Trench – Uniqlo, Wool shawl – Regent street cashmere store, Pants shoes bag – Gmarket, Sheer tunic – Zara, Satin Suspenders – Sonia Rykiel for H&M, Bracelet – COS | Photos by Susan Falkenas

A few hours ago I was feeling incredibly light-headed and feverish so I did what everyone, including doctors nurses and dentists, does in the 21st century and googled my symptoms down to the my left eye is smaller than my right and got such a polite result: Panic attack and denial brought on by imminent deadline, or Did you mean: Go Back To Work Lazy Cow? I tell you, Google will replace parents in the next century. OK so goodbye, going back to work.

Sweater Jacket, Dress, Leggings – Zara, Jacket – Vintage Escada (MilanVintage Etsy), Bracelet & Necklace – F21, Bag – River Island Man, Shoes – Gmarket | Photos by Susan Falkenas

During the year and a teaspoon of blogging I’ve encountered numerous occasions when I’d receive emails reading along the lines of which camera & lens model do you use exactly? and would buying it help my blog’s popularity? Hm now, I’m not out to bash those who were genuinely interested in photography and simply wanted to know the tools; I’m not out to bash anyone really, but something inside me breaks when that question appears from behind the legs like a devil child just waiting to possess a dog. It’s a huge misunderstanding if you think good camera equipment makes a good blog, or even a good photograph; it’s like telling an Olympic athlete that you like his running records, what brand is his running shoes.

I feel that boiling down the quality of a blog to the equipment is also an gross under-appreciation to those who take the photos. Sure, I might abuse them and call them names such as homo podians but they are the ones behind all this outfit-photo magic. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have talented and willing people around me to take outfit photos, albeit some being closer to a tripod than a human (sorry mum), I really can’t thank them enough. As many of you know by now, Ellen has been taking majority of my London photos, you must check out her blog to see the glory of her illustration talent. Thank you Ellen, for slaving away at extra photos on a bad face day, for avoiding angles that make it seem like the streetlamp is growing out of my head, and for forgiving me when I put up 3 photos when we took about 300.

So you see, good blog photos are not what the super camera can manage to capture when aimed, it’s how much you and people around you toil to produce; and what makes a great blog photo is all the fun you have and the relationship you build while producing it.
The exact model and make of my camera & lens is in the Q&A/FAQ page, feel free to purchase the exact same thing.

p.s This outfit shoot was done by Susan, a new crew member. Everyone, meet Susan; Susan, meet everyone. She’s a whole other post.

Hat – Gmarket, Sweater coat & jeans – Zara, Striped top & bag – Topshop, Grey cardigan – Uniqlo, Boots – Dr Martens | Thanks to Emily for taking shots of me!

Congratulations you made it down all the way here, have a Gatorade for your fingers.

I had a fantastic Saturday with new friends I met through the blog, Jackie and Emily, thanks you guys for coming out on a cold day! We ploughed through the market as a trio of cheapasses, gasping and gurgling at £60 necklaces and poking at £30 porcelain finger dolls, photographing like it pooped currency. This one seller actually muttered stupid photographer behind my back so I whipped around with violence and thanked her for calling me a photographer, PEOPLE THINK I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER woohoo! No, I didn’t thank the rude woman, we moved on to get £0.50 bag of Haribos for lunch.

Next time you’re in Portobello be sure to check out the Burrito stand near Portobello Green, donkey-licious! (burrito…obviously does not contain donkey meat)

Jacket – Gmarket, Scarf – 1m cloth from Cloth House, Pants – H&M, Shoes – ZARA, Top – Christopher Kane for Topshop, Bag – Etsy. Photos by Susan Falkenas.

Somehow I’ve managed to spin back into the damned routine that I remember banishing out of my system at the end of my second year, where work of all sorts mutate into triple-eyed beasts that follow me into my dreams and knock down perfectly fine potted plants from my ledge of sanity. This routine that involves taking in webdesign jobs on top of schoolwork and existing unfinished jobs. I line them up perfectly time-wise which is probably why they tumble like dominos when one goes wrong. So I had a breakdown, I confess, but thankfully snapped out of it seeing that the work wasn’t going to do on its own. And here I am, worried about whether my concept for a school project will tickle the tutor’s fancy, yet there are more and more bodies (and survivors! thank God) being pulled out under rubbles in Haiti. Gotta be ashamed of myself. Thank you God for allowing me have a frickin higher education and a job as a candy bonus, and I’m so sorry.

Leather Jacket – ASOS, Pants – ZARA (Gift from Ellen!), Shoes – Emma Cook for Topshop, Bag – Etsy | Thank you Maciek for taking pictures of me!

So it looks like I need to pin a spare Compact Flash also to my panties (alongside phone and oyster card) for situations like today when I ran around town from morning till evening with a camera that weighs as much as a bag of flour and then find the memory card slot empty. I carry my camera everywhere, this should not happen, it’s like putting on your makeup but not having washed your face, WHAT IS THE POINT.
So I bought myself two single use cameras (2-for-1 deal, schweet) from Boots which reminded me of what taking pictures in 1998 was like: 27 precious frames of irreversible light engravements (sometimes 36!), the persistent baffle whether this light setting needs the flash or not…* I do love film photography, but single-use cameras are a whole other species that are like cockroaches that will never go extinct, they’re always there somewhere, lurking with confusing viewfinders and mediocre flash.

*answer: always needs flash unless you’re on the sun, cheap ISO 400 film is an obese fail

Mr. Lamp indeed banished to stairs after unforgivable crime of being too obnoxiously big for my tiny studio flat. Sorry, had to choose between you or stack of shoe boxes. Boxes illuminate too…