Week eleven

Oh yes, spring has sprung.  How glorious and beguiling it is and yet utterly uncool that I have a mammoth cold.  I don't know why I don't carry packets of tissues in my bag.  I get so unbelievable irate at people who sniff on the tube and want to shout at the top of my voice "blow your nose for fuck's sake" and yet I am so criminally guilty of it I just sit there trying desperately to sniff surreptitiously into my coat.

Anyway, thankfully on Sunday the cold was just in its infancy, I still had a little spring in my step and was relishing wearing my spring/summer wear ensemble on the way to meet my darling friend Raymund for week eleven.

Sunday Shoots is a recommendation that came my way from a friend at University and once again I was not disappointed.  Seamus Ryan is a fairly well known photographer who is associated with portrait photography.  He has taken countless photos of celebrities and done loads of campaigns but the most interesting thing about him is Sunday Shoots.  He started the project about six years ago and basically he chooses a weekly theme in which to focus his portraits on and then invites the public down to his studio and shoots them.

So essentially, its a free professional photographic shoot where you have the choice of whether you want to buy a portrait or not.  A genius idea if you ask me.

Plus, its right off Columbia Road so an added bonus if wondering down the flower market.  Raymund and I negotiated our way through the scrum of Shoreditch twats, tourists and the last of the Cockney traders to find ourselves in a rather roomy and yet very warm environment where people were slowly milling and gathering around a desk to sign themselves up for a photo.

There were 3 or 4 others in front of us, so we just hung around and watched as Seamus very effortlessly made each person feel very welcome, special and gave them all the time of day, which must be pretty hard if you've been doing this every week for the last 6 years.

This week's theme was very simple, "cool clean portraits", which I was secretly a little disappointed with as I truly truly am the most un-photogenic person in the world (see proof below) and was hoping for a bit more of an action shot to hide my multitude of ugly angles but still, it was just a nice environment to be in.  You somehow feel very safe in Seamus's hands.

I think I'm saying something terribly witty about shoes

It was quite difficult chatting to Seamus while trying to hold a pose but I did ask him about his favourite shoots from the past and he told me that it would have to be the "hugging portraits" because he felt like he had brought some couples back together which I think is just so sweet and poignant - almost like some couples need a glaring reminder of what their life is like together.

I also asked him to send me some of his favourite portraits.  I like this one very much.

Sunday Shoots is a really nice slice of London life that you should one of these days be part of and if not you get to experience one of London's better markets that is alive and awash with colour.  Check out more information about Sunday Shoots here.

This week I'm off to Saddlers Wells for the first time to see a ballet that the Pet Shop Boys have scored the music for.