Excalbur

These photographs accompany an article by Ros Anderson in todays Guardian Weekend. It was such a interesting job.  The Excalibur Estate in Catford is due to be demolished and the first phase of house clearances has already begun. Sadly for lots of residents a vote went very marginally in favour of moving.

Below is Eddie O'Mahoney, the estates oldest resident who moved in in 1946. Everyone we spoke to was great but it was especially hard to tear ourselves away from Eddie's immaculate lounge. A WW11 veteran who described being in a Japanese Prisoner of war camp as, "not as bad as it sounds". Eddie doesn't want to go anywhere and who can blame him at 92 and after more than 60 years.

Double blog

Should you blog about a blogpost about yourself? Not sure really but it doesn't happen very often so here you go,

 http://supernaut-studio.com/megan-taylor/

Check out this design studios work anyway, http://supernaut-studio.com. They're brilliant and have cheekbones to die for which is never a bad thing.

Thanks for the post!

X

Uptown Ranking

Here's Ranking Roger from The Beat doing his thing a few weeks ago. After the gig he teased me for only photographing him after he took his top off. That's nearly true (see photo 1 as evidence in my favour) but he only wore a top for about 10 seconds so I didn't have much choice. Still doing it though. The ladies went wild and I am not joking. Wild.

House & Garden

This is Kyle Scorgie, a student at RCA. She weaves rugs from horses tails. Doesn't everyone I hear you say? Well no, they don't. They're woven and dyed very traditionally by hand. Quite incredible. 

Francesca Martinez

I photographed Francesca at home for the Telegraph's 'World Of' article. It's about the subject and their most treasured possessions. There was plenty to photograph at Francesca's, including this beautiful portrait painted by Francesca's artist brother.

Belton House

Belton House is a real corker of a National Trust property and only an hour out of London on the train, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/belton-house/.  The grounds are beautiful and so vast. Though in true British style, on a rare hot day this Summer when I visited the majority of people were enjoying their lunch on fold out seats in the car park. Good old Brits!

 

Floating Boaters

These portraits were published in the Independent magazine a few Saturdays ago. The article was about the community of canal boat owners living in Hackney and the areas surrounding the Olympic Park who were being moved on to "tidy up" the area for the duration of the games. Why canal boats are considered untidy is anyone's guess. At the time of publication the situation remained unresolved.

Crystal Palace Pool

I think Crystal Palace Pool might be my favourite place in London. Despite being in zone 43 and not particularly easy to get to I love going there. I'm sure lots of people hate the building, its very brutal and unforgiving but I love it with its wooden floors and huge concrete girders and massive windows letting the light stream in.

 

 If the building and 50m pool wasn't reason enough to go the Brazilian Olympic swimming team are using the pool for practice at the moment. They're swishing about, arriving in blacked out vans like the good people of Penge have a clue who they are. I keep hoping a member of staff might mistake me for a lost Brazilian but sadly not yet.

Henry

This image has just been selected to be part of the AOP Open Award which I'm really excited about. Thanks for posing for me Henry!

Mary Berry Book

For the first time an image of mine is being used for a book cover. Very exciting. I loved photographing Mary Berry. She's great, absolutely no nonsense but warm. I remember asking her what her husband thought of her success and she replied, "oh he's not interested dear, as long as his suppers ready on time". Brilliant!

Russell and Jordan's Flat

I love this flat, photographed for the Guardian a few weeks ago. It's stylish but its also really joyful and fun. It's made me realise though how unadventurous I am in my own flat. If I paint a wall light grey instead of white I feel like a crazy woman. Thanks to the lovely Russell and Jordan for letting us into their home.

 

Lanz-a-not-so-grotty

I spent last week driving badly round Lanzarote with my sister. I loved it. So barren and dramatic. One bonus is there are no adverts on the road. It was banned years ago by the island's most famous inhabitant, the architect Cesar Manrique. When he wasn't making incredible houses out of volcanic caves he was banning advertising. What a dude.