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.
– I think that guy should buy a jacket –– I take it they get asked that question a lot –– thats the kind of like i’m talking about –
I kind of fell like my idea of posting these each day at 10am has completely gone out the window so far for 2018. but todays post is late again, not because I was laying in bed asleep, but mainly because I’ve been sat here editing photos from last night and time just ended up getting away from me.
Last night I was at a gig over in Camden at a kind of famous venue, The Lock Tavern. If youve ever been to the round house, then the chances are you would of walked past this venue. its a small pub on the left hand side of the round if your walking up from camden high street. Its a venue that is so easy to walk past, its literally on the corner of the road and just looks like any normal pub, but if you were to walk upstairs is a completely different vibe and always seems to have really interesting bands playing.
Through the powers of instagram and email, for the past few months Ive been speaking with a band called Tayne, the are a kind of an experimental, noise, pop genre that kind of make up there own rules which makes them so much better. One minute there setting up and getting ready to play, next the lead singer Matt Sutton has taken his shoes and top off, and they are absolutely slashing the guitar and syncs. Its refreshing to hear a band just get up there and do exactly what they want, no holding back. Its a shame that all I can do to show you what last night was like is post up here some photos, they play pretty heavy music but it all seems to work out, nothing is about them just being loud or over powering. they create songs that work.
Im happy that I’m back on track with this project that I’m working on and looking forward to all the future gigs that I’m planning on going too.
Here are some of my favourite photos from yesterday.
– One of my favourite photos from last night –– really good gig, Wednesday night should always go like this –– cut his finger open, plays on… –– really worth the trip, next gig is on feb 1st. be there or be square –
Sorry this post is a bit late, I had a plan in place to wake up early and go over to greenwich for the sun rise but that soon changed as soon as I heard my alarm, my excuse is that because amy works 5 days week if unfair to drag her out of bed at 6:30am on a sunday. I’m not too sure that excuse has worked. but any way we are now up and ready to go only a few hours later the only problem is that I still need to edit and write about my photos from yesterday. its really weird writing the past and the future but I’m going to do my best and make this as simple as possible.
After selling the spare bed yesterday we decided that it was time to grab a chest of drawers to tackle the crazy amount of clothes that are now accumulating in the flat, even though Amy still hasn’t completely moved in yet, it kind of makes sense of her to leave some clothes her. if any one has been shopping for a chest of drawers before you will know how extremely stressful the whole process can be, not only do you have to go round shops but you also have to deal with the over priced wooden boxes which places like Habbit, St Elm, made and loaf seem to charge and non of them really had what we were looking for. then I had the genius idea of looking on Gumtree and boom we were on our way to an antiques store in Crystal Palace and firstly there are hundreds of antique stores in crystal palace and all of them have a amazing stuff. The chest of drawers we had seem on gumtree was really right for what we wanted it for but next door was this 1920’s Oak chest of drawers which was perfect, the guy was selling it for £140 but after some of my negotiation skills kick in we managed to get it for £120, he also chucked in two packets for sour sweets for good measure.
Oh and we also made some home made burgers for dinner yesterday, I tried to make a home made posh fast food, not sure that worked out, maybe ill just leave that to the professionals. We took a normal home made burger and added some of our own stuff to it, like some chillies, onions and garlic, we also used Selma to help hold it all together, the trick is to cool it on a slow heat of long time, so it doesn’t fall apart.
We also cooked some Sweet potato fries as well, and the recipe of that is just below this the burger instructions.
The basic ingredients you’ll need are:
1 small onion peeled and diced
500g good-quality beef mince
1 egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 burger buns
All or any of the following to serve: sliced tomato, beetroot, horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, handful iceberg lettuce, rocket, watercress
Tip the beef into a bowl with the onion and egg, then mix. (and anything else you want to add to the burgers, trust me add what you want)
Divide the mixture into four. Lightly wet your hands. Carefully roll the mixture into balls, each about the size of a tennis ball.
Set in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze down to flatten into patties about 3cm thick. Make sure all the burgers are the same thickness so that they will cook evenly. Put on a plate, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 mins.
Heat the barbecue / frying pan to medium hot (there will be white ash over the red hot coals – about 40 mins after lighting). Lightly brush 1 side of each burger with oil.
Place the burgers, oil-side down, on the barbecue. Cook for 5 mins until the meat is lightly charred. Don’t move them around or they may stick. Oil the other side, then turn over using tongs. Don’t press down on the meat, as that will squeeze out the juices.
Cook for 5 mins more for medium. If you like your burgers pink in the middle, cook 1 min less each side. For well done, cook 1 min more.
Sweet potato fries
Ingredients
500grams sweet potatoes (peeled and cut in to long strips)
1tablespoon olive oil
1teaspoon sea salt
1teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C. You may need to adjust the temperature slightly dependant on your oven.
In a large bowl add the sweet potato and pour over the olive oil and give them a good coating.
Sprinkle over the salt and paprika and also give them a good coating. Lay evenly over a non-stick baking tray.
Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until crispy.
Serve on their own as a snack or a side to your favourite meal.
This is a pretty long blog and sorry the photos arent the best, yesterday was just about getting through the day without punching one of those “I love the January sales” people.
Heres my photos, enjoy.
– it was love at first sign –– it was literally what we were looking for, antique shops are the way forward –– my attempt at posh fast food –
My plan today was based around just getting up and out, there was no chance I was spending another day sat on the sofa, so I decided to go somewhere I haven’t really been to before, Greenwich. its kind of like an old maritime dock place, and actually has some really good history. its feels like your stepping back into some kind of Pirates of the Caribbean movie set. The main reason for going over to Greenwich was to do something I haven’t done for a long time and thats Landscape photography, I used to take landscape photos all the time but as I live in somewhere that is so good for street photography that kind of became the type of photography I started to do, and don’t get me wrong I love street style photos but at the same time I love exploring new places and getting a bit muddy in the process. I know Greenwich isn’t exactly muddy but there are woods to explore and it does have that countryside feel.
its now starter day and both Amy and me are up early trying to get the day started, ive already got rid of our spare bed, now its time to clean the flat and then head out in search of some new storage stuff. Ive got £10 in my pocket and my goal for this week is to somehow turn that £10 into £20, I’m not sure how exactly I’m going todo that but I might head out to a flea market or something and see how I get on. So if you see anything really weird and over priced on ebay its probably me trying to sell something I have no idea about.
Heres my photos from today, I really wanted to focus more on Landscape and try to add some sort of humor into the photos when I can.
Enjoy.
– “which ones big ben?” “hold on let me find my map”– the view from the observatory is pretty good –– the london sky line has to be one of my favourites –
Im not really sure where to start with this one, new years eve was probably one of the best nights in a long long time. these last three days have been pretty incredible and spent with some pretty incredible friends. this blog post wont have anything from the actual party as all of that stuff is on a Go Pro, we put a Go pro up in the corner of the room and filmed the whole party so expect a highlights reel soon.
before the antics of last night some of us decided that we needed to get up and go for a country walk even though it was completely tipping it down but that wasn’t going to stop us, fresh country air was worth it. after walking through a few fields, making friends with some horses and eventually finding a road which lead us straight to two of proper country pubs, the type of places where you have that one local who doesn’t speak words but more bumbles and mumbles his way through sentences. nothing is better than coming across and local pub which looks like its been there for the past 100 years and every item of photo on the wall feels like it could tell a story, thats the type of pubs we were in. but after a short live disaster of not being able to get a roast dinner, the kitchen had stopped serving, we sat down and just kind of forgot to get up and order food, but we did managed to get some left over roast potatoes which only showed us what we could of had. About 100 meters down the road was a different pub call the Fox, it was half pub half Italian restaurant so that was our back up choice and to be honest pizza is always a good option in my eyes, so that put us back on track.
I also just want to say sorry this post is late today but to be honest when I woke up this morning I wasn’t sure if I would be able to move of the day, but now Amy and me have just checked into an amazing Hotel in Bristol of the night and currently just trying to decided what move to watch on the projector screen that we literally have in our room! that was my number one reason of booking this place.
Heres some photos from the walk yesterday!
– two boys one pint –– Rob trying to convince the sheep he’s their leader –– this is Ellis trying to find the pub –– making freinds with horses –– pub found –
New Years eve eve and the plan for yesterday was to travel to Bristol City Centre and see what was going on, we did try and do some of the sightseeing like going to a Cathedral and walking along the river. I never realised that the queens old yacht the Balmoral was moored down here, I didn’t even realise it was called the Balmoral till I saw it and recognised it from photos and stuff.
With everyone running around like crazy yesterday I didn’t want to have a big camera out it pretty big to just be carrying around all the time so my plan was just to have a Gopro in my pocket and see how it turned out, and to be honest it was probably the best idea, I literally just put the gopro on wide and snapped away. I was determined not to just use my iphone as much as I like it.
After we made the trip to the catherderal we all needed to hydryrate our selfs and the only close place to grab some liquid was to head into a local establishment called A Hole In The Wall which just to happens to be a pub. From there it pretty much set the tone for the evening and we ended up going to a few more pubs and actually ended up in a Jazz pub called the Old Juke which is a famous Bristol Jazz club and last night had 1930’s jazz bands playing, which was actually really cool we all got our swing dancing on and jived to the music. At that point I really wish I had my 5d with me so I could take some great photos of the band and the people in the bar, everyone was dressed really cool. it was like stepping back into the 1930’s. By this time we were all full hydrated and didn’t need to be drinking big drinks anymore but knew that it was still important to stay hydrated so the only option available to us was to move onto small drinks like tequilas. Past that point its all a bit of a mystery, but from what I’ve heard this morning we all had a great night.
Its now New years eve and im looking forward to seeing what the days got in store for us. I’ve decided to post 4 photos today, I hope you like them.
– this is by far the coolest photo from the day –– the only photo i got from the 1920s bar, i have got some gopro footage that im going to try and turn into a short film later on –– dave and me kissing by the queens old yacht –– a group photo from one of the bars, not everyones here –
So I’m going to have to do this whole post a bit different I think, Neither Amy or me brought the correct charger so I cant have a look at the photos I want to post till my phone turns out and then I cant upload this blog till I find out what we do about wifi? We are in the middle of no where with our mates for New Years eve so there’s no chance of me getting time to do this post till later on. That’s the situation right about now, because Ive woken at like 7:50 and it doesn’t sound like anyone else is up now is a good time to crack on and get this done so when I do eventually find some decent wifi I can go ahead and post this.
Yesterday we arrived at our house of the next 3 days in Bristol, well more like the Cotswolds, im not too good with location but I know there is a sign at the end of the road that says Dunkirk. So if you look on google maps you’ll probably know more than me. The next three days are going to be tough to put together a decent sentence let a lone a blog post but ill do my best to make sure that these are informative and interesting to read, I suppose ill use this blog to just giving you guys the heads up and prepare you for what might come.
Today is our first full day at this place and im looking forward to see my friends and having a proper catch up with the ones I haven’t seen in ages, these kind of trips are always the best for that reason. Oh and we have a swimming pool in our house, literally a full on swimming pool so maybe get prepared for one of the photos tomorrow to be underwater?
Theres my photos from today, Bon appetite.
– Something keeping me occupied while everyone plays a game in the car. I obviously lost the game and was the first one out –– this isnt my bottle of Jack Daniels but it looks good in a picture –– these two were looking after “Baby Jesus” before I left yesterday. Flo the younger one has just learnt about Jesus so now everything is Baby Jesus including the dumbell that phoebe is holding like a baby –
Yesterday was a jammed pack day of Dog walking, car cleaning and more dog stuff. nothings better than having a productive day of doing things that aren’t really work related. but right now I’m trying to get this post done in 10 minutes before a hurricane walks through the door in the shape of my little cousin.
but back to yesterday, it all started when we ended up going on a bit of a group dog walk around Biggin hill, my dog Mooney isn’t really that keen on other dogs at the moment, she recently got bitten on the her my an bigger dog so she’s a bit scared of anything with four legs at the moment. it was good to get outside and do a bit of walking though I haven’t walked mooney in ages so that was fun and its also good to get her used to other dogs again.
After the dog walk it was time to clean some cars, my mums car was unacceptable dirty so now it was time to attack that with everything I had but before that I offered to clean my mums hairdressers car, its nice todo nice things right? Clean cars is actually pretty rewarding, you can see something that was dirty and once your finished it looks totally different in a way.
Last night we also had our mate Jocobs annual Christmas Party where people sing songs and play beer pong, but the highlight of the evening was by are my Beer pong skills and also the fact Jacob has recently got to new puppies which amy refused to put down the whole night
Sorry todays post is a bit rushed but Amy and me thought we were waking up early but we are going to have family to entertain before we then have to jump in a taxi and head over to a friends and drive down to Bristol where 20 of us have hired a house of New Years eve.
anyway I hope everyone is enjoy the christmas break and looking forward to 2018, heres my photos from yesterday! I hope you like them!
– starting the day with a dog walk is always a good idea –– me trying to take a photo walk cleaning the car –– Amy has now replaced me with a puppy –
Its that weird time of year between christmas and new years where you still have to run around like some sort of christmas crack head trying to get your fix of family and chocolate and that exactly what amy and me have been doing, yesterday after waking up at Anders house I was on the move back to my flat for a 10 minute pit stop to meet amy and grab some clothes before heading back to see Flo so Amy can give her, her christmas presents. so naturally we stayed for a bit and played hide and seek and all those other games that a 3 year old likes to play. Flo was typically took control of my camera and decided to take a photo of us, so as you can expect I have included that photo below.
its now 10:37 on the 28th of December and we are sitting on my parents sofa getting ready to have a productive day of dog walking, car cleaning and hairdressing. a lot of activities but Im ready to rock n roll and get this show on the move.
theres something I want to write about on this blog today to make it final and then I have no excuse if I fail and that is a bet that I have put together my a good chum anders, we are going to be doing Dry January, No drinking alcohol for the whole of January and if we do then we have to give the other person £30. Im determined to fail and get back to track with my running, this time last year I was training for an ultra marathon and now I want to put those running shoes back on and start training of another race, my leg is in a good place and I’m sure with a bit of swimming and my a gym session or two I can get back to a good place and start running fast times.
Here are my photos from yesterday. Enjoy.
– just flo sorting out Amy’s hair –– my arty shot from a coffee shop in crystal palace –– flos photo of amy and me –
Recently Ive started slacking with my 5d and been using my phone quite a lot to take photos and have really started to rely on that to get my three photos a day. the whole posting thing has kind of got easy in a away, I just take 3 ok photos each day and then do a bit of writing, where as at the start of the posting I was really excited to take like 200 photos each day on 3 different cameras and then spend a few hours going through them, but recently Ive got a bit complacent.
So now im New Years Resolution is to bring my game up a level so at the end of the 365 days Ive not only got a blog thats I’ve posted on each day but Ive got something which has photos that I can be proud of and something to show off.
Thats my hump day through process this morning, I also need to start doing exercise again because yesterday I had a burger and chip and then later on I did something I haven’t done for 24 years of my life. I had my first Morleys, for those of you that don’t know about Morleys let me explain to you what that is.
Morleys is a food chain or more of a cheap chicken shop based in South London in places like Croydon, Crystal Palace and Lewisham and in this food establishments they sell 7 pieces of spicy chicken wings and chips for the grand price of £2.99. its literally drunk food at its finest and now all I want to eat for the next year lettuce thats how the Morleys has made me feel.
But its not all doom and gloom its now snowing in London so hopefully it will stick around and we can all have a snow day!
heres my photos from yesterday.
– The view of London this morning before the snow came –– how cool are this wall paper at the Westtow pub in Crystal Palace –– the Burger last night, next year is all about lettuce –
joshfspear.com 