An interview with Messy

A couple of weeks ago, I promised an article on my camera gear....and then I promptly forgot about it! Well.... better late than never I guess:Famous Interviewer (FI): So, Messy, what type of Camera do you shoot with?Messy: Up until April this year, I was using what my Dad would call a "point, shoot and pray", a 3.1 megapixel Fuji point and shoot. After much begging, pleading, cajoling and bargaining, I got my secondhand Nikon D200 DSLR which I now use exclusively.FI: Are you a Mac or a PC girl?Messy: I am (most unfashionably) a PC gal! However, on all the shoots I have assisted on where the photographer is shooting tethered, the Mac definitely...

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Paddington Bear has had his fill of marmalade, sticky buns, roast tatties, goose, brussel sprouts, glazed ham,panettone, winter berry crumble....

... and has retired to his bed with a very full tummy and a sore head (could it have something to do with all the Veuve Clicquot and Pol Roger Champagne he consumed on Christmas Day?) with a nice cup of hot tea and 2 panadol.um, okay, so maybe it's me who is feeling the effects of too much food and too much alcohol, not Paddington Bear :) Christmas Day was a blast this year with the Messy household hosting and the Cusack and Perrett families in attendance. We had smoked salmon blinis with champagne to start, followed by goose (lovingly cooked t0 perfection by Mr Cusack), roast tatties cooked in goose fat, brussel sprouts with pancetta, roast...

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"Darling, Shall We Take Tea at Browns?"

After my dice with near certain death (i.e. the Rampant Cow Incident at Mudchute Farm), it was time for a more refined, pleasurable experience- and what could be more indulgent and soul restoring than Afternoon Tea at Browns with friends?While Afternoon Tea at the Ritz Hotel, London, is probably more famous, in my view, tea at Browns is slightly less obvious and therefore a wholly more chic experience.In light of the Festive Season and the need to be terribly self indulgent, we decided on the Champagne Afternoon Tea which included a glass of Taittinger Rosé Champagne along with all the frills and thrills of the full English afternoon tea: To...

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Running of the Bulls.....London Style

Take a long, hard look at this cow- note its beady eyes fixed intently on the camera (and hence your Blogger), its tongue licking its chops tastily, its "I am Cow, hear me Roar" (or moo, whatever) stance....because yesterday, dear blog fans, this BEAST tried its damndest to send your London correspondent to a place where blogging would be no more...It all started innocently enough with me snapping and chatting away (there was no one around to witness my odd behaviour in case you are wondering!) to the sheep and 2 cows which live in a large field attached to Mudchute Farm which is just behind Canary Wharf (financial district) in London. Next...

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Going ever so slighty Shouty-Crackers...

It is one of the most splendid Winter days we have had in London so far this season (so much so that my beloved MetCheck Weather even went as far as having a pulsating sun- completely unheard of!- for today's forecast) and I am stuck inside with flu waiting for the UPS man to arrive with a delivery- ack*I am itching to get outside and bang off a few rounds with the Nikon but unfortunately UPS deliver "between 9am and 7pm and cannot specify a specific delivery time within that window"....so I am stuck. inside. going ever so slightly Shouty-Crackers.To relieve my need to press the shutter button, I photographed my new Reindeer mug for y'all to...

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On the First Day of Christmas, My True Love gave to me...

...A Tiffany & Co Hot Chocolate (with marshmallows and whipped cream) and teeny Fruit Mince Pie dusted with icing sugar :) Okay, so it isn't quite the Tiffany&Co Art Deco inspired diamond and platinum bracelet I was hoping for but a gal can't be too greedy in these Credit Crunch times ;-) I absolutely adored the SKATE ice skating at Somerset House which is sponsored by Tiffany&Co. It truly was a winter wonderland with a giant Christmas tree adorned with Tiffany blue skates and giant glittering silver snowflakes, beautiful music, skaters gliding (errr, well, some glided most slipped, lunged and clumped) across the pristine white ice...

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Sniffle, Sniffle, cough, cough, splutter...ack

Most Excellent Blog Fans, your London correspondent is SICK with FLU. And just needed to tell everyone about it :) :)Mmmmm think maybe it might have been something to do with those freezing cold afternoons I spent last week in Hyde Park at the Winter Wonderland and at the Tiffany&Co "SKATE" Ice Rink at Somerset House (I will post photos from that tomorrow).Don't feel obliged or anything (hee hee!), but if you are feeling uber generous then y'all can send me bunches of these to cheer me up ;-):Later this week stay tuned for Messy Musings on cameras, lenses etc. A couple of you have been asking me what camera I am using, what lenses I shoot...

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Posted in Messy Musings

This Little Piggy went to market, This Little Piggy stayed at home, This Little Piggy had roast beef?!, and this Little Piggy went wee, wee, wee...

...all the way to the Jackman/Cusack/Perrett Christmas table this year...poor little piggy :( :( This year Mr Messy and his partner in piggy crime, Mr Mark Cusack (actually I think it was all Mark's idea), decided to go all Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (he of River Cottage fame) on us and get an "ethical" piggy for Christmas luncheon. Basically this means that we are having roast pork from a piggy that has been raised on a lovely organic, free-range farm, has had a lovely piggy life snuffling in the mud, sleeping on warm hay, eating lots of nummies (soya bean meal, cabbage, corn, bananas, pig nuts and whatever the heck else happy piggies eat)...

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On Dasher, On Dancer, On Prancer, On Vixen.....where the heck is Rudolph?

Despite the frightful weather, your London correspondent has been out and about this week sipping egg nog and hot chocolate, riding the Giant Observation Wheel at the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, watching the thrills and spills of outdoor ice skating (note to self: office Christmas parties+alcohol+slippery ice rink=disaster!), snacking on Bavarian Hog Roast and Gingerbread, and slugging back copious amounts of Glühwein to try and keep warm : all in the name of research, you understand!The photographs from this post were all taken at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. For any of you who have been following the progress of my "100 Strangers Project"*,...

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Baby, It's Cold Outside

Oh baby, its cold outside....I am sitting typing at the computer with the heating on full blast, the fire crackling (well, it's gas so I guess it doesn't really crackle- it kind of "pops"!), a water bottle on my lap, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, thick bed socks on my tootsies and STILL I am cold! Brrrrr, it seems that winter has definitely arrived in ye olde London town. A hearty slice of steak and portobello mushroom pie (courtesy of M&S) and a glass of Egg Nog (hic!) should help to keep Jack Frost from nipping off my nose (and toes!)Thought I would share with you our wee trip out to Richmond Park on Saturday morning with friends....

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