AND SO ON...

Two things that caught my eye lately...

1. I usually rush from work to the tube station, but this man made me stop. Glasses, a matching salmon tweed blazer and trousers... And those shoes. I always feel guilty taking pictures of strangers, but am usually too shy to ask. I couldn't resist it and told myself he was too cool to miss.

Then a week later, I saw him back out the front of Topshop, camera in hand. Maybe he takes pictures of passers by (except he probably asks their permission!) Anyway... He was the kind of person that you wish you were cool enough to know.

2.  An alley near my work... It looked like it was about to be someone's job to scrub this off.

LOL

I've had to buy photo albums to house the boxes of photos I've taken since I've been here. That's one thing I like about film - you get to have it around you rather than just on a memory card or your laptop.

1. My family have always called me Lol. Just like Lol from This is England
2. Park Life
3. Garden
4. Halloween
5. Gloomy vegetables in Bromley
6. "You're the first one who's taken a photo of my veg love" he said skeptically...
7. Afternoon sun at the station
8. Squinty
9. Super glasses
10. The daily commute
11. Take Courage. My favourite for years

TAKE COURAGE

People have joked that as soon as I'm back in London, my Instagram turns grey. Every other picture is of some scrawled graffiti, run-down high street shops, Off Licenses and council estates.

I can see how these things can be mundane, perhaps even depressing to some. Just this week on the train home, the lady next to me (an aging, extensioned and botoxed woman) tutted as we went through Lewisham. I watched her shake her head and pull her handbag just that little closer as she grimaced at the tags scribbled under bridges.

I could see how she could think it dirty, an eye-sore. But I've always been fascinated by street art, no matter how well executed. Inspired that someone has taken the time to make a mark there (even if sometimes they are pretty shit).

So yes, I will continue to fill my Instagram with whatever catches my eye - whether traditionally beautiful or not. I believe that whatever makes me stop whatever I'm doing, enough so to try and capture it... Is worth sharing.

All photos are recent Instagram posts (I'm @lsiss) - 1. Shoreditch. 2. Took a wrong turn in Soho on my lunch break. 3. Shoreditch "Big D". 4. On the train platform at New Cross. 5. The morning sun in an alley across from my work. 6. Local council flats, while waiting for the bus in Bromley.

PICK ME UP

My friend Jordan is traveling around Europe at the moment. He came and stayed with me for five days, and I tried to do London justice and give him a grand tour. These photos are all from one day, and it made me fall in love with the city I live in all over again.

And just to prove I work with the coolest people in the World - they made me a map (I'm practically a tourist here too), of all the coolest streets and laneways that I couldn't miss. From Old Street Station, through Shoreditch's little backstreets to Brick Lane Market.

Followed by Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House, coffee at Southbank's food festival and then a walk through the park behind my house... I hope you liked London Jordy!

1. Wrong turn out of Old St Station
2. Albion Cafe - Shoreditch
3. Phoenix - Shoreditch
4. Type - Shoreditch
5. Went in to a random coffee shop to ask for directions. Asked on a whim if any of the cakes in the window were gluten-free. Her reply made me fall in love with her - "Yes... They all are"
6. #fuckyeahglutenfreegoods ("Jordy, can you just stand over here near these onions so I can remember these cakes forever")
7. Tried to capture the most insane burger being made ever, totally didn't get the burger in the picture - Southbank Cheese & Wine Festival
8. Southbank skatepark
9. Walking home through the park at sunset
10. Army man

BACK IN 'OL BLIGHTY

Getting back to London was like seeing it with fresh eyes again. After I landed I headed to my Aunty's house in East Malling. I waited in the car while she stepped into Tesco for a few bits. It was about seven in the morning and a rather large cap-tracksuit-and-Reebok wearing man was walking out with his morning supply of Rolos (already halfway through a pack).

I took the second picture at the train station shortly after, and it stood in my photo library like a cold contrast to the previous two weeks of beach images. But I kind of like it.