Steve Howdle

Our second day back to Wakefield College to start our second year of the course ended up with a change of plan. During the morning lesson Amanda came in and offered us and our teacher Tony the chance to go to Dewsbury Kirklees college to see a talk and demonstration on lighting techniques in a studio environment. This was being presented by practicing professional photographer Steve Howdle. He had presented a talk in the morning so as we only arrived there at 1pm he just spent 5-10 mins giving us our own introduction to who he was and a catch up of what he had been on about in the morning.
We learned that he was mainly a hair photographer and after just 5 shoots - not even hair shoots! - he had landed a contract with Babyliss. He has also dabbled in some fashion photography also. He showed us some of his work, which to be honest wasn't to my taste but for others in the class they found it interesting.
For me his work was very dated looking, almost looking like it came from the 80s with very soft edges, a cloudiness which looked like a smoke machine had been used and strange hairstyles nobody would normally have. I found them very dated also considering Steve told us he had only started photography in 1999 and had worked through the start of this decade. I have never been a fan of hair photography in general really. For me the genre and style of every picture turns out the same and no matter what the hairstyle or model is to me it looks dated and cheesy. He also told us that he does hardly any editing to his pictures but as you can see from the first image above this is clearly not the case.
However I thought I would get use of the studio session as up until now although I am comfortable with studio lighting I tend to use the same set up for most things so I therefore thought I could gain some knowledge from the demo.
There was a model waiting in the studio, with her hair and make up done. A girl from Dewsbury college volunteered herself to take photos as nobody else in our class wanted to. Steve showed us some different pieces of equipment, such as the beauty dish, and how he goes step by step though and how each addition of a light will change different aspects of the picture. I found some things he said useful such as when he was talking about a lightmeter - although at the end of it we thought he was trying to sell us them!. It was interesting to see how he sets up one light at a time where as we tend to dive in and throw all the lights on.
To be honest at the end of it all he had 5 lights on the set and the model but the end picture looked just like he had one big softbox at the front. It didn't look anything like his pictures lighting set up and I was a bit dissapointed that he didnt take any photos himself of the situation for us to see how his would turn out.
As research before writing this post I also had a look for his webpage. For someone who has won a few photography awards and is apparently well known in the industry his website is frankly dissapointing. It looks like an amateur photographers website and wouldnt intice me to use him as a photographer.

This is the website here : http://www.thorntonhowdle.com/

Personal and Proffesional Development

As an add on to our blog module our teacher set us the task to design business cards, A5 Postcards and an A3 Poster to promote our work and provide contact details to viewers of our end of year show. I made a little book and drew sketches of the pictures I wanted to take for the business card fronts as I think some of my work to date hasn't shown my style. At first I overthought this project and was thinking of colour schemes because I wanted the font on the back to be colours from the image on the front so they matched and looked more thought out. I then researched Moo as I will use them to get mine printed and realised that you can have up to 50 different images on the front but the back has to be the same so unfortunately I will just have to have black and white as a neutral ground. I have designed some A5 postcards and posters which I think show my style well, they are clear and straight to the point.
These are two of the posters I designed. I think my strong point to date has been portraiture and food photography and so I chose to display them. I think I prefer the top image as it has more contrast between the font and the image which draws more attention to it and the fact that it is advertising the exhibition which is the point.



This is one of the images I have used as a frontplate to my business cards. I think it shows my style and came out as I intended when I shot the picture that I am pleased enough with it to put it on my business card.

Creating an Experimental Portfolio

This semester we have had the opportunity to look at genres of photography. First we researched the different genres of photography and for mine I compared images of photographers from the past with photographers from the present. We then had to pick a genre, preferably one that is out of our comfort zone) and then experiment with them. I chose portraiture. Although portraiture isn't out of my comfort zone I chose to do it as I haven't done much of it and most has been studio based to date. I decided to do mine all outside with a shallow depth of field. I looked at a photographer who's work I have followed for about a year, Benoit Paille, and a new photographer to me, Tommy Ga Ken Wan. They both have a unique documentary style to their portraits. Benoit Paille stops strangers in the street and Tommy Ga Ken Wan has a more candid observation style of portraiture. I chose to try Benoit Paille's style as I hope to be a cinematographer and so documentary style portraiture would be closer related to that.

I was home over Easter which is when I shot the above 10 images. They are all of people who are near and dear to me at a few different locations. I am pleased with the result, in particular the image of my Dad (not the close up one).

Stock Images

For our Understanding Client Briefs module we have been thinking about Stock Image Agencies. Our brief was to take 10 different stock images ( we were allowed to use 2 previous images taken for this module ) and to upload them to a few stock image agencies to try and get accepted and to get feedback on our images. We have had to research agencies such as Istock and Getty Images to find out what they are looking for and what they have too much of. Getty Images in particular are good as they post what they are looking for on a twitter page which gets updated frequently. Once I decided what I wanted to shoot after looking around my flat and finding little objects I searched for those items on the sites to see how many images they already had. Some of the images Itook there was quite a lot of similar images on the sites already but to be honest I was quite last minute with this project due to things beyond my control.

Paul Cockney, a portrait photographer turned full time stock image photographer came in to college twice to teach us. The first time he came in he set us the brief and pointed out things that the agencies would look for in our images such as noise, sensor dust, blur and chromatic abberation. He then came back in to look at the images we had taken, to offer feedback and if necessary criticism and to advise us of which ones to attempt to upload to istockphoto.

The images I took are below.

I thought I was being smart by taking a picture of this pack of cards we bought whilst in Sweden. I thought due to the Queen having a D instead of a Q and similarly a Jack is shown with a Kn that it would make it unique and there would be more chance of there not being similar pictures. However Paul pointed out that it would also limit its usage and also runs the risk of someone downloading it thinking it was an english pack of cards and then later down the line finding out it wasn't and having to start the process of whatever its been used in again with a new image. This wouldn't cause me any problems but he thought it best not to upload it.

This picture of pizza was very last minute, it was actually my tea for the night before we had to have the pictures taken for. I just took it to make up to 10. The pizza was slighty burnt round the edges which Paul pointed out, if you are going to take an image of food make it look appealing, a burnt pizza would of only looked right if it was overly burnt and had a student looking person holding it which is right.
These cupcake images were the 2 images from previous that I used for this. I felt they were clean and commercial enough to be uploaded. I have attempted to use the second image to get into istockphoto as I was told the first image is a bit plain and not as bright as the second.

I took this picture of a stuffed mushroom cap when I was home over Easter. My mum thankfully made them for me to take pictures of. I didn't intend on using it for this task, I only shot it because I wanted to try out some food photography however I realised that it is quite specific so there might not be many images like it. I also realised that I could use it as it wasn't used for any of our previous modules. I have tried to upload this one to istockphoto.This is a make up set I had at home which I've never actually used. I thought it would look cool with a shallow depth of field which it does but unfortunately due to not having a tripod at home and not thinking of making one out of boxes etc they numbers on the palette are a bit shaky so their isn't a point of focus so I can't upload it. It was also suggested if I reshoot it to have a make up brush in the background to make it more commercial and obvious what it is.
I took these three images because in a blind panic I grabbed random objects from my flat and chose just to shoot them against a white background. I like how they both turned out, the rollers turned out better than expected however with the duck im not sure if I could upload it as it has a brand print on the front of it.

This is actually curry powder. It was one of the random objects I grabbed from my flat just because I had bought the wrong curry powder once so it was going spare. I thought to do this so when I got to the studio I dumped the whole pot of curry powder on to a piece of foam board and wrote this in it. I then cleaned up the writing on photoshop. I wish there was more powder on the lower right hand side as its a bit lop-sided but I liked it enough to upload it to istockphoto.

Focus On Imaging

On Monday we went to the show Focus On Imaging at the NEC, Birmingham. It was a 2 hour coach ride there and after an hour inside we were ready to leave. It was absolutely mobbed so the whole time walking around was a struggle. You couldn't get close to any stands and couldn't here any of the talks as they were all going off at the same time on microphones. If you were going there to buy kit at an only slightly discounted price then you would have enjoyed it but for us students who can't afford any of it there was nothing else there for us. A few exhibitions with work that didn't particularly blow us away and only about 3 college stands and we are already at college. There was also hardly any freebies apart from a few postcards and pens. The food was also a ridiculous price inside and outside of the show. We went back to the coach at 2 and it wasn't setting off til 4.

How I Learn

After doing 2 mini-tests to find out what kind of learner I am I have discovered that I am a Kinesthetic Learner. The traits of a Kinesthetic Learner are that they learn through doing themselves rather than sitting in lectures listening to how things should be done. I agree with this as I zone out during most lessons and thrive when we actually get to do something physical. I think looking back on this course so far I can't pinpoint anything I have learned in the actual classes that I didn't already know a bit about. Anything I have learnt has been in the studio. This is evidence that I am a Kinesthetic learner.

However I don't agree with some of the suggested learner aids for this type of learner. It is suggested that I would learn better if I do things such as write on surfaces with my finger, dance, role play, use poems and rhymes etc. I don't think these would necessarily help me as I would find them too much of a distraction.

By doing these tests I have learned that I need to work on my concentration whilst listening to lectures as when we get to the end of the semester I normally can't remember things we have done at the start of it so I would learn from taking more notes physically.

Sweden - Reflection

A final blog to sum up my experience in Sweden.

It was amazing. I am so grateful for being picked for the photographer's placement. Before going I was nervous as I knew it would just be myself and 4 guys for a whole 3 weeks. I also thought that the 3 weeks, as I wasn't entirely sure what my time out there would entail, may drag out a bit but it zoomed by far too quickly! Yes I had difficulties at first, the place I was staying was awful and I was missing out on what the guys were doing and really I didn't need to be based at Lugnet University but after that was sorted out I had the best time. The family we stayed with were amazing, they took me in and made me feel at home the second I sat down to the first meal on the first night. I went out there having expectations from our preperation meetings etc that we had before hand but it was nothing like what I expected. I didn't think we would be going up a ski jump, going to snowmobile jumping and having a BBQ in the snow (although that was because of our family). I didn't think I would be going underneath a pool to take pictures!

I have really learned alot of a photography as well. Alot of our college course is limited to being in the studio and as I don't really know the area I've moved to I don't venture out to find locations. This pushed me to learn my way about another new place and as we were there for 3 weeks it felt nice when I knew my way about and felt like I actually lived there as I knew it that well! It was exciting for me to be able to shoot in an all new place. I made a few technical mistakes whilst shooting and unfortunately it was so cold outside that the video camera was playing up so I only have around 2 videos from the whole time out there but it's things like this that make me learn for next time.

Before going out we also had to fill out a self-evaluation so we could measure how this experience has changed us.

The skills/interests that I felt I lacked in were:

Foreign Languages (although I only picked up around 5 words whilst out there)
Good memory

Talking to People
Confidence
Ability to organise

I have definately improved on these. I had to have a good memory and the ability to organise as I had to arrange my time with what the boys were doing and I had to remember to keep my batteries charged, empty my memory cards etc almost every night so that helped. I think I have improved a little bit on confidence and talking to people. With my placement, as I wasn't at the same place everyday I wasn't really there to meet people but I did meet a few people on the boy's placements so that increased my confidence and they would ask about me and what I was doing on my placement so that made me have to talk to people so I got more used to doing that.

Sweden was by far the best 3 weeks of my life. I learned so much, got thrown way out of my comfort zone and met some amazing people. We were well looked after and we always had a point of contact if needed. Nick, Inga and Carina were so great when they knew I was having problems and everything was dealt with quickly if we needed anything. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and can already see myself going back in the near future.

Sweden - Day 21

Saturday 27th February

The Last Day.

Today was our last full day in Falun. I woke up feeling deflated already, really dreading going home. Carina and Bengt had been out the previous night so we weren't going to the ski jump until after 2. Josh and myself therefore went shopping in the morning to both get gifts for family at home and to get Carina and Bengt presents. We bought two candlesticks, two tealights holders which had a C and a B on it and a salt and pepper set which were cats. We thought these were nice as they love candles as there is heaps round the house and they love cats also as they have 3. When we presented them to them later they loved them so I think we did well :) I also bought myself a little candle holder. I couldn't buy much due to suitcase space :( We met the other boys in town as they were also getting presents. Carina and Bengt then picked us up from Erenes and we went up to the ski jump. Unfortunately it was a foggy day but it was still a good view from the top. Josh and I are not the best with heights so Josh went back down pretty quickly and I quickly followed! It was also freezing at the top! I don't know how the ski jumpers do it as it is really daunting looking down the slope. After we got back down we went back to ours and Dale came too. Joel packed his suitcase as he was going out that night although he was coming back at night. They were going to Dribblers to meet with the girls they were going out with later that night. I had a suspicion that Joel would end up not coming back for the last meal as he would have to get the bus back up and back down again. Unfortunately my suspicions were true and he didn't come to our last meal and ended up having tea at Erene's. This really annoyed me as I found it so rude to ditch Carina's meal and impose on Erene's. I have already said this to Joel and he told me it was Bengt's suggestion. Either way it wasn't his place to invite Joel to Erene's dinner and Joel should of felt guilty about not having the last meal with us.

After the meal we gave our presents to them and we also both gave them a card which we each wrote a thank you letter in. On my card I drew the house on the front and drew little things along the bottom of it to do with our stay there. I also wrote on the front " Thanks for giving us a home from home" - Cheesey I know but it was appropriate! They really appreciated the card too so it was worth it :) Bengt then got out old pictures of their house before the renovated it and pictures from previous midsummers which is basically a 3 day party with alot of dancing and alcohol. Josh and I then found some old pictures of us, and in my case pictures of my flat etc to show them. It was a really nice evening although it made it harder to leave the next morning as it made us a bit closer :(

Sweden - Day 20

Friday 26th February

I went to Borlange again today as it was Joel and Josh's last day. Dale had no lessons and Tom was going ice skating on a pond but I had went with him a previous day to take pictures and it was cancelled due to the snow and there had been more so I assumed it would be cancelled again. They were teaching more swim schools in the morning and then went in the Aqua Nova pool for a while in the afternoon. We also got to go underneath the pool and look through the portholes. We got Josh to swim down to one so I could get this really cool picture of him. I love it! Hampus ( the manager ) also said at the start of the day that they would have to jump off the 5m board which Joel and Josh were scared to do! Unfortunately they couldn't use that board for some reason so they had to do it off the 3m board. Hampus and Robert were jumping off them too so I got a short video of that as the video camera finally worked with the heat next to the pool. Im really annoyed that the video camera hasn't been working for this trip due to the cold. I had some really good footage of us getting to Sweden etc but when checking them on the computer it has only kept one second videos despite me filming for 3 minutes plus.


After we left we went to Falun centre and met Dale as we wanted to get Inga Lil some flowers. We bought some and met Tom and we all went to Kristinegymnasiet to give them to her. Unfortunately she had already left by the time we got there so we had to leave them for her. We think it may have been her husband we left them with though as she phoned us at Carina's that night to thank us for them. Dale then came up to ours to hang out and ended up staying for tea as Joel was going to his as they were going out that night. Josh and I had a night in which I used to sort out some more pictures.

Sweden - Day 19

Thursday 25th February

Most people had booked the day off for suspected hangovers, apart from Dale as he was going skiiing again which I couldn't go to as it was a coach trip again. We woke up late morning feeling fine though which was a brilliant feeling! Josh, Joel and me got a scare around lunch time though as Andreas, Carina and Bengt's son, came round and let himself into the house. We were upstairs in the boys room so he walked into the room. It was nice meeting him as he is the Swedish champion ski jumper! However it was a little awkward as we didn't have that much to say to him and we were all a bit startled, plus Carina and Bengt weren't there either.

Then later in the day we were meant to be meeting Dawn at the Copper mining museum at 3. However when we got there she was no where to be found. Inga Lil was there though and she told us that Dawn was stuck in Amsterdam and would be missing the tour. Inga was also not coming down with us. We joined the tour which was us 5 and three canadians on it. We went down in a lift and had to wear orange capes and hard hats which looked hilarious! The tour shouldn't of been funny but it ended up being a right laugh, although we did annoy the canadians a little bit. I overheard one of them saying of the tour guide "She's done well to answer their questions cause I ain't got a clue what they're saying". One of them at the end also asked if I stayed with the guys and when I answered yeah two of them she said oh dear! haha. I also got this cool picture below of the bucket they used to pull loads up.

At night we were due to have a meal with Dawn. We still weren't sure if she was in Sweden yet or not but we went to the Bishop's Arm's for half 7. They wouldn't let us book a table the day before so when we went in they only had a round table which was meant for 5 which they squeezed more seats on to. It was really busy and was therefore really noisy. There also wasn't anything vegetarian on the menu for Josh to eat. When Dawn arrived just before 8 we decided to go somewhere else. We ended up in an italian takeaway/restaurant which was ok. We discussed our placements and enjoyed giant pizzas :)

Sweden - Day 18

Wednesday 24th February

Today was a long day for me. Got up at 6 to get ready to go with Dale to a yoga class which started at 7. Carina drove me down as she goes to work around that time anyway and she came in to yoga with me when we got there at quarter past 7. Looking back I really should of just went there for 7 if possible as we had to interupt to walk in and it made so much noise getting my camera out of my bag and when the shutter went off when I took a picture so I didn't take too many pictures. There was also an older woman that kept giving me dirty looks whenever I did take a picture.
I then got on the same bus as Joel and Josh and went back to Borlange again. Dale was on another trip I couldn't go to and Tom wasn't doing anything interesting to photograph. The boys were teaching a swim class again so I took more pictures of that, for some reason my camera wasn't steaming up this time which made it much easier! It has been good at Aqua Nova as the manager is really laid back and doesn't have a problem with me taking pictures of other people - especially considering it is a group of young children the boys have been teaching. If that had been in England they would of been really strict and probably wouldn't of let me in to take pictures!

After we got back we got ready to go to out to celebrate Josh's birthday as he was finally old enough to get into Etage. Another great night out and we got a taxi home this time so it was fine to sleep in my own bed this time.

Sweden - Day 17

Tuesday 23rd February

Today I went back to Lugnet in search of Andy. I hadn't been back there since the first week as I felt that the programme they were trying to put me on wouldn't be beneficial to me and would hinder my experiences in Sweden. Plus I was out there to take pictures of the guys on their placements and they were restricting me from doing that. Unfortunately I went to Andy's office and he wasn't there and the door was locked so I couldn't even leave a note. I also texted him later on in the day when I went back to the house for his number, both to make him aware I had been in and to get his email address off him for Nick but I got a message back saying the message had failed to send to the number so I couldn't get in contact with him. By this time it was lunch time so it would not of been worth going to any of the guys placements as they would be finished by the time I got there. I therefore stayed in and went through my pictures again until Carina came home at the back of 4.

As it was Josh's birthday Tom, Dale, Erene and Mats had been invited to ours for cake and coffee at around half 6-7. The boys were meant to be in at 6 so we were having tea before everyone got here. I therefore helped Carina to set the table for them coming and cooked my tea whilst she got ready. 6 rolled by and the boys still werent back so I texted Josh and they had been held up at Borlange as after work they were going swimming with some Swedish girls Dale knew. Everyone else arrived on time and the boys were still not there, they finally rolled in at 8 and we all ate cake and coffee. Josh was then dared to get up and make a performance which he chose to dance/sing to Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. It was hilarious! He proper went for it and everyone was in stiches. After everyone had left we opened a bottle of champagne and he opened his cards from home that he had been given before he came out. It was a really nice evening despite me having to nag them to get home!!

Sweden - Day 16

Monday 22nd February

Today we all took the day off as it took so long to get back yesterday. I did 3 loads of washing as we didn't give any to Carina over the weekend as she was going out too. I also went down to the supermarket and got some more washing powder and fabric softner as I had used the last of it on the first load. I've also been planning to make either a trifle or cookies later this week. The only thing is I went to the supermarket and couldnt see any ready made custard so trifle may have to go a miss. Cookies all the way :)

We also went to Ice Hockey at Leksands. Inga Lil had arranged it and came with us which was good as I hadn't seen her that much during the trip. Bengt and Carina also came so we all got a mini bus there. It was my first ice hockey match so it was a good experience although Bengt said it wasn't a very good game. We were all hoping for there to be a fight but there was only a small squabble which was a bit dissapointing!! Leksands won! When we got back (about 11) we stayed up til 12 to wish Josh a happy birthday. We then realised that with the time difference really it was only 11 so he wasn't 18 yet but we were too tired to stay up so just went to bed!

Sweden Day 14 & 15 (blog 2)

Then that time came around and it kept getting delayed by 15 min, for about 3 hours so we kept having to check the screens everytime incase we got a platform number. Then it got to like half 4 and one of the staff told us to go up as they had organised buses, we went up and went to information and they didnt have a clue about it. So we went back down and they said oh we told them 10 minutes ago and we were like well we were up 5 minutes ago and they didnt have a clue. And of course all the buses that were going to Borlange were fully booked by this time anyway. So we sat around for a while then went back to buses to know if they had heard and they still hadnt by like 5. We got told to wait around the information desk and when they were told about the buses they would make an anouncement in english for us. So we waited til 20 to 6 then decided to go get food and as we got up to get some one of the women staff came and said platform 8 to us. We thought she meant stand 8 for the buses so we asked and she said no train platform 8 and its leaving now. so we had to run and I mean we ran full pelt the 5 of us through both stations, got on the train and no more and it took off. Absolutely mobbed like people sitting in the aisles and standing up at doors. Tom and me had to sit on the kitchen counters in the little kitchen bit where everyone kept shoving their cases in. But we got back, should of been at borlange for 1, we got there for just before 9 and got here at half past 9."

Sweden Day 14 & 15

Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th

Stockholm.

Jesus christ! What a weekend....

I have never had such a stressful weekend. Getting to Stockholm everything was fine, a few delays on the train but nothing major. Absolutely freezing, around -20 when we got there, walked for 20 minutes to the hostel, booked in, put the bedding on our beds. The 5 of us were in a 14 bed room. Originally we went to the furthest end of the room and made our beds and everything there, we then decided if we would be coming in drunk early in the morning we would be better by the door so we ended up switching all the beds. We then went for a wander round the shops, alot of which are the same as England anyway but the plaza was really nice. We had tea, Mcdonalds for Joel and Dale, a hotdog for me and meatballs and mash for Tom. Josh didn't have any as we couldn't find a take out pizza place.

Back to the hostel and we got ready to go out, borrowed a pack of cards from reception and played some cards games whilst drinking more jaegarmeister (I didn't have any after Wednesday night!). We headed out around 11 after struggling to get a taxi to fit us all, although when we did 4 of us sat on 3 seats anyway. Up to Spy Bar, the bouncer checked our ids, obviously only looked at the years as he thought we were all 19 and was letting us in until he saw joshs and even though he thought he was 18 he stopped us going in as it was meant to be 21, so he said 19 would of been okay as it was quiet but 18 was pushing it. We then tried a few more clubs, most of which were 23 to get in. After walking around for ages we got another taxi back to Gamla Stan ( the island our hostel was on) as it was meant to be a student area so the age would be 18 to get in. This wasn't the case though so again we got turned down by a few places. Finally we had to send Josh back to the hostel which was ashame but we couldn't stay outside any longer as it was that cold. The pubs we went into though none of them had a dancefloor which is really all we wanted. At around 2 we gave up and ran back to the hostel. Josh was asleep by then. The rest of us went down to the kitchen and cooked up some pasta. The kitchen was a state though left by other people staying there.

Went to bed, stayed up til back of 4 chatting, up at 8 to leave. Got to the station for back of 9, train was due at 9.45 but it was cancelled. We got rebooked on to the 13.45 train. (see blog two)

Sweden - Day 13

Friday 19th February

Today I went with Tom to Haroldsbogymnasiet in the afternoon. He was meant to be ice skating on a lake which I thought would make good pictures. Dale has been doing that too but he has been on coaches to his trips so I haven't been able to just tag along. The lake Tom was going to they were walking to so I thought I could go along. The snow had been really bad though so when we go to Haroldsbogymnasiet his mentor, Sara, said that ice skating was off and instead they were going sledging. We walked about a half a mile, it was freeezing outside, and I stayed for about half an hour taking some pictures. I then walked back and caught the bus home.


That night we went to Bandy. I wasn't sure what to expect, it was boltic outside so we all wrapped up and trudged down. We managed to get in free by saying we were 17 so that was a bonus! There was around 15-20 guys that Dale knew from his placement there so we stood with them and shouted Falun chants the whole game. It was insane but you couldn't get that atmosphere anywhere else. Falun lost thought which is a pity as there were winning for most of the game.

Sweden - Day 11 & 12

Wednesday 17th February & Thursday 18th February

Today I went to meet Tom and Dale for lunch again but Dale was away on a skiing trip and Tom had a day off so there was nothing I could do. I therefore went back to Tom and Dales and watched Lee Evans and ate pick and mix. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go with Dale alot as alot of his days are trips away which I can't go on. Malin, his mentor is also quite funny about me taking pictures as she says that I can't get anybody else in the picture which makes it very difficult.

That night we went out to Etage, my first night out in Falun, I got way to drunk on Jaegermeister beforehand and therefore spent the whole day Thursday suffering. It was a fun night though so it was worth it :)

Sweden - Day 10

Tuesday 16th February

Today I went to kristinegymnasiet for lunch with Tom and Dale, I then went shopping for something to wear when we go to Stockholm. I didn't venture out to a swedish shop I didn't know I stuck to good old H&M. I also went to find some flowers to give to Carina for letting me stay as I've only given her a box of chocolates so far. I haven't found any that I liked so far though so I think i'll try again start of next week. I also went to a shop that had cute pillowcases in the window which I wanted for myself but when I went into the shop I couldn't find them and everything else is the shop was a ridiculous price, a jumper was £900!!! I then went back to the house as I was knackered.

Sweden - Day 9

Monday 15th February

Today I went with Josh and Joel to Borlange again, its been a bit difficult for me to plan what days to go where because with their placement they don't know what they are doing day to day. Today they were cleaning the inside of a flume. When I got there I got taken through the pool area with Niles to dump my stuff in the staff room. I took my camera with me and we went through to the Aquanova area, the fun pool. It was soo hot in there that my lens and viewfinder on my camera steamed up so the pictures were coming out terrible! (please see above for examples!)

When we went up to the top of the flume though it was a bit colder so I got some better shots. As they were going to be cleaning for the next 3 hours I decided to leave. I went to Kristinegymnasiet to have lunch with Dale and Tom. They had free afternoons though so I went back to theirs and just hung out :)

Sweden -Day 7 and 8 - The Weekend

Consisted of:

Two beautiful much needed lie ins! A BBQ in the snow, watching footie at night (then 3 of the lads went out), watching snowmobile jumping training sunday morning, then coffee and cake at Irene and Matts, then bowling after that with everyone.

Really enjoyed this weekend, even though I have a much more relaxed time out here than the boys it was nice just to have days off and we got to know our families better which was good. Carina and Bengt's daughter, daughter's friend and boyfriend came round for the barbecue and as we saw them again on the sunday morning at snowmobile jump training ( it was the daughter's boyfriend we were watching) it made that less awkward too as we already knew them from the day before :)

After snowmobile training we went up to a viewing tower in a nearby town but unfortunately it was closed :