Come July – A weekend in Margate

These photos were shot over a weekend on in Margate with 35mm film (Kodak Ektar to be precise). Margate has seen better times but it is currently starting to find it’s feet again as a popular destination, more so amongst the younger generation. With something to always do and celebrate, there never seems to be a dull moment.

At the centre of Margate is Dreamland, a theme park from the 1920’s that has recently just undergone a refurbishment and is home to the world’s oldest roller coaster. The photos aim to encapsulate the beauty and romance of a place that resides in people’s memories and hearts.

Thanks for looking,

Andy

Iceland: Part 2

Iceland Pt.2

Here is Part 2 of the Iceland adventure. Part 1 can be found here

Day 4

 

Slaney looking over the bay

Overloading on complimentary breakfast we yet again loaded up into the car and went on our way to Joskulsarlon. Joskulsarlon is part of a huge glacier with a very surreal black beach. We took loads of photos of the same things and chucked no end of rock at ice. I have no idea why but it was loads of fun and good for the soul. We even made a little game out of it.

 

Ice cool blue

Being animal lovers we got super excited at seeing a seal riding the tide into the black beach. Unfortunately the seal was a little camera shy. Not wanting to get cut off by the water we headed back to the car and the hotel. The trip hadn’t really stopped so we took a lengthy nap. Once awake we took in the surroundings . We were sandwiched between a huge mountain and the expansive sea in the middle of nowhere. It was a good place to be.

 

As much as I didn’t want to include this, the landscape is just far too beautiful.

Day 5

This day was the biggest single day in terms of driving distance. It was roughly 440km overall. We made a pit stop in Vik which happened to be the most southern village in Iceland. There was a beautiful church that looked over the entire village and headlands.

 

Church in Vik

The kilometres ticked by and the playlist continues until we found our log cabin in Uthlid. I knew straight away that we were in for a cold night. Chilling out and making the most of the wi-fi, Slaney found a geothermal spa on the edge of a huge lake in Laugarvatnsvegur. The pool and steam rooms were all heated purely by the Earth’s geothermal activity. Having no control over the heat made some of the steam rooms and pools unbearable. Some were a little chilly and some were just right. It was all very Goldilocks-esque.

 

Our home for the night in Uthlid

We had red peppers stuffed with quinoa, mushrooms and courgettes with a side of sweet potato for dinner. I’m writing this while we all chill out listening to spotify playlists courtesy of Huckberry. The cold is creeping in and we are ready to head back to Reykjavik and civilization.

 

Gulfoss I … at 10pm

Boredom set in quickly in the cold cabin so we made ourselves wrap up warm and head to Gulfoss. It did not disappoint. You could hear the roar well before you could see it. It was a breathtaking view to say the least. Keeping ourselves layered up we climbed into bed ready to be amongst people again.

 

Gulfoss II … at 10pm

Day 6

A straightforward drive saw us into Reykjavik and back to Reykjavik roasters. A quick scout around town to find the happiest hour and also visit the liquor store. Surprisngly a woman was raising money for recovering alcoholics in the doorway of the store. We found a bottle of Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast which was the first decent beer of the trip. Skuli was a tucked away craft beer bar we found, but it didn’t fit in with our happy hour drinking plan. They did have three BrewDog beers on draft though.

 

Fucking joy.

Power nap and Mikkeller beer drunk we marched to Glo for some healthy organic sustenance. It was great apart from one of my teeth breaking on a tough part of my chicken wrap. I didn’t swallow it thankfully. We went to our scheduled happy hours and ended up in Dubliners playing foosball. I came out on top 6–2 against Slaney, it was quite an intense game. Out of time and out of happy hour we went back to our basement accommodation and got a night of restless sleep.

 

The man himself.

Day 7

Awoke to snowy conditions, mild for Iceland, severe for England. We arrived at the airport safe and sound (so did the car) and we are now killing time in the airport before our flight home. It has truly been an amazing trip full of sweeping landscapes and many a waterfall. I would definitely come back, maybe in the winter to catch the Northern Lights and to see a blanket of white.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

‘Take more photos’

Here is the video to go with it too.

Here is what I was listening to on Spotify while writing this.

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Seeking: The best beer in the PNW

(N.B the story is from April 2015)

It was only 9pm yet we were slumping at the bar staring heavily into our Deschutes Jubel, fighting a losing battle against jet lag. The journey over to Seattle was a blur of half watched movies and standard in-flight fare followed up with stern faced Customs Officers on the other side. It was worth it to be sat in a bar surrounded by amazing world-class beer. This is the reason why we are here, to find the best beer we can and bring in back home to the UK.

Sippin’ in Seattle…

Our first dot on the map was Hales Brewing, a brewery founded and run by Mike Hale for the last 30 years. Mike’s passion was ignited while touring the UK on his bike travelling from village to village. We were lucky enough to try a whole host of Hales beers, most notably their Pale Ale, Supergoose (big IPA) and El Jefe (The Boss hefeweizen). Mike has also been experimenting with pouring his beers on nitro. The one we tried was their Kolsch that took on a whole different flavour and mouthfeel on the nitro line.

Two Beers Brewing and Seattle Cider Company was our next stop on our beery influenced adventure. We received a big warm welcome from Penny, the brewery dog. It’s hard to believe that owner Joel has gone from brewing at home with a 5 gallon pot to producing the beers we got to try. Trailhead ISA, Evo IPA and Inversion Amber were all winners and the Cold Brew Brown was one of my personal favourites.

We received a crash course in cider from Caitlin whose passion and knowledge was out of this world. Seattle Cider Company are starting to push the boundaries and challenge people’s preconceptions of what cider is. Visiting 7 Seas Brewing was high on our list and we made our way over to Gig Harbour later in the evening to go Ballz Deep (their Double IPA). The beers were plenty and supplemented by fish tacos from Tides Tavern.

*****

To Portland…

The next morning caffeine fuelled and ready to hit the road we headed to Portland, OR. Portland is considered by many as a ‘utopian craft beer city’ and as soon as you get there you understand why. We made a bee-line for Henry’s Tavern to meet Mike from Highwater Brewing. Being presented with over 100 taps to choose from at Henry’s was a sign of things to come, choice choice choice and more choice. Mike had brought along with him a bottle of Campfire Stout that we were able to try later on. Campfire Stout is one of their most popular beers and certainly worthy of its GABF2014 Gold Medal.

Green Dragon was our next stop to meet Andrew from Double Mountain who gave us their new seasonal to try, Gypsy Stumper. Not only is it a cracking beer but it has a real cool story too (I won’t spoil it for you though). We made plans to head to the Spirit of ’77 the next day to catch the Double Mountain event hosted there.

We decided to top up our energy levels with the aid of V60s at Velo Cult Bike Shop. VCBS is a caffeine powered cyclist’s dream come true with some top beers on draft as well. They serve their flight boards on Penny-esque skate decks, wheels tightened of course. Jeff from Samskip who handles our logistics joined us at Moon & Sixpence which has a very British interior with very American beers.

There were some heavy hitters on the board with the likes of Ballast Point, Double Mountain and Green Flash all making an appearance. Drinks were flowing and time was slipping away so we made the decision to trawl the streets for some food. We got lucky by finding the hidden gem that is Hale Pele — a top class Tiki bar with great food and staff. It adds to the awesomeness when your drink is served to you on fire, the challenge is drinking it all before the fire burns out.

The obligatory morning coffee was had at Stumptown Coffee. Hearing War Pigs first thing in the morning certainly gets you raring and ready to go. Voodoo Doughnut was just around the corner and it would have been rude to pass up the chance to have a bacon maple bar doughnut. Loaded on sugar we made our way over to Spirit of 77 — the bar was buzzing with CBC goers and beer lovers alike. We enjoyed a couple of beers with Dennis from North Coast Brewing who updated us on the exciting happenings at the brewery. There are some secret beers in the works that sound mind-blowingly spectacular that we can’t wait to get our hands on.

We made our way towards Deschutes with a stop off at Whole Foods on the way. The glorious thing about Whole Foods is that they have a walk in chiller dedicated to craft beer. Every shelf you looked at had great beer after great beer, lined up in neat rows, it was impossible not to be in awe at the selection they had. We left before we got too carried away and continued on to Deschutes.

With so much beer and so little time we indulged in several samplers. Fresh Squeezed IPA and Red Chair IPA were the stand out beers we sampled. The Obsidian stout was savoured as dessert after we had eaten, strong espresso and chocolate notes coming from a deep and robust malt base made it the perfect beer to finish on. After indulging in possibly one to many beers we made our way back with an impromptu stop in at Rock Bottom Brewery while we waited for the streetcar home.

Thursday was a special day because the sun decided to make an appearance. It was also Sam’s birthday! We ate omelettes the size of our heads at Mother’s Bistro before heading to Case Study for our morning coffee. When planning our trip we had a lot of recommendations of where to go and what to drink and one of the many breweries that kept coming up time after time was Cascade Brewing. They have earned a reputation for producing some of the best sours in America and they didn’t disappoint.

The stand out sour was Sang Royal which was aged in Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon barrels on Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. No words can describe how complex the beer was. Here we met Scott and the guys from Silver City Brewing for a few drinks and to discuss all things beer related.

After leaving Cascade we inadvertently crashed a private party in the beer garden at Base Camp Brewing. Loading up on sliders and Late Hop Helles we took a taxi ride to Metalcraft where they were hosting a gathering for Washington craft brewers. Here we caught up with Adam from Reuben’s Brews and Mark from Sound Brewery. It was a great chance to meet and chat with the brewers and enjoy their beers over a game of air hockey. Sam won at air hockey (it was his birthday after all) but at a cost of popping out his shoulder. After this we made a second trip to Green Dragon to enjoy the rest of the beers we didn’t have before a stop off at the Star Bar… The less said about that the better.

The back roads…

Up and at ’em early Friday to meet the lovely folks at ScuttleButt for coffee to make plans to see them the following day. We took the incredible scenic route back to Seattle stopping off in a sleepy town called Morton. Once back in Seattle we took some time to go check out the Space Needle and enjoy a few more watering holes. We went to Lava Lounge where yet again, the beers were great, followed by Rob Roy for some cocktails to shake things up a little (pun not intended). The night ended a little hazy in a wine bar followed by some fine Hawaiian slices.

Our last full day in Seattle included a trip up to Scuttlebutt Brewing to sample a whole heap of their tasty beers and a hearty bowl of their famous clam chowder. Belly full and taste buds tingling we made our way to Ballard to see Adam at Reuben’s Brew. It is an incredibly exciting time for Reuben’s Brew at the moment as they are currently building their new brewery and tap house just around the corner from their existing one. They are also keeping their current brewery operational for more experimental and sour brews.

Reuben’s do a whole host of big PNW beers that drink far easier than the ABV suggests, but they also do an out of this world Roggenbier that gets a lot of love from fellow craft beer drinkers. After saying farewell to Adam we headed back for dinner at Elysian’s restaurant. Elysian is a very hot topic right now but the beer was great and the food matched it. We spent the rest of the night in Lava Lounge making the most of the bottles of Dogfish Head 90min DIPA.

Sunday was time to return home after a very hectic, productive and beer fuelled week. It was amazing to be able to meet so many people passionate about craft beer and producing some of the best beer in America right now. The trip was a great success and we can’t wait to get the beers over here to share with you all!

Thanks for looking,

Andy

Iceland – Pt 1

This post is all about my recent trip to Iceland. Below is a word for word account taken from my Field Notes detailing the trip. This is part 1 of 2. EDIT: Part 2 can now be found here

 “4^th May Iceland Trip

 Day 1

Really early morning start with panic as we have next to no petrol in the car. It’s 3am on a bank holiday and we have to drive all the way to Luton. After getting really angry with myself and cursing in a hushed voice, we cross fingers and hope that somewhere is open. Obviously somewhere was. Relaxed and with Slaney in tow we headed for Luton. It wasn’t long before Slaney and Frank were nodding and I was pulling at my eyes to help myself stay awake.

Reykjavik Roasters

 

 Parked up and shuffling through the airport we boarded the airplane in rapid time. The torturous chat of the couple and lone traveller behind us made it equal parts entertaining and very fucking annoying.

 

Eyes closed until the approach to land where we flew over bright blue water dotted with swatches of white. Landing was smooth and the shite was still spewing from the people behind us. The cold hit upon exit and we made our way to Budget to pick up the car. It is here that we would learn that Icelandic customer service is painfully slow and mind numbing.

 

Suzuki Swift at the ready with a full tank of petrol we headed from Keflavik to Reykjavik. The drive was fairly straightforward and we parked outside where we were staying that night. Our first stop off was for a coffee at the must-go Reykjavik Roasters. It was surprisingly affordable for a capital city and the quality of coffee.

 

The city seemed almost deserted as we made our way down to the waterfront. The wind was whipping real hard against our face and left a slight stinging sensation on our cheeks for the next few hours. Faces chapped we headed for more coffe and pastries at Standholt Bakari. It was a very cute place to hand out before heading to our air b’n’b for the night.

 

More coffee and napping before getting our arses in gear and making our way to Strava for a huge serving of bread bowl soup. Dillion Whiskey bar was somewhere I had wanted to go and was recommended as a top dive bar in the capital. Johnnie Walker Red was the choice of whisky for happy hour so we made do with that . The whisk(e)y selection was pretty damn good, but as expected it was all priced far out of our budget.

 

Reykjavik sunset

 

We talked and walked our way across town to kill some time before the next happy hour at Bjarni Fel. The TV screens were showing a crunch match of the local football teams. My attention was taken by the Arsenal V Hull highlights. A long detour back home to get our head down for a fairly early start.

 

Day 2

Back on the road we drove to the Blue Lagoon. It took what seemed like forever to get in (was actually only 40 minutes) but it was well worth it. The whole experience was surreal. The drastic difference between the geo-thermal heated water and the ripping wind drove home the point of land of fire and ice. It also induced shrieks and shrill cries from people getting out of the lagoon. 

The Blue Lagoon

All primed up and skin tightened we headed towards Selfoss for snacks and supplies. I was able to stop in the middle of the road to take pictures while lying flat on my stomach. The traffic just seemed to be non-existent. At Selfoss I picked up some dried fish, a bit like fish jerky. Frankie and Slaney were than joyed with the stench it gave off.

 

We gave up looking for the liquor store and headed to the horse farm where we had planned to stay that night. The trust map got us there safe and sound (fuck Google maps). After the tour of the farm from our top host (the wife of whom was from near Edinburgh) we got to see the world-famous Icelandic horses. Shortly after we headed down to the river and the quicksand beach to take some photos. In the distance we spotted a house which we later learned was on its own huge island and functioned as someone’s very personal and private getaway.

My favourite Icelandic horse

 With the timelapse set up on the GoPro to capture the sunset (very disappointing results) we watched Mean Girls. Frank and Slaney were extremely shocked when they realised I hadn’t see the movie all the way through. After watching You, me and Dupree we set alarms for 1am to try and get some photos of the starry sky while we were so remote. It turns out even in the dead of night, Iceland doesn’t really ever get dark once out of the winter.

 Day 3

Urriðafoss

 

Frankie had whipped us all up some killer breakfast to satisfy us on the way to Seljalandfoss. Staring blankly at the horizon we spotted a beautiful stretch of water with a wide waterfall. This wasUrriðafoss. More water flows through this waterfall than any other Iceland. It was also a huge breeding ground for sea trout and salmon.

Slaney at Urriðafoss

 Awe-struck we continued on with the aid of our map. The size of Seljalandfoss got us excited and really pumped to walk behind it. Standing at 60m it is very rare to get a view from the rear of a waterfall of this size. The only problem was that it was far to icy to get anywhere near the back of it. Needless to say we were a little disappointed but happy to make it at least partway round.

 

We carried on walking the path past another nameless waterfall to Gljúfrabúi which stole the show. It was masked from a distance by a huge wall of rock. I climbed up to the right of it and was able to view it from the top down. It wasn’t until Frank and Slaney told me that you could walk through tge cave opening at the bottom and jump across the stepping stones to see it in all it’s glory from the base. The sound was really unique due to it echoing in the hard surfaced chamber of awesomeness.

Seljalandfoss

 Chucking our clothes onto a picnic bench to dry out we took in more of the surroundings. Huge mountains and volcanoes dotted with isolated houses painted all different colours. Red roofs seemed to be the fashion for most buildings.

Exception to the rule

 

 Loading back into the car we made our way for the very isolated village of Hali. We made another unscheduled stop in Skogafoss. Double rainbows and a thigh burner hike in the bag we pushed on to Hali and passed Jokulsarlon glacier on the Golden Circle. Isolated and peckish in Hali we made a 120km round trip to Hofn. It was the nearest place to get food and petrol together. The sunset was full of all colours painting silhouettes on the mountains and flat barren land.”

 

Thanks for looking,

Andy

‘Take more photos’

 

 

Stockholm

I was lucky enough recently to win a trip to Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival in … Stockholm. The trip was a week before I was heading to Barcelona which I had purchased a new lens for, the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8. I had decided to take it to Stockholm to grab a few photos with and get a feel for what it was capable of. Unfortunately (or very fortunately) I got swept away by a tsunami of luscious hops and heavy malts.

The way Stockholm’s infrastructure works means that to get anywhere takes time and I was afforded not much time to leisurely walking about, beer, beer and more beer was the priority. It was a ‘when in Rome’ kinda of trip. Photo opportunities were few and far between and I didn’t want to hold up our group. I learned of a few limitations of the lens but this was the whole idea, to learn how to get the most out of a highly respected (and affordable) lens.

Here are a few photos that I was happy with, the colours are crisp and the subjects are interesting enough to warrant sharing. I had many photos that highlighted the great architecture but not in a very pretty way at all, those photos are for me.

Thanks for looking,

Andy

‘Take more photos’

Cali ’10

I have not had chance to do anything constructive new photography-wise recently due to ‘real life’. Luckily I had a good friend of mine come visit me at the weekend who brought along a hard-drive I have been dying to get my hands on. The drive was packed full of videos and stills from a West Coast trip of USA in 2010.

The idea was to edit all the video footage into some coherent story that hits the highlights. With having very little experience putting the video together I decide to shirk that and edit some photos instead. I have no idea who took any of the photos I’m uploading, I think we all had a helping hand in them.

This set of photos are from our visit to an old silver mining town of Calico via Joshua Tree. The place was the hottest and driest place I have ever been too. Everything you touched was scalding hot, even the iPhones had closed themselves down due to the excessive heat. I have no idea how people use to be able to work in that heat.

 

Thanks for looking,

Andy

‘Take more photos’

 

 

 

Mamiya Slide

This is from my first roll of slide film through my Mamiya 645. This camera is slowly working its way up my favourite cameras to take on trips with me. I wish I could afford the 645 AFDII but that is a bit of a pipe dream right now. The images are just scanned and some have had exposure changes but they are presented as is. This is the same for all my film images (the odd B&W conversions snakes in). The film I used was Fuji Provia 100f RDPIII and I have plenty more to shoot (maybe some 35mm too?), so keep your eyes peeled!

As always, these images are low res. If you want to see a high res version, just drop me a message.

I think this one is my favourite of the set.

Thanks for looking,

Andy

‘Take more photos’