End of the Line - Zone 9 Chesham

After climbing a very windy and steep hill and starting back down this picture was made. Brad and I decided to go to Chesham to see if we could see some ruralness at the end of the tube. Zone 9 is the farthest you can go. It was interesting a nice little place, small enough you could probably walk everywhere if you lived in town but there were also plenty of cars getting people around that was a little disappointing and loud.

Luxury Choreos

Brad and I have refined the choreos a bit more by drizzling white chocolate on the top of them as a finishing touch. As Brad says, "It is all in the presentation."

For those of you who don't know what a Choreo is:

Blend up Oreo's until they're all in little pieces
Add cream cheese and blend again until the consistency is of a VERY thick milkshake
Then form them into little balls and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours
Remove from freezer to dip them in melted milk chocolate then put them in the fridge

To do the Luxury version:

When done with the milk chocolate return to the freezer for about an hour
Melt white chocolate (if done too much it will burn-we found out the hard way)
Then drizzle the melted white chocolate on top of everything and put them in the fridge

P.S.

Please disregard the 11 internship applications I sent out with a typo in the cover letter.

Thanks,

Sarah

Funsies at the British Museum

My first time there but I will probably go back to make some better pictures. The bottom picture is part of the Statuephilia exhibit peppered throughout the museum. Most of them I enjoyed thoroughly including this one.

Earl's Court Dog Show

Note: Please notice the leash on the kid.

Lights out at 11pm

An FYI for people shooting late night down at parliment. They turn the lights out at 11pm.

Chocolate Factory

On our way to a failed attempt at getting a bunch of free chocolate saw this guy. That is it. We got two small bites of chocolate in the most expensive department store/grocery store I've ever seen. All in all, a bust.

Another day, another market, another blog post

Spitalfield market, cool stuff more much more pricey than say Portobello or Camden.

That's it.

Camden Passage via Little Venice

My title describes my day today, nothing pithy, nothing great. The first three photos were taken in (I'll wait for you to guess where) Little Venice on my way to Paddington station. I found it kind of funny that these kids were crawling around on this boat like they were Spiderman but then when the parents were paying attention they held them back.

Camden passage market had a bunch of little stalls sporadically set up outside in an area where there are a bunch of antique shops. The picture of the lady reading the newspaper is one of the VERY small shops at Camden passage. There is only room for one person in the place it was just jammed packed. Then on the way back to the tube I walked by this couple trying doing some shopping. It was kind of funny to watch. I wish I could remember the phrase the woman used to tell her husband that he shouldn't purchase one of the ties he was holding up.

"Levin in London"

The pithy writer of levinlondon.blogspot.com got a make over last night. It consisted of hair straightening and some girl's jeans.

Shady Debating

The presidential debates were on so I decided to take some pictures of cool shadows in our living room while listening to all the generalities John and Barack were spewing. It is so frustrating for me to listen to these guys talk; I hate that my vote will be for the lesser of two evils. I wish there was something that could be done, but I feel as long as we as Americans are so money hungry there will be no good alternative. I could go one but don't want to because I just get into a bad mood. So by far I think these fun shadows are a lot cooler than the debates were.

Julietta turns 23

Julietta turned 23 the other night. Andrew bought a gourmet Tesco chocolate cake.

Resumes, Cover Letters and Crossed Fingers

That is what I spent my time doing on this gloomy day. I think I have about 11 or 12 to post tomorrow. Real exciting stuff today.

The No-Jew seeing Jewish walking tour

Well today there was a Jewish walking tour of the East End of London. Since I am thinking that I might do a project of the cross section of religion in London I thought it just might be a great thing to go to and perhaps meet some people, maybe some Jews. But no, it was more of a historic Jewish walking tour. I was told that pretty much most of the Jews have moved to Ilford. So why didn't we go to Ilford you say? Well Ilford doesn't have the oldest Synagogue in England there. The synagogue in the first picture is just that, the oldest in England built over 300 years ago. We were able to go in but not to take pictures inside, of course (something I find so annoying). From there we continued on our rain filled walk to a place that would have been something like we would call project for Jews just outside of the London walls. But you can see how close they really are to the heart of London with the Mayor's office, which he doesn't really use in the background. Then we proceeded to Angel Alley.

I was slightly disappointed that I didn't see any orthodox Jews or anything like you would see in some places in New York City. Not that I haven't seen them and went on the trip just to see them like I would go to the zoo to see a penguin but it just wasn't what I thought it would be. So now I know I won't be going there for my project if I end up doing it and including the Jewish religion.

Stabilizers

I know this doesn't look like a fashion shoot that is because it isn't one. After assisting Lindsay in a fashion shoot (I rock as a reflector holder) we walked through the park a bit just to leave. As we were walking I saw this kid try to learn how to ride his bike. The mom said that they just took his "stabilizers" off. Personally I think training wheels sound much more appealing, for what reason, I have no idea. The kid ended up crashing and burning but got up and tried again.

All the ducks are swimming in the water....

but not this one. Will, Stef and I went to Borough Market. It is an all food market. For a very picky vegetarian it is probably an odd place to go. Although I don't like meat I am kind of fascinated by seeing the dead animals. I don't know why but even when people in the flat were cutting up a whole chicken I just had to stop what I was doing and watch. It just seems like a weird interest of a vegetarian.

Deck the Walls

This is my pathetic attempt at decorating my room. The London Tattoo Convention one is self explanatory the one with the dog is the business card that the policeman gave of his working dog. Just look for the earlier post.

Charlie, the explosive sniffing dog

Charlie is the one on the right. These four British Transport Police were at Paddington station and so I just had to take pictures and when I stopped to talk with them one of the policemen gave me their dog's card. Charlie's card said, "Charlie is a liver and white English Springer Spaniel born in 2004. He is a dog that seems to do everything at his own pace and loves work." I used to have a dog named Charlie.

Won't you be my neighbour?

Well the day started out to be very crappy weather so while walking through the rain to the tube station, without an umbrella even though I had one in my bag (it is just too annoying to try to deal with the umbrella not flipping the wrong way that I'd rather just put my head down and go) I sang to myself, "It's a horrible day in the neighborhood, it's a horrible day in the neighborhood."

Then it cleared up and we went over to what we call the other photo house because it is where the next largest group of photogs live together. On the way there we walked down Edgware Road that is very heavily middle eastern. Apparently it was the last night of Ramadan and everyone was out and about. It was kind of crazy but very interesting to be in and see. On our walk home I took a few pictures but after they realized that I was shooting them they all became posed pictures. Above is one that was shot before everyone realized there was a camera around. They were dancing on the sidewalk of a very busy road to music being played from the car.

"He's photographed more than President Bush." - Royston Graham

I went to pay rent today and contribute Nobby's fish food budget. Nobby is a fish that is photographed more than President Bush according to Mr. Graham our landlord the guy in the picture underneath the two of Nobby.

Bags, Shoes, and Leg Tattoos

Well Mum I got another tattoo. Troy Denning from Invisible Ink, NYC the happy face in the first picture is who tattooed me today. The three chairs in the second picture was what I laid across for nearly three hours for the wonderful results seen in the third picture. I think I will have a kink in my neck until Tuesday but it was worth it. For those hours all I saw were handbags, shoes and leg tattoos. I did notice if someone walked by a few times. I just had to laugh at myself for that. When it really started to hurt I thought of our quote board at home and it put a smile on my face. Especially Brad's quote he won't live down as long as he is a photographer, "He used a Leica, L-E-I-C-A?"

Leake Street and London Tattoo Convention

Since I spent the better half of yesterday in bed sleeping and relaxing in an empty flat (it was wonderful) I figured I should get out and do something today.  Lindsay and I went to a tunnel on Leake Street near the Waterloo station where graffiti isn't illegal to do.  It was kind of neat to see the people doing their artwork.  I wonder how often they go and who decides what can get painted over and when.  Apparently Banksy has put his mark there somewhere.  We think we saw it but I don't know.  I didn't get any great shots but I am putting up a couple that I like.  

After Leake Street we went our separate ways Lindsay having no desire whatsoever to go to a tattoo convention.  So she traveled on to Camden and me to Tobacco Dock where the convention was.  I was there for about 4 hours.  Needless to say I am going back tomorrow in the hopes of actually getting a tattoo.  I saw a few pretty famous guys there (like Joe Capobianco).  I wish that Tiffany was there so we could talk about it and everything there is to see.  It wasn't quite like I thought it would be but there were definitely a few characters to say the least.  

Hair club for men

Well since we are now able to have internet pretty much anywhere in the flat we have repurposed the internet cafe (a.k.a. the kitchen) into an underground barber shop (a hair club for men, the first rule of hair club is you can't talk about hair club).  After Juliette gave Andrew a haircut a week ago or so the rest of the guys got in on the action.  David was the first then Taylor and Will, Levin fell asleep before it was his turn.  I think I would like to relocate where the club meets in to the bathroom for the next go around just too much hair in the kitchen for me.

I just about cried

So I hung out with my friend Lindsay from the States today (September 24, I'm a little behind) she had some issues with the boyfriend so we went and did some retail therapy.  I left her after we did some shopping on Oxford St.  As I was walking home from the tube station I was thinking about how I wasn't in the greatest of moods either.  Just things weren't going well and smoothly.  Then I am like to houses away from mine and I see a dead pigeon in front of a door of another house.  I pass it a few steps and am like well I should photograph it to illustrate how I was feeling and probably Lindsay as well.  So I get out my camera and back track a few steps and I frame up the shot, not a very artistic one but you know.  As I am looking through my view finder the pigeon kind of raises its head a little.  I was like "Oh, geez it isn't dead."  I shot a few more frames while it made a few other head movements.  I felt horrible, I didn't know what to do, if there was anyone to call.  But it was a horribly perfect end to a horrible day, I continued home almost in tears.

The best way to ruin a movie

As part of our instruction in video (matched action, rack focus, cutaways, and all that good stuff) David brought in a movie that you would think couldn't be ruined.  Shawshank Redemption.  Well he succeeded, swimmingly.  Stopping and starting to show us the aforementioned terms.  Fast forwarding to get to certain parts to do the same thing.  Bruce has already done this to me with another movie but did not butcher it as much as David.  So for David winning in that aspect I give you this picture.

Little Venice: There's a canal there, that's all

On the way to Paddington Station there is a canal you have to cross over.  This area is called Little Venice.  Personally, having been to the real Venice I don't see it.  There's a canal there, that is about it.  There are some restaurants there that probably charge as much as Venice would.  And what this guy is doing trying to catch fish in here, I feel, is a bit ridiculous having seen the garbage boat going through this area and not looking like it did anything but stir around the garbage and then leave.

INTERLUDE: I had a blast this summer

As I am looking through my stuff for my portfolio to send out for jobs and internships I came across a fun little picture.  I want to say this was like the second day of me covering the flood this summer from Quincy, IL and while hoofing it out to the levee I got caught and stuck in mud.  I laughed so hard.  I handed Steve another photographer there with me to collect audio the camera with the 70-200 (the heavier one) but he was like no give me the other one.  I couldn't figure out why until he started taking flattering pictures of me in my predicament.

The minutes are counting UP!!!

This is the type of screen I have been seeing all day.  I finally finished wading through 2 and a half hours of interview to get this done.  The new iMovie isn't as intuitive as it should be if you don't have Final Cut.  So in reward to myself for getting this done I went back to the Hummingbird bakery on my own to get a few.  Much to the envy of the roommates.  I am just happy to have this done and move on.  But it takes forever to export and I have 4 stages to do so I decided to slow it down even more to post this blog and get it out of the way today.

A bit of sensory overload

Camden Town Market was something to experience, that is for sure.  There is just so much going on it was hard for me to take it all in let alone take a good picture.  Stuff everywhere, people everywhere, food everywhere, music everywhere.  Whoa.  

"Who told you to get on the bus?"

Well, we had yet another school trip where we get on a bus and herded here and there by professors, tour guides and other knowledgeable people of London.  This time we went to Bath and Lacock but if you blinked you missed Lacock.  We spent almost no time in Lacock which really we only needed another hour and we could have seen everything.  Then we headed to Bath where we were instructed to shoot a "photo story" which was more like find a subject and shoot it for about 30-40 minutes.  

My "photo story" was a group of musicians from Zimbabwe on tour who were performing in a mall like area.  Nothing great was shot and felt like more of a waste of time, sorry David.  

We did get tickets to the Bath.  The way it is set up I felt like I couldn't tell where I was in relationship to the actual water of the bath and there was so much modern construction in the "preservation" that is was not very cool at all.  I just wish they would keep stuff they way they are and not add so much modern stuff to it.  I think Dave said it best, "If the romans knew that their Baths had become a shopping mall..."  I don't really need a projection and fake audio of people bathing as seen in a picture above with the people in white with towels.

The one place I did like in Bath was the Royal Cresent.  The building was kind of neat but the best part was the park in front of it.  It was quiet and not a zillion tourist.  I sat there for a while watching a football match between some teenagers and people watching.  That was the highlight of the day for me I would have to say.  I don't know if that is good or bad.