Jennifer Connolly

Moving on...

2010-09-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Please find my new blog here

jenniferconnolly.wordpress.com

J x

Behind bars

2010-01-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Just a few photographs from the last several months. I feel like they've been a bit bleh because it's been so dark and icy and gloomy. Really looking forward to the summer months ahead though. Fun plans on the horizon!

Back to the past in the present. I think these start back from November last year (!), just to set the scene...

Harrison at his window in Rutherglen.

Washing line.

A snippet of the endless silliness witnessed over at mine.
Window seat. He's smiling because it has a really comfy pillow.

Sophie McCurry

Linda and I went over to visit Jonathan at Costa, and we definitely paid for everything we consumed.

We decided it would be more fun to view November 5th's fireworks in 3D.

Later that week Linda and I decided to try out making cupcakes.

They looked delicious!

They weren't.

Apparently there is such a thing as too much food colouring.

More silliness.

Hchaam.

More cats, this time at East Kilbride Sport Centre where the West of Scotland Cat, um, Society (?) show was being held. There we met...

Startled kitty,

Naked kitty,

Angry kitty, he wasn't happy with his "Cheers for coming along" rosette.

Sad kitty,

Pampered kitty,

and normal kitty

It was an odd day.

Went up to my mum's for Christmas.

My little jailbird on the drive up the A9.

No joke, this is what Santa got me. It turned out to be a mannequin. Thank goodness.

Sophie had fun exploring her holiday home.

Tiring work.

There was a grand amount of snow this year, the worst since '85 I heard said.

This was after it had mostly melted, and my car was finally freed from the driveway's icy grasp.

During a surprise trip to Blackpool, Linda showed us round one of the recently empty flats in her building.

Love it.

Harrison at the bottom of the stairs.

Back at home..
Domingo

and Snoop.

Thanks!

xo

Sorry about all the wildlife.

2009-10-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

This entry takes place over the end of our summer. While we're still having sunny days, I really feel like the summer is well and truly over. Everything changed over the space of a week or two.

While I was really sad to leave America in August, I was so happy to come back home. The party started right back where we left off the day we got home.

Over at mine. Linda and Sophie hanging out in the kitchen window seat.

Jonathan with cats ears, subtle cat ears.

Sophie cuddling Harrison's leg.

Linda moved back down to Blackpool for Uni, so at the last minute we decided to come along and 'help'.

Jonathan's patriotic side coming out. Or it's a shadow from Linda's window.

Light from the computer.

Window washer surprised us the next morning with a visit.

Polaroid came out a little odd. Not sure if it's the film or the camera. We took a walk down to the pleasure beach.

It was shut.

A stroll through the park instead.

with ice cream.

Went to Coral Island.

Paradise it was.

Linda played like a champ...

...and won a horrible winged donkey. Which she then gave away.

I don't have an awful lot to say about this one.

I went up to my mum's house to buy a car for work. I now have a boot big enough to comfortabley fit a travelling studio!

Mums new washing line. Looks funnily enough, the exact same as the old one.

Molly, next doors dog, came over to greet me.

She's not shy.

The next morning I woke up in my old room to a mini camera obscura. I remember when I was younger I used to see this on my bedroom wall a lot. The red postie van pulling up, the postie walking up the drive, back down, the van driving away. I didn't know what it was then.

We took Molly and Zac for a morning walk through the woods next to my house.

My house is on the left.

Mum getting food ready for the chickens.

The chickens; Eenie, Meanie, Mieny and Mo.

Today's takings.

Mum persuading the girls to get back in.

Graham's car.

While hanging out in my garden I heard a little whimpering sound over the fence.

This is my garden's main feature.

Bumped into Mia.

She fell over.

And started being cute.

Coming back home from next door's later that night.

That's all for now, I'm off to watch some of my new Tom & Jerry box set. Yay.

xxoo

I <3 NY, and Texas too.

2009-09-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

So New York was pretty good. Probably the best place I've ever been. Ever.

Wandering around was the most fun.

Up the Empire State building at 9am. Crazy view.

Friends Aelrid and Dan were also visiting NY from Glasgow. What a happy coincidence that Aelrid is a model.

These were taken in their rented apartment.

And these in Williamsburg.

We borrowed a kind sunbathers bike briefly.

Later that evening after a busy day trawling through vintage clothing shops and contemplating tattoos, we made our way down to Pier 17 for the free Slow Club/The Wave Pictures/Casio Kids gig.

This was simply to show the guy who always stands in front of me in gigs.

Luckily Slow Club felt sorry for me and decided to come stand next to me in the crowd so I could get a better view. Cheers!

I was in a b&w mood on our last day in New York, probably because I was sad and b&w means sad.
See.

I was swiftly won back over by colour after buying breakfast from 28, the deli on the corner from our hotel. Ate it while waiting for the bus to the Airport.

After a rather stressful airport visit and bumpy flight, we finally arrived in Houston.

Back at my dad's, the dogs, Hipee...

...and Gorda greeted us.

Sebastian didn't.

My dad's truck.

The next day, we took the jetski out to Lake Houston, just around the corner.

58mph, we had the Lake to ourselves. God bless weekdays.

A visit to the Houston museum of Fine Art. It was free because it was Thursday.

One of the few occassions where I have been really impressed by paintings. They were spectacular.

On our way through the maze of a museum trying to find a photography exhibit, we came across a rather odd display.

And another.

The Leopard Lounge, one of the many amazing vintage clothing shops in the ever so colourful Melrose area of Houston. They played the mashed potato song.

In one of the antique shops. Very warm.

We hired a car to drive about, you can't do much in Houston without one.

Some photos taken from the passenger window.

The local fire station.

Harrison outside the Houston centER of Photography.

And again. The gallery had some really nice images displayed and a fantastic library full of great books in the back.

We visited Splashtown, the waterpark, so much fun!

Then we went to Coney Island to relieve our appetites. Good day.

We took a day trip to Kemah on the coast. It was half beautiful sunshine, half torrential rain. Here is Harrison waiting to catch a photo of the fork lightning. I gave up and went to the hilarious gift shop.

We visited The Menil collection after reading that they had dozens of Cartier-Bresson prints gifted by the man himself. After trailing round all the buildings, and being met with countless, clueless gazes when enquiring about them, we gave up. The must keep them in storage. Shame.

This man was fixing the tree.

Back in my Dad's garden.

Step-brother Alex mid conversation. I can't remember the topic of interest.

Harrison and I decided to visit 'Brazil' one day for lunch. We were sick of fast food and thought it's menu seemed a little more organic. Harry got a pizza and I got a burger and chips. Haha.

A couple of days later we came across what to us Scots is a typical American diner.

Milkshake. Our waitress Peggy gave us the extra that didn't fit in the glass. A rare treat.

Hipee's trick. He could sit like this all day.

Alex on his bike out in the street.

Harry was still trying to get the hang of his new skateboard.

See y'all next time!

J, xxoo

I <3 Cornwall

2009-07-12T10:14:00.001-07:00

Except this first shot, which was taken in St. Andrews I can't remember when.

Taken on Superia 100 cross processed.

At the start of July we took a roadtrip down to Cornwall and camped. It was joyous. The following is a pic 'n' mix of 5d, polaroids, and scans of my disposable camera prints.

Boof!

Sam salad anyone? Oh yea, these prints are backwards because Jessops printed them backwards.

Cheery bunch.

We had to cross the golf course to get from the campsite to the beach. It was a treacherous journey, but we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.

We discovered these cards can see into the future.

See?

The beautiful view from where we sat for a few minutes. But backwards.

Yumblegum (Yummy bubblegum) ice cream.

While waiting for the bus to NewQuay.

The best pancakes I have ever had. Cherries and custard.

Souvenir shopping.

Our little section of paradise.

Lads on tour. Yay Scrumpy!

Really happy with this shot. Best polaroid to date?

Back at the camp.
We enjoyed our yummy meat.

Breaking boundaries.

Best Polaroid to date?

Expedia cloud.

Well this is the end of this trip.

I'll be off to the Americas in a couple of weeks time, really looking forward to shooting over there. Still undecided as to what cameras to take, but its going to be great!

Jenn xo

Little bit of this...

2009-06-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from the last few months that I forgot about, just trying to get myself up to date! So here goes...

Sam on our trip to Glencoe earlier this year, taken with my former LX3 on 'pinhole mode' .

Then, a trip to St Andrews with Harrison and Jonathan. Hilarity ensues.

Still evening.

Then up a big tower...

Jonathan spotted something under the deck...

Harrison sees it too....

more stuff...
a sword?
...
Down by the harbour.

Later that evening, balloons were bought.

Leaving day. This was back in February. We had already moved into our nice new flat, and just gone back to tidy up the last few bits. It was quite sad, the flat looked so huge and empty.

I will miss that place a lot,

Polaroid of Harrison from a couple of nights ago.

Was in the pound shop with Grant on Friday....

....we couldn't resist!

Merry Christmas. x

Sigh of relief.

2009-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Aah.

All done. Well. with college anyway. So nice to finally finish up the 4 years. Very happy with what I'm leaving with, though of course I feel like I still could have done more. Definitely going to miss the facilities, all the studio space and shiny equipment. However I need never do another fudging workbook, so cheers to that!

Our end of year exhibition took place last week in SWG3. It was a really fun and satisfying way to round off the year. There was some really interesting work displayed, and lots of lovely people to enjoy it with, so all was good.

I displayed the images I took for jeweller Hannah Livingston. I wanted to create a set that felt like it was part of the images, as if you were standing in a hallway in that big beautiful house.

Hannah's degree show also took place this month in the Vision building in Dundee. It was all very fancy, and incredibly warm.

It was really fun to see all our hard work coming to a grand finale. Hanna's pieces looked magnificent.

So glad I no longer have to spend my evenings feeling guilty about not doing college work. I have so much to catch up with! Scanning, deving, general editing, can't wait to catch back up with myself. Anyways, for starters I scanned in a few Polaroids I found on my shelf. Chronology is probably going to get a bit hazy for the next few posts, but don't panic, it'll all work out in the end.

Sam with his usual Steak and Cherry beverage, strawberry milkshake with extra shake.
Linda in my old flat. I miss the curtains.

This was taken on our way to Lake District for New Year while Harrison was in the garage paying for the petrol.

This was taken approximately 4minutes later on the other side of the petrol station. Honestly.

We were greeted the following morning by this little buddy. It gave me a chance to finish the Simpsons episode I was watching before we came out the BnB while Harrison was off being manly.

Lots of birds.In the playpark.
Dog next to a No Dogs sign, oh yes, I went there. And so did he.

I've just started my new job with a photography studio, was pretty lucky to land full time work right out of college. It's nothing ground breaking, but at least I'm getting paid to take photographs. I'm mostly working in post production at the moment, which is really helping advance my editing skills, especially regarding speed and efficiency. I've also discovered the wonders of the graphics tablet! How did I get this far without one?! I'm just really conscious of the fact that I'll need to not loose focus and keep working on what I want to do, and not let myself get lazy with my free time.

On that note I'm off to sit about and do something unproductive.

J xo

Exploring!

2009-04-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Been having lots of fun these past few weeks with different shoots.

I wanted to try some 'urban exploration', or so the kids are calling it. Went to Lennox Castle which is an abandoned mental hospital, just outside Lennoxtown.

However on the approach to the castle, we heard some voices, and didn't want to risk running into trouble, so decided to go away and go back in a bit.

Meanwhile we found this little building which was being gutted out.

Decided to be brave and go back to the castle.

Unfortuantley, due to a fire last year, a lot of the building has been destroyed. The fire engines couldn't get to the castle, because of the large concrete road blocks, which didn't really help.

Eep!

I did go through that door, but came back out immediatley. It was quite dark!

Moving on...

...to a nice warm studio. It's nice not having to worry about stepping on rusty nails when you are taing photographs!
This is a shoot I did for some make up students (for which i didn't even get a thank you, hrmff). I liked the colour of the models hair.

Now for a shoot which I had been planning for a while. I photographed some skin-toned (very in this season, uh huh!) nightwear/undergarments, modeled by the lovely Aelrid.

Still in the studio...
with Scott.

Yawn, I tire of the studio. Time for more exploring!

We took a trip to a lovely big abandoned house near Lanark to see if it would be suitable for my next shoot. A jewellery shoot for my lovely friend Hanna, a jewellery student in Dundee art school.

It was perfect!
Kitchen.
More fun sharp bits to stand on.

Very scary manaquins dotted about the place. Good job I'm fit and healthy and not prone to heart failure.

Sink.

More terrifying manaquins, hanging from upstairs.

After climbing back up out of the window we originaly entered, we went to see if we could find another way in. Turns out the front door was open.

We were greeted by this piano,

and this massive staircase!
Light.

We returned a couple of weeks later with Hanna, two models (well, one model and Sam), and her gorgeous jewellery.

Second half of the jewellery shoot coming soon!

Thanks for reading!

Jenn
xxoo

New Year

2009-01-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

Hello!

*insert apology for ridiculous amounts of time between posts*

*insert promise to make posts more frequent*

Well most of my time recently has been taken up with college projects and precious Jessops.

We were given a location (mine was the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Rose Street) and we had to take 30 frames within 3o paces. I didn't cheat. Here are 2 of the 30.

I did a nightwear shoot in the studio with my lovely friend Jess. The idea was it to be really high key and quite delicate. It didn't quite turn out as I had wanted but I am still happy with the results. Will hit the studio again soon and try out some different lighting to get the original look I was going for.

Now for some still life. The idea I went with was 'forgotten treasures'. I focused on photographing jewellery I have that is broken and waiting to be repaired. I wanted to convey the idea of the items having been forgotten about, but too precious to throw away.

This image was aged through folding, bending, filing, and coffee staining, then presented in an old wooden frame.

I then tried a more clinical approach, removing any sentiment I have towards the items.

Intended to be printed BIG. These images will hopefully be exhibited in Urban Outfitters in Glasgow soon. Fingers crossed.

This shot was a test using the beauty dish in the studio. Very beautiful light.

Harrison and I took a trip to the Lake District for Hogmanay. It was stunning, but very very cold. Luckily I had a cosy hat.

Swan. These things are quite scary in real life, don't let its beauty deceive you.

Tree.

Infrared? nope.

We somehow stumbled upon this tree which had a bunch of coppers wedged into it. The whole thing was covered in them! I'd love to know why. And how much it would be worth.

Although may not be apparent there was a MASSIVE drop just over that teeny wall. I felt staying firmly on this side of the road the best option.

I also have some Polaroids form the trip which I will scan in when I can be bothered to make the effort. The cold gave for some interesting colour results.

Back to the warmth of the studio.

Another lighting test Sam. Trying to achieve the lighting I intended for the nightwear shoot with Jess. Getting much closer.

Finally I had a shoot earlier this week with Karen, a young model. Again for a college project which I set myself. It was to be an advertising shoot for 'Schuh', the shoe shop. Shoo shoo. Very happy with the results. Hoping to work with Karen again soon.

Thanks so much for reading, any comments or critiques much appreciated!

Jenn x

Back at College

2008-10-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

...and glad to be back!
sort of.

One of the first briefs we were given was to photograph five people on five consecutive days. So I decided to take inspriration from Rankin's project 'One Dress'. He photographed a variety of women all in the same dress, fantastic! I used an old baggy fleecey jumper that I had lying about. Nice.

Bethan
Harrison
Karina
Rachel

I liked these two shots aswell, although they weren't included in the set.

For this last one I couldn't actually get anyone to sit for me so I just used my own little feet to finish off the set. This is something I'd like to continue with, but I say that about everything.

Out of focus.

My bathroom sink.

My cracked bathroom wall.

My bathroom 'art'.

And now for something completely different..
Studio!
For all you strobists out there, you can probably tell me what I did more than I can, so I shall leave it at that.

One lovely friday Sam, Jonathan and myself took out the college's Canon ringflash, fun to be had! Although it did keep falling off the lens as the grip wasn't too secure which got a little tiring.

I was happy with Sam's choice of tshirt that day.

Very happy.

We stumbled across a freshers fair in George Square which seemed only to have entrances and no exits and was FULL of people. Gahh.

Here we found some delicious fondue, well, I'm assuming it was delicious, I didn't actually have any.

And a walking, talking, thumbs upping subway sandwhich!

A few of us went to Chatelherault park for a wee walk in the shaded sunshine.

Harrison's best pose.

Rule of thirds, never fails.

Sam on the big bridge. We did attempt to play pooh sticks on the way back but the bridge was too high, also harrison dropped his stick on the wrong side of the bridge. sigh.

I'm not entirley sure what this cage was for. Hopefully something nice.

Fashion photography is a lot of fun.

You get to go places like this. This is the Clootie well, up near Inverness. Traditionally these places were used for healing spells but I think it's more of a tourist attraction now.

Very surreal, which I like.

Unfortunatley my model canceled on the morning of, which was a little disappointing, but I went ahead anyway to get some test shots and just modeled myself. The brief was 'Dramatic.'

Can't wait to return. Bigger dress, bigger lights and a team of 50 people doing important things for me.

One day.

xxoo

Summer is gone

2008-10-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hello lovely people, welcome to my world. My name is Jenn and I live in Glasgow.

I decided I need somewhere to post day to day photographs. Any comments or criticism will be welcomed with open arms. Enjoy!

One nice day Harrison and I found ourselves in Pollock park.

Kids these days.

The next few shots were taken with Harrison's Olympus XA1, scans are a bit rotten, apologies!

I liked the colours here.

Odd things that people decide to get rid of around my bit. Cute wee fridge, he seems happy though.

On my way to college.

Went to Amsterdam with a group of friends in August.

Bikes were plentyful.

Sam snoozing.

Nice light. Shame about the scan.

Harrison looking his cheery self in Damn Square.

Green.

Back up in the Highlands visiting my mother dearest, went for a walk. Passing this phone box brought back memories of using it when I was younger. This was a time before mobile phones were owned by everyone aged 11 months+.

Went to the 13th Note for Sam's birthday, had a phenomenal tabletop football tournament.

Benchy in Kelvingrove Parky.

Finely crafted plane purchased at Kelvingrove Museum after visiting the Harry Benson exhibition. Meh. Harrison working out his game plan to beat Sam in the ... plane off?

Acting like defeat doesn't phase him.

Gate.

Resorting to paper aeroplanes after the tragic demise of the foam one.

Roo.
A bin I have admired near my flat for a few days now. Don't think it'll last much longer.

Over at Janos' flat for a little party. Lots of lovely friendly people were met.

Lots of interesting lighting aswell.

Lunch time! Chicken crunchy burgers. Yum!

New member to the family, Miss Sophie!

Last few days of my joint exhibition with Harrison and Sam in Urban Outfitters. Go check it out if you have a spare minute! Last chance!

So that was summer, how brief!

Bring it on Autumn.

Thanks so much for looking! Hope it wasn't a total waste of time.

See you next time...

xxoo