day eight recap: Street Style Photography – London and Beyond with Eddie Otchere
On Wednesday evening, for our final Workshop session, photographer and LCC alum Eddie Otchere shared a history and commentary of Street Photography. He took us back to the late 1800’s and the ‘Flaneur’, the gentlemanly wanderer who strolled freely along the streets of Paris. It was this moment in history when we started capturing and recording street style. “Go out and lose yourself in the streets,” explained Eddie, as he shared a chronological photo history of street images. “Any snapshot taken now is just a snapshot, but think about it in 100 years’ time. It will tell a story and have meaning and context”.
Eddie Otchere himself an established street photographer uses the streets as a backdrop to capture his acclaimed images for the music industry, sports brands and club culture. He’s a native South Londoner and often inspired by that neighborhood and the music scene down there – capturing the colorful, local drum n’ bass culture.
Eddie shared a few of his favorite spots in London to shoot on the streets. He highlighted places like Monument where you get sweeping views of the city and how great it could be to visit every year and take a photograph of the sky line from the roof top to see how the landscape changes. Brunswick House Café is a cool and quirky place to capture interesting people and things. And you might like to pop into Silver Print, a camera shop in London Bridge that sells all kinds of photography goods.
To keep the ‘romance of photography’, Eddie suggested getting a disposable camera (£5!). “It takes great pictures and the process of having to get the film developed and not knowing what will come out is exciting”.
Why not assume the roll of the Flaneur and go out and show us your best street photos. It could be a piece of street art, a person or people engaged in conversation, a scene without human presence or anything of your choice. You can tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.
meet: Mark Lebon
Have you missed previous workshops and talks? Here is a recap:
Images from the Front Lines by Carol Allen Storey
Alternative London Street Sports by Dan Edwardes from Parkour Generations.
Everything is Art by Mr. Bingo
The Changing Faces of London by Homer Sykes
Street Food Revolution by Jamie Berger & Victoria Stewart
Tonight #citizenMreports is hosting the guest speaker fashion photographer Mark Lebon.
Mark Lebon is a world renowned artist and photographer A key contributor to the ‘Buffalo’ movement which embraced multi-cultural 1980s London and began to depict this diversity in fashion photography, Mark was one of the first photographers to snap the one and only Madonna.
He studied at West Sussex College of Art and Design and North East London Polytechnic and started his career working for magazines such as i-D and The Face. Since then his clients have included Rifat Ozbek, Katherine Hamnet, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. Mark Lebon also runs Crunch Productions, working in fashion, advertising, broadcasting, and music promotion. He currently teaches fashion photography at the London College of Fashion, as well as having contributed early photo blogs to showstudios.com, he has continued work as a filmmaker and photographer.
Join us tonight and hear from Mark Lebon on “London Street Style: out of the gutter, onto the page and into the street”, at citizenM London Bankside. There are few seats left, to sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.
credit photo: Mark Lebon
London pop’s up, by Sabine de Witte
Go on a cultural or shopping spree
As a London visitor or citizen who’s not really into sports, you don’t have to worry, there’s plenty of other activities you could still do. For example visiting the museums for free. All the National museums don’t require an entrance fee. Not only during the Olympics though, all the time! Besides exploring cultural stuff, you can finally give in to your shopping spree. All the London citizens were ‘warned’ not to go in the city center. So now you can find your favorite items in the last weeks of sale without any elbows in your eye, fighting over items and long lines in front of the cash.
Pop-up
Not looking for sale but searching for special items? Here you go: London pop’s up this summer! Literally everywhere you see new pop-up stores, temporary shops and mobile trucks. Big brands like Opening Ceremony chose the summer period to open up in London and stay there until October at least. The pop-up store in King Street is completely decorated with Olympic gimmicks and exposes a lot of fashion with a sporty touch. And do you remember the water shoes you used to wear as a little kid? Well, Melissa makes them fashionable again. She turned plastic into high fashion and works with designers like Jason Wu and Vivienne Westwood.
One of my personal favorites is the Chanel Pop-up store at Covent Garden. Small, but a great presentation of their latest make-up and their brilliant nailpolish collection. Holiday is the perfect color to treat yourself with!
Olympic winks
The LOCOG’s brand ambassadors have been very strict on using the Olympic rings, colors or names in windows of shops, restaurants etc. If you’re not an official partner, you’re not allowed to use them. That took some creativity and there are some windows really worth mentioning. Escaping the Olympic logo, clothing store Oasis did a great job. They created a complete limited edition collection called London Love Letters, celebrating London landmarks in all their glory. A great way of honoring the Olympic city and show some city love. Compliments for the Reiss London guide. The London based brand became popular after duchess Kate Middleton was wearing some of their dresses. Reiss brings you affordable classic items with a modern twist. For this summer they’ve created a London guide mentioning all their shops and favorite spots per area. With a smart map showing where the Olympic activities take place (and what to avoid if you’re not looking for sports), great insiders tips and a handbag prove size. Classy Reiss!
Temporary fun
Of course it’s not only shops popping up and taking over the city. Nike has a pop-up spot where they organize events, trainings, tests and workshops. There are temporary restaurants, food trucks and park entertainment. Most of the temporary fun can be found in London city, but upcoming areas as Shoreditch and Southbank are popping up as well. Planning a trip to London during the final days of the Olympics, or later this summer? Check out the brilliant blog http://www.londonpopups.com/ to see where to go for the newest fun in town! Wanderlust also created a handy list with all the events going on during the Olympics. Not interested in sports but you do like to party? Tickets to the Holland Heineken House and a crazy night is ensured!
By Sabine de Witte (Twitter: @sabinedewitte)
A passionated copywriter intrigued by the magic and effect of words. “Writing is my passion and lifestyle, curiosity is what feeds me.”
Changing London!
Whether is an interesting neighbourhood or the ‘Olympic people’ (staff, tourists, Londoners) around town, we want to hear from you too. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.
day six recap: The Changing Faces of London with Homer Sykes
Yesterday renowned documentary and portrait photographer Homer Sykes kicked off week two of citizenM Reports. Having worked for The Telegraph, Sunday Times, Time and Newsweek, Homer took the group through his incredible photos of changing London decade by decade, from the 1970s through the present.
Homer has captured everything from the shops along Brick Lane and workers strikes in the 1970s, the decadent London clubs and punk scene of the 1980s to the pre-construction setting at Olympic Park leading up to the Games.
What makes a photograph great according to Homer? Its all about opening your eyes and not missing the moment! Take note of all the small details that place you in a particular moment in time. Tell a story with every image, notice important landmarks, clothing and street signs, and always tell a story.
Show us your photos of changing London! Whether is an interesting neighbourhood or the ‘Olympic people’ (staff, tourists, Londoners) around town, we want to hear from you. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.
Alternative art or street art? Here is a contribution from Victor Jarque and Emma Boneham after Mr. Bingo’s workshop.
Show us what you find in the streets of London! Snap a photo of accidental art and anything out of the ordinary on the streets and tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.
day four recap: Everything is Art with Mr. Bingo
An illustrator and graphic artist by trade, Mr. Bingo is always snapping moments of unexpected inspiration he finds on the streets of his East London neighbourhood. The Master of Pens, also known to many as ‘the Justin Bieber of drawing,’ spoke to a packed crowd yesterday at citizenM.
One typically thinks of art as something only found in a gallery or museum. Not so for Mr. Bingo, who believes there is an infinite supply of free art on the street all around us every day. He took the group through a slideshow of accidentally beautiful and funny found images he comes across on the street. With a little imagination, you can find ‘art’ everywhere, from amusingly dumped objects to funny signs. In Mr. Bingo’s world a pile of discarded furniture becomes the scene of house party, a stain on the sidewalk is the outline of an old man’s face smoking a fag, stacks of punctured cardboard boxes become a series of faces of shock and dismay, ‘buffing’ used to cover up graffiti can form amazing abstract patterns.
Next up for Mr. Bingo is the publication of a book of his infamous offensive postcards, Hate Mail, being released this autumn by Penguin, and you can check out more of his work at http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/.
Show us what you find in the streets of London! Snap a photo of accidental art and anything out of the ordinary on the streets and tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.
meet: Jamie Berger & Ellie Grace
Have you missed previous workshops and talks? Here is a recap:
Images from the Front Lines by Carol Allen Storey
Alternative London Street Sports by Dan Edwardes from Parkour Generations.
Next Tuesday, Jamie Berger, Pitt Cue’s co-founder and Ellie Grace, French & Grace’s co-founder will be leading the workshop “Street Food Revolution: London’s changing food scene, from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between”, scroll down to learn how to join. Below is a short introduction about them:
Jamie Berger
Jamie read Chinese at Cambridge and sold his house upon graduation to put money behind his college friend Karan (now Lord) Bilimoria to found Cobra Beer. Once Cobra had become an established brand, Jamie become a non-executive director and left to pursue pastures new. After a stint as an investment banker in the Far East, Jamie completed a PhD at Harvard where he taught for two years before taking up research posts at Tokyo University, for two years, and the Collège de France, in Paris, for three. Returning to England to head up the London office of an American business intelligence firm, Jamie was quickly reminded why he had left the corporate world in the first place and fell back on his joint loves: food and drink. Having been given his first cocktail shaker by his American mother at 12, Jamie finally realised his dream of setting up a food truck when he co-founded Pitt Cue Co. in 2011 with his chef-friend Tom Adams. After a successful summer serving Southern US barbecue, bourbon and beer on London’s Southbank, Pitt Cue Co. opened in bricks-and-mortar in Soho in January 2012.
Ellie Grace
Ellie Grace is co-founder of French & Grace, which started as Salad Club together with her friend Rosie French, an award-winning food blog and supper club. Due to popular demand from an ever-growing and loyal fan base, they expanded to become part of the mobile street food crew, Eat.st, and even opened their own restaurant in Brixton Village in October 2011. In May 2012, first cook book was published with Kyle Books - Kitchen & Co: Colourful Home Cooking Through the Seasons.
Next Tuesday, 7th August, Jamie and Ellie will be leading the workshop “Street Food Revolution: London’s changing food scene, from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between”, at citizenM London Bankside. This workshop is open to the public and free to attend, limited spaces available. To sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.
credit photos: Jamie Berger, Tim Pohle
alternative sports in London range from suitcase to ‘cloud’ surfing, or the interior designer Marc who turns into a trapeze artist after work.
share your alternative sport by tweeting #citizenMreports, blogging or emailing us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.
day two event recap: alternative sports
What is an alternative sport anyway? This was the question posed by Dan Edwardes at yesterday’s workshop. Dan is the founding member of Parkour UK, a physical discipline rooted in martial arts that involves running, jumping, vaulting and climbing within an urban landscape with a rapidly growing following of hundreds of thousands members globally.
With Olympic fever sweeping London, it seems like a fitting moment to think about what defines ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative.’ Is it something non-commercial? Niche? Without rules? Non-competitive? The answer: none of the above. The audience for non Olympic sports actually far outnumbers what we see as more conventional sports, many of these have enjoyed huge commercial success and involve strict discipline and training.
So, get out your cameras and iPhones and take a look at all of the non Olympic sports happening in the streets of London. Whether its BMX bike polo or juggling, you might be surprised at what you find. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com. We’re excited to share your reports with the world.
