a moment shared

I have decided I'd like to do a little personal project, that I can look back on in 10 years and remember what life used to be like, and who was in my life at that time. I am going to record a day in the life of loved ones and myself, so family and friends will be what this is all about. I'd like to finish it by next christmas, so I have a year to document every close and not so close family member, and my current and future friends. I feel this is such a huge part of my life and I'd like to make more memories.

the idea is that i'd spend 24 hours with one person, and document how they spend their day. I don't intend for this to be a project about how the one person spends their day with me, but how they spend their daily life as if I were not there. I will just be part of the background, but recording the little and big events as the day passes. I am extremely excited to start this project, and I hope for myself that I continue to progress and grow as a photographer.

I have started this off as doing a mini 'a day in the life of esther', but this was literally a few minutes before writing this so bare with me. I will most likely do a full day of taking photos of my daily life, before christmas 2013. but as I said this was only done a few minutes ago and will hopefully give you and myself an idea of what I will be doing.

I will keep this as updated as possible. life seems to be more hectic and crazy recently, so I'm struggling to have the time to take new photos.

esther xo

familia

I apologise for not posting anything for a while. i've been organising my dad's surprise 70th birthday party which was on saturday. I am still exhausted as I haven't stopped since last wednesday, but I thought I'd post something about what I did yesterday.

I've been teaching my little brother how to use a DLSR as he takes art for GCSE. he's very creative and has a good eye when it comes to composition. he took some great photos for his art homework and I also took some with him. it was something I really enjoyed and it made me miss what I love doing - photography. the topic for his art project is the human form, here are some photos I took

I only took a few as examples for my brother. but I'm still pleased with the outcome of these three.

I also recently did a little photoshoot with my best friend's neighbours as they wanted photos done for their parents for christmas. here a few :-)

it was strange taking photos of someone because they have asked to me, not just because I decided I wanted to. It was the perfect time of day to take their photo and they're happy with the final result!

esther xo

LDN

I wish I had something interesting and new to post, but unfortunately I am still very unwell and I haven't taken any new photos. I'm incredibly bored and I wish I had the energy and motivation to get out and do something. Although saying that, I have a driving lesson tomorrow so that'll get me out of the house.

I thought I might post some photos I took for a project I did at college last year. it was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy and his wonderful talent to turn nothing into something quite beautiful. If you don't know who he is, Goldsworthy has created some really spectacular pieces that are well known in the art world. I studied art as well as photography, so this helped incredibly when thinking of ideas and creating the final piece that I ended up photographing.

here are just some of his pieces of work that I adore

it is just something he does that I can't get enough of. he really inspired me to try something new and make something simple into something beautiful. here are a few of the photos I took of what I created

and that is the final product. It doesn't look like anything special but it took me about 2 hours to put together and I had a lot of cuts on my hands by the end of it. 

esther xo

diamonds

at the moment I find myself unable to just pick up my camera and take photos. I'm struggling to find inspiration and motivation to do the simple things, the things i'd usually do without hesitation. I'm going to blame this "photographer's block" on being physically unstable, (although I wouldn't class myself as a photographer just yet haha). I've been unwell for just over a week, but my immune system has failed me for quite some time now. I always find myself feeling exhausted and 'under the weather', but like most things, it really could be much worse and I'll definitely live.

I've had a few ideas floating around my head lately, and I thought i'd share those few with you. I'd like to start a new project, but i'm undecided as to what it'd be based around. I think it'd most likely be portraiture but I'm lost as to what the topic would be. anyone have any ideas?

here are some random photos I've just used for making a christmas present for my parents :-)

my big brother and I

my wonderful dad and beautiful sister on her wedding day

my big brother and I packing

I was a pretty awesome kid

my gorgeous boy freddie

my niece mona

rydan after his haircut haha

mum and dad at my sister's wedding

my beautiful niece phoebe

my nephew toby on holiday in turkey this year

lara beach, turkey 2012

my incredibly short parents ha

I really do adore my family.

any ideas about what topic I should do next?
email: esthergarwood@hotmail.co.uk
twitter: esthergarwood

esther xo

not november already?

on the 29th of october my family and I celebrated my dad's 70th birthday. we surprised him by going to brighton for the day. we organised a private "party" in the choccywoccydoodah bar du chocolat, which was literally chocolate drink/food and nothing else, which suited us all perfectly. we spent 2 hours in the cafe and then we had a 5 minute tour of the upstairs of the choccywoccy shop, which is shown on tele in the programme. it probably doesn't sound like anything special, but my dad getting to spend time with his wife and 7 children made it even better. I also got to meet the newest addition to the family, who is my 3 month old niece Drew. It was a fantastic day and I hope my dad enjoyed it as much as the rest of us did. we're also having a surprise birthday party for him the weekend after next, which should be great as he'll get to see the family and his dearest friends.

I honestly cannot believe it is november already! my little brother will be 15 on the 5th and my big brother will be 19 on the 19th! it's crazy how time has flown by the older i've got. so much is happening in these last weeks of the year which'll no doubt make it all go a 100x faster.

here are a few photos from my dad's birthday :-)

some incredibly gorgeous coconut cake with vanilla ice cream, chocolate drizzle and raspberry compote

my big sister cath

big sister anna, baby drew and dad loving the cake

litte brother josh and big sister cath

my gorgeous niece little molly moo and dad 

an incredible cake in the choccywoccydoodah shop office 

molly and my wonderful dad

my 'special' family. mum, big sister nic and little brother

brother-in-law terry looking great, big brother aaron and my beautiful mum

have you got a big family too?

esther xo