAY!

Next up..

Collecting and Idea Hunting

It’s not a major secret to most of my nearest and dearest but aside from photography I love to make things. I have always been a hoarder of any kind of accessories and also making them but lately this has turned into something bigger. I have started to love fashion blogs, spesh DIY ones and they have inspired me to make MORE to potentially turn it into something.. You know like a label or a nice weee earner. Who knows. The only down side to this is I suppose it is eating away at all of my uni resources haha!

Here are my lastest purchase from the lovely Katie at Sweet Lama Suplies all the way from Argentina!

and I also added to my stash a selection of huge washers and nutts. I have always loved industrial looking things mixed with pretty and colourful things

Lastly, I did my first attempt at dip dying or in this case dip bleaching… A few more goes and I should have it down!

And last but not least..

FUTURE THOUGHTS

As much as I am loving have this time to be able to get stuck into my art, I can’t help but feel that I am still going no where. I have all these awesome people around me that are getting stuck into a career. I want that. Buuuut the career I want is a little harder to crack. Its also the $$ side of things. Being a student in Auckland is HARD! So one side of me is wanting to get back to earning (which means less time for art) and the other side of me wants to either finish off my masters or go onto studying something else maybe secondary or primary teaching or graphic design… so many OR’s on that side of me!!!! But I have a little time on my side to decide what I think is best. At the end of the day, you gotta live you life they way you think you can get the most out of it, so I suppose thats where I need to start.

When I read back at these kind of blog posts I can hear the tone in my voice not be so enthusiastic as it usually is. WHAT THE HELL!!!??! I pretty much have nothing to be a sad sack about. Just gotta wrap up, eat up and live it up. Winter, we have never really been friends. I can hear summer calling my name already!

Come onnnnnnnn

I am craving a little (I am actually spoilt for love, but a little more is always AWESOME!)

Love

lots of WARM

Sunshine

and oodles of

Happiness!

Now go get and have yourself an awesome long weekend.

xHx

Tonight I trundled off down to the back of our jungle of a garden to snap some pickies for the base images of my photograms and I had heaps of fun.

I am in love with trees. The are so awesome! And at night they are even better, they cast these crazy shadows, only let snippets of light through and they also remind me of monsters. As a kid I have vivid memories of driving home late at night from my Aunty and Uncles farm house and being so so so scared of the trees. And you know when you drive past things fast and you concentrate super hard the go even more crazy and scary looking.. blah blah blah.. Anyways so thats the idea to find freaky things in the shadows of the trees and bushes (not in a yucky kinda way). So I did these base pics and also did a couple of no enlarger photograms, using Mr Moonlight, my flash, the trees and some crazy masks. Not too sure how these will turn out since colour darkroom paper is super sensitive but its worth a shot.

Anyways here is my fave base image. I spent ages working on creating the white patch at the top. NO PHOTOSHOPPING HERE PEOPLE. Just a little imagination and on to it thinking (even if I do say so myself) of noticing things that were going on while I was taking the first shots. I hope they work with all my other bits and pieces…

Hope you are all having a good weekend so far!
I am feeling rather productive tonight so I might just stay up for a bit and run off this energy.
Have an awesome Sunday :)

L.S.H

xHx

CLICK HERE
for The 2012 Visual Diary

Please excuse the quality, this image was taken on my phone. Soz.

I now have a set of ideas for the next phase so just hanging out till next Monday so I can get stuck in again.
I am also going to experiment with some other fun photogram ideas but I will reveal those details when/if it works!

All the best for the rest of the week!

It’s pretty yucky at my end of the earth so I hope someone out there is getting their dose of

Love

Sunshine

Happiness

xHx

CLICK HERE
for The 2012 Visual Diary

The Third Eye is the place up on infamous K’ Road and they have an awesome array of everything I love. Easy to wear and pretty clothes, funky, raw and unique jewellery, beautiful scarfs and blankets.

And for a person born and raised in a place that breads hippies this is the next best thing (and a lot cheaper!) to me getting on a plane and heading home.

Floral Barcelona Pants
Bangle with Inlay Metal Beads 

I luuuuuuuuuurve the pants! I have been wanting them for awhile and at that price I will more than happily live off noodles for a week to have them. I have been obsessed to say the least with Thai Fishermans Pants for years so these are a nice addition to my easy to wear range.

With having a second look at the image I made of my purchases, I really like these harsh metals with the black and the florals. IDEA! ZZZZIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!

I hope you are all set for a good weekend, again I am working, but HEY somethings gotta pay for the pants!

Enjoy!

Love

Sunshine

Happiness

xHx

Today I was ment to be doing something I have been amped to do, get stuck into the colour darkroom, but I am so pooped! And lets also chuck it out there that this rain we have been having didn’t really help. At least I know I have a nice view.. even if I am stuck inside for a bit!

BUT yesterday I did get some mail loving, I have been busy slowly buying up stock for a wee side project that I am going to be getting my teeth into over the winter hols. And I finally got some fabric from Argentina! I have always been obsessed with colour and I am so stoked to see these colours and patterns coming into fashion. I cannot wait to use them, just gotta match them with the right bits and pieces.. Im thinking gold square studs, gold eyelets, black leather….

I love Etsy mail! Every package I have received has cute wee notes like this lovely ‘Thank You!”, it just makes me smile.

Hope you are all having a good week so far!
Today other than just enjoying the nothing for a bit I am going to be going to a film developing refresher.. YUS!

Keep up the smiles..

Love

Sunshine

Happiness

xHx

It is the start of MAKING AND CREATING  a whole pile of stuff that has been in my noggin, waiting to be made.

So rightly so the things on my wish list this week are… beads and fabric.

#1 Matte Metallic Aztech Czech Fire Polish Beads in Copper – Always loved metallics that look rough rather than over polished.
#2 Mixed Colour Skull Stone Beads – I am always on the hunt to DIY things I find to expensive but love (who isn’t?!).. NZ designer Misty Lang has bracelets with these suckers on for $65. Why not DIY these and make your own and while youre at it, share the love for only $5.60nz.. Why not!?
#3 Vintage Leather in Cerise Pink – Love ze colour!
#4 24k Gold Greek Triangle Beads – LOVE LOVE LOVE!

My other thing I am going crazy for at the moment is fabrics
I am in love with the colours, the print and the rich cultural heritage behind them.
I have just purchased both of these and cannot wait to work with them and turn them into SOMETHING… AWESOME!

So in my last VD post I told you all that I was rather excited to take on a new idea.. And that idea is what I have in my hot little hands.. Or in your case is what you will see in a sec.

Last week was a little nuts and with Anzac Day in the middle it chucked a 3 day spanner in the works. So this week I started a fresh, had finished making stencils and cut outs and off to the darkroom I went to play around with the age old art of photograms.

I feel a tad stupid since my brain didn’t alert me to this earlier.. Maybe it was Anzac Day playing games with my head.. But I was cutting stencils on to opaque paper.. This was the result..
The opaque piece is the one on the left.. What happens in the darkroom people? Light goes through translucent things. DUH!
On a side note -
This image did provide me with some information.. With also saving my bacon by cutting out plain paper images as well I discovered that the ink from the images came through when put under the light.

Now not to give away too many secrets, this was the  final image I made
LAYERS!!!!!!!! I love LAYERS!!!!!!!!
I am so so so so excited! And this is what happens in the darkroom.
A few hours of playing around, a little imagination and thinking outside the box, a hint of problem solving and you have something that you are really proud of.
Take THAT Mr  PHOTOSHOP!
I have always be a photographer that believes in the art of photography. And this is what I am talking about.
Using the techniques of old to create something new.

Passion, love  and art all in one!

I am all booked in for the colour darkroom for next week so that is when (pardon my French) SHIT is gonna get CRAZY!
I cannot wait to mess around with expired papers, expose paper myself and see what happens when these techniques are translated into colour.
AMPED as!!!!

Hope you are all set for a lovely weekend.
I have discovered how poor I am, so off to work ALL weekend I go :( But oh well these are the breaks of a student living in Auckland.

I am also working ALOT on a side project that I have been dreaming off for ages.. I might just have to up the anti and blog twice today hehehe

Anyways over and out
Stay warm all you lovely people

And don’t forget to EMBRACE the

SUNSHINE

as it brings us

HAPPINESS

on brrrr-ey coldish Autum days like this

and wrap yourself up with the ones you

LOVE

Brrrr-ey season is the best time to get your snuggle on!

xHx

CLICK HERE
for The 2012 Visual Diary

]]> http://hayleyrobertsphotography.com/2012/05/04/the-2012-visual-diary-taking-a-stab-in-the-dark-4512/feed/ 0 H R P IMG_0171 IMG_0174 http://hayleyrobertsphotography.com/2012/04/27/anzac-day-2012/ http://hayleyrobertsphotography.com/2012/04/27/anzac-day-2012/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:57:50 +0000 hayleyrobertsphotography http://hayleyrobertsphotography.com/?p=2090 ]]> Me and Anzac Day have always had a close bond. I have always been fond of history, the factors that help us lead our lives as we do today and of course my family makeup.

My fathers side is straight from the UK, fresh off the boat just in time for him to be born. In tow on their adventure to NZ my Grandfather had with him his war medals. These are something that I have forever cherished and have forever been fascinated by. Me and Dad used to try our best to go to dawn service’s every year, and through that I understood although there is sadness on this day to remember those that have fallen and the fight that they fought, it also is a time to remember the friendships forged and to continue to keep these going for many a year even once he had passed. We used to turn up and all his old friends from the RSA would recognise and remember his medals. They would share fond memories of him with my Dad which I know warmed his heart.

This friendship factor is something I now see all so close to home. My nearest and dearest, my fantastic other half is in military now and I could imagine how much a day like Anzac Day would mean to him, to be able to rekindal those friendships and in many cases forge new ones. I really truly had a great time on Anzac day, and to see this tradition in a different light and see old traditions still be carried on is something my Grandfather would be proud to know I was apart of.

I managed to take my camera to the dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial and here is a moment that summed up the morning very well.

Mother and child watching their husband/father march. Magical tear in her eye as the light of the day begins to appear.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

I have..

New ideas

A new vision

and

A new mind set to kick me off on my way.

Off to buy some B&W darkroom paper for some testers and then get making.

The tasks for the week..

#1 Cutting up little tiny bits of paper and making negative sized stories…

#2 Montaging in the darkroom with images and photograms.

A little scared about that last one since my supervisor is a PRO at it…

WATCH THIS SPACE.

Happy Monday everyone! x

I never thought I would fall in love with photography even more than when I did the first time I used a darkroom.

But yesterday I got to make a print in the colour darkroom.

Yes chemicals and all, heaps of test strips later, bit of magenta here, little yellow there. LOVE!

We have a really fantastic photography technician at Uni and I am so grateful for that. I am learning so much and his passion of ANALOG photography just rubs off on to you.

So…. for all my friends that are super interested in the process it really is pretty simple, just a little more time consuming. It is  a very similar processing to the darkroom except the chemicals have to be constantly warm so its a machine rather than trays that you are working with. The safe light is super dim so you are practically working in the dark and once you have an image you use a bunch of colour sheets of transparency to decide on if you need to add our subtract magenta, cyan or yellow. After flicking through them all and going for a “fish” as Darren likes to call it, you head back in change it up and test away again.

This process of deciding whats colours to subtract and what looks most real and best has really changed my thought process and way of looking at and taking images.
Even in photoshop, I now have a better understanding of colour correction and why if you do that, this will happen.

I am really excited about the new term and cannot wait to get making on Monday. I have just got to get me some paper for the B&W darkroom so I can have a good experiment with the idea first. And then we are AWAY!!!!

The only downside is the cost, but I am lucky enough to have a group of 5 of us sharing so the cost sting isn’t so stingy.
Once my image is dry, I will post it up :)

Hope you are all set for a good weekend, I am getting puppy cuddles so I am a tad bit excited!
Here he is.. My Paki. Such a happy dog!

L.S.H

x