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Graffiti has given me a whole lot of experiences both good and bad. Its given me the opportunity to look at the world in a very different way. Ive made many amazing friends and I have been welcomed in every country Ive travelled to to shoot their graffiti. But its the really secret stuff Ive done when Ive travelled, that has only been made possible by, in most cases,  complete strangers who have trusted me and me conversely trusted them – where my real adventures have come from.

In Milan I was really made to feel at home. Im always amazed that when I travel that local contacts take time out of their lives to take me all over their hometowns to share many of their secrets. This particular adventure involved a bit of climbing, a watchman, a whole lot of nettles and the results are below. I said it back then but I will say it again – Milan (and in particular my very lovely hosts)  – you are truly amazing – thankyou xx

Day of the Dead Trams……

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Little Wing Lost, Milan, 2016

 … Read the rest

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Back in the tail end of 2013, whilst up a ladder, a conversation with a writer about the possibility of shooting a celebrity in front of a wall of graffiti came about. It was sort of a dream of theirs. And it started me off to try and make that happen. As a Blues fan we talked about a ‘Zulu’ wall. As in – wouldn’t it be ace if they did a massive wall that said Zulu and then we got loads of original Zulus in front of it. Within a couple of weeks I visited a small shop in Brum having found out through the internet that this was where I could meet a proper old skool Brum lad. What I didn’t know until then was that I was about to meet a bloke who I had actually ‘nearly been mates with’ for thirty years. His name was Todd and between him and me we spent a long time after that first meeting many weeks talking to various other mates collecting what would be one of the largest gatherings of original Zulus in front of a graffiti piece painted specifically for them.

Todd and I came to realise that we had been ‘nearly mates’ because he went to school with my best mate Brett who also went to school with many of the Zulus who I did know but also many of my other school mates who had hung around with all the same people.… Read the rest

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I firmly believe that Birmingham is the greatest of Cities. Of course the bias is completely there as I am from here, however, even though I have always felt that way, the travelling I have done over the last few years (which stepped up majorly over the last two years) has only confirmed that to me. We have a soul here. There is just something about Brummies that makes us really humble but really gobby at the same time. We don’t bang on about how great we are – but we are a City which has produced legends. And then (and I will come back to my thoughts on legends from this City in future blogs – as I have much to say about that hahaha) we have our beloved canals.

Now as  a very happy little Brummie – I can remember long long ago when the canals – or the cut as I prefer to call them – weren’t anywhere near as ‘trendy’ as they have become now. Its all very delightful seeing these new paths – all smooth and lovely for cyclists – but I remember when you used to have hack your way through brambles..dodge empty Corona bottles and pretty much accept that your legs were going to be covered to nettles (and I COULD NEVER FIND A HOCK LEAF) if you dared to venture along the sides of any path by the cut.… Read the rest

Crazy beautiful city but the best part of Prague for me when I visited back in 2009 was to visit the graffiti memorial –  John Lennon Wall.

Its mad to think that this wall has been covered in Lennon inspired graffiti since the early 1980s. But it has. Apart from an (ironic) act of vandalism (yeah I said it was ironic) back in 2014 when the wall was painted completely white over night with just the words THE WALL IS OVER written in black spray paint – this wall has been a mecca for Lennon fans and graffiti writers from all over the world for decades. It stayed white for less time than a hall of fame in London so within a few hours it was back to being covered in graffiti inspired by love, friendship, hope and of course Lennon lyrics.

 

This is a brief explanation of why and how the wall is there :

 

John Lennon and the Communist regime

Lennon was a hero to the pacifist youth of Central and Eastern Europe during the totalitarian era. Prior to 1989 when communism ruled, western pop songs were banned by Communist authorities, and especially John Lennon´s songs, because it was praising freedom that didn’t exist here.

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Back in 2012 I was shooting all sorts of graffiti, still attending art gallery openings with mates and generally starting to get back to taking photos more regularly again than I had for many years. I had struck up some friendships with various people including Kem who, thanks to what was the big thing we all used back then – Facebook (I don’t use it anymore) although Im fairly sure I had known him back years ago through the mod scene in the eighties. He had lost his dog a few months before and like everyone else I had passed on my condolences. And then he and my boyfriend at the time became mates. I knew of the Inc – I had been following either one or both of them back on the My Space days and a couple of other social media things for photos of graffiti – but I had never really met them until late 2011. My partner at the time was starting to get back into blogging and he started up a website which was all about graffiti and anyway long story – I ended up being invited to go and shoot three Brummies who were about to paint a MASSIVE wall in Blackpool for the Sun Sea and Spray Festival in June 2012.… Read the rest

This was such a beautiful day. A real privilege to be asked to be the wedding photographer for a couple that I genuinely admire. I actually get asked a fair bit if I do weddings. I sort of do but sort of don’t. I don’t like wedding photographers as I don’t think they take any risks with the style of photographs they generally produce and I think you should really try and take photographs which are very individual to the personality of the couple you are shooting. So I will, but I’m not your ‘standard’ wedding photographer….

A very beautiful day and a very special couple

 

I will come back to photographs of this day at some point in the future – but when I was trawling through my archives of photos I found this one. Check the sheer shock (and horror in some cases) of the guests as I climbed my trusty ladders in my favourite boots to shout out my instructions to them all.

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On this particular day I arrived at the church and managed to fall out of my car breaking my finger, severely spraining my wrist and ripping both my knees to shreds. I have absolutely no idea how but I managed to shoot the entire wedding even though I did feel like I was going to faint with the pain in my hand several times.… Read the rest

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Well……

A random find as Im trawling through hard drives looking at old photos.  I found this painting in what was pretty much a cave in Stoke in 2006. Long story, wont bore you, but the expression on my face is one of relief that I found something interesting to shoot other than trees. Its just also funny 🙂… Read the rest

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Over the last couple of years I have travelled quite a lot. Well….an awful lot. I’ve travelled more in 30 months than I did in 30 years. I managed it by savvy bookings – taking the opportunity to book flights when offers came up and by even savvier apps to find hotels. I’ve managed a couple of holidays as well – but even though I have travelled the reason I have gone to the majority of places I have been to was to see and shoot the graffiti. I literally get off a plane – go to the City – start shooting in the taxi – drop off my little red case in the hotel – go straight out to shoot some more. I spend about 48 hours on average in one place and shoot anywhere from a 1000 to 1500 shots. Its HARD work. But its ACE work. I have been really fortunate that I have generally had someone local to meet. And I can not express how grateful I am to the writers who take the time out of their lives to share their cities with me, talk to me about their local graffiti scenes and make me feel so well looked after and above all else – welcome.… Read the rest

The photo galleries on here are a very very small sample of the amount of photography which I do. If you don’t feature in any of them – please don’t think you wont have your beautiful walls up sometime – I have somewhere in the region of 350,000 graffiti photographs alone – it is my intention to write blogs about some of the stories of walls – so check back here soon. But in the meantime please go and have a look through the galleries from 2012 – 2016 which are now up.

For all other photography (portraits, exhibitions and events/concerts) please check my availability through the many ways you can on my contact page.… Read the rest

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So this bit. Well this bit is all about me. Call it narcissism, call it glory seeking – call it whatever the hell you wish – I don’t care. Because this bit is all about me and all about the amazing journey and many adventures I have had, shared, survived and an attempt at explaining my love, and I do mean love, for something which has become such a huge part of my life – graffiti.

There will be no half hearted attempts at caressing any egos here, not that I do that anyway, but this journal is so very important. Earlier this year (2016) I was critically ill. I survived (cheers) but I also changed. I stopped really thinking about everything in ways I had before – without getting overly deep – I did two polar opposites and this created the way I decided to move forward with my life. I STOPPED caring so much but at the same time I STARTED caring so much more. Yes, yes – totally crackers I know. I guess you had to be there…… but it makes sense to me. I like to think of it as my big bang moment. My beloved kids aside one thing has become apparently clear to me over the last few years – that I have an actual silent partner that I turn to whenever I need love, laughter, support, an adrenalin boost, time out, an excuse, a telling off and pretty much any sort of life advice.… Read the rest