My Digital Journal...
For me previously, the journalling, the actual words written, have been the main priority. Getting the accompanying photographs as good as they can be is my present focus.
Post One - Selfies, Self Portrait And Branding...
This has been a life long issue and although our family photographs overflow shoe boxes, burst from albums and have created a mammoth digitalising task for me, I am the person almost always behind the lens, very rarely in front of it.
The family all laughed when I told them about the need for selfies...but I did it anyway. Here are a few samples of what evolved.

I simply could not get the lighting right in my domestic environment, deciding that for this strategy to have any chance of working, a studio-like environment with lighting options and clearer spaces to work in would probably be advantageous.
My last image shown in this group, the reflection taken in the window in morning sun, was probably the "warmest" photograph I managed in this trial.

Post Two - Altering An Image...
In working through my next group of selfies I tried a few different things, both in PS6 and the very much simpler built in edit function on my Samsung phone.
I found also, as I worked through this little trial, that I was gradually including my craft room as a background, as the creative aspect of myself is the one I most want to explore and learn to depict in this unit. It remains the primary aspect of myself that is out there in the public domain now that my professional self has been put out to grass.
Addit: 10.05.2017 - I am entering this comment here as a result of reading through week five, chapter three...regarding basic photo editing. I tend to load my photographs into PS6 automatically now, as I have found if I load a photograph into a blog post without opening it in Photoshop firsts, it invariably needs to be edited within the Weebly editing function to correct the orientation of the photograph. Once in PS6, I almost always crop a little, resize or edit in some way while I have the image open.
The exercise however, did move my thoughts forward towards finding out what it was I needed to understand...always a useful outcome in life.
Post Three - Using My Hands to Portray My Creative Self...
I do find images of whimsical gumboots particularly when photographed with domesticated animals or birds, children's feet in any sort of cute footwear especially if it is handmade, walking boots whose scuffed and well worn appearance tell wonderful stories of outdoors exploration and activity, all very expressive and extremely appealing.
In my case however, that appeal is in juxtaposition with my almost total disassociation with my own feet. They now live a life little connected to me, following three knee replacements, no I am NOT Jake the Peg, and a significant back injury, feet are off my agenda very firmly, even if just because of my sense of pique and feeling of astonished bewilderment, even after four long years of trying to come to grips with my situation.
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I thought on, moving slowly but inevitably towards the blindingly obvious discovery that my hands should be considered my most expressive component of self.
During my creative activities I upload craft videos to YouTube that are entirely based on my hands as I complete projects...for my subscribers, that is the only image they ever will have of me...even my logo used on emails, my website and other social media sites is an inky hand print...so, it really was an obvious choice, at the end of the day.
Hands are probably an excellent representation for me, my "self". In other photographs I automatically try to conceal my self in some way, but when using my hands there is no attempt at concealment. Nothing about me, as represented by them is hidden and I am not self-conscious about them at all, although I have never had attractive hands.
They are well-worn, my age is obvious through them, as is the fact that I obviously manicure and care for my hands only when absolutely required. I am far more likely to have paint, ink and adhesive residue on my fingers than hand cream, and I simply cannot bear the feel of nail polish on my hands.
They are, very plainly, me.
Post Four - Creating Mood Boards and Light Boxes...
Undertaking this exercise made me realise with a bit of a jolt just how much I have compartmentalised the various facets of my life. Maybe everyone does this, but it seems to me when I think about the professional and personal aspects of my life, they have been almost entirely separated from each other. Different friends and acquaintances, different ways of thinking, even having different "verbal languages" and of presenting myself...interestingly I had not really thought about this much at all, earlier in my life. All this from thinking about photography!
The first mood board is my profile of the self I consider to be the public me...when I look at it overall though, it is almost all landscape and plants. The single tiny crab, rapidly hiding itself is maybe a good analogy for me...I generally do try to make myself invisible.
The second one was easier, it represents my creative self...I don't mind sharing my craft projects as long as they are not associated with the image of my face.
The third board is my private personal self. The persona that I share easily and happily with family and only a few very close friends.
I still need to do a professional self...I was a very different person during my long working life, confident, assured, socially adept, informed, engaged, energetic, funny, very highly motivated and very mobile. I could succeed with ease and aplomb at everything I attempted it seemed...I would love to see the mood board for that person. If I ever find her again I will certainly have a go at producing one.
I had made myself a small light box several years ago but it's usefulness was limited to very small items such as jewellery...thanks to the information in Chapter eleven of Week Three, I discovered how easy it was to produce an effective and portable device with a larger backdrop to enable objects to be more uniformally depicted in my blog. I originally used a polished wood table as a background, but this now looks a little dated...I love the clean white background I am able to replicate for my larger project pieces.

Post Five - Finding Inspiration From Others...
There is so much variety and talent available to view just a mouse click away that one can get a little lost, feel just a tad overwhelmed and definitely under skilled. However, a very positive outcome for me was that the process of searching online for others' ways of expressing themselves and their creativity through photography very quickly helped me concentrate my mind on what it was I was actually hoping to achieve for myself during this unit.
While attracted to many aspects of others work, such as the wonderfully dark and moody "Umbrella" video in Craig Cutler Studio Facebook and the design of Tatiana Parcero's blog, amongst many others, I had eventually to pull myself up with a bit of a jerk and remind myself of the reality that I am only able to work with the confines of my own environment, resources and skills levels. This is something I have had a lifelong difficulty in coming to terms with, by the way. (I blame my father, he always told me as a small child that I could do anything...). There is so much inspiration to be had from others, so many previously unconsidered ideas to try.
I found a couple of other inspiring photographic records I particularly enjoyed exploring, like the tumblr and Instagram based Shaun Daley Photo Journey which records the adventurous and active life of a young photographer in a series of casual, candid images. Jeremy Veach on Instagram has a pug named Norm (who is better at taking selfies than I am), and has images of protesters' handmade signs that distracted and interested me. I once had quite a collection of rural letterbox images...if only I'd had Instagram way back in my youth... But there are so many wonderfully inspiring and attractive examples that I had to stop and simply get on with finding out about my own.
Crafting sites that I like include Flossie Teacakes, despite the advertising, because of the quality of the journaling and photography of the craft work included.
Kat Golding's Slugs On The Refrigerator has a very appealing Instagram site, along with her blog and handcrafting links, but there are so many others. I find I am most attracted to those with a clear, clean profile containing interesting but casual photographs.
Post Six - Working With Natural Light...
I decided immediately to explore the natural light theme as I have little other lighting resource and have already spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to utilise natural light when taking photographs, and the wonderful effects that can be achieved.
Being a morning person, I long ago discovered the clarity of early morning light, particularly during Spring and Summer. It provides an image with a clear, crisp vibrancy that I particularly like for plant and outdoors photography. Morning light during Autumn and Winter is often softer, more filtered and diffuse.
For me, the more muted glow of late afternoon light creates a very different, more sentimental or nostalgic feel to a photograph.
Post Seven - Analysing A Photograph...
It may even become a different way to present a project on my blog. It would enable me to write more about a single image rather than simply posting a series of images to clarify a point. Will think further on that later...on with the analysis task.
Image Two, a photograph taken by another person, I have used the personal reflection process. I actually found both to be useful, but I think the first, more formal process actually focused my mind more on what I needed to think about.
I am very unused to thinking critically about the photographs I view, I either like them or not, so maybe these skills will become more accessible as I progress.
Written Activity - Image Analysis One
Written Activity - Image Analysis Two
The formation, shape and colours of the stone edge lead the eye towards the figure, as does the line of wind-ruffled water on the right. The strong green colour and shape of the vegetation help to frame the figure of the young woman. The colouring of the clothes blends well into the brown, green and grey image, with the denim blue providing a muted area of colour contrast to the composition.
Post Eight - Reflections on Student Examples...
I also found it interesting during all my research that men often find it far easier to display images of themselves than women. I have noticed this on Face Book...men simply have an image of themselves while women often use a pet, child or cartoon to represent them, or at least included in the photograph with them.
I also like the text on Lesley Innes' hat photograph...I add this in my videos but had not though to add it onto photographs...I will definitely be trying that.
Post Nine - Select three Images to represent my "Brand"
Creative expression has always been an important aspect of my life, even if it was hidden away in the expediencies of being a mother to four children, having a career in nursing, and many years of study. The sewing, knitting, crocheting, smocking, embroidery, gardening, cooking, spinning, water colouring,to name just a few of my interests, all had practical applications within the family. I now do not have the pressures of external commitments, the children are all grown and flown and my field of endeavour has shrunk enormously, but I still engage daily on many of my former interests through pleasure rather than necessity. Indeed I now have the time to indulge in other creative projects , such as journal making.
My brand then, is of my creative self...the things I make as gifts, the food items I produce to eat and share and the garden I still manage to retain, with assistance, although now the food it produces is limited severely to pumpkins, tomatoes and herbs, mainly self sown.
In the end, I had such fun composing the photographs for this assignment, presented separately, that once I had started I found it difficult limit the selection to the three that I liked the most...
To be continued...