the train in spain...

from bilbao me and mrs w took a little train journey to leon.

it was a shiny little train though... the feve express... la robla

it was so shiny that...

of course...

hmmm... this doesn't look as luxurious as it seemed at the time

it was a belting little train. proper old fashioned.

nice signage on the seats

cheaper looking signs on the cabin doors, but still pretty good efforts.

i wish i had a photo of the inside of our cabin but trust me it was teeny tiny.

my favourite part of the train journey was breakfast time.

what you're looking at here is a piece of fried bread topped with a few

slices of ham. on top of that are some pieces of cheese and proudly perched

on top of the whole thing is a fried egg ( huevo frito ? )

estupendo !

bilbao 70

you know i like a nice typeface... check out this cafe in bilbao

perfect !

top pinxtos too

i think this is bacalao with peppers

and this one

cheese, morcilla, pepper.

gracias bilbao.

evisu royal wedding limited edition jeans

this was always going to happen...

as soon as i heard that evisu were hand painting union jacks onto

just 29 pairs of jeans to celebrate the royal wedding... 

 i jumped in and put my name down for number 12 / 29

the choice was silver or gold 'seagull' i opted for gold

i chose to have the union jack painted on the left back pocket

you beauty !

so there you have it. limited edition selvedge denim jeans by evisu.

only 29 pairs in the world.

now... what trainers can i wear with them ?

outside the guggenheim

obviously i used the guggenheim's titanium tiles as a backdrop for a few

very important shots while i was over in bilbao.

it was peepandweepwednesday and i needed a shot of my kicks to post on twitter

i think the silver / grey 3m krink air force 1's were a very good choice.

these shoes are a problem... silver leather wrap mid on a gum bottom.

and when the light hits the 3m material... boom !

er... moving on...

in the warm afternoon light i did a sneaky shot of mrs w

i'm pretty sure she's wearing:

 mac by marc jacobs, trousers by stella mccartney and nike / liberty dunks

i decided to show her how to pose...

outstanding !

as if i wasn't miserable enough in the first photo, i did it again...

t-shirt: a bathing ape

 long sleeve top: marc jacobs

 jeans: evisu

kicks: krink / nike air force 1's

 hair: model's own

as i walked towards her, mrs w took one more frame...

hmmm...

jeff koons

the day i took a tour around the guggenheim museum in bilbao

it was pretty grey and overcast. it made the titanium clad building

seem very much like it should be photographed in black and white.

however, just outside the museum at the back, was a very colourful

installation by the american artist jeff koons.

i think it was called 'tulips'

i find jeff koons to be kind of like kaws... do you know what i mean ?

no... thinking about it, jeff koons definitely has more ponies than kaws.

anyway, i really liked this piece and it was all the better for not being surrounded

by lots of similar pieces, as was the case at the show i saw at the serpentine

gallery in 2009.

one last shot of it...

and there i am.

www.jeffkoons.com

broken macaroons

i had a food shoot in a beautiful restaurant in soho last week.

as usual while setting up my lights i did a photo of one of my cameras

standing in for the food.

i also practiced on some broken macaroons which were kicking around

but i'll be honest with you, the macaroons didn't stay around for long.

broken or not there's nothing like macaroons and coffee for breakfast !

cheers em !

the guggenheim museum, bilbao.

have you ever been to the guggenheim museum in bilbao ?

it's one of the most incredible buildings i've ever seen.

i can't think of a more photogenic building... or one which can be photographed

in so many different ways, different angles etc.

it suits bilbao perfectly, sitting alongside the river, bang in the middle of the city.

from certain angles it looks like ships, from others maybe it looks like the surrounding hills ?

not only does it look different from a variety of viewpoints but it also seems to be

different colours at different times of the day. 

you don't need me trying to explain it so have a look on the internet or get

yourself over to the wonderful city of bilbao, visit the museum and get the free

audio guide... it explains all about frank gehry's thinking.

so... having said that the guggenheim looks to be different colours at different times,

let me show you a few photos i took of it... in black and white.

i don't think that captions are necessary so just have a quick butchers at the photos.

www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/visita_virtual/visita_virtual.php?idioma=en

bilbao breakfast

ok, re-winding back in time...

here's a shot from my hotel bedroom window in bilbao

sweet view of the guggenheim.

we breakfasted all three mornings at the same little cafe we discovered

on our last visit to bilbao in maybe 2002. i can't remember what it's called

but it's on the road opposite the jeff koons puppy which sits outside the gugenheim.

here's the view from outside the cafe looking back towards the museum.

it's a fantastic building don't you think ?

the cafe is decorated with old paintings of ships, photos of athletic bilbao

and signed hard hats from the workers on the guggenheim museum.

it's a corking little place

and the food is excellent

at breakfast time all the little pinxtos are lined up on the bar

i can't believe i didn't photograph my breakfast... maybe i was in a hurry to eat it ?

i photographed my coffee though... a cortado

if you're ever in bilbao and in the need of breakfast... seek out this place.

( and watch the barman's face when you order up freshly squeezed orange juice )

miro hotel

in bilbao i stayed at the miro hotel.

would i recommend it ? heck yes. the rooms were very special and the hotel

was most excellent ( as bill s. preston esquire would say )

here's a shot from the lobby looking towards the bar area

this is a massive print on one of the walls in the bar area

nice shirt but...

naturally i found a place in the hotel bar to fire off a self-portrait

standard

best of all at the miro hotel...

... see, this is like the gemma arterton situation...

i can't say the two words i want to say.

the thing i want to say is... well, a few years ago i was sharing a room in the

gershwin hotel in new york with my friend neil while we were shooting the 

new york marathon ( and also wowing the city with our karaoke skills )

one early evening i was sitting in our room and the phone rang... it was alan batter !

in true batter style, there were no pleasantries, he just uttered the words

that have stayed with me ever since...

" mate... quick... get down to the lobby... ---- ---- ! "

now i can't very well print the two missing words uttered by alan batter

but what i'm trying to say is... the same thing that he chanced upon in the 

lobby of the gershwin hotel, well i chanced  upon it in the miro hotel too.

www.mirohotelbilbao.com/en/

www.gershwinhotel.com

www.sheckysnightlife.com/newyorkcity/search/lucky_cheng_s_1_1939.asp

i-baby

what will apple think of next ?

a  little warm soft thing that sits on your lap and keeps your phone steady while you text.

unfortunately there's a nine month waiting list for one of these.

hmmm...

on my coffee table this week

oh come on... didn't anybody miss this feature ?

magnus... surely you missed seeing your coffee table at least ?

ok... well here's my vital selection this week...

first up it's my dvd choice. let's get lost

bruce weber's documentary about the last year in the life of chet baker.
it has some amazing old footage of chet in his younger days mixed in.
if you don't fear jazz, i'd recommend this film.








cd: rome

danger mouse and daniele luppi's homage to ennio morricone and his
spaghetti western soundtracks. it features jack white on a couple of tunes
but i must say, my favourite track so far is 'black' which features vocals by
norah jones. it stays with you in a haunting kind of way.

i'm a big fan of album covers and design so it's good to report that this is a
well packaged album. the melting heart would make a nice tattoo don't you think ?
also it comes with a double sided poster and a well designed sleeve.








finally book: photographer, and other stories.

a book i found last week that my daughter made when she was at nursery school.
my favourite story is billy and mark. i will print the full story below...

billy bit my finger.
the end.

a future literary classic perhaps ?
it has killer illustrations too and it's a limited edition 1 of 1.


until next time... it's goodbye from me and my coffee table.

dave perillo

thanks to dave perillo, my notoriety is spreading to a wider audience.

i just checked his website and there i am...

like a boss !

cheers dave.

http://montygog.blogspot.com/

signs of bilbao

i was not that impressed with the roadsigns in bilbao.

i didn't like the typeface, plus on this example the parking 'p' looked like it was hand drawn.

also parts of this one had been repaired with the wrong colour green paint.

then i noticed something really good about it... and about most of the roadsigns

in bilbao...

look at the reverse part of the sign. the side which is usually plain metal ...

... ay carumba !

 somebody had taken great effort to painting a tree / camo kind of design on it.

a similar pattern was on most of bilbao's roadsigns. nice one bilbao !

half-time score: bilbao 1  london 0