Messing about with my family in my sister’s back garden – the perfect way to end Christmas Day

— Shot on a Nokia N8, yesterday, somewhere near Dulwich.

I shot this on the way into work Friday morning with the full intention of it being the #vlomo10 entry for that day. A timely Benny appearance at the 1000heads offices kindly put a stop to that however, so here is Friday’s original entry; slightly out of time – but nonetheless, still here.

Enjoy.

Oh – and that photo that I took?

^ Turn it up to 720p

^Turn it up to 720p

Moleskine entry: October 6th 2009

Only just mind.

Unfortunately, in my infinite wisdom I managed to hit the ‘off’ button on my alarm this morning. OFF instead of SNOOZE. The latter would’ve made sure I was up before 7am. The former ensured that I found myself stirring a little after 9am. Bugger.

Up, like a shot. It’s 9:11. Shower. Teeth. Shave. It’s 9:20. Pack. Spray. Earphones. Leave the house, it’s 9:25. Walking, fast, I trip and stumble. My ankle cries out and I follow suit. Limping, I make it to the station. It’s 9:35. Coffee, rain and the 9:41 arrives on time.

Today is my first day at 1000heads and so far it’s going swimmingly!

I love London.
More than that, I love London’s Underground.

This ancient subterranean transport system has been a part of my psyche from the first time my Mum brought me up to the big smoke to see the pigeons of Trafalgar Square – remember them?
Since then the colourful, maze-like map and simple iconography have been a clear and constant theme throughout my life.

Recently, after moving to London, travelling on the Tube (as it is more commonly known), has become a daily routine. Having spent a good couple of years working out of town, it really is good to be back.

Back on the underground.

Another pleasant by-product of enjoying my favourite form of public transport is the fantastic photography of it all.

Over the course of last year I caught myself snapping here and there more often than not, when there is an absence of occupance. This in turn led to the creation of a Flickr group -  Empty Underground.

A collection of photos taken of London’s underground rail system all in that rarest of moments; emptiness.

There’s a whole bunch of amazing images from many different photographers. If you have some time, go check it out – and if you have any of your own, why not add them to the group?

See you around… on the empty underground.

Shot this on Saturday on the way back from the Plan9 shenanigans.

Two different shots, cut together to make something quite lovely and quite seamless.. Ha!

The first person who can tell what the two main differences are between shot one and shot two wins a prize.

Ready, steady… GO!

PS. This kind of serves as a nice introduction to the post I have lined up for later in the week. Good times.

A few days ago, interes10 mentioned that London’s Natural History Museum was a fairly decent place to visit for a family day out.

Whenever I think of the Natural History Museum I immediately have images of the giant Blue Whale model in the Mammals hall, or even the huge fossil collection that inhabits the entrance hall.

Dinosaurs spring to mind.

Always.

Today I found myself back there again. But not for a family day out this time, oh no. My presence was required for a much different purpose.

Operation: BIG GNAW was my very own secret mission for today.

Part of an overall plan - PLAN 9 to be exact – I was to be at a set location, at a set time and armed with a very specific set of responses to a set of questions of which I had no knowledge. With a map in my pocket and some guidelines around exactly what I could and could not say, I set out.

“But what the hell is PLAN 9? What is Operation BIG GNAW?”

Allow me to explain…

Mr Dan Light (pictured, top), is currently in the process of putting together a sizzle/trailer for a new film entitled Loch Ghoon. The script, based on an original screenplay by Dan’s cousin Max, requires a few vox pops from everyday folk (that’s where I come in), shot in and around London’s Natural History Museum (NHM).

‘PLAN 9′ was the codename for the operation that took us secretly deep inside the NHM and BIG GNAW was the pseudonym under which my instructions were left for me. Along with a few other cheeky cameo stars, the aim was to get in, shoot what we needed and then get out again before we were rumbled by the NHM security.

Not an easy task.

I’ve tried filming in a you-think-it’s-public-but-it’s-not-really kind of place before and that did not end well. However, thanks to Dan’s meticulous planning (see above), the whole shoot went off without hitch.

Being a Saturday afternoon, the museum was naturally very busy. With Joe Public taking photos left, right and centre, somehow a small collection of inconspicuous-looking men gathered ’round a camera, interviewing each other suddenly became something rather normal. Par for the course in fact. Business as usual.

To the average passer-by, we were merely tourists.

Very, well done.

Rupert, Dan, James, Dan, Benny, Antonio, Katie, Saffron (and maybe a couple of others whose names escape me), excellent work all round.

There’s a Plan9 photo set from today’s fun and games up over on flickr and, if you’re interested in following the progress of Loch Ghoon, I suggest you stay tuned to Dan’s blog – if anything, it’s just a good read.

This is BIG GNAW, signing off…

PLAN 9: COMPLETE

Minor update:

Benny has put his videos and words together – ‘Assault on Plan 9′
As has Dan – ‘We go in. We get what we want. We come out.’

Forget being promised jetpacks, I just wanted some decent advertising.