Manhattan is my studio, Photographing Sophia Ayaan

I love the number of different backgrounds, moods, and looks that I can get in a one hour photo-shoot in Manhattan.

As I love any chance to hang out in cool cafes meeting creative people and it helps break the ice, I met up with actress, presenter, comedienne and dancer Sophia Ayaan to discuss the shoot, before the shoot.

I turned up early for the photo-shoot and managed to scout out a couple of other locations before Sophia turned up. I found the dark moody subway, a cracked yellow tile background and a arching entrance as well as the already planned neo-Gothic architecture.







In the end the improvised locations worked out better than the planed one. Not knowing exactly what you are going to get from a shoot is half the fun for me.

Alt, Control, Return, Apple buttoned up

All that I have to remind me of my old Blueberry Imac are the buttons that I made from it's old keys. It was a good machine but the useful lifespan of a computer is as short as a Hollywood marriage. While it was a good looker and a great design that could be collectible in 50 years or so, space is a valuable asset and it had to go. Before I formatted the hard drive and left it on a street corner for someone to adopt it, I took the keys from its keyboard to do something with.

A few years later when I lost a button from my beloved sheepskin winter coat I fashioned buttons from some of the old keys. Just take a self shank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button) button and glue it to the back of the key.

Old leather jacket becomes new leather seat

I had had my burgundy leather jacket for some years but it was just becoming a favorite when the zip broke. I like repairing things but a new zip would not be cheap and sewing it by hand would be tedious. “new” leather jackets for me come from thrift stores (charity shops) which I love to trawl for bargains and weird finds so a replacement would be the best option. But I hate waste so I would keep it to use the leather in other repairs or creations.

I found a lovely old office chair in Stoke Newington a few years ago and had been putting up with a simple ply wood seat I had cut to fit it for years. Now was the time to merge these two projects and properly upholster my old wooden office chair using the leather from my old jacket. I only hope that the seam joining the two halves (from the back of the jacket) will take the tension from the padding and the sitting. So far so good.