What will I die for... the idea of Australian Gothic

What will I die for. What will you die for? Will you be sleeping peacfully, old and wrinkled? Will you be caught in an horrific accident, or be diagnosed with cancer? Will you take your own life? Or might you die saving someone you love?
I've always felt death has a bad reputation, lol. But it is a conflicting feeling as i love the knowledge of  life is fleeting, embrace it and enjoy it. But, i am not scared to die, i am curious to know what exsists after we leave this world. I wonder if  I will make enough of a difference before i pass. I love knowing that the photo above is it, all that remains of a fleeting moment, that i will never again stand in that same spot and see that same thing, that the beauty that is present in the picture has already begun to fade, begun to decay and wither away.
the editing for  this peice consisted of me changing the colour tone, making it more sepia, adding darkness around the eyes, bluring the background more and adding an old photo texture, giving it an "unloved" feel.
the original looked like this

the works i have been doing over the last couple of weeks have begun to once again reflect my obsession for Australin Gothic. It is and idea that i had, where I ant to explore gothic culture and make it Australian, create my own language, so to speak. I love gothic, the iade that everything fades, but somethig remains; that decay only creates a new kind of beauty.

But gothic images are heavily influenced but English and American ideas, usually our influences being some derelect castle, bombed ruin or oak forest. Those things dont exsist here, we have gum trees and creeping ivy. we have ragged mountain ranges and harsh, bright light. So where do we fit, where do we come in? and then I began to think, what if i used this to my advantage? what if i took our bright light, vibrant colours and amazing scenery and combined it with what i know.

My sudden use of flowers in "Sweet Surrender" was a simple solution to my idea. Bright and vibrant, but doomed to die and fade in a matter of days- a personal symbol for my take on the idea of gothic. the skull was the idea of deacy making a new kind of beautiful, and thus the thinking pattern begain. and then i began to think about larger scenery, the food crops tha exsist in my world, that appear and dissapear quickly during the summer, with is the backdrop for "What will I die for". i think subconsiously i struck on the idea long ago, but untill now did not understand what i was trying to do.
thats my train of thought, for now anyway.

Strawberries
xx

Priestess of the Ridiculous

FACEPAINT!!!!!
 hahahahahahaha
So, this photograph, "Priestess of the Ridiculous" is commenting on religion. thats probably obvious to you arty nuts =)
this peice has come out of years of watching religion destroy people. Now, I am not against religion, i think it is a wonderful thing. the kindess and goodness that faith can inspire is a beautiful thing. What I am trying to comment on is when it is used as an excuse to do horible things, like bomb people, go to war ect. I have my own personal experiance, where and ex-boyfriend spent 4 years trying to win my heart and when he finally succeded, he broke it off, saying that "I have found God, and made my peace with him, and your conficting ideas, morals and sacriligious ways are a bad influence on the peace I have found."  You can then guess he hooked up with someone else.
But the main point of this piece is that, while faith and belief are good, not everything should be taken seriously, that there are some things that are probably not meant to be taken seriously, but are. which is Ridiculous.
Editing this piece was simple; slight darkening of the image, adding a blue tinge to the lighting, and creating an eerie eye, by making it bright blue, the using a brush in Photoshop Elements 7, using a transparent white to create an eerie lighting in the eye.

the original image looked like this

enjoy

xx
Strawberries

No even a whisper...

so, today i did a jane austen inspired shoot, with my friend, know as J. she wore a dress that she must wear in an upcoming play.

this finished photo I named, "not even a whisper..."
I named it thus as I was concering the rural inhabitants ability to continue life as per usuall wihtout hinderance of gossip or news they dont want to hear, which simillaly reminded me of the Austen era novels, in which the charcters displayed similar charcteristcs.
Rural mindsets and behaviors are something that heavily influence my work, even if that is not clear, as it is something i must deal with ever day.
this at the moment is a major concernof mine, as i am watching people around me observe the disaster of Cyclone Yasi in Queensland, and behind closed doors are being nasty, comparing their own insignificant woes and troubles to those who are suffering. one issue that keeps re-apearing is a comparison to this and the Black Saturday bushfires.
i only changed some mino things using Photoshop Elements 7; but those tings make al the difference.
i blured the background to bring J further into the focal point, and changed the colour slightly, adding more of a red tone, and decreasing the amount of blue.
this is what the raw photo looks like.

so hope you've been satisfied with this explination.

now,i must love you and leave you, and go back to the real world

Strawberries

xx