Dude, where’s my pant? & Home & Away

Seb: On Thursday I am off to Norway. This is both my homage to Norway (wool socks! water proof jacket!), and to a photo I took in 2009 before visiting the Faroe Islands.

I had originally planned to go without the sandals, but didn’t want to ruin my lovely (and over-priced) wool socks. They’re snowboarding socks! So here I am, in my Jesus sandals… …

As for the lack of pants — I don’t yet have any that are suitable for Norway. I need to buy some. (Yes, really, I’m not just getting naked for fun…)

I’ll be in Norway for three weeks. That means I get to add three, whole fjord photos to 52 Weeks!

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Abi: I set out with the intention of taking a shot that featured at least one or more of Bristol’s landmarks and I managed to get two for the price of one. This footbridge over the Avon, just along from Temple Meads station has, for the obvious reason, always been referred to as the Banana Bridge. Finally the council bit the bullet and painted it yellow and black. Behind me, atop the hill, are the multicoloured houses that are synonymous with Bristol, both of these feature in the opening credits of Skins (series 1), if you know Bristol at all, you will be familiar with at least one of these.

I know it looks deserted here but I actually took this at lunchtime on a Sunday when the bridge was pretty busy. I am strangely proud that I managed to get no people or traffic in this shot, though an outtake did feature a woman in red, carrying a mothers day bouquet, which was kind of appropriate.

Now we are enjoying (slightly) better weather here in the UK, I intend to explore the city and some old haunts in more detail. Get to know it again.

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Thighs or leather jackets your kind of thing? Click the images to visit Flickr.

It’s like shooting really expensive koi in a barrel & Lie in

Seb: I shot my first ever naked torso yesterday.

Unfortunately it was a male torso — greased and creased with perfectly-defined pecs and abs — but surely it’s only a matter of time until a girl asks me for the same… service. Either that, or I have a future of all-male calendar photography ahead of me…

For some reason, right next to where we were doing the shoot, there was a huge tank of koi (Japanese carp). Some small and some ooh-you’d-be-worth-a-lot large (seriously, large koi can cost thousands — check it out).

Anyway, very hard to focus through water — that guy at the front IS in focus, but the netting makes it quite an interesting/tough photo to digest.

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Abi: I spent the entire day in bed today, my sleep patterns are dodgy at best so sometimes you just need a duvet day to stop you dying of exhaustion.

I guess I could have been out enjoying the weather. Today it was gloriously sunny and the light streamed in through the window for the first time in ages. I could have moved, should have got up. But I didn’t, I’m lazy like that.
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Click either photo to visit our Flickr streams, for wild comments, notes and more.

The Uncomfortable Bedfellow & Footsie

Abi: Those of you who followed my 365 project will be no stranger to the “bed shot“. I basically took a bunch of photos like this, on my bed. Ludicrous narcissist I hear you cry? Actually no, the bed shots were an exercise in lighting, form and also self esteem. It was my aim to always improve upon the last picture in some way, in the hope that I would eventually be totally comfortable with myself. Perhaps 100% body confidence is a little way off for every woman (except Beyonce) and certainly I am not quite at my destination yet, but I chose this to be a part of my 52weeks project to show that practice can lead to improvement in all areas.

It is very easy to look at an image and assume the person depicted is comfortable with themselves, it is possible to make rash judgements about their motives. Every image is a mini struggle for me, particularly shots like this, but at the same time it is one tiny step nearer to feeling OK.

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Seb: Frickin’ beds. They’re all too small for me. Seriously: five-star hotel, you’d think they would have LONG beds… but no. True, the duvet felt like it was made from the skins of super-soft puppies, and the mattress itself was divine… but it’s hard to enjoy it when your feet hang off the end.

While I’m at it, most of this damn world is made for short people. Do you have any idea how hard it is to prepare food on a work surface that’s 6 inches too short? The kind of lower back pain that induces? Or how about shower heads that just don’t GO UP ENOUGH? Really, really clean nipples, but to wash my head I have to do the frickin’ limbo.

Then there’s cars… theatre seats (I simply don’t fit in old theatres)… girls — even girls aren’t made for men my size. Sucks to be me.

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Click either (or both) photos to find out what people think of our collective BED SHOTS.

Heath horses & Paws for thought.

Seb: As always, a bit of scary synergy occurring here — it’s almost like ‘and here’s a close up of the horse…’

I was up on the New Forest this weekend! I didn’t get a chance to take many photos, but the few that I took came out well. William the Conqueror planted the original seeds of the New Forest, and now it’s just a lot of scrubby heath land with lots of wild horses and tons of shit (really, there’s piles of shit in varying degrees of decomposition everywhere; every meter or so).

Unlike Abi, who will probably exalt (or lament) the passing of half a year, I’m not really one for ‘landmarks’. I wonder if that makes me heartless, or simply male. Still, I think what we’ve created so far is impressive, and I’m sure we’ll get even better. The collaborative project itself, and whatever may come of it, is much more important than the mere passage and measurement of time!

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Abi: This photo marks six months of collaboration. Halfway! would you believe we made it this far?

As for the picture, well that is pretty self explanatory. The paws belong to my cat Sixx who has been my constant companion this weekend as I try to recoup some much needed rest. They are usually the first thing I see then I wake up in the morning as she stands on my pillow, (probably to check I am still alive). I love the way cats are so precise in their paw placement, never fails to amuse me.

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Click either photo to visit our Flickr streams! (Yay, half way!)

When two become one

Bon Dia!

It’s Abi writing the blurb this week. Seb made me, on account of his acute observation that “I am a girl”. He then threw a paddy because the Valentines card I sent him got “lost” in the post, he spent several hours (attractively) pouting then refused to write this so here I am. He is SUCH a Diva. And then the dilemma of what to write in this space “Just say how much you want me Abi” he said, well actually I edited what he *actually said* its too rude but… that’s men for you.

So.. Valentines day. We hope you have someone to squidge/get a card from/get offended and have a fight with because they didn’t propose to you. And if you don’t, well that’s OK too. No pressure or anything.

I hope you can tell what we are trying to do here. Two halves of a project, two halves of a heart.. see? Trust me, that’s not the shape you want to be forming with your hands alone and in public. I got some odd looks in the park I can tell you. I would also like to draw your attention to our matching fringes. I’m the one without a beard, in case you were wondering.

So whoever you do or do not have, I am sure I speak for both of us when I say: We Love You anyway! Mwah! xxx

P.S. The title was entirely Seb’s idea.

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Visit Abi’s or Seb’s Flickr streams to see some slushy, Valentine sentiment.

Don’t Walk & Timberland

Abi: I have been listening to PJ Harveys album Stories from the City, Stories from the sea a lot lately. She is one of my favourite artists of all time and the reason I mention her here is because this image puts me in mind of the cover image of this album.

I have been thinking for a while that I would like to try to recreate this photo and part of the reason I was out and about at 10pm was to find a suitable spot to shoot it. I am not very good at night-time photography.

It is more due to the fact that I have had little experience and rarely seem to find the time to actually go out at night to take pictures. Knowing I would be returning home after dark this evening, I deliberately took my camera along with me.

I would like to say that this is NOT the image I had in mind. I wanted something involving Bristol Cathedral, or College Green. I even wandered along to the Planetarium and messed about with some light reflection on the water. Nothing worked.

There are loads and loads of great photo opportunities that the night time affords us but for some reason they were all proving elusive. Then PJ came on my ipod and I knew what i was after. The whole waterfront area in Bristol is a riot of coloured lights and reflections at night time and I like how it is a place of beauty in the middle of a city.

Seb and I don’t discuss our ideas for individual photos, unless we are collaborating on a portrait idea so I like the tenuous shoe/walk/don’t walk reference here.

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Seb: My trusty boots!

When I was at school, back when all the cool kids were wearing Quiksilver and Billabong apparel, I longed for something equally cool and fashionable (and expensive). You see, I flirted with Quiksilver but despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t fit in with a bunch of 5-foot-nothing skater friends. I was 6′5″ (196cm). They were stocky and thuggish. I was tall and… well, not very cool-looking.

So I decided I would have Timberland boots. Because they were mega cool! And expensive! Too expensive, as it happened — my mother refused to buy them for me.

I had to wait YEARS until I finally got a pair — and I had to buy them with my own money (seriously, £180 is too much for a pair of boots — but they don’t make many pairs that fit my feet) — BUT… (Jesus, this is a ramble), I’m still wearing them! I don’t know how old they are, but they at least 5 years old… I think nearer 8…

Proof that they were worth the investment, or that I just don’t leave the house enough… I’m not sure.
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Click either photo to peruse the (often hilarious, occasionally a bit weird) comments on Flickr.

Long-haired lover

As always, I’ve been lumped with writing the description. I think she’s too busy combing her long hair, hugging trees and popping tabs of LSD — all at the same time.

This is obviously a homage to a very famous photo of a very famous couple. We’d like to state authoritatively that this is not a ‘moments after the arranged marriage went horribly wrong’ photo, despite what it may look like. Also, due to time constraints, I was unable to cultivate a beard as long or as messianic as John’s.

Abi, in a rare moment of lucidity, would like to add that the naked-Lennon-in-the-fetal-position photo was her preferred homage, but that Seb was ultimately a ‘boring old fart’ — so we had to settle for looking disillusioned under a duvet.

Still, it came out rather well, no?

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If you want some juicy Flickr comments, hit Abi’s or Seb’s stream.

You call that a knife? & The One with the Birthday

Seb: Despite its appearance, this is not in actual fact a homage to Crocodile Dundee. Well, OK, it is — I frickin’ love Dundee! — but that’s not the back-story for this photo! This one’s all about exploration.

Most people call it travelling — I call it exploring. Travelling describes the movements between places, not the actual adventure that occurs once you get there — that’s exploration. Discovering new ideas and new cultures — boiling those down into new ways of thinking. I love it. Can’t get enough of it.

This year I’m planning to go to either east Asia or Africa — and probably before the end of 52 Weeks! — so if you’re lucky, you might get a series of photos in the coming weeks:  ’Seb goes to get waterproof underwear’, ‘Seb goes to get his malaria and yellow fever vaccinations’, ‘Seb reads up on genocidal maniacs of Sub-Saharan Africa…’

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Abi: It was my Birthday this week, which means this picture is fairly self explanatory. I didn’t really have a big celebration or anything but I did get to eat several cakes and see a few friends, which is always nice.

Incidentally this cupcake is from the stall that is to be found on a Wednesday at St Nicholas Market on Corn Street (Bristol). The lady also has a stall every fortnight at the Tobacco Factory Market in Bedminster, if you should care to pop along. Tell her Abi sent you.

I know that this is the second cake photo I have posted in this project and the last of a series on my Flickrstream. What can I say? I’m a fat kid.

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Click either image to find your way to our respective Flickr streams.

Seat of Global Domination & Mission Control (much larger version)

Abi: Don’t you think it is weird when you finally see the place where someone you only know online spends most of their time talking to you from? I do. For a social interaction it is incredibly solitary, we can spend hours of our time in someone’s company yet never see into their world. So when you do it can be a very strange experience indeed.

I’ve just moved house so my “Seat of Global Domination” is in fact my bed. This explains the lack of “keepsakes” and clutter on show here. I do have a lot of interesting stuff that usually surrounds my desk area but that is all still in boxes as my possessions gradually find their homes. It’s all about the essentials, baby.

P.S. That old Swiss phone dates back to wartime and is fully functional and my favourite household item ever. I basically stole it from the house I shared with an ex boyfriend and I am so glad I did.

The yellow hat was knitted for me by a friend.

The t shirt was stolen from a boy, then shrunk to fit me. I have about 20 striped t shirts of various descriptions and this is by far my favourite.

I wear kneesocks almost everyday. You just can’t always see them.

I cannot function without the Internet.

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Seb: Welcome to my office! When we moved in 12 years ago, I was already too tall to fit under normal desks. So my dad nailed this piece of wood between my two cupboards and voilá! A desk!

The angle of the photo makes everything look so small! The desk is actually about 2 meters long. At one stage I had a fourth monitor, but it really was too tight a fit — there was no space for all the useless shit (or ‘clutter’ as Abi calls it, pfft!) that surrounds me.

I could talk for ever about the significance of everything in this photo — I only keep significant keepsakes! — but I’d probably bore you. Feel free to ask if something in particular piques your interest though!

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Ta’da & Snow Drama

Seb: Believe it or not, it’s 4:15am in this photo. That’s not dawn either — that’s light from a city about 10 miles away. The colour itself is light pollution I think (though remember, this is long-exposure, so it wasn’t THAT orange, but definitely a bit orange). Look how still I held my arms for 30 seconds! (I’ve had a lot of practice over the years…)

I’ve been waiting all week for the perfect conditions for this photo. I bet you’ve never seen a landscape like this before… and neither have I!

The snow continued after this photo, and we’re currently under about a foot (30cm) of snow. There’s been snow on the ground for two weeks now — the coldest and snowiest winter in history I think, or certainly since I was born. And get this, our heating is broken because oil doesn’t flow well when it’s cold. Wonderful.

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Abi: Whenever I look at this I am forcibly reminded of one of those Greenpeace ads involving a clubbed baby seal. Maybe it is the Panda hat, it gets a fair bit of attention and not in a good way.

Anyway, as you may have gathered, the UK is experiencing conditions which we as a nation are simply not equipped to deal with. Our transatlantic chums must bear in mind that when it snows, or excessively rains, or gets a bit warmer than we were expecting, our entire country grinds to a halt.

We simply don’t get much practice in dealing with any extreme weather and so, when it does happen, we either pretend it is not happening or battle on with the kind of camaraderie last seen during the war years. That’s what we Brits do, we queue and PANIC BUY.

The original concept for this shot did not involve me at all. Put simply, my friend flatly refused to lie in the snow for any length of time which is why I ended up doing it. This project may just kill me yet.

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For smaller versions, but with the addition of usually-hilarious comments on Flickr, click the photos.