A Caged Bird Sings

Gate Keeper

2012-01-23T03:41:00.001Z

Temple Monkey, Ubud, Bali

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Diving with Kodak

2012-01-22T02:31:00.000Z

I was really saddened to hear of Kodak's current financial difficulties - around since the dawn of popular photography, it's such a shame that they haven't managed to successfully work out todays markets and take advantage of it. There may be light at the end of the tunnel for them though, apparently they owe around $700million but they have over a thousand patents which are worth around $2Billion (they are currently suing Apple, HTC and numerous others) and they have been given a year by their creditors to get their house in order. Good Luck Kodak.

I currently have 1 kodak product in my camera stable, actually, it's not even mine it's my 5 year old's - but it's a goodie. The Kodak EasyShare Sport. It's a funky looking little camera that is pretty much break proof and the best bit - it is waterproof to 3 metres. So it can be thrown in the shower/bath/swimming pool and any other watery mess that you would normally keep your point and shoot away from. I totally recommend it, especially if you have kids and it's pretty cheap too, currently £51.99 from Amazon.

I took it to Bali and while my friend went off diving, I played with the zebra fish and took some snaps.

©Olivia Grabowski-West (All images shot on Kodak EasyShare Sport)

Riding pillion through the rain at 4am...

2012-01-20T13:46:00.000Z

This is for my very tall friend from Paris.... I hope you made the flight!

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Back...

2012-01-19T14:36:00.000Z

In London once again. Never has it looked so grey after the panoply of greens my eyes have been witness to over the last 10 days. Glad to be back though - love London despite myself!

Offski...

2012-01-08T00:43:00.000Z

Right folks, I am off now until 17th Jan, just finished a job (it's 1am) and I have to catch my flight around midday tomorrow...still need to pack.....
So here is the clue...where do you think I am going???

Hopefully lots of great images when I get back. Look after yourselves!

Feeling Rosy...

2012-01-05T13:15:00.000Z

about to get away from it all for 10 days, destination clue to follow.....

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Photo

2012-01-03T11:18:00.000Z

Caroline Royce

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Welcome to 2012...

2012-01-02T23:07:00.000Z

Let's hope it will leave you feeling like this on the inside.... Happy New Year everyone.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Photo

2011-12-30T11:35:00.000Z

Grand Master of Memory, Ed Cooke, London 2009

©Olivia Grabowski-West

General Tomfoolery (For Nicky)

2011-12-30T11:18:00.000Z

Almost time for the biggest party of the year...are you excited yet??
This is for my mate Nicky who left us for the sunny climes of Sydney. As promised x

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Irrational Fear

2011-12-30T09:22:00.001Z

Both me and some of my close family members suffer from irrational fear, so I do feel for this girl a little, but to be honest - the way that snowman was staring at her I think I would be scared - he looks like something out of Scream!

***UPDATE***
Ok, someone has put me straight - this girl has a fear of people in masks after a traumatic childhood incident. I feel a bit mean now. But it's still quite funny. Err...Schadenfreude...

iphone autocorrect....

2011-12-29T21:48:00.000Z

there are loads of websites with some fairly funny examples of when iphone's autocorrect goes wrong. This however is by far the best and the only one I shall share. LOVE.

A belated happy birthday to Jesus....

2011-12-28T23:24:00.000Z

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Due to illness (not mine), shopping and entertaining I was unable to update before Christmas. Had a lovely time with family and friends and felt this year that I managed to make it more about spending time with the people I love than just being part of the blind consumerism that is forced down our throats on a daily basis (I apologise if this was reflected in crap presents!). I feel slightly hypocritical about the whole thing as I have to admit that I don't believe in Jesus as the Son of God (I believe he was a person in History). If my understanding is correct, then all Christians, Jews and Muslims believe in the same God - so why can't we just do away with what came after and love one another. PEACE!

Heavy weekend

2011-12-19T00:08:00.000Z

Had a heavy weekend and now seriously sleep deprived (seems to be a pretty constant state these days). Half of my sleep deprivation was due to a great party on Friday night but the other is that my baby, Lucky, has been really unwell, resulting in a midnight visit to A&E last night. He ended up having to have nebulizer which isn't too serious, but it's heartbreaking to see your baby like this.

He's on the mend now so hopefully the run up to Christmas won't be too bad - so much to do and so little time......are you feeling Chrismassy yet?

Friday (Christmas Themed) Funny

2011-12-16T07:28:00.000Z

And finally...

Now we al know what American Presidents give at Christmas - the gift of death..

Winter Love

2011-12-16T07:04:00.001Z

This time last year my friends Adam and Sonia tied the Knot - my first snowy winter wedding!

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Camouflage

2011-12-12T14:59:00.000Z

Mt Kenya Ranger

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Grown up

2011-12-12T13:53:00.000Z

My oldest cousin Charles decided to invite all of us cousins to his house without the 'Grown ups' this Sunday - it felt strange that suddenly we were the grown ups and actually had quite a big brood between us!
From Left to Right: Storm, Lucky, Lucy, Arabella, Isabella and Milly

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Issues

2011-12-11T22:14:00.000Z

(I can't find the credit for the above image sadly - but it is awesome!)

Having a lot of problems here at A Caged Bird Sings with technology issues being my number 1# pain in the ass. However, have managed to arrange a kind of McGyver-esque solution to the problem - it's not going to last forever but at least I finally have access to some of my images. So I apologise for a slightly rubbish week last week and hopefully better to come..... now I just need some kind of solution to deal with Christmas......

Photo

2011-12-11T22:00:00.000Z

Erin ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Photo

2011-12-09T16:27:00.000Z

©Olivia Grabowski-West

From the Archive - Beside the seaside

2011-12-09T01:08:00.000Z

Been a bit slack on the blog this week, been working hard elsewhere - also suffering from some major technical difficulties which are putting a serious dampner on my effing Chi! Relax.....think of better times.....mmm summer on the dorset coast....

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-05T01:04:00.001Z

Decided to brave it and face London's Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Good points: It's free to enter, it looks pretty spectacular (not your average Carny fun fair), there is loads of booze and german food (good point if you are into sausage), and there are some pretty awesome rides. Bad points: the rides are overpriced, you have to queue - a lot - for everything, there are a lot of people, really a lot of people and most of them are dragging toddlers and pushing push chairs, and to be honest the whole Christmas spirit thing kind of diminishes really quickly and you just want to start elbowing people in the face.
I reckon if you went in the evening without any kids and with loads of cash you could have an awesome time.

One of the Fun Houses.

'Flying Sleigh' Roller-coaster

Santa getting a bit fresh on the Flying Sleigh

£3 to go down this slide.

The House of Fun was pretty fun.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Unwilling subject...

2011-12-02T14:49:00.000Z

My long suffering son Storm is always my first stop when I want to try out something new photography wise. He is patient and when he is in a good mood will do (almost) anything I ask. This is how he looks when he is fed up with me and my lens. Have a good weekend everyone.

For Inspiration

2011-12-02T11:02:00.001Z

I happened upon this lovely series from Argentinian Photographer Irina Werning. This is CHINI and the many roles she plays. I love Irina's work, it has such a good sense of humour. Her series 'Back to the Future' is so great and I will post some of it up another time, but today the spotlight is on Chini.

Chini Astronaut

Chini DJ

Chini Chambermaid

Chini Tourist

ALL IMAGES ©Irina Werning (website)

Friday Funny

2011-12-02T10:22:00.000Z

On this day in 2010...

2011-11-30T17:39:00.000Z

A visit to Auntie Loula.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Legs...

2011-11-30T00:58:00.000Z

Lots of lovely legs.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

For Inspiration....

2011-11-27T23:54:00.000Z

Love a bit of Natural History on a Sunday. Amazing images.

©Brent Stirton (website)

©Brian Skerry (website)

Something to Look forward to...

2011-11-26T12:26:00.000Z

Really looking forward to going to The Portrait Salon's alternative portrait prize this wednesday. They are showing 75 portraits that didn't make the NPG's final selection. I am so pleased someone is doing this, I personally don't always agree with the NPG's choices, they are becoming a little predictable, although of course there is some incredible work there. So of the 5000 or so entries the NPG receives every year it is nice that a few more are going to be seeing the light of day and hopefully we will get a fresh selection of images from a different 'judging panel'....come on Portrait Salon, don't let us down! See you all there....

A bit of love on a Friday..

2011-11-25T13:04:00.000Z

Shot this beautiful wedding for my friends Alana & Haroon at the end of the summer. It was a humanist ceremony with lots of Champagne and a whole roast lamb...mmmmm. So pretty I thought I would share.

Friday's Funny.

2011-11-25T12:03:00.000Z

Slightly worried...

2011-11-24T11:44:00.000Z

I am already totally irked by this seasons Christmas Adverts - especially Littlewoods whose advert is wrong in so many ways. Anyway, I have now realised that it is not just advertisers shovelling this crap to our little ones - the Schools are doing it too. Below is what came home with my son from school. Brilliant, stick the kids in a corner and give them an Argos catalogue....really?

I guess I should be happy that there are only two things on the list, but sadly I think this is actually down to the fact that Storm is utterly lazy! Hey-ho....

For Inspiration....

2011-11-24T11:19:00.001Z

I have only just come across this amazing series Infra by Irish Photographer Ricard Mosse. The setting is the Congo, and the photographs were all shot on a special military Infra Red film that was originally used for helping the US spot people hiding out in the jungle. Father Christmas, if you are listening - I want a print of one of these please, pretty please. I imagine they are prohibitively expensive but right now I can't think of anything else I would rather have! Beautiful.

There are more images on Richard's website and you can read an interesting article about this series here.

ALL IMAGES ©Richard Mosse (www.richardmosse.com)

Shark bait...

2011-11-23T12:48:00.000Z

I now know why surfers get munched on by sharks. Down by Bournemouth Pier in Dorset on Sunday there were swarms of them floating around in the wake and they looked just like a pod of seals. Not a lot of surfing going on (err..people standing up and riding waves), but they looked impressive bobbing about in the freezing dark green sea.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Wish I was here....

2011-11-22T23:04:00.000Z

Wouldn't mind waking up in Paris tomorrow. These are from a trip I took there in May, was pretty busy so didn't get to shoot much, but here are some bits that caught my eye.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

In sickness & in health....

2011-11-22T00:04:00.000Z

Finding myself to be a very reluctant nurse of late (coming on 2 weeks - and i'm not getting paid!). Sick of sick people now. Please everyone just get better and let me go back to my life. Thank you.

Racing Pigeons of Malta

2011-11-17T20:06:00.000Z

Whilst in Malta I visited my friends the Baldacchino's who have a pigeon loft with lots of prize-wining racing pigeons. I am fascinated by how these birds who, in this case, often get dropped in Italy and manage to find their way home to a tiny little loft in the middle of a tiny little village somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Here are a few images of their prized pigeons that I managed to grab in a quick visit to the loft. I am not sure what makes one pigeon look better than another, but if you are into pigeons you should enjoy this lot.

All images @Olivia Grabowski-West

(Technical info - all the above were shot on the Canon S95 - kicking myself that I didn't have my 5D on me!)

Drive-by Shooting

2011-11-17T12:30:00.000Z

Whilst in Kenya I spent a lot of time on the road, so ended up taking a lot of pictures out of the car window. It's quite a hit and miss way to shoot, but sometimes you catch a golden moment. Here is one of my favourites, more to come at some point.

Moto-TAXI drivers near Diani Airport, Kenya 2011. ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Kenya #2

2011-11-17T01:54:00.000Z

More shots from my trip to Kenya this summer. I wish I had had a bit more time to really get into the photography over there - I would love to go back for a whole month, but I guess you just have to take what you can get.

Just finished a big edit so now for a bit of personal work for the next 2 days - can't wait.

Night Security Guard - Tiwi (South of Mombassa)

Travel Agent - Diani

Beachside vegetation - Tiwi

Selling the oceans stolen treasures - Tiwi

Beach boys - Tiwi

Kikoy Lady - Tiwi

Old Tree at site of an equally old Mosque.

TAXI

Happy Ending - Diani

Drive-by Shooting.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Monday you Bitch.....

2011-11-14T20:19:00.001Z

Had a horrendous day today, everything went wrong, nothing worked and all day I was pestered by my sometimes lovely son (5) who should have been at school but was in recovery from some hideous vomit-inducing bug. Actually he was totally recovered and had reached full stamina levels of annoying-ness, I did at one point consider locking him outside in the cold but knew that that was wrong (damn my conscience!). I wouldn't have minded so much I hadn't just spent the last 4 days nursing the little bugger - I should have left him, he's much nicer when he's ill!

©Anne Taintor (website)

Let's hope tomorrow will be better...please.....tomorrow...help me out a bit!

Individuals

2011-11-13T09:30:00.000Z

Happy Sunday everyone.

Images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Men & Shopping - A Cautionary tale....

2011-11-12T15:44:00.000Z

If you are thinking of taking your partner shopping and leaving them while you got off and get your stuff, then bear this in mind:

Back in the early 70's when I was just a twinkle in my parents eyes, my Mum and Dad went shopping to a department store. My mum decided to leave him while she went off and did her chores so left him on the ground floor. My Dad's eye was drawn to a scantily clad lady promoting and selling Castrol GTX in the centre of the store.

Half an hour later my mum returned and met Dad standing outside the shop with a can of Castrol GTX in each hand looking fairly sheepish.
"I wouldn't really mind.." said my mum "..but we don't even have a car!"

Hmmm - the power of a pretty girl!

VIDEO - Time for tea?

2011-11-11T10:16:00.000Z

Another great little video from Yoann Lemoine (Director of the previous video) - this one is for my mum :)

All images ©Yoann Lemoine

LIPTON - Green Tea & White Tea from Yoann Lemoine on Vimeo.

VIDEO

2011-11-11T09:48:00.001Z

Great video, great music - something to do with Assasins Creed but not sure what. Starring Agnes Deyn, and owl and a load of wolves.

Tonight I hope I dream of....

2011-11-10T21:53:00.000Z

Feeling Frisky....
Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights
Catch Paul Thomas Anderson's excellent film on ITV4 tonight at 11.30pm.

More Malta

2011-11-10T17:01:00.000Z

Had a chance to look through more Malta pics, here are some I like, mostly of people watching the Zejtun Festa.

All images @Olivia Grabowski-West

Angus McBean Christmas Inspiration

2011-11-09T19:32:00.000Z

I was in one of my local pound shops today (I say one of because in Morden High Street there is nothing else!) Anyway, they had all the Christmas Decorations in and so I thought maybe it was time I should start thinking about this years Christmas Card.

One of my heroes of Photography is Angus McBean (1904-1990) and on top of all the other amazing stuff he did (which I shall definitely post about in the future) every year he would make a Christmas card which was always a self portrait. I just LOVE these and hope that I can create something even half as fabulous....really need to get my thinking cap on! ENJOY.

OK - this one isn't one of his Christmas Cards but it's so great I had to put it up.

All images ©Angus McBean

Tonight I hope I dream of..

2011-11-08T21:49:00.000Z

Quinn Abercromby from Reign of Fire. Dragon slayer.....mmmmm......

Munchies

2011-11-08T20:48:00.000Z

Wish I had some of these cool Homegirl Chips to munch on - the Word Up life tips are invaluable to any homegirl. With Pearls of wisdom like "NO RING....NO THING" and "Our message to bad influences is...STEP OFF!" I think we can stop worrying about the kids - as long as they're eating Homegirls Chips - "ALL THAT....and a bag of chips".

If anyone has seen a packet of Homeboys Chips can they send me the packet when they have finished being enlightened. Thanks.

Tonight I hope I dream of...

2011-11-08T00:09:00.000Z

Max Rockatansky from Mad Max

SOPHIA

2011-11-07T23:27:00.000Z

Did a shoot with 17yr old dancer Sophia today, it was good fun and she was a real trooper, especially when she was sitting out in the park in next to nothing as the rain began to fall! Here are some of my favourite images of her.

I Wish I was here...

2011-11-07T10:34:00.000Z

..although I don't fancy being kidnapped and having my head chopped off on home video by a bunch of Somali pirates.

The beautiful Kenya Coast (Summer 2011).

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Tonight I hope I dream of..

2011-11-06T00:38:00.000Z

Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever. Who better for a Saturday night....

Remember remember....

2011-11-06T00:10:00.002Z

©Raikoh10 on DeviantART

The 5th of November is upon us - I love Bonfire Night. Here is a clip from the movie V for Vendetta which is kind of like 1984 meets Guy Fawkes. It's a good movie - I saw it at the cinema and thoroughly enjoyed it and the scene in this clip was amazing.

So here is perhaps what it would have looked like if Guy Fawkes had succeeded - except for all the weirdos in masks that is... Turn it up LOUD.

You can see a much better video here. But I couldn't embed it in the blog. Watch it though - it's good!

Felix Hagan (pt.II)

2011-11-04T10:21:00.000Z

Just finished my first big portrait of Felix. Had to share as it took me ages and I love it!

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Tonight I hope I dream of.....

2011-11-03T23:10:00.000Z

Michael Corleone from The Godfather. I'm feeling a bit dark.

Funny

2011-11-03T22:50:00.000Z

I have a file on my desktop for images I come across that make me laugh, so that when I am knackered and need to shuffle zombie-like to my bed I still have something to put up. Today is one of those days.

FARM CATS

Malta

2011-11-02T22:52:00.001Z

Some of my friends are off to Malta for a big party in a couple of weeks - i'm very jealous having to stay here in blighty. I was however, there this summer and just stumbled across a mountain of pictures that I took. So many that they will have to be posted in drips and drabs or you will get bored. For now, here is Zejtun Streetview.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Tonight I hope I dream of......

2011-11-02T00:31:00.000Z

King Leonidas in 300. If some of his men want to join him, well I guess that's fine too!

Last Thursday

2011-11-02T00:12:00.001Z

I did a shoot with musician/writer Felix Hagan down in Sunny Stockwell. Here a few shots from the day.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Booty..

2011-10-31T00:42:00.000Z

My Sunday treat is going to a car boot sale. Some days you do well, others there is nothing but muddy broken toys and VHS tapes.

Today was a good one though and I got loads of great stuff - including two pristine vintage projector screens. I was so excited about trying the screens (as backdrops) that I managed to rope my buddy (and fellow car boot lover) Marta, Tom and Storm into showcasing the plunder and just use it as a general excuse to mess about.

Not really sure what this thing on the left is supposed to be - Lucky not really amused by any of it.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

My absolute most favouritist photographer ever...

2011-10-30T00:00:00.002+01:00

Is Tim Walker. And being that it's Halloween it's a great opportunity to post his wonderful shoot with Tim Burton for British Vogue.

All images ©Tim Walker

L O V E

Tonight I hope I dream of.....

2011-10-28T21:01:00.000+01:00

And to see me through the weekend,
My teenage crush...
Johnny Utah - Point Break

Storm's Sad Story...

2011-10-28T20:02:00.000+01:00

My son Storm got really excited yesterday and asked if he could draw a picture of his family - of course I said yes and got all excited about a lovely family portrait. When Storm gave me the picture this is the conversation that follower:

Me): Why does Storm have a sad face?

S): Storm AND Daddy have a sad face, because mummy's dead and has been eaten by a lion.

M): That makes me a bit sad Storm.

S) OK Mummy, give me another piece of paper and i'll draw one where you're not dead.

Props

2011-10-28T16:19:00.000+01:00

From yesterdays shoot with Felix Hagan.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

October Wedding

2011-10-28T14:41:00.000+01:00

Shot a really fun wedding at the beginning of the month between Gareth & Nina, here is a bit of fun from the day.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Tonight I hope I dream of.....

2011-10-27T02:20:00.001+01:00

The Preacher from Pale Rider...

Through the Key Hole #1

2011-10-27T01:45:00.000+01:00

Who would live in a house like this?
A glimpse into where I run the Grabowski-West Empire!

I love curiosities - my dream is to have a proper cabinet of them...(need more space!)

Lucky not quite sure what to make of the camera yet.

My brother picked me up these brilliant Chinese badges in the back streets of Hong Kong.

Souvenirs from my travels in 20011

Tantrum

Father, Mother, Older Brother and me

I can't resist old royal memorabilia cups - this one is 100 years old and cost £3 at a car boot - it doesn't seem right.

The Fridge.

The Playroom

Knackered.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Tonight I hope I dream of.....

2011-10-26T01:13:00.001+01:00

John Basilone in The Pacific....Swoon

The one on the right!

Wedding guests

2011-10-24T23:32:00.000+01:00

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

The last days of Summer?

2011-10-23T22:39:00.001+01:00

The weather here in London is a little confused at the moment, but luckily the sun and warm breeze is still clinging on. Went to the beautiful Morden Hall Park (my local) to enjoy what may well be the last days of warmth for this year and it was bliss - I love Sundays.

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Gaddafi is Dead - A warning to all would be dictators....

2011-10-20T23:31:00.000+01:00

....being a demonic c**t plays havoc with your looks!

JOY

2011-10-20T19:15:00.000+01:00

LOVE

2011-10-19T12:08:00.000+01:00

Photographers & Music Videos - David LaChapelle

2011-10-19T11:59:00.000+01:00

Here is one from David LaChapelle, who is actually a prolific Music Video director - check out his wikipedia entry for all his videos, they're not all as bonkers as this - but there are some great ones.

The Sun Shines in London

2011-10-03T01:05:00.000+01:00

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Beautiful weather in London over the last few days - apparently it will be snowing by the end of the month! Here's the view from the London eye - enjoy....

Photographers and Music Videos - Herb Ritts

2011-09-29T00:19:00.001+01:00

Happened upon an old Chris Isaak album when my ipod was shuffling today and I remembered how much I love his crooning voice. Great video staring a beautiful young Helena Christensen and directed by Herb Ritts.

Poland in September

2011-09-28T00:41:00.000+01:00

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Just returned from my annual trip to Poland to see the in-laws. Here is a little bit of what I saw.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Hello Kitty

2011-09-27T00:49:00.000+01:00

Barnaby Bear breaks from shooting

2011-09-26T00:17:00.000+01:00

All images ©Olivia Grabowski-West

Hitting the sack after a long day editing. My final task was to put together an album of Barnaby Bear who I had to drag around Poland all week long in penance for taking my son out of school. It's hard work being a bear.....

Majdanek

2011-09-25T01:45:00.001+01:00

©Olivia Grabowski-West

I have just returned from a visit to Poland where I visited the Nazi concentration camp of Majdanek, which can be found just 4km south of Lublin city centre (Eastern Poland). Visiting such places is always a hard decision (for me), is it right to be walking all over where so many innocent people suffered and died, it feels somehow wrong to enter such a place on a 'tour' and then when you have finished to go back to your normal life. However, my stronger belief is that we must visit such places to remind us of the unbelievable inhumanity that man is capable of, so it is never allowed to happen again.

Majdanek operated as a concentration/death camp between October 1941 and July 1944. During that period over 79,000 people died (a large majority of them Polish Jews) - which is approximately 2300 people a month. Majdanek is important as it is the best preserved concentration camp of the Holocaust as the Germans had no time to destroy the evidence in the face of the advancing red army.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

The Majdanek Memorial (Wiktor Tolkin) - Originally the entrance to the entire compound from the railway.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Guard house a the entrance to the camp - Detainees would have arrived here after a short walk from the train at the main road.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

The main gates - At this point the prisoners would have been separated into groups in an area called 'The Rose Garden' (there were never roses there). Men and Women were separated and then the old, the weak, the sick and the young children were herded together.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

Sentry Posts guarding the prisoners fields - This would have been the first view the new arrivals would see.

©Olivia Grabowski-West

The 'Shower' Blocks - Straight after arrival the prisoners were sent to one of two 'shower' blocks - this is the female block.

The Changing room - All the prisoners were brought here where they would be stripped of all their belongings and clothing and then sent on to the showers.

The Shower room - All prisoners fit and able to work would be sent to the left where they would be showered and disinfected then sent into the camp.

Corridor - The door on the left is where the real showers were, the elderly, sick and small children would be sent to the end of this corridor.

The Gas Chambers - At the end of the corridor were the above two rooms where the eldery, sick and young would be herded. Unlike the other rooms these rooms have extremely low ceilings and no windows. You are not allowed to enter these rooms at Majdanek today. Although this is undoubtably one of the most horrific ways to have your life taken from you, those people who avoided the gas chamber went on to endure unimaginable horrors and suffering at the hands of the Nazis too.

Poison Gas Cylinders - Situated in a small control room between the two chambers.

Spy Holes - where the executioners would watch their victims die.

Israeli teenagers visiting the site.

SS Administration blocks and Prisoner workshops - To the right of the main prisoner blocks, this area now acts as the 'museum' with different buildings housing many exhibits that were found at the camp at it's liberation.

When the Nazi's built the camp, they tore up the Jewish cemetery in Lublin and used headstones to construct the roads and paths. For obvious reasons this part of the original camp was dismantled.

SS department heads and guards at the camp.

Some of the thousands who perished at Majdanek. The museum has thousands of in tact documents that the Nazis failed to destroy.

Toys taken from Children

The Prisoner Blocks - This is the main fence surrounding the prisoner blocks. 5 fields of 20 Blocks holding thousands of prisoners segregated between men and women were surrounded by 2 barb wire fences with a diagonal fence running between the two.

The inmate population at Majdanek was made up of a large number of different nationalities, social classes and religions. Prisoners ranged from Polish jews to Political prisoners, Polish Resistance fighters to Soviet prisoners of war. During the 34 months of operation, 500 prisoners managed to escape.

Of the original prisoner living areas, one field of 20 blocks was kept in tact whilst the other four were demolished. Visitors can enter block 14 and see it as it was found at liberation.

The execution ditches - through the legs of the watch tower you can just make out the remains of the infamous execution ditches. On the 3rd November 1943 the largest mass execution in the history of the Holocaust took place in those ditches. 18,000 jews were shot in what the Nazi's called 'Operation Harvest Festival'. Music was played throughout the camp to drown out the sound of the mass shooting.

The Crematorium - Situated at the far corner of the site. From this vista you can see how close the camp was built to the city, the Nazi's felt no need to hide Majdanek away (like most many of the other camps) and many of the prisoners were used to work in munitions factories inside the town.

Autopsy table where gold teeth and hair (processed into fabric for German soldiers) were removed from victims before cremation.

The Furnaces - This is where the Nazi victims would end their journey, the dead were fed into the furnaces on gurneys at the front whilst the great piles of ash would be constantly disposed of from the back.

The Mausoleum - situated at the opposite end of the camp from the Majdanek monument, the Mausoleum, designed by Wiktor Tokin was constructed at the site on the 25th anniversary of liberation. It now houses the ashes of the victims of Majdanek.

An inscription carved on the side of the Mausoleum reads: "LET OUR FATE BE A WARNING TO YOU"

Although at the time of my visit it was hard to really 'feel' the place - there are information signs, maps, large groups of students walking around and new fire extinguishers and rubbish bins outside every building - it has made a lasting impression and will continue to do so for a long time. It is hard to begrudge what you have and dwell on your problems when the ghosts of this place know what real suffering is.

Tribute Thursday

2011-02-02T23:35:00.000Z

There are so many fantastic photographers working out there that I admire that I thought I would start sharing some of my favourites with you. So I have come up with 'Tribute Thursday'. I wanted to do tribute Tuesday as I thought it had a better ring to it, but I missed my deadline and for some reason I reckon I am more likely to get a post done on a Thursday. Anyway, I am early with this one but Tribute Wednesday really has no ring to it at all.

Up first then is Danish Photographer Peter Funch. He lives and works in New York and his most famous (and my favourite) series is 'Babel Tales'.

©All images - www.peterfunch.com

These images are not staged, instead, Funch sits on a street corner for up to 4 days and takes continuous pictures of people walking by. He then takes the images, categorises them all, and then composites them all back together with a theme (eg.Dogs).
You can see better how his process works with the following images all taken on the same spot.

©All images www.peterfunch.com

I just love this idea and am so annoyed I didn't have it first - but he pulls it off with finesse and I could spend hours looking at these. Go to his website for more and you can watch a short video on how he does it here

I started with Peter Funch as I am also a huge fan of composite images and as the second part of my tribute I thought it might be interesting to create a tribute image but in my own style. So, working with what I had and two hours from conception to completion, here it is.....

Just Dandy...

2011-02-01T00:10:00.000Z

Am planning a new website and as such am getting to trawl back through my archive (mostly in my head actually as I am dealing with what may well be swine flu and in all likeliness my son has got chicken pox - I feel like I'm living on some disease ridden farm!)
So, this is a shoot I did a while back for a musician called Marmaduke Dando - a self styled Dandy of the naughties. I like the idea of men making an effort to dress up it's so much more interesting than jeans and trainers, no matter how limited edition they are.......

new year, new camera, new start

2011-01-30T02:51:00.000Z

Have been knocked out with flu for the past few days and can't sleep for my blocked head. Have done very little photographically since the birth of my new boy, just some jobs for regular clients which are a) too boring and b) too confidential to put up here so have been a bit stumped for content. My mother threatened to take me off her blog-roll (quite rightly seeing as my pic hadn't change for 3 months!) so I decided that anything was better than nothing. So here are a few images taken with my lovely new point-and-shoot, the Canon S95 which had to replace my old faithful Canon G9 which my father left on the roof of his car in Hackney, suffice to say it had disappeared in under 5 minutes! The S95 is a great little camera with tonnes of features (like that miniaturizing effect that was so popular in 2010) and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a new one!

January in Sandbanks - S95 HDR setting.

Snow covered Emmanuel Chair

The Crabs had all disappeared for winter

Poole Harbour - S95 Miniaturizing setting

Bedtime....

Lucien 'Lucky' Grabowski-West born 11.10.10

2010-10-15T21:53:00.000+01:00

After a tough 9 months we have finally been rewarded with a gorgeous little boy. Sorry to over indulge in kiddie pictures, but these are for the family scattered all around the globe to enjoy...

Last day in mummy's tummy - a beautiful sunny october sunday

Storm's last day as an only child

Tom get's ready to operate.....

A ten minute old Lucky (the mark on his face is from the forceps :( soon to go though)

hungry straight away, must take after his mother....

Not sure why Tom looks so exhausted, if I remember correctly I did all the work

With his amazing Baba

Don't shoot me....

..or i'll eat your finger!

Summer lunch

2010-08-10T12:16:00.000+01:00

It's lunchtime and I'm hungry. I love a light summer lunch of salads, bread, chutneys and cheese - sadly all I have in my fridge is Philadelphia and Strawberry Jam!

Something to beat the Monday morning blues...

2010-08-09T11:02:00.000+01:00

Something to make you smile on a Monday morning - the faces he pulls are priceless!

Boy meets Clown

2010-08-06T09:23:00.000+01:00

Last weekend a group of friends and I went to Camp Bestival (a kind of kids Glastonbury). Along with bands, DJ's, comedians, Jousting and puppet shows there were sweet stalls, fancy dress and lots of acts for the children. The star attraction for the little ones was the appearance of uber-clown Mr Tumble (anyone with a child under 5 in the UK will know him well). My son Storm was super excited about seeing him and we galloped across all the fields to the furthest corner of the festival to see his first appearance. Having forced our way to the front (I'm not usually that keen but imagined it was going to be akin to seeing Michael Jackson for Storm) we sat in quiet anticipation in the dark big top waiting for him to appear on stage. He arrived with a cavalcade of fancy dress horses and other characters and Storm shook with excitement when he ran to the front of the stage and greeted us all with his signature tune 'Hello Hello'. Then came the disappointment. Mr Tumble then announced (in a very un-clown-like voice) to the hundreds strong crowd that he was going to sit on his ass (not his words) and sign autographs. This did not go down well - especially with the parents - but I couldn't help feeling sad for my little one as all his anticipation and excitement came crashing down. Ok, so we saw Mr Tumble do another show on day two, but I am afraid the damage had already been done.

It started with a kiss...

2010-08-05T13:26:00.000+01:00

Not really sure how to re-boot my blog after such a long absence, so I decided I will just ignore the missing months. Still pregnant (11 weeks to go) and still working. My last job was a beautiful wedding between a lovely couple and it was the type of wedding I love, very simple, not overdone, not colour co-ordinated and no matching chair covers! Still editing but here is an image I loved. Back soon....

Why my blog has been a bit lame of late...

2010-06-04T08:06:00.000+01:00

When I started this blog, one of my mission statements was to post everyday - well I have failed miserably on that one, even though I have tonnes of work to put up. On my daily list of things to do my blog comes after work, looking after my son and editing (but before housework!). But I am now 5 months pregnant and compared to my first one it has not been easy. I have to admit that it has been a struggle juggling photography and being pregnant. Photography is a pretty active job and I certainly give it my all when I am hired - so as soon as the work is done I generally collapse into my duvet and sleep for as many hours as possible.

(12 week scan - that's a little wave from the bubba in the middle)

Although I am still working now, I have started to slow down a little and am looking forward to having some time to concentrate on the photography I love, rather than just pumping out what I have to do. So my apologies if you have been checking in to find nothing new - but thank you to all of you who still follow me - I promise to improve!

Next scan in a week and hopefully I will know if it's a boy or a girl (yes - I am going to find out - I want to be able to tell my son that the baby is a sister or brother rather than just an it!).

I hope you all have a fantastic sunny weekend - apparently it's gonna be a scorcher!

Madame Louis

2010-06-02T14:50:00.000+01:00

This is my lovely friend Lou who looked after me so well in Bournemouth - thanks sweetie x

Wall - Morocco

2010-06-02T08:24:00.000+01:00

Wish we had walls like this down my way...

Bring back the sun and the bubblegun!

2010-06-01T09:15:00.000+01:00

Storm does Bogart - May 2010

Just had a great break down in Sunny bournemouth with Storm and my best gal pal Lou and it was bliss. Now I'm back and the sun is gone and work starts again - boo! Still, at least I have some sunny Polaroid memories.

Me, myself and I - May 2010

Bubblegun fun - Bournemouth, May 2010

Football is coming....

2010-05-22T15:07:00.000+01:00

At least Nike makes it sexy!

The big day has arrived - who goes - you decide!

2010-05-06T06:19:00.000+01:00

Dude

2010-05-05T04:29:00.000+01:00

Saw this guy sitting outside the market in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. What a dude!

People I meet - Borneo

2010-05-04T04:10:00.000+01:00

Whilst in Borneo I managed to stop for a day at a floating village which had sprung up illegally on one the the islands of the national park. The village was inhabited by Filipino immigrants who have generally migrated from areas of the Philippines where there has been intense fighting between Muslims and Christians over the last decade. They tend to do the work that the Malay people don't want to do, but earn so little money that they are unable to rent or buy property on the mainland. Instead they live in their village on stilts, commuting daily to the mainland to work. As their village is illegal there are no services and rubbish and waste pile up on the shoreline, although the local mosque has set up a school for the large numbers of children living there. We were somewhat shocked when we happened upon a man chained to a hut at the back of the village, mentally ill and with no form of government help he had been chained there for the last five years. Despite what some people might consider poor conditions, these were some of the happiest and friendliest people I met in my entire time in Borneo.

Back from the other side of the world

2010-04-16T02:03:00.000+01:00

I just got back from a trip to Malaysia to shoot a Punjabi Wedding. Had a great trip and despite all the hard work feel rejuvenated and alive again. Since returning I have work coming out of my ears (which is great I guess) but will endeavor to put up some of my images from the trip, including a portrait project on Filipino immigrants living in an illegal floating settlement off the coast of Borneo.
For now - here are a couple of images I managed to grab of the famous Petronas Towers in KL (once the tallest buildings in the world) as I was shooting home from one of the many wedding ceremonies. Back Soon....

PoGo or not PoGo - That is the question.....

2010-03-19T15:37:00.004Z

I have finally got round to my long awaited (by whom I am not sure) Polaroid PoGo review.

The Polaroid PoGo is Polaroid’s instant mobile printer, which uses ‘zink’ (Zero Ink) technology. It’s been around for a little while now, but I’ve become interested in it since the price and availability of Polaroid film has become prohibitive.

To test it to its limits on my walk home from dropping Storm off at school today I decided I would take a selection of images in a spectrum of colours and textures to see how the little instant printer coped. All images taken on the Sony Ericsson W995 camera phone. Here are my results.

Scanned PoGo prints, printed directly from phone to PoGo (images taken on Sony Ericsson W995)

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Here's what I think, I always prefer good news last so I will start with the Cons..

TIME: The best way to use this printer is with a mobile phone as you can send the image via Bluetooth to the printer (you can use PictBridge on most point and shoots but you need a cable). To get the best out of the print you need to use the highest resolution your phone will use – which means that the transfer can take up to a minute (my phone takes 2MB images at full-res). Once the image has been transferred it then takes another minute to print. The image develops inside the printer and is pushed out once it’s done. Ok, so two minutes isn’t that much but I want to use the printer to replace my costly Polaroid when I travel as I like to take photos of people and give them the picture – with Polaroid 600 it was instant so I could give an image and move on.

QUALITY: The colours are weak. You can look at the examples yourself and see the problems. There is a blue tinge in whites and most pale colour, yet the blues are hardly deep. The images are grainy (which could be to do with the camera phone, but check the prints against the versions downloaded straight to the computer and there is a big difference). They also sometimes print with lines. The printer also arbitrarily cropped the images I sent through.

BATTERY: I am a little worried about the staying power of the battery. Basically it will print for about half an hour (so that’s about 15 images) before the battery gives out. Ok, it only takes 15 minutes to recharge but it all seems like a bit of a pain in the butt to me, especially when I want to use it out on the road. Maybe I am doing something wrong but the instructions you get with the printer are basic to say the least and finding help on the website they direct you to is more complicated than Quantum Chromodynamics!

COUNTING: There is no counter to let you know how much paper is left, which is kind of annoying as if there is no paper you don’t find out till you have already sent the file and then you have to do it all over again.

The same set of images but downloaded straight from phone to computer.

Despite the cons, I think there are a lot of pros for this little printer. I mean it’s silly to expect that I am going to get results akin to a dedicated photo printer. So putting the print quality to one side here is what it has going for it.

PRICE: If you go to the Polaroid website, the price of the printer is $199.00 – way too much in my opinion. However, Amazon is currently stocking it for a very reasonable £23.29 (this is for the black version – inexplicably the pink or red versions are a very steep £70 and £50 respectively. If you are buying this for a girl who loves pink then I would suggest you buy the black one and spend the difference on getting it professionally lacquered – it would still be cheaper!).

Also on Amazon you can buy the paper packs – a pack of 70 images is currently £10 – which makes it much much much cheaper than Polaroid film and thus you don’t mind handing out tonnes of prints, which is what I want it for.

SIZE: The printer is about the size of two iphones stuck face to face, it is super light and can easily be slipped into a handbag/manbag. It seems fairly sturdy although I wouldn’t want to drop from anything above a metre!

USABILITY: Despite the rubbish instructions it is extremely simple to use. The paper cartridges slot in easily and there is a little bar-coded piece of paper that makes sure you get it in the right way. There is a USB port and a place for the charger and that’s it – simples!

STICKERS: The prints can have their backs peeled off to turn them into stickers (actually nice thick stickers, not foil type). I am not sure that this is really a Pro, well not for me anyway, but if you’re buying it for a kid/teen then it probably is – I’m pretty sure all kids love stickers.

So, in conclusion I would say that the PoGo is worth the Amazon price of £23 – I am sure that children and teenagers will absolutely love it, but it can also be a bit of fun for adults if you are into this sort of thing. However, unless I am doing something wrong I am afraid that the battery life means this mobile printer can only really wander 30 minutes from the nearest plug socket - making it a whole lot less mobile than I was looking for.

The size of a PoGo print in relation to a lighter.