Tag: sunday

B362 – THE ANNUAL SPEAR FAMILY TRADITION

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First off let me start by saying Happy Easter I hope everyone is doing exactly what they want this weekend, I plan on catching up with the family and eating chocolate, lots of chocolate. Right now though I have ended up waking up at like 5am and decided that this is probably the best time to sit down and write a half decent post, in about 30 minutes I’m expecting the kids to wake up and a massive game of hide and seek or tag to kick off and I want to be in the best possible position for what ever game we end up playing and not have worry about getting this post done.

Today is the day of the Spear family Easter egg hunt and for those of you that have been reading this post of the past year will know from last year’s egg hunt, its not something that can be done lightly. It’s a full blown Egg hunt by which everyone (the kids) has their own bag and run around the garden collecting eggs, there aren’t any winners or losers just the person with the most eggs is what the adults tell the young ones Flo (age 4) and Phoebe (age 10) but that’s not the way I see it, right now its war and when chocolates on the line it’s every man or toddler for themselves. Watch this space people.

One thing that does feel weird when I think about it, is the fact that I was doing this blogging malarkey and this is now my second Easter post, its crazy to think how much my writing and photography skills have improved. I’ve gone from being that drop out dyslexic kid who struggles with all things grammar and can’t really write, to someone who’s now confident in the content I put out there and actually enjoying the process of writing and getting my ideas from my head. Don’t get me wrong there are still many mistake that make it through but when you think about the first posts I wrote, they were literally 2 sentences long and full of mistakes, to now writing mini essays about topics that I find genuinely interesting. It’s a massive change. I’ve gone from having a writing age of about 7 years old to now probably a solid 16/17 years old and that’s something I’m pretty proud of and I have a whole website where I can show the improvement. I just know that its something I need to keep up and try to push to new levels and see just how far I can take this whole blog thing, I’ve got some really interesting plans / ideas for when this 3 a day is over and I hope that I can continue to interest you guys into reading my posts.

I was going to leave those “cringy” reflection posts for the last day but to be honest I couldn’t think of anything else to write so I just thought I would give you guys an insight into what I think of my writing. Moving on from that, its time for my second cup of coffee and to get prepped for the Easter Egg hunt, they maybe family but its time to get my head in the game and find those eggs, may the best person win, good luck Flo and Phoebe, you’re going to need it.

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– Stopping off on the way to Michelles for a quick beer –
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– And relax –
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– I cant believe ive been doing these post of a whole year and havent taken a picture of Kings Cross or maybe I have and just forgotten –

 

B356 – SUCH A GOOD SUNDAY

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After a night out that didn’t really finish till 5am, today was all about two things, food and Sunday vibes. once we had managed to get up and get dressed we decided to head to a proper greasy spoon and eat like we haven’t eaten before. After that the plan was to do something we havent done for ages and just walk around a cool part of town and explore, the destination was Notting Hill and mainly the Portobello road market. what I think both Amy and me like about this area is the colourful houses and cool shops, its a really cool area and somewhere I wouldn’t mind living.

To be honest if you forget about the area, it was just good chilling with Amy and taking photos of the day. We both have been non stop for ages and spending the day together was nice, even though I had to leave in the afternoon and travel to a hotel in kent and now im sleeping in a single bed. but hey, least we got to spent 24 hours together not talking about work and just having fun. So amy if your reading this with your morning cuppa tea, thanks for today and I just want you to know that I am now sleeping in a bed that my legs hang out of the end.

I took quite a few photos of today but I want to show you more tomorrow, I will probably write something more informative about Notting Hill but for now I just want to get a bit of an early night. One thing I did want to mention though is my camera settings at the moment, Im shooting with a lower aperture so my photos are on the boarder of being over exposed, but I quite like the look of photos that have information missing and thats kind of the style that im liking, over exposed and faded.

Heres my photos, enjoy.

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– Notting hill, this photo kind of sums it up –
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– the typical notting hill photo –
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– I do love notting hill but I also love a greasy spoon in bethnal green –

 

B342 -THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOS.

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As this post is being written and photos are being edited, I am sat next to a bin on a floor, while travelling on a busy train back to London, as the person next to me is watching Marley and Me on his Iphone without the use of headphones. So its pretty difficult to keep positive and stop myself from standing up and politely asking him to watch something a bit more up beat. I mean who watches Marley and Me on a train journey?

Anyway, apart from this current situation today day has actually been pretty chilled out and that’s how a Sunday should be spent, chilling, sleeping and eating. Firstly I should say congratulations to Amy, It fell on her shoulders today to cook up her speciality breakfast for everyone which is kind of like baked Spanish eggs and its one of my favourite breakfasts. She smashed it and everyone thought it was a great little dish.  I did mean to take a photo of the dish but I think its fair to say that everyone just dug in before I even remembered to grab a photo, so sorry about that. I think I’ve posted the recipe before but if anyone wants it, let me know and ill track it down. Its really simple but yet effective way of getting ready for what ever the day throws at you.

After all that Amy and me decided to get some fresh air and head down to the beach for a little walk, and what walk is complete without my best friend the Canon 5d. we didn’t go that far but it was the perfect conditions to take some fun pictures. I feel that my photography style is changing so much at the moment and Ive gone from wanting bright blue sky’s and a strong sunny day, to loving the over cast flat lighting that we have been having recently. It really adds a completely different element to each shot.

My plan recently has also been to use a lot paler colours, as most of you know I love black and white photos they always look so strong, but at the same time just saturating photos to the point where they feel black and white but still have hints of colour mixed with my favourite nifty 50mm lens just feels right at the moment.

What do you guys think about de-saturated photos, do they work? I feel like if you leave the white tones over exposed and keep the shadows to a minimum then it really feels like you capture a moment in time but then add some extra style to almost help create a story behind the shot. Its something that I feel just works kind of perfectly at the moment, maybe its just this time of year and that it all change in a few months, but for now I’m really happy with this kind of weather (By the way this is my Sunday night rush hour train thought process, so if non of it makes sense to you, just check out my photos and see if that helps make it any clearer).

Hope your all having a good Sunday! Oh and Happy Mothers day mum, you’re card will be there tomorrow. Sorry its late!

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– walking along the beach, didnt notice the bird sat on the post at the end till I started editing it –
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– amy going for that country sheek –
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– breakfast ingredients –

B335 – HOW LUCKY IT IS TO HAVE A PLACE LIKE THIS.

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Today I stumbled apon something I knew existed but didnt really ever think would be a good thing to attend. its something that our country should really be thankful for and millions of other countrys can only wish for, Im talking about the Sunday tradition of Speakers corner in Hyde park, dating back to the mid 1800s this is a place where anyone can come and talk about anything, as long as it is deemed lawful.

When you first approach Speakers corner the only think you see if people standing on small platforms and groups of people debating, they can literally debate anything they choose, nothing is off limits and thats quite an amazing thing. I heard people talking about how muslims and christians basically pray to the same god and someone else who compared religion to an orange and both gave really good answers. Now the good thing is you don’t have to agree to anything that is said there, but until you’ve heard someones full argument I don’t think you can say something at all. No one gets angry and irate they just debate they’re views.

if you actually think about it, today I saw a muslim reading from the Bible talking about why everyone is the same and actually sticking up for christians. If you actually think about that, wars have been started over this topic  and millions have died and now in hyde park you have a man freely speaking with no consequence. that is something to be proud of. and its done in the most british way imaginable, by agreeing to meet up in a park on a Sunday, and conduct ones self in a gentlemanly fashion.

Speaker Corner in Hyde park is the last place in the uk that someone can speak out about anything from the Government to modern views and old laws. Places like this used to be dotted all over the country but one by one they have all but disappeared and now we are left with this small spot in the Uk’s biggest city, where everyone has a voice and can always expect someone to listen. If you put yourself in the shoes of someone from say Middle east or Africa, how amazing would it be to come to England and discover a place like speaker’s corner and be able to talk and say everything that has been on your mind. and for that you got to think how lucky we actually are.

If you have nothing todo on a Sunday why no head down to Speakers Corner and just listen to what people think you and if you don’t agree tell them just expect to get a really good response from them.

Heres some photos from some intense debates. (I’ve uploaded 8 photos today because well I couldn’t choose just 3).

 

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– this was probably the biggest debate that day is was about the Quran –
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– he was just preaching about peace –
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– not sure what was happening here but it seemed to be intense –
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– talking about the connection between muslims and christians –
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– I think this guy was a regular, everyone seemed to know who he was –
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– this was my favourite guy, he was talking about how Nigera was the home of peace and the beginning of religion –

 

 

 

B334 – SO UNDERWELMING!!!

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So this is a post about something I thought would have worked out completely different. If you’ve ever been to my flat you would know that a lot of the time you seem to find cables and camera gear in the most random places, under the sofa, in the bed room and sometime even in the Bath room. Its not my fault its just what happens, no one know how is happens it just does. I think its Amy, she seems to be the one who finds most of the cables and gear so it must be her that leaves it around the flat.

Well today I woke up and went to the sofa, under a cushion to my disbelief there was a CF card, the said card is the same as the one that my camera uses. for those of you that dont know what a CF card is, they are basically bigger SD cards and its what my camera uses to record the images too. This got me exicted, could this CF card be from a few years ago and contain amazing photos that I completely forgot about? could it have evidence of a past flat party or maybe a christmas I forgot about? Well the answer is no where near as exciting as this, its a CF card I lost earlier this week and only really had some photos of a shower head from a hotel, a photo of my dog and some shots of the beast from the east. it coudnt of been more disheartening. I was really hoping for some amazing shots I hadn’t seen for years.

As this has really let me down I feel that I should still post these photos to show you what I went through this morning and to make up for it Im going to quickly jump in the shower and then head out and do my best to take some amazing photos in West London! thats my aim for today!

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– THIS IS MY DOG MOONEY AND SHE LIKES TO SLEEP –
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– this is my last photo from the beast of the east I promise –
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– a shower head in a hotel I stayed in a few week back. I took this picture to see if my 50mm lens still worked, not because I like showers –

 

 

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

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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.

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– this was us trying to re-think the strategy –
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– Cheers dave and your van, your a good egg you are –
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– this is the kind of sky im talking about –

B307 – HELP THE HOMELESS – SECOND SHOT COFFEE

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Think I need to start this by saying that the meal was a success, I managed to get through it without an awkward moments and not a single drink split. So Ive come away feeling like it went well. Its now like 10pm on sunday and Im trying to write this and stay awake, Ive got to be up pretty early tomorrow and catch a train up north for the day, which I’m kind of looking forward to as its getting out of London for the day. As much as I love this city, I also love getting out and seeing parts of the UK, and tomorrow I get to see my old friend the Virgin Train economy coach.

With having a meal with some of Amy’s family that I haven’t met before, the plan for todays photos was to take them before we met everyone, so I didn’t have to worry about getting photos during and after the meal. Luckily my mind was in full creative mode and I managed to snaps some cool photos on the way to Wembley. My idea was also to use the Iphone as the 5d might have been a bit too big to bring along. I actually love the Iphone for taking photos, it makes life so much easier. the idea that I have a really good camera just a finger swipe up on a screen, has been a life saver for this blog and I don’t think I could have got this far without it. So for that Steve Jobs I thank you.

I hope everyone likes the photos today, my plan for this last stretch of the 365 daily posts is to really develop my writing and photo skills. I don’t have to get complacent and to see how much I can really improve, I think the trick is to read more and to concentrate to composition, put more thought into the direction of the writing and how it relates to the photos I take. Thats just my sunday night thinking, hope everyone had a good weekend. much love and all that!

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– Second shot coffe shop on Bethnal Green road, a coffee shop that helps the homeless. you can buy coffees and food for the homeless and they make sure they get to the right people. you also get the draw on the wall. Can you tell which drawing is mine? –
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– amy doing business on a sunday –
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– a shot from Wembley looking back on the train tracks from the bridge –

B292 – SHES DREAMING OF THE SOFA

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Yep this post is late and I should probably have been more prepared this morning, but its just kind of disappeared. Same excuse was for me not really taking any photos yesterday, I literally spent the whole day playing around with a GoPro and completely forgot to take photos, that was all apart for a really good 30th birthday part I went too in the evening but I kind of feel like those photos should go to Rachel (the Birthday girl) and my sister first, so what im going todo is spend the next few hours editing those photos and send them across for them to see first.

I did how ever wake up this morning and take my dog for a walk while it was snowing, which I definitely think I enjoyed it way more than she did. i just wish that we had at least a few inches so I could go sledging. right now though I feel like I need another coffee and some breakfast. Last nights party has taken it out of me, it was really good to see some old faces and have some good catch ups. its always good when you don’t come home that often and then when you do see everyone have a good old party. Thank you Rachel for throwing a good evening.

My plan for today is to try and have a proper Sunday, maybe try do some exercise, see how my leg holds up. As Ive probably said before Im doing a lot with GoPros at the moment trying to get better at using them so Ill probably make like a little video on that and then spend the evening editing. Im really trying to stay as productive as possible when I’m not working, its like the only way I can keep my brain ticking over, is by filling my days with a massive todo list and then its just a case of living in a state of constant mayhem that I actually quite enjoy in a weird way.

Heres my photos from the dog walk this morning.

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– in this photo Mooney is dreaming of the sofa –
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– getting out and getting some fresh air first thing in the morning is what the country side is all about –
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– once you get far enough away from the house, she starts to get into the swing of things –

B258 – IT WAS PERFECT

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If after 258 days of these posts you havent realised that my favourite day is Sunday then please understand that sunday has to be the best day of the week. Its all about good food, naps movies and the odd adventure out. Well yesterday was all of those things, after a pretty heavy Saturday night sunday was perfect, we woke up and hit the cafe for some good old breakfast but on out way over there we came across this really cool little market which sold those foods that you don’t really find in a super market, like sause saus and really fresh tomato’s.

After some good old food it was back to the flat to clean up and watch some movies with the odd Nap here and there, what more do you want. at one point I thought I had food poising which is never good but amy reminded me that is must have been the hang over.

As our Swiss friends havent been to Winter Wonderland before and thats unacceptable, everyone needs to see Winter Wonderland, so after our naps and everyone was feeling tip top again we put on some warm clothes and head over in the afternoon, we literally walk round looking at food and eating all the good stuff, I don’t think any of us could have had a drink which made life a lot easier, I really didn’t want to even look at a drink.

its now Monday morning and as I write this post I’m trying to stay productive but my bed is just calling me, christmas has officially started for me but I really don’t want to spend the next few weeks doing nothing, so my plan is not to sit and watch all the christmas films but to get up get dressed and start taking photos or something.

Here are my photos from yesterday, enjoy.

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– the spinning bar at Winter Wonderland –
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– how good does this look, I wonder how easy it is to make the stuff –
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– tomato’s look perfect –

 

 

B237 – SPINACH AND CHICKPEA CURRY – WELL WORTH IT.

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Sunday. The plan was to have a proper chilled Sunday and do nothing, just watch TV and eat food. and thats exactly what we did, only this time I decided to test my cooking skills and see what I could make. After searching the app Yummly we came across a spinach and chick pea curry. It has turned out to be one of my favourite dishes, Ive even got left overs for today and trust me I will be eating them!

I really want to learn how to cook more dishes, its something I actually really enjoy and as some one who lives in London, cooking at home saves you a ton of money, we brought all the ingredients but now we have them if we want to make this dish again, we literally only need to buy chick peas and some potatoes, thats literally dinner for under £2 and trust me it is so worth it.

Heres a list of the ingredients I used and the instructions, trust me give this one a cook and let me know what you think.

Oh my top tip is give the potatoes a little boil before you put them in the pan.

1 tablespoon ghee (or sunflower oil)
1 onions (large, finely chopped)
3 large garlic cloves (finely chopped)
1 piece fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped)
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
380 grams chickpeas (drained)
390 grams chopped tomatoes
4 potatoes (medium sized, 300g, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes)
500 milliliters vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 grams fresh spinach
Directions
  1. Heat the ghee/oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until softened.
  2. Add all the spices and cook for a further 1 minute.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, potatoes, salt and about half of the vegetable stock. Stir well and simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked adding more stock as needed.
  4. Add the spinach and cook for a further couple of minutes or until the spinach has wilted.

It literally took about 30 minutes to make. easy.

I got all this information from the Yummly App, it linked me to a different website called http://www.mygoldenpair.com check out that place for even more recipes.

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– it looked a bit bland till you put the spinach in, but trust me this was worth it –
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– got to get the food shot at the end –
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– this dish has really made me want to cook more –