mark whitfield photography

self-portrait in w1

2012-01-30T07:29:00.001Z

on my first day back in london i had a shoot in a restaurant in w1.

i would say roughly 10 minutes into the shoot i saw the opportunity for

a self-portrait. i was joined by the assistant formerly known as stel.

she was dressed from head to toe in primark's finest.
as for me...
t-shirt by hanes / supreme
trousers by reed space
shoes by nike / liberty
tan by the sun in phuket

eva air food

2012-01-30T07:29:00.000Z

those who have followed my blog over the past two years will know

that i can in no way be described as a fussy eater right ?

i flew to thailand with eva air and although i can honestly say

the service on board was outstanding... i wasn't that impressed with the food.

this was probably the highlight of my main meal on the flight back to london.

having already turned away a massive salad, then politely refused the fennel soup

i was left with two little pieces of garlic bread and a glass of moet.

ok... this quickly turned into 6 glasses of moet, but the drink was absolutely
necessary if i was to sit through the whole of 'stupid crazy love'

if you're travelling between thailand and london i would highly recommend eva air.

and there you have it... the final post from my trip to thailand.

normal service will return in the next post.

finalhome in thailand

2012-01-29T08:30:00.000Z

on the first day in phuket i left my sala unattended for a few minutes

while i went for a swim...

when i returned, who do you think i saw relaxing in my spot?

oh no !

it was finalhome !

helping himself to a drink and lounging around in my sala

he posed up for a photo

but i could tell from his facial expression that he was impatient to hit the hotel
bar and to charge a load of drinks to my room.

later in the afternoon i spotted him asleep on the branch of a tree

and a little while later he was sitting by the pool

trying to get a bit of sun on his back

finalhome is quite a lazy bear

he just likes to drink and sleep... ( and to annoy other holidaymakers )

one day i took him for a walk on the beach

i held him up for a photo in front of the sea

and then i left him to it

after that i didn't see much of him for the rest of the holiday.

i'm sure he was up to no good but generally when i did spot him he was

doing what he does best... lounging

and sleeping

hmmm...

the last time i saw him, one of the staff told me he'd refused to settle his bar bill

and he was being held under house arrest

oh dear !

( he was later deported back to n7 where he is now residing in my camera bag )

more of finalhome's adventures to come at the end of march

( happy ? ) birthday portrait

2012-01-29T08:29:00.000Z

in phuket on 13th january i posed for my official birthday portrait.

as you can see from my playful smile i was in a happy mood.

on a style note, i finally decided to debut my new spectacles while i was

on holiday. they've got a bit of buddy holly about them and that's fine by me.

( you know i'm a bit of a buddy holly fan right ? )

also the hair police might want to issue a warrant for the arrest of my quiff.

it's getting a little bit out of control these days... still, it was on holiday.

leicester city ? ( iphone pic )

2012-01-28T08:10:00.001Z

what the what ?!

the biggest team in thailand... leicester city !

at bangkok airport only one english team has it's own shop... the foxes !

er...

the final breakfast

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000Z

for my final breakfast in phuket i opted for steak and egg

the fried egg was perched on top of a portion of mashed / fried potatoes.

it was absolute genius... like a diamond bullet through the temple.

steak, egg, potatoes.

and all was good in my world.

girl on a swing

2012-01-27T08:03:00.002Z

you know full well that i wanted to call this post "the odd couple"

or "the beauty and the beast" but that seemed a bit cheeky so i didn't.

the thing is... there was a couple staying at the same resort as me

and to cut a long story short, she was skinny as you like... you know,

really skinny and he... well he wasn't.

honestly, it's not just me being nosey, everybody would double take them as they

walked by. the bloke was by far the biggest bloke there and she was the skinniest.

i always wanted to take a photo of them as they walked by but it seemed a bit rude.

but one evening i was sitting with a beer getting ready for the sunset and they

walked in front of me. she got on a swing and he started pushing her.

i only took two shots as it seemed a bit cheeky, and even then i took

them off the hip so hopefully the other people nearby couldn't tell i was

'papping' them.

anyway, maybe it's not much of a story. maybe you had to be there to

find it interesting, but what i would say is... it's quite a nice photo isn't it ?

happy holiday

2012-01-27T08:03:00.000Z

another pic of me bringing a little bit of n7 happiness to phuket

shirt by dolce and gabanna

trousers by dave's quality meat

shoes by nike / liberty

more iphone breakfast pics

2012-01-27T08:02:00.000Z

i pretty much worked my way through the sala phuket breakfast menu

over the past two weeks. my favourite had to be the steak and eggs

but there were days when i just wasn't feeling hungry at breakfast.

on days like those, i opted for the n7 special... 2 poached eggs on brown toast.

of course it wasn't much like the n7 version.

here they give you mashed potato with every breakfast.

can you see the indentation in the centre of the mash ?

that's where there was a tomato before i had it removed.

also just one slice of toast... ordinarily this would irk me more than somewhat

but in phuket, the brown bread was massive... almost the size of two

regular slices would be in n7, so i let it pass without complaining.

genius eggs too.

good work sala phuket.

coffee in phuket

2012-01-27T05:03:00.000Z

i was having a nightmare with coffee every breakfast time.

i tried americano, espresso, filter, i was even given my worst enemy

( a latte in a tall glass ) one morning.

after maybe 8 days though i was given this bad boy...

i asked for a strong latte to be served in a cup with an extra shot.

it wasn't quite a flat white, but it was as close as i could hope for.

good coffee times.

strange boat, ship, yacht or whatever it's called.

2012-01-26T06:44:00.001Z

on my last day at sala phuket a very strange looking boat turned up.

ok, boat probably isn't the word is it ? what do you call it ?

a ship ? a yacht ? vessel ?

well i'm no expert but it certainly looked like a strange effort... you know

... the design of it and all that.

the front and the back bits ( bow and stern ? ) seemed to be slanting

in the wrong way... do you know what i mean ?

here's a bit of a pull, where maybe you can see it better

oh, as you can see, after a while the side of the thing opened up and out of it

came two jet-skis and also two motor boats.

it certainly caught the attention of the people at my resort...

...one by one they all got off their loungers and got up to take a look.

and to take photos

so...

... any idea what this thing is ?

and what's the story with the bits sloping the wrong way ?

iphone pics of breakfast in phuket

2012-01-26T06:44:00.000Z

i mentioned last week that part two of my daily breakfast in phuket

consisted of two freshly made doughnuts.

well i only stuck that diet for a couple of days...

...maybe 3 or four days later though i was jonesing for doughnuts at

breakfast-time again, so i got back on the doughnut train. this time however,

i accessorised and teamed them up with some pineapple slices

doughnuts and fruit... perfect.

on occasions i teamed the doughnuts up with pineapple and a cheeky thai banana

i hope you can guage just how small that banana is by the way.

phuket airport

2012-01-26T06:43:00.001Z

on my twice daily walk from the poolside sala to the sea

i never tired of watching the planes come in to land at phuket airport,

i swear it looked like they were landing just at the end of the beach

which seemed to be a ten minute walk away...

... but then the drive to the airport took about 20 minutes.

oh by the way. this is where i stayed:
www.salaresorts.com/phuket/

nearest good coffee to phuket

2012-01-26T06:43:00.000Z

you know i'm a bit fussy about my coffee right ?

well about a week or so into my holiday i decided to check on my iphone

to see where the nearest decent coffee to me was...

grrr !

6,121 miles !

and before any australians start griping, yes it was a london coffee map

and yes i'm sure there are lots of great coffee joints in australia.

in fact let's face it... most of the great coffee joints in london are

australian anyway aren't they ?

frog

2012-01-25T09:31:00.000Z

another night in sala phuket.

another stop by the pond to listen to the frog chorus and to take

a sneaky photo of one of the lads.

asahi beer at sunset

2012-01-25T09:26:00.000Z

although there was plenty of singha and chang kicking around

at the resort in phuket, my choice of evening drink was always asahi.

i like asahi so much that i even took a stroll with my glass one evening

to take a photo of it with the sunset as a backdrop.

just after taking this shot i put my camera where the beer was and

set up the self-portrait which is in the post below...

self-portrait in bangkok 10500

2012-01-25T08:59:00.000Z

a far from satisfactory postcode system in thailand.

i would have preferred it to be bk10500 but never mind.

a couple of mights from the end of my trip to phuket

i posed up for my first self-portrait in two weeks.

top by charles svingholm*

trousers by paul smith

footwear by nike / liberty

spectacles by tom ford

*this top was made especially for me by charles.

he only makes clothes for women ( and for himself )

but after doing a shoot for him he kindly measured me up

and made this top. he also made me a similar top in white

and two pairs of linen trousers... one pair in black, the other white.

yes the sleeves are kind of flared at the end and it is trimmed with lots

of sequins but i think it's a great thing to wear on holiday in thailand.

www.charlessvingholm.com

japanese food in thailand

2012-01-24T09:12:00.000Z

i love thai food. that much has been well established on the streets of n7

( where i am treated like royalty when i make my weekly trip to nid ting )

in fact i rate thai second in my list of favourite foods from countries.

however there's only so much chicken massaman i can take, so one night

last week i ate at a japanese place in patong called "fuji"

it had a queue outside the place which all japofiles ( is that a word ? ) will know,

is a very good sign of japanese food.

after waiting outside for 10 minutes i was seated and given a menu with

photographs of the available dishes... it didn't take long to spot my favourite

the wagamama no.71 !

after necking back a fresh lime juice the 139 turned up

and all was well in my world.

holiday footwear ( part three )

2012-01-24T08:29:00.002Z

i don't think i've ever worn these bad boys in england.

i took them to italy back in september and wore them every day.

now they're my evening footwear of choice in thailand.

nike blazer lows in liberty pattern.

trust me on this matter... they really do look good with a pair of black paul smith lightweight
round the houses...
they also go nicely with a pair of white linen charles svingholm trousers with white sequin belt
but you'll have to take my word on that matter as luckily i don't have any photos of me
dressed from head to toe in white linen with sequin trimmings !

evening at sala phuket

2012-01-23T10:03:00.001Z

i just realised i've haven't shown you any photos of where i'm staying in phuket.

so here's one i took a couple of evenings ago, just before sitting down to some tod mon pla.

the infinity pool just infront of a restaurant staffed by beautiful and friendly locals...

... i know... this photo could have been taken in aberystwyth, but trust me, it's at sala phuket.

frogs

2012-01-23T10:03:00.000Z

for the past 7 or so evenings, i've stopped at a little pond in the hotel grounds

and listened to the frogs chatting away to each other.

some evenings i hear them but don't see them... but other times

i spot one or two of them and i try to take some photos.

here's one little chap sitting by the edge of the pond.

he had a piece of straw on his back by the way.

and here's one i took of a little frog on a tree nearby. i had to use a flash on this one.

if anybody is interested, they were both taken with a lumix gf-1 and a 20mm f1.7 lens

( which plays as a 40mm f1.7 )

breakfast part two

2012-01-22T09:39:00.000Z

for the first two or thre days in phuket, the second phase of my breakfast looked like this.

warm, freshly made doughnuts.

in a few days i'll show you how i fine-tuned this second course of my breakfast

with some pineapple and some skill.

holiday footwear ( part two )

2012-01-22T09:38:00.001Z

the second pair of kicks i brought with me to thailand are these...

my marc newson designed nike zvedochkas.

i always take these with me if i'm going somewhere near the sea

but i've never really appreciated just how great these bad boys are until this holiday.

they are three pairs of shoes in one, but not only that, i would say that the level of

design on these, right down to the smallest detail, is absolutely off the hook.

i'll do a proper post showing what i mean when i'm back in sunny n7.

but for now i'm a bit busy taking my hat off to marc newson...

and wondering where i can pick up another pair of these !

breakfast part one

2012-01-21T09:20:00.000Z

breakfast as it arrived at my table

bacon and cheese omelette with potatoes in the background

then with a little fine tuning...

on go the specially requested portion of baked beans and off goes the tomato

which was sitting menacingly on top of my potatoes.

skill.

holiday footwear ( part one )

2012-01-20T09:29:00.001Z

i travelled, or ( as i've discovered playing scrabble on an ipad which uses a u.s. dictionary )

"traveled" to thailand wearing these bad boys...

one of my two pairs of adidas x colette century lows.
i haven't worn adidas for ages and although i don't like the style of this shoe as much
as i like the adidas superstar or shell-toe, i do like the colette customising on these.

it's a simple enough idea isn't it ? just take an all white pair of century lows...

... and attack them with a fat black felt tip pen.

the dubres and lace tips are a nice touch too

these came with white laces too and a special adidas x colette drawstring bag.

bringing heat ( that wasn't really needed ) to a very hot thailand.

what time is it ?

2012-01-20T09:29:00.000Z

having just watched the hangover 2 before leaving for thailand

i decided to play safe and leave my panerai behind in sunny n7.

so instead, the watch i'm rocking in phuket is...

hmmm...

could it be ?

oh yes...

a birthday present from about 5 years ago

my bapex with purple camo face.

great details on this watch, i especially like that it says 'human made'

instead of 'swiss made'

gucci silicone iphone 4s case

2012-01-19T09:29:00.001Z

my bape iphone case... grrr !

it turned out to be rubbish. it lasted for 30-odd days then it kept peeling

off... well the back bit kept peeling off.

so at heathrow airport last week for the second time in a year i spent a bit of time

shopping at gucci... ( remember the belt i bought on the way to new york in march ? )

and this is what i bought

gucci wouldn't be my first choice of iphone cover but this is pretty decent.

plus it's made from silicone too so it's nice and protective.

they had them in green, red or black by the way

i bought the last one they had left in black.

birthday present

2012-01-19T09:28:00.000Z

i only brought one birthday present to thailand with me... you know, to open on the day.

to give you an indication of scale... it was about the size of a pair of socks.

texture-wise, it felt like a pair of socks wrapped in brown paper...

i was wrong ( and pleasantly surprised )

this is what was inside... some sort of tofu-boy thing.

excellent !

inside the main body of the thing was this really sweet lens cloth

la niña tells me the main bit is for holding a mobile phone or camera.

i like this very much. my appreciation of tofu-boys has been well documented over

the past 2 years and it is perfect for camera bag padding and lens / phone holding ( and cleaning )

thank-you la niña.

thai

2012-01-18T08:12:00.000Z

i'll level with you. this blogging on holiday thing is not going to be very prolific.

you see, i'm simply not taking many photographs.

this is mainly because it's a lazy-ass holiday and every day so far i've just been

sitting by the pool or on the beach, reading and swimming ( not at the same time though )

so the only things i've photographed so far are my holiday footwear, frogs and my breakfasts.

also i'm finding it hard to poke about with my laptop and sketchy wi-fi so i reckon for

the rest of the holiday i'm going to just do one post per day... it may even be one photo per day.

and today's post is this

one of the many bottles of water i've been knocking back while sitting by the pool

reading aberystwyth based novels.

it's not that i find the water interesting but thai writing... wow ! thai writing is great isn't it ?

frog chorus

2012-01-17T10:04:00.000Z

late every evening on my way back to my room i stop at a little pond in the hotel grounds

and listen to the frogs.

on the second night i took a few photos of them with my iphone.

this is probably the best shot i have so far...

i also have a few shots where i used the flash... are frogs made from 3m material by the way ?

breakfast part two

2012-01-16T09:06:00.000Z

every morning so far i've had this for part two of my breakfast

two freshly made doughnuts... mmmm...

breakfast in phuket

2012-01-16T09:05:00.000Z

standard breakfast on 13th january ( my birthday )

a big australian steak and a fried egg.

( fried potatoes came with this but were hidden beneath the egg )

i don't know what the green things on the right hand side are...

some sort of bogus salad which was in the small print of the menu i guess.

packing

2012-01-15T08:52:00.000Z

a few more photos from before i left for phuket.

while i was packing my bag i decided to take some close-ups of what i was taking...

1

vintage stüssy hawaiian shirt. i bought this in singapore in 1996

2

another short sleeve stüssy shirt. this one i bought in san francisco

3

only one man could persuade me to wear sequins.
a shirt made especially for me by charles charlie charles...
the fabulous designer charles svingholm

4

a shirt of great sentimental value. this is a replica of a football shirt that england wore for
just one game. do you know which game ? and who scored the only goal ?

5

a wales away shirt from maybe 6 years ago. this bad boy is box fresh and still has the labels on.

6

og bape camo cargo shorts from back in the day

7

bape black camo cargo shorts from 2010

8

bape black and white summer shorts from a few years back. very nice.

9

evisu hawaiian shirt

10

bape white on white camo polo shirt... should look good with a tan

11

black bape polo shirt... should look good in the evening

12

from maybe 9 years ago... a bape camo short sleeved shirt i bought from the busy worshop.
i've taken this to thailand 5 times already and never worn it.
maybe this time ?

13

and one last item to show... still labelled and fresh

14

flying the flag with a short sleeve supreme box logo tee ( london edition )

ok... that's given me time to acclimatise and take some photos.
the next post will be something from thailand.

the bull and last

2012-01-14T01:37:00.000Z

the last food i had in london before heading for the airport was at the bull and last.

it was a simple three-step manouvre.

scotch egg

a bowl of ( triple cooked ) chips

pint of bitter

then it was a cab to heathrow, flight to bangkok, flight to phuket, transfer to hotel and...

do you want to see my next meal ?

happy birthday to me

2012-01-13T01:55:00.000Z

a ropey phone pic of a pencil drawing that la niña did for my birthday card

happy birthday to me.

moonrise kingdom

2012-01-13T01:35:00.001Z

i just thought you might like this

right ?

eva air

2012-01-13T01:26:00.000Z

i flew to thailand with eva air

the first row of seats in the plane were for some reason numbered '6'

so i was in the second row... travelling business class like a boss !

holiday

2012-01-12T09:22:00.000Z

ok... blogging might be a bit sketchy for a while.

i'm leaving n7 behind and heading for a bit of a holiday.

if there's wi-fi and i can be bothered getting off my sunbed i'll post a few

snapshots and observations, but i don't think there will be the usual amount

of nonsense as i usually post here.

so allow a bit of time for flights, for me to settle in and of course to

actually take some photos and i'll be back in action soon.

in the meantime, here are a few snaps from last time i visited thailand...

a portrait of a young girl who was always trying to get me to buy some

fake evisu jeans from her stall in koh samui.

did i buy a pair ?

yes.

a sign by a beach in krabi.

did i go for a massage ?

no.

kids outside a temple in bangkok.

i like the kid posing by inhaling a nose spray.

also the kid at the top right... is he posing on a mobile phone ?

a sign in a hospital in phuket.

would i ever eat a durian even if it was the only fruit in the whole world ?

hell no !

a tuk-tuk ride speeding through bangkok.

was it as scary as balls ?

heck yes !

thailand here i come.

2012 calendar

2012-01-12T07:46:00.001Z

have you all got a 2012 calendar ?

this is one which arrived at whitfield towers at the end of december.

ok, this is standard stuff, the usual january 1-31 nonsense but take a wider

look at this very special one-of-a-kind, hand-made calendar...

can you guess the theme from mr january ?

getulio vargas... brasil 1930-1945 ?

well have a sneaky preview of all twelve portraits

can you see what it is now ?

that's right... it's a dictators of the world calendar

each dictator captured in watercolour on brown paper by la niña

outstanding !

self-portrait in ba10

2012-01-11T08:15:00.000Z

yes, ba10. that's somerset.

i left whitfield towers at 4.30am to give me time enough to shoot the restaurant

before it opened at 9am for breakfast.

i reckon it was about 8.30am when i stopped for a quick self-portrait.

cashmere top by marc jacobs.

jeans by evisu.

bearbrick af-1's by nike.

back in n7 by 1pm.

bearbrick series 1 hiroto artist edition

2012-01-11T08:01:00.000Z

i showed this series 1 bearbrick last year.

it's a rare artist edition by hiroto.

it's been displayed in a little perspex box on a shelf at whitfield towers for years.

i don't have the original box, but it comes with the card as you can see
and is in perfect condition.

now the thing is... for some reason i have two of these so i was just wondering...

are there any bearbrick collectors out there who would be interested in this bad boy ?

there aren't any of these on ebay by the way.

iphone 4s camera

2012-01-10T09:57:00.000Z

i've been bitching up the iphone's camera since day one

when i bought the very first iphone.

i must admit though, the camera on the 4s iphone does come up trumps some times.

in a restaurant the other day i had just packed away my cameras and was about

to leave when i saw some flames coming from the open kitchen. i pulled out my

iphone and took a frame just as somebody spoke to the chef...

i like that it appears he's been distracted and hasn't noticed the flames...

but mainly i like that i managed to get a decent result with a phone camera.

maybe i'll start trusting it a bit more... maybe i'll start doing an iphone photo
of the month post on this blog ?

i'll see how it goes by the end of the month but i reckon this will be a hard one to
beat for january's iphone pic of the month.

behind the scenes iphone shot

2012-01-10T09:56:00.000Z

the restaurant in somerset was a very interesting place to photograph.

here's a quick iphone shot i took to show one of the angles i was working from.

thanks to dan for making me two coffees during this shoot,

a double espresso and a flat white. what a great start to 2012.

self-portrait in w1... with my friend chris

2012-01-09T10:26:00.003Z

my friend chris moved to canada 4 or 5 years ago.

he's the one i blame for canada being number 3 on my list of blog

followers. i don't know anybody else in canada apart from chris...

perhaps he tells everybody he meets about my ramblings ?

anyway, he's back in england for a week and on friday we arranged to

meet for a quality coffee and a catch up.

we met in the nordic bakery ( of course ) and while chris took a call...

... i took a sneaky photo of him with my x100

before we said our goodbyes i thought it would be an idea to shoot a self-portrait

of the two of us, so i set my gf1 on the back shelf of my jam jar and put it on a 12 second timer...

grrr !

just as the camera took the shot, a load of people walked by.

i didn't check the shot as we were in a rush. i just assumed the bloke had blocked us

so i took another shot... but as it happened the people walking by work quite

well don't they ?

anyway, here's the other shot i took with the gf1 on self-timer.

nobody walked past us so i knew it would be ok and i didn't bother checking

it until i got home... what a shame... i wish i had checked it...

look at the girl on the left, sitting in pret... she'd spotted what we were up to and

joined in with the posing ! what a girl !

i wish i'd checked it, as i would have gone in and showed it to her...

i really think it makes the shot don't you ?

good to see you again chris. top man.

( and whoever you are... top girl )

michael sodeau ... and the first competition of 2012

2012-01-09T10:26:00.000Z

one of my favourite designers is a bloke called michael sodeau.

not only did he make one of my favourite chairs of all time

( it was upholstered in tweed )

but he also designed possibly the coolest stationary range going.

he's also did the interior of a restaurant in camden, designed special

pieces for a resort in portugal. he made a corking sofa that a friend of mine has

( in bright orange... my favourite colour right ? )

oh it's probably easier to just have a look at his website:

www.michaelsodeau.com

anyway, what i'm leading to is this...

i have these two pretty rare items which michael designed years ago

can you guess what they are ?

they're about 7 inches tall by the way...

oh and the bottom part is made out of wood and the top is ceramic.

ok here's what they are...

they are ring trees, you know... for keeping your rings on.

i think they look beautiful. not only do they look good but they are really

nice to hold. the wood and the ceramic work well together.

they look good, and they do a job too.

the only bad thing is that they are called 'gunners' edition

grrr ! named after arsenal.

still... you know me, i do love a limited edition and this colourway was a limited

edition of 10. plus the girl in the shop where i bought them from said she'd broken

one, so technically there are at most only nine of these in the world !

so... competition time.

as you can see, one of my ring trees is number 2 out of 10.

what i want to know is... what number is the other one ?

the usual rules apply, comment below, leave your name and only

one guess per person. if more than one person get's the right answer then

i'll think of a tie-break question.

talking of tie-break, i'm going for a thai break next week

which brings us to the prize for this competition...

the prize will be something from thailand... i've no idea what yet,

but i will buy a special something in thailand especially for this competition.

good luck

apc / carharrt 6-in-1 utili-key

2012-01-08T12:30:00.000Z

look what i won on ebay the other day.

you know i'm all about the limited edition and rare / sold out items.

well this little gem was released in very small numbers to a select few

apc dealers and sold out in hours.

it's all about the details... it comes in a great little wooden box

proper little joints on the box too

and inside the box

packed carefully with wood shavings...

is this bad boy

a quality little effort with apc / carharrt branding

a 6-in-1 swiss tech untili-key

perfect !

just what i needed. not only is it a cracking piece of kit but i got it for an absolute

steal off ebay.

( don't you just love it when people set auctions that end on a bank holiday evening ? )

miscellaneous

2012-01-07T13:33:00.000Z

remember a few weeks ago when i showed you my new roberu camera strap ?

http://markwhitfieldphotography.blogspot.com/2011/12/roberu-x-6shiki-camera-strap.html

well i made a bit of a mistake.

i thought i'd bought it from colette but after being informed by brigitta

i must apologise and tell you where i actually bought it from...

i think i must have googled 'roberu'

( who make the most fantastic leather products by the way )

and after getting no joy from colette, i found another online store which stocked them.

i would recommend you have a look at their website.

they don't sell a massive range of products, but what they do sell is beautifully

designed and crafted. their mail order is fast and friendly and the things they stock

will make you happy and improve your life.

go on... have a look... and if you buy something, be sure to tell brigitta

that i said hello.

www.miscellaneous-store.com

wagamama instagram shots

2012-01-07T09:42:00.000Z

i do like wagamama

and for years the only thing i've ever eaten there is the no.71

( chicken katsu curry )

then in a shock move, a couple of days ago i spotted another dish

that i thought would be ok... you know, no mushrooms or other such nonsense

of course i'd have to tell them to forget about the ginger...

and here's what turned up a few minutes later

i know it doesn't look all that due to the lighting, the iphone and then

whacking it through instagram, but trust me... this dish is pure genius.

so for 2012, 40 is the new 71.

king ken ( gold edition )

2012-01-07T09:40:00.001Z

if you do a search for 'king ken' at the bottom of this page you will find

a few pics of my king ken collection.

but i don't think i've shown you this one before...

the ultra rare gold king ken.

i love goooooooolllllddd !

sneaky yauatcha purchase

2012-01-07T09:40:00.000Z

i sneaked over to yauatcha yesterday to buy some treats.

sorry about the iphone quality of the pic, but just check out the packaging

genius.

www.yauatcha.com

gareth bale

2012-01-06T08:02:00.002Z

i bought this little fella from a tiny shop in oaxaca, mexico a few years ago

he sits just behind me here in my office.

i like that he's always deep in thought

what ?

oh come on...

you were all thinking it weren't you ?

sorry gareth... you're top man and all that but...

every time i see my little monkey i think of you.

tell you what... sign for man utd and i'll delete this post !

twin towers

2012-01-06T08:02:00.001Z

i was shooting some still life the other day.
afterwards i left the lights set up to shoot a few items that were kicking
around on my shelves. like this little thing...

...a souvenir from new york a few years ago

no matter where i travel to, i do like to buy a cheap-ass souvenir.

did i mention i'm off to thailand in a little week or so ?
hmmm... i wonder what the thai equivalent of this twin towers ornament is ?

angel of guadalupe

2012-01-06T08:02:00.000Z

another item kicking around on a shelf at whitfield towers is this

it's about 5 inches high

( the twin towers souvenir is 2 inches high by the way )

a souvenir i bought from guadalupe in mexico a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

you've seen my tattoo already haven't you ?

7 hours of shania twain but it does look good.

my favourite five mugs

2012-01-05T08:06:00.000Z

yes, seriously... this post is just about my favourite five mugs.

so here they are in reverse order...

ok, strictly speaking this mug isn't mine, but it's in my cupboard.

god save the queen.

a fire-king mcdonalds mug. i bought this one from a summer fete at

exmouth market a few years ago and last year i bought two more from ebay.

very nice quality.

a mini cup noodle mug from japan. it also has a ceramic lid... perfect.

another fire-king mug which i bought off ebay when i was searching for

mcdonalds mugs. fire-king mugs are amazing quality and a lot of diners

in the usa use them because they're so hard wearing.

this one as you can see is from a place called 'king sirloin'

of course my favourite mug had to be from god's own country.

i bought this from a shop in aberystwyth maybe 4 years ago.

i should point out that it was raining i was there...

maybe i visited on the one day of the year when the sun wasn't blazing ?

cymru am byth

chip fork

2012-01-05T08:05:00.000Z

i've had this for ages, though i've never had the front to pull it out at a chip shop.

a silver plated chip fork... not bad !

34

2012-01-04T08:44:00.000Z

i had a shoot in a new restaurant called '34' towards the end of december.

it looked as if they'd thrown a lot of money at the place, which was evident

from taking a quick glance at the interior... but what i liked was that

even the smallest details looked expensive.

they even had their own bespoke steak knives... excellent !

material

2012-01-04T08:43:00.000Z

here are two frames from my last shoot before christmas.

one or maybe both of these materials will be turned into a full page advertisement

in an american glossy magazine. if i manage to find a copy i'll publish the

finished image here in a couple of months.

n7

2012-01-03T09:46:00.000Z

i saw this corking iphone cover on a japanese website yesterday

www.nexus7vn.com/nexusvii/archives/2011/12/nexusvii_2012_new_year_release.html

so... you know how much i *need* this cover right ?
( especially as it's my birthday this month )

so who out there speaks japanese and can buy one of these for me
from the nexus 7 website ?

there's some cash in it for you.

arigato.

offside explained

2012-01-02T11:07:00.000Z

i just saw this and i must say... well played to the royal mint... excellent work.

aside from the horrendous 2012 olympic logo this is surely the greatest coin

of all time ?

my views

2012-01-02T11:06:00.000Z

this was my slightly restricted view at the gielgud theatre a few nights ago

2 hours of cracking entertainment which i would recommend to anybody

this was my slightly restricted view at the emirates stadium on new year's eve

90 minutes of... well to be honest i don't think 'entertainment' is the word.

watching arsenal this season i would not recommend to anybody.

preparing the essentials

2012-01-01T11:33:00.000Z

big plate, pint glass, tray.

fork, bottle opener.

the purchase

2012-01-01T07:33:00.000Z

oh dear...

the meal

2012-01-01T06:33:00.000Z

this is the biggest plate i own. 12 inch diameter.

( i think it was especially designed for this meal )

on go the jockeys.

( feel free to say something along the lines of "hello lads" )

pile on the chicken fried rice.

( by all means spill a few grains of rice overboard )

pour the curry sauce over the top.

( it's important that you whistle "push it" by salt 'n pepper while pouring )

pop the plate on a robin day, pour out the winona ryder and you're all set.

if anybody out there is brave / foolish enough to try this meal, please send me a photo

or two and i'll publish them here on my blog, along with a few words of praise...
( or constructive criticism )

the aftermath

2012-01-01T05:32:00.000Z

tidy

very tidy

nike footscape woven... brasil edition prototypes

2011-12-31T10:43:00.001Z

one final pair of kicks for 2011.

i bought these from a friend of a friend of a friend a couple of weeks ago.

they are a deadstock pair of nike footscape wovens in a colourway which was

never released to the public... only a handful of prototypes were made in this colourway

before it was decided to make them with yellow soles and green woven parts on the upper.

they are brasil editions by the way.

i've no idea what the number 12 is all about.

any ideas ?

i'm not exactly sure about these.

as you know, my game is all about the air force 1

and i mainly bought these because of their rarity value

but there is definitely something good about them. i really like the use of

woven thread... but i'm not a fan of the big-ass white midsole

still, the green outsole is a nice touch, blending well with the black, yellow and blue.

but grrr ! that white mid is massive.

here's another look at them

oh... did i mention thet they are really comfortable by the way ?

they're a bit like wearing slippers but with an air sole.

the brasil football logo on the insole is a good effort

as you can see, there's no padding inside these bad boys.

the majority of the shoe is black suede by the way

with a swoosh stamped into the tongue and blue laces

the laces go off to one side rather than down the centre as with most shoes

hmmm....

here's the view i get when i look down at my plates

what do you think ?

i keep thinking i really like them, but i also think they might look

better worn with shorts rather than jeans.

they are really really comfortable, but definitely an odd looking shoe.

maybe i'll just leave them boxed or on display at whitfield towers.

anyway, that's it... no more kicks for 2011.

obrigado

at the chinese take-away

2011-12-30T08:03:00.000Z

while i was sitting in the chinese take-away last night,

waiting for my chicken fried rice, chips and curry sauce

to be cooked... i took 25 shots with my iphone.

and here they are... cheaply cobbled together.

whistle whistle, click click.

mince pies

2011-12-30T07:29:00.001Z

i like mince pies... that's a well established fact.

this festive season i've been wading in to heston blumenthal's efforts.

here they are presented on one of my favourite plates...

lightly dusted with pine tree sugar or some such nonsense.

four photos from xmas day in regents park

2011-12-30T07:24:00.000Z

a solitary rose looking pretty healthy while everything else nearby seemed

a bit on the dead side

some sort of puppy that kept coming over to the bench i was sitting on.

i won't lie... i was really concerned that the little thing was going to pee on my kicks.

a kindly squirrel feeder, who discovered that squirrels don't like ordinary bread,

but that they lose their minds for a bit of shortbread biscuit.

( then again so do i )

a few xmas presents

2011-12-30T07:05:00.000Z

there were a few presents kicking around on xmas day

see the grey box at the top with the red ribbon ?

it was delivered to whitfield towers in this bag on xmas eve

i like the labelling... no address, just "mark whitfield n7"

perfect... nice one michael !

this little gem was part of my haul

a mousemat featuring my favourites

i like this gift too

grrr ! i heart tokyo

did i ever mention that i'm a big fan of tintin and that i have all the books ?

well this is a corking addition to my collection

and is something i'd recommend to any other tintin fans out there.

ha ha ! this little present kept me occupied for a long time on xmas day

let's put it this way... i doubt i'll be appearing in the gb olympic lego team...

( if such a team existed )

it took me ages to put this together and during the process i did turn the air

blue with some very unseasonal language... sorry.

xmas decorations at whitfield towers

2011-12-29T08:13:00.000Z

as i mentioned previously, whitfield towers is not the most christmassy

of places. there are a few key decorations though.

a pair of christmas bearbricks from maybe 2008.

here they stand guard over some chocolate coins.

one of a few home-made xmas angels.

god save the queen.

amy

er... george michael

what the what ?!... christiano ronaldo

the people's princess

and of course... the strokes !

oh... there is a small nativity scene set up on a chair

although the baby jesus is missing and his part has been taken by a pig.

and finally, a lego reindeer, courtesy of 'o' and 'o'

xmas hats

2011-12-29T07:59:00.001Z

a few days before christmas my king kens were fitted up with

appropriate winter headgear.

don't they look smart ?

and here's a slightly wider view of them

good lads.

a closer look at orange king ken can be found on this old post:

http://markwhitfieldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/03/signed-stuff.html

i like birds best

2011-12-29T07:58:00.001Z

oh, i forgot to mention... my eames house birds also have their winter hats on.

this fellow stands guard over my bapesta display

while his friend stands in the opposite corner, underneath my glow-in-the-dark pieces.

xmas dinner

2011-12-29T07:21:00.000Z

xmas dinner for me

including greens !

a wider shot reveals the essential potatoes

a few spare stuffing balls and the world's most annoying crackers.

nike air force 1 i.d. ( limited edition boot leather )

2011-12-28T09:45:00.002Z

my final pair of air force 1's of 2011 turned up yesterday.

boom !

the tip, toe box, mid panel, foxing, heel tab, heel strip, tongue and eye stays

are all constructed from the limited edition boot leather that nike were

offering for december 2011.

i ran with the olive green boot leather throughout, sitting on a grey midsole and gum out.

old gold laces and a white / olive tongue tab

pale grey sock liner ( as neither olive green and old gold were an option... grrr ! )

olive green stitching for the nike air and swoosh would have been handy

but it wasn't, so i figured black was the best option available.

the quality of these is incredible. it's a tough yet soft, waxed leather. perfect.

and i think going with a light grey midsole rather than white was a good call.

the gum outsole goes without saying.

all in all, these bad boys are just the thing for winter in n7

i'd better start wearing them now though, because pretty soon i'm going to

be somewhere hot, hot, hot... sitting in the sun like a boss !

oh i'm sorry... did i not mention my forthcoming holiday ?

my tartan

2011-12-28T09:45:00.000Z

i got a belting app for my iphone the other day.

it's called "my tartan"

it allows you to design your own tartan and i'd say the possibilities are

almost endless. if you've got an iphone i'd recommend downloading it.

there's something quite therapeutic about designing your own tartan

and also if you want to throw some money at it, there's a link to a famous

shop in scotland who can make up your design into cloth.

they can then make you a kilt or trousers... or just give you the cloth.

here's one of the many efforts i've been working on over the past couple of days.

xmas day walk in regents park

2011-12-28T09:44:00.001Z

it's been a sort of tradition over the years to go for a stroll in regents park on xmas day

if the we are in the country that is... oh and if it's not raining.

here's one of myself and la niña from way back

way back when i thought it acceptable to wear a tartan stussy cap

a pair of timberlands and everything else by chipie

a few years later...

going through a mambo phase. mambo top, jacket and trousers.

keeping faith with timberland for footwear though.

after a fair few christmas days out of the country... in either san francisco

or new york, it was time to stay home again a few years later...

hmmm... i've gone for xmas headgear again. this time it's a cashmere bape beanie.

that's a reversible bape jacket, paul smith gloves, maharishi combats

and adidas superstars with gold stripes.

in 2008... or maybe 2009

maharishi jacket, colette x penfield gillet, levis and madfoot kicks

2010 and braving the cold weather

same jacket and gillet, stüssy mittens, evisu jeans and eddie cruz west edition af-1's

then just a few days ago...

teaming my trademark pose with my nike destroyer jacket,

a new pair of evisu jeans and the boot leather af-1's i designed

earlier in the month.

( it's strange to think isn't it, that 25 days previously those kicks didn't exist...

then i gave it some thought, went on the i.d. website and designed a pair of air force 1's to my personal specifications from all the different materials and options.

i clicked the 'buy' button and somebody in china made them

to my requirements, posted them to n7 and on xmas day i'm wearing them )

nice one nike.

my christmas tree

2011-12-27T10:18:00.000Z

whitfield towers is not the most festive looking of places.

i prefer to keep the decorations to a minimum, but every home needs a

christmas tree right ?

so here's what i did. you might want to take note of this style tip and use

it yourself next year... it's a beauty.

i went to the corner shop and bought a pack of 10 scouring pads...

i think they cost about £1.50.

i put one of them next to the kitchen sink for clettering duties,

and used the remaining 9 to make a splendid christmas tree...

ho ho ho !

merry christmas one and all !

maison bertaux... the rest of my iphone pics

2011-12-27T10:17:00.001Z

apart from the 20 or so pics which i took with my iphone to make a

composite pic the other day, i also took a few other views of the place.

as i walked upstairs i spotted a load of mince pies cooling down before

being snapped up my last minute shoppers ( it was xmas eve )

noel fielding was having an exhibition at maison bertaux and the walls were

full of his paintings.

he had also written and drawn on the walls

er...

this doesn't look all that does it ?

it was magic darts though... honestly.

if you know maison bertaux you will know the profession of the three men

who vacated this table a few minutes earlier.

ok, so a lot of the scrawls on the walls were about bryan ferry...

nice self-portrait from noel too.

so... if you fancy having a nice cake in the company of some actors

... surrounded by the work and ramblings of noel fielding, get yourself

over to soho and check out maison bertaux.

secret santa

2011-12-27T10:17:00.000Z

just before christmas i was invited to a dinner with some friends of mrs w.

( i'd like to think that some of them are also friends of mine now... right ? )

one of the blokes involved organised a secret santa and he gave everybody

a description of the person they had to buy a gift for.

on the night he also gave everybody a special gift onto which he'd

stuck the description of them... if you follow me ?

here's the little chistmas present i was given, with santa's description of me.

how very.

i was touched... nice one secret santa, nice one indeed.

xmas day self portrait

2011-12-27T10:16:00.000Z

i must admit, my first attempt was far from satisfactory

my second attempt was a little bit better

but not a lot.

maison bertaux

2011-12-26T10:57:00.001Z

20 iphone pics cobbled together in photoshop.

christmas eve coffee and cakes in maison bertaux... soho's finest.

perfect !

tweed in w1 ( iphone pic )

2011-12-26T10:49:00.000Z

i only had my iphone with me i'm afraid, but i kind of like this photo anyway.

a mother and daughter window shopping in old bond street, w1...

... both tweeded up.

interesting

2011-12-25T12:59:00.000Z

strolling along berwick street a few days ago i spotted this interesting looking

shop front, or what was soon to be a shop front.

it was all boarded up and kind of temporary looking if you know what i mean ?

yet it had some sort of antique door knocker, cheaply fixed to the door.

well i thought it was interesting.

xmas eve... travelling home in style

2011-12-25T10:55:00.000Z

travelling back to whitfield towers from the west end on xmas eve in style

the top deck of the bus all to myself... skill !

late breakfast at foxcroft and ginger

2011-12-24T07:50:00.000Z

foxcroft and ginger always come up with the goods for a late breakfast.

a flat white in a tea cup.

welsh toast with ham and cheese and a little bit of honey drizzled over it.

genius !

www.foxcroftandginger.com

supreme

2011-12-24T07:49:00.000Z

i went to supreme a couple of days ago to buy some hanes x supreme

t-shirts for myself and some for an acquaintance of mine who lives in hr4.

after snagging the t-shirts i dropped in at foxcroft and ginger for a flat white.

looking around from my seat i spotted an industrial looking bit of kit

which was being used to display cakes and sandwiches... hmmm...

what are the chances ?

( i should have explained that foxcroft and ginger is about 3 doors away from supreme )

ah well... i thought it was interesting...

balaclava

2011-12-24T07:48:00.000Z

spotted in a shop window in east london

great balaclava eh ?

( nice kiddie socks too )

cycle courier tattoos

2011-12-24T07:47:00.000Z

i parked up to do a spot of xmas shopping yesterday and spotted a

cycle courier with er... let's say... very 'interesting' tattoos...

... and reebok trainers.

christmas spirit in e2

2011-12-23T08:22:00.000Z

charitable times in e2

outside an expensive shop, some free decorations...

( and the title of my favourite tom jones song )

1000th post of the year / thank-you

2011-12-23T07:59:00.000Z

i just had a butchers at the stats for my blog over the past year.

not bad !

and here's the table showing which countries visit the most.

of course the united kingdom is in first place but i have friends and

family here... what i'm more impressed with is getting visitors from countries

i've never heard of or tiny little out of the way places ( like france )

so thank-you to everybody for checking out my blog.

thanks also if you've recommended it to somebody...

( chris, you're the only person i know in canada but it's number 3 on the list, cheers )

a special thank-you to those of you who've checked in on me

while you've been on holiday. are you sure ? if i was on holiday even i wouldn't be

bothered about knowing what i was up to !

thanks to mike and l.a for answering my call to get viewers in ecuador and

to credit and mrs credit for presently boosting my ratings in cambodia and vietnam.

for those of you who don't know me, if you can be bothered to comment below,

i'd love to know how you found my blog and which country you're from.

diolch.

father christmas ?

2011-12-23T07:17:00.000Z

when i was a nipper i swear father christmas used to wear a big old

pair of black boots.

not a pair of christian louboutin heels.