B252 – BANG BANG CHICKEN

8am Monday Morning. temperature, 5 degrees. weather, rain / snow. What better way to start the day?

Thats literally what I said to myself as I walked out my front door and headed to Camden yesterday for a meeting, its hard to find a positive about the weather yesterday when the snow didn’t even set but I do quite like the rain in London, especially when I have my camera mainly because taking photos of people when its raining becomes so much better, everyone literally walks around like the are allergic to water and that makes for some cool photos. Don’t get me wrong I love to sun and the summer and would much rather be taking photos from a beach in the Mediterranean but that wasn’t an option yesterday.

After my meeting I decided to take a long walk back to the train station and grab some photos of the area, Camden is this cool part of London, which kind of feels like its separated from the rest this city and made its own set of rules and its own way of life. its kind of where punk rock has decided to plot up and fight the likes of TopShop and River Island and to some miracle punk rock seems to have won.

Josh’s Top Tip: If you ever find yourself in Camden that chances are your going to want to eat some food, now what most people would do is end up at the world food market and grab some sort of pizza of Naples or maybe a burrito for Korea but what I think is by fast the best option is to head down to the original camden market and pick up some of that Bang Bang Chicken, the food isn’t really fried chicken that you might get at KFC its more Chinese but possible the best Chinese you can get hold of. that stuff is completely out of this world and the guy who sells it might even sing you the Bang Bang chicken song. Trust me, there is a song.

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– on the bus toward to Camden –
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– Camden Market, the home of Bang Bang Chicken –
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– the snow yesterday unfortunately it didn’t settle –

 

 

 

B205 – THEY WERE THROWING PIES IN EACH OTHERS FACES!!

Today we were back on location working, so it was pretty hard for me to take photos, I could seem to get a good stream of photos on the go, mainly because I was just inside all day, and I didn’t wake up early enough to go a take some photos before work, my call time was 0730am this morning, its now 23:22 in the evening and I found out a few hours ago about a part over in times square, which I’ve had to be an adult about and not go. I wish my 18 year old self was here so I would just go balls to the wall and head down there, but now Ive got these things called responsibilities and they really seem to get in my way.

to still make sure I show you some good photos today, Ive decided to use some from my adventure around New York yesterday, I was going to save them for when I get back to London and don’t have anything to post but I kind of think why should you some rubbish photos I took today when I have these cool ones right next to me.

yesterday while I was walking around I saw something Ive never seen before, which is surprising because I cant think of a reason why I wouldn’t of done this when I was younger, its something that I would have thought I would of done and thats throwing pies / whipped cream in each others faces. I have no explanation why they decided that on a rainy Tuesday morning in New York they would organise a small side street pie throwing event, but it made for a good photo so I cant complain.

For some reason the more time I spend in New York the more I love this city and the people in it. I did have a little accident today though, I completely forgot what car park I parked the car in, mean that after the shoot we had to walk around a few block before we found the right one, and it turns out I parked in the car park I was meant too, I just didn’t remember. Im only telling you about this, so the Amanda and Libby don’t think i just right about all the good moments, I include my mistakes too.

Heres my photos from yesterday, i will do my best to up the anti tomorrow and will take some good photos through out the day. here they are, enjoy.

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– yesterday we snuck onto the roof of our hotel and I managed to get this shot, I really want to get an early morning photo from up here. thats the queensboro bridge looking across to Manhattan –

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– these guys, no idea why they were doing it, im just happy I walked past when I did –

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– surely thats not his umbrella, it really doesnt go with the bad boy image jacket –

B204 – THE DAY MY CAMERA NEARLY DIED!

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.

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– this is one of my favourite photos Ive taken recently –

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– mum is that you?  –

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– the rain today was proper rain, the stuff that no matter watch jacket you had on your T shirt was getting wet –

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– here you go dad, this is where I got my hot dog from –

B130 – WHAT A DAY THAT WAS

Yesterday was all about the rain, it literally chucked it down for the whole day. it was like a monsoon an english monsoon, but still a monsoon. The highest rain fall was in recorded in Kenley with 44.8mm of rain thats 1.78 inches!! when you compare that to places like Thailand where they get an average of 170mm of rain, things anit so bad, but I still go completely soaked on the way home.

One thing I love about the rain in London is seeing how different people deal with it, some put plastic bags on there heads and run around, some use a new paper and others just dont care. its the people that don’t care about the weather who make me smile, they anit letting the weather beat them, from the ones wearing a t shirt in the rain, to the guy who’s reading the newspaper while getting soaked (see my photo below), its all about beating the weather and sticking two fingers up to those pesky rain clouds. i think those are my favourite kind of londoners.

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– perfect place to catch up with the evening standard –
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– something pretty cool about london in the rain –
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– getting home quickly –

B117 – LUNCH TIME CHALLENGE

On my way into work today, I had a great idea. How far away from the office on my lunch break and can I take some good photos, eat lunch and make it back in an hour. So at 12:24 I ran out the office, stopping at sainsburys to get a meal deal and then on to the bus stop to jump on the first bus that came past 5 mintues later the 242 towards st pauls turns up. I jumped on it and quickly realised I was going the wrong way, heading towards Liverpool street, which if you know London has got to be the slowest road in London. not really ideal for seeing how far away I can make it.

So I jumped off and decided to walk to spitelfeilds market, the coolest place within walking distance of me, that’s when it started to absolutely chuck it down with rain, one of those weird moments when the heavens open and you just get soaked. not great for trying to take pictures of people out side.

Whole thing seemed two of paid off because I got a free Ribena from some promotion thing and also took a few cool photos. While I’m working in this office, I’m going to make it a weekly challenge, to see how far I can make it on my lunch break.

Today I made it exactly 1 mile away. So I would say this was a complete success and mixed up my normal routine of seeing how much I can eat on my lunch break,

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– I need this guys set up –
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– I should of sacked off the meal deal for this beuty –
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– that hat is something special –

B116 – RAIN DROPS ARE MORE LIKE BURGER BUNS.

so im now 116 days into this 3 photos a day and a brief paragraph thing, and trying to come up with things to take photos of and write about after working a days work anit so easy. but today I though, I would write about rain, the brussel sprout of the eco system, everyone hates it, but if it was for rain, we would probably most definitely be dead. it clears out the Carbon Dioxide from the air, keeps plants alive, which then keep us a live.

So heres a few interesting facts about rain and if anyone has any ideas on things I should take photos of, then please let me know. Im in an office all day at the moment and need to start doing some exploring.

  • The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded in 24 hours is 182.5 centimetres (71.9 inches) in Foc-Foc, La Réunion. This occurred during tropical cyclone Denise on January 8, 1966.
  • The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded in one year is 25.4 meters (1000 inches) in Cherrapunji, India.
  • Antarctica is the driest continent on Earth.
  • Under certain conditions, rain can fall from the sky without ever reaching the ground. It happens when rain falling from a cloud evaporates or sublimes as it approaches the earth’s surface.
  • rain has a smell. When raindrops fall on dusty or clay soils, they trap tiny air bubbles on the surface which then shoot upward – as in a glass of Champagne – and burst out of the drop throwing aerosols of scent into the air where they are then distributed by wind.
  • Raindrops are shaped more like hamburger buns. As a rain drop falls, it becomes less spherical in shape and becomes more flattened on the bottom like a hamburger bun.

 

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– Norfolk rain the other day –
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– this is a puddle –
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– rain clouds, the sign of summer in the UK –

B113 – I broke another camera

Being in Norfolk for the weekend has got to be one of the best ways to catch up on sleep, every time I come to Comer I swear I sleep. Its always a good laugh, yesterday we went for a little walk around Cromer, it’s a small sea side town that has everything you think a small sea side town has, from the amusement places to the small corner shops that sell those inflatable killer whales and bucket and spades.

When we went for a walk along the pier, it was famous for crab finishing. Well I though I might be able to stick my camera lens in side the bucket of water and get a close up shot of the crab. This did not work, in-fact it couldn’t of gone more wrong. I now have water inside my camera and can only take weird blurry pictures. So if you have a Sony WX350 don’t think there’s anyway you can take underwater photos, because the camera will break. so thats two camera’s in 6 months, not bad going.

In other news, Amy just got a new iphone, so I was giving that a try and testing out the camera. I agree with everyone else, this camera is really really good.

All the snaps below were taking on the Iphone 7.

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– nothing says english holiday like this photo –
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– cromer pier –
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– no shop is better than this type of shop –

 

B101 – LONGER WINTERS AND SHORTER SUMMERS IN THE UK

As im writing this post, its raining not just a bit its actually chucking it down, yesterday it was boiling hot, today its completely changed. My first idea for this post was to show some photos of the rain and maybe a few puddles around london, but I thought screw that im going to show some good weather and live in the past rather than face facts that London will never be the Mediterranean.

I even read an article the other day that said because of global warming, that Europe will experience cooling, meaning our summers will be even shorter and the winters a lot longer! This is becuase of the greenland Ice caps melting and the gulf stream, so in fact the cold air will be pushed into the golf stream and basically turn Europe into a fridge freezer.

for those of you who are equially suprised that I’ve read an article here’s ya proof.

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/global-warming-could-lead-european-cooling/

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-will-make-our-winters-colder-9819825.html

http://www.rapid.ac.uk/sis/sistop.php

Back to the good news, here some photos of a proper sunny day in London.

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– this could be a scene from Nottinghill –
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– just a photo of a tree –
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– I quite like this one –

 

 

B088 – Back in sunny London

theres no better wake up call and to be reminded that your back in london than english rain, its the “I dont need a jacket today” attitude that catches you out the most and the sudden down pour that seems to last a few hours but long enough for you to be sat at your desk with wet jeans for the whole day! but I suppose I cant complain because I saw a guy standing in the que for the sainsburys check out with a metro news paper still balanced on his head to protect him for the sudden down pours that happen inside Sainsburys every now and again, it doesnt sound that funny as I write this, but if you were there…

Any way heres my snaps from today. I’m trying a few new things out, to see what works, what does work, changing the format, adding a watermark trying to work on finding a nice typography that I can use consistently and mainly the style of my photos, what I focus on when i’m in London and what I focus on when Im in new countries. so please let me know what you like and what you think is absolutely crap.

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– this is kind of a smart / cheap way of advertising  – 
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– its like the old people are walking towards the light – 
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– I found palm trees in tower hamlets, its almost like being on holiday – 

B066 – the funkiness

its 2 in the morning, im still at work currently 17 hours into a work shift, here are 3 photos. im listening to music with the office cleaner, hes just showed me The S.O.S Band and joy simon, so go check them out instead of looking at my photos, im high on coffee and Haribo goooooooving to the funkiness.

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– food of champions –
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– its still raining up here –
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everything literally wet, guess what this is –