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My favourite colour is blue. But I never want to see my toes go blues ever again. Hyperthermia is not big or clever. Even though this night in forgein lands was both ย – ย as well as a memory Im not sure I will ever beat.

 

Little Wing, Outside of UK, Sometime ago.… Read the rest

 

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Ive been reading a lot of stuff about ego and validation recently. And Ive also been spending less time on uploading and looking at my Instagram accounts. I also recently got accused of ‘showing off’ about something (which horrified me as I haven’t/didn’t intentionally). ย And all this has led me to start thinking about how the world has changed and for me to take a really honest look at what I actually think/perceive/project.

Its tricky isn’t it.

You can’t really win in this world. If you work hard you get the opportunity to do things out of the ordinary and then they become the ordinary to you. If you share that then you can be seen as being cocky, showing off, getting ‘too big for your boots’. If you share things – ย why do you? Personal gratification? Showing off? Pride? Over indulgent ego?

But if you do these things and you don’t share them why did you do them? Personal gratification? fear of showing off? shame for your skill/culture? or to smother your over indulgent ego?

For me its really simple. I genuinely do the things I do because I love taking photographs and I love a challenge. I get a HUGE personal satisfaction from my photography and from the adventures I have or have had.… Read the rest

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One the very best things I do, and have done for a couple of years is go searching for original old skool graffiti. Im privileged that I get the opportunity to do that with some of the original people who either did it or were there at the time. This makes the adventure a damn sight more interesting and special because its like they are showing me one of their oldest friends.

I recently went on a such a trek with a writer, who gave up his time to take me to several spots in the Midlands and this is a selection of just a few of them.

Whats really interesting to me particularly on the one above is the full date. May 22nd 1991. Thats the first time I have seen an actual full date on any piece anywhere.

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What might seem like some nice red bricks to a general passerby holds treasures for my eyes.

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And this is where the old and the new collide. Thanks to the internet I am not only able to have these connections with people but then I can share the finds back with the original writers. And thats a bit mind blowing. The debate about what the internet has done – be it a good or a bad thing – to the graffiti culture – is one which takes place pretty much every day.… Read the rest

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A couple of shots I made that I like from a nice walk today.

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LittleWing, February (just) 2017… Read the rest

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๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ah – sleep is over rated anyways ๐Ÿ™ Heres some moody foggy graffiti shots – which is how my head is at the moment as I await the dawn and then hit a wall of exhaustion ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™

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LittleWing, Down South and to the left a bit, January 2017… Read the rest

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I am currently having a particularly long bout of insomnia. Im on my 16 day/night/whatever of broken/limited/barely any point sleep. So as Im grumpy Im editing some London shots.

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Im not keen on London. I have some lovely friends who are from London, but I just prefer Birmingham as a place. These however are some nice shots I made recently.

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If you squint top right you can see Wembley…..

LittleWing, London, January 2017… Read the rest

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Okey well maybe not midnight and maybe not technically the oasis….but this set is all 3am in my oasis – and pretty close to the actual Oasis in Birmingham ๐Ÿ™‚ And when I say Oasis I don’t mean a mildly trendy dress shop – I mean the classic Birmingham shop Oasis where I spent many hours as a youth and where I still wander around now looking for practically the same clothes I bought in the eighties hahahaha.

Beautiful Birmingham City Centre – through my little eye….DSC_1182

 

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Birmingham City Centre, 3am, August 2016, with lots of rats the size of cats – LittleWingLost… Read the rest

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I spend a great deal of my time researching these days. Im always reading something, talking to someone about something, travelling to look and photography something or writing about something. Its part and parcel of doing a PhD on a part time basis and its very very often a lonely road because I have to do all of this away from my main full time job. But I believe that if you are passionate about something then you should behave passionately about it. This was my bedroom in 1983. This wall was completed by me and my best pal at the time Suzanne – she was an amazing portrait artist and unlike me also did art at school (which by this time I wasn’t attending all that much). I was a nightmare at this time in my life. I was rebelling against everything and everyone and I was also suffering/hiding the beginnings of what was possibly early signs of an eating disorder. But apart from the eating disorder bit – an explanation of which I fully intend to return back to at some point on this blog – I was – quite honestly – having the greatest days of my life.… 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 – ย 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 Lennonยดs songs, because it was praising freedom that didnโ€™t exist here.

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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