BLOG - Misc. Stuff

Hull 2018

Brian Griffin - Legendary British Photographer has died aged 75.

Brian started his career as a highly acclaimed corporate photographer during the ’70s. His association with Stiff Records propelled him into the realm of music, where he became a prominent figure.

In the ’80s, Griffin gained recognition for capturing some of the decade’s most defining album covers. Notably, his work on Depeche Mode’s A Broken Frame, featuring a distinctive photograph of a woman harvesting grain in a field, drew inspiration from the socialist photography of Soviet Russia.

His other work included projects with Echo & The Bunnymen, Iggy Pop, The Clash, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Furthermore, Griffin a shot a documentary for Paul McCartney in 2004, while connecting with notable individuals, including Helen Mirren, Jonathan Ross, and Vivienne Westwood.

I was lucky to meet Brian a few years ago during the Hull International Photography Festival. He made time to talk to me and was just a lovely soul and an inspiration to all. He shall be greatly missed by so many.

May you rest peacefully Brian Griffin.

Cats! Love 'em or hate 'em, they have taken over social media! Anyone who knows me, knows I am quite partial to cats, cat memes, cat videos. Throw anything cat at me (not literally) and I will probably approve!

My love of cats definitely started from when I was a young kid. I grew up with pet cats always in the family household, so I am a tad biased about them! One of my earliest memories I can remember is using my mum's Kodak Instamatic camera to take photos of two of our tabby cats. Some of these old Kodak pics are somewhere among the old family albums!





Since taking up street photography, I've recently built up a small collection of 'street cat' photos. All of these were taken around London or on my international travels. Cats are such characters and usually do whatever the heck they want! So capturing them in interesting compositions, in an urban environment can be quite a challenge! The friendly, charismatic ones are usually the best though.

This cat collection wasn't really supposed to be a photography project of sorts, but it kind of developed into one over the years! That's how some great projects start - by accident! Anyway, I found some of my favourite street feline photos and thought I'd share some of them in a little blog post today on International Cat Day!

Let me know your favourite shot(s) in the comments!

All images shown are available as prints.

Message me if you have any cat photography projects that need a photographer!

Roza Vulf - Winner of the Street Life category

It was great to attend the private view and the awards ceremony last night at the British Life Photography Awards. The event was held at the prestigious Mall Galleries in St. James's, London.

A big congratulations to the winner of the Street Life category Roza Vulf. Roza flew over from Rome especially for the event and it was amazing to catch up with her. She is a wonderful street photographer, if you have not seen her images, please check out her website


Roza's winning entry - 'Separation In Togetherness', Oxford Circus, London

The exhibition is on tour around the UK at these venues (check local opening times):

Mall Galleries, London 18th to 23rd February 2019
Banbury Museum, Banbury 16th March to 12th May 2019
The Garden Rooms at Tennants, Leyburn, North Yorkshire 20th July to 3rd September 2019
Redbrick building, Glastonbury, Somerset, 14th September to 13th October 2019


Selfie time with the Street Life winner Roza Vulf

Many thanks to the organisers, the other contest judges and sponsors of this event along with my congratulations to all the selected winning photographers.


Mall Galleries - The Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AH

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! Wishing you health, happiness and success in 2019.



I had celebratory New Year's Eve drinks with friends in a 5-Star London hotel/Grade II listed building. I had been meaning to visit this particular hotel all year, but anyway finally ended up going on the last day of the year (as you do).

The reason being is that earlier this year I found out some good news from my Art Consultants based in Paris, that this hotel, the Kimpton Fitzroy London which was formally known as Principal London, purchased five of my images. It was several months before I was officially told the exact hotel, as prior to the relaunch in April 2018, the hotel was still undergoing a £85m refurbishment.



I was so excited to visit this hotel at last - but first port of call was NYE drinks in their exquisite Fitz's bar! Then I had a little wander this vast but exquisite hotel. I found one of my framed prints on displayed on a wall, near the main lobby stairwell! As I was with friends I didn't want to leave them too long, wandering around, so I asked one of the super helpful receptionists if she could possibly help me on my unusual request mission to find my remaining four framed photos which I was told were in communal areas of the hotel! She obliged in my quest to accompany around to locations she thought they may be hanging, but we couldn't find the rest of them! I was advised to get in touch with the hotel interior designers who hung them and that they would help me locate them. So I will do that in the new year! I was just happy to find this one for now! What a great honour. Happy New Year!

I am pleased to be announced as a judge for ClearChannel UK's MyTown street photography competition.

The MyTown street photography contest celebrates the uniqueness of towns and cities across the UK and the people who live in them.

The very best images will be shown on Clear Channel digital advertising screens in towns and cities right across the country later in the year, as part of the UK’s biggest outdoor exhibition of street photography! There are also some great prizes for the winner!

On Wednesday, December 5th 2018, Clear Channel will be announcing the competition winner, and displaying the shortlisted photos at a pop-up gallery event, alongside images from the judges.

There will be a Pop-Up Gallery event on 5th December. The gallery is open all day to the public, so you can pop along from 11am. To register your interest in the evening event, visit the registration page.

There's still time to enter the MyTown contest as entries must be received by 11.59pm on Sunday 11th November 2018. Good luck!

Buying photography or art for someone else can be tricky. Art is a very personal choice, so why not let the art lover in your life choose their own by buying them a gift voucher!



I have designed these gift vouchers as a convenient gift option. Perfect for a house warming gift, Christmas present, birthday treat or even a last minute gift idea to name a few.

My gift vouchers can be emailed direct to the recipient with a message from you, or you can download and print the voucher yourself and put them in a personal card.

Gift vouchers available in denominations of £5, £10, £25, £50, £75 or £100 for use towards any item in my online Etsy shop.

When you find out by accident that you have this thing for the colour yellow! 💛💛💛 All photographs below were taken in London.

I went for stroll towards Grenfell Tower this afternoon. I live about 15 minutes walk from Ladbroke Grove/Latimer Road area. All you can smell even before you even reach the area is the stench of burning plastic, which I think is very odd after a major fire.

It was pretty sombre there as people who came to look, just stood in disbelief at not just the size of the building, but the black, charred shell that it is now. To think that the unfortunate souls who did not make it remain inside, whilst people on the streets were still putting up 'Missing' posters in the area just hoping and praying for a miracle.

I popped into a couple churches and charities to ask if they needed any help/items, but they have been so overwhelmed with the generosity of people that many are now turning people away. There was a huge sense of local community spirit which was really great to see.

No surprise that, that Theresa May went to visit and ONLY decided to speak to the firemen. Whilst in contrast Jeremy Corbyn also visited and went to chat and listen to the locals who are quite rightly angry at what happened. Actions speak louder than words.

Everyone is still waiting to hear from Kensington & Chelsea Council, who still have yet to make a statement.

Have to show huge respect to the fire fighters who risked their own lives to try and rescue residents and put the massive fire out. They are the real heroes.

The truth will come out and hopefully justice will prevail for those affected by this shocking tragedy, that probably could have been avoided.

London Bridge Station, London
London is a beautiful, diverse, and resilient city. And we who are lucky enough to call it home are not afraid. We are made of stronger stuff than cowardly individuals who seek to do harm and invoke fear in the name of "religion."

We will keep calm and carry on.

And so a brand New Year begins...

I had a great past year in terms of my work and photography projects, the people I have met, the mistakes made and the lessons I have learnt, and the new friendships formed among many positive things. Thank you to those who have helped me, supported and put up with me!

I hope to do more travelling, exhibitions, projects and of course take more photos this year. I will continue to keep helping others, giving my time and sharing my work to those who appreciate it.

With my best Instagram posts of 2016, I'd like to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2017 is good to you and everything you want it to be!!! 😊

Blackout in London's Soho on Black Friday



Piccadilly Circus advertising boards lights out during power cut tonight! Other affected areas included Soho, Chinatown, & most of West End London.

A West London selfie taken during a photo walk through Portobello Road, Notting Hill Gate, London.

A looong but fun day filming around Portobello Road, Notting Hill, Soho, Chinatown and Shoreditch, London for a new photography project coming soon! :-)

Crack o' dawn view of Maida Vale, London from my window. I went back to bed afterwards as I can't remember why I was up so early!? :-)

Check out the new An Ideal for Living exhibition at Huxley + Beetles gallery in Mayfair, London. The exhibition opened on 27 July and will continue to run until 17 September 2016. I'm planning to go see it over the weekend.

I created a We Shoot People Meetup event including a gallery visit plus a street photo walk around central London afterwards if you wish to join us.



"An Ideal for Living is an exhibition about how photographers have perceived class, culture and identity in modern Britain. Drawing on the work of 29 diverse photographers, it considers how photographing Britain has contributed to the creation of a collective national identity. The exhibition shows the variety and creativity with which photographers have sought to document what they consider to be a particularly British way of life from the 1920s to now.

The exhibition opens with photographs of British life in the interwar period. Photographs by Emil Otto Hoppé, Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson show the early preoccupation with documenting the British class system. Brandt's landmark photobook, The English at Home (1936), cast a satirical look over social divides and notions of English propriety. The publication would go on to become a benchmark for photographers seeking to comment on the idiosyncrasies of the British class system as it has developed and subdivided through the course of the last century."

Beetles + Huxley is situated at 3-5 Swallow Street, London W1B 4DE (closest tube stations Piccadilly or Green park)

Shoreditch cat is a natural in front of the camera.

I am a cat lover and love candidly photographing them if I see one during my photo walks. As I was walking down an East London street, I noticed this cute cat in the window, just sitting there a bit bored, so I spent a couple minutes playing chase my finger, which she seemed to love! I didn't want to go, but thought I'd take a photo so I could remember this beautiful, photogenic cat. As I took the shot, it looked straight down my camera lens!

I'm shocked and saddened to hear the sudden news about Prince. You see, Prince was my childhood musical idol. I became a fan when I was 13 years old. I went to my first gig when I was 17 years old and was very lucky to have seen him live over 30+ more times, and so I have some happy concert memories: I once got to shake his hand (didn't wash my hand for 48 hours!), at a very early after-party gig, Prince stage-dived and I was one of the fans in the crowd who got to hold him up as he crowd-surfed, I've touched one of his guitars as he handed it to fans in the front row, I've been front of stage several times, made eye contact with him (which converted me to jelly every time), I saw him perform with Amy Winehouse, I've queued outside in the Winter cold and rain for over 8 hours+ just so I had a chance of front row tickets (which I got).

I literally did anything to see & hear Prince perform live whenever he was in London. Why? for the reasons that he was a one of a kind, versatile, creative genius. A once in a lifetime musical legend, a pioneer, the likes of which we will never ever see again.

I am privileged to have witnessed his classic, and still one of my favourite songs, 'Purple Rain' played live. Each time he performed it, I sensed something very spiritual that I cannot explain, touching my heart & soul just like it did the first time I ever heard it! Anyway, thank you Prince Rogers Nelson for your one of a kind talent & brilliance. I will keep all these and more happy memories with me always.

‪#‎RIPPrince

As humans, I think most of us feel the need to connect with other human beings in some way, whether instinctively or subconsciously. As a street photographer, I often always notice the 'mirroring' behaviours of others, which I find interesting to observe from both a photography & psychology point of view. It is quite entertaining to watch complete strangers engage in these mannerisms, especially if you are an avid people watcher like me, equipped with a camera!



"Mirroring is the behaviour in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family. The concept often affects other individual's notions about the individual that is exhibiting mirroring behaviour, which can lead to the individual building rapport with others.



Mirroring is the subconscious replication of another person's nonverbal signals. This concept takes place in everyday interactions, and often goes unnoticed by both the person enacting the mirroring behaviour as well as the individual who is being mirrored. The activation of mirror neurons takes place within the individual who begins to mirror another's movements, and allows them a greater connection and understanding with the individual who they are mirroring, as well as allowing the individual who is being mirrored to feel a stronger connection with the other individual."

Today was the last day of a Steve McCurry exhibition at Beetles & Huxley gallery in Piccadilly, London. The exbitiion displayed a cross-section of works from his long photography career. If you have never heard of Steve McCurry, he is a veteran photojournalist spanning over 30 years. His most well known portrait, known as the Afghan Girl, which became one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century after it was featured as cover of National Geographic magazine.

It brightens up my day when I receive lovely messages about my photos, like this one from a chap named Rex who emailed me recently. Thanks for your kind words Rex, most appreciated! :-)

Oh, the photo Rex is referring to is the one below, that I took in Brick Lane, London | 2011.