I went to the cinema...

I promise to do a review of each film that I see, but I am very tired and it is very late, so tomorrow I will post a review on the film 'Warrior', which I went to see this evening!


Speak soon!

John Lennon Monument 'Peace and Harmony'

Linked in with my trip into Liverpool city centre, I visited the John Lennon dedicated monument on Chavasse Park in Liverpool One. The monument was revealed late last year and I have yet to take a detailed look at the statue. It was designed by Lauren Voiers, an American artist. She worked along side the Global Peace Initiative which are intending to put a peace monument on each continent.

Again, the camera that I am currently using doesn't have the best resolution in the world but bare with me. This is the whole statue and as you can see the banner in the background of John Lennon and his son. The statue ties in music, peace and the earth to encapsulate the essence of John Lennon's and of course Yoko Ono's life and message. The colours are very fluid on the statue and the design is indeed abstract.

I was fascinated with the way in which the instruments wrap around the globe underneath, meaning that from different angles, it becomes a different statue. This particular part was my favourite because of the abstract way in which Lauren has envisaged the guitar. The sunlight bounces straight of the monument and so the bright colours are turned into wonderful glowing substances. Because the statue is so smooth, it almost looks like liquid.

This photograph is the statue from another angle, showing a saxophone and stave. The psychedelic colours are a representation of the 'hippie' lifestyle of Lennon and Yoko, and also is related to many peace movements in that era. The light hits the cosmic colours in an extraordinary way, giving off a glow and strange sense of peace and calm. If the message wasn't clear already, she has used the CND symbol (commonly known as a 'peace symbol') within the design but she has not chosen it as the main focus.

 I finally took this photograph from further down Chavasse Park to show where the monument is. As you can see, the tower is in full view and also Liverpool One is right next to it. the statue stands alone in the middle of a concrete plain, standing tall and proud for all visitors to come see, hear and feel what the piece is trying to say.

My photographs of this statue are not the best, but hopefully you can see the detail of this beautiful monument for what it is; a peace symbol for the world to see.


Speak soon!

My day in Liverpool city centre

Well today I decided to take a trip to town with my boyfriend to check out the freshers fair and run a few errands. I took along my camera to take photographs of anything that particularly caught my eye. I again apologise  for some of the poor quality photographs, but I am buying a new camera shortly!


The sunlight was beautiful today and the skies were so clear! So I thought I would use this to my advantage in some of the photographs.

The first item of interest that I discovered on Bold Street was the 'Hug' statue. I have seen this statue many times before, but I personally thought that the trees looked luscious and the sunlight just creeping through made this a good scene to capture. The sculptor is Stephen Broadbent and the statue was unveiled 19th September 1990. It represents the slave trade and building bridges between different races, particularly aimed at students (Me!).

I thought that I should take a close up photograph just to show the texture and colour of the statue a bit better. I prefer the first image over this, however this does have a better quality due to the close foreground object.

Of course, you cant go into Liverpool city centre with a camera and not take a photograph of our iconic St. Johns Beacon (now the 'RadioCity tower'). The tower is 453ft tall and you can see it from pretty much anywhere in Liverpool! I love the tower because it is our very own 'Seattle space needle', being an infamous image of our city.

In the image, as you can see, the sun is just hitting one side of the tower, giving it a wonderful shade on the opposite side. the contrast of the strict shade and light areas make the tower almost look 2D. I cropped the image because unfortunately my foreground was very busy with people and traffic. The image is unusual because a clear blue sky doesn't usually surround to tower, never mind appear over Liverpool!

Bold Street. One of the busiest places in Liverpool. But to stand back and actually look at the street, it is a picaresque city centre image. With the busy shoppers and business people filling the street, and the various coloured signs of the shops, and to top it off, St. Lukes standing tall in the background of the image. St. Lukes, or as we local people know it 'the bombed out church', can from most angles seem dilapidated; however from this end of Bold Street it shows the intact  spire which stands tall and proud.

This image is very poor quality I know, but the time of day and the busyness of the street just made me want to take the photograph. Hopefully I can improve on this image in the near future.

Not really a well know building in town, but I think that it is one of the best. Simply a Costa Coffee Shop; this building is at one of the entrances to Liverpool One. All of the surrounding buildings are grey, very bland and boring. This brings a lot of life to the street and shows the modern aspect to the shopping centre. It is very artistic and becomes more of an architectural masterpiece rather than just a coffee shop. I have always referred to this building as 'crayons' because that is exactly what I see when I look up at these fantastic steel poles.

Again I have taken a closer image just because the camera I am currently using seems to work better with this sort of image. The vibrant colours are even more visible in this image and the perfect measurements of each pole is clear. 

Most people who visit Liverpool as tourists are looking for Beatles related locations. HMV have taken advantage of this iconic image by putting it in the biggest shop window in the city in the most popular area of the city; Liverpool One. The Beatles live on throughout the streets of Liverpool through various things such as hotels, exhibitions, etc. For my final photograph I thought this would be fitting, considering most of my photographs are iconic Liverpool related images. 

Today has been a learning curve for me, because I am trying to develop my photography skills. Of course things can only get better, so I hope you will check back with me to see my progress! I love being from Liverpool and so taking photographs of things that I see day to day has been a good experience. I hope to do more days out like this!

Speak soon!

Today being a Wednesday...

...I have the day off! So I think it will be a good idea to make use of this beautiful day! Heading into town, equipped with my camera; I am going to mooch around the Freshers stalls but also have a look and see if there are any interesting photographs work taking. The lighting conditions will be fantastic so I think it is a good opportunity! 


I might visit either the Odeon Cinema or the FACT to see a film later on today. I go the cinema religiously every Wednesday due to the cheap promotional offers, (student life ey!) but it is my favourite pass time. I try to see films that vary in style, genre, director, etc because I want to learn about all of them for my future in the industry!


I will report back later on with any photographs or other tid bits that I uncover in Liverpool city centre! Also, from now I think that it would be interesting for me to review any films that I see. Giving me the chance to obviously show you what I am interested in and also to let you read about films that may be worth watching in the near future!


(I apologise now for any poor quality photographs, due to the fact that I am currently searching for a new camera to replace my typica digital!)


Speak soon!

My first post...

Okay so this is my first official blogger post! Starting this blog means that I have embarked on my JMU adventure with Media Professional Studies.


The reason that I chose this course was because over the past couple of years, through 6th form and the social aspect, I have become more and more enthralled with the media each day.


My main interest is film because I have always loved going to the cinema and seeing the latest releases. I like to vary the types and styles of films that I watch because I believe that this will help me absorb more from this particular environment.


From this course I hope to develop my skills and learn more about the industry that I will be heading into (hopefully!). From what I have seen, heard and read about; Media Professional Studies seems to be the perfect choice for me.


Before I came to John Moores, I went to 6th form and studies Media Studies, Dance and Graphics. A variation in subjects because I have a wide variety of interests. I have always however, known that I wanted to pursue my Media interest.


Of course I am in a new and strange environment which I have never encountered before, and I miss the easy living of 6th form life and the comfort of those who I have known for nearly a decade. But it is now time for me to step out of the bubble and into the new world of Media forms, products and technology!


For the future I have many hopes and aspirations, and this drive that I have to achieve them will hopefully aid me. I am looking at moving to California after my 3 years at JMU, this is so that I can go to CalArts, which is an institute specialising in Film, Drama, Dance, etc. I think that this would be the best move for me personally because my interests are strongly linked with one particular course. I have a possibly ridiculous fascination with animation and the worlds of Pixar and Disney. The reason for this I am unsure, maybe from watching all of the films over and over throughout my lifetime so far I have seen that the making of such films is wonderful.


I am enthralled with animation and specifically stop motion, however although I favour this style of film making, I do not yet have all the skills to create a clean stop motion film. Hopefully through this JMU course I will be able to develop in this area personally.


Other media forms that I like, well I would have to say print. In my 6th from final assessment I created a small magazine which was front to back about Tim Burton (another obsession of mine!).
I thought that I should create something that I know about along with something that I don't. I do not have experience with print other that the research and studying I have done about it. Therefore creating the magazine was a step away from what I am used to. Choosing Tim Burton as my subject made the project feel like home!


Well that is if for my first post, I hope to endear you for the next 3 years and hopefully I will receive  some useful feedback!

Speak soon!

Link to my other blog!

I also like to use Tumblr for blogging, this obviously is more social based, but take a look!


http://stevielennon.tumblr.com/