Ohai!

Procratination, thy name is AArchibald.

I'm so terrible. I've been posting scarcely on my stream as well as taking forever and a day to update my blog.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my US readers! I hope that you're all having a good one!

Yesterday's post was an idea that I have had swimming in my mind for a while. I've always loved the warm amber tones that those curtains cast about the room but I wasn't sure how to capture in a way that would do them justice. The original concept was to appear as though I was shutting stage curtains but when I actually arranged the shot, something better came along.
I had definitely wanted to wear the same dress donned in the shoot. I knew that the trailing bands of fabric would make for an interesting detail. It did trail like a rat tail in some of the outtakes though. :P
I used a short range flash just to brighten my figure in the foreground without actually diminishing the downpour of light through the window. I also faded the bricks in the wall for added effect.
Pretty simple shoot but editing took ages as I wanted to get the colour balance right.
This was the result:





Halloween was about a month ago but it was actually one of the most fun nights that I've had all year. I went to a bar that I used to get sneaked into as a young girl to sing karaoke and then get ushered out. It was great to be back there and actually be allowed inside! Haha! It also came as a surprise that I would even be able to go out for Halloween as I was scheduled to work the night shift but was kindly given it off at the last minute. Since I had to get an outfit together last minute, I remembered the fantastic mask that I purchased a couple weeks prior...a werewolf mask that when strategically angled appeared to be laughing heartily. It had so much character and I fell in love with it. And I don't even like masks!
Anyways, also that week two impressive blouses came into my possession, one an off-white, one purple. The neck line of the white one in particular reminded me of nineteenth century nightgowns for ladies. After being struck by a particularly stunning sunset through my window, I immediately threw on the lighter of the two blouses, set up my camera and jumped through my window to take my Wuthering Heights inspired image, 'Let me Into Your Window'.
This idea had also been gnawing on my conscience so it was ecstatic relief to actually execute it with the perfect background:



Then the following night, clad in both blouses simultaneously I transformed from a lady to a werewolf for my clone image, 'Hush Now it's Our Little Secret'
Pity the purple doesn't show though. :)



Thanks to two lovely hand me downs I was inspired to create two photos, put together a Halloween costume and having a wonderful night with friends.

Inspiration comes in strange packages...

Well I am getting tired and I am wondering if this blog is even coherent! So sorry if it's just coming across as blind ramblings! I'll edit it tomorrow if areas need tweaking!

Always yours,

AArchibald

Ramblings of the Invalid

So...I've been sick a total of five times this 2008. ALREADY!!!
I don't know who I splashed driving on the wet roads to deserve this kind of karmic beating! Haha!

Oh well, I'm full of pills and on the mend.
And trust me...things could be much worse.

I got a lovely message from iwilliamm (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iwilliam/) full of words of encouragement due to my latest blogging rants. His words came as a relief as it diminished my worries that some readers may take my words as personal attacks.
(11:11! *making a wish*)
*ahem*
Yes so thanks very much for that william! You're very kind to me! :)

So today's post was a really simple one taken in my partner's chair pushed up against the wall. I didn't tweak any of the colours to match each other, I just co-ordinated everything before hand. I had actually just done two other shoots before this and decided that while I was on a role I may as well set this one up and go for it.
The hair colour? Yeah that's real too. Some people love it. Some people really don't. :P
Anyways, I've been very busy trying to channel the infant AArchie for a project that I am working on. If I ever finish it I will tell you alllll about it.
So I went with bright, playful colours and a goofy expression for this shot.
Time out was never an issue for me as a kid. I could make friends with the threads in my shorts. Sadly that lead to a lot of time talking to myself...but hey! We rarely argued! :P

So this latest shot is a reflection of that time of imaginative bliss.




The one before was taken the same day and I was sooooo excited about the light that was coming through the Ficus bush. Actually...it's a Ficus tree. It's so overgrown it's delicious!
Anyways so the light was completely inspiring. It took about 30 shots and I had a nice handful of usable images!
I had originally wanted more light on my face but after running through the frames and looking at the available light I decided that the shots where only certain features were highlighted added a mysterious and somewhat mischievous element to the composition. What was so great what that I didn't have to edit a THING! I love it when that happens. :) Sometimes after racing around the yard trying to beat the light and the timer you feel pretty drained and don't always want to sit down to edit. The problem is that I want to edit after a shoot as the concept and directions are still fresh and exhilarating and will spawn the best results while still in the moment. So when it's all there already it's such a fortuitous treat!
Totally inspired by my childhood games, this image has been waiting to happen for ages and I LOVE it. It's definitely a new favourite.
I also love the wee vine creeping up the fence:



There is one particular object in this that was significant in my youth:

The tree in the back is a Wild Tamarind tree and as a girl I used to play with the blossoms for hours. When the blooms are new they look very much like dandelions but once they age, they turn a ginger colour. This of course fascinated me.
I also suspect that they are the reason that my hair is constantly changing between blonde and red! Hahah!

This is actually the second shoot that I've done on that fence but I never used any from the first one. I couldn't get the colours right like I did in this one.
Also, you can't really see, but there is a fabulous ocean view in the background. I'm sure I will include it in another post sometime in the future! :)


So outside of photography, apart from being an incubus of viral plague, things have been good!
I hope that you all can say the same!!

I feel really bad about the amount of sick days that I have taken already for the year. Yes, I really have been sick so it's not like I am abusing the privilege but I feel bad all the same. Maybe I should have a sit down with my boss and talk it out.
Or maybe I should eat more spinach so I can be strong like Popeye.
*tooot toooooot*

I have a wooden pipe somewhere...I could rock that beefcake sailor look right? Right?
Yeah I didn't think so either...

Oh well...back to work.
AArchie signing out and big love to you all!!

<3

AArchibald

The Art of the Tag

So, in light of my post about my disgust with the content of some Flickr accounts I have been carefully moderating my individual photo stats seeing exactly how users get in connection with my images.
I have to say that the Flickr Stats are the best thing that ever happened to my account.
When I first started using my stats it came to my attention, with one significant blow, the nature of the key words that my images were linked to. I know for a fact that none of my photos are tagged with 'sex', 'woman bending over', 'pregnant sex', 'nude teen' etc. yet THOSE were very popular search words that kept coming up in the stats feed.
Naturally I was horrified and would search my tags and groups to see how on earth my images could get mixed up in all of that smut but I couldn't find the connection. It wasn't even an issue of blogs because no one but I can blog my photos. (I also learned that the hard way)

This particular black and white shot kept being linked to the above tags:



There are a good amount of comments on that image but it dawned on me that there were some invites to some objectionable groups posted amongst them. Even though I have never added my images to those groups I wonder if by having those invites sitting in my comment pool could be the reason that this photo was being exposed to so many odd search words so often. It wasn't a one off thing, 'The Art of Sleep' had 'pregnant sex' and the like in it's stats every day!
Anyways, so I hope that by deleting those invites and running through the tags again that this sort of traffic should be cut off.

Also, I'm going to refrain from tagging my photos with various body part names featured as there seems to be a fetish for everything, feet seeming to be a very common ones these days.

Hrm...

Reading everything that I have written above I can see how I must be coming across as a prude so let me defend myself quickly.

I am not against people having fetishes and fantasies and I am in no way trying to rid the world of it. I simply feel that there is a time and a place for everything and Flickr is not one of those places.
Yes, I really hate pornography but I know that it will always be a part of life. That doesn't mean that it has to be a part of MY life so I will pertinaciously push it away.
Flickr is a photography sharing site for amateur to professional photographers to share their work and gain exposure and constructive criticism. It's meant to build up the photographers not discourage them. The amount of photographers that I have seen break down and want to leave Flickr due to numerous men and women leaving them sexually graphic, violent and disgraceful messages and have gone so far as to make them feel as though their lives are genuinely threatened is unacceptable. It doesn't encourage a photographer when their body of work is being reduced to nothing more than someone's fix. It doesn't inspire anything positive and it doesn't enhearten confidence in ability or self. I see this happening a lot with self portrait artists especially. I too have received messages that have given me reason to want to protect myself and this is what I am doing. I no longer wish to be the recipient of words that make me feel violated and angry. I just want to enjoy Flickr photography in peace.

And when I think about it, I have a foot fetish of sorts. I accrue great pleasure from having countless feet between my self portraits and people that are going to use them to tickle their fantasies.
Oh yeah. That makes me feel so good. ;)

Feel free to express your sexuality. However, don't do so in my comments, tags or flickr mail. Get it?
Oh well.

Anywhoo, another Saturday in the office. I'm looking forward to getting out of here in six hours.
I have one more photo to share from the shoot that I did last Monday so I have my camera at the ready in case something exhilarates my creativity. Sadly not even my cafe latte has exhilarated me much today. Oh well...maybe I'll stumble into some nice lighting or something.
I'd really like to do a shoot of my partner but the trick is getting him to sit still while I try! Haha!

It's quite a pretty day actually! A little grey but pretty all the same. I need to run down to the office supplies shop in a moment to pick up a folder for my notes on my short story book that I really hope I can manage to complete!
I'll have some time to work on more notes tomorrow night. Hurrah.
It's always nice when you have a nifty note folder to put your ideas in. Hehe. Perhaps I will do that now.

Well...nothing else to report. You have a great weekend!!

AArchibald
x

The late-late-late blog!

"Can you hear the drums, Fernando?"

That song has been stuck in my head today. Always a nice one to have around. ;)


These days I have been on a bit of a writing rampage what with my blogging and my work on mapping out some short stories that have been in my brain pool.
Okay so my blogging doesn't REALLY count but it's still a plus!
I wouldn't call myself much of a writer, yet it's a dream of mine to complete a book of my own. Recent evaluation has lead me to believe that I'd do better at attempting a collection of short stories before an actual novel. Best to start slow it seems. ;)


Today's photo was originally supposed to be edited with a texture but after lots of CS3 noodling I felt that a simpler, mild light enhancing edit would suffice.
I'm one to lean towards minimum processing for images when possible but because of my insufficient command of the actual photography side I find myself having to depend on my edit to create the image in mind. I'm happy to say that for this shoot I had captured almost precisely what I had imagined so very little processing was executed!
In my defense, ever since my G9 fell into my lap my photography comprehension has vastly increased (going from zilch to handfuls :p) so I feel confident that these sort of occurrences are becoming more than mere coincidence. :)
Oh but I did darken the door to make it look more dramatic. The door in the original image was rather light.



This image 'Purgatory' reflects strongly of past years that I've spent in waiting. What was I waiting on you ask? Everything.
To give you a little insight on the topic, for me, it reproduces that feeling of empty anticipation, to wait on everything and nothing at the same time, because time has been on a stand-still for such an extended period that you submit to accepting your life as a permanent state of purgatory.
Melodramatic? Perhaps.
Maybe I feel with an unhealthy intensity. Maybe times actually were that bad. Whatever it was, observe it's echo.

As for the additional image in my post; my landlady's puppies decided that they wanted to contribute so they stampeded in on the frames and knocked me about, resulting in some very funny outtakes. My favourite being the one below:



I'm quite happy with the way that this shoot went. I have one more possible post from it which I will let you know about if I decide to post it! :)

In other news, I did not see Rhianna as she was not one of the listed performers at the event I attended. After suffering through a catastrophically tone deaf performance by a local band I found myself ready to bury my head in the ground like an ostrich, so I asked to leave.
The rest of the night was fantastic though!

Well, back to work!
Have a great one!

AArchibald

Sunday Bloody Sunday

This morning I am being forced to sit through a slightly offensive religious mass on the television. The message today is that Christians should not take council from non-Christians. I couldn't believe my ears...
I'm a non-Christian and I don't see why what I have to say is crippled and inconsequential just because I am not a believer of the Christian faith. I know that I harbour respectable morals in my character and I certainly am not out to convince others that Christianity is a lie just because I, personally, found no peace in it. I have more sense than trying to tell individuals how to regard other religions and their followers and I certainly do NOT think any less of someone's council simply due to their choice in faith!
I also took into offense that they insinuated that all non-Christians are going to demote your level of faith if not entirely diminish it. Quite unfair. Sorry, but I don't think that we secular folk will be handing out pro-atheist pamphlets anytime soon.
I know that not all Christians think this way mind you. I know that this is not the case AT ALL.
This is just one of the many services that are going on this morning. I do however feel very strongly about the error that I stumbled upon in this pastor's words.
I am not anti-religion. I think that religion is a wonderful thing that provide many lives with a safe hold and a place of peace. I simply have not found one yet in which I can find sanctuary and I don't feel that I am any less of a person because of this.

Boy I have been ranting a lot these days!! Hahah
Well at least I have something to write.


So...I may get to see Rhianna in concert tonight. Not really my music scene but it will still be fun!
I'll let you know how it goes!

Have a great Sunday!

AArchibald

The Block Button

Another Saturday morning in the office.
Pretty slow thus far which isn't so bad because it gives me time to write a line or two!

So my latest posts were inspired by none other than (bet you'd never guess) Tim Burton and his recent musical masterpiece of the play Sweeney Todd.
I'm one of those people that is really happy to watch the same film over and over again for days if I like it so my mind was swimming with Sweeney Todd-esque ideas. I figured since it was around Valentine's that I should dedicate them to you!
The shoot was done in front of my closet door with a pashmina stapled to it. It's the same pashmina that I used for my Halloween shot in '06 actually.
The dress was bought that day and the rose is from a dusty box under my bed. It was one of the lovely roses in my sister's wedding bouquet. Always a good prop to have around roses are... :P
So once tried with my brunette wig styled by yours truly I wanted to see how it would come across blonde so I styled my hair in a way that it looked positively 'emo'.
Not really the scene that I like to get into but the hair works.
I still felt that the brunette worked best but much to my surprize there was a pretty sizable request for the blonde version to go public.
So I let you have it a couple days later. ;)





I think that they work well together as a series so I am grateful that you convinced me to post the second one. :)



Now you are probably wondering what the title is about. Well recently my cursor has been in hot pursuit of the block button on accounts that seem to be wandering into my stream. This has been happening a lot more than usual and it troubles me.
I'm just going to be frank about this. I hate pornography with a passion. I hate it to the point that it makes me physically repulsed. It strikes up an anger in me that I am happy to answer for. I am incapable of accepting pornography and I am also unable to let it into my life on any level.
So when those Flickr skin collectors go on a fever faveing run in my stream I cut them out completely. I hate the thought of someone using me as nothing but an instrument for self satisfaction. It leaves me feeling violated and dehumanized. I know that to some people I am just another woman in a photograph for their sole viewing pleasure but I work to remind such people that I am a living, breathing individual with real perceptible emotions. When you use me; you disrespect me, you degrade me, you hurt me.
Remember that.

I am sometimes tempted to leave Flickr altogether because I feel that I need to protect myself. It's still in the cards, however, I love photography so much and Flickr is a great way to get positive criticism and useful feedback to help me improve. Not to mention I have also come across very wonderful people on Flickr that I am honoured to know. For a while the positive over shadowed the negative sides but these days I'm not so sure.
To my Flickr friends, you are all extraordinary and remarkable people and I am happy to know you.
To the Flickr scoundrels, leave me alone. -or I'll make you do so.



So anyways, just letting you know what's going on with my stream.

That aside, I have another selfie in mind which I am excited about. I was hoping to get it done on Thursday but a work meeting got in the way. Also I was having too much fun taking care of my partner who is a bit under the weather. I'll probably get it done on Monday by the look of things.
Here's a spoiler: I'm planning a black and white shot. ;) Are you shocked? Hahah

Been a busy week, lots of running up and down with the prints and other errands. There's also been a move in the right direction for my music but that's a story for another day...probably a day in March :P

Well...AArchie out!
Have a good one!! x

Okay so I Fibbed

Yeah yeah yeah I know already. I haven't been updating this thing at all! Hahah
Sorry guys! I just don't ever feel like I have that much to say.
BUT
Conscious effort to try to do better!

So here I am at work with band-aid endowed fingertips due to my lame-o skin being too sensitive to hold a cotton ball with nail polish remover on it.
I's swear that I should be in a bubble on most days.

I've got two possible self portrait ideas that I will try out tomorrow as I have most of the day to my disposal. Actually, three ideas if I bother to do laundry tomorrow. I can't exactly do any hand washing. :P

So I finally got Photoshop thanks to my very special someone along with a tutorial book that weighs more than my head. I've tried it out on my 'Pan's Arrival' image seen below.



I just did some work on my skin and added in some light treatment. Pretty simple edits at this point but I'm still learning. I look forward to being able to really harness the power of the CS3. hehehe

Also, as you probably know, I have original prints available for sale! I'm so excited with being able to present this to my viewers and in addition, I can't help but swell with pride when I see how beautiful that the prints are coming out. The available images are subject to change so if you have a particular image that you'd really like to have printed just let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Anyways, back to work!!!

Will write more soon.
*fingers crossed*

AArchibald x