twenty eight stories...

Boo will have her work hanging at www.28stories.co.uk as part of her course at Londons LCC in Elephant & Castle this month. Take a look...

Mist, fog and more mist......and cooking

Currently in South Africa where i have never seen so much and so little at the same time. So much mist and yet so little right in front of you. it does clear occasionally for beautiful views and blistering temperatures but also bares a large resemblance to Wales on a large number of occasions.

Anyway enjoying taking some nice pictures and eating a lot of red meat - usually in an industrial estate...seems to be the norm. We had a few close encounters photographing some elephant in the north where I was trying to change lenses, load film and be the getaway driver at the same time.. It all worked out ok in the end and we are now back in the south east enjoying the mist or the fog..

exhibit this..

Sitting back on my laurels for the first time in a while watching a bit of tv.. I've been super busy as of late but with my pictures finally hung on a wall in Bristol I can relax..for a moment.

I started the week seeing my photographs on a wall in north London for the Times and Canon where it emerged that the Times passed up having me work for them for the second year in a row. Matt Lloyd from north news was named for the job at the Times - see his entry and a group photo on the piss here.. Alternatively you can see my entry here on this blog and I will put my final photographs and an audio slideshow from the Weston beach race up here in the next day or so...

Just a reminder if you are in Bristol this week come down to the Centrespace gallery off of Corn Street and take a look at some of my photographs. My work focuses on Bristol's Gloucester road and the things that people don't see everyday. It has been really interesting and difficult to photograph but looks great on the wall. There are some other exhibits on the walls in centrespace all to do with Bristol and some great portraits by the lovely boo.. anyway don't be shy - it's free - see you there..

canon, tabasco and the times..

If you are around in London over the next few days head down to the Canon Pro Photo Solutions at the Business Design Centre - Islington. It's free if you pre register at the link above.. There are some talks from pro's the inevitable launch of a camera that can see more than you can actually see and probably doesn't require you anymore and they will announce the winner of The Times Young Photographer..

southmead..

Bristol was at the mercy of the worlds media the other day when Southmead a small area in the South West News area of town was featured on the BBCs Panorama show. It wasn't entirely positive..

Undercover reporters on the primetime show were subject to a racist attacks and abuse on the estate which led to a fair amount of media coverage for a small and ignored part of the city. I went down and shot it for a Dubai based paper which is definitely a new one on me when asked who I am working for by the locals. See the fallout from the story here at thenational.ae..

coffee and cars and couches..

keeping to a strict regime of coffee breaks at the moment. the cars and couches are where i sleep. cheers pie.

structure - a sense of place..

If your interested... I am exhibiting some work at the above show in Bristol at the end of the month. Come along and have a drink on the friday night ..

tabasco..

One step closer to the Tabasco kid. The final results for the Times Young Photographer get announced next week at the Canon Pro Photo Solutions expo at the business design centre in London. I've been shortlisted along with five others and a nail biting who wants to be a millionaire esque showdown will be our fate next week.

My entries clockwise from top left: Surfer John Heath at World Belly Boarding Champioinships in Cornwall. VV Brown, London. Ian Tomlinson at G20 protests, London.

speed update..

headed to the weston beach race this weekend which was sandy. very sandy. it was busy and tiring but i met some really nice people and took some great photographs. I will put together a selection soon on the site. but for now..

in other news i have been shortlisted for the times young photographer of the year this year. yes i am still young enough. it has been running for a number of years now, basically the times newspaper offer one photographer a six month contract with them to the best young photographer in the country. it's a great oppourtunity and so i am going to get my head down and do a bit of revision..

and you thought life was gonna be easy...

i'm really tired and as i sit here at this late hour writing the list of other things to do that doesn't seem to be letting up. i have been trying to cram every free day full of something at the moment - mainly a project i am working on that will be exhibited in bristol at the end of october. Head to their website for more info - although i think all they have are the dates...here..

i have photographed some great stuff and some less than great (no really) s

tuff in the last month but just haven't lots of time to be sitting around uploading it..although check out my ebay account for some good examples.. i did just see this picture this afternoon though and thought - thats why i started this blog - for nice pictures like this..

suburbia..

update - it's about time....

it's not that i haven't had a spare day to put some new pictures up on the website - just that i have filled all of those spare days with photographs, travel or a combination of the two. today has been lacking in both and i thought it would be good to get up some of the shots that i have worked on since launching the new website a few months back. some of the shots are new and some are photos that i just haven't previously had time to appreciate...

i know that the rest of the so far hot and humid summer is going to be full of more of the same so i thought i would take this oppourtunity to get up to date. As always your comments are appreciated....

police riot training centre, kent

france and the silly season..

just back into the uk after a week at my favourite mountain bike destination in france. lots of nice photographs to be had and even more nice riding to be done. it's a mammouth roadtrip down there even for the most seasoned of snappers but definetly worth it - some photos up here soon...once they are developed!!
now that i'm back it's chocks away on silly season. not really being commisioned on any breaking stories at the moment - but i did get pointed in the direction of this the other day - follow it up on the snappers site for a laugh!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8179635.stm

bristol..

i've been back in bristol as of late working on some photographs. not much else to say really but it's been hard work and i think i'm beginning to see the light..

photo forum mkII..

i really enjoyed showing my work to a dark room of photographers in london last night - thanks to anyone that could make it. quite a contrast of different work but i think everyone really enjoyed the varied approaches and stages that people were at in their projects/careers. john angerson view of england was inspiring definitely worth spending some time looking at his images. in quite a stark contrast Dalia Khamissy's work shine on some issues that i don't think anyone had even realised existed - a nice body of work. head over to photo forum  next month for some interesting photography and a pint of your favourite tipple..

i showed three slideshows of work last night to show three different aspects to the way i work. first off I put a selection of my day to day press photos and portraits up with some backing music by dj shadow...

secondly I wanted to show how i work when the story is mine and i'm trying to work to my own direction. i showed a story i shot called bessies which is on display on my website. it describes the day to day life of a lady called bessie who runs a small pub from the front room of her home in a small village in west wales. 

lastly i wanted to show something a bit different. my take on an assignment that i have been given and want to shoot my own way whilst shooting it the correct way for the client. at the begining of 2009 i went from lands end to john o' groats for the sun newspaper. we made the trip without using any chain stores, garages or hotels. we were at the peril of the independents of britain. i shot some time-lapse photography along with some stills of the people i met along the way whilst wiring the essential pictures to the desk everyday...

lands end to john o' groats unchained from mike lusmore on Vimeo.

photo forum..

june has merged with july in my head despite it being fairly quiet on the paid work front. that hasn't stopped the pile (s) of paperwork accumulating around my computer or my mind from running rampant about things to do..

so i have mainly been busying organising and getting ready/shooting a project in bristol - bless the m4. i'm also showing some of my work to photo forum (see here) this week which is nice but a little nerve racking...

howies printshop - cardigan, west wales

i haven't really decided what to show yet - although i have zero time off in the next few days so i am getting it all sorted now. when i'm done hopefully the picture above which i shot last year at howies - my favourite clothing company - will make it into the finished pile - the edit for that has been a little ongoing...

well until next-time, enjoy the rain..

music maestro...

had a nice pic used the other day of up and coming artist little boots who visited the sun's new studios at news international in wapping. bizzare at the sun have been dragging in the new talent recently to perform exclusive sessions for them. its a great opportunity to listen to some live tunes and take nice pictures...its hard to know exactly when the sun publish the content but there is an archive on the suns website of all the  videos. along with little boots i have been around to capture electro pop newcomer vv brown, daniel merriwether of mark ronson fame and kelly rowland of destiny's child fame..

little boots..

vv brown & band..

daniel merriwether..

kelly rowland..

tuck em into your socks mate...

i took this picture ages ago whilst waiting for some non picture to happen in town. now the clothes pegs i can live with - well it sure beats buying those ultra cool cycling clips from the yesteryears. although i say  whats wrong with tucking your jeans into your socks. what im really more concerned with is his pedaling technique - or lack there of...

back from france and on to cobham...

i got sent to one of my favourite places in surrey today - cobham. i do usually take my bike but due to the nature of the job and the fact that i fell off my bike and have injured my ribs a bit - i dont have one with me. instead i have - like many other wandering local tourists - come to visit the home where a body has been sat in a bin for weeks - nice!

it does however give me a bit of time with which to update this blog and dig out a few pictures from the end of the help the heroes bike ride. the ride ended up in paris and its finale was riding down the champs elysee at 5pm on a friday - whoever thought of that idea should get a bloody medal! needless to say it was difficult. 

photographs; paris form my hotel room, dream car, the picture of the day in paris.

rain, strong coffee and farmers...

day four on the tour with the help for heroes lot...

my surviving memory from today will be my hotel room which is a cross between a prison cell and a student halls room. i think it's the linoleum floors that really set it off. obviously these are added to by the pod bathroom where everything gets wet - including your room and must finish off with the bed made of foam. no - not that expensive memory foam type stuff - just that stuff you see offered 'cut to size' on the side of the road all over the uk.... i am going to exclude the vile colouring of the room -  orange, red and orange - yes that includes the orange linoleum floor, as my room yesterday had plastic curtains so i feel you have to give these budget hotels some leeway....

it does make you laugh when you see these places though and they have the most unrealistic names - mine is the premiere class hotel. when did it get to the point where all the good stuff was refered to with normal names and the utter crap by names declaring the quality (or lack there of!)...

in terms of bike riding today - i have been trying my hardest to get a shot of the cyclists looking like a team - a 'tour de france' fake with them idling their way through idilic french countryside. but it's not that easy!  the riders only stay together in a pack for about 200 yards before and some mornings they set off from different locations - so you can literally be waiting by the side of the road for a nice shot for an hour and it still doesn't happen. i think ten is the most i have in one picture. the worst bit about that being that after waiting all this time the riders spot you and will then be sporting a big smile, waving erratically or just staring at you....none of which really works. oh well.....

......stop press....just got back from my dinner (we ate out as our hotel only has a vending machine) to find french farmers dumping manure and just general piles of shit infront of the gates at the eleclerc at the end of our road - about 200yards from the hotel - nice. there was a copper there but its france - so they were allowed to dump it. obviously not very happy about something....well - theres going to be a few more unhappy peeps in the morning....

help for heroes...(day two or three)...

i'd say this was day three but its day two in france...i've been working on it for three days...today the help for heroes crew and myself got to experience some truly exceptional weather changes and i for one was a little miffed after standing on top of a landrover in a gale freezing myself to be stripping off only an hour later in the blistering midday sun....france eh..

visited pegasus bridge in benouville where troops from the d-day launches headed into enemy fire 65 years ago to defeat the germans...all interesting stuff - quite the history lesson...

help for heroes...

i'm out in france covering the help for heroes charity bike ride for the sun newspaper. it's a great cause and some of the blokes here are riding bikes on this trip after recovering from horrific injuries.

this is just a selection of stuff from the first day in france - day two of the trip which heads from portsmouth over the mighty english channel to france and onto paris. it's a pretty hectic schedule and there aren't to many opportunities to get tour de france style shots in the beautiful french countryside but hey ho.

timmay..

this one goes out to timmay. i'm super jealous that he is off to whistler for the summer to ride downhill but i'm also stoked that i've inherited (with a donation to the whistler fund) his pimp fixie. enough said...

published...

you just know when you've arrived in the countryside....

the fields of clover, the endless midges, the beautiful silence and the winding country lanes. small shops with only two copies of the paper, dog walks, mowing the lawn and wellington boots. but as you stroll back to the fire with a few logs in tow the lasting memory of being here, and not there -  is the beep your phone makes when it has voicemail despite the fact it never rang in the first place. it's actually really nice not to have signal but it does have its disadvantages in that usually the time you don't have signal is the time you need to organise a particularly difficult trip involving immeninent travel, numerous contacts and a wide range of people trying to get hold of you....typical

piece in the Sun's music supplement today on Kasabian - see here. glad to see that SFTW used a nice selection of my shots from last weeks shoot before the bands gig at the Brighton dome as part of the Brighton festival.

Off in the next few days to France to follow the Help for Heroes on a fundraising bike ride so will post en route...watch this space. See more info at  www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

running around..

despite the fact the work is not flooding my (or anyone else's) way at the moment I have been rather busy with jobs, recovering hard-drives, editing, tidying and generally keeping the m4 in use.

Kasabian at the Brighton Dome for The Sun's - 'Something for the Weekend'

stress test..

tom..

just back from one of my favourite haunts - the hospital to check on the illusive spider bites - once again antibiotics win the day. there was a guy who turned up with a face mask on looking a little pale so maybe i have the pig now too!

on the photo front i am trying to sink my teeth into a new project and i have another series of pictures i did before christmas on the clothing brand howies which i would like to finish. its all to do with the weather at the moment - my life revolves around the weather - and doctors appointments...  i am enjoying the new 5d - used it at a particularly dark conference the other day  and iso 1600 has never looked so good - it was a lifesaver!

moving on this is tom at his house in bristol.

new website...

i have just put the finishing touches to my new website.. 

mikelusmore.com which has been on an official hiatus for about a year now is back online with a new fresh look and a new system behind it to make it easier to keep up to date. Please take a minute to have a look at what i am doing at the moment and keep up to date with my blog for any updates..

check out the stories page for new audio slideshows i have been working on including most recently on traditional spring lambing or read my blog from the site..

thanks...

rachael & max...

portraits of rachael and max - a graphic designer and chef - at their flat in bristol... nice flat isn't it...

frank..

this is my flatmate frank. he was on tv yesterday (presstv) talking about helping people affected by the palestine conflict. i thought that i may as-well take his picture..

budget..

i wasn't alone at 5am on downing street last week when i arrived to photograph alistair darling in all his glumness walk out of number eleven with a rather battered briefcase to deliver the budget to the rest of the cabinet and a rather unhappy country.  being freelance i wanted to try and attain a different view on this yearly event which produces a lot of headshots of the chancellor and close up pictures of said briefcase...

i cant say it went exactly to plan but then what job in press photography does..? also saw this from the day which was nice by guardian regular david levene..

making tea...

Untitled from mike lusmore on Vimeo.

onwards and upwards..

i saw some amazing trails the other day from the road and after a little searching headed down there and this was the result. nice.

In other news i got a new 5d - its great. first day of shooting was yesterday at the budget where i notice not that many interesting shots got used. apart from ben gurrs photomontage in the times...   

wisley trails, surrey

real tree...

i saw this stunning sky and tree combination a week or so ago whilst driving to devon.....lovely i've seen so many sketchy dodge and burn combinations recently - and a few hdr nightmares too - whats wrong with dark and light - why do people want everything in the middle!

trying hard to get my new website online - just a few finishing touches to go.....but due to the lovely british weather peeking its head back out - the website is vying for time with my obsession for riding my bike. so now that i've written this - its off out on my bike...

golden gate bike...

so i added another day of pottering around sanding, filing and angle grinding my frame before giving it a bit of a spray today. obviously i ran out a of paint...and its a bank holiday so its back on it tomorrow.  its always good when a friend rings you up to tell you just after you have put all this effort in - that he knows a place that'll do it for thirty quid. ah heck - its all in good spirits.

right. bank holiday. beer.

if only i had time....

if i had a little time i'd get on with this bad boy.  i can see the paint job in my head right now....mmmmm. top ones is dr howes' and below is my not so progressed progress....

and sleep...

anarchists....

as anarchy prepared to hit the streets of london this week i also readied myself for the carnage.  as it happened i didn't take a helmet or those pads i carefully dug out of the cupboard.......i didnt get batteries for my walkie talkies and i forgot to hydrate myself for the day and i really really really need to stop taking the wrong lenses on jobs!!

these issues aside there really was a lot happening in london town and as the police prepared to batter would be protestors (and photographers), a whole lot of people who were out for a bit of a ruck finished their stellas and had a fight...

and lastly....where did all the cameras come from. at times i thought that we were at a canon sponsored event. or maybe nikon were handing out yet more cameras at tube stations to try and entice the last few people (including me) without a pair of d3's