Salon London - Ma Cherie Amour at Adam Street, London
Another fantastic, stimulating and challenging night at Salon London at Adam Street as we tested our vocal cords with voice coach and trainer on The Voice; Juliet Russell, challenged our fuddy duddy image of sherry with wine writer/expert/broadcaster Jane Parkinson and tested our ratings as a psychopath with Professor Kevin Dutton. There was at least one borderline in the audience. Apparently we can learn a lot from them - and they are probably running your company if they are charming and influential. Never dull evening at Salon.
The Great Ormond Street Hospital Carol Service
I recently started working with a leading agency called Red Photographic and the first job I was assigned to was the 13th Great Ormond Street Hospital Carol Service in Knightsbridge, sponsored by Trailfinders. Over 700 guests attended the concert in the beautiful St Pauls Church. The concert featured performances from The Gallery Choir of Westminster Cathedral Choir and Tansy Bennett, plus readings from Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes, Jonathan Pryce OBE, Penelope Wilton and John Standing. Afterwards the guests headed across the road to The Berkeley Hotel to enjoy champagne and canapes and bid in the silent auction. It really got me all Christmassy being part of the night - and for a fantastic cause as well.
It was truly a spectacular night for a first job with Red and I'm looking forward to much more this year.
Mad Hatter Easter Party at Eclipse London
Spending the evening of Easter Sunday in a club wasn't really my plan at the start of the week but a last minute call came in from Ignite Group who look after Bumpkin (one of my favourite places to eat), Boujis and Wyld to cover their Mad Hatter themed party at Eclipse in Kensington. So I took my leave of a very delicious easter lunch with friends and headed South. The event was sponsored by French gin brand G'Vine and Boutique Brands. Eclipse is a great bar and I spent the first hour shooting the bar dressing, all cupcakes and teapots to match the theme and the fantastic and totally enthusiastic staff in full fancy dress, making cocktails before the guests started arriving. By 11pm it was packed, a drummer was sat on the bar, and the cocktails were flowing. And I headed home to bed; because I'm not 19, or single anymore (but my foot was tapping just a little...)
Katherine Bryan video promo shoot
A few months ago my friend Scott Mackenzie at Mackenzie Films in Scotland asked if I would like to get involved in a promo shoot for Katherine Bryan who is an amazing flute player, and has been principal flute with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since she was just 21. Her accolades and achievements are too many to mention here but it was a real pleasure working with her and the team. Make up was by Jacqui Connor. We shot at the beautiful Playfair Library in Edinburgh. Thanks to Mike Byrne for kindly lending me his backdrop (which just about fit in the back of a black cab). So I just received the link to the video and was slightly alarmed to see how heavily I feature - bit weird seeing myself at work, but a great piece of work from Scott. All stills are mine from the shoot on the day.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1jYduJBfq0&feature=youtu.be&hd=1]
Portrait Project One: Kunle
Over the summer I undertook a personal portrait project. On the back of my own transition from a career in marketing into a more creative world I was intrigued to explore some of the more creative people amongst my friends. I was fascinated by their working environments and the spaces which inspired their work. It was a fabulous journey of discovery, as well as a delightful opportunity to hang out with some of my nearest and dearest plus get to know some more casual acquaintances better. All were wonderfully hospitable and patient with me. I thought rather than do one post about all of them I would pick out a few and highlight the amazing creativity they have. Today I’m going to talk about L. Adekunle Salami. One of the reasons I love London is that you never know where you might end up of an evening. A few months ago I was passing through London and was finally able to take up frequent invitation from my friend Richard to attend a poetry night that he DJ’d at in Camden called Beat (Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York). So I found myself on the streets of Camden on a warm evening in a pub, Charlie Wrights, that from all outward appearances seemed to be shut, but no, inside was a handful of poets and faithful followers (not numbering more than the poets) and after a wait to ensure that everyone had turned up the first poet took the stage (more of a mini platform).
From a psychiatric nurse drawing on her experiences to another poet talking about a bi-polar bear, angst and psychiatric illness were frequently delivered through humour. The venue seemed entirely appropriate; dark, dingy, with squashy sofas to sink down into clutching cheap wine. Kunle came on last and played 'She said sorry'. Just his voice, his harmonica and his guitar in the darkness and his words sent chills down my spine and I desperately wanted to photograph him. We met up a couple of weeks later, strolled down the embankment, drank whisky in Soho at 11am and ended up in the basement of a music shop on Denmark Street.
