Want to swap skills, collaborate, or guest post?

I’ve been thinking a lot about collaborations lately and working with others, and the power that comes with it. I believe that collaborations can open up so many new opportunities, they create relationships, and bring fresh ideas with them.
So, I've decided I want to do it. If you’re interested in collaborating, including guest posting, shoot me an email.
I’d love to hear your ideas, and will consider all kinds of suggestions. It doesn’t necessarily have to be photography related, it could be anything going through your mind right now. Your thoughts and talents are all welcome. Just let me know why you want to work with me or guest post, what idea you’ve got in mind, and how you can contribute value to the collaboration.

Also, I always love learning new things. If you’re the same and you’ve got a different skillset to mine (pretty sure you do), let’s ‘swap skills’. I’m thinking of sharing each other’s knowledge, maybe coming together once a week or once a month, and basically teaching each other.
There are a few things I’m good at, the most obvious one is photography (but I'd happily talk you through some other skills I could swap). So let me know if you’re up for it, and what you’ve got to offer :) This idea probably works best if you’re in London as well, but I’m still open to your ideas even if you’re based somewhere else.

If you’re not so much into any of the above ideas, but still have thoughts on what you’d like to see around here, do let me know as well. Excited to hear from you!

Happy 4. Advent / Wrapping Presents

Happy 4. Advent, guys!
Today's all about wrapping presents. I've had a lot of fun wrapping the ones you can see in the photos (and a lot more). Christmas always feels so glamorous, I want shiny things and gold and silver and glitter.
I'll leave you to the photos for now, I hope they'll inspire you to get into some pretty Christmas present wrapping. :)

Happy 2. Advent / Making Presents

Hanna is back again today with a post on making Christmas presents. She's sharing some really great and creative ideas, making me want to get started on all of them straight away. (And I wish I had photos to illustrate all of them). Keep reading to find out for yourself...

Happy second Advent everybody! Isn't it crazy how fast time is running at the moment? Between Christmas parties, evenings at the Christmas market and all those other Christmas activities, December always seems to be passing in the blink of an eye.
I'm always a little late with finding Christmas presents for my family and friends (who else says every year that they're going to be finished with shopping for presents by November next year?). I love searching for the perfect present for my family, something personal and unique, and then seeing their faces as they unwrap it. Here's a little list of ideas I've had this year...

- A hand-made gift is always a good idea: Why don't you try your hand on something knitted for example? A scarf or a hat are easy beginners projects, socks aren't too hard as well. And if you're feeling ambitious, why don't you try to make a pullover?

- If you just want to spread some holiday cheer with a small gesture, why don't you make some roasted almonds yourself? They are easy to make, your house will smell lovely and everybody likes roasted almonds (it's true!).

- You can also make your own chocolates (I especially like making ones with marzipan and nougat). They can be wrapped pretty and maybe you can write the recipe on a nice card, so your friends can enjoy some more chocolates once the ones you've made are eaten (which probably won't take too long!)

- If there are children in your family, why don't you give the a gingerbread house? Or maybe all the parts of a gingerbread house (the gingerbread and the sweets) and then you spend an afternoon together decorating it!

- If you want to try out as many traditional and delicious Christmas cookies and pie recipes but still want to fit into your jeans after Christmas, why don't you create a cookie box for your loved ones? This year, I want to give my grandparents one of these, with a glass of home-made winter jam, Christmas stollen, ginger bread, my favourite cookies...

- Speaking of baking - why don't you try making a personal recipe book? Just buy a pretty notebook, fill in some of your favourite recipes (or recipes you two like to eat together, if there are any) and leave the rest of the book free to write in even more recipes over the years.

- If you're really good at something (like cooking, sewing, knitting, making jewellery, taking photos, the options are endless!), why don't you give somebody the 'ingredients' that you need for one project (like ingredients for one meal, fabric to create a dress, wool and needles, a jewellery kit..) and give it together with one (or more) 'private' lesson with you. Something like Skillshare in person. This way, you can give something home-made and spend the day together! 

- If you need a present for a music lover, why don't you create a mixtape with new songs for them? A few years ago, I gave my father a box with mixtapes for every month of the year, each with some new songs, some of his old favourites and some of mine. This is a present that can actually be enjoyed all year long!

- A calendar for 2014 is also a great gift: To make it a little more personal, you could fill in some special dates (like birthdays, the day you met...), your favourite quotes, small motivators on Mondays, and some activities you two can do together (like coffee dates, brunch, adventures once it's warmer outside...). Every week can hold a new surprise and bring a smile to somebody's face. 

These are just some of my ideas, I hope I can make as many presents myself this year as possible. What about you? Do you make your presents yourself or do you buy them? And what is your favourite place to start looking for presents?

See you again next week!

The Photo Brunch Shoreditch / 01

I’m so excited to write this post, and to show you some photos of my first ‘official’ Photo Brunch last Saturday. I had a great time, and I’m so glad everyone else seemed to have as well. I had Emma, Laura, and Lisa come along (Jo was meant to join as well, but sadly didn’t feel very well). It was nice having a small group of people to start with, it felt more intimate and I got to really focus on everyone and help them out with their cameras.
I seriously enjoyed teaching and sharing my knowledge, and it was so great to see that all three of them really got it, and understood what I was telling them about camera settings, and how to achieve certain photo outcomes.

We met at Dishoom in Shoreditch for brunch, which was great. I initially wanted to go to the Breakfast Club, but it’s usually very busy on weekends, so I decided that I needed to be able to book a table. Dishoom was just as good - I especially enjoyed my Chocolate Chai.

After having a chat and enjoying some breakfast I talked everyone through the spreadsheet I had created, including the basics of photography - aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
Although you can read up a lot on these settings all over the internet, I think it really helps having someone explain everything in person. Plus, you get to ask questions and actually try it out on your camera while getting on-hand help.

Another great thing about meeting with a few people to go out and shoot, is that it gives you the freedom to actually stop and take photos (quoting what Emma wrote, because it’s such a good way of saying it). Quite often I find that if I’m out with a non-photographer person, I don’t want to stop all the time, as I feel it must be annoying for them. And if I’m on my own I don’t usually find the motivation or enthusiasm to just go for a wander to take random photos. And of course it is just a lot more fun going for a walk and taking photos with like-minded people.

So, we had a really great time (it was sunny, too) - a big thank you to everyone who joined.
If you want to come along to the next one, it will be on 8 February. You can book your place right here.

The art of good photography

(All images in this post by Mike Abrahams)

A few weeks ago we looked at the work of Mike Abrahams in class, who came in and talked to us about business type stuff as well as his photography. You should go check out his work, it’s amazing! (And even better to look at when the picture is projected onto the wall).

I don’t get that very often that I see people’s work and feel amazed straight away. We looked at a few of his projects (e.g. this one taken just after the Cold War in Eastern Europe), when he was still using black and white film. Back then people used black&white film rather than colour for mostly technical reasons, but also because it was ‘fashionable’. So, it made me wonder what the photos would look like in colour.
Of course the stories look great in black&white, and are really strong sets of pictures. Still, colour is very different, and so hard to do well, that it made me think about it. Today there’s no real reason for photographing in black&white, which is why I really admire photographers that take awesome colour pictures. It’s hard - hard because you have to make sure to get the colour balance right, hard because distracting colours (e.g. neon green) are annoying, hard because you want all the colours to go well together, hard because you want strong colours, such as red, to be the actual focus of the picture, and so on... Colour photography sure is a skill that has to be learned and developed.

Another thing that came to my mind after looking at this specific project in Eastern Europe - it’s a grim and dark story, and the pictures are grim and dark, but they are beautiful nevertheless. That’s a skill in itself! It’s easy to make something nice look beautiful. It’s not easy to make something dull look beautiful.

Just some of my thoughts for today - I’ll leave you to it. Let me know what came to your mind reading this, would love to hear and get a conversation started!

Selling Prints + Postcards

I've updated my Society6 shop - if you're looking for some prints, or want to make someone happy by sending a card (it's Christmas time coming up!), hop on over and have a look.
And do it soon, so you don't miss out on free shipping worldwide (expires 17 November), which you'll get if you click this link (or any of the other ones).

The photos above are just a selection of some of the prints + cards on offer.
If there's a photo you've seen on the blog that you'd like to get as a print, card, or something else, just drop me an email, and I'll upload it to the shop.
I hope you'll find something you like! :)

Behind the Scenes of The Sartorialist

I came across this video about Scott Schuman (the guy behind The Sartorialist) the other week, and wanted to share it. I thought it was really interesting - both the interview and being able to basically go along with him on one of his tours through the city.

Almost seems too perfect - just being able to go up to people, tell them your blog name, and have them totally agree straight away to having their photo taken ;)

I love documentary videos/interviews like this one. They really inspire me - this one made me think about where I’m going with my career, where I want to be, and gave me some new ideas. 

Here’s another one by the way (where he mentions August Sander. Yay - he’s one of my biggest and longest inspirations, too! ;) )

If you know any other interesting videos let me know! Could be about anything really (I love anything from the creative industries to business to psychology) - maybe there’s something on TED I haven’t heard about yet that inspired you? Or it might not be a video, but just a written interview. Anything, please share. :) And let me know what you think of this one - what do you take away from it?