Cosimo Blues on tour in South of France

Spent the Summer in France and met Pascal Cosimo and his band performing in South of France. Here are a few shots from their gig at Kylian's. Thank s for a great evening!

The great Walter Keeler at Redlees Studios last week

When I'm not taking pictures or sifting through years of negatives (for young people "negatives" are what we used to fix images through very cumbersome cameras before the digital age; think of them as ancient memory cards),  anyway I digress, so when I'm not busy with pictures old and new, I tend to spend time getting my hands dirty with clay.
I caught the bug a few years ago and even if I live until 112, it looks like there won't be enough time to explore all the possibilities of the world of Ceramics.
The good people of London Potters organised a talk and demonstration by the great British potter Walter Keeler. The Redlees Studios were full to the brim and Walter kept everybody captivated all afternoon and beyond. Here are some shots of the great man with his favorite tools (a piece of wood and a large metal modelling tool!) showing the making of a jug and a teapot:

If you fancy owning a pot by Walter Keeler, check out the Online Ceramics Shop .

 Thank you all @faydewinter and everybody @londonpotters 
                             for organising a great event!
                                           All text and pictures © Sylvie Joly, 2014

A Knitter's Wet Dream (part 2): Wild and Woolly is born

Au bonheur des tricoteuses at Wild and Woolly: 

A knitter's wet dream (part 1): the empty shell

These last few weeks I documented the transformation of a very old empty hairdresser's shop in Hackney into Wild and Woolly, a mine of supplies, advice and inspiration for beginners and experienced knitters alike. This is Anna Feldman's baby and she writes about the whole experience in her blog. Here are the "Before" pictures, the "After" ones will be in part 2 very shortly:

                                                       Below the stock has arrived!

Pretty in black & white

I enjoyed the first flush of colour in the garden as much as the next londoner, and decided to test an old 50mm (a humble E series from Nikon) on my digital DSLR at maximum aperture (f 1.8) on the first blooms. The light breeze was enough to make the background and foreground almost abstract. I'd left my black and white settings on and here is the result :

Rachel Ann Stevenson's weird and wonderful world

Last Tuesday I went to Macclesfield to photograph sculptor Rachel Ann Stevenson in her studio. She has been working on some new pieces ahead of the 2014 edition of the Other Art Fair. I love the expressiveness of the faces of her bronze pieces, and the way she uses taxidermy without making anything feel morbid: