After spending the whole of sunday on the sofa or travelling back from sevenoaks, I decided to go to victoria park and take some snaps for the sunset. I only wanted to go for an half an hour max, 2 and half hours later I walk through my door and still need to get ready for work. but I have got some absolute bangers, pretty happy with how they’ve turned out but still having focusing problems with my 5D, which is getting really annoying, time to buy a new camera I think.
apart from that nothing beats sunday no other day of the week is better. fact. mix victoria park in the sun shine with a sunday and you have the perfect place to be in London, that park has everything from pedalo’s, crazy golf and a 13ft vert bowl at the skatepark!
so heres my snaps, let me know what you think.
– Summer is in full swing, good effort on the bunting –– this looks like a good chill –– the “Adult” part of the park –
Im writing this while listen to the legend that is Dusty Springfeild. I was over in Holland park the other day, when I came across one of those blue signs that said Dusty Springfeild, she live in London, I might sound stupid but I ever knew that, I also thought it would of been LA.
Her house is actually really cool but in an understated way, if you drove past it, theres nothing special and compared to all the other houses in that area, like the mansions that Guy Ritchie and the Beckenhams own, its not really that big but still has a pretty nice price tag of £16.5 million for the 7,200 square meter house, with a 35ft swimming pool and a gym.
When you actually stop and look its got a funky 60’s vibe, from the number on the door to the door its self and the windows all of it has that art deco feel. I suppose Ive got to up my photo game a lot before ill be able to afford this place!
Heres some other pictures aswell include a child falling off a scooter and…
– the home of dusty springfeild –– this house is sick –– some tourists asked me for directions, just as the boy fell over so I missed the actual stack, i was literally on a tripod and everything it would have been perfect –– who ever has a pink door and drives a purple porsche you are a legend and these people think so too –
its now only three days off me having posted three photos a day for 100 days, So today i thought it would be a good idea to show some pictures thats Ive taken but haven’t been post over the past 97 days I’ve been doing this. and then today I can head out and make sure I take even better photos for you to have a look at over your Sunday morning coffee. Sometimes its just easier to keep things simple.
– thats a proper dinner spot –– the crazy coastal road in amalfi –– someones making stuff happen on bethna green road –
Walking home from work yesterday and I saw this crazy helicopter flying over Bethnal Green, I only really noticed it because of how low it was flying and what it had on the side. Does anyone know what helicopter it is? Other than that I saw to Asian people taking wedding photos out side of a bills restaurant which was a bit weird but different strokes for different folks.
– what is this? I would love to fly in this –
One thing I’m learning about street photography is that you have to be there in the moment and not worry about taking photos of people in plan sight, other wise you’ll never get the shot, some times you’ve just got to go balls to the wall.
– “make sure you get the menu in the shot” –
At the moment my main camera I’m using is a Sony WX350 which isnt the best point and shoot but it’s a lot easier than taking a canon 5d with a 24-105mm lens which is basically the same size as a small child. – this was me just playing around with the lights on the tube –
As you can see this camera does hold up ok and for the price you can’t complain, this was literally a camera I brought for a small project I had with a mate and not really intended to use it for the blog thing I’m doing, so I suppose it’s doing the job but if you were to put it next to a fuji x100f or Leica M it would look like one of those old Motorola flip phones.
for the next 5 days Im going to concentrate on taking photos of people around London, its something that I’ve wanted todo for a long time and something I want to get better at. Street photography is big in London and probably to most popular type of photography around here, so I think its time I give it a proper try. At the moment, Im a big fan of black and white street photos I think they just add something else to the photo, so for now I’m probably going to concentrate on that, but well see where it ends up.
Heres some photos I took yesterday on my lunch break and after work having pizza in the park. have a look at ’em and tell me what you think.
– business on top, fitness on the bottom (running in a shirt) –– just going to meet my mates –– looks intense –
The whole point of this posting three new photos a day, is really to try out different techniques and just figure out what i enjoy taking photos of. so the other day Amy and me went to the park in the afternoon when the sun was low and tried out taking photos of someone just standing there and see how it played out. to be honest Im pretty happy with the results.
normally I only edit in Lightroom, but for these photos decided to start off in LR but then export to photoshop and see if I could get a different look and improve the stills. Photoshop is one of those programs that people spend years learning and I have experience with it, but now want to understand more about the software, and the best way todo that is to practise every day.
– trying to use the sun to add something else to these photos –– she’s a bit out of focus but I think it works –– you cant go wrong in black and white –
if you’ve ever been to brick lane and not tried the chicken wings you’ve gotta re-think your next trip. theres only one place to get the wings from and thats Orange Buffalo, some people would argue that the original sauce is better than the woof woof, but for me its Woof Woof with a side of blue cheese sauce the whole way! they’re a bit spicy but that just adds to the incredible taste.
If you get there between 12 – 3pm you can get the lunch time deal, chips, wings and blue cheese sauce all of £7.50! and trust me they give you enough food!
our orders
me: woof woof sauces wings, chips, blue cheese sauce and a bottle of water
Amy: Half and Half wings – Woof woof and original sauce wings, chips, blue cheese sauce and a can of coke.
Amy definitely did the right thing and get half and half, I was kind of jealous. but once your three wings deep I didnt really think about that any more.
– this place just by brick lane –– amys and mine wings –– the end result –
waking up to a hyper 3 year old has got to be one the best things, when it happens only now again. But thats what happened today, I woke you at my parents house and was met by a energized three year old that goes by the name of FLO. after some standard hungover activites like throwing up and feeling sorry for myself. I was king of ready to start playing, but as soon as we pulled out the camera she was happy to take some snaps and bang my lens of the floor. After showing her how to take a photo and then letting her lose, she soon worked it out and we were taking pictures of my little ponies in no time.
Thank you canon for building a Flo proof camera!
Heres some of her snaps!
– this is her telling me what todo –– my little ponies giving it some sass –– Mooney (my dog) and the pony in full sunday mode –
Probably a lot of you know im a bike fan of 2 wheels, not motor bikes they scare me but bicycles and all things pedal power, as someone living in london i’m used the walking out of a shop of pub to notice my bike lock on the floor and my bike gone. to me thats the lowest of the low, steeling someones bike. but this post is not about that, is post is about the sad and familiar site of bikes abandoned, chained to a lamp post or bike rack. something thats been rubber side down across hundreds of miles, it might of been a commuters new years eve resolution or even just a spontaneous purchase, but one thing no can disagree its the best way to see a city.
with 32% of all londoners cycling, thats around 4.2 million people! that means theres got to be at least 5 million bikes in London, thats amazing, but with that goes up the amount of bike abandoned which is sad! these could be the perfect traveling tools for people to get around. so people fi your reading this, dont abandoned your bike on the side of the road, take it to one of the bike hospitals for a new life!
right lets start by saying im no cocktail expert or even really a cocktail drinker, i like a beer, but when I saw the new cocktail bar on Bethnal Green Road the Coupette, i thought I should give it a review. before it was a cocktail bar this place was a proper east end pub, full of locals that had been drinking there since beer was invited, the pub even had a sign out side that read “No Travellers allow in this pub”, but added great character and a down to earth feel. it was just something that set Bethnal Green apart from its neighbour SHOREDITCH a now expensive trendy extension of Liverpool Street.
well Charrlotte and myself went into this trendy new bar Coupette and give it a try and see if it was something to rave about, it wasnt our cup of tea. I dont like to slag someone off or put down something that the owner has put a lot of work into but it just feels like shoreditch is taking over this weird and wonderful street of bethnal green. where the homeless issue is quite literally a big problem, the road is also filled with cheap £1 shops and a cash converter, it has a community sprite which is rare for a zone 2 part of london, but its what set Bethnal Green apart, and an expensive cocktail bar really isn’t doing anything apart from dispersing a community and popular local business which seemed to survive the Shoreditch effect till now.
Anyway enough of the ranting heres our views of the bar.
Look:
Josh – 7/10 – the bar has an old feel but has used new furniture, which doesnt fit the vibe, they also sit you down like your going to eat, but then you don’t. I did like the menu’s they were really cool, but again the lighting didn’t help, it was that funny yellow tint.
Charlotte – 6/10 – its like they have spent a lot of time on the front of the bar and then ran out of money as they got to the back, it lacks an atmosphere and seems very portentous, which bethnal green definitely is not.
Coupette: 2 cocktails – £20.25 including service charge (£9 each)
And again we arent anyone who could give you an educated assessment on the cocktails (mine was good, it had chocolate in it) we are just two people who love bethnal green road and enjoy a drink, and dont want to see all the great local people of this area have to leave. We started talking to some other people in a bar down the road after charlotte noticed they where in the coupette, they were locals and said they felt underdress in the cocktail bar, “it was full of suits, which is not what bethnal green is about” . to finish it just feels like another rich vs poor battle was one by an ex-Savoy Cocktail maker and a local pub was lost.
Heres some pictures of the bar.
– The entrance –– it was earlish and still a new Establishment, so you cant expect it to be rammed -the actual bar was pretty cool –
joshfspear.com 