life – Page 7

B216 – AFTERNOON IN PARIS

November 6, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

After a bit of bumpy start yesterday when we first got to paris, basically our phones wouldnt work, which meant we had no way of booking an Uber, something todo with the new Apple OS update or something. But for those of you that have been to Gaurd De Nord before you know the first thing you see when you come out the train station is a Mcdonalds and they are known worldwide for having a good free Wifi connection, something that comes in handy when you need to book a taxi!

anyway yesterday afternoon was all about getting over to the Dior exhibition over at the Musee De Arts Decorative on Rue De Ravoli, its basically this massive museum which shows you the history behind Dior and how the company has got to where it is today, so it was pretty interesting. I know nothing about fashion or Dior really, but even for me it was just cool too see what goes into it and where the whole company originated from. In the exhibition theres a massive section on photography so that was pretty interesting to see. I definitely think if your in paris between now and the 7th January you should go and see this whole thing even if your not really in to fashion, the whole thing is just cool to see and even though its a museum full of dresses they don’t really look like dresses. they are more like pieces of art I suppose.

its now the next day and we are having a bit of a lazy morning trying to think what we should do for breakfast, we are staying at the Hotel Eiffel Blomet and they seem todo a good breakfast but nothing will ever beat €1 espresso coffee and a Jambon croissant.

Today the mission is to find some prints and stuff for the flat, Amy also NEEDS to see the shop collet! so I guess we will probably to that too.

Heres my photos from yesterday Bon Appetit.

B216-1 — – this was in the last room at the Dior show, all the walls are full to the ceiling in dresses and dress making stuff –

B216-1-2 — – the new Louis Vitton shop, they went all out –

B216-1-3 — – my photo of the Eiffel Tower. Hello Paris –

B204 – THE DAY MY CAMERA NEARLY DIED!

October 25, 2017October 25, 2017 joshfspear4 Comments

Back in New York and the main thing im going to take away from today is that New York rain seems to be something you cant find anywhere else. its non stop and literally everything just gets soaked through. I went out today not expecting to get that wet, it was just like a little bit of drizzle when I left, well that turned into some thing completely different, but a few years ago I watched that documentary of the New York photographer Bill Cunningham and in that documentary Bill talks about being out in all weathers in New York because thats when you get the best shots, and the guy is completely right, New York seems to go into this completely different mode when it starts raining. My highlight of New York in the rain today was seeing a women walk round with a metal Bin on her head to project her afro, she literally didn’t get a damm what she looked like as long as her hair stayed dry.

if you read yesterdays post you would know my plan for today was to stay around Hunter’s point and take it easy. Well after a quick chat with my parents my dad said I had to have a chill dog from a street vendor, so that became my mission, track down a street vendor and have a chilli dog on the “side walk”. and as soon as I got off the subway at 7th and 59th street, there he was a street vendor with all the goodies apart from Chilli dogs, sorry dad but I just went for a hot dog, I hope that counts. I did plan on not giving up till I got a chilli dog but I was hungry, so that will have todo.

My other plan for today became getting a good shot of the smoke or stream that comes up from the ground around NYC and after hunting for ages to try and find somewhere, I finally bumped into the perfect location just by 42nd and Grand Central Street. ( im trying to remember the names of the streets, just so I feel like a local). Once I found this spot I only had to wait a few minutes before this guy walked past, it was a pure case of right place right time, but thats how street photography works really, the more hours you spend on the streets, the more places you end up in at the right time. This is one of my favourite photos Ive taken in a long time, this whole photo feels quite peaceful at a time when everything is starting to get a bit crazy. Im not sure if that makes sense to you, but it does to me.

Here are my photos from today, Ive tried to take it easy today and just get some good rest, now I’m looking forward to laying in bed watching some movies and getting some proper sleep!

I hope you like my photos. oh and if your wondering about my title today, my camera nearly broke because the rain just didn’t stop and I really wasn’t prepared for that. Apart from that I would say its been a pretty successful day.

B204 (1 of 1)-6 — – this is one of my favourite photos Ive taken recently –

B204 (1 of 1)-4 — – the rain today was proper rain, the stuff that no matter watch jacket you had on your T shirt was getting wet –

B204 (1 of 1)-2 — – here you go dad, this is where I got my hot dog from –

B203 – I LOVE THIS CITY

October 23, 2017October 24, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

today has been just a day of travel, I woke up this morning in 23 degrees weather at 6am and quickly packed up before leaving florida and catching a plane back to the crazy city that is New York. We are back at the hotel from last time, the Vue something its called near Queens Boro bridge, this hotel literally gives us such a good view of Manhattan, I think ive shown it before when I first got to New York, well anyway Im like two floors above my last room and dead on facing the city, so this time Ive got such a better view. Ill show you it tomorrow maybe.

Its now like mid night and Ive just edited my photos from today and now just thinking of anything to write and all I can think really is how nice Florida was and how happy I am to be back in New York, tomorrow is a pretty chilled out day I think, so my plan is to explore hunters point a bit more, thats basically opposite Manhatten on the queens side of the river. Normally when you head to a city you get drawn to the main tourist spots, but im just going to walk around Hunter point and then Maybe head into town, but the main mission for tomorrow is to take some cool photos of the city and the people that live here.

I would love to write about how I plan on getting up at 5 in the morning to go and take photos of the sun set over the river or people on their rush hour commute, but that would just be a big fat lie, I dont plan on doing anything like that. part of the whole three photos a day thing, is that sometimes its just a down day with no plans and those are the days were I have to get creative with my photos and tomorrow might be one of those days. Im trying not to think about it too much other wise, Ill end up doing something adventurous and not chilled out at all and thats not the point of tomorrow.

heres my photos from today. enjoy.

B203 (1 of 1) — – packing up the car at silly O’clock this morning, I already miss this SUV –

B203 (1 of 1)-2 — – the last palm tree I saw in florida and look at that sun rise! –

B203 (1 of 1)-3 — – back in New York where everyone is constantly moving at 1 million miles an hour –

B202 – 17 HOURS LATER…

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Tomorrow we leave Florida and head back to New York, its fair to say that we are now in the middle of filming and if we can get through the next 11 days of pure craziness and long hours we will be sitting on that flight home with a beer in hand. But first back to reality, before we leave florida tomorrow morning, this place has left us with one last gift a heard of blood thirsty mosquitos, which have really just aimed for my legs and attacked both my pale white bread sticks with all they have. my legs have lost the battle and the war to these mosquitos and now I can stop itching them.

My post today is about the other famous restaurant in town, it wouldnt be fair to write about one and not the other, this time im talking about the BBQ joint called Sonnys. this place is everything I hope for an more, they know what they are doing when it comes to baked beans and BBQ meat, both times Ive gone for the two meat, two sides option and it hasnt let me down. today I had some kind of sausage and pulled pork with Mac “n” Cheese and BBQ Baked beans and it was just what I needed. its totally different to Catfish country which was more of a family run place, this is a small food chain in Florida, but it packs a punch, they even make their own range of sauces, from what I can remember I had only had the Spicy sauce and that had just the right amount of spice, not too hot not too mild. no one wants a really spicey BBQ, its just not right.

if you’re ever in Bartow, please go and try both Sonnys and Catfish Country and let me know which on you think is better! for the experiacne I would say Catfish Country but if you really want to reach food coma levels go to Sonny’s.

Anyway I think ill keep todays nice a short, I cant really keep my eyes open much longer, its been a proper long day. the next few weeks are jammed packed, so ill do my best to keep these post top notch, but sorry in advance for any rubbish days that might pop up (like this one). I haven’t done Sonny’s justice.

Also you know the rules, any spelling or grammer just ignore them, we all know it’s one of my downfalls.

Enjoy these snaps.

B202 (1 of 1) — – it may look simple on the outside but this place serves some proper food –

B202 (1 of 1)-2 — – It just looks like a southern BBQ joint, happy days –

B202 (1 of 1)-3 — – did what to show a picture of my food, but it arrived I ate it and forgot to take a picture, so heres a photo of a beer and some of their own sauce –

B197 – AFTER TWO MONTHS ITS FINALLY HAPPENED!

October 18, 2017October 18, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Today is a bit of a special day, today was the day that i actually had a home cooked meal, not just something from a restaurant but some home cooked vegetables, home made pasta and some other ingredients that I’m not too sure what they were called. Its a massive difference from the normal late night Italian or Chinese that I’m used too and I genuinely cant complain. I did end up have this really large cookie for desert but to be honest it was home made so doesn’t really matter. When im firmly back at home thats one thing im going todo more, I want to cook good proper food without the added salt or other things.

other than my rant about food, today I was back in this sleepy part of New Jersey, and to be honest its one of my favourite places Ive been. growing up in some sleepy part of London in a town called Biggin Hill, I know people think its this tough place just outside bromley but its really not. sorry, but its just not. anyway I think that part of me loves the idea of living in some quite town somewhere just enjoying life and moving at a slower pace. its weird because at the moment I love living in the city, sounded by constant noise and always something todo, but I can definitely see myself moving to the countryside when Im older in a place a bit like Bedmister, New Jersey and just having fun. Places like this would make me get up early and go take photos or ride my bike constantly.

Its just one of those things, if you love the country side then I think you will alway want to call that home. anyway heres my photos from today, I really wanted to show the sleepy side to living in the “sticks” but I couldn’t resist showing off what I had for dinner.

enjoy.

B197 (1 of 1) — – this lady is just sat enjoying her tuesday –

B197 (1 of 1)-4 — – nothing beats a home cooked dinner –

B196 – I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD END UP HERE!

October 17, 2017October 17, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Firstly I have something I need to admit, for the past month or so my camera has only really been on auto everything, auto focus, auto exposure, auto shutter. this started off as a way for me not to miss a shot, always guarantee I get the photo I want. but its kind of doing the opposite, its nice knowing that everything will also be ok but I don’t think about the lighting or movement anymore I just snap away. When I first started this project my camera was always manual so it would always mean I would constantly be adjusting everything quickly to get the photo. Ive just got lazy I suppose, well from today onward every photo I take with my Canon 5d will be manual. Im not going to use auto for the rest of this challenge unless Ive been drinking, then I cant make any promises, it will probably be auto.

Anyway yesterday I was talking about how big the houses were and today I actually managed to take a snap of one, this is my no means the biggest house around here but for some reason its probably my favourite. Big houses just mean longer walks to the fridge for the sofa and thats not what I want in a house. I feel like this one has space but at the same time could fit me just right. I quite like this whole area to be honest, today on the drive to the local supermarket for some lunch and even that was a pretty cool experience. In the UK going to pick up food normally means finding the closest Sainsburys or Tescos, where as here you go to this massive farmers supermarket and get a whole bunch of cool treats. it even has an old clock on the top.

One thing that has surprised me about this part of the world is how much they love Halloween, everyone goes mad for it and buys all these cool skeletons for the houses and loads of pumkins, every wall seems to have some sort of pumpkin on it. I didnt take any photos of houses with pumpkins on them but I did get some shots from out side the front of the Supermarket with pumpkins. thats my goal for tomorrow, find a house with Pumpkins out the front. Ill see what over the top Halloween houses I can find.

Heres my photos from today below. and remember from now on NO auto settings, I promise!

B196 (1 of 1) — – just your average house round here –

B196 (1 of 1)-3 — – going halloween crazy at the local supermarket –

B196 (1 of 1)-2 — – this is the local supermarket, not a tescos cubcard poster in sight –

B190 – HOW HAVE I NOT DONE THIS YET

October 11, 2017October 11, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Its been 190 days since I started this blog and I still cant believe this hasn’t come up before. Im talking about dedicating a post the Restaurant across the road La Forchetta, the place for food in East London and possibly London (bar charlotte street which is home to Siam central) has the best food.

La Forchetta is on Bethnal green road just up by the Underground station and a stones throw away from Mcdonalds, if you can see Mcdonalds you can see La Forchetta. some people might think this is a biased opinion on my behalf but I can honestly say anyone who goes there would agree there pizza’s are the best and the service is up there too, not voodoo rays friendly where people just slag off politicians and talk about vintage markets, then charge you £4 a slice of pizza and a £1 for a pot of Ketchup. but La Forchetta is somewhere thats stood the test of time and proven that good food doesn’t have to be expensive, they even offer the occasional post dinner shot of Lemoncello.

The main waiter’s been there since I started going like 3 years ago and from what I can tell has been running the place ever since. He’s a pretty quite guy but always up for chucking a few jokes out there every now and again.

Living in London is a weird thing, before I moved here I didn’t think I would find an area and spend 99% of my time there, but thats not the case. when Im in London its almost like my life revolves around a 2 mile square radius full of pubs, shops and things todo when Im bored and inside that radius is where I feel at home. Then I might travel to west London and that could be a different world for all I know, full of different shops and people. its definitely true what they say about people not leaving the area in London. from now on I’m going to make a more conscious decision to try and break that cycle and start seeing new parts of this city.

but for now, I’m packed and ready for my next destination, tomorrow morning I leave for New York. see you in 24 days London!

Anyway enough of the talking, heres some of the photos from today.

B190 (1 of 1) — – theres no pizza that can compete –

B190 (1 of 1)-6 — – they even have a picture of the godfather up and an actual boat stuck on the wall –

B190 (1 of 1)-4 — – these olives maybe from a local supermarket but that doesn’t matter –

B188 – GOPRO GOPRO GOPRO

October 9, 2017October 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

As some of you may know it was my birthday yesterday and I was given a Gopro from Amy. Since they came out Ive wanted to have my own Gopro, but just never got round to getting it. well yesterday Amy made that happen, so naturally all my photos yesterday were taken on the Gopro.

We weren’t jumping off cliffs or anything life that, just out of a family meal at some local pub near me called the white bear for a roast. fast forward 12 hours and im now sat on my sofa, writing this post, really wishing I had wrote it last night. Im in full Monday Morning mood, and need to pull myself off this sofa and actually get dressed.

Ive got one of those days again where an extra 3 hours fitted inbetween 2 and 3 O’clock would make a whole lot of difference to my day, but I suppose thats not going to happen so I just got to do what I can.

Back to the Gopro, this thing is insane. My main reason for like it, was because its basically josh friendly, I can drop it, submerge it underwater and it wont break. 95% of the time when my camera’s break its my fault, but now I really think this camera will be able to stand up to what ever I put it through. Im really looking till I can use the gopro for what its made for, capturing those crazy moments, that a normal camera cant or just doesnt get. maybe its time to finally learn todo backflips and see how they look on camera.

but for now its time to pull myself off the sofa, make myself look half presentable for work and head out the door and kick off those Monday Morning blues, otherwise I think Ill just end up sitting on the sofa watching netflix and not doing anything ever again.

Heres som photos I took yesterday with the Gopro. its not a 5D, but its definitely going to be fun to use.

– no idea how this happened, but I kind of like the effect –

– running round after flo trying to get a decided picture of her is not easy –

B187 – ITS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR

October 8, 2017 joshfspear2 Comments

FIRSTLY ITS MY BIRTHDAY, POSSIBLY THE BEST TIME OF YEAR FOR EVERYONE. I have a few reasons for this, October babies are the best type of babies, mainly because summer is over, christmas is still that little bit far away and everyone needs something todo, so bam October birthday it is. The only thing is one of my good chums, possibly the top chum, benjamin Delany, the happiest, grumpy person on the planet is moving to Australia on Wednesday , so last night he stole my brithday and had leaving drinks, they were incredible and to be honest I’m not sure what happened, just know that head hurts and that I saw a whole lot of old friends.

The photo you see below is from when Ben and myself went to a concert at Twickenham, we were about 14 years old and had no idea what we were doing, turn out its 10 years later and we are still no closer to know what we are doing with ourself.

Much love Ben and have a good time down under. and never steel my birthday again. Im sure you’ll have a sick time.

Anyway I cant just post one photo and don’t want to waste too much time talking about Ben, so heres a few photos from my train journey yesterday. I was on the train Amy had fallen asleep and I realised I had played with my 5d in almost a week so, I was just have fun talking photos out the window and ended up with these photos. After playing with a few lenses I have to say that for everyday “bloggin” the best lenses has to be the 24-105, it gives you a lot of focal length and to be honest, hasn’t let me down yet. When Im just walking around with my camera, the chances are ill have the settings on Auto, just as a safety, incase I miss something and this lenses always seems to get the focus right.

Anyway enjoy these photos and see ya later ben, don’t get too sun burnt.

Screen Shot 2017-10-08 at 14.07.12 — – ben and me 10 years ago –

B187-1-2 — – I feel like most of my life is spent on transport –

B186 – A TRUE LIFE SAVER

October 7, 2017October 7, 2017 joshfspear1 Comment

Friday was on of those days there I had about a million things todo and 10 places to be, its the last weekend before I leave for the states again, and its actually my birthday weekend. so last night Amy and me went out for some dinner and to let lose. she knows this really cool Italian tapas bar in Smithfeilds London so we headed there is was called Polpo, its like a small chain if you are ever in London I would definitely recommend it. the tapas was incredible.

Anyway, after a meeting ran over by 30 minutes earlier in the day it put me a little behind but with the thought of a beer and some good food I managed to pull it all back. I know this post is more of a commentary about my day, but thats just what it is. One thing I do want to say, is how much I love the fact that phones are now proper camera’s, my Iphone has literally saved me from complete failure of this three photos a day challenge. When I don’t have my DSLR camera on me, I know that my phone will back me up and get the shot.

even though it is so easy, I kind of do miss the days of film photography where taking a photo getting it exposed and then seeing the end result was such a big ordeal that it meant you had to be constantly thinking about exposure and what film you wanted to use. I kind of like that idea, maybe I should do a project after this focusing on film.

Maybe thats my opportunity to buy a Leica.

anyway thank you Amy for a great little birthday meal, and Ben Delany if your reading this, you’ve stollen my birthday Saturday night and for that I hope you realise I’m not happy about it.

Heres some snaps from our evening, I tried not to take to many photos but just enjoy the evening. One thing I want to ask is my iPhone doesn’t seem to be great in low light, but Ive seen other peoples and they seem to be a better quality, are people using some sort of app or lens. if so which one should I get, want to up my iPhone photo game.