Poem

What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I have chosen to include this poem in my book because i think my target audience will be able to relate to what is being said. The people i would like to see my book are busy city livers who rarely have time to stop because of their busy schedules. I want them to be able to look at the images in my book to experience the natural things around them that they don't usually have the time to appreciate.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

To accompany my book I have decided to include a poem to go in the front. I have chosen 'Stop and Stare' by William Henry Davies' as i feel that it is more appropriate for my book, but i have also posted a popular poem by William Wodsworth, just because i think it has been beautifully written and i really like the part where the image of the daffodils are imprinted in his mind even when his eyes are closed. I would love if my photographs of flowers would do the same to the person looking at my book.

Newcastle Trip

The last three photographs are all of one of the huge bridges that connects Newcastle and Gateshead, I really liked the New York inspired look of this bridge.

I was really impressed with the Baltic, in particular the Steve McQueen exhibition, a dark room with mirrored walls and a short film of a dead horse. I also really liked the shop.

Newcastle was pretty interesting, especially the architecture. The music theatre and one of the huge bridges with a lighting exhibition in it would be my favourites. I had a really great time apart from the extrememly windy weather.

Roundhay Park

Roundhay Park was huge and very well kept. I photographed only a small part of it, The Canal Gardens, which had the prettiest canal I'd ever seen with fountains and little tunnels in it. There were also some beautiful flowers I took pictures of. They were really unusual and tropical looking and attracted quite alot of older people who seemed quite enthusiastic about the flowers.

Temple Newsam

Temple Newsam is a huge country estate with a large house, courtyard, farm, walled gardens and acres of woods and fields to explore. I really enjoyed my day here, I think there is definately something for everyone to enjoy, I especially liked the walled gardens. I used my marco lens to take some close ups of the various flowers and really liked this alternative way of photographing the park.

The Secret Garden (goitside walk)

On my way home from Kirkstall Abbey I stumbled across a small wooded path on Kirkstall Road. A set of small gravel steps took me down to an ivy covered river bank. The whole path only took ten minutes to walk through but it was really beautiful, though it was extremely well hidden. I think the only people that must use it are local dog walkers as it is very hard to see from the main road. It was by far my favourite park I've visited since I've been in Leeds, its just a shame that hardly anyone will know about it - or maybe that was its appeal.

Kirkstall Abbey

I found Kirkstall Abbey pretty uninspiring. I think there was alot more to explore but I just looked around the ruin because it was a crappy day. I found that my drawings were much better than the photographs I took, the texture and dark sketches really brought out the discarded, run down look of the Abbey.

Golden Acre Park

I noticed that the whole park was covered in benches the visitors use to sit and relax, to escape from city life.




Golden Acre Park was a perfect park for a family to visit. These sizeable parks have a great deal of well maintained infrastructure. The amount of benches and toilets detracted from the experience as i felt the park was so popular that it had almost become a theme park.

Hyde Park and Burley Park

I walk through both of these parks on my way to college and they are a favourite part of my journey. The contrast between the buzz of the city and the relaxation of these smaller inner city parks make them a really valuable area.

My first ever post

Reportage Leeds

This is my first brief at uni-to explore Leeds and document how I experience it.

As a starting point, a group from my course went on a mapped out walk of Leeds - covering Brigate, the market and the Dark Arches.

I enjoyed looking round the city and dicovering parts that I hadn't visited before, although I did find the experience quite uninspiring - I just thought that everyone has seen all this stuff a million times so whats the point in taking pictures of it?