finding the ‘grammable where you least expect it

First things first – I am free!  Exams are over!  I can continue with life without a little creature whispering ‘You should be revising’ chilling on my shoulder everywhere I go!  Thank god for that.  I certainly got my wish when I said that I wanted to get stuck into modelling shenanigans straight away and filled my first few days with shoots, castings, and generally getting from A to B, but here I am finally catching up on the blog.  On the sofa, brew by my side, cat insisting on sitting across my arms and keyboard making typing somewhat difficult.  Nevertheless, she persisted.  Ahem.

What now?  What are you gonna do with your life huh?  I hear you say.  (Humour me).

Long answer: read this blog post.  Short answer: EMBRACE THE FREEDOM.  Which, amongst many other things, includes just getting out and about for the sake of it.  That’s not to say I’ll be gallivanting around Europe for the foreseeable (although I wouldn’t turn it down if anyone’s offering), but I am determined to make the most of places closer to home at least.  She says, whilst opening a Skyscanner tab ‘just to have a look’…

But yes, some of my favourite trips ever have been on UK soil, and you really think you don’t have to venture far from home to discover somewhere completely new.  Neither do you have to head to somewhere ‘special’ to have a nice time.  A recent trip to Cumbria was a perfect example of both – my mum and I fancied a last minute getaway, somewhere not too far a drive, that could serve as a change of scenery for revision (gotta be done), and also a base to explore somewhere new.  A grand total of about 10 minutes were spent looking for rentals before a house in Ulverston was booked, and off we popped with a car-full of clothes, snacks, cameras and textbooks (life on the edge, I know).

Now it isn’t often that the weather is in our favour in Britain, but lo and behold the sun shone for almost 4 days straight.  A miracle, I tell you.  Whilst I’m aware that blue skies can give a place a totally different feel, I’m pretty sure Ulverston would be cute regardless.  Not complaining about the sunshine though.  I won’t link to the cottage we stayed in for reasons I don’t need to go into here, but Ulverston itself was delightful.  Is it one of the typical destinations you’d think of heading to in Cumbria?  Probably not.  And that’s partly what I liked about it, the fact that it wasn’t a tourist destination, or somewhere known for it’s aesthetics, but actually turned out to be really bloody lovely.

As you can probably guess, I’ve decided to make it my mission to explore as many unassuming places as possible this summer, starting with the ones in my home county of good old Lancashire.  Partly just for the sake of it, and partly because I want to show that anywhere can be ‘impressive’ if you look at it through tourist eyes.  Take these photos snapped at Walney Island off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, for example.  Somebody originally from the area actually commented on my Instagram saying ‘Walney isn’t that pretty’ – easy to not notice the pretty places when they’re on your doorstep, isn’t it?  I can promise that blue skies over the beaches of Walney really were that pretty, and I hadn’t just edited it to look that way.  Yeah I edit my photos and I’ve occasionally cleaned up a bright yellow crisp packet on the floor, but it’s still definitely real and I’d happily show a before and after that really isn’t that drastic.  I’ve never photoshopped anywhere to be something it isn’t – what would be the point in that?  Often the key lies in looking for different angles and being prepared to set your camera down low (or have whoever’s taking your snaps be prepared to crouch for a minute), and voila, interesting photo of an average English town or landscape.  You don’t need to be in London to take cool city shots; pretty much every English town/city has some kind of impressive architecture or cute corners somewhere, you just have to make the most of it and keep your eyes peeled.

I’ve decided I want to make this my ‘thing’ – trying to take impressive shots in unassuming places, because I don’t think you have to go to Peggy Porschens to get a cool snap.  I love travelling, and I love taking travel photos, but I (like the majority of the population), sadly can’t travel all the time.  Cry me a river and all that.  What I can do is appreciate places closer to home, like Ulverston.  A little Cumbrian town with lots of pubs, shops that open 2 hours later than they say they do, an excellent pizza restaurant, and a fantastic supply of colourful Instagram walls (cringe, but you know what I mean).  Not particularly a tourist destination, but lovely nonetheless, and a nice base for exploring a patch of Cumbria we hadn’t yet seen.  Now to hunt out every other cute town within a 50 mile radius!

Lily Kate x

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