Street Art London Tour - *Happening NOW*

I saw this advertised the other day and it looked so good - It is shame I am not in London this weekend but what better way to spend a Saturday!

The journey takes you through East End of London to the streets of Old Street, Shoreditch and the Brick Lane which are seen as the epi-centre for Street Art, not only in London but the UK. The ever-changing nature of East London's street art means that the street scene changes on a weekly basis. During the Street Art Walking tour you will see works from well know street artists such as Ben Eine, Invader, D*Face, Roa, Stik, Anthony Lister, Swoon, Conor Harrington and Ronzo to name a few.

The tours take place regularly, for more info find it here.

Andrew Paul Books

http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/

His images can be found here.

Andrew Paul Brooks: some info on him:

"He is a photographer, a conceptual digital artist and film maker living and working in Manchester, northwest England.His visual palette draws its inspirations from analogue reality, the contemporary urban surroundings in which he lives and works or the natural world that he escapes into.“The crucial element to my work is atmosphere…. No matter how much digital application is going on, the atmosphere and feel of a picture is always the most important thing.”Andrew’s creative process often results in capturing hundreds of images to create a complete work. Then, a meticulously developed sequence of cut, paste and rebuilding, moulding a new scene from his own vividly re-imagined viewpoint that is consistent, yet also a parallel with that of the perceived reality it represents.The images that emerge depict starkly beautiful urban scenes, empty but for the hollowed-out shells of buildings; cities suspended in the stars, imagined urban environments and serene pastoral scenes of the British countryside, seemingly real and at the same time untruthful in their vivid beauty.“The large scale of my stills photography enables a viewer to enter and explore each scene in depth and to constantly find new elements and hidden layers within the jigsaw,” says Andrew. “My obsession with distorting reality continues through into the idiom of film. By applying carefully constructed techniques, piecing together multiple images merged with sound, I create my own palette of animated elements that go on to find a new output in both music videos and my live sessions of mixing real time visuals.”

I really like the angle he's captured the images, superb, really make you feel like your in that image at that place and time.

It almost seems alittle secretive aswell, like he doesnt want to give too much away.

ISTANBUL in a nutshell.

In a nutshell. Best way to describe a long weekend away with the family. We flew over on thursday and arrived at the night time. Having never been to Istanbul and not knowing much about the city, we took the touristy thing seriously and managed to see the top 10attractions in 3 days.

Firstly we went to visit Haghia Sophia, one of the greatest icons of the Christian Church, it has stood for a miraculous 1,500 years and has survived fire, war and earthquake and outlived 2 great empires. It was a magnificant building and interior that was overwhelming. They do however charge a fortune to go in along with thousands of other tourists but the building was in amaculate condition. We saw here the 'Virgin Mary' which was breathtaking.

We also visited the Blue Mosque, and the Basilica Cisterns which were built by the Byzantines to hold upto 80 million litres of water. It is also used for film locations and concerts. It was a spooky but eary place that felt cold, the water marks on the walls could still be seen but the lighting bounced of the 36o columns that supported the vast space.

We also visited the famous Grand Bazaar and we went a cruise up the Bosphorus which was delightful.

Topkapi Palace was also a must see: fit for a sultan and his many wives it was not only a royal residence but also the Ottoman Empire's Centre of government. Filed with thousands of colourful tiles which were the main attraction for me as I love anything patterned was something quite amazing. Kept in tip top condition everything is well preserved, even the sultans bed was still there!!

Istanbul is a bustling city with a combination of tourists and locals, walking around the town its easy to encapture their religion as they are called to prayer and women are non existent. But it was lively, colourful and welcoming.

In the Asian side (known for this as Istanbul is the only place that lies on 2 plates : the Asian and Europe plates) I saw lots of grafitti, but not tackly kids spelling their name but institutions publicising themselves. Whether they felt oppressed or promoting themselves it was very cool. I even saw the Kino4 film 'The Corporation' film stencilled onto the wall - very weird and de ja vu as I had just worked on it.

Amazing and a must see experience to all those who havent been.