We went to da hood (=Essex) yesterday to visit Terri’s ma and pa, had a nice time and came back late and watched a few eps of House, I dunno but it is like a medical CSI, it is ok…………not more than that.
Today saw a few peeps, I dropped some fresh tulips of @ yellow door, where Andre Schlagowski has started to work, congrats m8ey Gute Fahrt !!!!, then I met Mai Lee who has started her own make-up school, we might do something…..if a suitable studio can be found.
Then I met Drew, who works in Selfridges at Stella McCartney whois is also a stylist and we are thinking of doing something cool at the end of next week. Then I saw Douglas, who has a neat little studio in a mews not far from Oxford Circus and I look forward shooting there, it is a grade II listed building and there are a lot of original features to be seen, small but right up my street. Ten times better than the so called over priced hellholes, that do not have a single prop in sight……
Then I set off to Parliament Sq to shoot some shots of Brian Haw, and once again he was nowhere to be seen, his spot was “guarded” by some friends. I have like a 1:2 hit/miss ratio, 24-7 protest my azz :-0
More photoshopping…………it shall never end.
Here are some shots I did for a mag. called SO, ages ago…..Mindy van Dyke in an alleyway opposite Liverpool Street station, it had the positive and most upbeat title “No Way Out” …………..
I managed to finish the portfolio website, it still needs amending, but it is ready to go for now. It will be expanded (a 5th button to give the flowers its own section, with 5 movies it deserves it) later on maybe this week. So that is another thing sorted. The sales site needs sorting here and there and then it can start to go live as well, if all goes well in about 3 weeks from now.
Some printwork for Mustafa to take care off Monday/Tuesday and then we are ready to rockz0r…………………..
Woke up at 2 am, have worked on the remaining shots.
Going back to bed now… 
Today did not go as planned as at about 12 o’clock Enigma mag called and this put me to work for the rest of the afternoon, I have just finished and went straight back at the menswear.
Here are 3 more…two to go….
Some shots of the menswear shoot. Styling by: Rebekah Roy, hair: Guy Pranzili.
I have also gotten an email in my possession filled with drivel from Claudia Giambrone which was sent to Skin Health Spa and also to Selfridges, and the lying just does not stop…..andthe fun part of it all is that Claudia Giambrone thinks that she can lay a claim for 100K at Skin Health Spa’s doorstep, the whole thing is laughable…..
What kind of a clusterfuck has been created by Josy lofthouse, Claudia Giambrone, Sara Jane Reeve and Prisha Patel I ask myself………whatever it is, it is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge….and don’t take my word for it but clients have called Selfridges and asked them what is going on, and their reply……….”that they have been scammed/conned”…….700 customers are not able to claim back their £99.00 from their cc as the amount is below £100.00……………yup yup……….groups of clients have bonded and started email groups and are ready to go to watchdog…..the whole affair is messy to say the least……must say that Claudia did me a massive favor mid -December……
I saw A History of Violence and what a great film this is, just under 90 mins, and it is one my fave thrillers of the past year or so…… go and rent/buy a copy…
Scanning and photoshopping…….and dealing with the sales site.
Went to Julie Dawson’s birthday do at the Yum Yum restaurant in Stoke Newington, beautiful entrance, nice service, friendly atmosphere the food is pretty good too, but IMHO Cats in N4 is simply better. It was a nice lil’ do and we had a very enjoyable time, but the icing on the cake off course was director Wills being frogmarched back home to “sleep it all off……..” need I say more, I don’t think so…….
Essex is off, simply too tired….
Photoshop and more of it….blah blah, I am not going to bore you with it besides, trial and error…
I went to Mustafa @ Aydin Color today and he had soo much stuff qued up for printing, there was no point in waiting for my stuff. Then again I am still playing arround with the mens story so that will become Monday now…
We are propably gonna do some shopping, look for bathroom stuff and tiles etc….
And maybe going to Pitsea on Sunday.
I just watched episode 8 of 24 of the new series, which still has to be intoduced to the English airwaves, and sofar it aint very good, as a matter of fact it is hella weak……all i get is the SWAT team style one liners………………..so b00000000rin’…oh well.
I met up with Jason Dorley-Browne today as I had not seen him in a while and we had a long chat in The Ritzy in Brixton, also dropped the finished shots of at Enigma mag.
I am working on the mens story from last week next, I had no time to look into it at all, till now. Also went for my first run since ten days, and that was painfull……met the missus halfway as she came back from work so called it a day and carried her bag on the way home (poor girl doesn’t feel very well…).
As promised the shots of Chipz da love muscle, altho I don’t think he is gonna see some “action” for some time :-0
Crystal Suite, or Claudia Giambrone to be precise has written to me and many others (like Andreas the photographer that replaced me), and it was a dodgy written letter, they used typex (whodaf00k uses that stuff these days……………..) and then the letter still contained spelling errors….oh and besides that it is just more yada yada….to be continued, with more drivel I suppose….
The sales site has gotten some serious attention from me and I am getting to the stage where I am getting happy with the content for starters, I now have to sort out payment matters and other techical stuff I am dying to know all about, NOT!!!
My hands are killing me, as I have been photoshopping my azz off for the past 3 days I went for a little hedge trimming instead for a few hours, the ivy was hella tough but I managed to clear all the overhanging twigs, roots, and other leavy stuff that has no place on MY property!!!!.
However, not being in shape with a matter like that has cost me dearly, my arms are aching like mad………b00000h….
I saw Lovemuscle Chipz yesterday and he was covered in pussy scabs, and I mean covered…. I did take some shots, but he still has them, you would not take my word for it so watch this space…….
Scanning in some Brian Haw that I shot on Feb 1st.
Here are some unretouched shots….
I have also been informed that Crystal-Suite is no more, just after 1 months trading inside Selfridges, Skin Health Spa has chucked their kit in a van and shipped it off to Salvo CFG (where the offices of Crystal Suite are based) because of the huge mess created by Claudia Giambrione and her cohorts Sara Jane Reeve, Prisha Patel and her mom Josy Lofthouse. Then there are some other clowns who I have no knowledge off but as I spoke to my “replacement” Andreas Cardona, he informed me about what had happened during the month of January (also more lies by Claudia Giambrone off course). And the end result is that the people who did the actual work have massive outstanding bills, three photographers, several make-up artists, hair stylists and stylists await huge sums.
I got fired or whatever you may wanna call it, as I simply would not do much more (mid-December this was) without a contract, something I was promised on day one when I started in the first week of Oct.
After ten weeks Claudia Giambrone could not even come up with any paperwork, instead they asked me to provide it and I did, and what happened in the next meeting……………, it never got a mention….and to add some more…. Andreas Cardona who worked 7 weeks for Crystal Suite and never got a contract either………………nor any money.
Claudia Giambrone misled almost everyone from day one, promising things that she could not keep…..she should never lead a company in her entire life ever again, emptying astrays (filthy chain smoker as she is anyways) would possibly be a too difficult task for her to manage.
When we did the shoot for the Times in Nov. Claudia, Sara Jane Reeve and Prisha Pital messed things up soo bad, the only thing for them left to do was chainsmoke right next door…..while we produced images…..they had to go out and buy slippers, music and other gifts for inside their goodie bags literally minutes before the treatment had started, yet they knew of the date weeks in advance, it was telling how badly organised they were but I had no idea it would end that quick…..
Good riddance……………
Yesterday’s shoot was a full on affair, arrived at 8:30 and did not stand still till 6 pm…did 10 different shots at theCadogan hotel. I will be working today and tomorrow on these images. Will post some results shortly.
I took a roll of film in while being in Holland, these 4 shots are from when Terri and I walked my mom’s dog….it was a beautiful sunny, but cold day….
I have been working on the shots from last Sunday, and speaking to Harry van den Brugghen, the photoshop whore or god (depends on how ya look at it…..then again could be both :D) with regards masking and blending…
Meanwhile Toby O. has been begging me for the last 4 eps of Lost (series 2 that is), he promised to “love me long time” if I could deliver………., hmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………..
I am going to the Cadogan hotel and have a little look to get some ideas….for tomorrow’s shoot.
The shoot for Panther Style was easy, it was ages since I had been in a studio type shoot (I do not count the shit experience with Crystal Suite a studio type experience, I would call it HELL!!!!) and it was good fun, using some dustcover sheets as backdrops and color it with some gels.
The blondes 2KW lights that I bought two months ago are absolutely wicked, and I will use them again on a mother’s day shoot for Enigma magazine.
Working with Rebekah Roy was a pleasure, and the models from ICM were great too!!
Special thanks to Debbie Herel @ ICM.
Finished scanning the Savatage stuff, and found even things I thought I did not have such as more Anthrax (w. John Bush) and Mindfunk. And I thought I was done with scanning my heavy metal collection, ha……
Last night Terri and I met up with Andrew Wills and Huff, who almost fell asleep mid-conversation in the pub and turned completely comatose once back in their flat (”I have no idea what was said in the pub yesterday”). Back at their place we are joined by Andrew’s girlie Julie and we have some nice chatz, till I am dragged outside by Sergeant Major Potasnick and marched back again (I know it is the repeat from a few wks ago) 
Been to Russel & Matt’s to have a look and a tinker for tomorrow’s shoot they have kindly accepted to lemme shoot at their place, 8 pages for a new mag. called Panther Style
I go out at 9 am and walk towards the supermarket and have this bull terrier leap out at me for no apparent reason but wanting a piece of me and I jump on to the street (no kidding) just to avoid its “bite”, the woman has the balls to say, “oh he never has done that before”. Why is that dog owners always come up with this bullshit excuse that the dog “never” does such a thing… I remember in Finsbury Park a few years back when I made a delivery that a dog bit me while I slid something in the letter box and the bitch had the audacity to say that the dog did not do anything, I guess I just imagined my bleeding finger……so that is what I say to the other woman who c0mpletely loses control and starts ranting………I just laugh and walk on (what I should have done is call the old bill), she is prolly local so all I can say is “to be continued….” after that I decide to go to Nikon and drop the camera off as it has the green blinking light of death, upon arriving at Vauxhall station I have completely forgotten where to go, after a short while I have figured it out, but the guy on the platform from South Eastern Trains sends me to the wrong train…. The entire journey takes me three hours, I am not a happy bunny off course. At Nikon they promise me to fix the camera asap and ship it back to me pronto, we shall see……..
After that I go to Covent Garden for a quick meet with Paddy at Le Book and then it is off to Brian Haw, whois having a sleep. I take some shots with my F5 and after ten mins he wakes up, and he looks rougher than he did two weeks ago, he also has a beard. It is freezing out there and I just don’t get it how he copes with it, I stand there for about 70 odd mins and I can barely handle that, I am simply too spoilt like everyone else.
He tells me a few good stories, seems that the day before Tony Benn and George Galloway were there for the anti war protest and to “commemorate” the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq. They and others off course want to be in the limelight when the cameras are there but once they have dissapeared they have done a runner as well, but not Brian, he aint going nowhere. It takes me a good 20 mins to realise that the barriers that have been put up have been decorated with 100 crosses……..
He also shows me the design for the card which has my pic (see diary entry Jan 20th) and it looks great.
Scanning in some Armored Saint, the quality is superb, will post ‘em shortly.
