Ffoto Week 08.02.10

1. A London adventure... but where are the snaps? My midweek capital adventure was more purposeful than usual so there are fewer photos than you might expect. In fact, all I saw of London was the odd flash out of Paddington station doorways as I made my way towards the Bakerloo line and a quick glimpse on either side of an Elephant and Castle pedestrian underpass. I was there to visit the London College of Communication's postgraduate open day. I had a good poke around the facilities and met up with the fantastic librarian Leila who is responsible for collating the library zine archive. It's an amazing resource bringing together original 80's Riot Grrrl publications to graphic design projects from current students. I was lucky enough to be offered a private tour and jotted down a long list of zines I'm going to track down.

2. The postcards I ordered to promote my hair & beauty photography website, ELEANORJANEHAIR, arrived from Moo and they're awesome! I bought several books of stamps and spent an entire afternoon addressing and stamping and being a geek who enjoys administrative tasks.

3. In the studio this week I've been photographing new products from The Flower Stork. If you've not heard of them already, The Flower Stork make adorable new baby gifts and are mostly known for their popular baby clothes bouquets. My favourite products are these little cupcakes (made of a pair of baby socks rolled up in a re-usable sillicone baking case) or, if you're feeling super generous, a celebration baby cake containing lots of new baby essentials and presented as a cluster of rosebuds wrapped up in a sugary pink fleece. Cute! The most impossible to resist though have been the new Lindt chocolate bouquets. My studio is rammed with them!

Comments

[Sarah]

Eleanor.

I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch much lately (life business being a bit intense and crazy and stuff) but I'm so out of the loop with everyone and one-by-one I'm trying to make better contact and get back in there.
So, LCC then? Are you thinking of doing the postgrad there? You prob know that's where I did my BA in Photography and LOVED (seriously L.O.V.E.D.!.!.!) everyone millisecond of it. I'm also thinking of taking my Masters next year and I'll prob apply for LCC again - RCA is my first choice, but it's so tough to get in (the only reason I'm applying is my friend who got a lower grade in her BA at LCC at the same time as me managed to get into RCA last year, so it's worth a try I guess). Sorry to ramble, but like I said, I want to get back in touch and hear all your business - maybe I should have sent this by email?

Loving your blog and all your photos. You are great.

x

PS- I'm making a long awaited, har har, links list on my blog and I'll be sure to get you linked up. Ok ok? xo

[Eleanor Jane]

Hey Sarah,

No worries :) You've been having fun in Texas - I know where I'd rather be!

I have a friend on the MA Photography course at RCA and did consider it but I'm not so keen anymore. Not so sure what put me off but I guess it's not really my scene. It seems a little... stuffy?! But then again, after my visit to LCC last week I'm in two minds about that college too! Who knows where I belong?! I need to get myself back to America, make something raw and real... realise what the hell I'm doing with my artwork again.

What did you enjoy about LCC? Any downsides? Fill me in on EVERYTHING!

Oh & my links section went a bit wrong a while back. Steph fixed it for me but I think I still need to add you (& a couple of other people) back. Blog maintenance... pffft!

x

[Sarah]

Ah, unfortunately Texas didn't go so well. I am back in Belfast, I came home early. The boy and I - well, it didn't work out so well. I will fill you in privately soon once I figure stuff out. Thankfully I still had Katy to keep me sane. I am only back here for 5 weeks though and then I'm headed back to Florida for the Spring. I've been having a tough time lately and the cameras don't get touched for fun, just for work (and I have never posted my work online because it's boring tbh), so the Spring/Florida should end my 16 month non-work photo hiatus. You know what it's like working fulltime as a photographer, you can spend everyday taking photos, but you forget to be a photographer for YOU.

LCC, ah, well....I should say, as much as I loved it - it seemed to be very 50/50 (half of the class loved it, half didn't). I liked the close knit environment that it had which I didn't see in any of the other colleges. I also always felt very accepted in it and it wasn't too arty farty. I was accepted into Camberwell also, but LCC sealed the deal for me because Camberwell lost my application twice and LCC were much more accomodating for me. A big draw for me was the emphasis on critical studies. I know this isn't for everyone, but I absolutely love the critical side of photography (the history of photography, contemporary studies, journalism, writing about photography, reading about it...). Naturally there were a few downsides in that I felt the BA was very geared towards third year and the proper attention wasn't given to 11st & 2nd year students, but then that's just with the BA (and prob the same in most places).
I'm honestly trying to think of more faults, but I really did love it. It just fitted me and I had the happiest years of my life there. Not all of the tutors were great, but most were fantastic (like anywhere, you've gotta take the good and the bad). The facilities were awesome - amazing medium format neg scanners which I spent 3 years using most days, ha (though you have to be really pushy to book out the colour darkrooms and the digital suite).
I can't think what else....ummm....
I guess if you have any specific questions just shoot, I'd be more than happy to help you.

We can keep eachother updated and sane on the process, yes?

xx

PS - Don't worry about the link, I've been doing my links list for months, haha. I jeep promising I will get it up (I will! I will!).