Thursday post series #1: personal updates

Here’s the first of my Thursday posts: updates on everything that’s happened to me in the last few weeks. At the moment, I’m in the process of registering a business name for my new venture: Chai Media (partnership with my friend [and model for my studio shoot today] Chesney). We’re in pre-production for a couple of advertisements for my local Credit Union so that’s keeping us busy. Between that and my current internship at The Picture Rooms photography studio on Fridays and Saturdays, I’m pretty much busy all day every day! It’s good being busy though, I feel like I need to be out doing things every day so this is fueling that nicely!

I had a studio shoot with Chesney today, like I said, for my portfolio for college for next year. It went so well, we played around with low-key lighting and silver glitter for the day! I’ll post up the edited images next week. For now though, it’s sleep time for me!

Wednesday post series #1: what inspires me at the moment

Following on from yesterday’s post about series and the like, here is the first of my Wednesday posts. I’m shooting my friends Chesney and Conor in studio tomorrow so therefore this post is about what I’ve been looking at for ideas. I’ve been thinking a lot about low-key lighting and about how dramatic it can look. I love low-key lighting, how getting the shadows and light just right can either make or break a portrait. The following are photos I’ve been looking at for inspiration.

I’m probably gonna go more along the route of the last photo and add some glitter into the image aswell, just to see how it goes. I’ll post up some photos when they’re done!

Tuesday post series #1: videos I’ve loved

I have no words to describe how incredible this video is. It’s shot on DSLRs and it’s about how creative people make work and how the creative industries are working today. It’s so inspiring. It probably fueled my ambition to become a film-maker even more after seeing how good this was. It’s just… wow. <3

Monday post series #1: photoshoots I’ve loved

Here’s the first of my Monday post series: photo shoots I’ve loved. This one is “Disturbed Dream Captures” by Kevin Carrado. This shoot is absolutely amazing. I’m a little obsessed with the notion of vulnerability and isolation in photography so this was right up my alley! Using frames within photographs is also another fascination of mine so I absolutely love this series! The images use a muted colour palette and are slightly dystopian, with fragmented bodies climbing into and out of frames. They have a surrealist nature to them so they look almost like a Dali painting. ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

New post series: Friday Bucket list #1

I’ve been horrible and neglecting this blog of late so I’ve gotten myself organised I’m starting a blogging series. One post type for Monday through Friday. Monday’s will be photo-shoots I’ve loved, Tuesday will be videos I’ve loved, Wednesday will be what’s inspiring me to make work at the moment, Thursday will be updates on my life (business venture, internship, college, holidays etc.) and finally, as you can see, Friday will be the things on my “bucket list” (things I’ve always wanted to do).

I’ve recently discovered the Day Zero Project, a website that lets you catalog “101 Things In a 1001 Days” and other things like things you want to do “someday” and things you’ve already done. I’m gonna work through the enumerated list one by one, and blog about each thing weekly. (That will keep me busy, there’s 142 things on the list!).

1. Fill a sketchbook with drawings

This is probably gonna be hard as I haven’t even picked up a drawing pencil since I did art in school about 5 years ago. I’m actually gonna try take art classes soon though so I’ll keep updates as to how that’s going.

For now though, I’m gonna share some sketchbook inspiration I’ve found:

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Hopefully I can keep up with this. If I do, I’ll probably turn it into an art journal of some kind. I’ve been wanting to do something like that for so long and just never got around to it. Even after I bought art supplies and sketchbooks while I was in Boston last summer (Blicks Art Supplies FTW :D)

“Devoillee” Numero April 2012

The Numero spring 2012 fashion shoot is an ethereal exposition of spring style. The images are grainy and soft-foucsed, emphasising the model and the textures of the clothes. Wafts of chiffon frame the model and act as a sort of window to view the model through (In this, the shoot almost has a voyeuristic feel to it). The model herself adds contrast to the images, as her gaze is harsh and intense, contrasting with the rest of the image.ImageImageImageImage

Updates and review of Instrumental Art exhibition

The last couple of days have been hectic and mad busy. I was out shooting two days in a row on the beach, all day last week. I had to do a video shoot on Wednesday and then I was photographing for my portfolio for next year on Thursday. I got a phone call from a girl at The Picture Rooms on Thursday too, confirming my interview for an internship for the summer. That’s tomorrow, I’ll blog about it after! On Saturday, I headed into town with Ian, supposedly to see the IADT Photography graduate exhibition at Moxie Studios but we never got there! We ended up having lunch at Cactus Jack’s in Jervis Arcade and then wandering up to Graphic Studio gallery in Temple bar, where I asked Catherine for portfolio advice, which was really helpful. We then headed up to Grafton st for a wander around and I saw the Instrumental Art exhibition sign and dragged Ian upstairs to see it.

It’s an exhibition of different mixed media sculptures, all made into the shape of instruments. It’s a really unusual concept and it has two of my favourite things: music and art so I was in my element! The standout pieces for me were: a sculpture of pencils, made into the shape of an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar painted with a portrait of Kurt Cobain and an acoustic guitar painted with a picture of Phil Lynott (swoon), I’m lusting after that piece, but at nearly €2,000 it’ll have to wait until I’m rich!

Birthday “haul”

This has been a long time coming, my birthday was over a month ago but I just got my “big” presents today today: a Nikon D7000, an 18-105mm lens, an SB-700 external flash and a batter grip for the camera, so squee! I didn’t get many presents mostly money but the presents I did get were really thoughtful so I <3 them. I got an iTunes voucher, a voucher for Sheldon Photographic in Airside in Swords (I’m gonna use it to get my Polaroid camera looked at, I think I broke it -_-), a River Island voucher and two HMV vouchers. I bought tights with the River Island voucher and box sets of Game Of Thrones series 1 and Fringe series 1-3 with the HMV vouchers.

Here’s the presents I got:

Newbridge Silverwear USB pen (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
Newbridge Silverwear USB pen (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Paperblank blank notebook (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Newbridge Silverwear keyring (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Dior J’Adore perfume (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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The second Hunger Games book (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Uglydoll teddy, called “Tray” (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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A guestbook that everyone wrote messages in (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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A photo album (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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A Hult & Quist bracelet (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Camera necklace (C)Aisling Keavey 2012
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Necklace with an “A” charm on it (C)Aisling Keavey

I also got a green drop charm from Ian but the photo didn’t upload for some reason… how never.

I’ll have another blog post up tomorrow at some point and then next week, a post on my first impressions of the camera with some sample photos and video.

Until then,

Stay golden,

Aisling x

Review of Inika Organic eyeliner in Sapphire / Caudlie S.O.S Thirst quenching serum / Monu body cream / Figs & Rouge peppermint & Tea tree lip balm

I received this month’s Glossybox last week and I’ve only had a chance to review the products now. I tried them all out today and I like all of them. I haven’t had a chance to try the straightening balm yet but when I do I’ll be sure to post a review.

Inika eyeliner in Sapphire

This eyeliner looks black on the pencil so I was so surprised to see that it came out BLUE but then I saw the name on the end of the pencil… (A reason why I’m a fail, I don’t read stuff properly -_-). It went on blue, obviously, and it went on very well. It kind of clumped a tiny bit around the corners of my eyes at the very top of the lashes but that’s probaby because I don’t usually use pencil eyeliner (liquid FTW). It had a very nice feel to it, it was nice & soft so it didn’t hurt going on like other pencil eyeliners I’ve used (the reason I use liquid & a brush, by the way). It gave a very good coat with one layer, I didn’t need to go over it. All in all, it’s a really nice product & it’s organic!

Caudlie S.O.S Thirst quenching serum

This is a serum for dehydrated skin (I definitely need this!) that you put on under your moisturizer and another organic product (they really like that this month). I only needed to use a tiny amount to cover my whole face (which is just as well as the tube was only half full & I could only get that tiny amount out anyway!). It took an age to dry in before I could apply my moisturizer. It kind of left my skin feeling tight, but that tightness went away after a few minutes and left my skin feeling soft and have a dewy texture. I don’t know if I like this product yet, I’ll use it for a few more days & then see what it’s like.

Monu body cream

This is a really thick body cream that smells amazing, like proper body cream (that lovely expensive product smell, you get what I mean). It feels sticky after you apply it and it takes an age to dry. Again, I don’t really know if I like it yet, I’ll use it a few days & see if I do after that.

Figs and Rouge

This is another organic product, that, when I opened the tin, looked like it was about to melt away. It was very soft and probably shouldn’t have been, it might just have been the shipping. It kind of has a bit of a medicinal feel, as it’s peppermint and tea tree flavour. However, it does have the most amazing smell. It kind of goes on a bit clumpy but it took away all the dead and peeling skin on my lips and left my lips feeling super soft, so I’ll probably get another one when I use this one up.

 

All in all, a very good April Glossybox, I’ll see what the May box has in it before I see about unsubscribing from the service. I have lots of reviews and nice things planned to blog about over the summer so stayed tuned!

Glossybox April

I just started getting GLOSSYBOX in March, it’s a monthly subscription service for samples of beauty products (Glossybox website). My March box was a bit of a disappointment but how never, I’m going to get the May box & then see if I want to continue to get it. I haven’t used all the products in the box yet but when I do, I’ll post a review up. I received: Caudalie Thirst quenching serum, a Figs And Rouge peppermint & tea tree lip balm, a Philip B Drop Dead Straightening balm, Monu body cream and Inika eyeliner.

I’ll post a review of each product once I’ve used them. I’ll have a review of the lip balm and body cream up today at some point. (The photo of the lip balm won’t upload for some bizarre reason, I’ll post a photo when I review it)

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