Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly; A documentary profile of Jenni Koetsier
By Bryony Symes

Dancers must be 'iron butterflies'; both mentally and physically strong, while graceful in their movement.

As part of my documentary journalism training, I have put together a radio documentary about a hopeful, vibrant dancer: Jenni Koetsier. Young dancers are pushed to the extremes to get ahead in their profession, and I delved into Jenni's psyche to find out how she has coped. Please listen and enjoy!

Here is the link to listen to my documentary: Iron Butterfly; A documentary profile of Jenni Koetsier

I'm all set for christmas... oh wait, I have a million assignments to do first!

As a counter to the end of term stress, which seems to have tripled this year, I have been sprucing up my room with all things christmas!

 My christmas tree corner has already had secret santa presents under it and I am afraid they were all opened at the wonderful evening at miss Jenni's flat!

 My paper chains may be bought from Cath Kidston, but I still had to put them together so I haven't totally cheated.

 One home-made, one definitely not! No prizes for guessing which is which! But can anyone tell what the orange one is made from???

My yummy and fair-trade advent calendar :D

But now I suppose I have to get back to reality and tackle those assignments once again...

Just what the ASOS fairy ordered! Almost...

One of my favourite websites, and most tempting not only in spending money that I don't have spare but also in putting off doing my work, is ASOS. And I love it even more when you can get a good bargain!

And so, the sunday before last, at 5pm when I was finally considering sitting down and actually writing after cleaning everything I could and otherwise faffing about, I recieved an email. It offered a shiny 50% off shoes, for 4 hours only! How could anyone resist? Especially when I could get to the shoes an hour earlier just by liking the page on facebook...

There I was, innocently browsing and not intending to spend anything at all, when suddenly I realised; I have been wanting a new pair of heels for months, and these are half price... so I just HAD to! Don't you see?! And these are the beauties I was rewarded with just 3 days later:

Naturally I could not stop with just the shoe sale, especially as I do in fact NEED a new pair of boots... and perhaps a dress, a couple of tops.....

In the end, I ordered the shoes, 2 dresses and one jumper/shirt combo. The disappointment when they arrived and the only wearable items were the shoes and the £11 wrap dress was shocking for me, as the other two items were such poor quality - something that I do not expect from ASOS as I would somewhere like Primark! However, after a very enjoyable night out, the shoes and dress that I kept have served me well...

And the £34 refund will go towards that new handbag that I really wanted... the boots can wait.

The beauty of November 5th

is that you can take such unusual photographs! The evening meant that I could test out my fireworks and slow shutter speed settings on my lovely camera, with some surprisingly beautiful results! Who said you need DSLRs to take impressive shots?? And the best part of it was spending the night with some of my closest friends!

My 'decisive moment' of the evening.

Such lovely friends!

The bonfire lit up the trees as if they were burning.

A selection of the best fireworks shots.

The dying bonfire.

Playing with fire.

Ode to an autumn day

The leaves have turned, and it's November already! The beauty of this season astounds me every year, and when I see a leaf fall I still fight the urge to run and catch it then make a wish, as I used to in Primary school, because an 'adult' would not be so silly!

However, Autumn and Winter are still two of my very least favourite seasons... as in I can't stand them; the cold, the rain, the slippery pavements, the constant putting on and taking off of layers (although I do secretly like the layering look... cozy cardis all the way!) Not to mention the dried out skin and money that seems to evaporate on Christmas shopping!

So it still surprises me how long it took me to realise that I could think of no songs which celebrate Autumn, despite the abundance on my ipod of songs like 'summertime' by Will Smith that are wonderful, feel good songs based around the best season of the year; Summer! And no matter what time of year it is, whenever I hear Kid Rock's 'all summer long', I get that breezy summer feelin' and the day turns from bad to much, much better!

A day in the life of would-be rubbish

A Documentary Photographic Profile by Bryony Symes.

This documentary profile will probe into the ways that simple drinks can damage our worlds, as well as the ways that we can make them beautiful. With people tending to choose bottled or canned drinks over a simple glass of water from the tap, we are becoming very wasteful and the land-fill sites across Britain can attest to this. But it needn't be all doom and gloom, rubbish can be used by some in useful and artful ways.

Another meal, another landfill.

'Junk' can be beautiful in an artist's mind.







Collector's Corner.

The born again piggy bank.

Abstract art or careless wastefullness?

Littering our planet; the gross end of your favourite drinks.



This pretty much sums me up...

Just another Sunday in Winchester...

With both the arts and crafts market, and the vintage and retro fair, its no wonder I spent money today.

 This was a step-back-in-time style photography stall, which had so many amazing things including old-style glass negatives in a case, a type-writer and a tiny 1.5"x2.5" yellow camera from the '50s or '60s (at a guess).

There were so many amazing stalls at the vintage fair, and so many shoppers, that we had to go back at the end of the day so that we could get a clear photo of any of the stalls! 

TOO MUCH money, but isn't it oh so worth it? Shopping gives you a fantastic day out with friends, lots of excuses for sitting and people watching (often accompanied by a hot chocolate or a meal, because we must have sustenance!), and lots and lots of NEW THINGS!!!

I have already had lots of fun with today's purchases, using the scarf as a belt, a headband, a hood, a bracelet, I could go on ...

And having some fun playing around with shadow and high and low angles taking pictures of the scarf and ring. 

Plus, how can you go wrong, in October, buying knits? So what if I bought two cardigans in one day? One is vintage, the other is not; one is navy, the other is purple; one has cute gold buttons, the other drapes nicely and has mixed textures. And they are both cosy and roasty-toasty for the coming winter months. I am prepared for once!


Shopping spree done, right? WRONG! I now need to find some boots... in my size and the colour I like. They are practically found, if only River Island had more sizes and lower prices! So on I shop, such a hard life!

A grave excursion

After a gruesome day of work (fainting while talking to a customer about scarves is not exactly ideal...), I felt I needed a little time out on the walk home to clear my head. For months now, I have walked past a gate and wondered where it leads to, so, ever the intrepid adventurer, I explored. What I found was a charming (though morbid and slightly spooky) cemetery. I took this opportunity to flex my documentary-photography muscles and experiment with angles, high and low shots and framing that we looked at in class on tuesday. Here are the results!