Flat

B330 – DAY TWO AND STILL IN BED

February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 joshfspear4 Comments

Day two of virus: I think its fair to say that the virus I have caught must be something never discovered before because im pretty much knocked out, Ive slept for 25 hours of the past 30 hours with only the fair few emergency bathroom breaks. Im supposed to be going in to work today but with the snow, minus 10 temperature I dont think im going to make it. my plan is to see how I feel in a few hours and then make a call about it.

its definitely days like today where keeping up with this blogging life style is nearly impossible, but with just over a month togo I cant cave in now. for those of you that are new to this website Ill explain a little bit about what im doing here, my plan from April last year was to post three photos a day for a whole year and to go along with that I have to write 300 words, the idea behind this is to improve my photography skills and to also hopefully to improve my writing skills (Which I kind of think Ive managed todo).

when I first started I didn’t realise how much is was going to become part of my daily life and to be honest the idea of skipping a day or just giving up and quitting has been pretty strong but I’m refusing to give in and like to think that i can make it and then in a few years time Ill be able to look back and know exactly what I did on possibly one of the busiest years of my life so far.

So again I think I need to apologies for the lack of photo content these past few days, I know its snowing in london and that can make for some great photos and I wish I could get out there but I need to kick this illness first!

Heres some shots from my flat windows!

B330-1-2 — – A view from the spare bedroom, I cant wait till this room has been finished so we can spend more time in here –

B330-1 — – yep we still have our christmas tree, the plan is to hold onto it till next year, thats what takes up this foreground shot – –

B330-1-3 — – I went out last night to get fresh air and some bread, this shot is from inside the apartment complex –

B326 – HOW HAS THIS DAY DISAPPEARED

February 24, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

First of all, sorry if you’ve all been sitting there refreshing my website waiting for my post to go up but today I just haven’t had time to sit down and get it done. I’ve spent the day fighting with an Ikea Wardrobe and I can now proudly say that I won the battle and the war, at one point it was a close war when I realised that I had put the main panel in wrong and as a result couldnt finish putting it together and had to slowly start taking it apart to fix my teething problem. but its not done and Im sat on the sofa enjoying a beer and writing this.

I must also apologise for not taking any fresh photos yesterday, Ive had to reuse some from a few weeks back when I went and explored the cannel near work. they are still probably some of my favourite photos from the past month or so and every time I look at them I really wish I had a Leica because these kind of shots are where the Leica really shows its strength, I think its time I went into super saving mode to make sure that I can get one as soon as possible.

The plan now for the rest of today is to get dressed probably and then head over to Clapham and meet some of my mates for a good old drink up, it feels like ages since ive seen most of them so we are definitely due a good night out, Im also going to back to my parents house tonight so I’m sure you’ll get some see some good photos of the country side tomorrow.

Sorry again for the late and post, I just really don’t have a lot of time today, some how its already 5pm and Ive not even touched half the things Ive needed too.

Heres my photos enjoy!

B311-1-9 — – I really love black and white photos, I think there going to make a come back –

B311-1-5 — under a bridge and along a cannel –

B302-1-4 — – Shoreditch during rush hour –

B313 – DAVE SAVED THE DAY, THEN WE WENT FOR PLAN B.

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 joshfspear2 Comments

Today was the day that is finally happened, we managed to clear some space in the flat and get all of my aunties stuff back to her in Cambridge, it would of been possible without the help of my good mate Dave and his van, who after a quick call Saturday morning was on his way to my house to help me get it sorted. I would like to say it went smoothly but after getting a skateboard wheel stuck in the lift (we were using the skateboard to ferry stuff out of the flat), it was time to re-evaluate the plan and decided that it was probably best if we just carry the boxes instead. As always with these things as soon as we started to move the rain moved in just to give us that extra thing to deal with, but we were deterred and powered through the hangovers to get the task done. But it was all worth it because now the only thing we need todo is go wardrobe shopping and then its plain sailing in Flat 315.

Its now Sunday and Im up even earlier than I was on Saturday because todo I’ve got shoot over in Hackney that Im actually really excited for “anit no rest for the wicked”. its always a weird feeling working on a Sunday because it always feels like I should just be sat in a pub enjoying a Sunday roast, but at the same time theres something really chilled about working on Sundays.

The other thing that Im actually really happy about at the moment is the Sky, the light at the moment seems to be perfect, the other night there was this really cool blue shade in the sky and now i’m up early and its clear the sky is like the orange colour. Im not sure if i’m just used to seeing gray but this time of year feels to me like the best time of year for amazing colours and shadows.

This is quite quick post as I’m now running a bit late and still sat on in my boxers on the sofa. heres my photos, enjoy.

B313-1-4 — – this was us trying to re-think the strategy –

B313-1-3 — – Cheers dave and your van, your a good egg you are –

B313-1 — – this is the kind of sky im talking about –

B243 – IM BASICALLY A CHEF

December 3, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Yesterday Amy and me had the family come round for some food and for a little catch up, I haven’t really seen any of them since my birthday which was like two months ago, so it was good to see them all, even Esme.
It wasn’t all straight forward, amy and me had a lot of pressure planning today, from what everyone was going to eat ( I cooked a banging curry) to the most important thing the orange cushion that WE (Amy) had to get.

Yesterday was the first time we played host to my family and I think I was a success, apart from being a bit short of cutlery and plates but who’s counting anyway.

I’ve normally always been the guy sat in the sofa drinking beers and watching TV so never really worried about what’s going on in the kitchen, I’ve just worried about what time it’s been served. My hat goes off to anyone that’s ever cooked a large meal I’ve eaten, it’s 100% pure stress.

The cooking isn’t the stressful part, it’s the washing up that’s the stinger, you fill your face and then all of a sudden you’ve got a million plates and hundreds of glasses to wash up, and I don’t even have a dish washer, proper 1950s stuff.

Anyway, it’s now 5am on Sunday and I’m up and out the door off to work, so I’m going to keep this one short and sweet. Here’s some shots from yesterday.

– I know it’s weird for dogs to wear clothes but I think Mooney pulls it off –

– mum and flo haven’t a moment, or in reality. Mum trying to get flo to sit still –

– she was scared to the Xmas tree pines –

B241 – WHY DO IT?!

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 joshfspear2 Comments

Today Ive spent my time involved in some manual labour, Ive basically been scraping wall paper off my hall way and then painting it white, this has taught me two really important lessons, that I will definitely carry with me for the rest of my life.

Lesson one, if I ever need to scrap wall paper off a wall again, pay someone else do it, there nothing nice, easy or rewarding about scraping that stuff off. Ive been there and Ive got the medal now its time for me to sit back and in the future let someone professional do it properly.

Lesson two, painting a white wall white again, its properly just as fun as taking the wall paper off. I also managed to literally blow up a light bulb socket with my head so I’m not really sure if my paint job was even and will have to wait till day light or a new light gets fixed to actually see if my job is even. by the way it wasn’t on purpose, I stood on a chair and moved really quick and my head just made contact with the light bulb thing.

apart from those two extremely good life lessons its also been a good day, the hall way has been on my list of things to get done for a while and today I knocked it off my todo list. I’m now completely nackered but need to power on till 3/4am as Im working on an over night job Friday and need to try and get used to being up at night and asleep during the day, my thinking is 3/4am is a good time go to sleep.

When I was in the mist of completing the painting I was thinking of things to photograph, it was way to cold outside to venture out for some street photography so my idea was to show how a photo looks before its edit and also how it looks after a few changes. I wanted to use a boring photo as it makes it easier to see the difference as theres no “WOW factor”.

the photo you see below was shot in .RAW which basically means you can do a lot more editing and manipulation. how that happens is by the camera sensor remembering all the information collected when you press the capture button, meaning you can change the white balance, the thing that makes either white, white or makes white that weird egg shell colour you some times see.

If a photo is really dark, say you shot inside a house at night and were trying to take a photo of your family and when you looked at it back you noticed the only thing you could see was the light on the fridge door, well because you shot .RAW you would be able to bring the exposure up in Lightroom or photoshop and be able to see what is going on. The files are slightly bigger than .jpegs but if you camera can shoot .RAW. do it! you really wont regret it. just buy a bigger memory card, and back your photos up regularly.

have a look at these photos below and see the difference, they were shot in .RAW. look at the different shades of white on the paint pot and see if you can tell the different. If it was .JPEG they would near enough be the same colour depth and not looks as good.

B241-1-3 — – this is the original photo –

B241-1 — – I have changed the white balance to 28k and done a few other things with the contrast / exposure / highlights and cropped in a bit –

B241-1-2 — – this has a 55k white balance and is obviously back and white –

B233 – BACK TO LONDON LIV’N

November 23, 2017November 23, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

I have literally just slept for like 12 hours, i cant remeber the last time I spelt for that long and now I feel amazing. Im pretty sure Ive beaten jet lag and now back to normal. my plan for today was to spent the day sleeping on the sofa watching netflix but after a quick phone call with my mate anders im on my way to south london to go rock climbing at some place called the Arches. what happening to just chilling on the sofa.

Its been a bit of a productive day, I also put some blinds up in my living room this morning, but ill show you those tomorrow. I need to get hold of some velcro to finish them off, im not about to show pictures of half a job!

it feels good to be back in London and Im now motivated to get on with what I started 233 days ago! since I’ve been doing a lot of travel recently Ive had time to think of some cool projects I want to start, so I’m now going to spend the next few days seeing if I can put them into practise. work has started to slow down for christmas so Ive now got quite a lot of time on my hands, which is actually quite exciting. I really want to get a lot done in the flat and get it up to a level Im proud of.

Ive had a week of not being able to post and now Im finally back on track and ready to pull my canon 5d out and take some cool photos but first I have 4 episodes of the new Peaky blinders to catch up on, I didnt even realised that it had started again!

here are some photos from yesterday and also a shot from the Grand Hyatt hotel reception, Im struggling to get over this view.

B233-1 — – climbing yesterday, I think I could have a new hobby –

B233-1 copy — – welcome back to london, the best city in the world –

B189 – ITS FINALLY HAPPENED A TRUE GAME CHANGER

October 10, 2017October 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

The Condo has hit a new level, If you’ve ever been to the flat you would know that theres been one big thing missing from it and that is Curtains, for some reason We’ve never got round to putting up curtains or blinds. Its not that we are lazy its that we haven’t really needed them and I’ve just kind of adapted to natural light in the morning. today though that has changed and my DIY skills have gone up a new level. Most people know that my DIY and manual labour skills are pretty much below average, well not any more, my first day of being 24 and Ive just used my first drill, and made multiple even level holes and put up blinds. this is well and truly a big step.

the DIY bug has hit me hard and now things are going to change round here. before it was all about the painting, now thats pretty much out the way, Ive now got to start building things, taking things away and updating things, its a never ending job that I’m now getting excited about. I just need to keep Amy away from Pinterest and I might have a chance of getting this done.

Now im pretty much a site man and a grafter, it was only right that after my success at putting the blinds up, i sat down and had a proper cup of tea, Bilbo ( bilbo Baggins – leave the bag in) with a lot of milk, the only difference being to take the photo I needed a a second pair of hands and a few pints of milk.

At last though, im now sitting on the sofa watching Tattoo fixers and dont have anything todo apart from right this post, tomorrow I pack for a trip to America so be prepared for some cool shots of the states, Ive got a busy 6 weeks of travel and Im looking forward to showing you guys what I get up too!

Im having a really weird moment where Ive confused myself because this post is written the night before its posted. is that confusing, would you rather I wrote in past tense or current tense. I dont mind just want to know what reads better.

Any way let me know and enjoy the snaps.

B189-1 — – the bed room with the blinds, its finally coming a long, the white wall by the blinds is dirty because I was leaning on it. just ignore that –

B189-1-3 — – this is amy sitting on the floor asking if we can stop running about doing things now –

B141 – 48 hours later…

August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

This weekend was mostly spent painting my living room and kitchen, it was only meant to be the living room, but after we raided Homebase for just about everything they had we said “F@ck it lets paint the kitchen too” . Lucky amy left me to decide on the colour, she said it was my choice and she wouldn’t get involved. when she said that I knew it would be a cool wall. What she actaully meant was, I would pick colour and then she would do the rest, Lucky I wanted bright orange, she was happy with that, so we ended up getting a very very bright orange.

then it was just a case of painting the whole thing, which is ok for the first 4 hours but doing a few coats on the ceiling was horrendous. but theres no better feeling than looking back at your work and getting that feeling on self-accomplishment.

any way I completely forgot to take any photos till like half 9 and night, so heres a few close ups of my favourite parts of the room. theres still work to be done, so Casa Del Josh isn’t finished yet. But we are close. Very very close.