How to win competitions!

Your so lucky, how do you win so many things!?
I never win anything!!

These are comments I hear all the time, when in reality I'm actually not that lucky! Yes, I do win lots of really nice things, but considering the amount of time I spend entering competitions the prize payoff isn't all that good.

I started entering competitions in December 2012 after a friend told me she entered comps everyday and had won a few really nice things. So that night I got on my laptop and started entering competitions myself. I didn't get my first win until about a month after I had started  , it was my Astalift face cream. I was so happy when I read the email saying I was a winner I told everybody. From then on I have entered competitions nearly every single day!

So how many competitions do I actually enter? Well last time I counted it was around 250-300 per day and yes it does take up quite a lot of time, but for me its a hobby and I love thinking of what I would do with the prize if I won it. I have also taken a photo of every prize I have ever won and on days when I really cba entering I just look through all the lovely thing I have won to give me the motivation to carry on.

I don't think I am ever going to stop entering competitions, I love the buzz of finding a winning email whilst looking through my inbox, or getting a surprise parcel in the post. Right now I have stopped entering as many as I was whilst I finish my work for uni, but as soon as the holidays come I will get right back into entering my usual amount and waiting for that parcel coming through the door.

New Camera

My first picture with my new Pentax K-5. 

My Mum wanted a picture of our dog Barney to get printed onto a canvas for the living room, so after a while of trying to get him to sit still and then editing on Photoshop, this is my final result.

Its not down on any map, true places never are!

Its not down on any map, true places never are!

So, I was given a brief to design an image for the magazine 'Wallpaper'. The image had to fit the quote, 'Its not down on any map, true places never are.'

It took me a while to decide what direction to take for this quote as it is quite broad and you could pretty much say that it could represent anything. I started going down the route of places I could remember from my childhood then I came up with the idea of making a fictional quite quirky street. 

My reason behind this is because as a child I would watch all the silly cartoons and read books which always had lovely streets and houses and I always had an image in my head of this perfect street where the houses were all pretty colours and all matched each other. 

I began to draw the houses the best I could from my memory and this is what I ended up with. A place that is not down on any map, but it was a true place to me when I was a child.