Views From Ecuador

In July this summer I traded warm showers, converse and my beloved laptop for buckets, walking boots and shovels, spending the month galavanting around Ecuador! It was through the organisation Camps International that takes school groups and gappers out to remote parts of the world, to work with local communities and to see the country. 

   In total we travelled to four parts of Ecuador throughout the month; the Cloud Forest, the coast, the Andes and of course the Amazon. We did a lot of tenting throughout our stay, I must say as amazing as it was, camping in the Amazon is not something I would do again anytime soon - the fear of getting back in the tent after realising we didn’t zip our tent up properly was just too much! There were also some more built up buildings we stayed in that felt like complete and utter luxury, I mean, you didn’t have to go outside for the showers.. what more could you want!

    We left pretty early in the season so were the first group to get started on the projects. It felt amazing to be helping these communities by doing something physical and tangible. We built a roof out of bamboo that made an outside dining room for the kids, complete with benches and two long tables. We started the build of a greenhouse at the school in the Andes, I have never shovelled straw and ahem cow dung with such a beautiful view in the background. In the amazon we were building the foundations for a community hall and in the cloud forest we planted a load trees as part of the reforestation programme. 

Quito from above

    I love cruising through the camps twitter and seeing how all the projects have progressed, and I must admit I’m much less bothered by the spiders and bugs back home now that I’ve had a ginormous cricket in my shower! I thought I’d share a few of the photos I snapped throughout the trip, I didn’t bring a big camera with me since I always seem to be the one looking through a lens back home, I decided not to spend too much time on this trip doing the same. If you want to hear more about how I recorded the month I did a post on my travel journal here.

Puerto Lopez

Otavalo Market

Mount Cayambe 

The local village i.e. time to stock up on chocolate supplies 

Our camp for 4 nights 

The Cloud Forest - a view from the track up to the reforestation site

Releasing my inner geography student

Some of the photos were taken on my disposable camera, you can probably tell which ones, I love the aged and imperfect vibe they have, much more so than the digital photos! 

The trip was pretty hard at times, mentally and physically, it was the longest and furthest I’d ever been away from home, but the whole experience was just incredible. If anyone gets a chance to go on a trip like this I'd 100% say GO - all the mud, sweat and tears are utterly worth it!
Georgina 

Small Things \\ Water Droplets

There's something about drops of water on plants that has me fascinated - slightly weird? Probably! Typically I think of dew early in the morning for these kind of photos but, some typical English showers just before sunset a few days ago allowed me to grab my lens and head out to the fields near my house. For a little crouching-in-grass-and-looking-slightly-crazed session! The lighting was perfect and with my beloved macro lens I was able to get some pretty nice shots. 

When I was editing these I was zooming in on all the droplets and seeing if my camera lens had been reflected in any of them.. I think that's asking a little too much! Perhaps another shoot like this soon, I can't seem to get enough.
Georgina

Mid-Month Motivation || August

August seems to be slipping away. I realised with much horror (and a dramatic *gasp* if you want to go there) that I hadn’t slotted this monthly post into a nearby Sunday and so an extra mid week-ish post was needed! 

This month I’ve chosen a little sentence that I’ve had 'screen-shotted' on my phone for what must be a few months now, finally I thought it was just too good to sit there any longer.

It's one of those quotes that I think just about everyone can learn from, yaknow? Regardless of how comfortable you are with yourself, this is always something to remember.

These photos were taken by my friend Darcey when we went camping last week. It’s of me pulling some rather strange faces whilst trying to keep my hair at bay from the wind. I’ve been trying to edit multiple photos together recently, they're always floating about on my Instagram feed and I thought the whole cutting-part-of-the-face-off thing kinda works?!

Anything words of wisdom you’ve been sticking to?

Georgina

Keeping A Travel Journal

As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent July in Ecuador, volunteering in local communities and travelling around the country. It was an incredible trip, more of which I will be sharing here on this blog, and I’m so glad I took the time to write it all down. I remember before going on the trip perusing Pinterest in search of inspiration.. Where should I get the journal from? Lined or plain? And how thick should it be? Do I take graphite pencils or normal pencils? I’m chuckling to myself as I write this; it seems so petty and it probably is. But for a lover of beautiful things.. this is a once in a lifetime trip! Of course I have to record it and I have to do it right!

I decided to get a set of three smaller Moleskines (I used the yellow one for this trip) instead of one chunky one because I didn’t want a half empty journal. I also wanted to do a bit of sketching whilst away, leaving my beloved graphite pencils behind and instead taking some normal pencils. I also took the necessities; biros, a rubber and a sharpener. Now the only problem left was how to store all of this so that I could throw it in my hand luggage without worrying.

Ideally I would have used a journal holder type thing, I found some on Pinterest like the ones here. But they are damn expensive and hard to find so in the end I settled for something just as good (maybe just not as pretty!)

 Turns out the moleskines I bought fit perfectly inside a clear pencil case I had lying around from exam season. I probably could have fitted a lot more in there if I'd have wanted, maybe some paintbrushes and a mini watercolour set - something I'm building myself up to do.

 

 In addition to writing everyday, I also picked up a cheap disposable camera from Boots. The plan was to take one photo everyday for the month, which I stuck to.. kinda! And then attach those photos in with the corresponding days in my journal. It bulked up my journal and left it feeling a little heftier, as well as hopefully adding to the nostalgia I'll feel when looking back on it in years to come. I'm so glad I also took the time to do a few sketches over the month. There's nothing like drawing something right in front of you instead of from a photo. Now when I look back over the drawings it takes me back to what I was thinking of as I sat and sketched, I know it's kinda soppy but I'm only being honest!
Finally I added this ribbon to keep it all together - after adding all those photos it literally wouldn't shut!
And there ya go. I hope that was helpful to anyone thinking of starting a travel journal.
I'd love to hear of other ideas...
Georgina

'Eat More Art'

This little phrase popped up as my laptop wallpaper a few months back and for some reason it’s been stuck in my head ever since, slowly making its way to the top of my 'blogging post ideas’ list. 

There are probably a few ways in which you could interpret the three words. The literal idea of eating beautiful and interesting food more often. Or the metaphorical way that was my initial thought when I read it; to watch, go, see, do and record more art. To keep that creativity and curiosity ticking over. 

Perhaps I’m looking into this way too much and it’s just a passing phrase. But I think sticking to this short mantra would be wise and so this summer, now that I am back from my travels (more on that later!), I thought I’d visit a few galleries, lug my camera around to record more and get into the routine of creating often.

To start off this new game plan I spent a few days in London and visited two galleries that spiked my interest. The first was the BP Portrait Award at the National Gallery. I wondered round awestruck by the sheer quality and skill contained inside the exhibition. Sadly my camera wasn't allowed out of it's bag. 

The second exhibition was equally brimming with great stuff; the Royal Academy Summer Show. I loved the brightly coloured rooms and busy walls full of incredible work. We spent a good few hours in there wondering around and luckily my camera was allowed to see the light. 

After those brief gallery visits the urge to go home and paint something has successfully

made it onto my to-do list. I think this ‘Eat More Art’ mantra has done it’s job.

Georgina