Tag: blog

B268 – RUNNING AROUND LIKE A CHRISTMAS CRACK HEAD!

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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.

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– just flo sorting out Amy’s hair –
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– my arty shot from a coffee shop in crystal palace –
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– flos photo of amy and me – 

 

 

B267 – NEXT YEAR IS ALL ABOUT LETTUCE

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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.

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– The view of London this morning before the snow came –
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– how cool are this wall paper at the Westtow pub in Crystal Palace –
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– the Burger last night, next year is all about lettuce –

B266 – ONE FOR THE BOOKS

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Well thats christmas done with and now its just time to sit down and enjoy some christmas movies while waiting for New Years to come around. One of the best things about christmas is the fact that there is no limit to the amount of food you can eat.

Today was spent at my sisters over in Petts wood and to be honest it was pretty perfect, Flo has got to that age where is actually enjoys christmas and can open presents in previous years it was a bit of a lost cause getting her to open anything, but this year there was no stopping her. There was kind of a running theme for my presents todo I got both an RC car which I cant wait to test out on some jumps and maybe a stair case or two and also a Drone that is definitely something Im going to be flying around London in the next few weeks, so get ready to see a few photos of a drone in a few places that maybe a drone shouldn’t be flown in. its almost like I’m 15 again and santa has brought me new toys to play with.

Tomorrow we’re hitting the road early tomorrow and heading up to Cambridge to see my auntie and cousins which will no doubt be a good laugh. Im only up there for a night so think I’m going to have to make the most of it but that more than enough time to eat the fridge clean and drink all the beer. So Michelle if your reading this, I hope your ready for my arrival.

As its now mid night on christmas and im sat up writing this post I think ill leave it on one last note, thank you my Dad, Mum, Esme, Miles and obviously FLO for a christmas to remember.

I hope everyone had a great christmas and got everything you wanted! Im also now trying to think of a good New Years Resolution so if anyone has any fun resolutions let me know!

Heres my photos, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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_ i tried to spell Xmas with a sparkler but wrote it the wrong way and then run out of sparklers so this is the best I could do –
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– flo giving mooney and hug (I think) –
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– it would be a christmas blog without a photo of the tree –

 

 

 

B265 – WHAT A YEAR

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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.

 

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– amy and me exploring the town of Ratio on the Amalfi coast –
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– I also went to my first american high school football game right, this was like 10 minutes away from Harvard University –
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– Flying out of Newark Airport in New York. That is definitly a place Ill be going back to soon! I love New York –
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– a picture of Soho in London, I quite like this photo. Might have to get it made into a print –
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– the shot from the Barbican last week, im just happy with this photo and really like the way the man is –
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– this guy was definitely a highlight –

B264 – UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY

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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. 

B251 – LONDON BOUND

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Sunday night and now heading back to London, my plan is to get this post done on the train so tomorrow morning when I wake up everything is done and ready to go. Its been a really good weekend and enjoyed the little break but now I’m ready to get back to London and prep for next week.

Today started off with a breakfast at this place called Back to the Garden which is this café place in Holt, Norfolk where they basically serve up proper food that’s all locally sourced, with in the Café they have like a mini super market that’s got all the goods and the place to get hold of the legendary Stokes Ketchup. Trust me once you get hold of Stokes you’ll never see Heinz the same again. Its literally a different class of condiment.

For some reason I feel pretty ill, I’m not sure if that’s the Hangover talking or if its got something to do with how bad my diet has been recently but next week I’m going to up my game and start to eat healthy again, no more Pringles and cheese bagels for breakfast, its going to be all about the porridge and fruit. I really haven’t felt good this afternoon and to be honest I don’t have time to be ill. So I think ill keep this one short and sweet, I need to try and sort myself out.

But my plan for the week ahead also includes getting my Christmas presents sorted, its starting to scare me how much shopping everyone else seems to have done and Im no closer to having it sorted. If I can just get 80% of the presents sorted this week ill be a happy man. I really don’t want it to be a last minute amazon prime thing!

Here’s my photos from today.

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– the face of someone who just wants to go back to bed –
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– a proper norfolk country shop and Cafe –
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– I think we all can tell who comes first in this relationship –

B249 – AN UPSIDE DOWN TEMPLE TO A COIN LAUNDRY

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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 –
– the upside down temple in Shanghai –
– a coin laundry by the side of a road somewhere in North Carolina –

B246 – ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR

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Im having one of those weeks where I just can be bothered todo anything, i literally have to force myself to get up in the mornings. Im not sure if its because this year has been so busy that now its all coming to an end my body just wants to lay down and sleep or if its because this is just what I enjoy doing? part of the reason for starting this three photos a day thing was because when I have days like this it makes me get up and do something productive, you always feel better after you get productive.

After a really good meeting yesterday where I got some cool stuff done and we spoke about the next six months, where hopefully I get to create some amazing content and then wrap it all up in an exhibition! don’t worry when I know more about this I will let you know, but for now I still don’t know myself.

Anyway after the meeting I came back literally watched two movies and had a nap, but this blog meant I had to get up and go photograph something which lead to me heading down to Bond street and photograph the christmas lights, which in turn lead to me walking all round central London trying to capture “the magic of christmas”. normally this time of year I try and avoid bond street / oxford circus as its just pure mayhem, but this year I headed there after rush hour when its a bit more chilled out and too be honest Im kind of happy I did. the lights seemed to be way better than in pervious years and its really got me into the christmas sprite, its almost as the different streets are competing for the best christmas lights, oxford and bond street definitely have the wow factor, but my favourite has to be Carnaby street, they just have a bit more originality.

Maybe what ill do on the blog is a top three christmas light post from all the different lights around London. its not like I don’t have the time now.

Here are my photos from yesterday.

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– these two were well into the christmas sprite –
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– this guy had the perfect spot to take a photo, so I just took a photo of his photo –
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– Selfridges going all out –

B245 – I GOT KICKED OUT

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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.

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– one of the lasts photos i managed to take in westfeilds –
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– the new light in the living room looks pretty cool –
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– our attempt at a christmas tree –

B238 – IM READY TO BITE THE BULLET AND DO IT

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Yesterday was an exciting day, for some of you out there you know how much I love Leica cameras and how much Ive wanted one. I love the Leica Q, but Im not a fan of the fact its a £3500 camera that has a fixed lens, I love using different lenses and I don’t want to drop that much money of a fix lens camera. that puts me onto the next problem, the only other option is the Leica M, a beautiful camera and something I would love to own, but it comes with a hefty price tag of between £6000 and £8000! thats a bit to much money for me to even think about spending, especially when this camera doesn’t even have auto focus.

Well, Leica have now done something truly amazing, they have re-released the Leica CL, a 24 mega pixel, 4k video mini pocket rocket. this is exactly what Ive wanted, something for a good price that I can change lenses for and that comes with that iconic Leica picture quality.

you can buy a the Leica CL with a few different lens choices, the 18mm, 23mm, 35mm, 65mm and a 55 – 135mm lens. literally a perfect mixture. Ive decided to go on the waiting list for the 18mm lens aswell. I was thinking about getting the 23mm, but that was a bit too tight, the 18 is wide, very wide but it just works as a starter lens. then once ive managed to afford food and the odd social event I would probably go back and buy the 55-135mm and maybe the 35mm. just so Ive got a range for just about any event. Im kind of gutted that I didn’t test the 55-135mm yesterday, I just got carried away with the other lenses.

I know there are people out there that would say  “why don’t you just get the Olympus X-T20? and save yourself £2000 ” and trust me that camera is still on the table, but I wont be able to make that decision till I get the phone call from Leica telling me they have a CL in stock and with my name on it. I love the idea of owning a Olympus X-T20 and think its a beautiful camera but I cant ignore the fact Leica have brought out a camera that Ive wanted them to make for so long. Oh and the auto focus is ridiculously quick and smooth.

enough of the geeky chat about cameras, here are some photos from the store, thank you anders for coming with me and pretending to be a model, have you ever thought about a career is modelling before?

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– 23mm lens –
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– 35mm lens –
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– 23mm lens –
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– I think this was on the 18mm –
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– I didnt take this picture but this is what the camera looks like –