London rush and riots

Last week I dragged my poor husband all the way down to London to work on a portrait commission for The Photographers Gallery. I have managed to wriggle in the Victoria and Albert museum as my photoshoot's location (hence we spent most of our time in West London though I went on a brief venture into the East end of the town, still troubled with the recent riots - I had to pick up studio keys for the second part of the working day and on my way in the underground I heard an annoucnment about Brixton station being on fire...).

It was a great stay though (this time we booked a room with a window, a permanently sealed one but let's not be picky) a bit stressfull (it was a work trip after all but as one fellow photographer friend commented London is always good to go to for work reason) and rushed (so not time to meet family or friends - sorry guys!) but I met many friendly and helpful people (special kudos to a lovely press officer from V&A and my charming subject who proved to be extremely photogenic and patient and I seldom work with complete strangers so it was an enigma how the cooperation is going to look like).

I had at least 3 passers by asking me if I need any help when I was flicking thourgh my London A-Z outside of the Euston and Hoxton underground stations trying to arrange map along East to West directions thus shattering a myth of uncooperative Londoners.

And of course it would not have been all possible without Simon's help and support. He is not just a voice activated light stand (as we jokingly call his duties patiently executed during working with me on my portraits) or just my London guide. His presence and encouragement are sometimes the only things that stop me from running away screaming with utter fear from the photoshoot that took several weeks to arrange! It would simply not be possible without him.

It was lovely to come back to our smaller in scale, calmer and slower in pace Scottish capital. Especially after waiting for 40 minutes at King's Cross train station's mail hall right in the middle of the rush hour. The sheer amount of passing faces can make one dizzy.

So here is the visual material. Oh, if you would like to know - I have just picked up my negatives from processing and they are all waiting to be scanned. So far at least they look correctly exposed and some of them look like they have some potential...

An authentic notice on a house railing in one of the main streets in Kensington. I hope it comes from the 1940s (judging by the font):

We have spotted this plaque on a house in Cromwell Road on our way to hotel. Is says that Albert Hitchcock lived in the house! Poor chap, no wonder that our hotel window was sealed completely, this road is extremely busy!

My better profile at the V& A's outrageously decorated cafe:

I hope I will one day have enough time and money to actually go to London for a couple of days just to dive in the richness of its museums collections (we have managed to squeeze in a couple of photo exhibitions - one in Tate Modern and one in Purdy-Hicks gallery nearby, as V&A was visited mainly for scouting best locations at the Hintze sculpture gallery).

So when are you coming, Monika?

London part 3

^ A semi sharp selfportrait in a semi darkness.

I was on a lookout for various historical bits and pieces - this one ^ is tucked in just accross the river from Tate Modern.

This time we deliberately took an easy approach to visitng museums, though I hope one day to be able to come and just browse through a vast collection of artefacts at V&A (a History of the World in more than a Thousand Objects hihi). This picture I have managed to quickly snap while we went into the V&A in search of a cafe with sockets (Simon needed to plug in to finish off his presentation for the opening evening of his exhibition). The vast V&A cafe does not have sockets in the walls, so now you know - maybe they try to dicourage visitors from a virtual tour of the museum. They also use a discouraging beam of their torches which they apply to the interior of one's handbag at the entrance. I presume it must disarm a potential bomb carried in as I do not think that they were able to distinguish anything in the black hole of my ginormous handbag!

So instead we ended up across the road in Le Pain Cotidien - a Belgium chain that tempts one with delicious breakfast and fresh carrot juice and has an abundance of sockets for your hungry laptop too:

^ I did not buy that top in COS in the end - I do not know why when I look at that picture now. I bought that green one instead that lies crumpled in the left side of the image. I especially like my beaming nose in that picture!

^ My lovely Krakow friend Ewa who I have managed to meet briefly during her lunch break. I called her while walking down Regent Street and she happened to work nearby. It was so funny when she asked on the phone instead 'Where are you?' - ' Near which shop are you?'! Ah girls...

Obligatory meal in Wagamama. Since our friend Roger introduced us to this nonfuss restaurant (?) with Asian style meals (apparently you are not suppose to worry about your eating style - just place your bowl near your face and showel your rice into your hungry mouth Japanese style). This is Teriyaki Chicken Donburi - yes, I have jotted the name down it was so tasty (well, give me anything in teryiaki sauce anyday). I think I saw a Wagamama sign somewhere in central Glasgow? Another London friend Damian confirmed that Wagamama is one of the not so numerous places to eat in London which managed to keep up the same high standards since they opened.

Obligatory London shot ^^

To sum up - I think I like that trip much more than two previous ones. I got myself Peter Ackroyd's 'London, The Biography' and I am voraciously reading it chapter by chapter. I have especialy liked a little tour of the City at night that Simon took me on - I wanted to see where he worked. It was a feeling from a heavy nightmare (no pun intended) to walk among all these little deserted lanes tucked by the huge, semilit office blocks - and then you relise why it is so densely packed - each square inch actually belongs to someone and costs a fortune. We came back to our coffinlike hotel room at 2.30 am completely exhausted (we walked on foot from the City to Victoria stopping now an then to take a picture) but it was a beautiful adventure.

London Visit - part 2 aka the real purpose

Simon very kindly asked me to accompany him to the opening of his solo exhibition in London in gallery combined with bookshop in Bermondsey: Woolfson and Tay. It is a business run by two very engaged in social issues ladies who regularly invite equally engaged authors and not so easy subjects into their gallery space. Not to mention the enviable book selection (I had to leave some of my pocket money there, and the blow was softened a little with a friendly discount) and delicious coffee smooth as silk courtesy of Frances.

Simon's exhibition subject was not a jolly one either: pictures show people affected by epidemy of AIDS in Ukraine and social workers sacrificing their lives to help the evergrowing army of vistims.

We were slightly worried how many guest will come to the opening presentation (Simon gave an extremely engaged introduction combined with a presentation of his other Ukraine and Russia based social photography projects - I knew the stories of people featured in the project before but I was still very moved by his descriptions of their lives full of hardship and his straightforward, very colorfull but very sad at the same time images) but we were pleasantly surprised by the response - all the seats were taken and among these who ventured past the London Bridge were some familiar faces (Hello Damian! Hello Lila!) as well.

I am sure Simon is going to post his own commentary on his blog but here are some of mine images from the day. The author himself and Frances hanging the images:

The gallery is based in one of the nicest parts of London - Bermondsey, full of quirky boutiques (the dog collars one for example or an exciting shoe shop with United Nude shoes), nice restaurants and cafes with interesting murals (the featured jolly one is by Hannah Warren - have a look at her portfolio here) and The Design Museum is not very far. It would be lovely to have a little pied-a-terre there for future London trips but it has to stay in our dream sphere for now (lovely little flats were still costing a bob or two...):

London Visit part 1 - aka a room WITHOUT a view

We do not venture that often to London and if so it is usually for work purposes or on our way somewhere else (see previous posts about it here). This trip was not that much different though it was much less stressfull than usual (especially in comparison with my infamous visit in December 2003 when I was feeling really cold and in low spirits mainly because of the exchange rate of the pound and zloty at that time...). There were not any illustrator agents to meet, there were not any deadlines (well, except one but it was rather a pleasant one) and it was just two of us in a tiny hotel room in central Victoria, which really deserves its own post (but I will not do that, you will be able to see it right away). Food was good, most friends were able to meet us, albait some in their lunch break which I much appreciate (hello Ewa! It was great to catch up and see how radiant and happy you were - our meeting left really warm feelings in my heart! - more about it in part 3) and we  had a great time!

We arrived a bit late beacuse that little chap decidet to venture out on a walk on the East Coast train line. It took the train staff quite a while to chase him back into the field:

I wonder if his fellow cows placed bets on him escaping to the other side of the track...

When we arrived in London, we have realised why our hotel room was so cheap - the window was not included in the price...We were contemplating drawing one but as it would not work with out a Magic Pencil (check out a Polish children cartoon with the same title), so we decided to put up with it:

Nethertheless none of us was hounted by claustrophobia and we decided to head into town straight away as we concluded that we would be coming back to our dungeon only for some sleep and a shower, spending rest of our stay exploring the capital. One cannot beat Victoria's area as a base even though it has a slightly depressing feel to it, provided by thousands tired travellers dragging their suitcases and The Identity and Passport Service Office (opposite a very pleasantly run business of The Capri Sandwich bar).

London is full of weird architectural solutions and that jumble of old and new is sometimes surprising indeed:

It usnerstandable though as each square meter (or yard perhaps costs a fortune - though the size of the offices of the Salvation Army in a very prime spot next to Saint Paul/'s cathedral astonished us the most - maybe the ground belongs to the church after all and they managed to obtain a favourable rent rate indeed.

I hope one day Monika (who is an architect and photographer in Krakow, not to be mistaken with my dear Berlin friend MoniCa - so now you know, a different spelling helps sometimes) and I will be able to go for a trip to London (and not stay in a cellar room in Victoria but maybe somewhere in Marylebone or Kensington perhaps?) to enjoy all these quirky sights!