The meeting with John @ Foto8 was really constructive and it looks he will give me 2 pages for the Feb 2007 issue to display some images of the-b3nch. I also showed him some Brian Haw stuff (which I hastily put together in the morning), and also discussed the-kiss with him as well………..
Speaking off which…..this one was shot in Green Park tube station last night.
On top of that there is something in the works regarding Spa Secrets Mag and going abroad for a shoot in two mths time……possibly Austria.
Volver was excellent Penelope Cruz looked stunning in 50’s skirts….go an see it, oh and anyone having trouble with subtitled films can piss off…………
I am seeing John Levy @ Foto8 magazine today, to tell you the truth I have never been to a photo mag ever before, or entered some contest……
Gonna shoot some of Brian Haw as well today.
Well, we did two days worth of DIY, which came down to lotsa glossing of the outside windows and shed, and then the bits inside in the living room etc……plenty left to do tho upstairs and the kitchen, this house has not been painted properly in yonks……
And the glossing of all the other bits will take another 3/4 days, so next weekend it is DIY time again………………
Tonight off for a few drinks down the local and then see Pedro Almodovar’s new film Volver @ The Rio in Dalston(can’t even remember when the last time was when we went to the Cinema and what film).
Looking forward to it…..
I did not do a lot yesterday, simply flopped about behind the pc and watched a few films…
Lucky Number Slevin which was pretty good, similar to The Usual Suspects only not as good, maybe I am a bit biased coz Bruce Willis is in it, seen a bit too much of him…..
An Ideal Husband Whoever did the lighting/camerawork on this, it is fucking dreadfull, should quit and get a proper dayjob, no offense to the dayjobbers, but it is that bad. The first half hour you wonder whether there was a budget for a lighting crew in the first place……………….
then I started to watch Weeds Series II again, which is quite entertaining , this 2nd series looks hella promising and provides almost as much fun as Entourage does.
Today is DIY time, finish the living room off.
Testing Sejo’s new add on with new dynamic pop ups, just clickz0r on the thumbnail…..
Not a lot been going on the last few days but plenty to do the next few, I have to get the-b3nch ready on a cd (that means 30 odd pix of them) as I am seeing the ed. @ foto8 magazine next week…..and also Brian Haw, needs a good look into.
Need to update my websites badly….portfolio needs pix adding
The sales site needs opening these coming days, and also the-kiss needs some sort of set up as I have bought the domain….plenty to do…….then off course the missus wanna go somewhere while it is bank holiday and then finish of some of the DIY.
Chipz “Love Muscle” Chipping called me Fri. afternoon saying he was in a jam and needed help over the weekend, and asked me whether I would assist him on a film set….as I was planning to do diy only I agreed to do this…..I sorta knew what I let myself into altho….16 hours for a lousy £75.00 wasn’t part of my imagination ha ha ha ha ha….
The first day I spent near Brecknock Rd in Tufnell park (an area I used to live in, in 1994) where there are scenes in a flat and is also the base for the prod. peeps. The crew totals roughly 30 people and this is considered low budget (half a mill. perhaps) and it is quite an edgy film (prison, bit of crime etc…), it could turn out to be a nice one….we shall see.
In principle the whole thing is like a military style op. with director/producer Danny Hiller at the helm……I would have shown a few shots but I was not allowed to take any….
The peeps that work on this film work their nuts off, simple as that, they do two working days in one and for a long period….
Later on Sat. and the entire day on Sunday I spent all day with Chipz at the derelict hospital in Crouch End, which was used for a prison/hospital scene, we created something outta nothing and everyone was happy. Before you start thinking….I stick to making photographs…..I get no creative satisfaction out of doing work like that at all….
One good thing that came out of it was that I saw a lot of prop houses in West-London which gave me a great idea for a shoot in a studio.
Here is the cover try for the Sept issue of Spa Secrets Magazine.
The finished set can be viewed here: Dream Hotel
I returned to Green and St. James park to see whether I could snag a few kissers, I did not have much hope as it had been raining earlier, but as I was in the ‘hood anyways I thought I’d try, and the results suprised me…as i did not expect any.
Then it was off to see Brian haw, who was not there so I made my way back thru the parks again and snagged two more…
Today it is the last bits on the fashion spread for spa secrets magazine and then prep a bunch for prints for my folio and then it is back to sanding/painting the living room again…..also this weekend, can’t wait……
Loads of photoshopping done and I have a few bits left to do tonight and tomorrow monring early to finish it all off. I have learned some great techinques which are non destructive to the image and after learning are extremely easy to implement and do not rely on brush techniques at all. It’s all channels and masking really……
DIY has been put aside for a few days, Terri “how long is this mess going to be in our living room…..” :-0
I am calling the story “Dream Hotel” it is the best title I could come up with in conjunction with the pix.
I did my taxes as well, they had to be done and sent away as I am way too late as it is, so I missed out on Jeremey Huffelman’s gettogether……………………
I am in town today and will try and snag some kissers and also Brian Haw…
Meanwhile Apartment are using two of my shots for press when they release their “10.000 Times” single next month.
I have bought the-kiss.net as a domain for a future website.
The windows are practically done, but some woodwork needs painting over, so I am going to finish that off hopefully today, and be done for DIY for a few days (this coming wkd same thing again….).
The retouching of the fashion shoot (still no title) I hope to finish today as well…..
I really will try and get some kissers this week… I may lure around in the City, we’ll see
I should have been retouching but been sanding windowfarmes instead….my hands are tired and sore….
I will have to get up mega early tomorrow morning……
The windows do look great tho….will need another full day to finish it all off….Terri has been a great help today applying Nitromoors and scraping the paint off……..as a bonus I have scraped all the paint off the handles (they were in a horrible green) and back at its own brushed chrome they look expensive!!!!!
I spoke to Jochen Maes a few days ago as well and he helped me out with finalising the sales site, which hopefully will go live very soon…..’bout bloody time too….
The Acoustic set Apartment played at The Spread Eagle on Kingsland Rd. last night was a lot better than the ones they played while on tour two weeks ago, off course this set benefitted from proper drums and Davide’s lead guitar, still some songs sounded really good.. “Paranoid” being on of them. Personally I am not keen on the lower tones David sings during tracks such as”My Brother Chris”…..oh well…
Photographic wise this was hella boring to do as well…..
First time I snuck inside the strippers’ pub, and a nice lil venue itiz :-0
Today I have been sanding off the window frames, and it is hard work indeed, especially as we have chosen to strip all paint on the inside of the frame…..tomorrow same thing….
Last night I went to Catch 22 to see Apartment, and altho David’s vocal sound was iffy it was a good gig, they had a crowd and there was a bit of a vibe and as a whole it just looked good…
Apartment @ Catch 22
And here are 4 shots (unretouched still) of the Spa Secrets shoot, this is the spa bit that was shot around half 8 in the morning….
the fashion ones I will post tomorrow when i have made some progress retouching-wise….
I have been shooting The Impersonals around West London (in Brentford near Kew Gardens) yesterday afternoon…was a good laugh.
First went to their rehearsal studio in Shephards Bush and then it was off to estates, bridges, railway and whatnot….
here are a few.
The whole set can be viewed here: The Impersonals
It is back to editing,messing about to the Spa Secrets shoot today…
I also shot Brian Haw for a a few min. on my way back. I spotted him wearing reading glasses for the 1st time. The grass on the square has dried up, and looks almost like a desert…..
It would have looked well stupid had this been watered down during the past few months with a hosepipe ban in place……then again, anything to discomfort Brian is a bonus for the council/govt. off course…..
I am meeting David Caggiari in the afternoon, going to go for a run as well today time to get that lazy schwitz out….
I have had a lovely weekend while my brother Eric Kamp and his missus Monique Daum came ’round for a day and a bit..
we chilled, and had a barbie on Sunday.
Today I have shot the Spa Secrets Magazine story, it was great, but full on…
We started at 7 am and went all guns blazing ’till about 3:30 pm with a short break in between…
I did about an 8 page spread and have spa shots as well so they can be used for a seperate feature as they deserve it…
I will post images soon….I have a hard time editing some as there are several great pix of just one shot……it will be painfull.
Tomorrow morning I work some more on ‘em as the bandshoot is delayed ’till the afternoon….also the location has been changed…
We will go to the proposed location some time later….
I am also finally getting hold of Jochen Maes who has been helping me with my sales site but has been absent for quite some time, so hopefully the site can be set up and it can go at least live for now…..coz it was something i wanted happening 3 mths ago…..dying to get it on the way.
Davide has just sent me an email…
“I freaked you out with the ‘tache didn’t I? 
it’s gone..don’t worry…”
I met David Caggiari yesterday afternoon, again @ 1001 and discussed the usage of some of my shots and just other natter/chatter….tonight they are playing that hellhole “333″ ( 333 is the new 666) again….I am not expecting to take any great pix at all.
Next week they do two gigs on Kingsland Rd as well, which is well handy as it is just down the road from me anyways.
I will post some of my retouched group shots soon.
I am shooting a punkrock band, the Impersonals, down south on Tuesday (so that’s me shooting Monday at the Chancery Crt Hotel and then the next day doing the band), which should be set at an old house and fields (hay and such….)
I also might take some fashionable shots of some of Jackie Beeke’s relatives….who knows. Hope the weather will be good.
I recapped a few bits with David Caggiari while having a coffee at 1001 just off Brick Lane, I may cover them while rehearsing later this week……. I should do some pix anyways of Brian and some kissers perhaps, and I have still not processed the film of the flowers I shot two weeks ago…….tsk tsk
On top of that, a shedload of DIY is awaiting, I wish to do all the glossing……..which should take me all Aug. for sure.
Meanwhile I have been to the hospital and had an eye test, all fine btw. It is only that the eyedrops give you blurred vision for half a day and they badly react to the strong light outside….I will watch some telly :-0
