Salt Water (Sorry; no Photo)

Once again, like my last post I am holding back on the photography (mostly because I haven't actually taken a single photo in about 4 months) and replacing it with some poetry!

This concept was written at a stage where I could finally see light and healing begin to seep into my life and I felt like I was beginning to breathe for the first time. Part of the inspiration, particularly for the lyrical style, came from the wonderful jazz/folk/alternative singer/songwriter, Katie Noonan who you remember from the band George (check her out, she is an AMAZING singer).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Salt Water

In the briny water you hold my hands,

And wash away the dirt.

Brush away these stains, the shadows beneath my eyes;

They are the remnants of the longest night.

Wash through my eyes, my mind, my heart,

Let salt water rust the chains.

Scrub the wounds you know too well,
I see them on your face and hands.

After laying in the gutter,

Where smoke cascaded in my head

Where leaves festered in my heart, it feels so good to know

That, finally, the cuts can be seen.

Thank You.

- tom

Poetry

So it's Christmas and I was thinking I should upload something in the spirit of the season....But I got nothing other than, God is good and I rejoice in His humility!

Instead here's a song I wrote when I was in a very comfortable dark place.


Reading too Deep

I’m lost in a world of no sound

Speak no words to me for I am deaf to you.

Tossing and turning in this breaking silence

Where lightning falls without noise.

With shelves and desks scattered with books,

You would think I would learn.

With my mind full of fire and thought,

You’d think I could start to function,

But the tower is always falling.

I’ve analysed myself countless times,

That I’m numb to my need for you,

Now I’m reading into things you never said,

Into dusty words long since discarded.

In a city that shatters with every breath,

Pillars of white powder, so very fragile.

Spinning and stirring in this broken skin,

Where oceans can never reach.

Dissecting every syllable till they’re dry;

Asleep in a sea of dirt.

Every word dissolves,

As it drains through my fingers.

- tom

Facebook + Your Daily Photo

I'm back on Facebook *sigh*

I left because I used it for things far from the right reasons (e.g. pride, gossip, nosiness, etc.) but now that I'm back on I know what NOT to do and what I need to watch myself with. But hopefully it will be useful in organising events and contacting people throughout the nation and so far (for the three days I've been back on) it has proven useful for that which is a good sign, I hope.

Also, here is my "daily" photo which, lately, has become something more like a "weekly" photo for which I apologise.

I have been thinking about prayer a lot lately and so this picture is what I think half of one's prayer life should be and what I am really craving for. When I say this I really don't mean that external appearances or surroundings have grounding significance in prayer but rather that the posture of our heart should look something like this; i.e. at peace, still, reverent/awed and yet close and personal, being able to put aside life's business/distractions and finding time to be outside of that (and of course, that involves a cup of tea).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this scene :)

- tom

Phone Call

My photo for today. Two very silly people who make me laugh and yet also some wonderful deep conversations. Here's to you!

- tom

Nightwish "Imaginaerum" Review

I have been listening to the new Nightwish album "Imaginaerum". At first I was a wee bit skeptical when I heard the first single, Storytime and I still say that is the weakest song on the album but now that I listen to the rest of the songs I really quite like it!
      Rest Calm, Turn Loose the Mermaids and Scartale are my favourites I think, but that might change once I have seen the movie which I'm quite excited for; it should be very interesting. The more I listen to the songs the more I like the folky, circusy feel to the album and the depiction of the story.  
      Song of Myself is a beautiful epic poem; it is a deep insight into the mind and heart of Tuomus Holopainen, the pianist/songwriter/composer of Nightwish.
      There are some negatives for me every now and then. For instance, I don't really like how the trumpets are implemented (I can't really put my finger on it but, there it is). Some of the songs seem to lack polish and can be quite repetitive without any interesting form. I believe this to be due to the way it will tie into the movie but we will have to wait and see.

These are my thoughts, I would love to hear yours! :)

- tom

Peeps

Just some photos I did for our school writers anthology. That's me at the top in case you couldn't guess :)

Enjoy :)

- tom

Mara

Her name isn't actually Mara but it is relevant to the context of the image.

- tom

See the Sky

CD cover idea? This is a photo of my cousin from about three years ago and I've always wanted to do something with it but I've never really had the patience or facilities to do a good job of it... until now!

Tell me what you think!

- tom

Loui

Thought it was time for some colour again.

 

- tom

Memorial

In memory of my grandfather who passed away this past week and also of his wife who died many years ago.

- tom

Wreckage

Just my photo for today.

- tom

Photo

Just digging around the old photo dumps. It's amazing that a photo you once discarded could become something likable. I don't really know why I skipped over this one when I was editing through the shoot because now I quite like it! It needed very little editing; the face was out of focus so that was the only major thing that needed to be done.

My good friend Waynita.

 

- tom

Black and White

I have been enjoying working with black and white lately; it really allows you to make the imperfections of a picture into a characteristic and this is really fun to do!

Once again, this was taken at the beautiful time of year, Easter. There's a specific place my family and I like to go for Easter and it's such an interesting place with an incredible view, perfect for taking photos. This was taken from the front window of the shack we stay at.

Big resolution, feel free to use as background.

I hope you enjoy my BAW experiments as much as I do.


- tom

Those Days...

Missing those lovely wintery days already. I have never been a big fan of summer and the heat, I've always been a bit strange in how much I love the cold, wet weather of autumn and winter.

I think the beach is so much more beautiful and fun on a cloudy day. This was on our Easter holiday.

This picture has a BIG resolution so feel free to use it as your background

- tom

Lightning

Just a small experiment. The colour version of Lightning is earlier in my blog.

- tom

Resurgence

Hey! Sorry it's been quite a while, the last couple of months have been very full on and it's amazing how many seasons of life can be crammed into one third of a year! MADNESS!!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these new photos from a beautiful, rainy evening.

- tom

Light and Shade

I never liked this photo when I first took it but for some reason I kept it and went to experimenting with it and I, surprisingly, quite like the results! I hope you do too :)

Thanks Alex!


 - Tom

Mel

Hey there Buddies!!! This is from a shoot I did with a truly talented artist/friend of mine.

This also happens to be from my very first commission.

Here's to you Mel

- tom

Your Daily Photograph

My life is fairly turbulent in so many ways right now, but it's wonderfully relieving to know that through these darker and tougher times that control is not lost, rather it is not something I, in my self, have.

I have really had no time for photo-shoots due to this plus my school work but I'm on holidays in about three weeks so I hope to get some snapping underway.

But for now, I hope you enjoy these slightly older photos of three beautiful girls from my church.

- tom (who is now of age)

Wedding Photos

So this is mainly for my friend, Mel, who wanted to see some more of my work but I thought it might be a good idea to get some more photos up anyway cause I'm slack....

 So first up we have my oldest brother's wedding of whom there are two more pictures if you scroll down to the post before this....

And secondly we have the middle brother between me and the two oldest twins....

So! There you have it! I hope you enjoyed the photos :)

 - tom

Balance

I showed my brother my blog today and he said it was cool but it needs more of a balance so I decided to put a picture up of a male portrait to balance out all those female portraits.

This is him on his wedding day....

There you go Zac! Male :)

A Photo for the Sake of a Photo

Here's a photo just for the sake of it!
This is yet another faithful model who has been a good friend of mine for as long as I can remember.
You're a legend Loui  :-)

I hope you enjoy my work! Would love to see some comments on what you think....

- tom

Way

This is my good friend Waynita who has been a faithful and effective model for me.

Here's to you Way

- tom

First Ever Post!

Heya Guys! This is my very first blog post and basically I just want to show you some examples of my photographic work so you can see if you might be interested in following my future posts.

 

Hope to see your comments :)

- tom