Time Travel on the Heygate Estate

I've always been drawn to photographs of abandoned places but have never been brave enough to find them myself. Just over a year ago, a friend and I made an attempt at urban exploring around the Heygate Estate, which is probably the closest I'll ever get to being daring and brave.

Almost as soon as we arrived, we ran into a man who thought he was a time traveller. After gently extracting ourselves, we didn't have any more interactions, though we did walk past a social centre and church that was still in use, see several motorcyclists cut through and walked past a small community of people who still lived there. They were having coffee outside in a manner that didn't quite fit with the surroundings. Everything was boarded up and it was eerie and a little sad to think of all the people who had lived there.

Some people have said the estate was rough and crime riddled, others say it was a community and miss living there. Either way, proper gates have now gone up, there are dogs patrolling, and walls are starting to come down. I thought it would be worth looking back at the estate as it was a year ago.

A spritely East London shoot

Sarah describes herself as an Urban Pixie and I couldn't agree more! From her elfin smile, to her otherworldly hair and the way she attracts many a stander-by to come say hello, she can certainly appear to be from another land (Canada in fact!) with a slight city, punky vibe.

She's always a joy to photograph and we met up on Saturday for a mini-tour of the side-streets of Brick Lane to take advantage of the colourful and and ever-changing street art on display.

We had a lot of fun dodging down side-streets, repeatedly running into various street art tour groups and turning down many an offer for the best curry meal in London!

Run London Run!

I watched the London Marathon live for the first time last year and was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere and excitement of the day. I had so much respect for the range of runners and it was exhilarating to stand on the side and get caught up in the crowds cheering for people - often choosing a name from a jersey and shouting out a bit of extra encouragement.

I took my camera down nice and early this year in the hopes of catching sight of Mo Farrah and was so excited to have him past so close to me and so close to the finish line at about 24.5 miles. It was inspiring to see so many other elite athletes before the steady stream of amateur runners began.

I stuck around for several hours and ended up catching a wee bit too much sun, but it's addictive and hard to peel away as you witness runners pushing through walls, splashing their friends with water as they spot them amongst the spectators and helping their fellow runners to the side of the road for medical assistance, most likely adding time to their valuable personal bests.

I snapped so many photos, but have pulled out my favourites.

Eyes bigger than my stomach

I decided to challenge myself in the first few months of this year and have been trying to photograph food like crazy. It's taken over my weekends a bit (I've eaten well) but now I'm needing a little break from it all to asses what I've learnt and give my waistline some time to recover! All recipes came from various Moosewood cookbooks. Yum!

Valentine's Day at The Vaults

A wild and curious event transformed the vaults under Waterloo station on Valentine’s Day and I was lucky enough to join the festivities as a sightseer, with my camera firmly strapped around my neck.

Curated by The Heritage Arts Company, the event spread across a packed bar, a stretch of dark corridor and two otherworldly rooms that acted as performance art installations with DJs, a comical bossy faun and plenty of room to dance; the atmosphere was infectious.

I set out to capture the fun of the night, the mutant performers with animal heads- and a penchant for pulling out hearts- and the general atmosphere.

It was an excellent exercise in quickly changing lighting conditions and I enjoyed sometimes going un-noticed and capturing a great moment and other times stepping in to take a photo of a group having a great time. It was an excellent night and it left me buzzing and awake long after I should have been fast asleep.