snapshots and observations

Sunday 30 September 2012

pizza eating ( iphone pic )









this is how i deal with pizzas 
it's my style... little johnny straight hair... the crust-leaver








mr bacon ( iphone pics )








did i ever tell you that i bought my first pair of spectacles back in 1998 ?

did i ever tell you that i first started needing to wear spectacles in 2008 ?

the thing is / was that i do like spectacles very much and although there's 
not much wrong with my mince pies, i have three pairs.

1. the stüssy ( michael ) pair i bought in new york in 1998
 2. a pair of tom ford ( cary ) that i bought off ebay in 2009
    3. the stüssy ( mr bacon ) frames i bought in japan in march 

i took the mr bacon stüssy specs to capri with me.
i bought these for two reasons.
1. they look very japanese
2. i love the name mr. bacon








oh... they look pretty decent too
and enable me to see close-up.


( oh and they also helped me to knock out a cheap blog post on the road to 1000 )







stüssy x original fake swim shorts ( iphone pic )









my swimwear... well, hanging by the poolwear of choice in capri
were these black stüssy x original fake efforts. 
for those who are interested in these things, i would have to say the final
score by the capri palace hotel pool was:
stüssy x original fake 1
vilebrequin 9

seriously. i would say 9 out of 10 blokes i saw either by the pool or beach club
was wearing vilebrequin shorts.
in fairness, some of them looked really nice ( the shorts not the blokes )




Saturday 29 September 2012

strong look ( iphone pic )








there were some belting shops in capri town.
i bought a very decent prada jacket which i'll be debuting at the
arsenal v chelsea game later today.

mrs w bought some very nice rhythms from dolce and gabanna too.

yes, capri is a great little place to treat yourself to some nice pieces.

but...

hmmm... not all of the shops were on the ball. look at this window display.
that's a strong look right there.

too much pastel for my liking. i couldn't very well walk around n7 looking
like that. i'm not convinced the two-shirt look will ever come into fashion
and i'm hopeful that the rolled up jacket sleeves will only ever be seen again
when i invent a time machine.
two belts too ?

hmmm...






first espresso in capri ( iphone pic )








as you know, if there's one thing i love it's a nice pair of af-1's.

but if there's two things i love...

coffee !

in italy there was as much chance of a flat white as there was of john terry...
( oh you can finish that line by yourselves right ? )

anyway... double espresso time.
boom !






forbidden to get ( the road to 1000 )









nothing like a bad bit of translation to make a cheap blog post
on my traditional race to reach 1000 posts in a year.

this bad boy was on a gate by the chair lift in ana capri
perfect.







holiday shoes ( iphone pics )









as my o.c.d. gets worse ( or is it better ? )
i find my ability to pack a suitcase or bag gets better ( or even better )

for a week in capri i took just one piece of hand baggage.

a week away and only one piece of hand baggage meant i would 
have to think long and hard about footwear.

in the end, though it hurt me not to take a pair of af-1's, i settled
on just two pairs of shoes


1
fast becoming my 'resort wear' shoes of choice
( see my trip to thailand back in january )
adidas x colette century lows... nice and white but with a bit of style
and rare enough that they come with a 99% assurance that nobody else 
in capri will have a pair.








2
a last minute decision. i was given these just hours before i headed off.
100 club x converse special editions.

i wanted to take a pair of black shoes, plus they had to be light and squashable
if you know what i mean ?
these looked nicely smart enough ( they are pretty much just plain black )
but they have nice little details like the black on black 100's on the canvas
and the red 100 club tongue tabs.

i was also pretty sure that nobody else on capri would be sporting these.


are you bored enough now ?
maybe tomorrow i'll show you the contents of the bag i'd take down to the 
swimming pool every day ?




Friday 28 September 2012

first thing i ate in italy ( iphone pic )








at naples i had to wait for an hour for the boat to capri to turn up.

i passed the time by sitting at a nearby cafe and doing a bit of people watching.

there was a footy match in naples later that day so i had a great time watching the
italian footy fans. also the place was full of tourists waiting for various boats and ferries
to capri so the hour passed pretty quickly.

i also tucked in to my first bit of italian food.


i can't remember what it was called but maybe it was a panini napolitana ?

as you can imagine, it was the panini on offer that had the highest content
of meat and cheese, yet contained no vegetables.

it was also too hot to hold unless i'd brought along my bape asbestos
panini gauntlets... which i hadn't.




iphone photos warning / bad book warning








while i play catch-up with my blog you will have to excuse me while
i sneak in quite a few posts using iphone photos over the next week or so.

let's start off by showing photos from my little trip to the isle of capri.

in fact no... let's start with a photo i took the night before i headed
to capri. a photo i took at the airport when i was looking for a book
to read by the pool.

i had a certain book in mind... w.h. smith had a different idea about
what i should be reading.
is there any chance ?







best seat in the house ( iphone pics )









everybody likes to see a nice bathroom in a hotel or restaurant right ?

in fact there's a book called "restroom" that has some of my photos
in it, which is as you can guess, a book all about nice restrooms*

the other week in a new restaurant in ec2 i was advised to take a look
at something the builders had left in the gents... 

what ?


here it is
oh come on... it's a thing of beauty








check out the control panel
outstanding !








and another look
oh my word.

best bog ever.




self-portrait with j-ro in w1









as you can see, this was a tricky one to set-up.

we are in the bathrooms of a restaurant here.
my camera is balancing on a sink and no, we couldn't
take a step further back.
( and yes i pulled her up about the climbing boots )








Thursday 27 September 2012

captain, leader, legend.








guilty

leftover photos








as regular readers will know. i occasionally tidy up my blog folder
and publish a post with no central theme, just a few leftover photos
that for some reason didn't make it into previous posts.

here we go.




1
murcilla de leon at fernandez and wells lexington street.









2
a double exposure self-portrait attempt in ec2








3
the shoes of dadydav in w1
( note the carolina blue jumpman )








4
my footscapes on the mosaic floor of the bapestore in beijing








5
all partied out.
finalhome in room 404 at the opposite house beijing.








6
admiring the oddness of my htm flyknits in beijing








7
mail from hong kong








8
you'll never guess.








9
a place setting in ec2








10
trying on my 100 club edition converse at whitfield towers just before
heading off to italy










self-portrait in ec2









by now you must know me pretty well.

things i like are these:
trainers, coffee, postcodes, the colour orange, wood, chips and...

...self-portraits ( mainly looking moody in self-portraits )

whenever i'm on a shoot, i always try to find time to shoot a self-portrait.

one day last week i had a shoot in ec2.
it was a crispy morning in n7 when i left whitfield towers.
i actually had a shoot before this one ( see self-portrait in wc1 )
and as you can see, i wore a long sleeve black top by a bathing ape.

it turned out to be a schoolboy error. about an hour after i left, the weather became
warmer and warmer and by the time i was on this shoot i was...
( insert john terry / notting hill carnival gag here )


what i'm saying is... there's a change in the weather eh ?

autumn.












d-rose









i haven't really followed basketball since the days when the chicago bulls used to have scottie pippin, horace grant, tony kukoc ( the croatian sensation ) and some other bloke
who's name escapes me but he used to be no. 23 and he was quite good.

i don't even know who this bloke d-rose is...

but i love this advert.



nice one adidas.

good luck d-rose.





Wednesday 26 September 2012

hey joe









hey joe









where you goin' with that coffee in your hand ?
right ?








oh suit yourselves...








another day,
another flat white.


( with thanks to joe at fernandez and wells )






art








art
the full story on this will be revealed in a few weeks time







behind the scenes with j-ro









i had a couple of shoots with j-ro last week.

as ever, i tried to grab a few sneaky shots to show you a bit of 
behind the scenes type stuff.



1
standing in for the chef in ec2








2
helping light the chef in ec2








3
practicing her ballet moves in w1








4
giving me the signature j-ro look in w1





self-portraits in wc1








i was kicking around at design junction a fair bit last week.
did you go ?

there were some great designs there, plus
fernandez and wells had a very special coffee shop so i was laughing*

naturally enough i was always on the lookout for a place to shoot a 
self-portrait or two and on the modus stand i found just the spot.
these high backed sofas are great looking efforts, plus one of them was in
my favourite colour... orange.









i like that when you sit on one you are almost in your own little world.
they will also work well as a kind of room divider.

they were designed by michael sodeau and if you like the look of them
you can probably see them at the modus showroom.





*this is only a saying, i still looked pretty miserable of course






Tuesday 25 September 2012

self-portrait in wc1









the second day after i got back from italy i had a shoot in wc1
i took this with my leica m9 and i have my lumix gx1 slung over my shoulder.
the t-shirt is a special japanese earthquake charity t-shirt by supreme.
hiut jeans are looking after my legs ( wales' finest... the jeans not my legs )
 i'm sporting in boot leather nike air force 1's
and i'm fuelled by a flat white from this fine pop-up coffee shop.













aape coin purse








do you know about the new diffusion line of clothing / accessories from
my favourite japanese brand a bathing ape ?

it goes by the slightly odd name "aape"

you may have noticed i mentioned it in the post of shame a little while ago.

anyway, when i was in beijing a few weeks back, i made a sneaky aape purchase 

it's a coin purse








as ever with bape products, the quality is spot-on.
it's made from a decent material and the zip has a padded tag attached
though i'm not sure about the name, i do like the aape logo
and also the fact that the clothes and accessories are all a lot cheaper
than standard bape releases yet seem to be just as well made.








here's a shot of inside the coin purse
hmmm... maybe you can't see here but the inside has a little pocket
as well as the aape logo tag.

all in all, this is a cracking little purchase. i might keep it in my camera bag
with a few essentials inside it. or maybe in my jam jar with a load of pound coins.

if you type in aape on ebay you will be sure to find these available.

would i recommend you buy one ?
yes.




test shots in ec2









last week i had to shoot some portraits of a very famous japanese chef.

while he was putting on his jacket i asked one of the girls who work at
the restaurant to stand in for him while i sorted out the lighting.


here's one of the test shots









and here's another effort
the girl kind of reminded me of somebody
( this always happens to me when i shoot portraits )


anyway the lighting looked fine and a few minutes later i was trying to 
tell a chef with 7 michelin stars how to pose like a boss via a translator.

good times in ec2





j-ro in ec2 with reflectors







j-ro in ec2 with reflectors...
that was supposed to be a bit like 'lucy in the sky with diamonds'
but it didn't quite work eh ?














Monday 24 September 2012

loose stools









what ?
a few vintage artek stools at design junction in wc1













the opposite house ( girl's uniforms )









the other day i showed you a little bit of the boy's uniforms at the
opposite house in beijing.
today i have a couple of photos of the girls.

1
maybe i need to show you photos of the hotel first ?
this big wall made from drawers and perspex, divides the lobby of
the opposite house. on one side is a lounge / check in area while on the other is
a bar, the lifts, art installations and a restaurant.

anyway, as you can see, the girls are a little smarter than the boys but still
nicely casual.








2
check in and check out at the opposite house is not done at a desk.
it's done sitting on sofas or in this case standing up, by girls using i-pads.


by the way, see the background on the right hand side ?
it was a very strange art installation. i'll show you some photos
of it in a week or so ( when i finally catch up with my blog folder )






r-1 and r-2







this is a few weeks back now.

before i went to beijing, r-1 and r-2 popped over to whitfield towers
to say hello and of course to pose for a few photos.

naturally enough i insisted on getting in on a few shots.



me with r-1
good work from r-1 here. it's all about the misery








me with r-2
perhaps r-2 is looking for help here... how to look miserable for the camera.








me with r-1 and r-2
she couldn't hack it though... 
i just think she's too japanese for the serious pose thing. 

still, at least she didn't make the peace sign with her fingers so that's a start.


good to see you r-1 and r-2.


until next time.