snapshots and observations

Thursday 30 June 2011

splitscreen: a love story








please watch this short film.
not only is it a fantastic idea, great little story and has sweet music...
but it was all filmed on a nokia mobile phone.




plus the director has a welsh sounding name.

waiting for the food








i had a food shoot in a restaurant in knightsbridge this morning.

while waiting for the first dish to turn up i spotted a union jack...
... well only one thing could possibly happen next.


that's right. i gave a camera to my assistant and struck a pose.
hmmm... not bad, but i'd prefer to look a little angrier...








ah... that's better
not bad at all.








i then thought i should have an upright shot of me saluting.
i passed on my request to my assistant ( j-ro ) and...
yeah... i think what i'm saying here is:
"the camera strap... can't you see the camera strap ?"








the technical problem was soon sorted and...
you beauty !








in fairness, j-ro is more comfortable on the other side of the camera
cheers j-ro. nice working with you again.




on my coffee table this week








listening, watching and reading...









cd: one night in tokyo - chet baker
a 2 cd set of chet baker playing live in tokyo.
this is one of his last recordings and features a beautiful 8 minute version of 'almost blue'
almost worth the price just for that one track, though it does feature a number of
other classics including 'my funny valentine'








dvd: oss 117: cairo nest of spies
the first of two parody movies of the french james bond.
made in 2006... amazing !








book: doctor in the swim by richard gordon
because i always judge a book by it's cover









charade









charade.
one of my top 5 films of all time.
great theme tune, great opening credits.


the greatest film hitchcock never made.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

as ever...







it wouldn't be a saturday for me if i didn't take a photo of the post office tower.


this was taken from the forecourt of a petrol station where i was filling up the jam jar.

sunny times in w1.




in an art gallery in dover street








i saw this bad boy the other day.

at first i thought it was an oriental antique type thing...
but heck no... it's a wedding tribute / piece of art. 
personally i'd rather have a plate, but i do kind of like it.




paul








do you like paul ? 
you know, the french coffee / cake / bread place...

i'm in two minds about paul to be honest. they do some tasty things
but sometimes their queuing, method of getting served and offhand staff
behaviour really gets on my nerves.

there's nothing like trying to order a slice of tart and a coffee in paul
to make you feel like you don't speak the language of the country you're in.

after linguistical difficulties, shoulder shrugging and much pointing, i finally
brought a slice of lemon tart and a flat white to my table on saturday afternoon...
the cake and coffee were great, but the struggle to actually order it
and receive it puts paul way down my list of places to visit.




Tuesday 28 June 2011

n7 v sw3








on friday morning i had a shoot in sw3. ( not one of my favourite postcodes )
here are a few behind the scenes efforts...



firstly, me shooting interiors with my leica m9









holly the pr girl listening as i tell her why the main shot of the day won't be happening.









 artist descending a staircase









and finally...
there's always time for a self-portrait, you know that by now.
check out n7's finest... both wearing air force 1's.

boom !



film opening sequences.









ok, here's the first in a series of my favourite film opening sequences.

this sets the scene perfectly for oss 117 lost in rio.
one man ( who loves himself ) lots of girls and a great song.



if you haven't seen the film... yes, i recommend it. it's very me.





Monday 27 June 2011

department of coffee and social affairs








i just received an email from tim at d.o.c.a.s.a. saying that he'd put some
of my photos up on their blog.
have a butchers...



but more importantly, if you're in the area, drop by and have a drink.
top place, top people, top coffee.



checking the silver








when we finished shooting at little venice the other day
g-fog came over to pack up the kit, wrestling with her lastolite as she walked along.









as she packed it away her face lit up and i took another quick frame
hmmm...









it struck me that a posed shot was in order so i took one last frame
as she held the lastolite just out of view
... and then it started to rain...





n7 - w2 - x100









three frames from a little shoot in little venice


thanks to ash for setting this up, to mohammed for posing, 
to g-fog for assisting and thanks to the great british weather for 
pouring down on us about 30 seconds after i took these shots.



Sunday 26 June 2011

x100 depth of field








 the mount street deli, saturday afternoon.

waiting for my coffee to arrive i took this shot of the bottles of water lined up
along the length of the back wall table.
using my fujifilm x100, this was taken with the iso set at 200
1/15th sec at f2

alas the coffee was not photogenic enough for my liking.






table








i had an interesting shoot on tuesday... photographing a table.

it was a bespoke piece especially designed to fit into a tight space and to
comfortably seat 4 people.










the designer asked me to shoot some of the table in situ and also to
pick up on a few details... the oak wood grain, the curves etc









as you know, i do like a bit of wood
and this was a corking little table with lots of good angles to shoot...








hmmm... perhaps, not this angle though.
then again... my blog, my rules.





Saturday 25 June 2011

look who's back









i set up a very moody self-portrait during a shoot yesterday
perfect.








then into frame there emerged another character...
look who's back.






n7








that's right...


n7 reunited.


Friday 24 June 2011

the nordic bakery








it's been a while since i've given my custom to the nordic bakery.
it's not as if i've got the hump with them, i've just found myself working in 
different areas of london recently.

hats off to the nordic though. they do what they do extremely well.

1. a short latte
it's a good effort as they use the same amount of coffee as their usual lattes
but served in a smaller glass with less milk.








2. ham and cheese sandwich
( with a sneaky bit of mustard )




tallulah lingerie









if you're ever in islington and fancy buying some lingerie...

here's my friend nicola in her boutique, tallulah.
it's a great little place and i recommend you drop by.








i did some photography for tallulah a couple of days ago. mainly interiors,
but also a few shots of nicola. here's another effort.









this is the look she gives me every time i try to pay for something at her shop.
it's understandable as i always try to pay using my oyster card.








here's another shot of her sitting in one of the changing rooms
i thought this needed something else in the frame to be honest.








ah... that's better !
much better !



if you can't get to sunny islington then you could always check out the website


they do mail order ( but don't try paying with an oyster card )




Thursday 23 June 2011

the marky diet









starter:
salami and mozzerella toasted foccacia








main course:
flat white








dessert:
lemon cake


any questions ?




a few food photos








these food photos have been in my blog folder for ages.


1. maybe this was at the criterion ?
obviously i'm not sure about the green thing.








2. i'm fairly sure this was at the criterion
i do like the odd scallop based starter... my favourite was at a place called 'alfred'
where i had a starter of scallops, black pudding and pea puree.
here i'm concerned about what the scallop is sitting on.








3. definitely at the criterion
i'm pretty sure the closest scoop is absinthe and champagne sorbet.








4. this was at yauatcha early one morning
no idea what it is though.








5. but i do like those little orange balls









6. this was at yauatcha too.
once again i don't have a danny la rue what it is, but in my book* anything
sitting on green stuff is something i steer clear of.



www.criterionrestaurant.com

www.yauatcha.com



* i don't like eating green stuff by mark whitfield / n7 publishing








Wednesday 22 June 2011

what the what ?!








what is it with young lads today ?

don't they know how to pull up a pair of jeans ?

look at the state of this kid at the nordic bakery yesterday.
the blue bit above his jeans is arse cheek.
he couldn't even walk properly never mind order a coffee.







then his mate walked in... 
the second lad had no problem pulling his jeans up properly. 
they fitted him perfectly.

what ?



complex magazine best 25 bespokes








take a look at this:

complex magazine's choice of the best 25 bespokes.

there are some cracking shoes in their top 25, but hand on heart i do think
either of my two efforts beat some of the designs chosen.
what do you think ?










problems.





support japan








i went to the monocle shop again on sunday.

they still have a few limited edition leather bracelets available








go on... it's a good cause...
and it's a pretty sweet bracelet too.


in fact the monocle shop is a cracking little place if you're ever in the
marrowbone area ( as the iphone predictive text likes to call it )