Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!
Would you actually believe my blog has finally managed to reach 100 posts...and what a more perfect way to celebrate than on All Hallows' Eve!
Although I haven't had the time to go to any gigs for the past couple of months due to packing/moving, I've been putting my creative efforts elsewhere until I can get back into gigging again. The street photos below are unfortunately not where I live or going to be in the near future, but I've loved the place ever since I was young and it looked so beautiful in the Autumn sunshine when I last ventured past on my travels.
I also love the little semi-detached houses that for some reason remind me of San Francisco, it just looks and feels very American compared to the rest of the houses in the area, my ideal kind of home! Enough about that though and more about the photo below, we had Shaun over for a week in October and I'd seen photos of these tiny pumpkins with fake vampire teeth on the web so I thought it would be a great idea for a bit of Halloween craft. We made a couple of them and I'm happy with how they turned out, an easier take on the alternative pumpkin carving. Although that being said, I did carve a Harry Potter pumpkin afterwards which also turned out well, especially for a first timer!
Anyway, I hope everyone is all enjoying their Halloween, have a spooky one!


Nicola. x

Witches' Brew.

Hello everyone,
Another short and quick update! Even though I'm going to be moving super soon I've decided to put all of my Halloween decorations up for the past few weeks to get the benefit out of it, I've always been more of a Halloween kind of person rather than Christmas so when I celebrate it's done in full circle, haha. Anyway I thought I'd post my newest decor findings as it isn't that easy to find good decorations these days for Halloween, the little green witch below I bought recently from a gift shop in town along with the lavender in my watering can plant pot. The tiny crystal cauldron above was bought some time ago from a fair at my primary school...needless to say it's a much loved item. My most recent purchases are the china pumpkin tealight holder and the Witches Brew Yankee Candle, I believe mine is the old edition as the cover is from last year but I loved the look of the skull design far too much, and it smells absolutely amazing...a mix of spices and patchouli. I've also bought a few more things from Asda, they always come out with good decorations every year, this time I bought two tiny skeletons bride and groom, skeleton bone salad servers and a couple of skeleton candle holders for the living room. I think it's safe to say I'm totally skint but who can resist buying awesome things at Halloween?! haha.

Anyway I'll hopefully be back soon with another update and more photos but until then, ciao.
Nicola. x

Practical Magic.

Hi everyone,
It's finally Autumn, my favourite time of the year and a purrfect reason to start taking some shots in the beautiful Fall sunshine, see what I did there...yeah it was terrible I know! Anyway, whilst it's nearing Halloween, it seemed like an appropriate opportunity to post a few photos of this cute little black cat that I had a very short photoshoot session with the other day, talk about not liking the camera. He isn't my cat but one of my neighbours and I'm not all entirely sure what breed he is but I think it may be along the lines of a persian/siberian mix, if anyone knows write in the comment section! He is adorable anyway and I wish I could steal him, but don't worry I won't!

Since my last post on here I've actually been preparing for moving by throwing out some of my old things and I've actually been getting back into a lot of 90's movies and music that I managed to come across in the depths of my house, of course as the title suggests I've been watching one of my favourite films Practical Magic many times over just in time for October 31st. Is anyone else looking forward to pumpkin spice latte's coming back to Starbucks? I'll be first in the line for sure! Along with making some more pumpkin pie again...I'm beginning to think I should move to America at this rate, California maybe?...
I can't wait to start getting back into more photoshoot type set-ups again (with people might I add) as I've been looking into buying a lighting kit for some time now so I think it's finally time to take the plunge and roll with it. First things first however is moving house, so it may be a while before any promotional photos make their way online, hopefully that will all happen soon enough though!

Nicola. x

Sunshine On The East Coast.

Hey everyone,
I thought I would post another set of landscape photos that I have been working on recently. These shots are once again from last year, roughly around late Autumn. It's actually one of my favourite seasons of the year to photograph subjects and particularly locations with the gorgeous Autumnal colours of fallen leaves on the ground, there's no doubt that a lot of my landscape and scenery shots transpire a little more rapidly around that time.
I've actually taken photos at this location before so you may or may not recognise some of the areas. I'm not sure if it's apparent but I'm in constant awe of certain places that I have visited so sometimes I return to them a while later and photograph them again to see the changes, in both the location and even my photography. It's actually quite good to do things like that every once in a while, mainly to see the progression in your work.
The last couple of shots I added in purely for a little bit of fun. They certainly made me laugh when I bypassed them on my journey anyway, haha!

Nicola. x

Road To Nowhere.

Hey everyone, It's another one of those super quick blog posts...well in comparison to my last couple of entries anyway. If anyone has been following my Twitter page, you'll all know that I have been trying to sell one of my camera kits, and in exchange with the money I have bought some new gear which I am really excited about...so I went on another little adventure as I normally do whenever I buy new pieces for my kit, and I specifically chose a non-significant area to test the ability, and I'm really happy with the outcome! Can't wait to shoot with this setup more! Stay tuned...

Nicola. x

Autumn Leaves In Glasgow.

Hey everyone, So I'm back with part 2 of the Glasgow photos from my weekend away. These shots are from the daytime and all combined from over the few days I was there. I decided to go to the Templeton factory late in the afternoon of the first day I arrived. The building was originally built in the 1890's and was designed by one of my favourite architects...as you can see it looks pretty amazing and apparently the Doge's Palace in Venice was part of the inspiration!

When I was leaving Glasgow on the last day, I decided to re-visit the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery at the University. Back in 2005 I went with my art class, so it was really good to check it out again. I also wanted to go to the Mackintosh House, but it was queue only for the guided tour so I decided to go over to the Museum instead which is in the other part of the University across the road.

Both the Museum and University are literally astounding for photos and definitely a photographer's dream! I didn't take any photos inside the Museum but I did take some shots of the grounds outside because it looked gorgeous in the autumn, aswell as some quick photos of the stairway that leads to the Hunterian Museum which you can see nearer the end of this post. The cloisters are my favourite part about the Universities architecture, it reminds me of the Harry Potter films for some reason, now that I think of it...I guess even the stairway to the Museum could look like the moving staircase scene aswell, all we need now are some talking paintings...

Anyway that happens to be all of my photos from my stay in Glasgow, I hope you all enjoyed looking  through them. I had an absolutely amazing time and I wish I could go back again, the holiday apartment that I stayed in, which was in the centre of Glasgow was literally (as Chandler Bing would say) perfection!
I've also just received some new photography gear so I will definitely be taking more photos soon, in the mean time make sure to follow my Twitter page for lots more updates, www.twitter.com/NicolaSharkey
Nicola. x

Glasgow In The Night...

Hey everyone, the next few blog posts are going to be a series of photos from the weekend of 13th October. I stayed in Glasgow in a holiday apartment for a few days as part of an early celebration for my 21st birthday (the actual date is away in December but I decided to go in Autumn as I love that time of the year...and it also coincided with the Young Guns gig that I was photographing on the 14th). So I managed to fit in lots of must-see things that I had planned out for the few days I was staying there...who knew there was so much to do in Glasgow! Aside from the obvious shopping, going out at night and gigs, I am a total architecture fanatic and I wanted to check out some of my favourite spots for photos, some of which you are probably already looking at right now.

The first place on my list was a little lane in the West end of Glasgow called Ashton Lane, if anyone remembers last year in September I went there to photograph Kai Fish at his gig at the Brel Bar. I decided to go back and take some photos of the lane itself as it looks so amazing, especially at night which is when we went, plus they have lots of good bars, restaurants and an adorable little 1920's-esque cinema.

The picture below is actually where the gigs at Brel Bar take place, it's at the back of the bar in a conservatory area and the space is apparently an 80 capacity, I'm not sure about that though as it looks very tiny once inside and especially with the chairs in rows instead of the table area for meals. Anyway, the left side is actually where the stage is set up and it's so beautiful, the whole look of the gig area has a French vibe, even though I believe the place is actually a Belgian bar/restaurant.

So we left Ashton Lane, and on our way 'home' to the holiday apartment after getting totally lost in the west end, I photographed some awesome spots in the centre of Glasgow which were literally on our doorstep. First up is the GoMA which is the Gallery of Modern Art, I never actually had time to check this out inside but got some lovely photos of its exterior at night, next time I visit Glasgow I will go there for sure.

Then I noticed how gorgeous the City Chambers looked at night which is across the road from the GoMA, so obviously it was my next place to photograph, I believe it was built in the 1880's! Look at how beautiful it is...the black and white photo below shows exactly how much detail went into the building, the sculptures are actually protected with a metal wire which is why the picture looks a little grainy, and slightly newspaper-esque.

Anyway, that's all for now, stay tuned for the next post which will include daytime photos.
Nicola. x