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....