bikes and things

The last few weeks or even months have been mental workwise. I’ve been working long hours and also working at the weekend and evenings on photography work which included putting a small exhibition up in the local pub. I’ve still not managed to ride my mountainbike but I’m hoping that will change soon.

Today I was keen to use my camera again and not on a tripod! I glanced through my Lightroom Catalogue earlier and couldn’t see a single image that was a personal one. So, off came the shift lens and battery grip, on with the 50mm ƒ1.8 and out we went. Nice to travel light for a change not feel the pressure of having to deliver images for a client. We only went around Peckham Park to get some fresh air and a coffee but it was great to get out for a bit. Naturally we ended up in The Gowlett for a pint of Guinness or two.

Here’s a few shots from today.

A quick portrait of Dad taken last weekend.

Day off work today to catch up with my sister who is in London for the weekend. The great thing about having a visitor is that you have to make the effort to do all those things you’ve never quite got round to doing, like that gallery, or that place for lunch, or that cafe etc.

Should be good!

And here she is having a great time in Trafalgar Square.

So Simon managed to finished his 50 by 50 project. I haven’t actually spoken to him properly about it but looks like he’s enjoyed it. Just wondering what project is next? Nice to see all the images being posted each day too. Hope he’s got out of it what he wanted to.

Pretty sad day yesterday. Spoke to my mum to find out that the family cat had passed on. Liz and I both got a kitten each when I was about 10 or 11, Liz must have been about 7 or 8 then. We picked the pair of them up from a farm in Wiltshire where we grew up – two brothers from a litter of 5 or 6 I think. They were smaller than the size of our childlike hands at the time. Each would sleep on our respective beds as we grew up and Liz even dressed Topise up in baby clothes which was hilarious. Mine was called Tim but was hit by a car when I was around 15 I think. Liz then kindly said “We can share Topise now if you want”. Topsie kept on going and in recent years had turned into a cantankerous, grumpy old man. Very particular about where he would sit and constantly hassling mum for attention. She said she couldn’t stand him but secretly she still loved him. Amazing to think that he has been in our lives for that long – two thirds of my time on this earth, crazy.

Quick walk around the park this morning with Magnus, Mari and their son Milo followed by coffee and cake. Pretty grim weather but managed to get a few snaps anyway.

We visited Franks Campari bar the weekend we moved flat – about 4 weeks ago now. We got very drunk with Patrick and Smiley Kim (her real name) when we should have been at a gig in Victoria park. It was raining and we got drunk in South London instead. Silly but fun.

Was shooting with the LC-A that day. Whilst the lens has some pretty bad distortion going on it’s got a great contrasty feel to it and is incredibly sharp in the middle of the frame. Love this little thing and it works really well with this load of expired Superia I have.

The views over London are incredible. It doesn’t take much to get above the rooflines and see the full panorama available. Lovely to watch the storm pass in the distance and see dusk fall over central London.

Thursday has to be my favourite night. It’s almost Friday and The Gowlett holds it’s weekly 7″ singles night. All you have to do is turn up with four 7″ records of your choice and add your name to the board for a slot. Then eat amazing pizza and drink beer til your hearts content and dance, scream, or shout at whoever is playing. Awesome.

However we also have a record player at home and lots of records. So we continued on until the early hours of the morning. Not so hot the next day but great fun. Few pics below. Still sorting out a load of shots that I haven’t been able to process due to my laptop accident.

I met my good friend Simon the other day for a drink after work. We talked about Architecture and who’s doing what these days – we went to Portsmouth together. He also has an interest in Photography and asked me what I thought the best way to improve his skills was. I suggested that he do a little project such like my 365 in 2009. Obviously that’s quite a commitment so we went for 50 days of Black and White photos using only a 50mm f1.8 lens. I think reducing the options available will definitely help.

He’s off to a great start already!

I’ve finally got round to processing some pics from their wedding which was a few weekends ago now. Seem to think black and white suits weddings really so here goes. Going to get a few printed tomorrow to send to them.