Category: interior design

B309 – CLEAR SKYS AND COLD WEATHER – PERFECT

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Last night was one of those nights, while on my walk to Old street, my photos just seemed to happen. I think half of that was down to the light, I had hit the perfect time, just as the sun was setting and theres this cool kind of blue light in the sky. I know it might sound a bit weird as well but I think it definitely helped that it was ridiculously cold. A lot of the time I walk around and really struggle to take some photos decent photos that I actually like, that definitely wasn’t the case last night.

One of the things I have learnt about myself over the past 309 days is that I really love street photography and take pictures of people and capturing those random moments that we all see happen and that give us those little chuckle to ourselves. thats definitely my favourite thing to photograph, but Ill also take a clear cold night where you are given loads of strong, bright, contrasty colours from shop windows and the odd coffee shop.

At the moment I really don’t have a lot of time to make it down to gigs and music venues to work on that photography project, which is really annoying. The only way I could make it is if I probably stop eating dinner and cut my sleep down but as I think that would probably do more damage than good, for now Im just going to put it on hold and get through the next couple of weeks / months and then pick it up from there. So sorry to anyone that Ive been speaking to about gigs for events, I haven’t forgotten about you.

my plan for the future is to write these posts that night instead of the morning before work, I just dont leave myself enough time and now spent my morning rushing around. theres nothing better waking up in the morning before work, knowing that the post is ready to go. C’mon josh up your game!!!

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– Bethnal Green Road towards Shoreditch –
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– I cant remember if I have taken a photo of this before, but I like this shot so Ill post it anyway –
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– its like the hand it pushing him back –

B307 – HELP THE HOMELESS – SECOND SHOT COFFEE

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Think I need to start this by saying that the meal was a success, I managed to get through it without an awkward moments and not a single drink split. So Ive come away feeling like it went well. Its now like 10pm on sunday and Im trying to write this and stay awake, Ive got to be up pretty early tomorrow and catch a train up north for the day, which I’m kind of looking forward to as its getting out of London for the day. As much as I love this city, I also love getting out and seeing parts of the UK, and tomorrow I get to see my old friend the Virgin Train economy coach.

With having a meal with some of Amy’s family that I haven’t met before, the plan for todays photos was to take them before we met everyone, so I didn’t have to worry about getting photos during and after the meal. Luckily my mind was in full creative mode and I managed to snaps some cool photos on the way to Wembley. My idea was also to use the Iphone as the 5d might have been a bit too big to bring along. I actually love the Iphone for taking photos, it makes life so much easier. the idea that I have a really good camera just a finger swipe up on a screen, has been a life saver for this blog and I don’t think I could have got this far without it. So for that Steve Jobs I thank you.

I hope everyone likes the photos today, my plan for this last stretch of the 365 daily posts is to really develop my writing and photo skills. I don’t have to get complacent and to see how much I can really improve, I think the trick is to read more and to concentrate to composition, put more thought into the direction of the writing and how it relates to the photos I take. Thats just my sunday night thinking, hope everyone had a good weekend. much love and all that!

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– Second shot coffe shop on Bethnal Green road, a coffee shop that helps the homeless. you can buy coffees and food for the homeless and they make sure they get to the right people. you also get the draw on the wall. Can you tell which drawing is mine? –
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– amy doing business on a sunday –
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– a shot from Wembley looking back on the train tracks from the bridge –

B303 – THE IPHONE PHOTOS

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This morning Im doing something I haven’t done since the last time I was working, Im bringing back the Iphone photos. for those of you who have really read the past 303 posts, what I do is take photos on my iphone and then store them up and when I haven’t really had the chance to take any photos that day, I just scroll through my phone and pull out some photo that I like. It kind of helps me keep the content up, and make sure that ive always got something to fall back on because days like yesterday when I literally just worked, came home and cooked a chilli, then by the time Ive sat down to eat anything its like 9pm at night and times just disappeared.

On my way to work in the mornings I have to walk under the A12, which is basically just like a mini motorway that runs through East London and out towards the M11. Well along this stretch of road is an old building that looks more like its been used for an illegal rave or something that anything else in the past few years. Literally the windows are smashed out and its covered in graffiti. I’ve been walking past this places for the week and every time I walk past it, I really wonder what its like inside. I know you should never go into old buildings and I would do it without the proper authorisation but I think everyone wonders what its like inside. So what I’ve done is just take some photos from the bridge that close to it and gives you a look in, I might try and find out who owns the building and see if theres anyway they can let me in for like 10 minutes.

My other photo today is of the stair case in the Tate Modern and is the kind of feature that if I could then I would 100% have in my future house, if you haven’t been to the Tate then definitely get over there, but maybe try and do it over two days, because one day is not where near enough time.

Anyway, heres my photos from today. Bon Appétit.

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– I really want to find out who owns this building and if they will let me in –
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– I bet the light leaks and shadows early in the morning look amazing –
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– I wonder if you can get this stair case made for a house? –

 

B302 – SOMETHING ON EVERY WALL

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I forgot how hard it is to think of photos to post during a working week, its a completely different ball game all together and takes a lot of brain usage each day. but my thinking last night was what kind of typography you might see about London and the different kinds of advertising tactics that different companies use.

I feel that east London especially puts a lot of effort into the different types of advertising that is used, like the photo I took of the new Maze Runner film, they literally went all out on that thing, and painted a whole wall, then just to make it look that little bit better than stuck some UV lights at the top to make the whites stand out. but I think that my favourite photo from last night was when just by chance I looked up and saw that Jealous sign in Old Street, just by the American Car Wash for those of you that know the area. The way they have done that stands out so good for the area and its not completely in your face, I bet most people just walk past that and don’t even see it, then once you do notice it you wont ever forget its there. its genius. Then to give it some more depth, you wouldn’t even know why its there, so you do what I have done and go home to google it and find out its a framing and picture printing studio, I know it says print studio in the window but I genuinely thought that meant like magazine printing or something but now that has become somewhere I need to stop by and find out more about, as Ive started printing my own pictures but don’t really know enough about yet, so Jealous Printing studio has now become somewhere I need to explore more and maybe speak to them about helping me figure out the best way to print my photos.

Its now Wednesday morning and Im just getting ready to get out the door, so have a smasher of a Wednesday and hope you like these photos.

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– they’ve definitely done a good job with this one –
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– this must of taken ages todo! –
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– east london has got something writen on every wall! –

 

 

B301 – MONDAY NIGHT FOOD

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So yesterday was my first day of work and as a result I did the same thing as everyone else in London. I stopped off at Sainsburys and starred at the oven pizzas thinking that because its Monday I might as well go for it, well that maybe something I would have done in 2017 but its now 2018 and Im determined to cook as much as possible, nothing to crazy each night, not like some weird roast beef with home made horse radish, more like the dish I went for last night which was actually really easy and cheap.

for those of you at Ive talked to about cooking, you probably know that Ive been using the Yummly app, which is basically somewhere I am getting all my recipes from and last night was no exception. The meal I decided to cook was called “Summer In Winter Chicken” I like to call it – Pesto Creamy Chicken. And its actually really straight forward.

the ingredients were:

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

200 grams cherry tomatoes (pack)

3 tablespoons pesto

3 tablespoons crème fraîche (half fat is fine)

fresh basil (if you have it)

and then you literally just follow these simple steps and your done:

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, preferably non-stick. Add the chicken and fry without moving it until it takes on a bit of colour. Turn the chicken and cook on the other side. Continue cooking for 12-15 mins until the chicken is cooked through. Season all over with a little salt and pepper.
  2. Halve the tomatoes and throw them into the pan, stirring them around for a couple of minutes until they start to soften. Reduce the heat and stir in the pesto and crème fraîche until it makes a sauce. Scatter with a few basil leaves if you have them, then serve with rice and salad or mash and broccoli.

I left out the Broccoli, because I forgot and decided that I would have it wish some mash potato, which was just because I had some potatos in the fridge. If you cant be bothered to cook one night, give this dish a try.

Its now Tuesday morning and Im just getting ready for work and about to attack this day, I forgot how hard it is to photograph during the day when your working so maybe Ill just have todo loads more of my favourite food recipes, otherwise we could start to run into some stressful evening chucking fairy lights round Amys check and taking some photos of her.

Heres my photos from yesterday. Enjoy

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– the walk to works isnt that bad really –
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– this is mid cook, pesto and creme freche now involved –
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– doesnt look that good, but it did the job –

B300 – I CANT BELIEVE I MADE IT THIS FAR!!

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Its a bit of a special day today, this is post 300! that means Ive posted photos everyday for the past 300 days, so heres some rough stats. thats about 90,000 words and 900 pictures, which is about the say about 8,800 words a months. for some people thats not that much but for someone like me, thats more words Ive written in the past 300 days than for probably my whole school career. See most of my classes were about me colouring in between the lines and then ticking the correct answer, everyone I think realised early on that essays where not going to be my strong point.

As this was a big day for the blog I was thinking I should post some cool photos to celebrate, but then nothing was coming to mind and then I decided why have a celebration for 300 when 365 is just round the corner now, so I should really just plan something big for that number.

Yesterday was still a pretty cool day, it was spent with some good chum, Amy, Jacob and Sophie having a look at some cameras at wex photography, Ive now fallen in love with a fujifilm x-pro2. that now holds my heart, but I suppose Ill just have to wait a bit and get it later on in the year, after that we took a trip to one of the coolest places in London, The Tate. That place is massive and so overlooked, its true what people say, one day is not enough time, you could spent a week in there and probably just about see everything. we managed to get through, the first half and then two floors of the new building. its given me some cool ideas and stuff that I wouldn’t mind trying out with my camera, its not me copying an artist its interruption right?

Anyway, today is now my first day of work for 2018! so not only is it a big day for the blog, its also my first day for work!! what a great Monday!

Enjoy these photos!

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– Amy loves having her photo taken, can you tell? –
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– Jacob looking at getting a new camera, do it! –
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– I saw some photos like this in the tate and I really want to copy them –
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– Jacob going looking like hes going at 100 mph –
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– took this on the tube and I quite like it! –

 

B299 – FOOD ENVY?!!? IS IT A REAL THING?

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Yesterday was a proper good little Saturday, it was one of those days which is kind of full of stuff, after a good meeting in Richmond yesterday morning, i was then back to where I belong in lovely east London, to get ready for a kind of date night with the bird (Amy).

When you have to travel across London only using public transport you start to see how cool looking the underground actually is, when I used to think of things I would like to photograph and places, I would always think of places like New Yorks Subway or some weird jungle in Asia. but really if you just look around London and your kind of immediate environment then there is actually quite a lot to photograph. I dont have to travel 5000 miles to find something cool, I mean I wouldn’t mind travelling 5000 miles to take some photographs, but Im also happy to explore London more and get photos of things I use everyday. Thats a kind of insight into my thinking this morning, tomorrow it will probably change, but for now thats whats going through my head.

I have to say as well, date night was a success. We went for a meal at Burger and Lobster, which is kind of this chain restaurant in London, I definitely had food envy over Amy. I always seem to get food envy on date night, its like I just always order wrong. Amy had the lobster roll and I went for the Lobster Burger and it just wasn’t in the same league as Amy’s Lobster roll. does anyone know if Food envy is a psychological thing or if some times we just order wrong? that is my 2018 question.

After a really fun meal, we then went on to meet her brother and brothers girl friend for a drink before we ended up in some Gay club in Soho, not too sure what happened there, but those were the cards we were dealt so we just had to go with it and boogie on down!

Its now sunday and by far the best day of the week, theres quite a lot planned today so looking forward to seeing how the day pans out!

here are my photos from yesterday, enjoy.

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– I really wish Maplin’s was still open, could of done with getting a few things –
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– I just like this photo, taken on Brick Lane, one of the coolest streets in London
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– stopping to take a photo on the underground is something I havent really done before. Normally I just try to get through those places as quick as possible –

 

B297 – PROPER ROAD TRIP STUFF

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My plan for today is to post some photos from the gig yesterday, I really get paranoid that I take so many photos I like from gigs and then they just sit on my hard drive for the rest of eternity, so Im just going to go ahead and post them. I haven’t stopped listening to Blueprint Blue since I heard them, its kind of getting me ready for the summer in a weird way, they are proper road trip music.

As Im sure most of you are aware today is Friday, which means its one more sleep till the weekend and thats my last weekend as a free man, because as of Monday I start my next job. Its been a fun two months of doing what I like and I have to say I’ve spent that time pretty busy which is actually quite good, Im not looking back on December and January and thinking “wow I watched some great TV series”, its more “oh cool, Ive taken some fun photos, made a few cool videos and created a pretty solid 2018 plan”. It now just comes down to putting all of that plan into practice and not spending to much of the time in the pub. Im quickly approaching a massive mile stone in this blog and thats something Im pretty proud of, its day 300! After that the finish line is in sight!

Today I have a bit of plan to get my life in order and sort out some of the boring stuff in life, but after all that I want to get down to the south bank and take some photos. I haven’t really been there in the day to take photos, so it will be good to see how that turns out, its a mini city adventure. but for now, heres so more of my favourite photos for that gig the other night.

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– Seeing a pack out gig on a wednesday night at the Seabright arms, makes it all worth it –
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– looking forward to going to their next gig –
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– because the stage is so dark, I definitely think black and white photos look so much better –

 

B296 – BLUEPRINT BLUE, AMAZING WEDNESDAY NIGHT GIG.

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As most of you know, Im trying to go to as many gigs as possible and photograph all these amazing free gigs around London. Last night I heard of a gig headlined by a Band called Blueprint Blue, before last night I hadn’t heard of the band, normally what I do is listen to the band during the day of the gig so when I get there I know what Im in for, but last night I was on a total wim.

When I arrived it was just starting to get busy and people where arrive but by the time the band were all set up and ready to go, the place was fully packed. I have never been to a free gig at the Seabright Arms before and seen it that busy. Then they started playing and I could see why, this band are amazing. Just good music and a pretty high cool factor, their songs are pretty slow but with the old fast rift everyone is always singing in Harmony and they’ve just kind of found a style and made it their own. After I write this blog post I will be sending them an email to see when they are next playing and if its ok to come along and take some photos. If these guys aren’t playing some amazing festival gigs over the summer Ill be surprised and i hope they will soon be on everyone radar.

One of my favourite songs of theirs is called Wheres The Sun, its one of those songs that you can just listen to over and over again. Im sure some music review person could give you a better reason for why its soo good, but I just like them tempo of this band and how well their voices go with the music.

Heres a link to their Soundcloud and my favourite youtube song.

Heres my photos from the gig, I hope you like them!

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– for 21:45 on a Wednesday night it was so worth it –
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– all of them just seemed to understand each other and had the timings down –
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– sorry theres no photos of the Keyboard player, he was just out of shot –

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 –