stuff

disappointing coffee spoon ( iphone pic ) today

but don't worry, there's a belter to come tomorrow

i got a new passport a few months ago. shame really.

i used to love the photo in my old one.

it used to let passport control know straight away what they were letting into their country.

pure british misery.

do you like the plastic room keys you get in hotels ?

as you can see, i do. 

sometimes i like them too much to hand back.

if i had to rate these hotels in order  i would say:

opposite house

the puli

the pelican

the metropolitan

the hudson

hotel missoni

mandarin oriental

whatever the other one is... some place in hong kong

i bought this in thailand.

at bangkok airport.

in boots.

i wonder what it is ?

does anybody out there speak thai ?

if i had to guess, i'd say cough sweets, or headache tablets.

more trainers ?

black digi camo nike lunar force 1's.

the material is 3m too.

perhaps i'll give them a special in depth blog post to show you ?

more nonsense tomorrow.

some photos

last saturday's game against stoke city was the worst arsenal game i've

seen in a long time. 

no wonder i was in an even more miserable than usual mood when gooner

jeff took me to the regular spot for my traditional post-match iphone portrait.

as you can see, i pretty much wear the same kit each week in the winter.

the only difference today was that i was wearing a prada wooly hat.

next game i will mix it up a little by wearing a new hat which arrived

at whitfield towers yesterday.

a black bape beanie

as ever, the little details are spot-on with bape

nothing too fancy. just the simple ape-head logo

maybe i'll wear some new trainers too ?

these would go nicely with my new black hat and black destroyer jacket.

medicom x nike lunarforce 1's

like the lovikka converse i showed the other day, these deserve an in-depth look too.

i'm feeling a trainer-heavy post coming soon.

to get away from trainers and on to my other favourite subject ( apart from me )

i have been noticing a lot of very fancy coffee spoons recently.

this one was at no.114 in w1

i feel a cheap series coming on here so i will be showing you more coffee spoons

over the next few days...

hello... are you still there ?

late birthday presents

did i mention it was my birthday on january 13th ?

when i got home there was a package waiting for me.

inside was this box

i know i mentioned this before but i think i only showed an iphone pic.

in the box was this bad boy

a harris tweed eye mask.

it's padded with lavender 

so on my next flight, any nans on board will be driven wild.

the back of it... the bit that touches your mince pies, is velvet.

it also has velvet ties and silk trimmings...

but the harris tweed !

a few days after i returned to n7, another package arrived for me

a birthday bundle from hereford ( wherever that is )

postcards, stickers ( yes m1... stickers ) a nifty bottle opener / stopper

and best of all, moonrise kingdom on dvd.

more about moonrise kingdom at a later date.

a day or two after the package from hereford, the postman delivered

a package from california ( wherever that is )

sweet !

inside the box

a really genius business card holder made from the softest most buttery leather.

courtesy of those fine people at ( multee ) project

i know i always say trust me, but trust me...

this is quality, you need one of these.

ordinarily the stitching is in white.

but guess what ?

 this one is a special friends and family edition in black / black.

well that's all from my birthday for this year, big thanks for all the

cards and messages and an especially big thank-you to the three people

who sent me the gifts shown here... sam, alan and brian.

right, that's it... no more birthday talk.

wait a minute... is that the postman ?

monday

hastily cobbled together post today due to haircut, coffee and traffic.

1

bag snatching is rife in bangkok.

i'm not suggesting the bloke on the left is a bag-snatcher of course.

2

knitted converse all stars ?

these deserve a blog post all of their own.

one of my favourite pairs from last year.

nice one sweden.

3

somehow this was missed off yesterday's post.

it was a long way away, on the south coast somewhere ( i think )

i remember they made me a coffee.

i also remember it was a hot, hot day and i wore shorts.

i also remember thinking this would look good with me standing in the centre looking miserable.

http://markwhitfieldphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/self-portrait-in-tn31.html

interiors and memories

i think that this year i should try to show more photos that i take

for a living rather than just photos of my coffees and trainers.

i shoot a lot of interiors. mainly restaurants.

so over the next few weeks i'm going to publish some restaurant interiors

 and accompany them with any memories i have from the shoots.

naturally my memories will mainly consist of recollecting if they

made me a coffee or not, but you never know... i may remember other things.

1

the chef at this place is a genius.

also this is one of the few restaurants where i've actually eaten.

unfortunately i wasn't allowed to do any really wide shots here as the interior

wasn't quite finished but i hope you get a feel for it from this.

2

this place was full of really nice friendly people...

but they didn't make me a coffee.

luckily enough one of the best coffee shops in london is just opposite.

3

south london.

no coffee.

4

i think this place got a bad review.

i photographed it the day after i got back from italy.

all the staff were italian except the manager was spanish.

they didn't offer me a coffee and the area is a coffee black-spot.

5

i like the look of this place,

it's right next door to the first photo in this post by the way.

there's a really great coffee shop about two minutes away.

6

i liked this place.

they fed me burger and chips and gave me a coffee.

the manager was from wales.

the barman was that rarest of men. he was australian but he never 

once said to me how much better everything is in australia.

7

this was in york. i do like  a road trip.

the first thing the manager said to me was

"do you want a coffee our kid ?"

standard.

8

no coffee for me here.

over the years i reckon i've photographed this place 6 times.

9

i travelled by bus to this place ( no.43 )

they gave me a very nice coffee.

i remember it being really hot here too.

10

this was in what i call 'the sticks'

i ate here afterwards. curried scallops for starter.

oh and they gave me a coffee before the shoot.

i went on a little walk afterwards and saw a field full of turkeys

( it was late november )

11

it's daaaarrrk.

i think this was vietnamese but all the staff were eastern european.

they made me a coffee which i accepted even though i'd just met the 

boss for a coffee in soho 30 minutes previously.

oh and it rained on me when i left this place.

12

it's daaaarrrk

they were having teething problems with the lights.

this shoot was a nightmare but the chef here is a top bloke.

13

what do i remember about this shoot ?

it was a nice room.

they didn't offer me a coffee.

the p.r. girl had really nice coloured hair.

more of my riveting memories from restaurant shoots to come soon.

bits and bobs

three pics for saturday

1

fragment design af-1's

the softest, softest leather you could imagine.

i bought these from a bloke in scotland while i was sitting on a beach in thailand.

2

another birthday present turned up at whitfield towers this week.

what was in the padded envelope ?

the reveal will be on monday.

3

like a magpie i was drawn to the mandarin.

this was in the materials library at central st. martins.

what was i doing there ?

the reveal will be on tuesday.

self-portrait in w1

it's been a busy week.

too busy to blog really.

i'm going to end the week cheaply by posting another self-portrait.

this was in w1.

i used to really like this restaurant.

it used to have a lot of orange walls and have quite a sci-fi / barbarella

type interior.

i also once burnt my finger here on a hot rock, but that's another story.

now it's a new restaurant with a very different style interior.
it still looks pretty stunning, but i did prefer it when there was a lot of orange around.

anyway...
mastermind x curry up sweatshirt
hiut jeans
black digi camo lunarforce 1's