Bear with me, I talk too much!
Wow this is the first time in my entire 31 years that I have ever sat down and written a blog.
Why?
Who knows!
I love to write, I write as a speak so blogging is the perfect medium for me.
I guess I've never known what to write about really. Remember at school when you used to be given a subject and told you had to write 1000 words and would spend ages trying desperately to hit the word count! If it wasn't something I was interested in, I wasn't going to write a single word more than I needed to! Get me writing about something I'm interested in and I'm a machine! Trouble with that is, will anyone else find it interesting?
I've been told throughout my life that I talk too much, not even just when I was younger, this is really recent feedback too! I've always been absolutely baffled by the concept that anyone could talk too much! I love talking to people and getting to know them and sharing my experiences too!
This year I have finally found the answer to the question 'what do you want to do when you grow up' and not only does it involve talking (hurray!) but it involves people, lots of people, and being invited into their lives and families and sharing really precious moments with them. I'm so lucky.
Because this is my first blog, Ill tell you about how my photography journey began right from the beginning. Seems as good a place as any to start.
I was studying for my A Levels hundreds of years ago and got swept along with everyone else at my school in the idea of University. I know it sounds naive but I didn't know what else there was to do when I left school! I vividly remember being sat in front of my head of year and being asked 'right then Cordelia, what course are you going to be applying for then'. My response (at my application for Uni meeting) 'I need to decide that now?'
I was 18, no clue what I wanted to do when I 'grew up' and suddenly I was expected to make this life changing decision that I had given zero seconds of thought to until this very moment? Oh god! I blurted out 'Education studies' (the only course I'd really shown any sort of interest in) and that was that!
I was accepted at York St John University with an unconditional offer, something I should have been so proud of, and all I really wanted to do was run away from the whole situation screaming at the top of my lungs! It wasn't what I wanted to do at all, I knew myself better than I gave myself credit for at the time. I knew what I liked and disliked and should have been focusing on the things I enjoyed, not what I thought everyone would expect of me.
Results day came, I got average A Level results which was to be expected as I really struggled to focus in those last 2 years at school. I went home and told my parents and it was my Dad who said, out of the blue, 'if you're not happy about going to Uni love, don't do it. Defer your place for a year and see what other options are out there. Don't just sit around doing nothing though - you need to find what you want to do for the rest of your life!' Here it was again, the huge life changing decision to be made at 18!! I said to my Dad, 'what if I can't work that out right now.' to which he replied (and it was probably one of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given) 'Do what you enjoy, and you will find your way from there'.
Too right I did!
I signed up to do an Art and Design course at Doncaster College which lasted for the next year, it was one of the best things I have ever done. I have always been creative and my Mum was into art and we would go to exhibitions and galleries at weekends (a bit yawnsville sometimes). The course was great every day was a different subject, everything from life drawing on a Tuesday to learning the basics in Photoshop on a Friday afternoon (by the end of which my brain had just about turned to mush). But the day I loved the most was Thursday and our photography module!
Hurray we finally made it to the point where I mention photography!!!! Stay with me!
We learned with the old fashioned film SLR cameras. We were given a subject to shoot and the rest was up to us. I used to drive to college so I would jump in my little Ford Ka and find a spot that was perfect for my subject, these were some of my happiest hours looking back. I would then spend hours in the dark room developing my film, marvelling at the whole process and the science behind it. Science had never interested me up until this point. The most exciting thing that every happened in science for me was when our science block at school burned down (we can laugh about it now, not so funny at the time).
That was it, I was hooked! I asked for a digital camera for Christmas from my Grandparents and it was the exact one I'd asked for on Christmas morning (they were angels). I spent the whole day documenting what everyone opened in their stockings, what we ate for Christmas dinner and then the game of Trivial Pursuit at the end of the day. Sadly, those photos are long gone, gone to the big digital photography heaven in the sky along with the Packard Bell laptop they were stored on. There was no 'cloud' or 'Dropbox' back then.
If you've got this far into my first blog and you're still here with me, thanks for reading, I'll get to the point soon I promise!
I was always the one who would have their camera on nights out, or holidays and my friends always knew they could rely on me to be tagging like mad the day after on Facebook. I was always the one documenting everyone else's (and my own) life.
After College I went to Sheffield Hallam Uni to study Contemporary Fine Art. A decision that I was so much happier with the 12 months before. I was around like-minded people every day and felt comfortable and really at home there. My brother once came in for the day with me and sat through one of my philosophy lectures and described us all as 'barking mad' so I suppose that says a lot about me!
While I was studying I lived at home and also had a really lovely job at Ikea where I met some incredible people and learned a huge amount about business and values and that it was ok to just be me!
In 2011 all of us at Ikea were made redundant, at this point I had been with them for nearly 9 years so my redundo was a fair whack! I knew exactly what I was going to spend my money on, a digital SLR. Something that had always been too far out of my reach financially, until now! We found out our redundancy amounts months before we were paid and I had been obsessing about exactly which camera I would invest in, with which lense and where I was going to buy it from.
When my money came through in April 2011 I bought a Nikon D5000 with a kit lense, flash bag and tri-pod from Jessops at Meadowhall. I can honestly say it was my pride and joy! And the rest, as they say, is history.
I chose to shoot with a Nikon because I had used Nikons at college and was really comfortable with them. A decision I'm still really happy with even though I have much love for Canons too. They are essentially both the same piece of kit, it's all about preference.
Earlier this year I made the big decision after years of forging a successful career in HR and Learning and Development that I only ever want to work as hard as I do for myself. I must must must spend my time doing what I love to do, and that is photography! Turns out I've also found a new love for all the technology that comes with it too!
Anyway, I told you I talk too much :)
Thanks for reading, I promise my next blog will be less about me and more about imparting some of my photography knowledge!
