stel and the sweatshirt

my assistant stel as you may have noticed, has quite a bit of style about her.

on every shoot she's assisted on so far, she's worn a little dress and some heels.

the other day i asked her if she ever wears jeans and a sweatshirt.

she replied that she wore jeans once when she was a kid, but she's never worn

a sweatshirt.

hmmm...

so when we got back to n7 after our shoot i asked stel if she'd like to try on some
 of my sweatshirts and pose for a few pics... she said yes.

here's one of the shots

( it's an original fake sweatshirt by the way )








and here's another shot

( it's a bathing ape sweatshirt by the way )

and finally...

well what did you expect ?

i like stel. she's a cracking assistant and she likes to pose too... which is a bonus.

interiors part 2

more interiors i've shot over the past few months, mainly for magazines.

1.

this place is called 'massimo'

i think this was the first frame i took and i felt like i could quite easily pack up after this one shot. if you had to sum up a place with one photo, this would be the one that summed up

massimo.

i did another 60-odd frames though and edited them down to 18 images which i submitted

to the magazine... and yes, this is the frame they printed.

2.

kerbisher & malt.

a fish and chip shop in hammersmith.

great place, great plaice ( grrr ! - ed )

3.

another view of kerbisher and malt, this time from the serving hatch out to the dining area.

4.

southernhay house.

this is a corking little hotel in exeter. 

i think the staff all called me 'sir'

outstanding !

5.

the cut on park lane.

a multi million pound restaurant design.

the biggest collection of damian hirst originals outside of an art gallery, anywhere in the world... and my main memory of the shoot ?

it rained like no rain i've ever seen in my life while i was in here.

the kind people at this new hotel even gave me an umbrella for the 50 yard

walk to my jam jar afterwards. top people, top place.

6.

casa batavia.

not a great angle to illustrate the restaurant but the little cartoons on the wall...

well for me, they sum up the place. they also seem to be based on the owner / chef.

7.

cay tre.

a vietnamese joint in soho.

this was one of the quickest shoots ever because it was about a hundred yards from 

'supreme' which had opened the day before and i was in a rush to get into the queue

to buy some box logo t-shirts.

i was in such a rush that i even turned down the offer of a coffee !

oh dear.

8.

the hardwick.

it's near abergavenny. it's in wales. it's great.

9.

ducksoup.

it's in soho and it's next door to cay tre.

it has 6 tables and seating at the bar.

it seemed to be the coolest little joint to open in a while, and the critics

raved about it. 

more tomorrow.

kidrobot x staple pigeon figures

the postman was busy at whitfield towers last week.

three pairs of kicks, a camera, two camera straps, some stickers and...

hmmm...

enough of the tease, let's open up the box...

and inside were two boxes

one containing the original version

and the other containing the limited edition 'albino' version

opening up the first box...

very nice. the grey pigeon was i believe a limited edition of 200

signed on the wing by the man himself... jeff staple

and dated 2011

of course the bird came with it's usual accessory

pigeon poop !

the person i bought these off also included

a couple of postcards which advertised the drop and the signing

a key ring

and a key cover

oh, the white pigeon was also signed on the wing by jeff staple

supposedly there are only 85 of the 'albino pigeon' in the world

and probably only one of them in n7

i like jeff staple. sure maybe he's flogging the whole pigeon thing a bit much

nowadays but he's not just a one trick pony unlike say...

... well, you know... a certain 'designer' or 'artist' who thinks he owns the double 'x'

anyway there you have it... a couple of very important pieces now in place at whitfield towers.

interiors

i know, i know... i've been killing the blog recently with self-portraits

and photos of my assistant stel.

the reason is that i've had a crazy busy couple of weeks and more or less

done nothing other than work. no lounging around drinking coffee, no sketching 

around soho or the west end shopping and people watching.

luckily enough a couple of pairs of af-1's arrived last week to break it up

but now i'm looking at what i can post and in my blog folder all i have are shots

of stel and me.

so how about i take a break from showing nonsense and post some of my work ?

today and maybe for the next two days, let me show you some interiors i've

photographed over the past few months. maybe i'll add a few words too.

ok, let's start...

1.

spuntino. 

i think this is my favourite restaurant of the year. i also reckon i've eaten here more

 than any other place this year, and i've always enjoyed it. 

the owner is a very nice chap, the staff are friendly and polite.

have you been yet ? why not ?

2.

the corner room at viajante.

i would have to call the area a bit scratchy but this restaurant and the building

it's in are both beautiful. i like that they filled in a bit of space by hanging a

load of old lights. it works very nicely.

3.

see what happens when you have unfriendly staff ?

you can have one of the most beautifully designed restaurants going.

one of the most talented chefs in the country...

but my main memory of rocksalt in folkestone is that the staff were surly

and that they hung around making themselves coffees, stood in my way drinking 

yet never offered me one.

so instead of saying something positive about this place, all i have to say is that 

the staff put me off ever going back, or recommending it to anybody.

4.

the gilbert scott.

i think this got a pretty average review in the magazine i shot it for.

i can report though that it's a spectacular room in a spectacular hotel.

friendly staff too ( yes, they gave me a coffee )

5.

cassis.

friendly and stylish place near knightsbridge.

great art on the walls and they do good coffee !

6.

barbecoa.

beautifully designed place with corking views.

it's jamie oliver's steak joint by the way.

7.

the prince of wales.

it's south of the river !

( but it does great scotch eggs )

8.

galoupet.

it's just around the corner from harrods and it had wine vending machines !

it was also the first place i'd photographed where the owner asked me

"would you like a flat white ?"

9.

the shed.

it's in porthgain, wales.

it kind of looks like a shed doesn't it ?

i had without doubt the best fish and chips of my life here.

more interiors tomorrow.

good cop, bad cop.

not since g-fog left n7 for sunnier climes have i done the old 

'good cop, bad cop' routine with an assistant.

however, stel is getting used to me now. learning my ways, getting used to

my stories, my music and my love of looking moody in a self-portrait.

in fairness she likes posing for the camera as much as i do so the other day

we gave it the old routine...

good cop, bad cop... n7's finest.

friday at 9pm on bbc-2

self-portrait in sw1

i've been boring you with a lot of self-portraits recently haven't i ?

it used to be that i would shoot one every now and then,

but nowadays i pretty much insist on knocking out a self-portrait

on every single shoot that i do.

this past week has been very busy for me so therefore i've got to show

you more than the usual amount of self-portraits.

this one i did on saturday... yes saturday.

( i think it was my 7th shoot in 7 days )

it was in a restaurant in sw1

i took it using a 16mm lens on a leica m9

using an exposure of 1 second at f5.6

the details:

white t-shirt by supreme / hanes

grey cashmere top by marc jacobs

no.3 jeans by evisu

red and green striped 'd' belt by gucci

n7 bespoke air force 1's by nike

panerai luminor gmt

oh... and pale blue socks by burlington

i think that's about all you need to know.

supreme t-shirt for the japan earthquake relief

i've been meaning to show this t-shirt to you for ages.

i bought it a few months ago. it's a supreme box logo t-shirt made

to raise money for the japan earthquake fund.

the supreme box logo is nicely tailored with a japanese touch.

and there's a little detail printed on the back too

good old supreme. a lot of the japan earthquake charity tees were a bit

shoddy in my opinion... but i think supreme did well here.

a good cause and a good t-shirt.

self-portrait in n1

early this morning i had a shoot in a restaurant in n1

by now you must know what's coming ?

to be honest i wasn't that happy with this angle so as the shoot progressed

i kept an eye out for another opportunity.

i thought this view looked good so i lined up the camera.

there was nobody about so i put the self-timer on for 12 seconds and...

i didn't realise until i got home and edited the shots, that while i was 

hitting my pose, the girl who was setting up the place came along and

sneaked into frame. fair play to her, she kept still for the long exposure too.

i don't know what she's wearing but my details were:

polo top by bape

jeans by evisu

eddie cruz western edition af-1's by nike

the girl who crept into frame here also made me a fantastic coffee later...

what a girl !

footwear for photography

when i'm working, my footwear of choice is usually a pair of nike af-1's

stel on the other hand... well she usually opts for something quite different

fair play to her.

you don't know me at all

i've had this song in my head for days now... i've also been craving karaoke.
( my favourite karaoke songs are duets by the way )

do you think any places have this on their system ? i do feel like giving it a go.

i prefer the studio recording of this song, but this live version is pretty good too.

also is it me or does regina spektor remind you of mel from 'flight of the conchords' ?

nike air force 1 i.d's

here are the other pair of i.d's i designed a few weeks ago.

you can almost feel the heat trying to get out of the box can't you ?

and here they are

the tip, the toe box, the eye stay the mid panel and the foxing are all in

a claret coloured luxury suede. the tongue is in pale blue leather.

the swoosh is in a pale blue suede ( these are pretty much west ham colours )

the shoe sits on a sail midsole with claret stitching and trim

and of course, a gum bottom

laces are a rich yellow... maybe an old gold colour

i opted to have the tips in gold rather than silver

the sock liners are in claret

with the special i.d. insoles

the heel tabs are in pale blue suede

with the same colour stitching on the nike air and swoosh

as you may know, i prefer the heel tabs to be blank and this was the closest

i could get to achieving that.

the hang tag is in gold with claret suede

representing n7

i got the spare laces in the same colour blue as used on the shoes

i'm not sure which laces to go with to be honest but once they're laced

the way i like them these are going to be a big on the streets of n7 this season.

so there you have it. if you like what i've done with these two pairs let me know.

and if you fancy a go at designing some kicks for yourself, why not 

check out the nike id website or better still make an appointment at niketown

london and design yourself some af-1's

out-take

here's an out-take from a big shoot i did last monday.

maybe i'll leave this frame in the final edit. i think the client will like it.

thanks to michael and eton for the special posing.

nike air force 1 i.d's

remember i designed a couple of pairs of air force 1's at niketown

a few weeks ago ?

http://markwhitfieldphotography.blogspot.com/2011/10/friday-at-niketown.html

well yesterday the postman rang... twice.

being a bit of a tease, and also because i'm also desperate to hit the 1000 

blog posts this year, i'll just show you one pair today.

i told you i was a tease...

inside the box... special nike i.d. paper and the usual af-1 certificate

and here's the fire that was inside the box

premium soft black leather used on the tip, the toe box, the eye stay,

the mid panel, the foxing and the tongue.

the swoosh is in a limited edition grey chenille

and i opted to have red laces as my first choice

they sit on a pale grey midsole

and a gum outsole

the heel tabs are in pale grey leather with grey stitching

they didn't have the option to leave the heel tabs blank.

the sock liner is in black

with a special air force '82 i.d. insole

the lace tips i chose to get in silver colour

but, strangely enough... they are plastic not metal.

the ability to personalise the hang tag was a nice gesture...

i went with 'representing n7'
though i did seriously think about getting 'like a boss'








oh, the spare laces...

seeing as i have spare laces in most colours, i opted for this purple / plum / pink
pair... well, you never know.








so there they are

these are most certainly a problem.

i'm toying with the idea of removing the pale grey tongue tabs or maybe
even colouring them black ( i wasn't able to get them in black during the build
as the tongue tab automatically goes the same colour as the swoosh.

still, they look and feel incredible. once i've sorted out the tongue tabs and
laced them properly i'll be bringing some much needed heat to the streets
of n7.