Baltic landscapes

Been nursing a hangover from an all-night drinking session visiting old friends in my former hometown of Eckernfoerde. Went for a walk the next day, and what is more therapeutic than fresh air and calm, serene Baltic landscapes?

Santacon

Bright and cold Saturday morning at Camden Lock, where a crowd of several hundred people dressed as Santa Claus gathered for their annual rampage through London. Not unlike the Flashmob, Santacon is an older, and - ahem - more established version of spontaneous nonsense events organised in metropolitan cities like London, New York and many others.

I figured that I'm short on a good christmassy picture to send out, I went along for a bit:

Pre-X-mas Madness

Last night I had to meet up with a nice young German girl called Jasmin. Yes, I know, life is hard sometimes. The story is about Germans being away from home and returning to their loved ones for Christmas, and so the portrait had to convey a sense of pre-Christmas atmosphere, but nothing too cliché - like a Christmas tree, Santa or a bunch of wrapped-up presents. I chose to meet the young lady in Regent Street, which is colourfully decorated and thought that it would make a nice enough backdrop for our portrait. The rest is in the pictures.

Alcohol is alcohol

is what Diageo's Chief Executive Paul Walsh says when it comes to market share and the products his giant company sells.

Given the location and time availale, I wish he'd given me a bottle of Black Label after the shoot. A tiny, featureless meeting room with two glass walls, clutter and horrible flourescent lighting were the aspects greeting me when I turned up for my five minutes with the big man. Paul Walsh was actually very nice and felt comfortable, which may have persuaded him to allow me to sit in on the interview and shoot a more lively picture than the posed portraits.

Homeless Photographer

...it's that time of year - the days are short, darkness sets quickly, the dread of Christmas consumerism is in the air and photographers generally tend to feel broke and exposed as work quietens down during the festive period. It just so happened that I went 'round a friend's house (who also happens to be a photographer), and his hallway was clogged with a huge cardboard box, discarded packaging for a piece of furniture or something.

We joked that this would soon become his new domicile if things continue to slide the way they have done for years - i.e. if more clients start demanding 'all rights' or ask for reduced fees, refuse to pay post-production, or simply go to cheaper photographers who will shoot any job for £ 150.00 'all in'.

There was a good deal of black humour in our reasoning (more like, lamenting the same story year-in, year-out) until I said that I have a little Powershot S70 on me, and so why don't we go outside and shoot a few pictures with it and the cardboard box?

My friend gladly obliged, insisting that he didn't want to be recognised, pulled a hat over his face and duly laid down on the pavement and made himself at home in his new-found portable budget-residence. It was predictably dark and cold, and my little gizmo being limited to low ISO settings and long shutter speeds produced fairly smudgy pictures. Those that were usable from our five-minute madness appear here, and they are worth more to me than the last few portrait sessions taken together.