Rooftop with JAZZebell_

On August 8, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Day Trippin', Girls, Pals, PhotographyLeave a comment

Sunday was a little disaster in that Jazz was supposed to be going on tour, and I was supposed to be elsewhere myself but on Saturday night I drunkenly misplaced the key for the flat while sorting my stuff out at the gig, meaning we both ended up crashing at Stephens and Jazz had no way to collect her stuff. Shit.

The venue didn’t open early, and because Jazz mostly hitchhikes places she didn’t get an early enough start.

This didn’t mean we weren’t productive with our time, though.

We had to wait for the venue to open to get my key back so we grabbed some food in town while we waited and then headed onto TKMaxx’s rooftop for an impromptu shoot since I had everything on me from the night before.

I don’t often use flash when shooting other than my party photos. I find it a hassle, and generally just prefer the simplicity of only carrying around a camera. That said, I don’t feel like I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone in a long while and the flash I’ve got for the X-Pro2 is new so I wanted to try it out.

I opted for the same flash-facing-forward no bullshit approach as I do with my party photos, except that I didn’t let the shutter trail. I’m surprised at how much I like some of these photos, and while I doubt I’ll be shooting flash with any real regularity, I’m going to make a conscious effort to not shy away from it in future.

When I got home I thought I’d only taken a few photos but when I’d finished editing there was just shy of 50. Not bad. There’s a fair few of them below, and I’ll be uploading an extra 25 to a gallery on my private blog in the coming days.

Continue reading “Rooftop with JAZZebell_” →

Shooting Nightclubs with Fuji X-Pro2: Part 1

On August 5, 2017August 5, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Nightlife, PhotographyLeave a comment

I’ve been toying with the idea of down-sizing my set-up for club photos for a while. I guess mostly out of curiosity as I love my X-Pro2 and with the Nissin i40 flash gun and 18mm f2 lens it weighs in considerably less than my current Nikon D610.

Last night was my first night with it (I shot half with the X-Pro2, and half with the Nikon for piece of mind) but tonight I’ll be relying solely on the X-Pro2 so I’ll probably post a more in-depth blog about my thoughts on it tomorrow or something.

Here’s a few photos from the Fuji last night.

Birthday Cake with JAZZebell_

On August 4, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Girls, Pals, PhotographyLeave a comment

I have an insane backlog of blogs to write and photos to share and today I was actually going to post something from that, but Jazz had other plans and I’m not prepared to start ignoring a pal who wants to get naked and have me take photos.

It was Jazz’s birthday recently. I should be able to be more specific but she’s been excited for her birthday and shouting about it for the past two months and actually celebrating it the past 4 days so I don’t know what’s even real anymore. I think this shoot marks the end of it, and I think I kinda want a party myself to celebrate that it’s all over.

Anyway, I’ve just sat and sorted through the photos right now as Jazz is currently tidying up the living room. There’s 30 or so here, and later today (maybe tomorrow) I’ll be posting another 70 to my private blog that you can access here for $7.50.

Continue reading “Birthday Cake with JAZZebell_” →

Tenants’ Rights for Landlord’s Wrongs: Standing up to Countrywide with Living Rent Glasgow

On July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Events, Politics & ProtestLeave a comment

TIME FOR A TENANTS UNION

“We are a democratic organisation run by and for tenants.
We want homes for people, not for profit; to redress the power imbalance between landlords and tenants; and ensure that everyone has decent and affordable housing.

We believe in the collective power of tenants to come together to fight for their rights, and use diverse tactics – including direct action when necessary – to achieve this.

We are not affiliated to any political party, but recognise the importance of influencing parties and politicians and holding them to account.”

Aside from to a few pals, Jeffels and I haven’t really mentioned the endless issues we’ve experienced with Countrywide over our time renting from them in Glasgow. A lot of the problems I’m not going to write about publicly just yet, but I feel now is a good time for us to start being vocal. I mean, 9 months out of a 12 month tenancy is a long ass time to be simultaneously harassed and ignored.

After being informed by the council that our Landlord had been issued with a Rent Penalty Notice (preventing the collection of rent from us while under investigation), and that Countrywide were persisting to try and collect rent, we met with Dan of Living Rent a couple of weeks ago for a general chat about the situation, and to see if it was something Living Rent would be able to help us with. Turns out it was, and the following week we’d had a second meeting with Dan and Sean to plan a suitable course of action. There was an eagerness in all of us to get on with this right away, so the first step was an emergency picket held outside Countrywide’s office on Byres Road today.

Continue reading “Tenants’ Rights for Landlord’s Wrongs: Standing up to Countrywide with Living Rent Glasgow” →

David & Charlotte’s Wedding

On July 24, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Day Trippin', Pals, Writing1 Comment

I headed down to Scarborough for the weekend as my pal’s Dave and Charlotte were getting married after being together for a decade. A decade is a long ass time, but I also can’t imagine them being with anyone else so it’s also about goddamn time, too.

I took a few photos throughout the day, so here’s a selection from my time meandering around with a camera in one hand and a pint in the other.

Continue reading “David & Charlotte’s Wedding” →

Shooting for 7side9 BMX, Scarborough

On July 16, 2017 By Lee JonesIn Girls, Photography, WritingLeave a comment

I headed back to Scarborough on Thursday as I was going down to shoot for the 7side9 BMX shop.

I missed out on riding and skating as a young kid, and by the time I thought I could maybe do it I couldn’t get passed the whole “if I fall I’m gonna break something” thing so instead I used to get my fix playing those kinds of games on a Playstation, and on an evening would hang about skateparks quite happily watching others do the cool stuff and occasionally break a leg.

I met Jazz in town and we grabbed breakfast and then headed to the shop to meet Craig. We picked the BMX we wanted to use, a couple of tees, and a hoodie then got gone to the local skate park.

“We don’t usually see many girls down here” said a couple of kids skipping school (I dunno, maybe it’s the holidays?) They can’t have been any older than 13 – I half expected them to be gobby little shites, but they stood by and stayed out of our way while watching Jazz. Nice guys.

After Hairy Bobs we headed to another location and I’m sworn to secrecy about where to find it so don’t even try. We made the most of the area being isolated, and shot a few nudes while we were at it.

It was fun getting out and shooting something different so if yer a brand with some spare cash feel free to hire me, I’m probably way more into it than you’d think and even if I’m not your money appeals to me because I am a sell out with a flat to pay for.

Anyway, here’s a selection of photos from the day.

Continue reading “Shooting for 7side9 BMX, Scarborough” →

Bobbie, on Scarborough’s North Bay

On July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 By Lee JonesIn GirlsLeave a comment

In November last year I did a couple of shoots with Bobbie. She was trying out for Suicide Girls at the time so we shot a set in the Brewery, and a set on the beach. Don’t let the sun fool you here, it was bloody cold.

The majority of these photos haven’t been made public because obviously it was for the SG site, but since then Bobbie has told me she’s no longer pursuing that so I’m fine to post the non-nude photos here.

The full set that will likely never see the light of day is pretty great but the photos that are left over are still pretty rad so I hope you dig them.

Continue reading “Bobbie, on Scarborough’s North Bay” →