"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.

Fire drill and watermelon

Thursday at the beginning of class there was a fire drill we were told to make our way to the square near Faraday House, the name of the place school is held.  There was a fruit stand in that square so Andrew and Juliette among others decided to partake in some deliciousness.  

Lindsay Adler is 23 today!!

So as the very thoughtful post title says, it was Lindsay's birthday today.  Because most of us had homework or class or whatever she and I went to Hummingbird Bakery and had very delicious cupcakes.  I made her wait for me to take this horrible picture of hers before eating could commence.  It was a good time we had a lot of girl talk and good laughs.

The Walk Home

Saw this on the way home from school, it is unfortunate that you can't see that the little guy is holding an ice cream stick.  It was cute.

"O, the things you see in the front row." - Stefanie Campolo

After a day of doing pretty much nothing, reading, watching a movie, just relaxing I went to a play/dance theater thing.  The production was what I would call an interpretive dance loosely following the story of The Picture of Dorian Gray.  If I had not read the book I would not have known what was going on but the dancing was great.  I found it interesting to see something like that at a point in my life when I can actually appreciate it, rather than being a kid dragged to something like it.  I got to see my friend Gary there, a nice guy that helped us find our flat and negotiate the particulars.  So the night was good, a little culture, some friends but no pictures, sorry to disappoint.

We sat in the front row and I was kind of distracted by this line on the ladies' face that was sort of playing the part of "Henry" from what I could gather.  I thought (throughout the first half) she was wearing a mask and couldn't figure out why but it was actually her wig.  Stefanie was slightly perplexed by the same thing I found out on our way home.  

The bane of my existence...today

I literally spent 11 hours doing two loads of laundry and that is just in the washer.  I think I have finally figured out the stupid thing.  Because this is such a great picture that describes my time here in London I have decided to post a few pictures that I have take while away from the laundry.

They come from Dover, Portabello Market, London Eye, and of course Stonehenge.

London gone batty

ASSIGNMENT:  Find a story at Hyde Park.

THOUGHTS:  What?  Boring, nothing really powerful there, fluff.  Fluff doesn't entice me.  Not what I envisioned for coming here.

RESULT:  Picture above.  

A bat tour in Hyde Park, I thought the bats would be in a cave or something like that can people would shine their "torches" on them and I would get pictures of them that way.  Then get people's reactions.....no it did not go as I thought it would but it never does.  Does it?

Uphill Both Ways

On my way to class on the 98 bus a double-decker on Oxford Street.  I like the top one of a business meeting on the street, literally.

A Day of Nothing

I did nothing interesting today as the photos show.  Hopefully soon I will be able to get into the swing of things soon.

Out our kitchen window...

is where we get the best internet connection, which then leads to frustration.

Eyelash Curler, what???

After our impromptu wine and cheese party the guys were surprised to learn there are such things as eyelash curler.