Teching the tech to the tech
Photography is as much an art as it is a science, and when it comes to producing a finished image it is as much down to the processing tools as it is to the process of how I actually shoot the chosen shot. Once the shutter has clicked there is still half the job to [...]
The bludgeon of sexuality
Sex and sexuality are topics I love to discuss, mainly because they both intrigue me on many levels. Personally I am omnisexual, liking who I like, not fearing my attraction to whoever the other person may be. I also define myself as a situational polyamourist, as in if my partner was happy with an open [...]
Getting precious
Before I start I want to state that the opinions stated below are my personal view, and this is an open invitation to discuss the points I raise herein. I wholly appreciate why artists and photographers use watermarks and remonstrate about copyright ad nauseum, but at the same time I think that all this worry about copyright [...]
The uplift
Some times I read trans coming out stories, the pain people felt, the angst, and the general struggle they have gone through, and I wish I could read more of the positive side of what it is to be trans, gender queer, and gender variant. I appreciate that people need to articulate their feelings, and [...]
What maketh the person?
It is one of the hallmarks of my photography and creative outflow in general that I will not label someone other than with their name. This sounds rather obvious, but it is actually complex thing when you scratch beneath the surface. I have had the pleasure of working with people from many different background, be [...]
My people of 2012
Tis the season to make lists of the notable, expound upon the great and the good, and generally pat those on the back whom you deem worthy of praise. Personally I have gone from enjoying such lists, to seeing them as a pastiche, even a parody, of their intended aim. How are you supposed [...]
The freedom to breath
Sometimes I am asked what it is like to be a trans woman, what it is like to have been ‘born into the wrong body’. My best analogy is just imagine you are wearing a set of clothes that is all wrong for you and you can never take them off. You are never comfortable [...]
Even song
In one of those moments of pure beauty I got to spend an hour or so in the company of York Minster’s choir during their rendition of Even song. I have never been to an Even song performance before, even when I was religious, so for me as a secular unbeliever I found the ethereal [...]
Skyfall review
by Rachel Saunders Warning: contains mild spoilers Oft you come to a film with a weight of expectations from reviews, trailers, and friends, and often they never quite live up to those expectations. This is not one of those films. Skyfall lives up to the hype, the expectations, and history that comes with the Bond [...]
Born again atheist
by Rachel Saunders In the fallow years of my youth I was raised in a British evangelical free church full of warm and friendly people who cared about each other. In those formative years I learnt the value of love thy neighbour, of having an open palm to strangers, to not judge anyone for who [...]
Who, not the what
by Rachel Saunders In the heat of the moment they ask the question ‘what are you’, looking at you like you are the most exotic thing they have ever encountered. That look, to the answer you give, bursting with anticipated questions of the ‘what’, leads down a path of a multitude of answers which, while [...]
Faeries v Bugs
If you’re in York over the next few weeks, check out the really cool Lotte Inch Gallery at 5 Petergate, York for some bugtastic art pieces. If you love faeries, and you’ve always wondered ‘how did they make that?’ then this latest exhibition will have you piqued with curiosity.
Those magnificent men
by Rachel Saunders As a photographer I love to do candid street/pub photography, and one of the joys of doing this is taking pictures of interesting men. There is something rather awesome about capturing the image of a chap who doesn’t expect himself to be photographed, it goes beyond mere shyness, is almost like they [...]
The looking glass
by Rachel Saunders Over the last year there have been several high profile examples of famous people coming out and transitioning, including Chaz Bono and Lana Warchowski, and each has had their own tale to tell of how they reached this point in their lives. Many more low key examples have been printed, usually with [...]
Wild Fire
By Rachel Saunders Some time in the lost moments in my brain I wonder all the elusive things which splutter and spark into life for the merest moment, and then put put back into oblivion from whence they came. I catch myself daydreaming the most fanciful ideas, pondering the great mysteries of a far future [...]
Of broken records and amazing dreams
by Rachel Saunders In the days between then and now, between the last breath and the next, here I stand waiting to let the world exhale. I stand the edge of broken records and those dreams that inspire and amaze, that edge of forever where anything is possible if you just reach out and touch [...]