Only 100 days to go until the London 2012 Olympics!
Go London Go!!
Have you downloaded Instagram yet? Snap a photo, or upload an existing one from your phone’s gallery, enhance it with eleven possible effects and instantly share it on Instagram and any other of your social networks. You can also follow your friends or other creative people from around the world and ‘like’ or comment on their pictures.
Easy. Peasy.
Along with 15 million other users, this free App is fast becoming my new obsession.
Amongst others, I'm enjoying following the boutiques Colette and Diani, drummer Tennessee Thomas, DJ/Presenter Izzy Lawrence and my favourite style bloggers Emily Schuman (Cupcakes and Cashmere) and Alix Blancourt (Cherry Blossom Girl.)
Above: Follow my Instagram at thelondonchatter
Not The Only One...
'All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers...'
Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924)
Temperley London Sample Sale
Temperley London Sample Sale
Wed 28th/Thurs 29th March, 8am – 7pm
20th Century Theatre,
29 Westbourne Grove,
London. W11 2QA
£1 admission fee.
All sizes and accessories.
New stock added every 4 hours.
Best of London - Awsa Bergstrom
Awsa. Pronounced with the same vowel as ‘Awesome.’ This is no coincidence. They are one and the same.
In the past the Scandinavian singer/songwriter Awsa Bergstrom has sung backing vocals for Stevie Wonder, Madonna, P Diddy, Elton, and more recently the amazing Emeli Sandé, but soon after Nick Cave asked her to ‘tone it down in the background,’ Awsa realized it was time to step up and take centre stage herself.
Currently living in West London, and now with a band of merry musicians in tow, Awsa’s soulful electro pop rock has all those who have watched her perform (including me, several times) simply floored. This girl can SING.
I forsee BIG things ahead for Awesome Awsa.
Awsa's hobby is Parkour (just too cool... seriously...) and with this city providing her with a playground for her Free Running who better to ask about their London favourites?
Cocktail - A good Margarita with Stephen Fry at Paramount Restaurant, which I think has one of the best views of London.
Date Night – With Superman Henry Cavill and a bottle/cup of whatever, walking along the Thames at night where anyone can dream big, followed by dinner at the OXO Tower.
Sunday Brunch - Hopefully still with Henry Cavill... at mine! I make the best Sunday Brunch. Alternatively, Smith of Smithfields, which reminds me of a New York loft.
Boutique - Scared of them. The entire concept means you have to have time and taste.
High Street Store - Topshop - It has everything a lazy girl could need.
London’s Best Kept Secret - Heygate Estate, Elephant and Castle. Perfect pearl for Parkour.
Your London Icon - Vivienne Westwood, for being THE definition of 'doing her own thing,' for having a boyfriend 25 years younger than her and looking at Graham Norton like he spoke Alien when he asked her if she "found inspiration in magazines..."
Above: 'If I Could Let Go,' 2010
Left: You can hear Awsa Bergstrom singing live at her next London gig THIS Friday, 30th March at The Notting Hill Arts Club.
Doors open at 8pm and Awsa will perform at 9.15pm.
Tickets £8.00 on the door.
www.awsamusic.com
@awsamusic
Nowhere In Particular...
Nick Brandt Photography
Above: Lions Head to Head, Masai Mara, 2008
It was this beautiful and extraordinarily intimate photograph of a pair of loving lions which first introduced me to the work of wildlife photographer Nick Brandt last year.
In 1995 British photographer Nick Brandt (then, a music video director) directed Michael Jackson’s 'Earth Song' in Tanzania and he immediately, rather understandably, fell in love with East Africa and its majestic animals. In 2000, Brandt embarked upon an ambitious photographic project; a trilogy of books immortalizing these animals and the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa – up close, and very personally.
With a combination of dramatic panoramas of animals featured within epic landscapes alongside more soulful, graphic portraits, Nick Brandt manages to find an intimate connection with his wild subjects that reveal personalities and relationships far more so than any other wildlife photography I have ever seen. The titles of the trilogy of books will eventually be revealed to form one consecutive sentence: 'On This Earth, A Shadow Falls.....' (the final installment is due for publication in 2013.)
“What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes.”
Above Right: Elephant With Exploading Dust, Amboseli, 2004
In 2010, in urgent response to the escalation of poaching in Africa due to increased demand from the Far East (raw ivory fetches up to $800 per kg and rhino horn is worth more per ounce than gold dust) Nick Brandt founded the non-profit organization called Big Life Foundation. With donations, the organisation has placed multiple fully equipped teams of 120 anti-poaching rangers in both Kenya and Tanzania, who collaborate with communities to reduce poaching and conflicts between farmers and wildlife.
Above: Windswept Lion, Serengeti, 2002
Above: Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli 2008
(Leading Matriarch Killed By Poachers, 2009)
Above: Hippos On The Mara River, Masai Mara, 2002
Above: Rhino on Lake, Nakuru, 2007
Above: Giraffes In Evening Light, Masai Mara, 2006
Above: Leopard In Crook Of Tree, Nakuru, 2007
Below: Nick Brandt's next exhibition, in New York from March 29th:
Above: Elephant Drinking, Amboseli, 2007
(Killed by Poachers, 2009)
