Month: January 2018

B292 – SHES DREAMING OF THE SOFA

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Yep this post is late and I should probably have been more prepared this morning, but its just kind of disappeared. Same excuse was for me not really taking any photos yesterday, I literally spent the whole day playing around with a GoPro and completely forgot to take photos, that was all apart for a really good 30th birthday part I went too in the evening but I kind of feel like those photos should go to Rachel (the Birthday girl) and my sister first, so what im going todo is spend the next few hours editing those photos and send them across for them to see first.

I did how ever wake up this morning and take my dog for a walk while it was snowing, which I definitely think I enjoyed it way more than she did. i just wish that we had at least a few inches so I could go sledging. right now though I feel like I need another coffee and some breakfast. Last nights party has taken it out of me, it was really good to see some old faces and have some good catch ups. its always good when you don’t come home that often and then when you do see everyone have a good old party. Thank you Rachel for throwing a good evening.

My plan for today is to try and have a proper Sunday, maybe try do some exercise, see how my leg holds up. As Ive probably said before Im doing a lot with GoPros at the moment trying to get better at using them so Ill probably make like a little video on that and then spend the evening editing. Im really trying to stay as productive as possible when I’m not working, its like the only way I can keep my brain ticking over, is by filling my days with a massive todo list and then its just a case of living in a state of constant mayhem that I actually quite enjoy in a weird way.

Heres my photos from the dog walk this morning.

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– in this photo Mooney is dreaming of the sofa –
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– getting out and getting some fresh air first thing in the morning is what the country side is all about –
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– once you get far enough away from the house, she starts to get into the swing of things –

B291 – LUMIERE LONDON 2018

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Every now and again something happens and you quickly realise that you haven’t or cant do a job or an idea half as good as you would like to, basically missed an opportunity. Thats literally how I feel about my photos yesterday.

Basically this all started when i walked out of Oxford Street Tube station on my way to a pub in Soho. When I came out of the exit I was met by this like of 40ft multi coloured moon type art installation, it was the Lumiere London Festival. This is basically a free festival around London where at night these crazy art installations are set up that basically help people to get through the hardest month of the year, January. Seeing the captial lite up by neon lights and crazy ideas is a dream and a perfect scenario for someone like me how enjoys taking photos.

well obviously the weekend that they decided to do this was the one time I had left the house without a camera and then the next day leaving London, so the only photos I managed to take were on my Iphone. Ive now spent the morning looking through instagram at all the cool installations that people have seen and jealous that I haven’t used this kind of thing to my advantage! I suppose Ill just have to wait till next year!

It does make me think though how cool is London that they just decide to throw out some cool free festival that adds a sense of humour and art to this city. Well done Mr Sadiq Khan, I think this kind of stuff should happen 365 days a year.

In other news Im still backing up hard drives to a master drive, it appears Ive got a lot of photos and videos that are spread across 4 hard drives, so now I’m trying to consolidate all that down to a RAID. this is what Saturday mornings are about!

Heres my photos from the installation at Oxford street yesterday.

If you are in London this weekend and want to know more about this, check out the link below it will explain all!

http://www.cityam.com/278942/lumiere-london-everything-you-need-know-weekends-festival

There is also an App which will help you track down the right places to go and see.  https://www.visitlondon.com/lumiere/plan-your-visit/app#YGvDj81UcOWc6fMx.97

Im jealous of everyone who goes and gets involved!

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– this thing should be here all year round –
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– I wish I had my 5d, could of taken some really cool shots –
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– my attempted to photograph people taking a photo of the moon –

 

 

B290 – CREDIT WHERE CREDITS DUE

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Theres a lot of people out there that say they can cook and then go a head and put some super noodles in the microwave and then just add some posh spicy sauce of bowl then go ahead and call it a meal, we must all know a few people like this. Well a chum of mine is on the complete other end of the spectrum, the guy can cook. he goes by the name of Anders Hayward, and last night he pulled out a meal that I cant fault.

Last week he asked me what I wanted to eat and I though lets put his skills to the test, so I asked for Pork Belly, and well after 24 hours of marinating in some spices Ive never heard of he started cooking, he literally got the crackling perfect and smashing the presentation. One thing that shocked me was that it was his first time making Yorkshire puddlings and I think I can speak for half the nation when I say we all have had our fair share of Yorkshire pudding horror stories. So I was a bit worried they might go wrong, but I would definitely give him top marks for those too.

Im now back at my place and I think I need to apologise for this post being a fair few hours late, but I also drank last night meaning that I only lasted 19 days of Dry January,  I was so close but so far I knew that the second half of the month would be harder but last night I just crumbled. I suppose all I can say is “Maybe next year”

At the moment Im also doing a project only involving Gopro’s and the filming capabilities, so if anyone out there is used to filming with Gopros and know how to make them look cinematic please let me know. Ive still go a few months to go till we start filming but it would be good to get ahead of the game.

Heres some photos of the food yesterday, enjoy.

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– thats the kind of crackling we are talking about –
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– a bit of a posh apple sauce smudge –
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– it was a strong 8.9 out of ten I would say –

 

B289 – AM I A FRAUD?

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Im not too sure on something, if I take photos on a digital camera and then edit them on Photoshop to make them look vintage is that being a bit of a fraud? I’ve just learnt this new technique and Im not sure if it makes me look like my film photo skills are better than they are, because as a lot of people know my 35mm skills are terrible. it probably doesn’t matter, because well I suppose I can do what I like.

The other day I took a trip over the Ridely Road Market to have a bit of a walk around and take some photos, shooting in places like this can be really hard because no one there wants to have there photo taken, so if they see my with my camera walking around taking photos they start to get a bit edgy, so the plan is to walk around quickly and just snap and move.

Ridley road market is a pretty cool place to go though because its like one of the last really working class markets that i can think of which is kind of central, that and Peticoat lane market, that place is on my list so maybe Ill have a little trip over there and take some photos. the only problem is that my camera is maybe a bit too big to take to these place, it maybe draws to much attention, what I might do is just go with my iphone and do like some iphone photos. I haven’t really done that in a while so maybe its time to get the phone out again.

got a pretty fun Thursday, meeting someone to talk through some ideas I have for a video thats going to get made later in the year and off to my mates house for a three course meal, hes trying to up his cooking skills so going to cook me some Pork belly. Should be a fun Thursday. Still going strong on Dry January!!!

 

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– that vintage look is something I really like at the moment –
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– maybe I just need to bite the bullet and buy a film camera –
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– it definitely adds some effect to this daily blog –

B288 – A NEW BAND AND A NEW STYLE

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A few days a go someone told me about this new technique people are using to add something else to their photos, its a preset that gives you the option to add a kind of vintage film look to their photos, im not sure what the app is called but I thought it looked sick. I’ve been thinking about giving it ago but instead of using a preset on my phone I wanted to give it a try on Photoshop, it might surprise you guys but I don’t actually know photoshop as well as I maybe should know it. This became the perfect way to improve my photoshop skills and pick up a new style for my photos.

Last night there was a gig at possibly one of my favourite east london pubs, The Shacklewell Arms in Dalston, its got to be one of the best free gig venues I know of in London, every week it has some kind of cool unknown band playing even on a Tuesday like last night. My goal was to get there for the start of The Leeches and then watch them and the next band The Dolce Vita, well I was kind of late to the party and only caught the end of The Leeches, which was really annoying, it was still good to catch the ending of them but next up at 10:10pm was The Dolce Vita, a band that ive heard a bit about the past few months, I would say they are just on the limit of rock music and kind of hitting those punk rock vibes in a way.

they’re both currently on tour with each other, ill link their tour dates below so if they are in an area near you, then it could be a fun evening.

Heres my photos from the gig and also the little new technique I picked up. I hope you like it.

tour dates: https://www.facebook.com/LEECHES/app/123966167614127/

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– trying technique one and my first time –
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– this style at first wasn’t really something I had liked but its kind of growing on me
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– it definitely adds something to a gig –

B287 – TESTING SHOOTING A BRILLITANT IDEA

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Yesterday I came up with a little idea to incorporate fairy lights into some photos, im still not really too sure what how I plan on using them exactly or what sort of topic im going to go for but the plan was just to experiment with them a bit and see what I could come up with. so when Amy was back from work it was time for us to give it a go and see if we could kind of replicate what I had pictured in my head. We kind of did what I imagined but I definitely think we need to use a lot of more lights maybe some longer and smaller lights and then shoot from a bit further way maybe.

I really liked the colour that we ended up capturing in these shots and definitely like the way it looks, I’ve woken up this morning with a few ideas on how I can improve these photos so maybe its just a case of me going out and getting what it is that I need and just start shooting.

My biggest problem in life is that I think up so many ideas that I try and do a small bit of each idea and not concentrate 100 percent on an idea till its done, I try and do like 5 other ideas all at once. which just means I end up in complete chaos. I might spend this morning writing down like my top three ideas for the next month and then spend time soley working on those and figure out a kind of time table of when I can work on certain projects, then its just about me sticking to that timing and making sure I get what I need to done by a certain time. Then I basically have no excuses.

Heres some of the test shots from yesterday, Bon appetit!

and obviously thank you amy for letting me take photos again!!

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– I hope you can see what we were trying todo –
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– does it just look like amys got a bit tangled up in the christmas lights? –
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– we used this alley way near the flat and I kind of like the colours that it give off –

 

B286 – INSTAGRAM AND THE WORLD OF INSTA-PHOTOS

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Yesterday was Sunday and on Sunday I met up was out and about taking photos for someone who had put a post out looking for a photographer to collaborate with. It was literally the first time Ive ever said yes to something like this and to be honest it was actually pretty fun, the “instagramer” I met up with was this girl whos just moved to london from Brodeaux in France. and as Im really trying to shoot more people and portrait style photos it was perfect.

Trying to choose a location in London has to be one of the funniest parts about a shoot, I

love brainstorming locations and trying to find the location that best suites an idea of style, my choice of location yesterday was going to be the Barbican Centre, Aline wanted to shoot somewhere with tall building and an urban feel and in really the Barbican is perfect for that. It also has quite a lot of water and I like to shoot near water. At the moment my think with portrait photos is that they look a million times better if you incorporate an element into them like water or fire. I would love to include fire into a photo, so please anyone ready this that might be able to breath fire, please let me know!!!

I think from now on I’m going to try and concentrate this blog to photographing people as much as possible. from shop owners to dancers, I really want to cover the whole spectrum of people. theres like 6 million people in London, so if I cant find people to photograph, I must be doing something wrong.

Also sorry this post is last, I got a bit carried away editing the photos from yesterday. it took a bit longer than I expected. Im now not too sure what my plan is going to be today, I definetly think I should pick up my camera and head out for a few hours, maybe Ill have a shower and think up some cool ideas.

Heres some photos from yesterday, I hope you like them.

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– @alineadjemian go give her a follow –
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– the barbican is probably one of my favourite places in London –
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– Im learning so much about instagram photos at the moment, its not as simple as you might think –

B285 – THE BIG GUYS BIRTHDAY

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Yesterday was the big man’s aka my dads 60th birthday party / gathering thing at their house. which was a really good day, the whole side of his family were showed up including his mum, brother and sister, so it was kind of a Spear party. but as I’m doing dry January I was sticking to the cups of tea and occasional orange juice, but even still it was good to see the family that I haven’t really seen in a few years.

I idea behind yesterday was that because he’s reached the grand old age of 60 that for his birthday he should get 60 presents to open, yep thats 60 presents. so the everyone chipped in and had to bring either 15 or 13 presents each, im not sure what the exact number of presents need to each person but I just knew I need to get 13. what was really good is that everyone got  loads of different stuff from bonsi tree seeds to my brilliant gift of 13 bottles of his favourite water. It goes without saying that the best part of the day hands down has to go to the cake, and that was all thanks to my sister who pulled it out of the bag and amazingly got someone else to make it. but nether the less, the cake was like 6 layers of pure chocolate heaven, I kind of wish that I brought some back with me last night, it would of been perfect for breakfast this morning.

This morning Amy and me are back at the flat and up kind of early, im off to take some photos for someone, and Amy’s got a pretty busy day too. but as long as we manage to fit a roast dinner in there at some point ill be happy.

Heres my photos from today, I hope you like them!

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– now thats what you call a cake –
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– the big guy aka Ganrad –
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– Nanny B and the kids –
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– 60 presents, look how good those bottle of waters look –
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-Nanny B and Richard and lynne + Mathew –
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– Nanny B again, Mathew and the little monster that we all call Florence –

B284 – NOTTING HILL

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I’ve had these photos for a while and been wanting to post them but just waiting for a time where they might be useful and today is a good a day as any to post them I think. It was about ten days before Christmas and I had decided that I was going to go and photograph Notting Hill once everyone had left and it was just about to shut down. To be honest I’m not a fan of these types of places when they are busy, it just seems like carnage. Places like Notting Hill are so much better late at night or really early in the morning.

They are even better when its like this before Christmas because all the lights are still up and turned on, so you get these really cool spots of different lights and that adds a colour to the road, which makes photos 10 x better. Looking back on this, I really wish that I had woken up at like 4am one day and gone over and take photos just as Notting hill was waking up. Maybe Next year.

Moving forward to today, right now I’m sat on a train heading over to my parent’s house of my dads 60th birthday. I’m looking forward to seeing the family and eating as much food as I possible can. Obviously I’ve brought my camera with me so get ready for those corny family photos that Ill probably upload tomorrow. Its always good getting back to the countryside from London, get that fresh air in me lungs.

My plan for next week is to find a really cool part of London that might not be that well known and take some photos, maybe a market place or something, so if you know of anywhere that might be what im looking for let me know. I’m thinking along the lines of like a traditional market, with a fish mongers and a toy stand, that kind of place.

Here’s my photos from last month! I hope you like them.

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– I think that guy should buy a jacket –
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– I take it they get asked that question a lot –
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– thats the kind of like i’m talking about –

 

B283 – NOT AGAIN!!!!!

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its now Friday and its mid day, im writing this post after one of those mornings that I think has destroyed me and also taken a big stress of my shoulders. It all started at like 7am this morning, I woke up and was kind of excited to get outside and start running again, not going fast or trying to beat my record but just to ran in the mornings around Victoria Park, its that time of day when its still a bit chilly but it feels fresh and everything think is just starting to wake up.

well that exactly that time and at exactly 0.62 miles into my run, I realised that my leg is still not fixed. I tried to carry on for another hundred meters but then remembered that I should listen to my body not that part of my head that tells me to man up and carry on. It was at that point that I decided its time to stop sit on a park bench and google groin stretches. I tried them all, and nothing it still hurts. so I’m pretty much back to square one, only this time I’m not on crutches.

I admitted defeat, and slowly walked home. where I ran a hot bath and tried to think of a way to sort this mess out, after a quick phone call to my mum and maybe a little tear, I decided to have a nap. I had officially been chewed up and spat out by life. Exercising to me is that one thing that no matter what your situation is it will always tell you the truth about your self, and make you work harder. not for money or a promotion but just to do better than what I did last time. thats whats most annoying about this situation, I create goals in my head for running, and now I cant reach them. I need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how I can get there. My main goal in running is to run an Ultra Marathon, I want to reach that target of running an 70 to 100 mile race and was kind of hoping in the back of my head that could be a 2019 thing. but now I really need to think about my body and options.

Sorry this post is a bit of my plabbering on and sorry if I sound like a hypochondriac recently, I just want to blame that all on the worst month of the year. January. It wouldnt have been write if there was some sort of sloppy post, and this is just going to be it.

heres some more photos from that gig the other day, its worth the post and I like them.

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– looking forward to getting back to their next gig –
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– playing the guitar with a index finger wrap up cant be that easy –
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– Tayne Band, give them a listen –