Natural Bliss

Jess & Kirst

Kirsty

Jess

Young & In Love

Young Love

Apologies for the very long dry spell - exams and the stress attached have ruled life for a while :). Here is an overdue blog post. Its title, Young & In Love, comments two things. Firstly it comments on how children are being forced to grow up long before their time, being exposed to social media, technology and other various things which rapidly increase their mental ages. Secondly it comments on the simplicity of love and how it can take you at any age and these young relationships are important and are foundations to future ones.

Scenic

Country Road

Flora Silhouette

Duck's Pond

These photographs were taken in different locations. The first, and my personal favourite, was taken on a road leading to a lighthouse in Morgan's Bay. I took this photo and used the sepia setting because it just reminded me of an old country road. The second photograph, the silhouette, was taken in Durban. The "Duck's Pond" photograph was taken in a little area on the beach of Kei Mouth known as Duck's Pond.

Mosaic

Damian

This picture was taken of a young boy who has, as one can see, two different colours in one iris. This is a rare and rather amazing condition known as heterochromia iridis. According to Susan Gross,  co-director of the Division of Reproductive Genetics at the Montefiore Medical Center, this is caused by different levels of melanin in the eye. There are other causes but this is the most common. People with two different coloured eyes are called Chimera's, Mosaic's or Cerebro. It is a rare phenomenon that really is something amazing to see. The full article on why this occurs can be found at this link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-does-someone-get-two

Come Home

This little girl oh how she’s grown
And I’ve had to do it on my own
And when her dreams have turned bad
There’s no one there no mom or dad
To see her through those scary nights
No one to make sure I’m alright, oh no

Oh mom and dad please come home
I can’t do this on my own
I’m sitting here, I’ll wait forever
Just to see your faces, one more time
Oh mom and dad please oh please
Come home

I don’t know why you left me here
A little girl who’s full of fear
I need a mom to love me, a dad to care
I know I’m selfish and unfair
I need to say I’m not angry no, no

Just mom and dad come and fetch me

Oh mom and dad please come home
I can’t do this on my own oh no
I’m sitting here, I’ll wait forever
Just to see your faces one more time
Oh mom and dad please oh please
Come home

I don’t know what I did to deserve this
I tried my best to make you care
But my efforts were a waste oh
Because you’ve never been there

Oh mom and dad please come home
I can’t do this on my own oh

I’m sitting here, I’ll wait forever
Just to see your faces one more time
Oh mom and dad please oh please
Come home, oh, oh

Oh mom and dad please come home
I can’t do this on my own
I’m sitting here, I’ll wait forever
Just to see your faces one more time
Oh mom and dad please oh please
Come home

This song was inspired by recent events that occurred in a friends life. This person is very special to me and I do not mean any offense by what I have written. This song is meant to show parents how it feels when they leave their child. This can cause a ripple effect that can create serious damage.  The song is about a young girl who was left alone by her parents and how, even though she feels abandoned, all she wants is to tell them that she is not angry with them and that she wants them to come home so that they can be a family.

Pulitzer Prize Winner 1994

Starving

This photograph was taken by Kevin Carter and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1994. I decided to add this photograph to my blog because of the powerful message that it sends. It shows that photography can have a huge impact on its viewers. This picture is of a starving child during a famine crawling toward a food camp roughly one kilometer away. The vulture behind is waiting for the inevitable so that it can eat. Kevin Carter took the photograph and left the child there. There is much debate about whether this was by choice or not, however, Kevin Carter killed himself not long after winning the Pulitzer. There is much literature showing final words from his suicide note that claimed he suffered from depression. I have chosen not to add this here because the photograph should tell all that needs to be said. Walking away from this would definatey break a human spirit and it is important to know that while we all sit comfortably there is this type of pain going on in the world.

Kei Beach River

River Tree

Wooden Bird

Lost

Below the Surface

These photographs were taken in Kei Mouth. At the beach there is a bridge that crosses a small river and the setting was so beautiful. I decided to use the sepia setting because there is no other way to get that aged look in a photograph better than using sepia. A colour photograph is nice but it would be missing that look. The first photograph is a tree that was growing out of the bank of the river and half of its trunk was completely submerged by the water. The "Wooden Bird" photograph shows a little bird sitting on the log, this bird was exactly the same colour as the log on which it was sitting and didnt move until I reached about a meter from it. The lost photograph is meant to depict a young boy who's parents had left him behind and now he is waiting for them to return. It shows the blind faith that young children have in their parents and how this creates the basis for all trust in ones life.

Greek Goddesses

Photo 5 - Jess Black and White

Photo 4 - Kirsty Black and White

Photo 3 - Jess

Photo 2 - Kirsty

Photo 1 - Jess & Kirsty

In this photo shoot I tried to go with a Greek goddess theme. The outfits were made with a white sheet and the colours were a material called chiffon. It was not easy to get the whole thing to stay together. The models hair is a messy organized because in the old days the goddesses hair was not perfectly kept. It was also lank difficult to create a backdrop. Smoothing it out was such a mission so I decided that the crinkled look kinda suited the unorganized hair. The first two photographs are rather big so they may appear stretched, but just click on the photo to open it properly and it will be in perfect proportions.

The Beach

Tide on Rocks

Breaking Waves

Spraying Seawater

Solitary Strelitzia

These photographs were taken at the Double Mouth Beach. Double Mouth is a small camping site where teenagers love to go and party. I am a huge fan of the beach and the ocean so any photographs of the two would fall under a must have. The strelitzia photograph was a random one. In the bush that met the sand there was one strelitzia standing on its own. It was the strangest thing, not one other single strelitzia as far as the eye could see. That made this picture all the more better to have. The colours stuck out and caught all our attention walking on the beach.

Photoshoot - Innocence

Part 1 - Jessica

Part 2 - Kirsty

I like to play around with the thought nudity and use it to emphasize things. I find that nudity, when used constructively, can portray the directness of an emotion. In these photographs I tried to use the nudity and the black and white imagery to show a feeling of loss. The picture is meant to portray a young girl who has suffered some form of loss, is feeling bleak - hence the black and white - and is now holding onto her blanket for comfort.

Karma

Karma is like water drops
They can be one of two
Helpful, growing food and crops
Or destructive, this is true

Water drops can help to grow
Everything in one's sight
Yet a flood of water drops
Can cause such ghastly plight

The difference between these two
Is how you live your life
Live it well and do much good
And live without a strife

Make a choice for your own gain
And watch the rain begin
Torrential pours will destroy
As much as everything

So make your choices wisely
And think before you do
‘Coz if you make good choices
They’ll triple unto you

This poem was inspired by the Rede. It is a belief that whatever you do will return to you threefold. I like to believe that Karma is a real thing, a spiritual way of punishing people who have done wrong or who have been selfish. I am aware that this poems content and structure does not go far beyond the simple message that it portrays and it does not have much to decipher, but this was my point. I did not want to write a long poem that's meaning is hidden. Karma is out there for everyone to see, it is simple, so I made the message of this poem much like that. I tried to keep seven syllables in the first and third lines, with the exception of stanza 3 because it is showing the difference between the two, so it is eight syllables. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are 6 syllables each. Let me know what you think.

Maritzburg Birds

Posing bird

Bird of Chance

Cranes in Love

Sleeping Swan

Purity

Peaked Interest

Catatonic

The photographs in this post were all taken in Maritzburg. I went to stay with a friend there during the holidays and we went to the zoo. There I saw these beautiful birds. The Yellow budgie was such a poser and kept coming closer to the camera and then walking away, turning and coming back as if he was posing. The little bird on the roof was a lucky shot. We were looking at the lions and as I turned I saw the bird and I just had to have a picture. I took the crane shot because it genuinely looked as though they were mates, the way the standing crane looked after the one on the floor. The swan pictures just reminded me of purity once I had edited the black and white. The last picture with the caption "Catatonic" was called this because this bird just stayed in that position the whole time we were at the zoo. These are just the birds that I took photos of and more will come soon.

Torrential Downpour

A torrential pour hath broken out
And the leaves begin to dance
Not a breath of wind to stir them
Though they celebrate this chance
 
The little leaves filled with joy
Are bursting at the sight
Of the droplets which from the sky
Fall with all their might
 
Pink and purple flowers hide
Beneath the covers of the leaves
The rats and mice, the cats and dogs
All cower beneath the trees
 
But at the height of these great stems
The branches begin to spread
Catching every drop that falls
Without an ounce of dread
 
The animals begin to move
From the cover from up above
And in one tree on the highest branch
Sits one pure white dove
 
Nature finally accepting fate
Without worry, without strife
Everything upon this land
Enjoying the drops of life

This poem was inspired by an unexpected downpour of rain at Rhodes. I looked out of my residence window and saw the rain coming down and the effect it had on the trees and animals that were caught off-guard. So I decided to write a poem about it.

Photoshoot 1

Photo 1 - Damian

 Photo 2 - Jessica

Photo 3 - Kirsty

The setting in which these photographs were taken was found by chance. I was walking on the beach in Kei Mouth and saw the graffiti on the wall. The graffiti was placed perfectly to be a background for a subject, so I decided to use three subjects. In these photographs I decided to play around with sepia as I am by no means a professional photographer. Let me know what you think.

First of its kind

I am a 20 year old, South African, Rhodes University student. My family is made of me, my younger sister, my mother and my father. I am currently completing my second year in the Grahamstown university and am doing a Bachelor of Arts. I have always been a creative person and decided that I shall create this blog to post a variety of things such as photography, poetry, some of my drawings and other bits and pieces. I want this blog to be informal so please feel free to comment on anything you find interesting. Please, one favour, if someone enjoys something that I have posted you may save it but no plagiarism, the work on here is mine and I want to keep it that way!