Hunstanton, Norfolk

I spend far too much time on the internet and therefore come across a lot of music. Recently Deaf Havana released their music video for Hunstanton Pier which you can find here. I've spend half my summer in Norfolk and as Hunstanton was only an hour and a half away I suggested that my family and I take a trip there. We didn't go into town, instead we stayed by the water's edge. Here are some the photos I took. 

I love the photo below because all it is is the ocean and the sky meeting. It's a little difficult to see where there divide is between the two; that's probably what I love most about it.

No Bank holiday weekend is complete without a little bit of British rain. It's safe to say that we got absolutely soaked.

To finish off this post, I'll leave you with a bumble bee.

Norwich Cathedral

After visiting schools that my sister will potentially be attending, we stopped by the Norwich Cathedral and had a lot around. These are some photos I took.

Officially a university student

For those of you who don't know yet, I am officially a Film and TV Production student at Anglia Ruskin University. That's right, I am going to be living, eating, and breathing Cambridge for the next three years.

I may not have gotten the grades that I was predicted or grades I wanted for my A-levels, however the portfolio I submitted and the interview I had obviously helped me secure my place at the university; I got in even though my offer was conditional. I have to be honest, I was very afraid of not getting in but at 8:20am on Thursday the 17th of August, I got my confirmation email that I had been accepted. If you would like to see my portfolio submissions you can find them here and here.

I've already got my timetable, the modules I will be taking this first semester that I know of are Cinematography, Screen and Drama, and Editing and Structure. I'm very excited about this course. I'll try my best to keep this blog updated with my photography as well as the work I'm doing at university, plus whatever else I get up to. I forgot to mention, I have Wednesday's off from lectures and seminars, definitely my photography based days I think!

If you are a potential or current film student and you'd like to know more about what I'm doing or will be doing rather, don't hesitate to drop me an email or leave a comment.

Email: kimberleymbates@gmail.com

Up and coming artist Lee Gray

Lee Gray is an acoustic/rock/pop musician currently living in Auckland, New Zealand. Gray's early music performing days started when him and his cousin, Paul Snaith formed an acoustic duo called Woodface back in 2002. In the years that they were together, they toured around the UK, recorded in Sweden and played in the South of France. However, since moving out to New Zealand Gray has gone solo. Gray has performed for engagement parties, weddings, as well as gigs at The Merchant and Elephant Wrestler in NZ.

I met Gray last year and I have found that he is a very charismatic guy with a big heart. And when listening to his music he is still that guy; you can hear his passion for music in the way he sings. If you love guys who play guitar and sing, Gray is a guy you'd most definitely fall in love with.

He has already produced two albums Flashes to ashes and Less is more which are both available on iTunes.

Gray is working on his forth coming album Smokescreens and Pipedreams, spending a lot of time in the studio. On his Facebook page he has released a sneak peek of the tracks featured on the album which you can find here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151311043629045

On his Facebook page, speaking about recording new tracks for the album, he posted; 'I'll be playing 2 them live on TV One's Good Morning show next month. Friday 24th August. Tune in (if you live in New Zealand)!!' So all of you viewing this from New Zealand, don't forget to do so!

As any artist dreams, Gray is looking to get signed by record labels. He would appreciate if you took the time to check out the links below and give him a like on Facebook; you'd be helping a musician reach his dream.

Official website: http://www.leevgray.webs.com/
Lee Gray Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leegraymusic
Woodface Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/woodfaceduomusic

How to: Create your own ballet flats with ribbon

I absolutely love ribbons and whenever I go out shopping I always look in the shoe section of any clothing store to see if I can find a pair of ballet flats that have ribbons that tie around your ankles. Unfortunately, my search continues for those perfect pair of shoes. However, this morning I came across a tutorial for making your own. So I went out, bought some ribbon and this is how I did it.

You'll need:

-A pair of ballet flats

-Ribbon

-Scissors

-Needle

-Thread

-Thread picker

-Lighter or clear nail varnish

The shoes that I decided to use were a pair of black flats that I bought in Primark for about £6.You can use any pair of pumps you wish to customise, I just chose a black pair because it's what I had at home.

I bought black ribbon from Range. I paid £2.69 for 5 metres. Again I chose black because it goes with the pumps, however I did debate using white or red ribbon; the ribbon can be whatever colour you desire.

 I took the ribbon and cut it up into four 1m pieces; cutting the ends at an angle. Using a lighter I burned the edges a bit so that the ribbon won't fray; this works well for dark coloured ribbons. For ribbons that are lighter, take clear nail varnish and put that on the end of the ribbon, setting it aside to dry completely. 1m seems like a lot of ribbon but this allows you to cut the ribbon shorter if you wish; it gives you room to experiment. Remember you can always cut off more but you can never put it back.

Taking a needle and some thread I sewed the ribbon from the inside of the flat. I suggest that the colour thread you use is the same, if not similar, to the colour of your pumps as it'll show up less on the underside of the flat. I sewed the ribbon approximately 6cm from the middle of the heel of the flat; you can sew the ribbon where ever you wish to. I would recommend placing the ribbon on the inside of the flat and moving it around, tying it around your ankle just to see how it will look like and make sure you like it. 

 You do this to the other side of the flat so that you have two ribbons parallel to each other; making sure that the distance from the ribbon and the heel is the same as the ribbon on the other side.

Repeat the steps above to the other flat and voilà. You've got your very own ballet shoe style pumps.

This is what my ballet flat look like:

As I said before 1m of ribbon is quite a lot, so play around with the ribbon and only cut some of it off when you're completely happy with it.

Alternatively, you could use a hot glue gun and glue the ribbon to the inside of the flat. I find this very messy and the ribbon may come out at any point. Use which ever method you'd like though!

Total cost: £8.69
This definitely beats paying at least £15 for a pair of shoes.

Enjoy customising your new flats! 

Galaxy Nails

I love the stars and space in general; who doesn't? I decided that I do space themed nails. This is the result. 

I do admit that they could be better but there's always next time. 

FutureProof band tee design

I've got Photoshop working on my laptop today so I decided to design a t-shirt for FutureProof. I just took some images off the web and this is what I came up with. 

The picture could be better quality and some touching up could be done but for my first ever t-shirt design on Photoshop, I think it's actually okay.

Ocean

The other week I took a trip down to Horsey beach with my family. Here are a few photos I took:

The temperature was in the high 20's it was absolutely gorgeous. If I could choose one place to have a house and live there forever, I would most definitely pick a spot by the coast. If you can, visit the beach for the day.