Back to England, Back to Reality

So it has been a long time since I've posted anything! A lot has happened in the last 5 months. In my last post I told you about how I was learning how to knit and I kept up with it and also learnt how to crochet. My favourite thing I knitted was my hat in the photo below. I love the colour and I was pretty impressed with how it turned out as I made it up as I went along. Now that it's spring I am going to crochet some baskets and cushion covers rather than scarves and hats.

In one of my posts last year, I mentioned passing my theory test and wanting to do an intensive course. Well I did this, aaaaaaand I PASSED!! It took me so many attempts but I finally got there and it was the best feeling ever! 

This was taken straight after I heard the news as you can tell by the cheesy grin on my face! I had an excellent instructor who was so friendly and funny and just made me a lot more confident in my driving. Last week I actually bought my first car, a Renault Clio, So that's very exciting and I can't wait to go on lots of adventures!

But passing my driving test wasn't even the biggest thing that happened to me. In January I left for Sydney, Australia with my good friend from university. We made our way up the east coast to Cairns and saw some incredible places. We then flew to Alice Springs and went into the outback to see the Uluru which was my favourite part of Australia. 

We were lucky enough to see the Uluru during the day, at sunset and at sunrise. It was so beautiful and it really did change quite a lot in colour!

We then flew down to Melbourne and flew to Auckland, New Zealand from there. New Zealand was just amazing, everywhere you looked there were the most beautiful sceneries! I did some really exciting things like white water rafting, swimming with dolphins, walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, climbing a glacier, visiting a maori village and visiting Hobbiton!  

 

Hobbiton

   

Tongariro Alpine Crossing (the best walk I have ever been on!)

I then flew to Bangkok, Thailand and we spent a few crazy days there buying lots of stuff from the markets! We then went up to Chiang Mai to volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park which is a great animal shelter for rescued and injured elephants that have been made to work for humans. It was a very special experience to be able to work so closely to such wonderful giants and it really made us think about how animals are treated. 

After an amazing but tiring week at the shelter, we then went down to the islands and had a relaxing last week sunbathing by the pool. I got back to England at the beginning of May. The whole experience was brilliant and feel like I have grown as a person and I am now ready for the real world! I am currently applying for jobs and will hopefully get something soon so I can start saving up money to move out. 

If you're thinking about going travelling then just do it!! You will not regret it and there is just so much you can see and do! 

I have put my macro photos back up for sale so check them out at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KatherinePowellPhoto

I am also now on twitter so follow me @kpowellphotos

Finishing University and Deciding What to do Next

The last few weeks have been a pretty hectic, but exciting time. I have had my end of year exhibition at university, finished university with a 2:1 degree in photography and I have now moved back home. It's all happened very quickly and now that I'm back home I feel slightly lost, realising that I won't be returning back to education in September (something that has happened every year since I was 4 years old!). I am now having to enter the 'real world'. It's a scary thought, which I'm sure a lot of you have already experienced, not really knowing what to do next.

I've spent the last few days coming up with a plan for the next year and I'm pretty excited about it all. I decided a while ago that this year was going to be a sort of gap year for me as I have always wanted to go travelling and thought now would be the perfect time for me to go. So in January next year, I will be heading off to Australia with a friend and doing the East Coast. Then we will head to New Zealand and finish off in Thailand.

Travelling was the easy decision! But deciding on what to do up until I go has been a lot more difficult. One thing that I definitely need to do, is pass my driving test! I tried 3 years ago to pass but it didn't go so well and with going to uni, I haven't driven since. I basically live in the middle of no where so having a car is very important making it my main priority.

The same as any other graduate, I want to be earning money! I have been looking at endless job sites but I can currently only work a few specific days a week so have found it difficult to find anything. I was discussing it with a friend and she suggested why not try selling some of my photos on-line. I looked into different sites that sell photography and realised it is something that I could give a go. I then started to come up with a small business plan and did my research about pricing and printing etc. I read different blogs about how people got started and how they promoted their sites to see what were the best ways to go about this.

After doing the research, this is something I really want to give a try and I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog, to document how it all goes! I realise it will be difficult and there is a chance that it won't be successful. But if I don't try then I will never know!

I am currently working on promoting my work as I already have a website, which I made at uni and I am now getting on Pinterest and Instagram.

This is one of my photos I took for my end of year exhibition. I am passionate about nature so this is what I focus on. Most of work is macro photography but I want to start branching out into different areas soon.

Please have a look at my website and feel free to leave any comments!

www.katherinepowellphotography.com

Also if you have any ideas/suggestions about any of my plans for the next year, then please let me know :)