I like this...

Be Well.

Be Well...

Yesterday evening I went & had some dinner with some old friends of mine down on Upper Street in Islington. As always it was a little rowdy & we downed a few bottles of wine. So was feeling rather good.

After leaving the restaurant I headed over to the station. On entering I noticed this rather nice lady tapping away into her phone, & I thought, she’s quite nice & her red jeans are pretty cool. I proceeded to the platform.

Much to my annoyance there was a 30 minute wait or the next train, but then to counter that Miss Red Jeans comes over & sits next to me. What could I do, I had to start up a conversation.

Her name is Bianca & she is Italian, over here from Milan to do a summer course at LSE on Intellectual Property Law ( smart & beautiful ). So there we were talking about Intellectual Property.

It is a subject that I have always been interested in as it is so connected with the Birth & Continuing Saga of Streetwear & Design. My feeling is that today the likes of FUCT would not have been able to do what they did with the laws the way they are today. I mean look at what is happening to Shepard Fairey/OBEY & Associated Press over the Obama Hope image.

Regardless of this I wanted to know if the 40% law existed. When I was working at Gimme 5 back in the day, Nigo started a label before BAPE called 40%. The pretense of this was if you changed an image or someone else’s design by 40% you would not be liable for prosecution etc. We were making some great T-shirts with SuperModels & Movie images etc. Popping Graphics & slogans on them etc...& we sold a bunch load.

Well according to the lovely Bianca this law does not exist, well at least not today & not here. Perhaps in Japan...as she was not aware of Japanese Law.

But the idea of prosecuting under Intellectual Property is a not a new thing, but with the birth & growth of the web it has become a bigger Legal Problem as people Download Music for Free & Images that they can manipulate & use. Of course it will be hard to prosecute one & all, but their are a few who will pursue this avenue with Venom. Associated Press for one & Madonna. If memory serves well she was one of the 1st people to appoint a team of lawyers precisely for this purpose, & Bianca concurred : )

This seems to be a part of law that will effect creativity a lot in many ways, as people more & more re-edit what has come before. But on the flip side it also forces people to be more original & stretch their boundaries into pastures new. We are so inundated with rehashes of what has been before, i would be nice to see something new. Creatives taking some risks.

As you would expect the conversation dwindled on to subjects such as, ‘where do you live?’, ‘how long you here for?’ & ‘here take my details & give me a shout’

My main mission now is to find Bianca a good thing to go out to that represents what London Nightlife is about...apart from the side that she has seen...Chinawhite, Mahiki etc. Girlfriend is quite excited about seeing something London & Underground. Shame Work It was on this weekend gone as that would have been perfect. Any suggestions would be great as Bianca is leaving on Sunday morning.

Think I need to delve deep into the FB event pages on my Profile & find something for Bianca.

Be Well & think twice about taking that Intellectual Property & Playing with it...it is not as easy as it used to be.

Be Well.

When the hell is this coming out here !!!?

Be Well.

I would very much like to know ?

Be Well

Be Well

I have a friend of mine who has been staying with me for a couple of weeks or so...nice to have the company, but more than that it is nice to see all this colour everywhere. She is a bit of an artist & there are always some paints or pens lying about that add a dash of colour where you least expect it...I like that.

Be Well

Feeling quite good after my week away in Ibiza. & As an Ibiza Virgin, I have to say I quote enjoyed it. I was thinking that I would not, but much to my surprise I liked it very much.

Did the very chilled side of Ibiza & just hung out with my Family & enjoyed my time with my  Son’s.

But Business & Money never sleeps & these are the tools of survival in this jungle. So here I am back at my desk, editing, planning & pressing send on the emails. Feel somewhat optimistic as there are a few things that need following up that could lead to some promising places.

Also have a few design option to work on which is always quite stimulating. Plus if the call comes through there may be an interesting shoot later today...but I am not holding my breath for that one...always waiting for that one...enough said there the better.

The other Challenge in the mix is the School Holidays...need to plan a few moments with the Boys before they get tied up in their other holiday commitments...& there are many...not gonna see my troops for a bit as they holiday here & there...

But here we go...Once More into the Breach...

Be Well.

Yesterday night WeSC officially opened the doors of their new store in London's, Covent Garden...on Neal Street to be precise. Me being part of the family just had to go down & check it out. There was quite a turn out. Many people showed up...& I have to say the Lateral Troops did a grand job. & If my ego needed another boost, they had moved my SS2011 Colab in to the store for the night...& Edward from Hypebeast was there & he even snapped me...ok I know enough already...

Anyway I took a few snaps of the festivities...enjoy...

That's it...now I am going on Holiday...be well.

There was a time when I was at School doing photography where I really wanted to be a war photographer. Getting in the thick of it & snapping pictures of what is going on...I was obsessed with characters in Films such as, Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, James Woods in Salavdor & Nick Nolte in Under Fire. They made it look like it might be an interesting field to get into.

But since i then I knew that was not me, & I would end up dead...but there are moments that make me wish that I had given it a shot, & then there are moments when I am glad that I did not. Like when I saw that Robert King Documentary on BBC3 or was it 4, that made me think again. But it was inspiring enough to make me want to push the boundaries a little...or even a lot...still waiting.

But of all the characters that have struck me...this would be my ultimate alter ego...you know I don't think he had a name, you never get his name in the film...I am going to check IMDb...ok so IMDb has him down as Photojournalist...

(thanks Mo Ali for the image & the reminder)

Be Well