A cycling rant

As you may have read here, I like cycling. I now cycle to my day job and back every day, which is a total of 16 miles per day (I'm still waiting for the health benefits). I'm also (I think) quite a considerate motorist, probably because of the cycling.

During my travels I get to see the sights of East London, including Clapton, Hackney, Bethnal Green and Shoreditch before arriving in the City. This also means I get to risk my life twice daily on the roads, so I'm extra careful. However, although the trip is usually safe, you can't account for what other people do and lately I've taken to classifying  the various types of idiot out there.

Pedestrian idiot - these tend to step out when there aren't any lights, or the lights are green for traffic. Often they look one way but not the other. Some cross the road by pushing their pram out first, into the path of traffic..not a good idea.

Cyclist Idiot - several types of these, but several factors are usually in play- lack of helmet, headphones on (!), hands not on the handlebars, meandering side to side, jumping red signals... Around Bethnal Green I often see a combination of these, completely oblivious to anyone else. Natural selection maybe?

Motorist Idiot - not giving room on the left for passing cyclists, cutting corners, texting/phone whilst driving, doing makeup/hair... 

I was almost sandwiched last week, and an old friend nearly died after somebody on their phone hit him and drove off.  I think if motorists were made to cycle in London for a week, perhaps they would be a lot more considerate. As for the bad cyclists..well - any suggestions? I have a few but I can't print them here!

London riots and other news

It's now been a week since the events that led to the worst rioting seen in London for many years. I opened my door at midnight on the first night because of shouting outside, and was met by the sight of around thirty riot police in formation charging up the road! My first thought was to get my camera and start snapping, but common sense took over and I closed and locked the door. A photographer should try to record events, but not put others at risk. As it happened, my area wasn't too badly damaged apart from a few shop windows. What followed though was in my eyes  disgraceful-not so much riots and protest as pure criminal behaviour, and hopefully these people will be dealt with severely.

Anyway, the following weekend was much brighter in mood, as I had a shoot with the lovely Ruth and her husband Phil, in Trent Park. This is the site of Ruth's former university, and has some impressive buildings and ornamental garden areas. We spent several hours shooting as Ruth completed a series of contemporary dance moves. Preview images will appear on this page soon.

The Cycling Photographer

At the weekend I combined two of my favourite hobbies and took my camera out on a bike ride around London. It was so much fun i might make a regular feature of it!

On this trip I first visited the Brick Lane area of London. Here there are many coffee shops such as Nude Espresso in Hanbury Street, which is probably my favourite so far. Great cappucino but I had to wait a while as it's so popular. On Brick Lane itself, there are some hidden clubs such as 93 feet East,

 and also plenty of characters  just lounging on the street, such as these guys..

This area is full of trendy shops such as Sunspel,

design shops like this one,

and galleries like this:

I then cycled through the back streets and found a Saturday market in a disused car park. You couldn't miss this place, as they had a DJ! Sounded like the old pirate radio stations I used to enjoy.

After cycling down Bethnal Green Road, I found Mason & Taylor which is a newish craft beer or real ale venue. It's meant to be good although I haven't tried it yet.

Next, I rode toward the Strand, stopping off to take this shot of my new bike near the Old Bailey.

Then it was onward to the South Bank, which I often use for model shoots.

Toward Southwark, these youths were practising the sport of parkour, or free-running. Impressive to watch but could be dangerous at my age..

On the return journey, a shot of the iMax:

and St Paul's peeking over the buildings:

Overall combining cycling and photography was a great way to spend a few hours! More to follow.

Less work, more photography

I finally finished my degree course at Birkbeck College today, with an exam in 'Social Issues in Computing'. This is the culmination of four years hard toil - it takes that long when you're a part time student with a full time job. As well as being useful for my main job, many of the modules are also useful for a photography business, as included are accounts and presentation skills.

Now I'm finished, I have much more free time for photography and general laziness! I will get the results in August , and (unless I'm really unlucky) won't have to retake any exams, and will graduate around October/November time. Who will take the photographs I wonder?

Anyway, I'm having a weekend off soon to celebrate / take photos in York and Manchester, and will then try to concentrate on improving my fashion modelling portfolio by booking as many model photo shoots here in London as possible! Hopefully I will also get time at some point to shoot some landscapes - and also paint them, as I've just bought some oil paints. Wish me luck, i will post my efforts on this blog if they're any good..

Mark

Victoria - Soho Photo Shoot

Although I haven't yet updated the site with the last one, I recently met up with Victoria Dmitrienko again for a second shoot - this time around Greek Street, Old Compton Street and the surrounding areas of Soho. It was more unplanned than last time as we just wandered around and used whichever locations looked good, and I found some inspiration from the cafes we stopped at as they usually had their own artwork inside! We found a Spanish bar with a superb old-style jukebox (Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd etc) and used that for some shots too. Enjoy the previews below.