Ahhhhhhhhhh back on the web, we are now with homechoice, the whole thing (tv and inet setup within the hour, well done), I am supposed to have an 8 mbit speed, sofar it hovers arround 4 to 5 and propably tonight it will be even less…….we shall see.
I met up with Ben Drakeford yesterday who has a very nice place in Pimlico, including a kick arse roofterrace…..felt the urge for a rooftop shoot coming on badly…speaking off which, I am meeting up with Drew Cornthwaite tonight to show him te end results of the white shoot and we are trying to present a rooftop story to someone at a very prestigious location, discussed this some time ago already but had to keep it under wraps….it is a project I am looking forward to.
After hangin with Ben we both catch the tube, he is off to the West-End, and I am off to see Brian Haw.
Brian is in ok spirits (better than last time) but he is unhappy with the fact he is not allowed to speak out at protests that are organised by others. I personally think they see him as a liability, coz he is a rebel and is not part of any clique or cabal run by other so called “known” people. He tells me he saw Boris Johnson who told him to “keep up the fight” which means utter bollox to Brian coz Boris never showed his face here ever before…… On Sunday he got arrested by the police as he was waving a pink banner (don’t know what it said). He also gets pissed off by the peeps who just come over and hang for a while and start the conversation with “alright Brian” ……….
I also see his postcard printed for the very first time, and the print is awfull, it soo magenta it is not funny anymore, this is absolutely not how it should have been done, oh well that’s freebies for ya.
I shot three rolls of film, I have to process them tomorrow at Mustafa’s and will scan them in and bash some on later this week.
Next week I am meeting a lawyer with regards rights on my archive etc. with print sales. After that I hope to open shop a.s.a.p.
Also the repair of the camera and the lens has come just under a grand…..:-(
I met up with Andrew “director” Wills Friday night and ended up talking shop like no other……then back to his pad (not for much longer as he moves out in 2 weeks) where we end up watching old AC/DC videos, Brian Johnson’s voice on Back In Black is just amazing…..that’s Back in Black 2x in one week……hmmmm.
We went to Ikea yesterday late in the evening (no screaming kids…wahey)……………..looking and trying to get some ideas for the kitchen…..and the only idea we agreed upon was that the skeletons are an easy and cheap option, it is just the trick to find some nice doors and handles….and for that you don’t go there….
Saw a flick in the afternoon before that Soldier Blue with Candice Bergen and Peter Straus. Donald Pleasance plays a dodgy armsdealer. It is a western, but it is really about them two, it just happens to be set in that era….could be anywhere really. Pretty effective film.
Meanwhile, here is a new flower shot from a week ago, it seems our garden will be filled with odd flowers…..bring it on.
Watched the Cuban Brothers again last night @ Koko’s, this time they had a 7 piece band behind them and this was excellent. On top of that they played AC/DC’s “Back In Black” (and pulled it off and made me grin) and as a final fireworks bonanza Miguel jumped nude into the crowd……………
We decide to take a bus back home, boy what a mistake, there are certain things at 4am that are a simple NONO: surrounded by simplistic half comatose pissheads and heroin addicts (who smoke inside the bus) and talk nothing but complete and utter bollox!!!!.
Today is chill day altho I spent a few hours on the white story…..the solarisation effect will not show very well on these sized jpgs, too bad……but in print they will.
Thursday eve I am @ the Metro fest. party another fine event directed by Andrew “” Wills who had the idea of turning the SE1 club into a small festival site with tents and teepee’s…
It just so happened that The Cuban Brothers played there (Pete Tong as well) and I decided to shoot them, just before they perform I run into Keith, someone I had not seen in yonks (like 8 years) and tells me he manages them…..
Well in a nutshell, they are total pros and play the crowd brilliantly with a cool show, lots of tongue in cheeck antics, they are playing Posh & Becks’ party in a few mths time (they have done Elton John’s and Madonna’s already). I decided to shoot with my fisheye/wide angle zoom and I get on very close, actually that close that it made Chipz “Love Muscle” Chipping remark the next day “you could take a picture of their lungs, you were THAT close”….. The pix come out great, I love them
If you wish to see the whole lot then go HERE
Friday I am off to see Brian Haw, and he is there and I start shooting immediately. I greet him and mention the demo today, and he starts a rant about the fact that he is not allowed to speak on the platform. He asked Tony Benn (the chairman of the comitee) whether he could and he got an evasive answer. He can not understand why he is not allowed to speak.
The conversation goes to the fact that he can not use his megaphone anymore and that he is fighting Westminster council in court to use it again.
Next thing a black cabbie drives past and shouts “get a wash, cunt” and this kicks him off, he runs after the car but the car is too fast, and he completely loses it on me and another person who just simply greeted him and asked how he was doing……
I must say, 5 years of constant polution, noise, harrasment by police and public (beaten up 3 x), this cold weather, the heavy smoking has not been benificial for his overall health situation at all. He wanders off and so do I…….
I have just recieved the final design for the postcard for Brian Haw which should be handed out from Saturday onwards…..
Saw the first episode of series 6 of The Sopranos, and they are back in fine form, thought that series 5 was awesome and it looks it is going on strong in this new one……
I also saw a cool film with Ewan McGregor (who has done a lot of crap films actually….) called Stay really well done, go and see it.
Off to Kingston Upon Thames just to drop my camera off….blisssssssssssssssssssssssss
An entire day wasted on travel and mucking about…….
I have had a bastard of a toothache since Sat. eve, and this morning I decided to go to my dentist in High Barnet coz the paiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin was a tad too much to my liking, plus the fact that I needed to use my head for a “WHITE” shoot today with Drew Corthwaite I was ready for some PROPER drugs coz the tabs were just not working anymore.
An injection, a fistfull of antibiotics and the news that the tooth may have to be pulled out in about a week from now richer I make my way to Russsel & Matt’s warehouse where we are doing the shoot.
I just about function with shooting and giving directions, but I let my guard down for a minute while looking at the pix on the screen, and the camera falls of the desk, and it is busted big time, the lens snapped off, the electronics are a goner, and to top it all the zoom is shafted as well……this will cost me a fortune, but worse still is the fact I have to go to bloody Kingston Upon Thames just to drop the damn camera off again, which I did about a month ago as well….I need this like the damn tootache……
If only I had called in sick today 
Then again I would not have these shots, unretouched still…
I don’t know what it was but I felt hella tired all weekend. Flopped arround most part of Saturday and watched like 5 eps of series 1 of House, I know I am sad then again I just happened to have burned all these eps off so I sure as hell am going to watch them. Series 2 is about to be viewed (I have approx 14 eps, and it is still running in the USA) so I will keep u up to date w. that 
Appointments/phone calls/mails you name it, been there done that, and it will be going on for a while for sure.
Yesterday went to Essex again coz genius here did not realise all his prints were in the inlaws’ attic…..so it is all complete now.
Updating the website later on today and early tomorrow with the music stuff, and that should be it really……..
Going to Mustafa tomorrow to pick up my last batch of prints and I will try and shoot some shots of Brian if he is there…..
I also shot some flowers (first time in 6 mths) and hopefully they will come out good (shot on film) I will put them up shortly.
I thought I was more or less done with getting my books ready, but low and behold I am missing boxes filled with prints, and assume they are in the attic at maaaaa and paaaaaa in Essex………so…….been bizzy scanning some in to get them readied and printed up as it is time to go out there.
Here are two beauty shots of Lucia Sassano.
Styling: Elin Ritter, Hair: Tracy Cahoon and Make-Up: Neusa Neves.
