Ever hear the story about the guy who created some murals in the Facebook HQ and got paid in shares which are now (at the time of writing) worth $200 million?!

The guys name is David Choe (here’s a link to just one of the stories online - http://tgr.ph/wPFTkE).

He took the risk to take payment for his work in shares rather than hard currency. Shares in a company which at the time he’s quoted as saying was ‘..ridiculous and pointless’.

He took a gamble and it paid off, big time, so I ask the question; is it worth investing in art?

Sometime no, probably not.
Not when it’s not original work or forging new ground.
Not if you don’t love it or are passionate about it.
But if you are, and if it’s new material which is ‘out there’ then perhaps it’s worth taking a shot in the dark.
If nothing else you’ll have a nice piece of art to hang on your wall, and if it pays off, then it could be an investment which not only looks after you in your old age, but also looks after your family for many, many years to come.

I guess the question has to be asked whether art should be seen as just an investment or something which, regardless or price, should only be enjoyed aesthetically?
Well it’s a little of both, if you have the means then why not invest in something you love, to not only enjoy it, but also to safeguard it, to look after and watch over it. But also to ensure it’s something which will look after you should you need to cash it in, in future years.

So are my joiners worth investing in?
As an investment today, then probably not, however if I have my way then global exposure and world domination are only around the corner and the paltry sums I charge for my joiners today will fade in to insignificance when compared with what they’ll be fetching in auction houses in the coming years.
Who knows what’s around the corner, once my joiners are out there, making their own way in the world, then the price will go up…and up…and up!

The last question for you – ever hear about the guy who painted the Facebook HQ and too a risk?
Yup, me to :)

The Eden Project is one of those ‘must see places’, it’s just very cool. I visited it whilst on a trip to Cornwall a couple of weeks ago having not been there for many, many years – and what better time to go there than on their tenth anniversary. To say the place is flourishing would be an understatement, when I was there last it looked good, but it was only a couple of years old and the plants hadn’t really filled out, but now, well, the plants have definitely filled out alright..and then some!

This place ticks a number of boxes for me, firstly, the design, oh the design! It really is rather stunning.
I love the architecture, the way the bio-domes fit together, it looks like a massive meccano set (yup, I’m showing my age which is why I’ve provided a link to all those youngsters who don’t know what Meccano is).
Somehow it kind of fits the environment, it just looks right. I know there’s probably a ton of people who’ll disagree with me, but well, this is my blog and as someone once said ‘I have the microphone!’

The other box it ticks is the sheer feat of creating something like this in Cornwall. It’s not like there was a massive company behind it pouring cash in to getting this place built, this was the brain child of one guy, Tim Smit. He basically got this place built (not on his own I might add, he had a little help..quite a lof of help I’d imagine) but it’s that pioneering spirit which appeals to me and I admire, it’s people like Tim who push forward our world, our way of looking at life.
Jeremy Clarkson had a great way of defining this ‘character type’ and I quote
‘he’s one of those people who make the human race advance…one of those people who, rather than sit in the cave thinking ‘oh, this is quite comfortable’ he thinks ‘I wonder what’s in the next valley?’. Without people like you the human race would simply not advance’.
And it’s people like this I applaud and look up to as someone deserving of respect.

The last box which is ticked for me is the ecological one.
I don’t know if it’s a new found ecological awareness I find myself more and more aware of these days which comes with age, or whether ‘the planet’ is simply talked about more in the media? Whatever it is I’m not only becoming more aware of our planet, but I’m actually starting to care about it – sounds strange I know.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a tree hugger, but rather I’m becoming aware the resources we love to use up have a life span, and you know what, they’re not going to last for ever, really they’re not.
I think what opened my eyes to this is the film ‘Project Home‘ by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, not only is Project Home a beautiful shot film (it’s like a bunch of photos), but my goodness it opens your eyes to this beautiful, unique place we call earth which we’ve been entrusted with.
And what I love about the Eden Project is, it shows, and demonstrates, that there’s hope.

For those of you who have read the odd blog post by me you’ll know I like to include a track which has shuffled it’s way to the top of the iTunes playlist I was listening to at the time of putting the joiner together, thereby in some way influencing the way the joiner looks. And I’m sure it’s not escaped your notice there are two tracks for this post, the problem being I just couldn’t decide between the tracks as they’re both important in their own way and speak of different elements of this joiner and Eden Project.
The track by Muse is a BIG track, I love the deep throbbing organ bass in the background near the beginning of the track, it’s almost like the bio-domes are alive and breathing, taking BIG deep breaths – in and out….in and out….in and out.
But perhaps more significantly the lyrics of the song talk of the price which will be paid by those in charge (politicians) for what they’ve done…and I guess, not to get too heavy, but perhaps it could also be talking to us; what we’ve done, what we’re doing and what we will do to this planet in order to maintain our lifestyles.

The track by Elbow talks of a rare element these days, hope.
I love the title ‘One day like this’, however there’s a couple of lines in the song which I think speak volumes:
“And only now I see the light
Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day”

A strange thing happened when I walked out of the Eden Project, unexpectedly I was filled with an air of optimism.
Perhaps, there’s another way, I dared to believe there is, dared to hope that perhaps it’s looking like a beautiful day.
That’s not to say it is a beautiful day, but it’s that optimistic note in the lyric, that despite all the doom and gloom in the news these days, the state of the economy, the state of the world, maybe, just maybe it’s looking like a beautiful day….you dig?

I’ve been thinking and mulling over trying some macro joiners for some time (if you don’t know what ‘macro’ photography is, it’s basically photographing small things – insects, flowers etc up close…).

To explain my subject matter a little…
Now I love beautiful design, I like and appreciate ‘things’ which are well engineered, where love, passion and a creative flair have been part of their construction. And in Apple I have found a beautiful partner, a soul mate if you will. Year after year Apple come up with the most beautiful well crafted and innovatively design objects, I honestly don’t know how they do it so consistently, but thank the good Lord they do.
I’m a fairly recent convert to the way of the Apple, and there’s nothing about Apple that I don’t love, not least their mouse, or to give it it’s correct title, the Magic Mouse (it does tricks and is available for children’s parties and small functions :)

For me it seemed a natural step to create my first macro joiner of my magic mouse, it’s design is awesome in it’s simplicity with it’s function simply complicated. Photographing and putting this joiner together was actually much harder than I was expecting, however it’s the first one out the bag and creating this has already taught me things for the next macro joiner (there will certainly be more…I got some great ideas).

Just before I sign off, I have to say I love the juxtaposition of creating a macro joiner – the joiners are so big, and yet the subject matter is so small, it’s like opposites which meet which shouldn’t meet…if you get where I’m coming from…it just makes me smile.

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 5.63m wide by  3.43m high (18.75ft x 11.42ft)

Photos used: 30

Song inspiration: Oh Yeah – Yello

First things first, I ought to offer an apology, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything new to the site, work as well as extra curricular activities have all conspired against me in keeping me away from updating the site, although not from photographing some new joiners (more on this late).

However, I digress, a couple of months back I was contact by Amateur Photographer magazine wanting to do an interview and a feature on me in their magazine, after much negotiating with their people talking with my people we did the interview and my work was published in a 5 page feature in their magazine.

I’m really pleased with how article turned out, Gemma (the journalist) said some rather nice things about me, although I must point out that a little creative licence was used when writing the article. But still, it’s interesting to read her take on me and what I do, actually, it’s a rather surreal experience reading what someone else writes about you.

Anyway, here’s the article in all it’s glory :)

You can download the pdf copy of the article here..

I was going through all my joiners the other day to see if I’d missed any ‘special’ places or buildings when I realised I didn’t have a joiner of perhaps the best known house in all of London… that being Buckingham Palace.

So off I went to photograph it..

It wasn’t until I was walking towards the palace down one of the side streets that I realised there were quite a number of people all walking in the same direction, and it was only when I arrived in the vicinity of the palace where I realised there was something going on….that something being the changing of the guard.

Having had the immense privildge of seeing this ceremony from inside the gates of Buckingham Palace it was great to see it from the outside, not least because of the thousands and thousands of people watching.

I photographed the elements of this joiner in the summer of 2010 and have only now had the time to put it together, but now that I’m looking at it I’m loving it. It kind of reminds me of an artist (I’ve searched and searched for the artists name and work, but I can’t find him!!..answers on a postcard if you know??) who painted coal miners walking to work in the north of England. His depiction of them was of stick-like figures..it looked kind of depressing to be honest, but it’s an interesting character study of a large group of people. And looking at this joiner I’m kind of reminded of what he was getting at… you see there’s all these people, from all walks of life, from all over the world, all gathered in one place…and the end result is a kind of snap-shot of life..

The track for this joiner is an interesting one, in that some might think it a little ‘gay’ to have a track from Take That, but anyway, it is what it is, and I like it :-)

The reason for the track? Knowing some of the guys who’ve performed this duty protecting the Queen at Buckingham Palace having just come back from Afganistan there are a couple of lines in the song which particularly resonate with me, and to be honest, knowing just some of what the guys go through and have to put up with in Afgan I’m not ashamed to say it brings a bit of a tear to my eye..

The couple of lines/lyrics are..

‘..defenders of the faith we are..’

‘..oh though no one understood, we were holding back the flood…there was more of them than us..’

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 8.2m wide by 3.7m high (27.4ft x 12.5ft)

Photos used: 50

Song inspiration: Take That – The Flood

This is only the second joiner of people I’ve attempted, but I must say I’m very pleased with the way it looks, in fact I think it looks awesome!…but then I would say something like that, wouldn’t I?

This joiner was taken during an ‘engagement’ shoot, Lydia’s my cousin and Matt will be joining the clan later on this year, and as a final idea I thought a joiner could be pretty cool. We’d been doing photos all morning and had ended up in a coffee shop, enjoying a cup of coffee..obviously, when I remembered I wanted to try another joiner. It’s not ideal being close to your subject when you take the photos, but altogether I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.

I have the photos for another joiner of Matt and Lydia which I took earlier in the day, but I’ve not put it together yet.. I had a feeling this one would look the nuts so I put this one together first.

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 5.28m wide by 4.23m high (17.5ft x 14ft)

Photos used: 38

Song inspiration: Louis Armstrong – I’m just a lucky so and so

I’m assuming that if you’re reading this then you have more than a passing interest in just looking at my joiners. I’ll assume you want to know a little more about these ‘joiner’ things…. good on you for scratching below the surface!

So, I’m going to dare you…I’m going to dare you to plug some headphones in and listen to the ‘inspired’ track I’ve listed with each joiner at the bottom of each post. The inspired track is part of what makes the joiner a joiner, in that it’s what I was listening to whilst putting the joiner together and I guess in some way it may have influenced the way the joiner looks.

And yes, it does have to be headphones (even beter if you have some of those fancy BOSE noise cancelling headphones), why I hear you ask? Well, it frees you from all the distractions around you, it helps you concentrate on the detail of each joiner, it isolates you..

You see, just looking at the joiner isn’t enough, to enjoy it in its entirety you need to listen to the track as well, this will speak to you on a level simply viewing the joiner on its own can’t, you’ll have the entire ‘experience’ the artist wants you to have (the artist being me :)

If you go back through previous posts you’ll see the ‘zoom.it’ photo facility towards the bottom of each page, and if it’s there (I’m getting round to adding one to each joiner..you’ll have to bear with me, it takes a while) then use it.

Use it, use it, use it!

If you look up ‘Mews’ on Wikipedia then it tells you that the ‘London Mews’ were old stables, which is ironic, in that what was formerly old stables is now the abode of really quite wealthy individuals (if the cars parked outside are anything to go by).

A mews is a funny place, they’re very trendy, oh my but they’re trendy and incredibly characterful with the old cobblestones and architecture, and they don’t really show any sign of their previous occupants, but you can’t quite get away from the fact that they used to be a smelly old stables where horses slept, ate and poo’d..

I’m reasonably sure that a ‘Mews’ is predominately a London thing, or at least London is the only place where they’re called a ‘Mews’ and it’s for that reason I wanted to photograph them. I wanted to capture something which is completely ‘London’, a street that when you looked at it in my joiner you could see it could only be a street in London.
To be honest I didn’t set out to photograph a mews, I was hunting for that typical London street, something you would see in Peter Pan or any of those old films, but this is what I stumbled across, and I’m really quite pleased with it…and it’s big too, check out the dimensions below.. :)

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 6.15m wide by 6.3m high (20.5ft x 21ft)

Photos used: 49

Song inspiration: Moby – Porcelain

The Ariel Atom can be summed up in one word, fascinating.
Everything about it is fascinating; it’s speed, something which quite literally takes your breath away (either that or you forget to breath..); it’s design, unique and certainly one of a kind; it’s price-tag, surprisingly cheap, however it’s probably it’s stats which deliver fascination to every school boy, and every school boy at heart. I won’t bore you with them now, but check out this LINK when you have a moment..

I have a challenge for you regarding the ‘Inspriation Song’ below, the challenge is to actually listen to the track and use the image below to look at the Ariel Atom joiner full screen. Use some headphones if you have them, play the track and look at the photo, and I mean really look!
You’ll start off loving the joiner, then you’ll really start looking at the details and begin to hate it, but as the track progresses, all 5min 45ses of it, you’ll then start to fall in love with the joiner all over again. And you know why? Cause you’ll be looking at the car, really looking at it in context of the environment. You’ll suddenly start to see a beautiful piece of engineering, sitting in a beautiful landscape at a beautiful time of day at a beautiful time of year..and you’ll appreciate them all at once..

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 6.4m wide by 3.8m high (21.33ft x 12.67ft)

Photos used: 45

Song inspiration: Gregorio Allegri – Miserere Mei Deus

If you’ve ever visited London, but not been to the British Museum, then shame on you! It’s not just a place for the museum anoraks either, it has so much interesting stuff under it’s roof that you hardly know where to start.

You can see everything from 5000 year old mummies, to original manuscripts written by Shakespeare, and if you’re in to Egypt (Egyptology I believe it’s called) then there’s more items from Egypt than you can shake a stick at!

Anyway, moving on, my joiner, this particular joiner was a complete nightmare to put together. While the glass roof of the atrium is stunning to look at, it’s very challenging when trying to join a whole ton of photos of it together. In fact it was so much of a challenge I almost binned this joiner completely, writing it of as ‘one that didn’t quite work out’, but with stubbornness comes persistence, with persistence comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes stubbornness again and eventually something starts to take shape.

You can’t have failed to notice the big silver sculpture thing on the right hand bottom corner, I almost left this ‘detail’ out, but I’m glad I didn’t as it’s very interesting to look at. I can’t really say what it is, other than a big block of silvery stuff… :)

I hope you enjoy the zoomed in copy of the joiner below

And remember, if you visit London, visit the British Museum! (it’s even free to get in, what more do you want?!)

Picture particulars:

Dimensions: 6.3m wide by 4.55m high (21ft x 15.17ft)

Photos used:

Song inspiration: