shit, late again! I keep forgetting it’s a daily blog so I have to do it every day. I might have to start setting an alarm. Like I do for everything these days. Brain fog has lifted but there is still a deep mist in the air…
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Ok, so back statements this week. (bada bing) Be a walking billboard for your own opinion. Well, not yours to be fair, the fashion designer who thought of it. You’re just wearing it. But we do always tend to take more credit than we should for what we choose to be seen in. When someone compliments you on an item of clothing, you thank them profusely as if it was actually you who created it.
Literal fashion statements seem to be everywhere. Why wear something that says nothing when you can wear something that says something? We want people to know how we feel without having to open up our gobs so guess this is the easiest way. In these polarising times heaven forbid someone might walk past you and have no idea what you stand for.
This guy in the picture above however is kinda unique. He had stopped dead in the street as I approached which was great for the shot and presumed he was just engrossed in his phone and had been turned into a temporary statue like so many street texters are, oblivious to the world around them as they try to find a suitable emoji that will convey both interest and nonchalance.
But this guy was different. He was finding his soundtrack to bowl down the street to. But not just for him. For everyone to hear. As I got closer ‘The Wanderer’ by Dion started blaring out from his phone. To match his jacket. And he proceeded to loudly sing along “I’m the wanderer, ooh yeah the wanderer”. So turns out he really was ‘The Wanderer’ and he just wanted everyone to know it.
I guess it just threw me because I’ve never witnessed anyone accessorise their clothing with a bit of music before…
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I’m thinking she might be a lil bit anti-vuitton, whadya reckon?
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…last word is fondlers just if you can’t make it out.
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i have been locked and lost in my own little world for a very long time so it’s so friggin good to be out again observing and interacting with people. Although ironically what I am noticing is that everyone seems to be lost in their own little worlds. There is this bigger reality that we are all apart of but that no-one seems to want or be capable of dealing with so we withdraw into ourselves rather than confront it.
And yet not only does this mean we are ignoring what we should categorically not be ignored but it’s also just not that healthy And unfortunately, the further we look inwards the more narcissistic our gaze becomes.
We essentially have the same approach as ostriches, only instead of burying our heads in the sand, we bury them so far up our own arses all we can see are ourselves.
The 90s (if you were alive then or can remember that far back) were a decade which revelled in the nuances of personal choices. We were all delighted with our own brand of specificness which we would happily recounted in great detail to anyone who would stop talking about themselves long enough to listen (I know, not much has changed).
This was probably best personified by the comedy series Seinfeld which correctly observed to much hilarity that we are all highly self-obsessed. In the relatively carefree and calm 90s this seemed like an acceptable way to live but we can no longer indulge this approach. In these more troubled times we have to pay attention. We cannot ignore shit any longer…and yet the worse it gets the harder it is to cope with. And the more we need to ignore it. Yup, a good ole Catch Twenty Fucking Two.
And if you do try to take it all on board it’s utterly paralysing and renders you useless so what’s the point of that? Being back on the streets I can feel the strain and tension a lot of people are under. Our only hope is to share the load. To confide in each other. To not pretend like everything is ok when it clearly isn’t. That will bring strength and unity and an ability to cope and to take action. That will get us through this…
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dear subscribers,
Since I have been back in action it has been brought to my attention that some of you can no longer see the photograph in the body of the email but sadly I just don’t know how to fix it. (frustrated face) I need to find someone who can (if anyone knows of a wordpress bod lemme know) but this might take a while…
so in meantime if I can urge you to just click on the title of the post (in blue) it will take you thru to the post on my website. I know this is an inconvenience but it will roughly take up 1-3 more seconds of your day and hopefully my pictures are worth that lil extra effort…
cheers me’deers BC x
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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
Every shot this week was taken on Portobello Road as it is celebrating its 150 anniversary this year. Not that’s a huge departure from my usual fair, a lot of my shots are taken on this street. In the last decade or so it is the road I have walked along the most, almost every day. But if you are going to walk down any street every day of your life it might as well be Portobello. There is always something going on, someone great to look at, some little nugget of life playing itself out amongst the members of this community. Truth is there is nowhere near as many characters as there used to be. There are now way more tourists and definitely more poshos but it is still a endlessly fascinating street and I always manage to stumble upon something to captivate my attention in every daily journey.
I could go on about how it has changed and how more vibrant it used to be and the loss of small independent businesses and how gentrification had killed its soul but wishing for how it was to return is now, I realise, just a dead end thought process. It achieves nothing. Those people, those places, they ain’t coming back because they are from the past. Present day Portobello is yes, a different affair to what it was and I miss a lot of the people that used to be in this neighbourhood but it still has stacks of charm and character. Now that there are lots more tourists and photo shoots (see above) it has actually made my life a lot easier as I just look like one of them when I am wandering around taking photographs. These days I rarely get noticed as a result which means I can get better shots. I am actually thinking about going ‘full tourist’ as find its the ultimate camouflage for a street photographer. I’m gonna get a “My girlfriend went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’ t-shirt, a union jack baseball cap and walk around looking vaguely lost and I am basically invisible.
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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
