The path to becoming a better photographer

I have owned a digital SLR now for about 4 years and have probably only taken a handful of photos that I'm truly happy with.  I keep seeing my brother-in-law's photos taken with the same camera and wondering how on earth his look so different to mine.  Also with a constant feed of photos being uploaded onto Facebook it's plain to see that I'm missing a trick somewhere.

Someone mentioned in passing to me recently that he had been bought an evening course at a local studio and that I should come along.  3 hours and £50 later I have finally started to understand how to use the camera properly in manual.  The following morning I head to Hurlingham park to walk Ruby and it appears that I have learnt a thing!!  After taking a few dull and uninspiring photos I retreat to the safe house of Barossa for a few cappuccinos.  I figured that I just don't seem to the arty requirements of a good photographer.

That weekend we head to Sussex to stay with A-L's cousins is their beautifully secluded home.  The next morning we wake to 6 inches of fresh white powder.  We headed out for a walk into the woods and I was immediately inspired and quickly started to understand that photography is all about light.

A white morning walk in the woods

I really enjoyed snapping away at anything and everything that morning and also when we returned to the house.  I was becoming more comfortable with the camera now but ultimately still felt something was missing.  I got my head into thinking that I need a Canon L series lens which are hugely expensive but do help produce extremely high quality images.  

In late February A-L and I took a group of friends to Rock for a weekend of Martini drinking.  An equally keen photographer joined us with all his equipment and 3 different lens.  He started snapping away and his photos were sharp and also were a very good representation of what he was shooting (in regards to colours).  When we arrived back at the house that evening he uploaded his photos and started tweaking them using the iPhoto editing.  The difference was incredible.  I know that most photographers use photoshop in some form or another but I was so surprised what a difference minor adjustments made.

Polzeath Beach Before

Polzeath Beach After

The above photo was created by simply using the enhance option on iPhoto.  The bulk of the mist is cleared the blue sky more apparent and the green grass showing through nicely.   That function alone may have just saved me £2,500.

Port Issac Harbour

This photo was taken with no adjustments at all.  I played with the aperture settings and snapped.  I am really happy with this picture and think I'm on to something.  Look back here soon for an update on my photographic abilities.

Fancy dropping a few pounds? VB is the way forward!!

1 Onion
1/2 Cucumber
1 Red Pepper
1 Green Pepper
1 Garlic Clove
1 Red Chilli

Blend until smooth

Add a carton of Tomato Juice and blend again

The Vitamin Bomb

Have for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week and you will be quite a bit lighter.

If you can't handle this then have fish and veggies for dinner.

Stirred not shaken actually Mr Bond

After discovering the Dirty Martini 2 years ago I have become rather attached.  I am also rather fussy about how they are made for me after being served some rather disappointing examples around the globe.

The first DM I had was at La Mamounia in Marrakech made with Grey Goose.  It was stirred with dry martini, olive brine and ice and then strained into a frozen glass.  The result was as far as i'm concerned the Perfect Dirty Martini.

I find that Grey Goose is smooth without the cost of an overly snazzy bottle.

The mistakes of a bad DM.

Shaken over ice - This dilutes the drink with the water from the ice and also when strained through the standard head of a cocktail shaker little bits of ice float on top of the martini.

Oily Brine - Sometimes the bartender will use the olive brine for eating olives which often contains oil.  This will separate and float on top of your drink.

Warm Glass - All that hard work stirring the drink over ice to strain it into a warm glass, really?

So the current Dirty Martini guide is as follows

1.  Dukes Hotel - St James
2.  Hakkasan - Mayfair
3.  La Mamounia - Marrakech
4.  Wherever i'm making them!!

Now remember

1 Martini 2 Martini 3 Martini Floor

And of course please also remember

Drink responsibly!!!!

I've been fully Apple'd

So I purchased the MacBook Air this morning.

iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac and now MacBook Air.

I must say the years of changing PC and Phone and dealing with the issues of losing files etc are finally over.  After an hour fiddling and signing into my iTunes, iCloud and Dropbox accounts i'm all integrated and ready to work.  The only semi redundant devise is the iPod.  The only thing that may just save its life is the battery life of the iPhone.

I am already enjoying typing away with a fresh and fast laptop in the local coffee shop (Barossa).

Blogs, Tweets and FB Posts will be for frequent from now.

London's best coffee shops

Without an office to host business meetings in I have found myself hunting out the best coffee spots in London.

From Fulham to the City, little one off shops are always popping up.

I refuse to use the Starbucks and Costa's of this world and when i'm forced to buy one on a Motorway to help recover from the previous evening poor behaviour I always regret it and wished i'd have had a bottle of water.

After some flitting about the coffee of choice is a cappuccino!!

Current top 3 are as follows:

1. La Bottega - Lower Sloane Street
2. Barossa - New Kings Road
3. Tinto Coffee - Fulham Palace Road

I'm keen to learn of some more so please point me in the right direction.

Virgin Upper Class meets The Office

After a month in London deciding what I should do with myself I have come to realise that I'm not someone that can work or think at home.

Office search begins.

Now I will happily admit that I'm not overly practical when it comes to things like this.  With no business set up I'm probably best to stick it out at home for the moment or get a small desk space in North Acton for £50.  I haven't done that, I have google office space in London and in the required area field I have entered SW1.  After a 15 minute grilling from freeofficespace.co.uk I set up 3 viewings in SW6 and SW10 thinking these are closer to home and will surely be more cost effective.

Viewing 1 - A studio space just the other side of Parsons Green.  A company has downsized and stuck up a partition wall and they want £1400 for a poky space. Not for me.

Viewing 2 - Harwood road office in an okay location which is warm, secure and reasonable well presented.  £1600 and you'd get 4 or 5 people in there.  Worth considering.

Viewing 3 - Cool converted build on Lots Road.  Exposed beams and red brink, split level offices and a nice little cafe attached.  I like it.  £2900. Not for me.

After a coffee near Parsons Green (Barossa - very good cappuccino) I couldn't help but feel that these spaces didn't suit me nor what I visualised myself working in.  I had more thinking and looking to do.  A friend of mine has just moved to a refreshed block adjacent to Putney Bridge station called Fulham Green.  3 buildings which have been left untouched and pretty much vacant for some time.  Purchased recently by John Hunt the ex Foxtons owner, these are already being transformed into something rather nice.  I decided to pop in and see what they could offer.  Their initial response was that they were all out of small offices and have just leased most of the larger spaces to 1 client.  They showed me a board room which they may let me have but couldn't confirm this for a day or 2.  As I left he handed me a brochure for a new 'John Hunt' development on High Street Kensington call Drylands.  I took it away to read later that evening.

Now I don't buy my shirts from Burton or my shoes from Clarks so the moment I started to flick through the beautifully printed Dryland brochure I was sold.  This was the new luxury standard for London offices.  Prices start from £99 for a basic membership and go up to £1299 for a 1 man office.  I made a call and booked a viewing for the next day.

On arrival you enter a marbled cafe with freshly baked brownies and cakes on display and the aroma of fresh coffee.  I received a beaming smile from the waiter and continued to walk towards the reception.  I inform the attractive female receptionist that I have a viewing booked with Nisha and that I'm a little early.  Moments later a supermodel-esque young lady approaches once again with a beaming smile.  This is going to be an expensive visit!!

She shows me around this impressive newly refurbished building.  The concept is new and I liked it a lot.  Regus meets a Virgin Clubhouse.  On the 1st floor there are offices around the outside of the room with between 1 and 8 desks in each.  In the central space there are business pods which house 1 person and are electronically accessed with a coded key card.  The 1 man offices were already taken and on the yet to be released 2nd floor the 2 1 man offices had already been reserved.  Nisha did offer me a 2 man office for £2000 pcm which isn't ideal.  I left disappointed that I couldn't secure a single office for myself but extremely impressed by the set up.

I'm not a millionaire and probably should be shopping at TK Maxx especially as I currently have no income.  However I find myself travelling Upper Class with Virgin, buying my shirts from Emmett, shoes from Tim Little and now housing myself in a Millionaires working environment.  Have I gone completely mad?

Now I wouldn't be doing any of this if I couldn't afford it but as I said with no current income I probably shouldn't be doing this.  I like nice things, I like being looked after and most importantly I like to enjoy the environment in which I spend my time and money.

There is no moral to this story in anyway at all but I know whatever happens I will always make sure I'm in a position to enjoy these nice things.  As long as the likes of Richard Branson and John Hunt understand what people like myself want then new niches like Dryland will be VERY successful indeed.