EmMelody

I think I will start this journal by saying there's probably something wrong with me. No, nothing bad at all! Only that I somehow just spilt juice all over my face... Clever Emma!

The 16th of November marked my one-year anniversary of being on here. So much has happened in such a short amount of time! I haven't written a journal for a while, not since I received a Daily Deviation back in April, but it doesn't feel that long ago at all - time has flown by!

On the 13th of this month I received a Daily Deviation for my piece "The Parasol" (a picture I took of the underside of a mushroom), which is an incredible feeling. I have received some very interesting comments about the picture too, some which have genuinely made me laugh out loud... Thank you so much to JenFruzz for awarding me with it

As I am writing this, I have 595 watchers which is amazing. To know that many people want to see more of my work is mind boggling! I know it might sound a little weird but sometimes I try to imagine all of you sat in a room - there would be so many people, so many faces to talk to! I also can't believe I have reached over 22,000 favourites overall for all of my pieces too, in only a year! That is such a huge milestone for me. Before DeviantArt I never showed anyone my photography, I was too scared of what they would think. Now, I have so many people viewing my photography every day!

I want to say a big thank you for all of your support and amazing comments on my pieces. This year a print of my piece "'Zamias'" was accepted into an art exhibition. During the summer I also won a trophy at a local show for coming first overall throughout different photography categories

All of your support and kind comments have kept me so motivated to keep taking photos, and I could never have imagined making such achievements just a year ago. I feel so guilty for not saying thank you enough to everyone that has favourited my work, left such kind and constructive comments, and that have even clicked on my page, even if it has only been for a moment. I honestly feel blessed when someone favourites my work, and to know that it has been appreciated by others, sometimes even more than myself, is such an amazing feeling. Your kindness keeps me taking more photos, uploading them onto here and this constantly helps me to improve my photography every day. You keep me so happy doing something I love, and I can't thank everyone enough

I also want to say a big thank you to xjames7 who gave me a core membership recently!

Up until last month I was taking my pictures on a bridge camera (the HS20EXR), however recently I moved to a DSLR (the Nikon D5600) because I wanted to explore more techniques with photography which I couldn't originally do with my bridge camera, as well as try out using different lenses and use a better focusing system. I thought I would also mention that from now up until Springtime I will be uploading a photo every 2-3 days onto here instead of once a day, like I have been doing since I joined. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the rhythm of uploading one photo a day soon

It is currently Autumn here but we are fast approaching Winter. I love the Autumn leaves and the different colours in the trees and along the ground. I am hoping to travel back to Dorset and Devon again soon to take some more photos, perhaps even Cornwall at some point I posted some photos onto DeviantArt of Devon when I visited a few months ago - there are some beautiful waterfalls I have discovered there and would love to travel back to and take some more photos at sometime (such as one in Burrator). My local camera club also want me to do a qualification in Photography which should be interesting  I also attended a talk which showed underwater photography and scuba-diving, as well as night photography... It was really interesting and it has made me want to try out a more broad range of photography sometime

Thank you so much again for your positivity, you're all amazing

The last thing I was expecting to find yesterday was a Daily Deviation for my photo "Hardy Monument", a photo I took just over a month ago when I went for a visit to Dorset in the South of England. The monument was built on the landscape of Dorset in 1844 in memory of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, a Flag Captain of the HMS Vistory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Thank you to xjames7 who definitely did his research when he told me the monument is built in the shape of a Spyglass.

To receive a DD is such an achievement for me, especially as before I joined DeviantArt, I didn't show my photography to anybody. There are thousands upon thousands of amazing pieces of work on DeviantArt that are worthy of this achievement, and I know people who have spent such a long time trying to achieve one. So to receive one is such an honour!

Thank you so much to EveryNextDream for choosing my work to receive a Daily Deviation!

I know I probably say thank you too often on here, but I want to thank everyone for all of the positivity that I have received through DeviantArt. I really appreciate the time people spend favouriting my work and leaving such positive and helpful comments which is helping me to improve. To have this is so motivating as I have never received such support like this before I joined DeviantArt.

First of all, I want to thank you for so many birthday messages that were sent to me a couple of weeks ago - I have never had this many people send me so many beautiful and positive messages in such a short amount of time. You made my birthday the best ever!

It's been around two months since I posted I had reached 2,500 favourites, and it's already doubled. During that time I have met so many new characters and so many amazing people who have been so supportive and kind about my work. I also have over 200 watchers now, which I would have never imagined reaching. To know I have this much support from so many people is incredible! I have never had anything like this before

5,000 Favourites and 200 Watchers is a huge milestone for me, so I thought I would post something a bit different onto here. I haven't really spoken on here about what what I get up to outside of DeviantArt, so if you wanted a read, I thought I'd post a little update about some other things I've been involved with...

During summer last year (a few months before I joined DeviantArt) I went for a trip to Cumbria to see how livestock (mainly sheep and cattle) is managed, particularly focusing on people classed as 'Commoners' who turn out a certain number of animals on National Parks here in the UK to help manage the land (that's when I was also able to capture my submission "Barren Lake"). Other areas here in the UK like this include The New Forest and Dartmoor, where ponies are more commonly managed. During this time I took a lot of photos and a couple of these have been featured in a local magazine (that's a first for me)! Unfortunately they didn't include my name and the fact that I took those photos, but to know my photos were worthy enough to be featured in a magazine is good enough for me!

I also joined a local camera club recently and I have had a really kind club member give up some of his time to mentor me and teach me how he takes his amazing photos. As well as this, I also experienced one of my pieces being commented on by a trained judge at the club (a slightly cropped version of this photo: "Ancient Woodland"). It was very interesting to learn about what makes an image stand out from the rest and improvements that can be made.

Inside of DeviantArt, I placed 2nd in a competition run by AnimalsPlantsNature (Invertebrates Month: Conclusion and Winners!). It's the first competition I've been a winner in regarding my photography, so I am quite happy about that

Enough of me talking, sorry for the long read! Like I have done in previous milestones, I wanted to mark my submissions with the most favourites currently:

         

Thanks again for all your support!!

Emma