art equals happy.

Hippie meets cowboy? :: Style.

So here I am, working in the studio/shop getting stuff done. Or trying to at least. :] My hair is a little pink- I'm trying to grow all the bleached  bits out so I can be 100% natural. My shirt is from this awesome vintage store in Bristol called "Loot". Thier store is right next to the bus station, so it's kind of perfect for me to pop in when I go into town. Plus, they are great at taking vintage items and making them more wearable for today's people. I like them. My boots, I found them at my other favourite Bristol Vintage store, Repsycho. The socks are my handknitted 'Story Socks', the cardigan is a 'hand me down' from Dad (pure wool! yes!). And Leggings. Always Leggings. I'm a fan of super comfy clothes that make me feel good. It might not be the most stylish things out there, but it works for me. (Although I'm a sucker for a nice pair of shoes. I never thought I was a shoe girl, but I kind of am... kind of. Maybe.) Do you put comfort over style? Have you ever dressed like a cowboy hippie? 

Kimxo
P.S. It's SO FUN to have a shop to photograph my outfit posts in. I'm having way too much fun here, guys! It's criminal!!!

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1 Second Everyday :: Video Tuesdays

 
Hey, remember when I posted videos every Tuesday? I'm not going to promise a video EVERY week, but I can definately feel my blogging/vlogging mojo coming back.

Let's start out slow. Here's a compliation of 'videos' from my phone between Jan and March 2014. It starts the day I moved into my new home in Bristol. I'm making this just for me, but I thought you might be interested to see what I've been up to. 

Music by Hills Have Riffs (DCW Briggs): http://www.facebook.com/HillsHaveRiffs
The app: http://1secondeveryday.com/

Hugs, Kimxo

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A Day with Heather. :: Talented Friends & Bristol.

A Day with Heather. :: Talented Friends & Bristol.

I am so in love with Bristol these days, it's a little out of control, really. Something that makes it such a warm and inviting place for me, is the people that I know that live here or visit often. Two of those people: Heather and Jack. Jack's family have just build a Passive House in thier back yard essentially. It's a stark contrast to the very characterful house that now sits right next to this modern masterpiece. Heather is an artist who has a lot of skills including woodwork, and she helped add some beautiful touches to thier new house. Heather is building a website and needed some photos so of course I said I'd help out. It was mostly just a good excuse to hang out and eat hummous and catch up. We picked a beautiful sunny day and here are some of my favourite photos from the afternnon...
It's so magical to get a peek into someone else's home adventure. I'm feeling very unprepared to take photos of my own house and we've only been here for 4.5 months! ;] Oh well, I know it's a slow process, and of course if you're going to have your house photographed, you're going to have to do some 'dressing'. :] 

Kim xo

P.s. It feels really good to be blogging again. I have a confession to make: I've haven't been using my SLR as much as I used to. I haven't even been carrying it around with me most days! I am, however, using my phone to take snaps a lot... which is kind of where most people are going now, but I gotta admit it was NICE to shoot on a 'real' camera and sit and edit these. It made me miss taking everyday photos this way.

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New shirt from an old favourite shop. :: Style.

New shirt from an old favourite shop. :: Style.

Here is a new addition to my wardrobe. I picked it up on one of my fleeting visits to Bristol. There is a great vintage store on Gloucester Road called Repsycho. (see map) When I was in sixth form, I used to ride my scooter there sometimes and it never fails. They also do a market in st. nicks on a saturday... I think. Anyway- I've gotten a lot of my favourite pieces from there. (Like this shirt. And this jacket. and this is taken in the shop...). I'm sure you've all got a favourite shop- just thought I'd share mine. :] Plus, one of my dear friends lives really close- so it's a perfect excuse to hang out in that part of town. Vintage shopping and a cup of tea, what could be better?Usually, I pick up great men's shirts there too. Thought this would be perfect for autumn (especially paired with this brown cord skirt, am I right?). <3

Bristol jams. :: Talented Friends.

I've been on a little mini holiday the last few days to Bristol and Devon to see friends. While I was in Bristol I got to see all my old friends. They are a seriously inspiring bunch of people.
(Heather, Jack, Sophie) In The Kitchen 1 by The Jam Archive

In particular, Jack Drewry's passion for everything really inspires me. He is one of those people that just has music in them. You can't help but get excited about things when he's around. It's this amazing attitude about music and drama (and everything creative) that makes me adore him so much- not to mention his good humor and all around 'good-guy' mentality. I'll stop gushing now- but I think you really ought to check out these jams that he's been recording recently. They are with a variety of people and as far as I know, all spontaneous.   (Sam.) Vocal Swing by The Jam Archive
(Jack)
You can hear more here. So, here's to good times and good vibes and good sounds.
(Top 3 photographs by Lucy Eskell, a good friend. Last by me.) 

Breakfast for Best Friends. :: Photos/My Life.

Whenever I've stayed at Heather's house- it's always been accompanied by chocolate milk and good food. I will never forget the delishious poached egg in risotto meal. Yummm. On the morning of the 3rd of Jan this year, we treated ourself to tea and toast and fruit and milk and we may have watched a very romantic film like Pride and Predjudice.The perfect relaxed winter morning. She's also got the most wonderful sofa's to cuddle up on. Many happy times there. I do miss Bristol a lot. kxo

2nd Xmas. :: Photographs and friends.

I usually take an age to edit and post big event photos, like birthdays or xmas or holidays. This time is no exception. My friends in Bristol always have a second xmas in the new year just for us. Just us friends. It's always cozy and we attempt a huge meal & there is usually some kind of parlor game and a lot of wine. [: Here are some photos from the last one: Feels so cozy. I miss all of these lovely people. Two of them are coming to London this year to Uni, which I'm excited about- but I've missed out on summer activites (my parent's not living there anymore). Nice to reminisce. :] Kimxo

wintery girl hugs. :: photodump Jan'11

Not living in Bristol anymore means not seeing all my friends during the holidays. I'm not the kind of person to take things for granted, but I never thought that I wouldn't get to see this face every easter, summer, christmas and bank holiday. It makes those moments even more special, I suppose.These were snapped at our 'second christmas' that we have every year at the beginning on Jan. Really good friends aren't a dime a dozen- I'm lucky to have this one. [:Heather, you're a doll. 

The Louie Story Part II

2008 was a big year for me and Louie. I was doing more work for my classes than ever before, I was the photography technician at school, I had several friendship groups to juggle, I was getting ready to open up my etsy shop, I was in a band, I was in a scooter club, I was art journalling every day and blogging and... who knows what else.
It was great to have the freedom of my Vespa to scoot around to friends houses for parties or band practice. I remember, once I got more comfortable, I could ride into Bristol and get my colour film processed during lunch and grab a subway.
I wore my parka basically everyday and was completely in love with Mod fashions. At school there was a 'bike shed' with an overhang where a couple of little motorbikes/scooters would be parked. I was the only girl. It was pretty funny, but the spiders were no laughing matter. yuck.
I was also just getting into Lomography for reals. I swear I never went anywhere without my LC-A. Such a magical time.When summer came and exams were finishing, it was all about going to Harriet's house for movies and band practice or heather's for chocolate milk. A load of my friends loved Louie too, and I'd give them a secret little ride (just around the parking lot) if they were lucky. haha.Harriet and I (right) used to sing 'Lola' really loudly.
The pictures kind of speak for itself so I'll leave it there for now. Part III coming soon!

Read about Part I here. 

The Louie Story part I.

Those of you that have been following my blog since it's inception (and when I had a blogspot called killerxkimxphotography) will know all about my Vespa, Louie. For the new-comers, you might not even know that I have a scooter unless you've looked through my flickrstream loads.

I have some exciting news! Due to my illness, I haven't been able to ride him for nearly two years but this April, I am determined to 'get back on the horse' so to speak. And partly because I'm ridiculously excited and need a count down and partly because I wanted to share these favourite photos with you- I'm going to give you a pretty sentimental recap of The Louie Story.If you'll believe it- I bought this beautiful 150cc Vespa PX from a guy on ebay. I drove a little twist n' go Vespa moped at the time, but I knew that once I turned 17 I could finally get a 'real' scooter. I had a few older Mod friends who were in Scooter Clubs and I always got the piss taken out of me for not having GEARS! The gears on a scooter are on the handlebars (not by your feet like a motorcycle) and to be honest, I was shitting myself about learning gears. haha! Anyway, I digress... I was looking on ebay just to get an approx price so I knew how much I needed to save- when this beautiful minty, bluey, beauty came up. And it was in Bristol. And it ended in 24 hours. It was nearly midnight, I think, but I rushed upstairs to my parents room and actually woke my dad up. I was in love. We went to check it out the next day and I 'gave him an offer, he couldn't refuse'- we paid cash and Louie was mine! I couldn't believe it. It was a very reasonable price as the mirrors were all rusted and the left side panel was smashed up a bit. Louie sat in the garage for two months until I turned 17 and then I started in on the task of learning gears.
I had just started sixth form (like the last two years of high school) which meant no uniforms! It also meant (for me) that guys started paying attention to me. I had an on-again-off-again boyfriend/friend at the time called Matt and we would mainly talk about scooters, music, the 'right' kind of clobber and old films and walk to the bike shed to hang out by Louie (and later, his little matte black vespa). It all felt super romantic at the time, but looking back, we were pretty geeky. haha! I joined the Weston Scooter Club that december where I meant a lot of hilarious guys and they all teased me for driving super slow. I was the only girl... what can I say. haha. It took me a while to get used to a more powerful machine, but I loved every minute of it!During that time I started shooting A LOT of film. I bought my first Holga and I was the Photography Technician at school which basically meant I had to get the darkroom all set up/cleaned up everyday. That made for a lot of very chilly mornings.
I carried my British Airways bag around with me everywhere (what's a Mod without one, eh?) and scooted around to friends houses around the countryside, but still to scared to drive into Bristol until 2008, haha!

I can't quite remember why I originally named him Louie- but, because of Quadrophenia we used to sing "Louie, Louie! ooooooh, no- I said.. We got to go! yeh yeah yehyeaaah." and it just stuck. [:

2008 is coming in part II. [: Hope I'm not boring you too much. You can see more photos of scooter/mod times in this set on flickr.