Hi hi! I hope you are all well and have had a pleasant week. This week I've been working hard setting myself the task of slowly but surely building up my portfolio, sharing what I feel is my best work over on PurplePort. As much as I want and need one I've made a pathetic job of looking for... a job or career in photography, I'm brilliant at ignoring my problems *rolls eyes* Besides me feeling like a bit of a let down in that area (and unnamed others), I have pushed myself to take baby steps towards the direction of launching myself into the horrible "real world".

I have found a scrap of motivation within this new, intriguing website to encourage me to publish my work on it and as a result not only making me build up a portfolio but also get my work seen by studios, photographers and models alike, which hopefully helps in getting more chance of work. The fact I know being a successful and financially stable photographer is much easier said than done and works out so very neatly and unrealistic in my head puts me off from trying from fear of rejection or failure, and so I'm clinging onto this growing online portfolio for dear life and praying somebody begs me to work with/for them. That would be the easiest and most idealistic route for a job aye.

My doubts about my future and career make me hesitant, but I know that I love being in the studio and perfecting my images to share. I want to do nothing else but  please people with my photography because photography makes me happy and I want to share that feeling. So in this slither of progress I place hope that each step will get bigger and better and one day I pray I can look back from where I dream to be.

And so I encourage you all, in whatever large or small task you have facing you, take baby steps towards the goal and hopefully one day you'll glance over your shoulder and see how far you've gone and how much you have achieved, and continue on taking strides with a smile. Even the smallest of achievements matter. Perhaps we can help each other with little bursts of motivation to cling on to during this rocky road, or share your own journeys to success for the rest of us to admire and believe that although we all have different paths, goals and difficulties, everyone in turn can overcome whatever rut they're in.

 Aloha friends and welcome to a large underwater photography blog post. For a little while now I have been wanting to explore some bright and beautiful creatures to photograph as it would be something new for me to explore, so, I invited my dad to take me to the Sea Life Centre in town so I could take photos and we could both marvel at the beauty of what lies under the deep blue seas. I feel like I have visited there before as a youngster but I hardly remember it at all and I'm kind of guessing, but my dad had never been so he didn't need much convincing.

I had been excited to go since the moment he agreed and we set a day, I scribbled it in my diary and counted down the days. I felt like a kid in a candy shop spoilt for choice. I was full of awe and kept saying "this is so cool!" to my dad with, big eyes and a beaming smile on my face. We both really enjoyed the experience and the delightful friendliness of the staff. I think it will sit fresh and bold in my mind for a while, until my next photography adventure.

I used my standard lens and kept it on aperture priority so my dad didn't have to wait around for me to perfect the manual settings with each tank and we had plenty of time to visit each kind of fish. A lot of the images were blurry as nothing stayed still and the glass between me and what I was taking the photos of really messed with the focus so nothing is perfect but I still REALLY wanted to share, as well as highly recommend going to visit your local aquariums or oceans to appreciate the hidden wildlife of the seas.

So prepare yourselves ladies and gentlemen and everyone inbetween, I have a fair few photos to show you...

I am SO happy with how crisp this one came out. I love the bright colours and textures of coral and how they seem to make up an underwater city and tie together the dull rocks with all the varying sea creatures.

I like this one because the slow shutter speed meant the bubbles all blurred together and made the water look soft. I also love the different textures and colours in this tank, each atmosphere was so unique and beautiful.

Near the very start of the winding route around each exhibit there was a very large tank full of tubes and colourful coral and two or three types of fish. It was one of my favourites because there was just so much to see. The left of this picture looks a little odd because of he rounding of the glass, the tanks with curved glass to look through were very trippy and difficult to photograph through.

The first and last thing you saw at the centre was the penguins, who took continuous laps in the water so it was fairly easy to try and get the shot again if you missed it.

I know the focus isn't good on this one but I'm quite pleased I captured the bubbles and tiny wave the penguin made when it came up for air and dived back under.

I like this sting ray because he was just lying on the gravel, half buried in it with eyes that kind of say "do not come anywhere near me peasants"

Another glorious - and massive - sting ray was this big guy in the biggest tank, which featured a tunnel for you to walk through. He did laps around the tank and sometimes cut though the large bubble stream which I captured here. Me and my dad were memorised by him gliding through the water like he owned the place.

Honestly, the fish weren't as colourful and vibrant as I expected but I still found an appreciation for all the different species all the same. To those who know me well, it's no secret yellow is my favourite colour, so enjoy this yellow fish I took a lovely photo of.

This was also taken in the shark tunnel. I love the sense of depth in this photo and the bright red fish in the foreground.

It took me so long to get a sharp photo of the piranhas as I left the shutter speed to do it's own thing and they swam around and around the tank in  a group but I was determined and caught this one when they slowed down for a moment. I loved how they looked shiny and reflective so I just HAD to get a photo of their uniqueness.

Another group of fish - school if you like - swam around the shark tunnel together. They also had quite a shiny appearance but I took this photo of them to capture the strange sense of community about this tank, in which so many different species of fish and sea creature lived amongst each other peacefully.

The shark tunnel gave me some very blue photos, so if you're curious as to which animals lived with the sharks your best guess is ones with a blue hue (aside from the penguins and jelly fish). My dad and I loved this place the most because of how breathtaking it was to be surrounded by so many different species majestically flowing all around. It gave me another sense of appreciation for these sea creatures and their sheer beauty that left me in awe.

While we were in the shark tunnel a staff member gave a talk about the whole tank. As he introduced his favourite animal in the tank, he appeared out of no where behind me. I quickly turned to take a few snaps as he began to glide his large self over our heads.

I had to take a picture of this fish because of how unique and, well stripy, he is. Even the eyeball has a ring of stripes around it, he's such an interestingly decorated fish.

I really liked this tank full of fish because they didn't move. They sort of just hovered in mid water so it was easy for me to take a picture of them. I say easy, they were so still my camera didn't know what to focus on, so it took a few tries but I got this salvageable one in the end.

One of my very favourite areas were the star fish because of this, it's just so interesting how they cling onto the walls and just chill. It was even a little amusing when they were half stuck and half folded over backwards, it didn't look too comfortable but that didn't seem to bother them one bit. There was one particular star fish with long sucker things that danced over the glass.

I'd have liked to seen the octopus to get some interesting and perhaps similar shots like this, but he was hidden in the shadows of his tank.

The jelly fish were also another of my favourites. They had two tanks of babies, a tank of 3 large orange jelly fish with frilly tentacles and two tanks of these, one of which had a colour changing light and their whole bodies lit up with it, the flower shaped bottom practically being the light themselves, it was very cool.

I really like this close up because you can see the veins and tiny, thin strands around the rim of the jelly fish.

And I've left possibly one of my most favourite image to last. I love the vibrant colour and crisp focus on the fish. There was a whole small tank filled with loads of little clown fish and I loved taking some photos of them all clustered together.

I really hope you enjoy this new subject matter. I'd LOVE to return in a few months or years and commit to full manual mode and perhaps even make an aesthetic af video out of these beautiful beings and really encourage you to go and appreciate sea life, or at least think twice about how your actions may affect their large watery home and look after these beauties - there were many signs asking you not to eat endangered species or litter along the shore.

Along the path we saw a man feeding bread to this cluster of ducks, he joked to me that I "didn't ask them to smile" which was very friendly.

Then, further along I spotted these adorable ducklings. There were quite a few of them but I loved this shot of three with the mother watching over her babies as they picked for food.

My friends then brought this vibrant blue dragonfly to my attention and practically held their breaths while I took a quick snap of it before it flew off. I'd have loved to get closer to him to really capture his colouring but he hit it and quit it.

I really don't know why but whenever I see these - power towers (I just thought of that, that's actually a great name for them I'll start using that) I always want to get closer and take photos of them. I took a couple angles of this one right next to the canal but I loved this zoomed in one the most. Maybe it's just the crazy arrangement of metal that I'm so interested by, we may never truly know.

Tip toes!!

 It's so interesting to see how different places connect. How the canal starts by my friends house and leads all the way to Stratford Upon Avon, going past a pub I once visited as a kid and standing on top of a bridge (this bridge above) I've only ever driven under before. Along our unexpectedly long route we came across a very wet and muddy patch which was such a struggle we decided to get the bus home from the pub. I was pushed to the front of the line, not so fun when you're wearing white shoes but it's made up for when you turn back and watch your friends slipping and sliding over each other or being frozen in fear of falling and becoming a mud monster. Unfourtunately the photos I took of this event weren't very flattering so I shall save my friends their dignity - it did make me cackle though! (8 shoes were harmed in the making)

I managed to sneak in this arty shot, which I really love because you can see all 3 of my friends framed by the unique texture and graffiti of the bridge wall. It was all very candid and I just let my friends meander along and enjoy themselves while I often delayed along the way to take a shot and did that awkward half jog to catch up again.

Hello all, I hope you've had a pleasant week. I've sat down with the laptop this morning and am completely diving into nothingness, I have no idea what I'm writing or where this is going. I find that unless I have been on a photo shoot, in studio or on location in my own time, I really am quite clueless on what to blog about, all I ever know is I want to offer readers ideas and advice that can be hashtag relatable and thought provoking, making reading my blog worthwhile.

When I have my camera in hand, I'm on a mission. I snap away until I have hundreds of new images to play with and I love hearing people admire my photography. I'm yet to truly establish my independent style into something recognisable like Van Gogh's paintbrush strokes or Brandon Woelfel's illuminating photography (which is still all the goals I love it so much.) And I'm eager to begin to explore more and develop my own recognisable style.

This week I signed up to Purple Port, for all my photography needs. I'll be honest I'm not quite sure what to do with it now I've set up my profile, all I want to do is add new pictures and perhaps participate in their daily competitions but I haven't taken any in a while despite it being only three blog posts ago that I shared some photography with you all. I do like Purple Port but It's a bit more professional than I think I'm ready for at the moment - I need to earn the money before I start hiring studio spaces and models via the site.

Photography is my passion and I always procrastinate it and I really don't know why because when I'm busy with my camera and in the zone I'm completely immersed in the photo and it's like the world has gone into slow mo. I really need to take my camera somewhere interesting soon. Hit me up with some shoot ideas or concepts, even some themes I could experiment with - I'm trying to conjure up some ideas to enter the competitions on Purple Port.

It's a bit of a photography mess this blog post isn't it, I seem to be having some photography withdrawl symptoms. I do apologise and I'll try to consider something more put together next week unless I get some photography therapy to straighten my brain waves out.