Come with me to the dancefloor.

MUSIC: The Prodigy - Warriors Dance
MOOD: Productive

I feel as though when i write my blog, the title and music choice is influenced by the "30 Day Song Challenge" me (and the rest of the world) is doing on Facebook at the moment. You are given a phrase for example "A song that makes you happy" or "Your guilty pleasure" and you have to find a song to fit the phrase. Today was a song you can dance to, so Warriors Dance was an obvious choice to me. Since seeing them at Leeds Festival 2009, i am totally in awe of them, fantastic stage show and fantastic music.. I am still sad about not going to Leeds this year. Boo hoo. Still no developments on the Benicassim front though. Sadly.

Maybe no developments on Benicassim, but i do now have a problem on that front. I quit my job. They were absolute tossers to me for being ill and the so called "managing director" couldn't manage an egg in a frying pan. Arrogant and self centered are two words that spring to mind. Although i will be about £60 poorer next week, i do have my WHOLE WEEKEND free. Hurrah. On this free weekend, i have so far listed 20 items on Ebay, done most of the research for my log book and cut up magazines. The weekend is still young, i have so many plans!

I've got another one of these really daft "mini brief's" this week, this is the penultimate one, so 1 week and 3 days and i shall be free of them, probably not forever. This weeks however, is more interesting than the previous 2, infinitely more interesting than the one last week, that i actually haven't even completed (yet). Maybe that can be another project for this weekend of freedom... This week is "Memory Triptych", create a triptych that contains images of a positive memory from your childhood or younger life. I have decided to base my idea around learning to swim as i feel this was a very important part of my childhood, i learnt to swim at a very young age and don't actually remember it, but i do remember being one of the only children at school who could swim, i remember my step dad not being able to swim and it made me feel so grown up. I remember loving water as a child, so i felt as though this would be a good idea to explore for my triptych. I'm shooting on Sunday in Blackpool sea with either my housemate or his friend, depends which one of them i can bribe to do it. Either way, we're all going to be soaking and freezing by Sunday tea time. I'll update as soon as possible with pictures from the shoot, wish me luck!

I have however been down to the beach again (surprise, surprise). I think i am obsessed with it. But the weather has just been so nice these past few days that it is really hard to keep away. Its my happy place. It blows away all my cobwebs and clears my little head. I took a blanket there on Thursday and sat on the beach for a few hours doing University work, its sounds so cliche but it helped me clear my head and dream up some new bits of inspiration, which was very helpful.

The weather turned a bit sour on Wednesday afternoon, and what i thought would be a beautiful sunset, was suffocated by cloud. It did however, make for some interesting images...

Images Copyright Poppy Frost 2011

Not amazing, but successful nonetheless (i think).

I've started getting really into Flickr. Got my first comment the other day, and someone favourited one of my images. It was ever so exciting. Check it out... http://www.flickr.com/photos/poppy-fields

Stay safe..♥

With nobody in your bed, the night's hard to get through.

MUSIC: Brand New - Jesus Christ
MOOD: Optimistic

I'm happy. I really wanted to go to Leeds Festival again this year, this year would have been my 4th, but the line up was released today and it is very disappointing, doesn't really appeal to me that much. Last year i liked nearly everyone who played and was never bored, went with a good bunch of mates, a bunch of dickheads too, but that is neither something i'd like to remember or repeat thanks.

So the reason i'm happy is.. I've decided to take the plunge and go to Benicassim this year with my boyfriend, we looked into going last year but then at the last minute decided we wouldn't have enough money to do everything we wanted throughout summer. I have been looking at flights and also the line up, it is very appealing to my taste, and being in the sun with the man you love, what more could you want?! We will hopefully go a few days before the festival starts and spend a few days exploring the delights of Barcelona, a place i have wanted to go since becoming aware of Antoni Gaudi's work in Year 8 at Secondary School. I just need to get on a massive hunt for a cheap hotel/hostal, flights and travel between Barcelona and the festival itself, i think it is about 3 hours train ride away. I'm so excited for this, i'll keep updating about the trip planning, upload possible festival outfits too. :)

I promised to upload my little "When will the way be free asked the barrier" image from my brief last week. It was the top image i actually used for the final, but the bottom image was also something that i felt was quite a strong shot from the shoot. So here you go..

Images Copyright Poppy Frost 2011

I'm meeting a friend and we're taking a walk down to the beach in a while. The sun sets over the sea here in Blackpool. I love sunsets and i love the seaside, so this is a perfect opportunity for an image. I went on Thursday last week and got some great shots, but only took my Canon AE-1 PRO Manual SLR camera and my Lomography Fish Eye camera. Which after i got back home and removed the films, realised they were both black and white! Nightmare. I'm still getting the films developed and i'll scan in the negatives, they might look ok, i'm just not holding my breath for anything spectacular. I got some colour shots on my BlackBerry, but anyone with one knows the quality is absolutely rubbish, so they have gone in a "note to self" album.

But just for proof purposes on how beautiful the sunset was. Here is the best shots from the rubbish phone camera.

Images Copyright Poppy Frost

See what i mean about the quality, the bottom image is suppose to be blurry by the way, but i like it that way.

Back to the grind now, got loads of University work to do, and also walking down to the beach and tea to make. Time is just not a thing i have a lot of at the moment, along with money. If i had spare of the both then i would go home to see my Grandma and Luke. I've been ok the past few weeks, but today i've really missed them loads and its horrible knowing it will be another month or so until i see either of them again, stupid University.

Stay safe guys.

Out in the sun, having fun, feeling free.

MUSIC: Gnarles Barkley - Smiley Faces
MOOD: Snuggly

Its been a few weeks since i posted, but due to my life being a bit strange lately, i haven't had much free time. I went home a week ago, to visit friends, family and of course, Luke. Went out drinking a couple of times, visited the "family in the woods" and went to Meadowhall (a local shopping centre) to spent far too much money on a French Connection dress, but life goes on doesn't it, and i'm sure i'll pay for it this week by eating pasta and soup again (those are my "poor" foods, everyone always has pasta and soup in don't they?). It just feels like a shame to come back, although this time doesn't feel as bad as previous times. I was very glad to put the fire on and get into bed.

The shoot i went back to Scunthorpe to do a few weeks ago went ok. Not what i really wanted from it, the lighting was rubbish (i forgot to borrow a flash gun from University). I had such a strong pre concieved idea about what the final image would look like, that it dissappointed me when the results end up looking nothing like you imagined they would. Sometimes idea's and inspiration hinder you rather than help you. Here are a few of the best images, like i said before, not brilliant, but they answer the brief so mission completed.

Images Copyright Poppy Frost 2011

We got a brief at University on Wednesday (yes, whilst i was in Scunthorpe, thank god for the beauty of email) we have to produce an image based on a phrase we are given, the phrase i was given is "When will the way be free asked the barrier". I originally had no idea what i was going to do for this, but eventually decided upon doing a shoot in the location of the sea and beach. Considering i've lived in Blackpool now for 7 months, i've not really done much work involving the seaside, which is a shame. I took Frank for a walk in Clevelys (a large village just up the road) a couple of weeks ago, the beach there is lovely, and very accessible unlike the beach here in Bispam. I got up at 5am this morning, just so i'd be able to get the best part of the day and the light. Trekked down to the bach with my friend Beth and Frank, set my tripod up and waited for the sun to light up the sky. I got some great images, although the sun wasn't very bright. I'll upload them in my next post, i still have to finish editing.

I'll update again soon, hopefully with a bit more of my photography, and photography that i actually like and am proud of unlike the work in this post.

Take it easy.

You're so worth it, you are.

MUSIC: Ellie Goulding - Guns and Horses
MOOD: Mardy

Well, i've decided to take my blog into a different direction now, got annoyed with the whole "One picture every day for a year" thing. Not completely as its still running on my Facebook page if anyone misses it, or wants to take a look on there (http://www.facebook.com/#!/poppy.holla.frost). I felt it was junking up my blog too much, a different post for every single day, just got annoying, and then i'd end up leaving it weeks and weeks before i got round to uploading.

So, the music and mood idea came from a blog that i follow, but i thought it would be a good idea? Just to remind myslef of songs really, and see how much my music taste actually differs over the weeks, months and years. Also, i think mood is a good one, as the tone of the blog rant is set by mood surely. And todays is mardy, therefore you're in for a treat.

So i am just basically annoyed by people in my hometown. Why is it that as soon as you move away from somewhere people jump straight into your shoes and try living your old life? Erm, HELLO?! I am still alive and i can see what you're doing via your 30 million Facebook updates every day, tell you what why don't you move in to my house and have my boyfriend too. People who call themselves "friends", but then honestly if our "friendship" goes by the same standards that your others do, then you'll be slagging me off to anyone who'll listen, ripping my achievements to pieces and snaking my boyfriend. So i'm sure i'm more than greatefull you're my friend, for all your love, support and advice... Grow up?

On a much lighter note, finally got round to editing some images i shot of Aimee in the studio at University a couple of weeks ago. The outcome is very good, i like the cleaness of them and the essence of perfection they give off. It has intrigued me into doing some more studio work, especially with Aimee, i feel we maybe need to work on the posing a little bit more, but she has a good presence in the images.

This was my favourite image from the whole shoot (so far) i've not properly looked through them all as the files were so large and i couldn't fit them all onto my memory stick. I think the white background works really well here as it makes you focus on the clothes and on the model. A massive thank you to Aimee for modeling, hope i've done her proud with these.

Got a photoshoot to do tomorrow for my Noise brief at University, our given genre is "Contempory Music" and the sub genre of that i have chosen is "Alternative" as i feel this related the best to my own personal music taste. I have decided to do the shoot in a local pub/bar in my hometown. I felt as though this would be a good setting as a lot of small bands and singers of the alternative music genre start out their career doing gigs in local pubs and bars until they get popular or signed. My model from the photoshoot i have just done (Aimee) is helping me, along with another friend from my hometown. I've borrowed an acoustic guitar, some tambourines and also some microphones from other friends, to make the two of them look more like a band.

I've collected some images from the internet of Jack O'connell who plays Cook in series 3 and 4 of the British teen drama Skins. He has quite an edgy style in the series mixing what i would call "chav style" with "punk style". I also think he is VERY attractive, he's got that bad boy image that i think makes every girl a little bit excited deep down. I've also looked at general alternative fashion, hoping i'd find inspiration and an idea for the styling. The best image i've found is this one..

I really love the styling on this image, the pose is also really interesting, a different take on the conventional fashion shots. The fashion is really interesting, the sort of thing i would like to achieve from my shoot. Its obviously not my own image, can't quite remember where i found it though (sorry).

For now, sleep is calling, i've got a long drive tomorrow. I'll update with images and information from the shoot as soon as i get round to it. Also you might notice the blog layout may be changing from time to time, i'm trying to find one i like, and more importantly, one i can understand.

Ciao bella. ♥

Creative criticism..?

Copyright Jade Poppy Frost 2011

Colour version.
Adjusted the levels and placed a warm colour filter over the image, i increased the density from 17 to 38. I chose a warm filter as the colours of the boys hair had quite warm tones in it and the beads being brown, i thought this would be better than a cool filter. I tried the cool filter, this one looked much better, it seemed to suit the image much more, it put an injection of life into it, it looks fierce and lion like.


Copyright Jade Poppy Frost 2011

Black and White version.
Desaturated, levels adjusted, contrast increased. Just wanted to see what it looked like in monochrome. I'm unsure if i like this one better than the colour version?
Its cold, but i like the coldness. I think i've just been a sucker for Black and White photography after having loads of 35mm films developed.

Something different for New Year.

Tis the season when everyone makes "New Years Resolutions" which they make every year and have broken about five times over by the end of February. Researching on the internet, i found the most common ones were, give up drinking for X amount of time, stop smoking, loose X amount of weight and so on (i'm sure you've heard all of these millions of times before from friends, family, people on Facebook, people at work). Moving on to the more unusual ones i stumbled upon, to not cheat on my boyfriend, to annoy my dad once a day, to never do my hair all year. Hmm, each to their own i suppose.

So i decided to make my very own New Years Resolution so to speak. I didn't want to become one of these "my New Years Resolution is to loose weight" people, although i do want to loose weight, i don't see why i need a new year to start doing that, and on the other hand i don't want to be so rad and controversial as "i need to stop cheating on my boyfriend". I wanted to do something cool and different, more of a project than an actual resolution, so i've decided to take one picture every day for a year and post them on here and on Facebook.

Although i am doing photography and take some alright photographs some of the time, its not going to be about photography. A few of them may be good shots, edited and possibly even used for my University work, but mostly it is just an account of my year, a photographic memory of what i did on what days and with whom. That way in 2012, i can look back and have a collection of my year in photographs.

So here goes, i hope you all enjoy. Feel free to post any comments or questions, all are welcome and i shall try to get back to you :)

I most definately have a ghost in my house.

I have been sat in my house in Blackpool now for nearly 3 days straight, apparently playing hostage to such things as swollen glands (throat, armpits and pelvis) and the dreaded half term. The thing about half term is, I love the time to myself I really do, I love the way I can sleep in without feeling like I should be doing something “productive” like attending University. But University, oh yes, they didn’t call it half term, very cleverly named “research week”. Wonderful. So sat in bed, with a sore throat, rumbling tummy and a mischievous puppy swinging around my neck, my mind is literally going into overdrive about EVERYTHING. Oh, and I have “research” to do, for my “research week”. Mega.

I’m desperately trying to be fabulous and amazing.

Reality? I’m sat here with my now 11th hot chocolate of the past 2 days watching the box set of Sex and the City; I’m on Season 4 and its only Tuesday. I’ve had a hair mask on my hair for 2 days, so it looks greasy, but will look nourished and shiny once I’ve washed it off. I’ve eaten Rick Wallers bodyweight 10 times over, driven all the way across Blackpool just for a KFC, walked to Sainsburys because I ran out of desirable food in the house, fed Frank so much that he was sick in his sleep, shaved my legs, drank 4 pints of Cravendale full fat milk, cut up magazines, done 2 assignments and not even unpacked from my weekend in Scunthorpe. And thought. A lot.

I say thinking about everything, the phrase used very loosely, although he is everything to me, so yes, I have been thinking about my very own everything. Luke. Love is what makes the world go round, right? Or so we were lead to believe when we were naive teenage girls anyway. Truth is, things never actually go like that do they, things are never easy and if it wasn't for love, would the world stop spinning and things would come to a standstill? Would time become a mass that all single people not in love with a “life long partner” would fall into until they found someone in there who would help them spring right back out again.

I've almost forgotten what it feels like to be alone, he makes me feel so sheltered and protected like I don’t need to be alone, and that I never will be again, I’ve forgotten what its like to not have someone there who would move heaven and earth for you, who would travel 150miles across the countryside on a (cold) Autumn night "just because we wanted to see each other". Is this a bad thing? The reliance, is it bad, does it mean I can and will never be able to do anything for myself ever again? God knows, but surely some of the world’s most famous people are a "duo"? Dolce and Gabbana, Ben and Jerry's, Laurel and Hardy.

I live by myself in Blackpool on weekdays right and apart from when Luke is here I do things on my own. I have a puppy whom I look after on my own on weekdays, I walk him alone, I pick up his poop on my own, the lot. I clean my house on my own, I do the dishes on my own, and heck I even do my own laundry. So surely I should be classed as an independent woman, all be it an independent weekday woman. But by the weekend after I’ve been independent all week, its ok for me to need someone, its ok to want to fall into the little "nook" on his shoulder when we sleep and its ok for me to ring him on a weekday night just because I need someone to be there.

I don't care that I’m not self-dependant, I don't need to be. I like having him there, I like him to share the worries, I like him to hold me in his arms on a cold night... And when things get hard, I like him to kiss me and tell me everything will be ok.