Empire Player Event: "The Little Mother's Ball"

Photography stuff

Very last minute, but on Wednesday, I received an invitation to attend the Little Mother's Ball ("LMB") as a photographer. There were openings where people had to cancel or whatever, so I was delighted to attend in general, but also to challenge me and my fourteen-year old camera kit with indoor, low-light shooting. Note, I don't have the 50mm fixed/prime lens, so extra challenges there, as the lowest f-stop my lenses allow is f5.6. I'm also grateful that my hands are relatively steady, and I can hold a 1/30 second shutter opening with almost no shake.

Thankfully, there was a second photographer with photographer kit almost as limited as mine (I think theirs was better), which means I now have a few clearer images of Skywise Seppa.

Role play stuff

I got to play up some of the shaman aspects as I handed over Ieri's red canvas herb bandolier to Florina, with me shouting back at my ancestors who were telling me to not hand over the bandolier. I also had a couple of fellow orcs to interact with and Seppa didn't have to feel quite so anxious and isolated. Redhand Gezzar and Stormcrow Rork were my fellow Imperial Orcs.

The ball itself consisted of a buffet feast, bards of various nations, dancing, trading, and an auction of various goods to raise funds for the Empire's orphans. The location: Sarvos, the League.

I showed my nails, which had the pinkies done in sparkly varnish, the rest were plain, I said that it was the Freeborn children doing my nails. My use of gold eyeliner also provoked a little bit of attention from the Freeborn in attendance. Seppa's earrings also drew some attention, as one of them has a tiny tassel on it.

Oh, and I rode in the taxi in my mask; the driver asked to take my picture. No idea what he ended up doing with it...

The location that I listed for this post is where on Earth the event took place.

Some pictures

A selfie taken before the taxi arrived.

I'm slowly figuring out Seppa's appearance.

I'm grateful to Samantha Carrington for their pictures of Skywise Seppa. I did trim their photos to exclude other participants, partly because I was trying to focus on Seppa's kit, and also to minimise me accidentally sharing someone's face who might object to being on my blog.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

I usually don't mind sitting on floors, it challenges my flexibility and works my body. I put up my hood because the neck gap was bugging me. I really need to come up with a better neck cover that won't overheat me.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

I confess, I like seeing my characters from the back and sides, because I always wonder how those areas appear.

Photographer: Samantha Carrington
I did trim the original photo to focus upon my character.

Conclusions

I lasted well with my mask, but I did need a face time about 3/4 of the way through the five hour event. I am struggling to keep my hair from peeking out of the eye holes. Yes, I'm growing my top-scalp hair so that I can pin/braid it back, but it's too short for either restraint. I saw Redhand Gezzar using a wig sock/cap, so I might have to look for one for myself. Also, I physically struggle to get the mask back on when I've taken it off for a face time; it's like the neck shrinks or my head swells, I need to discover why this is so.

I'm starting to think that I need to redo my coven symbol, to a smaller size, and also stitch the panel to the coat. The current one is too large for me.

Also, I went with two layers again, the tunic and the coat; I started with the scapular and skirt as well, but quickly discarded it, as the hall was so warm.

I'll do another post about costume, but I wanted to make a post and include pictures of me in costume. I'm also kinda pleased that my glasses disappeared in these photos.

Book Covers project - location search - Chafford

The other day I went out with the new camera to some local woodland. Several things inclined me to the task: 1) I hadn't been to the woodland and I like visiting nature; 2) I was hoping to find a suitably remote location yet accessable for the book covers project; 3) it was a sunny day and almost warm; 4) get used to using the new camera.

I think I succeeded.

Go go invasive species... the American grey squirrel is an aggressive nuissance, it has nearly driven the native red squirrel into extinction. In the fifteen years I've been here, I have yet to see a native red squirrel in the wild, they are that rare.







Yes, I know there's fence and a house visible in the background, however, careful choice of angle of view can solve that issue and if the model is willing to sit in the crux of the tree, even better.



Another spot where selective angle of view can make this work.







There's a lot of ivy at the moment, but not much nettle, nettle seems to prefer areas with a little more sunlight than one gets under the canopy of trees.

New camera and some photography

Jessops was having a package deal on Canon cameras and I decided to gift myself a new dSLR. So I now have a Canon EOS 450D and two nice lenses.

Late last year, I poked and prodded around the back yard, replanting or redoing some of the surviving bulbs in the pots that haven't bloomed in previous years. I'm discovering that if you plant bulbs of anything EXCEPT daffodils, you need to disturb the ground they're in or they don't come up again... or perhaps I just need to pull more weeds so they don't deprive the bulbs of sunlight >.>

Anyway, because I messed about with the pots last year, I now have tulips this year! I love the colour swirl in this one. I also wanted to get used to using the new camera, two enjoyable things in one go.



Today, the sun was out so I decided to go out with the camera and get cracking with images of local sights and sites that interest me that don't often show up in the tour books. This part of Essex got well hammered by the Germans during WWII so there's not a lot left that's 'old and ancient' in the area.

Behold: Hadleigh Castle (pronounce 'had-lee'), built in the 1230s on unstable clay and chalk the castle pretty much had a short life of under 100yrs use and within 40 years of its initial building had to have major refurbishment. The kings and lords that came afterward basically gave up on it and in the 1500s large parts of it that hadn't already tumbled down into ruin were dismantled for building materials, the stone and lead got recycled.

This is some of what remains. You can see the Thames River Estuary in the background.



Part of my reason for returning here is I'm also scouting for potential locations for 'onsite' portrait photography. I'm building a photographic project of 'book covers for stories that never were' and places that I can use as backgrounds for costumed models is desirable. The more I can do in camera, the less I have to deal with on the pc!



On my drive around for photographic locations, I decided to find a near-to-the-road bunker as several of these remain in and around the countryside near the Thames River Estuary. I also was seeking some antique shops and got two for one. This one is within 100 metres of the roadside of a Rettendon furniture antiques shop.



From what I can conclude, many of the bunkers are on private land, so finding one near the road is useful.

What were the bunkers for? The handful I've seen are similar but different and could have been used as observation posts ('to spot the German invasion') or as gun placements to shoot at said German invaders.

Most appear as this one does, constructed of brick and concrete with a patina of lichen and greenery. Most of them are in farmer's fields.

Because I CAN

Successful film photograph of panning technique.