Wales in Pictures (Day 8)

I WENT TO WALES!

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early and literally ran to the bus as we were unsurprisingly late. We made it!

Our first stop was at ancient Roman ruins in Wales. There was an amphitheater surrounded by vast expanses of green. (click the image below!!)

We played like children and took hundreds of pictures. It was EXTREMELY windy.

Then we went to Caerphilly Castle where I completely ruined my Toms shoes. Totally worth it.

Our final stop was a 10 acre Welsh life museum.

One of the most exciting parts was our hotel room. It was clean and nice and warm and clean and nice. Very different from my dorm. 

Day 7 Summary

Today I overslept. We had a meeting at 10:30 am and I slept until 1. So there's that.

Then, some friends and I went to hang out on the lawn near the London Eye. We people watched and talked for hours about the trip and our lives back home.

Later that night, some girls and I went back to the bar from the night before (see previous post) and were greeted by the same crew as the night before (owner, manager, bouncer, and bartender). They recognized us and graciously let us in for free. We were pleasantly surprised when we realized that the bar opens a dancing area on fridays and hires a DJ. We danced until we literally couldn't dance any longer. It looked something like this:

Day 6 Summary

Today my photography professor taught our class the basics of flash photography. I was thrilled because I have been around so much instruction about how to light an image (see photos by the wonderful Bob and Dawn Davis) and have been mystified by the complexity of flash photography.

After class, some of my close girl friends and I went out on the town. At the pub we went to, three locals tested our English accents and one of them knew Lily Allen. That was a blast. Then we found a bar that we now call our own. It is a very relaxed bar with a wide variety of young people in London. The manager introduced himself to me and I had a chat with him, the owner, the bouncer, and the bartender. We stayed until bar close like the college kids we are.

The only downside of the day is that we got lost going home because the tubes do not run after midnight. It took us two hours to find our way back after asking two local guys to show us how to get home. Next time, I'm calling a cab.

Favorite Images of June 19th

Day 5 Summary (In Pictures)

(click images to zoom)

My photography class took a walk from the Regent building through Soho to the South Bank. I snapped many a picture of beards and flowers for my project.

My friends from my dorm and I then visited Queen Mary's Garden.

The flowers were phenomenal and I took hundreds of pictures. Here are a few:

Things may have gotten a little weird.

We finished the night with crepes.

Beards

Today was our first day shooting as a class. Now that we have our "hired out" cameras, it is/was nice to finally see what they can really do. We used basic camera settings and used Carnaby Street as a backdrop. This was a phenomenal experience because I have wanted to go to Carnaby Street ever since I learned about Swinging London and was so lucky to be "required" to explore.

We used the day to get familiar with the cameras and to get us thinking about our first project. The students get to pick their own subjects and themes to photograph in London. I decided (for now) to take pictures of men's facial hair and flowers. I like the contrast of masculinity and femininity. I had a wonderful and uncomfortable time asking men to hold still while I snapped pictures of their beards. Most of these will not make it to the final portfolio or are unrelated, but here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.