weekend

B360 – AND SO IT BEGINS

March 30, 2018 joshfspear1 Comment

Thursday and the start of a four day weekend, what more could you want? Yesterday was a filming day so I didn’t get any chance to run off on my lunch break and take some cool photos, it was more about chasing Amy around Tesco’s trying to get some cool photos with a 28mm lens I’ve got this weekend.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the 28mm, it’s basically a wide lens that is really good to street photography and I would say nights out, it’s a f1.8 so that basically means it’s really good in low light.

But less about the lens I will probably dedicate a whole post too over the next few days. Yesterday I met Amy in Tesco’s for fish Tacos night, which was an experiment and something that definitely needs an improvement, not sure what happened but both of us weren’t happy with the result, luckily we had a big bag of Doritos and some cheese to make cheesy nachos while we watch a movie, only 10 minutes in and Amy’s fast sleep and that meant that was the end of movie night, time to hit the pillow. You know someone’s working hard when they fall asleep at 9:45 on the first night of a bank holiday weekend.

Today though we are up early before heading to a really really really cool place this afternoon, I’ve got all my camera batteries in charge so I can take some sick photos. I would say more but I quite like leaving it a surprise and trying my best to take some cool photos. but first I need a coffee and some breakfast. I’ve also just realised that this is my last weekend before I’ve finished this 3 a day blog challenge, so I really need to start thinking some of cool way of finishing! but dont worry, Ill have a little brainstorm and come up with something.

Here’s my photos from yesterday, enjoy.

B360-1-4 — – sometime shop fronts give you really cool lighting, but shooting with red lights is never easy –

B360-1-3 — – taking the lift down to meet amy for movie night food –

B360-1 — – after this photograph the security guard came and told me off –

B356 – SUCH A GOOD SUNDAY

March 26, 2018March 25, 2018 joshfspear1 Comment

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.

B356-1-4 — – Notting hill, this photo kind of sums it up –

B356-1-2 — – the typical notting hill photo –

B356-1 — – I do love notting hill but I also love a greasy spoon in bethnal green –

B354 – SODO PIZZA, UP THERE WITH THE BEST.

March 24, 2018 joshfspear3 Comments

So yesterday evening Amy and me were sitting in a pub in Bethnal Green thinking of something to get for dinner, the idea was simple, writing in google “pizza near me” and see what pops up, thats when we saw it. Sodo Pizza, its location was down a back street off of Cambridge Heath road, the location was set and we finished our drinks and headed over, to our surprise this was a new pizza place right near our flat that we had only just heard of, this evening just got interesting.

As we sat down in the corner of the restaurant, you cant help but acknowledge the amount of green plants they have dotted around and to be honest I had never really thought about plants in a restaurant before but it really works, they had used some big “green leaf” plants in a line to help break up the space and has worked perfectly. a solid 8/10 for vibes.

As with any time eating out, first you order your drinks, Amy went for a house white wine and said it was pretty good. We arent too clued up on our wines but its always a good start when the house wine is good. My drink of choice was a Shoreditch Blonde, which is actually only brewed about 400 meters from where we are sitting, at the Redchurch Brewery up the road.

Once the drinks had arrived it was time to order some food, we decided to go half and half on the pizzas, Amy ordered the Feta and Butternut Squash Pizza, I went for the Meat Cured pizzas with pepperoni and Ham, which don’t get me wrong was amazing and had the perfect tomato puree to toppings ratio but the clear winner for us was the Feta and Butternut Squash. That pizza was perfect, not too greasy but at the same time not so dry that you need a litre of water with each mouth full. then you get these little spontaneous hints of Rosemary, which have completely changed the game of pizza, I know its probably been done before but this is the first time Ive noticed it and now I think I want it on every pizza I have. The other thing that shocked us, was for the fact that after eating this pizza and then demolishing a Tiramisu, we didn’t feel like we need to either roll home or get an uber, we were like the perfect amount of full.

I would also say that it doesn’t fall into that hipster category for new pizza shops in London, you know the ones where they have naked pizza where its basically just a pizza but without tomato sauce, now that should be illegal. I cant recommend Sodo Pizza enough, they are the new kids on the block around Bethnal Green and fit in perfectly.

heres a link to their website: https://www.sodopizza.co.uk/

Oh and sorry for the first time in 354 days I went out without a memory card in my camera so had to use a mixture of Amy’s iphone and my iphone cameras.

Sodo pizza a solid 8.5/10!

B354-1-4 — – hats off to this chef, he knew what he was doing –

B354-1-2 — – me and both my Shoreditch blondes –

B354-1-3 — – sourdough pizzas are possibly the way forward –

B354-1 — – see! no memory card, I feel like an idiot –

B342 -THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOS.

March 12, 2018March 11, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

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!

B342-1-3 — – walking along the beach, didnt notice the bird sat on the post at the end till I started editing it –

B342-1-2 — – amy going for that country sheek –

B341 – NOTHING LIKE A ENGLISH SEA SIDE TOWN

March 11, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

Saturday in norfolk are mostly about chilling out and just sleeping whenever possible and thats kind of what I’ve done. Yesterday we did the usual dog walk in the morning and then sat around watching films / rugby before heading out with Amy’s friend’s for a meal and stuff. its been the first time in like 6 months since amy has seen some of her friends so its was kind of like a mini reunion.

What I love about coming to norfolk is the kind of sea side town vibes you get, when we took amys dog dexter on the walk we took this path that takes you through a proper english caravan site, with all those static caravans, which this time of year look completely abandoned expect for those few dedicated caravan people, you then head into the sea side town of Sheringham which has some how survived this fate of so many other sea side towns around the country and is still booming, with local butchers and of course the arcade’s with those amazing basketball games and 2p machines but most of all you have to love the local pubs which feel like they have been there since the beginning of time. my favourite is the Welly and now they even have WIFI. who would have thought it.

Its kind of amazing what when you think about what has happened to sea side towns around the country in the past 15 years, a lot of them I feel like are making a come back and a pretty fast one at that, when you look at places like cromer, it must have lived on a knifes edge for a few years while its locals made the decision to move on or stay put and fight it out and try to keep cromer alive and to say that while walking round Cromer briefly yesterday new cafes are opening and smart restaurants are starting to appear. If I had some cash I would quickly buy some old flats overlooking the sea and in a few years I guarantee that those places will be worth a small fortune, especially in the holiday season. So everyone come to Norfolk and have a mini break, you wont regret it and probably wont break the bank doing it either.

Anyway heres some photos from yesterday.

B341-1-2 — – dexter on a dog walk, I think someone needs a drink of water? –

B341-1 — walking through a caravan site –

B341-1-3 — – at one of my favourite places in the world, The Welly pub / Cromer –

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

March 5, 2018March 4, 2018 joshfspear4 Comments

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).

B335-1-3 — – this was probably the biggest debate that day is was about the Quran –

B335-1-6 — – he was just preaching about peace –

B335-1-17 — – not sure what was happening here but it seemed to be intense –

B335-1-14 — – talking about the connection between muslims and christians –

B335-1-11 — – I think this guy was a regular, everyone seemed to know who he was –

B335-1-12 — – this was my favourite guy, he was talking about how Nigera was the home of peace and the beginning of religion –

B328 – CHESSINGTON WORLD OF ADVENTURES HOTEL ROOM REVIEW

February 26, 2018February 25, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

Last night I slept in a bunkbed. I had the choice of a double bed but I chose the bunkbed all for the content of this post, tonight Im staying at Chessington World of Adventures and its pretty cool. Not only do they have Bunk beds but they also have a Lizzard in the reception and the lifts look like your in a hot air ballon. If I was a kid this would be where I would want to stay.

I suppose this post is my kind of review of this hotel and straight of the bat it gets a 6.5/10, I would give it higher but then thats probably unfair to all the 5 star hotels out there, but if I was coming to the theme park of a day out then yea I probably would stay here first and make life easier. For in room entertainment I feel a bit let down, no nice tv and the themed rooms aren’t that themed im in the jungle room and it doesnt feel too much like a jungle. chuck some themed wallpaper up and make it feel like im in the Lion king. There are two pats to this hotel so may be the other half is more themed. One major flaw is the temperature of my room, i would have to say its probably the same temperature as the Sun or maybe a big bon fire it just wont go colder. Climate control in a hotel room is the difference between a good nights sleep and a few hours broken kip. not that Im complaining or anything because there is a lizard in reception!

If we were to judge the food here I would probably give it a 5/10, my reason for a kind of low number is because I didn’t order an adult meal, Danny (this guy I work with) and I went half on the kids menu, we literally ordered everything they had on that menu and at one point it was hard to tell the fish fingers from the chicken dippers so not great and the beer here, not a massive choice and premium prices which you just have to accept at hotels.

This place is perfect if you want to pack a full day of Chessington in and dont feel like an early start but maybe a night or two would be enough, anymore and I would probably think about going somewhere else. but the bunk bed is comfy and the rooms are a nice size, I also apparently have a few of the animals but its dark now and Im leaving the room before it gets light so Ill just have to take their word on that.

Heres my photos.

B328-1-2 — – this is the cool reception, i would take a photo of the lizzard but it was asleep and I couldnt get a good photo of it –

B328-1-3 — – the room and my bunk bed for the night –

B328-1-4 — – the kids meals were actually a good shout £18 for four kids meals, cant really beat that –

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 –

B306 – I GAVE UP AND HEADED TO THE PUB

February 4, 2018February 4, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

The plan yesterday was to get all those jobs done that you need to in preparation for work next week and just to get my life in order, but after a Barclays paying in machine took all my money then going out of service. Meaning that it had swallowed my money and now I have to wait till they sort the machine out and I get my money back. That is how my morning went, so from there I realised that my day was destined for disaster and if Im going to fail I want to fail properly, so Weatherspoons became my next location and somewhere I planned to wait out this bad fortune and even worst weather. Some times its all thats needed, cheap beer and friends that will laugh your bad luck and thats exactly how we went on till it got to that point went vision became impaired and life got lighter. I do need to apologies to Amy who came to meet us, just to be met by the instant realisation that she was now my Saturday night carer. So for that Amy I am really sorry and thank your for the GBK burger and fries, Im sure the meal was amazing if only I could remember it.

We are now up early on Sunday and I feel like yesterday was a terrible idea, but it was good to see some friends and have a good old Saturday day time beer, something I haven’t done for a while, normally I get caught up with photography or some other idea that we come up with. Well anyway the plan for today is to go over to amy’s nan’s house and then onto a family meal with all of her family, some of which I haven’t met before so today will just be a case of making sure I don’t make any bad jokes, spill a drink, knock something over or just generally do something wrong. As you can tell Im not nervous at all.

Heres my photos from today, enjoy.

– amy and the shop keeper picking up the sweets that amy (or possibly me) knocked over –

– a great shot of a great support system –

– Weatherspoons, six nation rugby, Saturday is sorted –

B258 – IT WAS PERFECT

December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

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.

B258-1 — – the spinning bar at Winter Wonderland –

B258-1-3 — – how good does this look, I wonder how easy it is to make the stuff –