Tea

canon eos 40d, 50mm

everyone minus me, thom and matt went home today. the house is quiet. it feels odd not to have any laughter / thumbing bass / running about / doors slamming filling my ears. i think ive maybe said less than thirty words today; the majority of them directed aggressively at the van driver that nearly knocked me off my bike earlier.

ive showered, had a cup of tea and eaten some stuff. i think i might finish the 12th lemony snicket book in an all night book reading marathon later.

also i realised that im like twenty followers away from two hundered today. how mental is that. hello all, i hope you like my life.

taken in my room

35

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

had a nice day with maggie in central today. i probably should have taken some photos of it or something but i was too wrapped up in talk about art, relationships and the dilemma that arises when deciding weather to evolve eevee into jolteon, flareon or vaporeon. serious business

after that i went with the rest of bfp to meet andrej and discuss plans. it was really nice to see him again and now hes living in the capital i feel it wont be so long until we see him next. this is cool

a happy day

chip sandwich time

taken in shoreditch

Glass

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, tripod, studio flash

i took some photos of the coin dropping in and making the water splash but i liked this one best. the stillness is nice. no ripples.

i read alot of words today and ate some crisps. i havent done alot but ive made plans to. ive got a few more project ideas for next year and my 'stuff i should probably do list' is growing, its a healthy growth though; like the way your admiration and respect might grow for someone after they do nice things repeatedly, rather than the way some life threatening tumour might grow inside someone.

ive started thinking a bit more seriously about an essay im going to write and probably never publish. this is exciting. also tim just cut his hand open. he's okay though.

that is all

taken in my room

Rainy 2

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

the weather today was a little too hurricane esque for my liking. windy and rainy. it was kind of cool to look out of my window though, to see the raindrops in flux, catching the sun and changing direction all at once when the wind decided, like a school of really fast, small fish. after that i fell asleep for a bit, now im hungry.

i havent really done anything worth mentioning today apart from cleaning my room and arranging the books on the my shelf in alphabetical order.

taken from our front door

Panner

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

today i went and watched some cars go pretty god damn fast. phil was in them sometimes. hes in that one up there, look.

on the way back the back seats of our not half as powerful or shiny micra started to leak upwards and i got a very wet bum, it was uncomfortable. however, we managed to get home eventually and i made another chip sandwich, drank some water, laughed at all clocks&maps' posts regarding houmous and weird sleeping patterns then i listened to some music.

i think i might have some noodles later.

taken at a race track in warwick

Tube six

sony ericsson elm

sorry if thats put you off yr dinner or whatever.

after staying awake for almost a day and a half i got invited by maggie to go and see pulled apart by horses and deftones live last night. it was awesome and we both had smiles on our faces throughout. the sick on the tube on the way home was not so awesome though. i dunno who did it but they should probably eat more veg.

when i got back i stayed awake a bit longer but after a while the keys of my keyboard started to feel like quavers and i could taste them as well so went to bed. i think my brain was playing tricks on me. this is somewhat worrying.

my cold seems to be retreating though, this is good. i also bought ten packs of asda own brand 11p noodles today.

taken on the victoria line

Navy blue

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, tripod

the service was nice and simple. whilst standing outside the church in the rain afterwards i felt happy. despite the sadness, all of this has taught me a little bit more about life and hope and love and how important everything really is. i feel as though my mind has been washed and is clearer than before.

taken in my room

London at night

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, tripod

last night me, lauren and laurie went for a walk around london. we walked right along the edge of the thames and under a few bridges and each snapped a few frames of the city resting.

london (especially southbank) has a really odd feel at night. its strange to see no one about aside from the odd homeless person and deranged man shouting at nothing. its almost as if the city is recharging itself so it can be ready for the new influx of tourists and visitors the next day. its laying still and sleeping and you're just walking, trying not to wake it up, only pausing every now and then to allow three seconds of its slumber to leak into your camera. odd but good.

i like night time.

today my cold got promoted and is now the manager of the 'this is seriously taking the piss' department and paypal finally put some money in my bank. cheers guys, its not like it took you two weeks or anything.

taken on southbank

Knawbbly

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, tripod

today was a bit of a doing nothing stay in your room drink tea and listen to music kind of day. i also took this photo of my knees.

i have developed a full blown cold, snot and coughing and everything. it kind of feels like my face is full of bubble wrap. yeah? no. okay

ive kind of thought of some more ideas for a project next year but i dont know if theyre good or not yet. the one thing i am sure of is that i will definitely not be posting photos with words everyday, because like bouncy castles, pillow fights and spying on people, its fun and all, but after a while it does get quite tiring.

taken in my room

Night drives are nice

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

the show last night was cool. the promoters in wisbech are honestly some of the nicest people. its rare to play a show in the uk where you are treated as welcome guests, let alone fed and watered, however this was far from the case last night and we all had an ace time.

today i managed to accidentally 'spin' my clothes in the washing machine twice before realising the dial was on the wrong setting, cycle to tescos and buy some bread and hummus, read a few chapters of the eleventh book in the ASOUE series, sneeze four times in less than four seconds and blow a light bulb .

taken somewhere on a road

Fawx eyes

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, on camera flash

last night this fox was making an awful lot of noise outside my front door. i dont know whether it was having sex or fighting with another fox but whatever the case, it was screeching well into the early hours. a very out of focus photo but i like that you can see the eyes all lit up and that.

we're playing in wisbech tonight. its a nice little town and the venue is even smaller; imagine your front room but with a bar in it.

ive been so busy recently, i promise the quality of posts will improve soon.

taken outside my house

Glockenspiel

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

tonight battle for paris will be accompanying our friends run walk on stage and playing some music with them. im going to be playing the glockenspiel. its the first time ive ever had to do like notes and stuff and remember them so im kind of nervous. i think im going to cheat and have the paper in front of me though, thats allowed though.

we've been practising most of the day.

ACFA

AABCBGAAGFE

taken in my room

Shard

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

woke up quite late today and went to the pub to see some friends from my course. we all received some rather tragic news regarding one of our class mates recently so it was nice to see everyone together and discuss stuff. it cleared my head a bit and i think it was nice for everyone to be able to talk through everything with other people that knew him.

dealing with death is never an easy thing to do but being around friends and actually talking about it does make it easier in my experience.

Rest in peace Tom Swain, you will be missed.

taken outside laurie and laurens flat

Park

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

went to meet alan and emily today in central to go look at some dead stuff in jars at the london hunterian museum. there was everything from 8 month old babys to chickens with claws growing out of their heads. pretty incredible stuff. if you like life and science and anatomy and are not too easily grossed out i highly recommend it.

after that we got some lunch and sat in park avoiding earwigs and watching people practice acrobatic skills. i swear theres a travelling band of acrobats following me in order to perform anytime i sit down in park for more than ten minutes.

taken in some park in london

Rosa Valle

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, on camera flash

went to the star of kings tonight with matt, emily and alan and saw some bandz. so much live music entering my brain recently.

rosa valle were awesome awesome. so tight and heavy. i enjoyed them muchly, so much in fact that i think im seeing them again tomorrow night at the old blue last.

me and matt had to leave early ( sorry alan and emily ) in order to get this post up before midnight. i managed, just.

taken in the star of kings, london

Finishing tour sucks

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

the final stop of the wecameoutliketigersbattleforparis tour was in penzance last night. the festival was absolutely amazing, all the organisation right down to the hand painted band goodie bags was just beyond awesome. also big big thanks to porter and his family for putting us up and making us all laugh well into the night.

this morning we woke up and bid we came out like tigers farewell. its always great to meet new people but even better when those people become your friends. im sure it wont be long until we encounter them and their owl/bird impersonations again.

taken outside the ritz, penzance

Roadside

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, on camera flash

"joe!"

"huh?"

pixelated to preserve the dignity. we played in andover tonight, it was awesome and there were a shed load of people there including personal favourites tom, alan, loz and flora. we came out like tigers were even better than last night, such nice guys as well, i honestly couldnt ask for better, more down to earth people to spend three days on the road with.

afterwards we drove back to bridport, we just drank some beer at chris' house, its now 4am and i have to be awake at nine to go to penzance tomorrow for dirty summer fest. we've been promised cornish pasties and i dont doubt the show will be insane, i cant wait.

i am happiest when im touring. travelling with friends, meeting awesome new people and hitting drums every night is just the best. nice one life.

taken on the side of a road

BFP & WCOLT

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

last night we played a rather sweaty show in kingston, great fun, great people and a very efficient sound lady. we came out like tigers came back to ours and had beers etc afterwards and it was all nice and fun. andover today, we havent played this venue for like two years.

i want some eggs. my hands hurt.

taken in the hallway

Wall

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

Like love letters, best friends and spoons most things in life are better when theyre not covered in an inch of green slime. However, green slime does pop up on certain occasions, one such occasion was the inside of Luxemburgs tank this morning. I gave it a good thorough clean out and hes now swimming around happily in his gleaming aqua home. hes such a dude.

last night i could not sleep. i tried really hard, but only managed to nod off at 9am. i think it was maybe because a few hours prior i had manoeuvred a rather giant and pretty god damn scary spider out of my room all by myself with just a glass and a card cd wallet for company.

im getting better at the whole spider thing.

i need to pack.

taken in my room

Violence and sloppy eating

sony ericsson elm

after repeated snooze button hitting, dreams within dreams, texts about interviews and eventually joe knocking on my door telling me that everyone was going to morrisons i got out of bed.

tom very kindly bought us some 171 essentials such as washing up liquid, toilet roll, bread etc and a lovely dinner of pizza that is yet to be consumed. i bought some sugar ring doughnuts and some tour food (mainly pitta bread and hummus obviously) for this weekend. i also saw this wall of wool, i liked it.

i am almost at book 10 of the ASOUE series. its just as awesome as i remember it. i dont know how many books to take away with me this weekend. probably just one.

taken outside the pound shop

Bin

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, flashgun

there are a vast number of very dangerous occupations; giant crab fishing in the north sea, being a photojournalist, training lions and being a shopkeeper amongst some of them. however probably the most dangerous, rubbish and underpaid job in the world is being the kitchen bin in 171. it takes less than 24 hours to fill it completely, has been cleaned once and is often the subject of missed tea bag fling abuse.

much to my annoyance tesco is still boarded up, fair enough i suppose. this meant that the only place to buy chips and individual cans of beer was from londis. oven chips and cans of beer from londis. chips, beer, londis.

this better not become a regular thing.

taken in our kitchen

Morrisons

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

so it went on a bit last night. fires burning out of control everywhere, police getting bottled. basically a shed load of violence that id rather stop thinking about.

in an attempt to understand why people are rioting a few articles have popped up saying that 'people need to understand that these kids are angry because the UK is in such a bad way blah blah 'insert statistic about unemployment here'. Although there may be a few people getting angry because of the factors the articles mention, it simply does not excuse burning down peoples homes, wrecking peoples businesses and ruining peoples lives.

In other news Alan had put up his anti violence themed zine 'Moron' to view online, particularly fitting at this point in time i think. Theres a few of my photos in it as well...

taken outside morrisons, peckham

The battle of SE15

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

today was a pretty sad day for peckham and london in general. it mainly involved angry kids setting light to everything and causing a right old nuisance. i wondered into peckham to check it out and came across a smouldering 171 bus, honestly like, what is the motive? it just pisses people off and ruins days.

aside from listening to the helicopters fly about all day and watching live coverage of everything unfolding we had another little practice in our box room. we've shifted instruments and bodies around so its not quite so cramped anymore. its been ages since ive played drums two days in a row and it feels awesome.

i just had a sausage sandwich, i have lemonade.

hopefully all this shit will clear up soon, be safe Londoners.

taken on peckham road

So many of the post titles on this blog have the word box in them

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm, sigma flash

today i woke up after having some weird dreams involving me getting punched in the face, having to decorate cigarette lighters, not being able to find the right coloured pen and chasing after someone who had stolen a ladder. i dont know what happened or if i finally caught up with the ladder wielding theif but i dont particularly want to find out.

later, me, joe, phil and matt crammed all of us plus one drumkit, 3 guitar amps with cabs, a bass, two guitars and two mattresses into our at best 'small' box room and had a mini practice / song writing / making lots of noise hour. it was awesome but also as you probably dont want to imagine, so so so so so so so so hot. still, it was fun to play drums after i haven't in like a month or so.

in other news i just nearly finished off a whole tub of caramelised onion hummus with just three pitta breads. thats some serious hummus intake right there.

taken in the box room

Planebow

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

i tried the long exposure thing again and i can conclude that london is too cloudy and has too much light pollution to allow for good night sky pictures. i'll try it again when im somewhere with less lights / more stars.

i did however take this photo earlier of a plane travelling through the arc of a rainbow, its a bit noisy as i was zoomed up so close and even that is cropped but i do like it.

other than that i read about 200 pages and ate 3 quorn sausages. i might make an omelette in abit.

taken in 171

Bright light

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, studio flash

today i have read about 200 pages, gone to tesco once and asda once, drunk 2 cans of beer and eaten about one and a half pots of hummus. i also failed another long exposure at night time, i promise i'll get it right tomorrow. plane lights everywhere.

matt came up.

this photo is what my room looks like from outside our house when a flash bulb goes off inside it. it made me realise how suspicious a lot of my activities must look for passers-by.

i hope its a nice day tomorrow.

taken outside 171

Wheel

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, studio light

today i read 242 pages, waked to tesco and back twice, made one failed 40 minute exposure that i will re attempt tomorrow night, searched frantically for a lost railcard, drank two glasses of lemonade, ate 6 mini swiss roll spongey things, sent two text messages and took another photo of something in my room looking all nice and mmm. its the back wheel of my bike.

phil was supposed to go home. matts coming back tomorrow. our vans still broken.

i cant really think of anything witty to write. so i best not force it.

taken in my room

Spectrum

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm, studio light

a stack of empty card cd wallets, arranged in spectrum order, on a shelf.

i awoke, listened to some music and made the walk back to cator street from laurie and laurens. arriving home positively sticky from the heat i had a cold shower, it turned out to be as refreshing as a dip in the paddling pool and judging by the amount of wildlife currently enjoying it, probably more hygienic.

talked a bit, ate a bit, got new inspiration to finish some projects and take new photos and to actually complete ideas that ive had sitting in my head for a while. if i cant find a job in this muggy city then i at least want to be busy in it.

cycled to tesco and back, bought matt some beer and some vanilla and jam sponge rolly things for me. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

taken in my room

Park

canon eos 40d, sigma 50-200mm

woke up at a 'normal person' time today but unfortunately it wasnt really hot enough for pool fun. me and phil went instead to meet lauren and laurie. we went to see the Press Photographers year exhibit at on southbank and it was amazing / very daunting. i think i might enter next year though, looks fun.

after that we went and sat in the park under the london eye and ate nuts and drank beer. we watched a guy with dreadlocks wrestle all his friends and generally insist on being the centre of attention. we guessed that he was the kind of guy that adores the fact his closest friends call him 'crazy' and think hes the life of party. people watching and making up back stories for them is the best fun.

had a sit down shower at lauren and lauries, interesting.

taken in the park under the london eye

Sideswiper

canon eos 40d, tokina 12-24mm

yesterday i went to an art festival in hackney wick and met up with the charming, cat smashing extraordinaire maggie williams and her friend richard. i had a lovely day looking at everything, getting asked to be photographed naked, probably offending a few people with my serious lack of art knowledge and visiting all the studios. some of the work was just awesome, really quite inspiring.

woke up late late late today and spent most of the day in the pool or eating. laurie and lauren came round and hung out for abit what with them being all london based now n that. easy walkin'

tomorrow i think i will do more of the same, i am getting up before mid day though.

taken in the hallway