Photoshop, Photoshop, Photoshop!

With my degree coming to a close (hand in is next Friday!!!) things have been pretty hectic lately and most of my time has been spent staring at a Photoshop document wondering whether that image should be nudged 1mm to the left or not, whether the text should be a size bigger and whether the background is the right side of grey...decisions, decisions. All those hours, however, have been worth it and BLANKexpression is so close to completion now. The Big Bang Issue should be online within the next 7 days so keep your eyes peeled!

The wanderer returns...

Two months have gone by with no word...how time flies. In the last two months I have sipped cervezas in Barcelona, boogied to ska in Clapham and in between worked my little socks off (though not the whole time ;))

My trip to Barcelona was brief but beautiful. I flew over - £25 with Ryanair I'll have you know - with my sister for a short two night stay. We stumbled late one Thursday night into the Kabul Hostel right in the centre of Barcelona... I had stayed there twice previously and always had so much fun. It's a lively place with a bar, large dorms, free breakfast and a doorway that leads practically onto La Ramblas...where more could a 22year old want....cheap beer? They have that too! And while we did treat ourselves to a couple of beverages during our stay - in fact we nearly missed our flight out there enjoying our airport Coronas far too much - we were really there for work. And work we did. We had one full day there and we spent it up at Parc Guell, the gorgeous park created by Antoni Gaudi. We snapped at our cameras all day and came away with some lovely images  - that shall be seen in BLANK when it goes online...more on that later. We saw a brilliant band performing in the seated area too. I forget their name but I'll find the cd and post it on here when I do. It was a lovely day though and we basked in the warm weather and beautiful surroundings. The next day, for my sister's uni project, we 'got lost' We had a set of directions we had written that we had no idea of where they would take us and we loved roaming around the streets simply 'getting lost'. A wonderful couple of days...go to Barcelona!!!

The other 'main event' I must tell you about from the last couple of months was the London International Ska Festival that was held in London at the end of April. I only managed to make it to the Saturday and Sunday - missing out on what sounded like brilliant nights on the Thursday and Friday - but had a really great time. I went along with my dad and we saw some wonderful music played by a range of bands, all fitting under the title of 'ska' but all with their own differnt sounds. There were some really great performances and as someone who really just enjoys ska music from a distance is was so brilliant to be there amongst real ska fans and to feel the atmosphere, which was lively and friendly and excited. There was a realy moment when Rico Rodriguez joined The Trojans on stage and sang a gorgeous rendition of 'Wonderful World' A moment I will never forget...particularly as it was followed by Lynval Golding (of The Specials) on the mic doing 'A Message To You Rudy'. We had two really enjoyable evenings and if the festival takes place again next year - which I so hope it does - I urge you to go along. Even if you know little about ska music, as I do, you are bound to fall in love with the music when you see, hear and feel the effect of it live.

The rest of my time has mainly been spent working on getting BLANK together...a mammoth task that seems to be taking knocks left, right and centre. I am still working on getting the website together but as SOON as I have it up and running you'll be the first to know!

Bye for now!

Backkk!

Having been away so long I thought a little post filling in on what I've been up to was necessary! In fact I have mainly been knuckling down with my project getting my research done and organised and planning ahead for my shoots and for the bringing together of the magazine...which as the time draws closer is looking more and more mammoth a task! With my excellent Creative Director by my side however we are beginning to get somewhere with it and have even had our first few contributions sent in along with outlines of work from other contributors. It's all getting very exciting, I have to say, and I can't wait to begin putting it all together!!! We've just booked flights to Barcelona too, where we will be slaving away on our project out there (currently proposed to be a short video for the mag!) But who said you can't mix business with pleasure eh? I'm sure we'll find a way to slip a few sangrias/cervezas in there... I have begun playing with my darkroom chemicals too which was sooo much fun and I can't wait to get back onto it. Will be posting up the images we've come up with so far asap. So now that I've re-broken the ice I'm sure the blog entries will be coming quicker again, at least that's the aim! Adios!

Let's experiment!!

Photography chemicals have arrived and into my makeshift darkroom (my garage) I go!! About to go and start experimenting with some cameraless photography ideas, the products of which I shall share with you soon! Since I last blogged I have mainly been frantically trying to organise this magazine of mine...trying to get together some interviews, shoots, articles, etc. Also went to the casting session for the short film I am co-producing as part of High Five Films. Such a brilliant evening, we had a great group of actors turn up and spent the whole night doing improv work. It's the first time I've really seen people working like that and they were so great, can't wait to see where things go from here! High Five Films, btw, are about to relaunch their website at http://www.highfivefilms.co.uk so keep checking for when it goes live...they're a great group of film-makers based in the Oxford area and worth keeping an eye on!!

Speechless...

Went to see Black Swan today and was blown. a. way! I went along with my sister (and co-creator of our new online magazine BLANKexpression!) and we could barely move when the credits started rolling we were so stunned by it. I can't ever remember a film that took my breath away quite like Black Swan did, I felt like I'd gone the last half hour without breathing at all. The whole film was unrelentless in it's intensity and though there were many occasions when I didn't want to look at the screen I found it practically impossible to take my eyes off it! Just amazing. It really inspired me as well for my magazine project as I've been looking into human states of being for some of my research and I found the transformation of Nina incredible to watch. Black Swan also moves between reality and fantasy so seamlessly so that you can hardly tell what's real and what isn't and this another idea I have been fascinated with recently since researching my project. The project itself, is an online magazine currently being created - BLANKexpression - and we are still in fact looking for people to contribute to our Big Bang Issue so if anyone is at all interested please get in touch at tess.n.blank@gmail.com We are looking for writers, stylists, photographers, artists, film-makers and all kinds of creative people who would like to get involved with this exciting new project!

"That's all your life amounts to in the end: the aggregate of all the good luck and the bad luck you experience"

I have been working lots recently, and as my job is late-night work have been doing little else but sleeping in the time inbetween...hence the terrible lack of posts on here! Have just today finished watching the channel 4's recent short series 'Any Human Heart' and I must say I loved it! (The quote in the title is taken from the William Boyd novel that the series was adapted from) It made me dream of being a writer myself, not that the life of it's main character Logan Mountstuart is one I necessarily want, but it did make me want to sit down at an old typewriter, tap in a title and just start writing... Such a lovely story though, sad and funny and happy and exciting. And I thought Matthew Macfayden was just so brilliant in it as the middle of the Mountstuarts - played by three different actors throughout the series. Also recently watched Hitchcock's 'Marnie' which I was watching as part of my research for my university project. I'm looking into fantasy and reality and into human states of being, dreaming, transfixion, hypnotism etc. 'Marnie' explores reality and deceit in many ways throughout and I loved the different ways it looked at these themes - from Marnie's multiple characters she plays, to the lies she tells her mother and the lies she has indeed been, without knowing it, telling herself. Tonight 'Boardwalk Empire' starts and, as a big Scorcese fan, I can not wait! More tomorrow!

Why do they do this to us?!

Have just finished watching a double-bill of this weeks Silent Witness and feeling EXHAUSTED from it! The merry-go-rounds these programmes send us on...so great though! Have been looking up ways of doing some experimental photography at home (having been inspired by the Shadow Catchers exhibition at the V&A - see last blog for the amazing pics!) and I'm not sure quite which is the best way to go about it. Thinking that maybe I should just buy some developer, some fixer and a wad of photo paper and see what happens...maybe some wax too? Anyway, I desperately want to try it out so I'll keep searching and let you know what I decide on! Also have been told I can dress up for work on Friday - work at a music/club venue in Birmingham and I believe on Friday we have a 'retro' club night of music from the last five decades so we've been told we can dress up as a rock/movie star from the last 50 years, or just wear something retro/vintage. Hmmmm decisions, decisions! Ideas anyone?? Finally, have just started reading 'Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?' by Leszek Kolakowski, which is a book about different philosophers and their theories and ideas. They're quite small chapters about each of them so it's pretty basic stuff but interesting for a beginner like me!

Inspired!

Have been slack for a few days...whoops...but it's ok because have been filling those days with inspiring things...mainly a lovely weekend a Londres with the sister. Saw a couple of really cool exhibitions while I was down there, including Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography at the V&A Museum which was brilliant! Loved it and feeling inspired to experiment with similar ideas for my own work. Here are some of my fave images from the exhibition...

Image above and two below images by Floris Neususs

Below image by Garry Fabien Miller

Below image by Susan Derges

Below two images by Pierre Cordier

The images were made using a variety of techniques and the exhibition is on until 20 Feb - well worth a look! When I was there I also picked up a cute little camera -

From the V&A Museum Shop and a snip at £16 although not sure how easy it is to buy/get developed the film needed for it...well I'll give it a go anyway and if the experimenting goes well I'll be posting the pics up here soon! Just a final note...looking for people to contribute, in whichever may they may please, to a new online magazine - if you're interested in finding out more, email either tess.n.blank@gmail.com or maud.blank@gmail.com and we'll send you some info!! You can also check out the magazine blog at yourblankexpression.blogspot.com! In the meantime - happy snapping everyone!

And breathe...

Finally my dissertation has been handed in and I can now focus on working on my new magazine! Excited! Have spent the day flicking though piles of old magazines, (plus cute new magazine 'Oh Comely') looking at layouts etc. and starting to get an idea in my mind of how it's going to look...less is definitely more... Also to celebrate having got all my work printed off last night I allowed myself another episode of Mad Men - currently trying to limit my viewing of it, such a (brilllliant!) distraction. I did decide last night too that closely following Betty as my current style heroine is her daughter Sally...does she not wear just the cutest little outfits?! This summer I'm going to aim for somewhere between the two, although I will undoubtedly fail!

Ok, so not the best pic in terms of actually seeing the outfit but

you can still tell it's a cute 'un!

Oh and before I head off just thought I'd put a little 'advert' out for any writers, photographers, stylists, arty-types who would be interested in contributing to the new online magazine I'm currently creating...get in touch!

Bonjour...

Have just finished watching Belle De Jour and thought it was brilliant! I've always liked in the French films I've seen that characters are often flawed - it adds a bit of intrigue and makes them that little bit more interesting. The fantasy sequences and how they fitted around the reality too was quite interesting in relation to Severine, giving her character an extra dimension and also adding a kind of twisted edge to her relationship with her husband.. And of course, visually, it was lovely too with beautiful settings and costumes. It's the sort of film I feel like I want to watch again soon, it may be a grower. Aside from watching the film I have mostly, today, been sleeping after a late night on the dissertation last night! I thought I might quickly put a few pics of my favourite works from the Newspeak: British Art Now exhibition at the Saatchi gallery. I am possibly going to be having a look at the second part over the weekend so here are a few of my favourite bits from the first part.

This piece, 'Wall'  (above) by Rupert Norfolk is made up of 125 limestone rocks - all have had one half carved so as to be symmetrical to the other. I also really liked his piece, 'Pixelweave' which is a tapestry that plays with ideas of illusion and tricks of the eye. Although the first part of the exhibition has now been replaced I'm sure the second part will be just as worth a look. I also loved Clare Stephenson prints. (Below) I love the idea of these pieces as sort of 'cardboard cut-outs' and the collage illustrations are done so brilliantly as well.

All image taken from the Saatchi Gallery website - www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it across onto here but the 'Our Lady Of The Conscious Optics' piece she did was my fave! Looking forward to some gallery-hopping at the weekend but before then I'll be adding the finishing touches to my dissertation and handing it in on Friday - hurrah!!

phew...

I had meant to blog today but today is now unfortunately yesterday and I have been working solidly all day (with small breaks for diet coke and chocolate!) on finishing my dissertation but thankfully I am there...well nearly! Just a few tweaks to the writing and references but in essence I'm done, hence the phew! Tomorrow, or even today, I will blog properly and offer my views on Belle De Jour and more...good night.

How I long for a Village Underground studio space!

I had stumbled upon Village Underground a few months ago in an online piece about London's hidden treasures (i forget what website this was on...) and so I stumbled upon it again today in the recent Time Out London issue, 'Secret London Special'. Urban Village, set up by Auro Foxcroft, is a sort-of set-up of studio and office spaces in London. The spaces are in old shipping containers and underground train carriages and situated on roof-top plots (currently I believe just in the Shoreditch area although the Time Out piece tells of his plans to expand abroad) I just think they are such an innovative way of creating new, cheaper studio spaces in a city full of creative people looking for just that. I want one!!

Inside of a Village Underground studio - image taken from

http://www.villageunderground.co.uk/ - check it out!

Have also been having a peek on the Showstudio website (http://showstudio.com/) and loving some of the videos in the archive section there - particularly The Raven by Jez Tozer, which appears to show a woman's transformation throught clothing, accessories and make-up into...well a raven I suppose. Also thought some of the videos in the current The Fashion Body project were quite interesting too.

Belle De Jour dvd - currently available for

£3.99 on HMV website - http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do

Finally, I bought a dvd today, Luis Bunuel's 'Belle De Jour' (£5 instore at HMV!!) as I'm looking into dreams and dream-like states, fantasies etc. for a current project I'm working on...would love to hear any other suggestions for this...and I will be letting you all know what I thought of the film tomorrow!

A very long blackout

A power cut last night got me thinking...what would we do if the power went off and never came back on? Strange to imagine a life without computers, televisions, credit cards, microwaves... I guess we'd just have to get on with it but I'm not sure how easily this modern society would adapt to it. Funny to think though.

The stars they are a-changing...

I, Tess Nicholson, am no longer a Taurus...after 22 years of living the life of a Taurus I found out today that it has all been a lie! Can you believe that...officially I believe I'm now an Aries but in my heart of hearts I'll never desert the star sign that has been so good to me so far! How strange though and in all honesty I did actually feel a little sad about it...

So much to do...so little time

Things are very exciting for me at the moment! Starting to get ideas together for the magazine I am hoping...make that going to create for my FMP. Looking for contributors if anyone is interested...the magazine will cover all areas from fashion to music to art to film to travel to illustration to anything else that is creative or even interesting! Also coming, slowly, to the end of my dissertation...wahey!

Back To The Roots...

Just wanted to share with you some of the images I produced recently for a project entitled 'Back To The Roots'. The images were shot over a weekend and the models are my brother and sister. I styled them in clothes of my parents in the hope of evoking a sense of nostalgia. I used a mixture of digital, digital SLR and throwaway cameras over the weekend but in fact most of these images were shot on the throwaway...it added a lovely grainy feeling to the images...would love to hear any feedback...

drawing inspiration...

Went to see The King's Speech yesterday and Loved it!! Thought it was brilliant and (i know this is the most obvious thing to say but it is true!) Colin Firth was so wonderful in it. Was more than a little bit annoyed that the screening I went to had the top and bottom cut off but it was beautiful none the less. So lovely visually I adored it. Also have been watching some Mad Men recently. I just bought the box set of seasons 1-3 and have been rewatching the first season before I move on to the others. Betty Draper (as she is still known at the stage I'm at though I believe she won't have that surname for much longer...) is my style icon at the moment. I just love the shots of her doing the washing up in her dainty nightdresses with cigarette in hand and her visits to the couch. I also find myself spluttering a little (half with laughter and half with disbelief) at the crude remarks made by the Mad Men...hard to imagine a time when gender meant what it did then...

The New Year has begun and I'm back in the swing...

Since my last post I have mostly been doing the same as the majority of the country...trudging through snow just to get to the corner shop, stuffing myself silly with Christmas food, spending time with the relies and relaxing. But with Christmas coming to an end (the 6th is only a couple of days away ao it'll be bye-bye to the decorations...) it's time to get back to reality and back into the swing of my uni work. With my dissertation due in just over two weeks I am currently frantically tapping away on my computer (which is sadly slowly dying so I'll be coughing up for a new battery in no time) with my nose poking it's way through all the relevant material I can find! My essay is generally about how things have changed and how things have stayed the same since the late 1970s/early 1980s and I'm finding it interesting to see just where we are the same/different. Currently, though I'm finding many parallels in all the areas I'm looking into - politics, music, fashion - what's becoming really apparent is that although there are similarities, the world we live in is so very different now that it almost doesn't matter. Everything has changed and so those things that on the surface look like they are the same are actually really not. So it's actually been interesting looking into this and I'm glad to be writing about something I can actually feel something for rather than something dull or boring but I'm also itching to get started on my final major project so I'm counting down the days til my dissertation can be handed so I can really emerse myself into my new project...the beginning of a project is always so exciting! Just to bring things slightly back to the arts I'm going to shortly post the final images from my last project up on here...hope you like! Before I go, I am wondering whether £25+ is too much to spend on buying a novel...I'm sure it isn't although as a student I feel a bit guilty about it. The purchase hasn't been made yet but I have a feeling it will soon. The book is called 'Tree Of Codes' and is by American author Jonathan Safran Foer. He is actually one of, if not, my favourite author - his first two fictional works 'Everything Is Illuminated' and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' I just loved so much. His writing is humorous, often sad and, I always feel, very real sounding. They are also written in kind of layers. 'Everything Is Illuminated' is told from a number of different perspectives and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is presented in such a way that the book is about more than just the words in it. Which, I think I'm right in saying, could also be said of this new book...I haven't seen/read it but I believe it is actually made from another book (The Street Of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz) and Foer has actually cut words out of the pages to recreate a new book of his own. It sounds intriguing and I am just dying to own a copy. I am a great lover of novels in the traditional sense but I think it's great that there are people challenging the norms of nocel-writing. A challenging of a norm is always good in my book.