The world's widest panoramic photograph?

How did he do that? This is for all my Kenyan friends - a walk down Kitengela Road, Nairobi.

The General

I know that pictures of ones children are horribly boring but in this case I think I can make an exception. This is my son Storm in his new pyjama's bought by his lovely baba (grandmother). Storm is one of those toddlers that has a lot of mannerisms of an older person and I think he suits the general's uniform - especially when he's taking the call at the end.

The sleeping General

Greeting his public (the Royal wave)

Phone call with the War Cabinet

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Improvocateur - Neil Mullarkey

Images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

This is the fabulous Improvocateur, Neil Mullarkey. A stalwart of the comedy circuit he was a founding member of The Comedy Store players with great friends Mike Myers and Paul Merton. He starred in Whose Line is it Anyway among other things and is well renowned for his Improvisation comedy. He was a little scary at first (you're just waiting for a great comedian to rip it out of you) but really nice and yes, very funny.
He currently has a book out called "Don't Be Needy be Succeedy' as his alter ego L.Vaughn Spencer (Profile Books).

"Vaughn Spencer is to life coaching what Alan Partridge is to broadcasting" The Metro

Ways of Seeing - The Great John Berger

I was lucky enough yesterday to shoot Booker Prize winning author John Berger. Lighting was terrible and I had less than five minutes (he hates to have his picture taken and is notoriously reclusive) but I managed to get a few shots I was pleased with. He is an amazingly interesting man and full of energy which would put a much younger man to shame at 84! We had a chat about Hackney (his birthplace) and while we  were having a cheeky cigarette break in the pouring rain he was very interested to learn my in-laws are Polish farmers, so interested in fact that he went and got one of the books he had written 'Here is Where we Meet' and insisted that I take it and read the last story which is about a wedding in a small village in Poland, he also wrote a lovely dedication at the beginning of the chapter which I shall treasure.

I always find it rather daunting going to shoot weighty intellectuals because although I am no dumbo I am certainly no intellectual and I worry that I will not be able to think of anything to say and appear as a babbling idiot. However,  I have found that it is these people who are the kindest and most interested in others, and our conversations have been very natural, amusing and highly interesting.

John Berger was in London to receive the Golden PEN lifetime achievement award and normally resides in the French Alps.
All images © Olivia Grabowski-West

From the Archive - Head in a Box

This is a series that I started when I was still at college. I was so pleased with these images but always a bit bemused that people think they are down to photoshop - they are not - I genuinely got these personalities to stick their head in a cardboard box for the portrait - they have been retouched to give them a slightly kitsch look. I want to continue this project, but as you can imagine, it's quite difficult to find sitters!

Me myself:

Jimmy Tarbuck:

Bear Grylls:

Kathy Lette:

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Never buy a Christmas Tree in the Dark

I finally managed to pester my husband enough to let me get a Christmas tree today at about 6.30pm. Off we drove to the local tree yard and I picked out a beauty, paying most attention to the fullness of the top and the height (I can't stand a mean little christmas tree) and I couldn't really see the rest as we were in practical darkness. He sleeved the tree and it fit in the boot of my car just fine, only when we got it home and slipped off it's webbed sheath did we realise that it was actually about a quarter of the size of our sitting room!  So, my husband has been evicted from his desk for the month so we can fit it in the corner, I made him feel better about it by telling him how huge our sitting room is going to look when it comes down!
Anyway - it's not too bad (my mother is going to tell me it's vulgar and tacky but who wants a pint-sized tree covered in matching bows and baubels?) It could have been worse - check out these Christmas tree disasters:

(This is kind of how mine looks but a bit more shapely and I don't have all that white crap on the floor)

I know these aren't real christmas tree's but how chronic are these jumpers (and hairstyles)

Canary Wharf on a rainy night

I was working yesterday for one of my city clients who have an office in Canary Wharf - I always love going there as I feel like I am walking into a different world. I get a  crooked neck from looking up constantly and am always surprised that I am the only one who does. If you take out a DSLR in Canary Wharf you will very quickly be stopped and asked to move on - it's a terrorist threat of course! So I took out my mobile phone and snapped some pics of London's metropolis.

I was working in the atrium at the top of this tower (hideous light up there for the job - urghh)

The lift-well (what do you call that?) on the 30th Floor.

There is an amazing sculpture in the foyer which I gaze at every time I am there, as you move around the sculpture you see different faces coming out of the bumps - see how many you can see from this angle (I will try and find out who it's by next time I'm there).

In the disabled lift of the Underground

Canary Wharf Underground Station

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

This guy is SO funny I will pay you £20 if you don't laugh your head off....

Somehow I have stumbled upon a blog/website from a bloke in Adelaide, Australia and it is the funniest thing I have read in ages, plus considering that I have never met an Australian with a good sense of humour I am doubly impressed.
He basically posts email conversations he has with various people like Blockbusters, his bank, etc.
I attach the link to a conversation with his son's school teacher - I so wish I could deal with people who annoy me like he does. Please explore his website - you won't regret it!

http://www.27bslash6.com/flash.html

The Canon vs Nikon debate finally answered??

Ohh haven't had time to post anything as was out on a job yesterday and had a day that vaguely resembled Ray Liota's last day in Goodfellas (minus the Helicopter/Guns and copious amounts of Cocaine).
So thought I would post this video from Photography Brat Joey L. Joey L is only 20 years old and a very accomplished photographer (check out his blog and website http://www.joeyL.com) and he seems to have totally grasped the concept of how to make it big in this new multi-media era we are entering, you could almost say he is a bit of a pioneer. Actually he makes me sick with jealousy but I need to abate the green-eyed monster and try and admire him (no godamit - I want to be travelling round the world  with my mates having wild adventures and making money out of it!).
Anyway, thank god he's a bit of a crappy rapper - at least he won't be taking over our TV screens too - but the following video is a laugh and I'm so glad that someone has attempted to resolve the silly Canon vs. Nikon debate that (kind of) rages between photographers.

Video © Joey L


Nikon Girl music video, the Photo Club from Joey L on Vimeo.

The Wonder of a Scrapbook

I have keep scrapbooks since a very young age inspired by my mother's sketch books which I used to look through over and over again. I think my first one was full to the brim of cuttings of Madonna from Smash Hit's and Just Seventeen magazines. As they progressed they got better and I used it as an outlet for my creativity for a long time when I was doing a job I hated for a large part of my 20's. I would sit down on a Sunday and it would take me the entire day to do one book. Sadly in the last 3 years I haven't done one scrapbook and my desire to do one is getting stronger and stronger - plus I now have 2 small filling cabinets full of 'scrap'(bits and pieces I collect, am given, pictures, sweet wrappers, etc) that are bursting at the seams. I am always interested in old family photos, letters, postcards and the rest and wished that my ancestors had put it all in one place where I could peruse it at my leisure/pleasure. So that is kind of why I want to create something to pass on, something that records what was going on in London as far as nights out, where people went when they wanted to buy magic mushrooms and what life was like before the internet!
What follows are the pages of a scrapbook I made in 2004 the year I first met my husband (you can see me sitting on his lap and he has an eye patch - this was our first photo together). I have moved a few times since then, so none of the addresses/phone numbers/etc. are any long in use.
Enjoy....

All content ©Olivia Grabowski-West