snapshots and observations

Wednesday 31 October 2012

gelupo








at design junction a few weeks ago, i spent a lot of time pestering
the bloke at the gelupo stand.

it was my ambition to get the first flat white from the one-of-a-kind
la marzocco machine.

like my plan to get a pair of air yeezy 2's, i failed.

i did however get to try some of the fantastic gelupo ice cream
i'm not that much of an ice cream fan to be honest, but i had a few samples
of the gelupo stuff and i can honestly say it was magic darts.








loads of different flavours
though obviously i was going to plump for a boring one.








raspberry
because raspberries are good for your...





parcelfarce










typical behaviour from parcelfarce


£16 v.a.t. i can understand. but £8 for telling me i owe £16 v.a.t.

grrr !






my mum









i went to see my mum a couple of weeks ago.
it was the aged relative's birthday so i thought i'd put in an appearance.

fair play to my mum. maybe 15 years ago i made her a birthday card.
well, i got a bit of card, folded it over and did a watercolour painting on it.


she has it framed on a wall in her house alongside some proper watercolours.


bless !







genes










maybe this collecting bearbrick thing is in my genes ?

look what my mum has on display at her place
( ok they're not bearbricks but she has loads of these... i just photographed 3 )


1
i think this is robin hood








2
i'm not sure who this is. perhaps it's one of the three musketeers
being played by donald sinden.








3
no idea.


anyway, what i'm saying is... i blame my mum.






Tuesday 30 October 2012

that's right








regular readers... you guessed right ?

what happened next was...

1









3
like a boss !







converse x schoeller








these are good.

very important shoes for this time of year.

as ever i'm going to start with the tease.
it's a good solid box. nice one converse.








oh no !
another tease
but i wanted to show you one of the converse first string touches.
the drawstring bag.
this is a really nice detail and it's a trick nike have missed.
you can't beat a nice drawstring bag.








tease 3
but this is the king of all drawstring bags.
it's made from a neoprene type material.








the shoes too are made from neoprene
a nice clean silhouette with a neoprene upper.
waterproof... or at least rain proof.








they come with the standard converse first string lace dilemma
three sets of laces.
which would you go with ?
have a guess which ones i went for.








the heel tabs are canvas maybe, but with a waterproof covering
details, details.








on the heel strips are patches to show that these are a collab with schoeller
so there you have it. seriously water resistant trainers. perfect for the 
autumn ( not the fall )
if you can find a pair of these i'd definitely advise you to splash out on them
( leave it )









as for me...
i opted for a dark blue lace.


now bring on the rain.







la marzocco








at design junction the other week there was a very special bit of kit.

it was a la marzocco machine. i was told it was the only one in the country.

matte black.








with a window

so you can see the inside of the machine










or
you could use it as a mirror i suppose.

after almost two whole days fiddling with it, you could also use
it as a coffee machine.

grrr !





Monday 29 October 2012

the girls







i met these two girls briefly when i was on a shoot in new york
a couple of weeks ago.

while i was photographing a certain guitarist, these two were mucking 
about just behind me, taking photos of each other and singing loudly.

using my best hugh grant accent i asked them if they'd mind awfully
if i took a couple of photographs of them.

they didn't, so i did.


1









2
and that's about the end of my story i'm afraid.
as soon as i turned my camera on them, they started behaving
nicely, just posing and smiling.


regular readers can probably guess what happened next... right ?











39 square meter cafe








one evening in beijing, the team were walking back to the hotel after
a meal when i spotted some interesting items through the window
of a tiny coffee shop.

unfortunately the shop was closing but the manager let me take
a few photographs as he was tidying up.

the reason i wanted to take photos was because the items on display
were rare. extremely rare 400% bearbricks.


1
they were set back in little alcoves in the walls and were behind pretty thick glass.








2
i'd never seen these in real life before. they are perhaps the rarest of all
bearbricks.
they are called karimoku editions and they are hand made from solid wood.
not only are these karimoku bearbricks but they are kaws versions too.








3
these three are regular karimoku editions








4
maybe these don't look much here, but in real life you can see the craftsmanship
in them. they look really, really nice.








5
hmmm... i'm not a transformers fan but these things are pretty decent too
( they are transformers right ? )








6
i think this one was a 1000%  but i honestly can't remember.

all i remember was the place was closing for the night and the next morning we flew 
back to london.

the place was called 39 square meter cafe and it was a 5 minute walk from
the opposite house.

if you're in beijing and you fancy a coffee in a real one-off joint i recommend
you search it out.




oh and in case you were wondering how much one of the karimoku
kaws bearbricks would cost, brace yourself....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWS-400-Wood-WWT-Bearbrick-Wooden-Japan-Karimoku-NEW-/320955288039?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item4aba6d09e7










Sunday 28 October 2012

behind the scenes in a hot, hot kitchen









this was a couple of months ago, in beijing.
out of shot on the left is a big peking duck oven.

it's an open oven with a massive fire inside.

what i'm trying to say is... it was hot.

i can't show you the photos i took there, but i can show you this frame
i took after taking a few steps back.

the bloke in the middle is preparing the ducks.
in front of him is a trough which contained duck heads.

on the left is the boss.
fair play to the boss. she's standing right next to the oven here
so i know the side of her face must be burning. the floor is slippery
and she's wearing miu miu heels. 

pretty difficult working conditions, but she handled it... 

like a boss !










elephant








looking down at my footwear today
nike af-1 i.d's

elephant print

Saturday 27 October 2012

the view of capri from ana capri ( 10 iphone shots )








another cheap panoramic shot today.
this is an effort i did when i was in ana capri and looking down at capri town.

i think it's about 10 iphone shots.







snowflakes











hmmm...











Friday 26 October 2012

pinch and roll ( n7 version )








i decided to try the pinch and roll
but i think i'll stick with the turn up in future.

three spare photos from china







to be honest i may well find some more spare pics from china
over the next week or so, but here are three i just found.


1
the opposite house hotel exterior.
( i love this hotel )








2
the door to my room at the opposite house 








3
some duck's feet in a dish.


what ?




j-ro in w1 ( photos by me )








this was maybe a month ago now
j-ro on location at sketch, w1.










me in w1 ( photo by j-ro )








this was maybe a month ago now


j-ro took this shot in the bathroom at sketch, w1

polo shirt by aape
jeans by hiut
af-1's by nike





queue









this is a tricky photo to show you on this blog format.
you really need to see it bigger.

perhaps if you click on it or double-click it will look a little better ?


basically it's the queue outside of design junction on opening night.

as i left i took a series of shots with my phone then joined them together
( cheaply ) in photoshop.

maybe you had to be there ?





pinch and roll








a friend of mine does a thing with his trousers.
it's called the pinch and roll.

i think he said it's a south london thing from back in the day.

a few weeks ago, we were having a coffee in w1 and i asked him to show
me the technique.

so here it is, a step by step.


1
you turn up you trousers. one turn.







2
then pinch the edge and bring it forward.








3
swing it in an anti-clockwise direction keeping it tight to the ankle.








4
then start rolling upwards.








5
er...








6
er...








7
and just keep rolling i guess.








8
and there you have it.
in fairness it looks pretty good on him.

maybe i should give it a try ?




Thursday 25 October 2012

on the great wall of china









on the great wall of china i saw a model and a few chancers
attempting to do a bit of a photo shoot.
they were struggling though, due to the heat, the bright light
and too many australian tourists.








the model was doing that thing that most models do...
messing about with her mobile








however she did look up and give me a bit of a smile when she saw i had a camera.
i took one shot, said thank-you, then carried on with the team walk along the wall.








a little while later as i was walking back to the cable car ( that's right )
i bumped into her and her crew again
once more she gave me a bit of a smile.
( i just noticed that the boss's boss is in the background of this shot, and also
i think that's the boss in the background on the left )








a few steps on i bumped into one of the assistants who was using a big
reflector to shelter from the hot sun
at least i think that's what she was doing.
perhaps she just couldn't put it away properly ?