"Ma'am, are you drunk?" and other stories

My year in photos


My beautiful digsmates!


The last big 21st...


Grad ball


Grahamstown fest!!!


Last Villa digs formal


Trivar


One of many horrific electricity bills


Kings of Leon


Christmas!

I want I want




Heart-shaped locket (belonged to my great-grandmother)

 



DKNY Doc Martens (second-hand clothes shop)



Antique watch-face necklace (watch belonged to my grandmother)




Navy and white sling bags (second-hand shop), black sling bag (belonged to my grandmother)

 

Hats!!!

 

All things bright and vintage

"Everything I buy is vintage and smells funny. Maybe that's why I don't have a boyfriend.”-Lucy Liu

Brown leather lace-up DKNY boots. You pick them up in sweaty hands that suddenly feel far too cumbersome to hold such fine-looking items. Your turn them over, letting out the anxious breath that you didn’t even know you were holding when you realise that they are the right size. You sit down to try them on, struggling to keep your emotions in check and your body at a ninety degree angle to the earth’s surface. The boots fit your feet perfectly, and as the melodic sound of harps and violins fills your ears, images of star-crossed lovers reunited at the end of fairy-tales spring involuntarily to mind.



Ah, vintage shopping, a bright point in an otherwise dull and shadowed life. That dizzying sense of elation as you spot that special something, that delightful smell of must and history. Drape a vintage necklace around your throat and suddenly you are mysterious and intriguing, as gorgeous and ladylike as Holly Golightly.
So where does one get their vintage fix in Grahamstown? Among the multiple Peps, KFCs and coffee shops you can occasionally strike vintage gold. The Nearly New Shop on Hill Street (coincidently, the birthplace of the aforementioned boots) sells good-quality clothing, bags and shoes at affordable prices. Bentwoods Antiques Shop on Cawood Street is brimming with old-fashioned photo frames, vinyl, dresses and art.  In Bathurst Street there is the Sunflower Hospice Shop, which sells clothes and books.

Lastly, when searching for vintage clothes, don’t forget your mother’s cupboard. Whilst she may not yet qualify as an antique herself, her sling bags and skinny belts certainly do.

 

She got a hat and all he has is his asshole

It's old news, I know. Everybody else has moved on, has seen Deadmau5 and Lil Wayne and are making plans to see Sting (oh yes, rumour has it Mr. Sumner will be hitting SA shores come 2012). But I am still wandering around in a Followill-induced fog, quietly singing 'Talihina Sky' and carving skinny, mustached men into tree trunks.

It only really hit me that I was about to see Kings of Leon live when the stage was being set up, and their KOL drumset was placed at the back. The first song they played was 'Crawl', and it was shivers-down-your-spine amazing. Caleb's voice is deep and sexy and he sounds like he's in pain (in a good way, of course). As each song ended and we waited for the next to begin I felt like I was having the ultimate Christmas present experience...hearing the beginning of 'Taper Jean Girl' reminded me of unwrapping a giant pink Barbie house circa 1995. They played some Youth and Young Manhood classics like 'Molly's Chambers', playing lots from Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times (my favourites). The only disappointment of the night was that they didn't play 'Milk', but judging by the crowd (great excitement at 'Use Somebody', not so much at 'My Party') I could see why.

I must confess that I didn't take these photos, I stole them from my cousin Ross Thornton-Dibb. I have no shame.

Hello, I love you

This year's girl crushes:

1. Florence Welch. Adorable in interviews and a wild woman on stage.
2. Alanis Morissette. 'I'm broke but I'm happy/ I'm short but I'm healthy yeah'...claiming it!
3. Sylvia Plath. A huge inspiration (besides the suicide, that was a fuck up).
4. Virginia Woolf. Ditto.
5. Diablo Cody. She gave us Juno, I give her a place on my list:)
6. Joan Jett. What's that? You love rock 'n roll? Me too!
7. Debbie Harry. A Playboy centrefold with talent!
8. Marian Keyes. So so funny.

Dirty pretty things

 

There's something I've been meaning to tell you...

I wrote this article ages ago and it never actually saw the light of day. The time has arrived!



 "When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I’d like to know them."- Annie Leibovitz
"It’s the magic that happens in your own head that allows you to take a great photo," says Claire Martin, a fourth year Journalism design student . "Photography is capturing the world as you see it."

The parts of the world that she aims to capture? "People, especially their faces. A photograph of a face can grab the viewer; can confront the viewer with the emotions of the subject. The beautiful moments of interaction between people can be captured and made timeless through photography."

People have always wanted to capture the moments of their lives, from the Impressionist’s rendering of the fleeting nature of colour and light to the social networks of today, in which people are largely represented through photographic images.

Claire explains her theory that "you can never really know someone completely", citing photography as a way to explore the many different sides to a person. Inspired by French Vogue magazine, stage productions and ‘weird couture’ ("anything edgy, or with a twist"), Claire’s favourite photographers include Kevin Carter and Eleanor Hardwick. She aims to take the kind of photos that will "rip your heart out" when you look at them.




Tarryn Liddell, a fourth year photo Journalism student, appreciates photography for the creativity it evokes. "There is no wrong or right way…some of the best photos can be taken when breaking the rules."

Photography is a relatively new technological medium, and Tarryn believes that it is one which will continue to grow.

"I’m mostly thinking about how I am constructing an image, and what that image is saying," says Tarryn, describing her head space when she is behind the camera.

To any aspiring photographers, Tarryn’s advice is "PRACTICE, PRACTICE and then more practice!" She mentions a hands-on approach, following blogs and learning from other photographers as some of the key ways to become an accomplished photographer.

Claire’s advice is not to try too hard. "If you do this you won’t get to the heart of the photo," she explains.

As Walker Evans says, "The eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts."

Um...is this thing on?

Soooooooooo...in yet another attempt to be cool (heh heh) I have decided to start a BLOG! I chose to call it 'Paper Dolls' coz most of what I love to do, like writing and reading, involves paper (obvious I know), and the name in general has connotations of girly fashion and creativity. It also has a kind of vintage feel to it, which made me like it even more. I want to use this space to express my thoughts and opinions, rather than my usual method of releasing them as word vomit when conversing with a group of strangers. Early New Year's resolution, you might say. I suspect that there is a big collage in my head made up of images and poems and song lyrics and paintings and photographs and movies, and I just want to put all of it down on paper. So here goes.