My personal blog as a 'grown-up' Goth and Romantic living in the Highlands of Scotland. I write about the places I go, the things I see and my thoughts on life as a Goth and the subculture, and things in the broader realm of the Gothic and darkly Romantic. Sometimes I write about music I like and sometimes I review things. This blog often includes architectural photography, graveyards and other images from the darker side of life.

Goth is not just about imitating each other, it is a creative movement and subculture that grew out of post-punk and is based on seeing beauty in the dark places of the world, the expression of that in Goth rock. It looks back to the various ways throughout history in which people have confronted and explored the macabre, the dark and the taboo, and as such I'm going to post about more than the just the standards of the subculture (Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, et al) and look at things by people who might not consider themselves anything to do with the subculture, but have eyes for the dark places. The Gothic should not be limited by what is already within it; inspiration comes from all places, the key is to look with open eyes, listen carefully and think with an open mind..

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Raven Appreciation ♥

I do not live alone, but together with my wonderful partner Raven. "Raven" is a pseudonym in a similar manner to "HouseCat." Raven is absolutely wonderful to live with, and is an excellent housemate as well as an excellent partner. I could go on at length about his personal attributes, but this would a) bore my readers b) embarrass him and c) have me run the risk of being terribly sappy. Also, I am inherently biased in the matter ;-) . He has supported me and been by my side and been a huge help to me and I adore him dearly and hope to be as supportive and kind to him as he is to me. 

Jabots make men more dashing. 

Raven and I met over the internet in 2009, and first met in person on February 2nd 2010. For a long time we carried on a distance relationship as we lived in separate countries, but summer last year we both moved to Scotland, he in early July and I in late August. We're hoping to eventually get married.

Looking somewhere between 'Gentleman' and "A Clockwork Orange'

Raven also helps me with my blog by photographing things when my skills fall short (he is a semi-professional photographer and runs ::Chance Photography::) and by reading through my drafts and pointing out typographical errors and other mistakes, and also giving me feedback on content.  He is also helping me become better at taking photographs in my own right and supports me in my hobby of photographing architecture, statuary and monuments by coming with me to graveyards and driving me to places too far to walk. He has also helped considerably with the up-coming recipe posts.

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I would like to thank him publicly for the contribution he makes behind the scenes on this blog!
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A friend described this pose as "Posh Vampire"

He would not describe himself as a Goth, despite the fact he occasionally wears Romantic Goth fashion and has a few Gothic interests, but is probably better described as a something of a combination of Metalhead, Industrial/Rivethead and Cybergoth, with a wide taste in music but especially liking heavy metal and various forms of industrial, dark techno, aggrotech, power noise, E.B.M, etc.  I am not entirely au fait with the genre distinctions of that sort of music (Raven has tried to educate me, but I fear that it is like trying to educate a brick.), but basically what I call "the stompy, angry and beepy stuff". He is himself, and that is more important than what subcultural ties he has and does not like to categorise himself as part of any one subculture. I'm not in love with him because he's  oh so dark and spooooooky, I'm in love with him because he's a wonderful person.


Myself, later that afternoon

The photographs in this blog post were taken in March, in Wallingford, Oxfordshire where Raven and I were both in Romantic Goth fashion and appreciating the castle grounds and beautiful architecture. His hair is slightly more golden than it appears in these photographs, maybe a consequence of I having taken them towards dusk on a grey English spring day. 

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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6 May 2012 at 12:44

    I like the photos of your partner and the two poses as they look nicely professional. By reading your post, it seems like you and Raven had an excellent day out. :)

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    Replies
    1. The HouseCat6 May 2012 at 13:26

      Thankyou for complementing my photography! They were actually taken on a point-and-shoot cheap digital camera and looked awful until I spent a good couple of hours processing them in Photoshop - these are more a testament to my ability to 'rescue' images on the computer than to my actual skill with a camera. Even after all the work I've done to them, I still think better could have been done.

      I will say that the point-and-shoot camera IS capable of reasonable photographs because all of the photographs I take for this blog are taken on it, and when objects and architecture I'm not too bad with it - could be better, but am not awful - but I these were not so good.

      It was not an entirely pleasant afternoon out, but walking around such a beautiful place with my partner was very pleasant, as was meeting up with a friend in the cafe. Wallingford has a cafe/restaurant/bar called The Old Post Office or The OPO as it is known, which is amazing and has very friendly service. A lovely waitress drew a pentacle on my hot chocolate in syrup.

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  2. Anonymous7 May 2012 at 10:58

    Love the photos, you should stop putting your skills down, composition and pose are excellent, depth of field perfect for the type of images they are. These are all things that have to be done in camera rather than photshopped later, and as you have new toy to play with you can use it instead of point of shoot. Also with practice your skills will improve no end. (not that they need much improving!!)

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    Replies
    1. The HouseCat7 May 2012 at 13:16

      I showed my Dad the pictures and he went on at length about the things that could be improved, and mostly pointed out that taking pictures late in the day on a cloudy day was generally a bad idea, and that the pictures were a bit flat and lifeless because the light was too uniform.

      I tried to take pictures of Dave when we were in the graveyard, and he ruined my sneaking up on a rabbit and also would not stand still long enough to make a good model.

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