twinspanda

i bought a new camera the other day and also one of my main cameras

for some reason doesn't have a camera strap. also the strap on my quantum 

battery is just about to split in two.

so over the past few weeks i've been looking for interesting camera straps.

i bought a roberu strap from colette, which i'll reveal to you with my new camera

next week, but looking on ebay i found a great make of camera straps called

'twinspanda'

and after checking out their extensive range, i bought two straps.

english tartan and leopard ( yes, english tartan ! )

i'm going to use the leopard strap on my quantum battery

it looks interesting and it's a very well constructed bit of kit. 

i like to have things that are a bit different... you know, that not many people have.

i also like well designed and well made items that are from a one off designer or

a small start-up company rather than a big, well known and well established name.

if you fancy treating yourself to a new camera strap or just buying one as a present 

for somebody, i recommend you check out the website:

www.twinspanda.com

seriously i could have bought loads of them.

i think they were £10.30 each with free post and packaging and arrived in 7 days

( don't be put off by their website... their prices are in hong kong dollars )

oh, and when you're on the twinspanda website, be sure to read the 'about' section

it just makes you want to buy one or two of their straps.

good people making a great little product which does it's job and also stands out

as a well designed, stylish thing.

go on... they'll arrive in time for christmas !

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.