Just a couple of more images. In haunting B&W.

It was an amazingly warm day in London. Too nice and too warm for November. As a result, a massive fog covered everything the next morning. I woke up in the morning and there was only one right thing to do – to go shooting in the park.

Day 60.

Hyper Japan 2011 was on in London this weekend, and I had tickets. It was a rather good fun last year, so we were looking forward to freshen up some memories from our trip to Japan, to cheer up for local cosplayers and,  no less important – to have some authentic Japanese food. Alas, we did not get in – the queue was just way to long, and waiting for 2-3 hours wasn’t worth it. Shame though. I should be getting refund now.

And that’s just a half of the queue, we did not bother to walk to it’s end

Instead, we went to see the last chapter of Harry Potter’s saga. Which was good, and I am glad we saw it in the cinema – my neighbors wouldn’t let me  blast the sound that much on my home system. A guy sitting next to us in the cinema had his 3 year old daughter watching the film as well – I don’t think that was such a good idea. The only thing… I was kind of expecting everyone to die in the end, I thought that how it was in the book. Obviously, I was wrong

Day 61.

It was Sunday and the weather seemed favorable, so we headed to the South West coast, to Dorset.

The first stop was in Poole. A nice coastal town, which does not offer much to do, but there are a lot of yachts in the harbour and they do regular cruises to the Brownsea Island and around as well.

With all those pines and mansions, architecturally not typical for England, it reminded us of Jurmala, Latvia. We picked up some booklets, had a light brunch and were on our way to see what was left of Corfe castle, the used-to-be strongest fortress in England, which was half an hour drive away.

When we approached the castle and parked next to the hill it stood on, we had to walk up for about 10 minutes to approach it, and then to our surprise we found ourselves in a cute little village at the castle’s gates, which was hidden from our eyes by the obstructing hill.

We got inside and it was about time for a lunch, picnic style. We had warm (though rather windy) weather, beautiful scenery we could observe from the top of the hill and live music playing somewhere not too far, in village. And food. Perfect!

Getting ready for the lunch

Now it was the time to explore, climb around and take obligatory pictures :)

Corfe castle dates back to the 11th century and remained a Royalist stronghold until 1646, when it was betrayed by a member of the garrison during a two month siege. It was captured and then blown up by the Parliament’s decision. What a waste, honestly!

It was used as a royal treasury storehouse and a prison. The main building, the Keep, is considered to the skyscraper of those time, some of it’s walls are still standing, so it’s quite easy to imagine the way it used to be.

The castle used to be rather magnificent. And so are it’s ruins now. I will be posting more pictures from our trip.

On our way back home we popped in to Swanage. Beautiful sandy beach and clean water, only sun was missing. No swimming in sea for me, anyway. But we should definitely come back some other time.

To be continued.

I am not particularly good at making lemonade. I guess the best I can make is a lemon water. But what would you do when life gave you a bottle of gin, a lemon, a bunch of strawberries, an apple, an orange and a cucumber with a mint spring? Yes, you are right, a refreshing Pimm’s. What did I do? Nothing. I just ate the orange. And the strawberries. The rest of it I left where I found it.

Ok, enough of speaking metaphorically. So there is a guy, an actor. I really started liking him after seeing him in the Baz Luhrmann’s extravaganza, Moulin Rouge. It’s been my favorite movie ever since (there I said it!). And so, I always wanted to meet Ewan McGregor in person. Not because he is a celebrity (I believe the good half of them are mindless jerks), but because he always seemed to me a nice, smart and interesting person. And I like his acting. And singing (in Moulin Rouge). And his motorbike journey documentary. And the fact that he is Scottish. Ok enough! … But I am a regular guy and I don’t live in Hollywood (for better or for worse), so even in London the chances are pretty slim…

And now imagine my frustration when I had a moment of epiphany today, when I realized, that I actually had a real chance to meet him, as he was, just like me, taking part in London Tweed Run earlier this year! Whaaaat???

Ok you’d say, “There were hundreds of people there, you probably just missed him.”

Wrong! I did see him. As a matter of fact, I even took a couple of pictures of Ewan. I just… DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM! How stupid and gutted I feel right now! I can not believe my luck (or rather bad luck, depending on how you look at it.)

To be fair though, all people looked different in those vintage outfits with excessive facial hair, so it’s not that great crime of mine. That’s how calm myself down, not particularly well. Besides, Ewan really kept a low profile (kudos to him), so I really thought I was just in the midst of push-bike enthusiasts. Still gutted.

So if you are reading this… and you know how I could meet him… do let me know :) And regarding his ‘disguise’, you be the judge, the pictures are below :)

P.S. I do remember thinking to myself, ‘Nice bear!’

A few months ago I was approached via recommendation by a director of freshly-founded company, Performance Nutrition. With extensive experience of its director, Performance Nutrition was aiming at top athletes and performers as well as business executives. The website was to serve such an audience, with its focus of using targeted nutrition for improved performance.

From the beginning of the project we had a mutual understanding with the client that the site was to be sleek, but simple and minimalistic – and this was a job exactly for me.

We started with corporate identity – company needed a recognizable logo. After the number of trials I came up with the one below, where the logo’s symbol can also be used as a standalone element. The circle itself is such a great symbol with so many positive meaning (including ‘full cycle’, ‘circulation’ and ‘harmony’), and now it also contained stylized letters P and N.

After the business cards with the new logo were designed and printed out, I put a temporarily page online and started working on the website.

Once we agreed on the website’s look and feel ,as well as the structure, and the designs of the home page and the content page were signed off, I could start developing. From that point on I could avoid wasting time in Photoshop, moving around elements in multiple templates, but rather make changes directly in the HTML build, using graphic editor only for working on certain design elements. This approach usually saves me time and my clients’ money.

As the website was going to be rather static (mostly copy), I opted for WordPress as the platform, which would make it easy for my client to update the copy or add/remove subpages, as well as would be an appropriate tool for updating News and Articles sections.

I’ve built the website using some CSS3 properties (nothing too crazy ;) and added a bit of jQuery for smoother experience. Also, for the first time in my projects, I used @font-face for the main and sub- navigation, which would allow to change the website structure without resorting to Photoshop. I felt it was the right time for the use of the technology.

As with most of start-up or companies that never did business online, the copy was a real stumbling block. And this is something we, designers and develops can hardly help with. We can nudge in the right direction, but we can’t write the copy. But, at the same time, this is something that can be accumulated over a period of time with increasing experience and understanding what website users real want.

The website is launched, but we continue collaboration. After the business grows and the website is filled with more content, we will have a better idea what functionality and interactivity we can add. A website is not a static entity, it is supposed to be alive and ever changing and improving after trials and errors. And this is great, this is what makes our work exciting.

www.theperformancenutritionist.com/

It was one Friday night last year and I was checking internet to find what to do in London over the weekend, when I came across thing called ‘Tweed Run’. People dressed in vintage clothes, strolling across London on their push-bikes… that sounds interesting. I’ve been an admirer of all things retro and a over-the-top fan of Bioshock (hello, fifties), so that sounded like the thing to do and the place to be.

And I wasn’t disappointed! It was too late for me to register for a ride, but on that day I went to Hide park and waited for the procession to arrive – ladies and gentlemen were making a stop for a tea break there. I had my camera with me, and thus I unofficially became the official photographer of the event that year. I had few quite a good shots and I have received a massive and positive response to my set on flickr. The photos were then used on many websites and in a couple of print magazines, one of them – ‘Popeye’, a Japanese fashion magazine (that was quite unexpected ).

So, naturally, this year I wanted to be a participant, rather than a mere spectator. I made sure I went on to register online the moment registration was open – you had to react fast, for it was selling like hotcakes. I got number 222. Quite cool, isn’t it?

I already had a push-bike. Unfortunately it wasn’t very appropriate for the event: neither retro nor single gear nor beautiful, but at least it wasn’t flashy, but pure black (I still felt a bit ashamed of it, to be honest).

Next, exciting bit – the outfit. I did not leave myself much time for that, but I am still amazed, how much you can accomplish when you plan things ahead and start doing them just a little bit earlier (as opposed to my very last minute habit). So I had a couple of weekends and went for vintage and charity shop hunt. I’ll be honest, not everything I ended up wearing was pure vintage and second-hand, but I believe it all looked quite close.

Portobello Road market, Soho, Covent Garden… the usual suspects. A tweed jacket was no brainer. That’s probably the most common item of gentleman’s wardrobe you will find. Got it from the Portobello Rd, where I also bought a cap and a pocket watch (they both were new… cheeky me). The biggest challenge was to find the men 3/4 bridge trousers, but after few days we did find them on some countryman’s rack – I am sure he was very happy to make a good deal of old clothes :) Socks and shirt – I got them already (later on socks proved to be embarrassingly not long enough, bummer!), and the last bit was suspenders (‘Beyond Retro’) and a bow-tie (the best I could find was from ‘American Apparel’). I also got myself a cool backpack from ‘Beyond Retro’, with an anchor on a big button :)) And shoes… these were brand new and actually modern, got them from TKMax, it was the only pair there and as soon as I saw them I liked them a lot, so was happy it was the right size.

Yes, few items were quite last minute, but I was very excited I got everything sorted just in time. I believe I have achieved quite a genuine look, not strictly retro one, but rather ‘with a twist’ :)

And of course, the gentleman’s pride – a facial hair. It took me more than a month to ‘get prepared’. It was also the first time I had that curly mustache, and you know what, I am going to keep it (even though Movember is still so far far away)

I thought I was going to take it easy on Friday night before the run, but my friend tempted me to go to Brixton to see the very last gig of Faithless, so I gave in (of course, no regrets afterward ;). The next morning I was ready to roll. The run was starting at St.Paul’s Cathedral, which was good 7 miles away from my place. And I did not manage to get up particularly early, so I was actually a bit late, at least for a leisure ride. Soon after I met another tweed runner on the road , we got acquainted and so I continued in a company of suchlike. In town we also met another two cyclist, who needed help to get to St. Paul’s – the company was getting bigger :)

At St.Paul’s it was very busy. About 600 participants plus spectators and tourists (must be the best day in London for them ;). Bright sun, smiling faces, gorgeous atmosphere… Everyone was friendly and enjoying themselves. Also, wearing retro outfits really makes people even more polite:) For many participants it wasn’t the first run and I saw some familiar faces from last year’s tea break. But, a lot of newcomers as well.

It was almost the time for a photograph and then at noon we set off. Great sunny weather, but not too hot even for tweed jackets, motorists beeping their horns, cheering crowds – everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was a leisure ride in style.

The route was 10 mile long and was bypassing capital’s landmarks: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Circus, The British Museum. At about 2pm we stopped at Holborn for a tea break and socializing (well, beverage wise, some were more prepared than others :), and then after an hour the procession proceeded to Shortditch and Bethnal Green for the End Party (and after party for those particularly energized :)

So yes, it was a good fun. One of a kind. A great way to spend Saturday in London. Naturally, I was taking pictures along the way, but oh boy, it wasn’t easy to ride and juggle with an dSLR monster, but I hope the result is not too bad. Head to my flickr feed to see many more of them.

Tweed Run now is quite an international event, and you can catch a glimpse of it (or actually be a part of it) in New York and Tokio. But if you are in London, watch out for another special Tweed Run this very Autumn.

Ok, this must be the creepiest addition to my the Bioshock collection, and the lady-splicer does not look that healthy or wholesome, but then… it’s all part of the Rapture’s story and its tragedy, so I thought ‘Why not?’. Now they have got their rightful place on the herself among the others. And I now have more chances to be misunderstood by other people :)

P.S. A Big Daddy toy in the hand of Eleanor Lamb, you should agree, is a really nice touch.

In the last month or two I have acquired the whole three new Big Daddy figurines. What can I say? They keep releasing them and I just can’t help myself but to keep buying them. But they are awesome.

Bouncer and Elite Bouncer

The Bouncer Big Daddy – the most iconic fixture in Bioshock. The toy feels really massive, though somehow still in proportion to the others. Same excellent build quality with tons of details. The Elite Bouncer is not that different from his brother (from another mother): just another type of drill, some sort of shield on the front and is painted differently. They both look really bad-ass, especially together. Love them!

Rosie

And then the Rosie arrived, another little sisters’ protector-defender from the city of Rapture. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure about this one, I thought it might look too conventional, but it turned out to be virtually as cool as the other Big Daddies. He is the one (it’s him, right? not her) without the drill, but rather with both hands and a rivet gun.

So who’s left? The Rumbler (which seems to be quite similar to the Rosie) and the Lancer, a version of Deco-Rosie from Minerva’s Den. He is the one I am very much after. I hope we’ll see him in the not-too-distant future.