Ironically I associate lockdown with being outdoors in nature. This is because when everything is closed and there is nowhere else to go I go for walks in my local parks. This is what kept me sane during the first lockdown. This is what I did over Xmas and this is what I am doing to get through this next period of restricted living. But this is no hardship. Being amongst nature is both calming and invigorating. I find as soon as I step through the park gates and am surrounded by trees rather than buildings I feel instantly more relaxed. I brief a sigh of relief as I leave tense city streets behind and enter the soothing world of nature.
We have to remind ourselves that even during this ongoing and overwhelming experience of global seizure and disruption, the world of man is only one aspect of living and if we are able to just turn away from it and gaze instead upon the natural world that we are a part of, yet disconnected from, we can find not only solace and contentment, but guidance and purpose.
To be able to endure the harsher conditions of winter, trees suck the lifeblood out of their leaves, sacrificing them so that they can live through it. We must also get through this season by withdrawing ourselves and reducing our existence. Like the trees we must do whatever is necessary in order to survive.
We are so disconnected from nature that we talk about it as if we are not a part of it. As if it is something separate. The same way that people talk about traffic, as if does not include them, even when they are in it. And that, in part, is why we are in the state we are in.
We must reintegrate with the natural network that we have removed ourselves from so that we can restore our wellbeing. If that sounds like old hippy shit to you, leave your phone at home and go for a walk amongst the trees and tell me that you do not feel better after you return.
As winter fell this year and the trees shed their leaves I have been truly in awe at their skeleton structures, as if I am seeing them for the first time. This is either because I have been observing them more frequently throughout the year and so their transformation is more apparent…or it’s possibly the magic mushroom chocolates which might have contributed to this heightened awareness – it’s just so difficult to tell ;)
Whatever it is I feel more connected to nature so now when I look at the ‘design’ of all the branches on all the trees I see that they are identical to the ‘design’ of our lungs (see above) because that is exactly what they are. They are our external lungs. And we need them to breathe just like we do our internal lungs. To destroy them, as is happening all over the world at the most relentless rate, is the most masochistic act of all time. It is pure self-sabotage. Surely we want to survive? And when it really comes down to it, that is all that nature demands of us and ironically we need to protect it in order for that to happen..
Hope everyone is doing ok. I woulda normally wished you a happy new year but I was late starting this year (trying to get my head in gear) and it also just doesn’t seem that appropriate righta bout now. So instead I will just say please look after yourself and each other and let’s get through this…
My Uncle Cyril died on Saturday from Covid. He was one of 1035 people that died in the U.K from contracting the virus on that one day alone. May he and all of them rest in peace.
Its funny cos I never heard of a hoax killing people before. Can someone explain to me how it can do that when it doesn’t actually exist?
Protect yourself, protect your loved ones. This is real. This is happening. If you think it isn’t, you are delusional.
If you don’t think the rules apply to you and you don’t wish to comply you are contributing to these deaths happening. Wake the fuck up, be a grown up, take responsibility for your actions.
No excuses. No justifications. Just fucking do what is being asked of you so we can stop this runaway train from decimating our lives. All that is being asked of you is that you stay at home and stay the fuck away from each other. That’s it.
My aunt is now a widow and she shouldn’t be. All the families of every single one of those 1035 who passed away on Saturday are now in mourning and they shouldn’t be. Grief is hard enough at the best of times, but under these circumstance it is horrendous as you can’t even console those who have lost, you can’t hug them, you can’t hold their hand, you can’t even be with them. My heart goes out to each and every person whose lives have been devastated by this pandemic.
…accidentally sent today’s post yesterday. Was clearly keen to get it to you. So as I’m here sayin soz I thought I would leave you with this parting shot which was taken of the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road coincidentally last Christmas..I feel there’s a message in there somewhere although what that is I’m not exactly sure exactly ;)
So I will say Happy Holidays after all…enjoy yourself the best you can..if there is one thing that this whole thing has taught us is that we must savour every moment because who knows what the fuck is round the corner…
Why have I selected shots aimed firmly at the ground this week? Well, I am always fascinated about what randomness you stumble upon as you go about your daily & nightly business. They say you can learn a lot about the society you live in from the rubbish people throw out. Really have no idea who ‘they’ are in this instance but as my random findings include sex, drugs, gloves and takeout paraphernalia I would say ‘they’ are pretty bang on.
But I am also averting your gaze downwards because we just need to keep our heads down and get through this…and we will get through this. But in terms of how you play it is entirely up to you. Don’t buckle for others, don’t succumb to peer pressure, we all have to make our own decisions based on our own conclusions. As I have I said previously the days of consensus are over. It’s a shame as that is what is desperately required but it’s clearly not happening so we might as well admit and work around it.
We all know that the only real chance we have to reign this mofo in is to stay the fuck away from each other but whether you feel able to do that or not will be up to you. Being apart from each other is clearly not good for our mental health and that might be more important for you to preserve than your physical health so we all need to do whatever we need to do to survive this.
You wanna wear a mask in bed, barricade yourself in your house, move to the moon, or if you would rather say fuck it and hug and kiss everyone you come into contact with and party like its 2019, whatever, it’s on you. All I will say, having contracted the virus in March and am still suffering from it 9 months later, you really don’t want this thing if you can avoid it. It ain’t ‘just like the flu’ and it ain’t a hoax. Trust me on this.
This is my last post of the year. And yup, its been a weird one alright. Is next year gonna be better? Its a pretty low bar to beat let’s be honest so let’s go with yes. I would at this stage normally wish you all a happy xmas and all that but as it is likely to be cancelled I will just quote the late great Douglas Adams:
“So long and thanks for all the fish…” And see you in 2021!
Sorry Greta, still not panicking. Actually people are panicking, just not about that. They’re panicking about things that aren’t happening rather than things that are..
Panicking about Bill Gates chipping them with nanobots, not happening.
Panicking about a Satanic Cabal of Paedophiles taking over the world, not happening.
NOT panicking about catastrophic climate change, actually happening.
NOT panicking about the 6th mass extinction on planet Earth, actually happening.
On 13th November 15,000 scientists sent an open letter stating that we desperately need to address the societal collapse that will come from environmental disaster which will definitely happen if we carry on as we are. This slipped through the news net for most as it was drowned amidst a mountain of ‘virus/trump/whatever the outrage of the day was’ headlines but correct me if I am jumping to conclusions but I think they’re trying to tell us something…
( If you want the overview you can read via this article via link here)
We don’t need to panic. We need to pay attention. We need to be able to recognise hysteria from genuine concern. We need to recognise that we are continually and (albeit sub-consciously) wilfully being distracted from the mother of all problems which is looming over our species and all those we haven’t already made extinct..if we do not drastically and immediately alter our trajectory we will be on course to a shitstorm that will make this current one seem like a 2 week holiday in the Seychelles.
Do you want to hear all this right now whilst you are worrying about the virus and how its going to affect your xmas plans? I highly doubt it and sure you have already filed it under ‘things I can’t deal with right now’ but it should be labelled as ‘things we definitely and desperately need to deal with immediately’.
It would appear that this is either the number of someone calling themselves “R Racist” who has stuck it to a pavement in the hope of attracting other like-minded people. Or else someone is racist shaming someone and just using the letter ‘R’ as an abbreviation for ‘are’. I would probably go with the latter but it is very intriguing if that is the case as seems a fairly strange and somewhat limited way to alert people to this fact…and if this happens to be your number and you wish to clarify the situation please get in touch…
And in unrelated news today is officially the last day to order a “My Neon Noir Print” if you are interested. If you wish to review the shots a breakneck speed please watch this video:
and if you wish to see them at a more leisurely pace, here you go…
and here are some of the shots of prints that have been ordered if you wanna see what they lookey like…
And once again thank you to everyone who has ordered a print…so far collectively we have raised over 1000 meals forthefelixproject who redistribute food that goes to waste to those who need it.. mission accomplished!
Shots depicting life behind a mask this week. No aspect of living has escaped it. This is our life. But we only wear them for one reason. So that one day we won’t have to. I should say upfront I am categorically not an anti-masker. They are essential to halt the spread of the virus but I am anti-mask in the sense that I don’t like wearing one. I want to get past this stage because this bit sucks. This is no way to live so we can’t make this our reality just because we can’t reign in our behaviour. We are too selfish and too undisciplined. We want it over but aren’t prepared to do what is necessary for that to happen. You can bang on about freedoms all you like but this ain’t freedom. This is the opposite. We are trapped in a prison of our own making. And we need it to end.
I have a friend who lives in Thailand ( Hi Nat!) and it pains me to see that their society has effectively returned to normal. The virus is behind them and they have now moved on. Live music events are back, social distancing is over, their previous existence has returned..and all because they did what was necessary. They knew that extreme measures were required to eliminate it in order for normal life to return. And it has.
And the reason we are still up to our ears in this Corona crap in Europe and in America is because we ‘ve all been a bit shit about the whole thing since the off. Both our governments response and our own slackness, driven largely by a total lack of concern for anyone other than ourselves and our inner circle. We have all been focussed primarily on how it has affected us as individuals, how it impacted our own lives, what we have personally lost. It seems we cannot see beyond our own story of woe when clearly the only way to beat this is to treat it is a societal problem we are part of and have a unified response. We cannot move forward on the virus or the climate until we see the human race as one big community. Right now it feels we just see ourselves as single entities all crammed into the same place all fighting separately not together. And as Yoda said to Luke in Empire:
“and that is why you fail…”
( been a while since i used a star wars metaphor but bang into the Mandalorian at mo and it has awoken my inner fan boy, fyi and all..)
This guy above has been protesting about animal cruelty with the same banner around his neck for at least a decade. I have several shots of him over the years. The one below is from the MYLDN book (still available in all good bookshops & from me plug plug) which also has a passage on these lone long term protestors who dedicate their life to championing a cause with a seemingly low impact. And yet, who knows how many people this guy has swayed over the years? Hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million people must have seen him over the years. He is there pretty much every Saturday outside Notting Hill Gate station dead centre of the exit as people pour out of the station and head towards Portobello market so you cannot miss him. On a normal (B.C) weekend several thousand would seem him in a single day.
Maybe he is more of an influencer than his modern social media counterparts? And then again maybe he has been relentlessly ignored throughout his time there. Regardless, he is there no matter what. He hasn’t got little orange hearts to keep him going. Just his own sheer determination. And now even in the middle of a pandemic he is out there, same position, just now equipped with a mask. People might look on him as just ‘one of those weirdos’ but he is a true inspiration because he soldiers on regardless. A notion we all need to adopt right now.
And this is the final gallery of photographs in this series which all fall under the banner of random moments in time drenched in a neon noir hue. I hope you have enjoyed looking at these glimpses into the nocturnal worlds I have witnessed. It has been a surreal experience working on this project over last few months as it revolved around nitelife activities at a time when there was none. They are now from a world before this one and hopefully it will also be the world after this one..
And even though, with vaccines on the way, it feels possible again, it’s still going to be a long time before these sort of experiences return. Before we can all be together again, bouncing to the same beat, basking in the same glow, breathing in the same air without having to be kept apart, afraid of what might happen if we don’t.
Divided and isolated is clearly not good for anyone and so we must hang on until we can congregate once more. It has been tough, tougher than even you could have imagined because being together is how we are meant to be. We are mammals. Emotionally connected warm blooded highly social beings who thrive on unity and contact. And so we must do everything we can to be that way again because this version of existence clearly doesn’t work. Not for anyone. It’s just a sadly necessary step on the way back to where we came from which is both our past and our future.
And If you still want to get a print please get in touch via email info@babycakesromero.com – and for the final time…these limited edition signed prints are £100 each, £30 of which will go to the Felix project which will feed 183 people who need it. This offer will end December 15th so please get your orders before then. And just wanted to thank everyone who have ordered prints so far. Looking forward to being on your walls soon!
Nitelife smoulders. Sensuality is its lifeblood and under the cover of darkness, illuminated by a crimson hue, an air of excitement and erotic energy, wholly missing from daylife emerges. This gallery is dedicated to the charged atmosphere of clandestine nocturnal venues. These places are bathed in a deep red submerging you into their sinful world. As if you had been enveloped by one of Poison Ivy’s love potions. For me there is no colour more evocative than red. I gravitate towards it like a moth around a umm red lightbulb. Can you be obsessed by a colour? I am starting to think so. I have become deeply entranced by its spell and I am not sure I can or want to be released from it.
All shots available as limited edition signed A3 prints for £100 each as part of this charity print series where I am donating £30 from each sale to the Felix Project who will convert it into 183 meals for those that need them. The latest report is that over 700,000 people have been plunged into poverty in the U.K since Covid struck and through no fault of their own . If we are all in this together their plight is our plight.
This gallery is dedicated to the glories of Glasto and the insane amount of innovative large scale production that goes into creating what is essentially Disneyland for wasted adults. As you wander around the gi-normous site at night you can barely turn a corner without finding some captivating bit of eye candy which will no doubt keep you occupied for hours whilst derailing you from your intended destination. Hooking up with friends? Going to see your favourite dj? Trying to find a loo that doesn’t look like an alien exploded inside it? No Chance. All plans evaporate into the ether as you indulge your child like curiosity and your adult like intoxication. Glasto is a tripper’s paradise and a highly stimulating sensory experience like no other. Oh, and I think they have some bands there too…
It was obviously greatly missed this year by its regular attendees who swear by it as not only the ultimate festival but the ultimate antidote to regimented sensible city living. And so hopefully these shots will keep the Glasto flame alive in your minds until we can all be there again…
