Travel blog – Page 9

B265 – WHAT A YEAR

December 25, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year! its literally the perfect day, as well as it being christmas its also my last 100 days of posting. I’ve made it to the final stretch. as its also the end of the year and also my last 100 days I thought I would show you some photos that Ive taken these past 265 days.

Its probably been one of the best years Ive had, not only have I been working pretty much non stop but Ive also been to some places that I never thought I would go to, I’ve spent 2 months in America and now have a working visa of the states, which i’ve wanted for ages, Ive also been to Canada, china and a few places in Europe. so its been pretty exciting. Amy also asked me out at the beginning of the year, and next year she should be moving into my flat, well thats the plan anyway. who would have thought I would been living with a girlfriend. its crazy and I suppose when you do that your kind of becoming an adult and having responsibilities, which in away is quite cool.

this blog has to be one of the best things Ive done, its literally taught me how to write and in given me confidence to try new things and just work harder to get what I want, and also when I write emails now theres a lot less spelling mistakes, its never good when you write emails and its grammatically incorrect or just doesn’t make any sense but because of the sheer amount of writing I do now I learnt a lot of new words and can spell so much better, I think anyway.

I think this blog has been good because a lot of the time its easy to think up ideas and then even easier to think up excuses why you cant do them and this has really made me just forget the excuses and just go with my gut and try to get the job done. thats why next year ive got a few plans lined up for this blog and also things that I want to try and do work wise. im planning on getting a second job i think just to help pay for all the things I need todo and the adventures / holidays im going on. Its time to up my game and smash 2018 out of the park!

Thank you 2017 its been a pleasure!

oh and sorry my blog didn’t have any photos on it yesterday, i literally have no idea how that happened. WordPress was just having a bad day I think.

b081-1-1 — – amy and me exploring the town of Ratio on the Amalfi coast –

b208-1-of-1 — – I also went to my first american high school football game right, this was like 10 minutes away from Harvard University –

b209-1-of-1 — – Flying out of Newark Airport in New York. That is definitly a place Ill be going back to soon! I love New York –

b257-1-3 — – a picture of Soho in London, I quite like this photo. Might have to get it made into a print –

b261-1-4 — – the shot from the Barbican last week, im just happy with this photo and really like the way the man is –

b056-1 — – this guy was definitely a highlight –

B264 – UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY

December 24, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Well… where to start. I just wrote a whole post and then pressed delete by accident, well done josh.

I’m writing this post as I navigate my way around London with a million bags and just try to get to my cousins in one piece. I don’t really know how to write this post, but I suppose I’ve just got to give it ago and see where we end up.

Yesterday I had a Christmas meal in Norfolk with all of Amy’s family and friends, as per usual they put out an absolute spread and a good amount of cheese, but by that time I’d had a few beers so forgot to take any photos, but I did get one of the pre dinner snacks. I don’t think I embarrassed myself at all last night and pretty sure I was sensible, so that’s also a pulse.

As I said I’m now on the train to My cousins on the other side of London, I’m a place called Petts wood to see my family. It’ll be good to see everyone, Christmas is a good time of year to catch up with people you haven’t seen in ages so that’s what I’m most looking forward to and also giving flo all the presents I got her.

I’m also going to a pub tonight with my mates, so I’ll try and take some photos of that but I’m not sure if they’ll be any good.

also for some reason WordPress won’t let me add captions to these photos. So the top one is from a dog walk yesterday afternoon along the beach park cliff bit.

2nd picture is of the pre dinner snacks, Christmas food is the best food.

3rd photo is from a quick pub drink we had after the dog walk. I love country pubs.

And also I want to say thanks to Amy Family and co. It was a really good food and an pretty fun evening.

B262 – IS SHE HIDING FROM SOMEONE?!

December 22, 2017December 21, 2017 joshfspear3 Comments

Today took a bit of a turn, I was supposed to be taking photos in this cool hairdressers in Shoreditch but at the last minute it fell through, welcome to my life. so I ended up deciding to go on a bit of a walk around east London and try and take some usual street style photos. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoy that kind of photography and thats one of the perks of living in East London, you can literally walk around any street and take photos, but I was looking forward to concentrating on taking some photos of people.

As my plan changed last minute I had to think quickly and come up with a new goal, my idea now was to take photos of people who are wearing the same colour as a back ground, so someone wearing a red jacket standing in front of a red shop, or maybe some one in a blue top standing next to a blue van. My idea now was to head to Spitlefeild market and work my way out from there. So it was kind of a successful trip out, and also got me on my feet and walking around burning energy which is always a plus.

Tonight i’m going out for a meal with Amy to celebrate christmas so I probably wont take my camera with me, as much as I want to I know that I should really give Amy some attention, she has a camera in her face 24 hours a day when she’s with me so I should give her a night off. She’s also making me wear a christmas jumper out for dinner so I don’t want to risk you guys seeing me in a restaurant wearing a christmas jumper. Im just hoping that when I put it on it still fits, its a jumper I got last year and I’m worried it wont fit any more. I suppose only time will tell.

B262-1 — -its like shes wearing camouflage and hiding from someone –

B262-1-2 — – Im happy with how this photo has turned out, it feels like something from the east berlin or something –

B262-1-3 — – wearing the perfect jacket to work in a florists –

B261 – THERES NO PLACE LIKE THIS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

last night I decided thats its been too long since I last spent some time playing with a slow shutter speed at night and theres also one place which I really need to explore and spend some time at, obviously im talking about the Barbican Centre next to Liverpool street, this place is called “Brutalist” or something because of the crazy amounts of concert and sharpe edges it has, its literally like a hipsters oasis in the middle of the financial district.

built in 1982 and designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon architects it was designed to be a brutalist styles and with lines on the floor to help people work there way around the housing estate and also the creative arts centre fully equipped with a theatre, music collage and also some weird rainforest room with loads of cool plants and stuff oh and in the water are Koi Carpe, that surprising haven’t been stollen yet and are still there to this day. its literally the coolest places to live, what used to be a housing estate where the upper classes wouldn’t even think to live has changed and become a place to be.

My plan for today was to try and get better at symmetrical photography one thing that I just cant seem to figure out, my eyes seem to lye to me and when I get home to edit the photos I notice that my photos just aren’t symmetrical. I was trying to measure the sides and even use the rule of thirds but its still not proving easy to get that perfect photo. Im not giving up just yet though, I will the perfect symmetrical shot. On the other hand though I did take one of my favourite photos today, its one I’m really proud of and its of a side on shot of the staircase in the Barbican with the guy walking out of the light almost likes its ET and we are all inside some new Steven Spielberg remake of ET.

One thing I would like you guys to know just so you can see how much its changed in 20 years. Frank Harris a local estate agent is currently selling an apartment in Blake Tower which is one of the iconic Barbican towers for £3.7m. I just hope that one of the original owners that probably brought it off the council 20 years ago managed to get a fair portion of its current value. but hey if I had that kind of cash I would probably splash out on that apartment, its located in the best looking ugly building that you can find in London and its actually a pretty sick apartment.

Heres my photos from last night, I hope you like them as much as I do.

B261-1-3 — – my trying to be symmetrical –

B261-1-11 — – this shot feels like something out of a movie –

B256 – PSYCHEDLIC POST ROCK ELECTRO GRUNG.

December 16, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Yep you read that title correct, last night I ventured over to The Beehive in Bromley By Bow, its this pub which looks and feels like its be held in time, one of those proper east london pubs, where people pay money into the Juke box and listen to Frank Sinatra while downing pint after pint of Stella.

While all that is happening out the front of house, in a small door which is also connected to the Womens toilets, theres a small 10 meter by 10 meter black room where last night you could have found some wild post rock beats mixted with the odd grung song. It wasnt a massive crowd but that doesnt really matter when you think about it.

The bands that played last night where the Desert Clouds, Ditsea Yella, The Anderson Tapes and the Heros Of The Last Age. it was the music I want to focus on for my photography project, it was those bands that dont play to massive audiences and their music is there hobby not there main income. I definitely feel that these bands are the reason for London being such a cool place to live, they are the creatives and expressionists that live and work in everyday London, who on their own are just a little bit quirky but when you have a few thousand quirky individuals all of a sudden its a movement.

I don’t want to show off to many photos from last night as I need to send them onto the promotor who sorted me out with the gig and let him post them all over social media but obviously I need to show you three photos. The Promotor who’s gig I was at is called Spoons Event sound Solution, its kind of an punk / rock promotor so the gigs aren’t your capital FM pop music stuff, its all heavy and completely off the beaten track in a way. really cool music and I’m looking forward to more gigs like it.

B256-1-3 — – im not sure if that is a wig or real hair, but its definitly got a stage presences –

B256-1-2 — – Desert Clouds, the first band to on stage –

B249 – AN UPSIDE DOWN TEMPLE TO A COIN LAUNDRY

December 9, 2017December 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

From North Carolina to Shanghai, every build is different, foundations change, tactics differ and people’s ideas get thrown around. If you stand on the street in North Carolina, not in the city of Raighley, but on the outskirts in the suburbs. Things you take for granted like shops and restaurants are built quick and for maximum capacity’s. They are basically practical places to get done what you need to get done, they do what they say on the title. No messing about.
If you travel to some where like Kensington in London, that little part of the UK where a flat will set you back £1M or will all of a sudden be standing in a building that’s meant to not only stand the test of time but built to look like something from Mary poppins. Red brick the works.
Then you travel 12,000 miles to China and end up in Shanghai and all of a sudden you starring up at an upside town temple that looks like it’s been carefully put together out of 100 meter look match sticks. It’s literally like something that a baddest budist has dreamt up.

What I like about that all these buildings is that they all serve the same purpose really and that’s for people to use to eat a task done. It doesn’t matter if that task is to pray, live in or some where to wash there clothes. A lot of the time, I’ll just get from city to city and not really look up, even in London a place I’ve lived my whole life, I just walk around and don’t really take it all in. but if you actually just stop for a second and look around, everything is actually pretty cool in its own weird way.

Here are some photos that I’ve taken from the places I’m talking about. It’s a bit of a rushed post today, but we all have days like this right?

– the Mary poppins buildings around Kensington, London –

– a coin laundry by the side of a road somewhere in North Carolina –

B248 – HAZY JANE – SEABRIGHT ARMS 06.12.17

December 8, 2017December 8, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

As yesterday was a working day, and I don’t want to be one of those guys that runs round a venue taking personal photos and then posting them online. I decided to have some thing stocked up in the bag ready to show you guys, Im talking about the warm up band for the other nights gig at the Seabright Arms. its the band HAZY JANE. this band are the kind of people that pop up at 3am in a music festival around that camp fire and all of a sudden your its 6am in the morning and your now best friends with a stranger talking about all the things you guys are going to get up to in the future. thats the type of band these guys are.

What makes it even better is that this band is based out of Hackney, so pretty local to where I live they play British Folk /indie music so all pretty chilled out accoustic sets. One thing I love is that they set up a crowd funding page to raise some money to record their first single “Us On A Wire” and even now have like a mini UK tour planned for April next year and will be playing all round the London, Norwich and Brighton. trust me if you see that they are playing at a gig near you, get down there and give them a listen. you cant go wrong.

check out this music video.

and heres their tour dates. trust me get yourself down to one of their gigs! https://www.hazeyjane.com/tour

Sorry that is post is a few hours late, but I kind of over slept this morning and have been trying to juggle getting this done, while trying to organise my life a bit.

Heres some photos, enjoy.

B248-1-2 — – listen to the song – Take my soul, its got grit –

B248-1 — – I cant remember at what point in the gig this was, but its a pretty cool photo –

B247 – STRANGE HELLOS

December 7, 2017December 7, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

As my christmas break has started and if I dont find some sort of project todo then I will spent probably the next 2 months sat on a sofa eating Pringles and watching Netflix. no seriously that is genuinely a possibility. Then im going to try and get myself down to as many gigs as possible and just try to photograph music and be around music for the next 2 months.

So last night I ended up going to a gig at the Seabright Arms on Hackney Road (Someone lied to me and said this place had shut down, its not. this place is open and ready for business!) the band playing were some guys called Strange Hellos, relatively new Nordic band they have just realised their first single, its kind of a mix between XX and something like Circa Waves. Nordic Review said this about the bands new single:

“We Are Trouble’ is a blistering 3 minute fusion of power pop and shoegaze, and they’re the second Norwegian band (the other being Pyke) to recently remind me in their sound of UK band Lush. This is just such a catchy track, with a real energy – great melodies, vocals, guitars and pretty much everything…..”

Heres a link to the band on youtube, have a peep:

This is one of my first posts about a band Ive just seen so maybe I need to actually sit down with this one and think about what I need to write about, I don’t want to be “fake news”. At the moment Im just turning up taking photos and not thinking about what im going to write about, maybe its time I upp’d my game. but for now Im just going to listen to Strange Hellos Sound cloud and see where I end up.

Ive now downloaded an App called Dice, which tells me about all the gigs going on in my local area, the plan is to get down to at least 2 gigs a week, while Ive got no work on.

Here’s my photos, I hope you like them.

B247-1-10 — – lead singer Birgitta Alida Hole –

B247-1-8 — -Guitarist Odd Martin Skålnes –

B247-1-4 — – close up guitar shot, worth the trip to the Seabright Arm –

B245 – I GOT KICKED OUT

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Yesterday was a bit of a funny day, after I sat down to get all my work done I decided to go and to the apple store and have a bit of a geek out at a macbook pro and see what its like, as I do with any outing I took my camera. My idea for yesterday was to shop what shopping malls are like when christmas hits and normal middle age people turn into packs of wolves as they run around the shops trying to get presents.

Well after pulling out my camera and taking a photo I security guard taps me on the shoulder and basically says you cant take photos in stratford and escorts me to the door. the good news is I did manage to have a look at the new macbook pro, the bad news is I was planning on doing a few more things there, but I suppose they will just have to wait.

The other thing is all year ive been saying how much I want to take December and January off for christmas and to have a bit of break, now that time is actually here I’m like a week into not having constant work and already I’m getting a bit antsy. I know I should enjoy this time and just watch a few box sets and chill out, but for some reason my brain just wont stop. maybe I just need to make myself lay in front to the television and stop. Is it too early to start thinking about christmas? or should I still be trying to sort out work? I know I should enjoy my (f)un-empolyment while I can, but part of me is ready to get back out there and work again.

lets just see how this meeting goes this morning and make a decision after that.

Here are my photos from yesterday, I still have my picture from inside westfeilds. so here it is.

B245-1 — – one of the lasts photos i managed to take in westfeilds –

B245-1-4 — – the new light in the living room looks pretty cool –

B245-1-3 — – our attempt at a christmas tree –

B244 – THAT WAS A FIRST

December 4, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

This post is a bit late, I kind of over slept this morning and have only just work it, its like 11:30, its literally felt so good to sleep but I hate waking up at this time. Im going to try and get today back on track and get productive in what ever I do. Yesterday was a proper early start and when your drinking red bull at 8am you know the next day is going to be tough so I suppose its ok to sleep in till this time.

yesterday I worked on my first E-sports championship, thats basically where people battle it out on Iphone games, the worlds best at Clash Royals came together to complete for the grand prize of £150,000!!!!! thats people playing an Iphone game to win £150k! I never thought this would be the future, but computer games are now big business, I actually got really into it, I still haven’t downloaded the game but I think that could all change this afternoon.

the other thing that was pretty good about yesterday is I got to ride a bike down the cannel on my way home, its was an earlish finish and I was on my way at like 4:30, so the light wasn’t completely dark yet, when I could run I spent quite a lot of time on the cannel in the dark, either in the morning or at night, so it was good to be back on this path way. I really wanted to get a good shot of this place but unfortunatly I couldn’t get the camera still enough to slow the shutter down enough to grab all the light, but I still think I did an ok job.

My plan now is to take some amazing photos and really up my game for today, but before I can go out an play with my camera I’ve got a fair bit of paperwork to get through. hopefully I get everyone done my 4ish.

Here are my photos from yesterday.

B244-1 — – the area for the Clash Royal championship final –

B244-1-3 — – a shot looking down the cannel, look at the boris bike light! –