Photography & My Unspoken Love Of It.

It's been lost within my portfolio of randomness over the years, but I've always loved photography. I adore the multi-faceted array of schooling, thought and opinion on photos and what makes them so capturing in all senses.

I grew up wanting to be behind a camera. I could've made it in that industry, and I maybe still could. However, I wasn't a massive fan of many of the people I met along the way so here we are.

This blog is less ranty, shouty, absurd and full of sad feelings. Instead, please enjoy a few of my favourite photos I've taken and what they mean to me.

Wembley, January 2018. Tottenham had been playing here whilst their new stadium was being completed on top of the site of their old stadium. My now ex-girlfriend and I decided that we should get premium tickets for a cup game against lower league side AFC Wimbledon. Here's the moody aftermath of Tottenham's first of 3 goals on the night, scored in front of us. I like this photo because it captures a lot. A goal, a half-full national stadium, the dark and cold of January and a little bit of joy in the waving of flags and a capitalised 'Goal!' dominating the centre and your eye as you gaze at this image.

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Taken on August 8th 2020, this isn't worth an over-analysis. It's just clean. A photo capturing the view upwards from the bottom of the famous walky-talky building within the City Of London. This building is known for its free sky garden and its original ability to burn anything that was beneath it due to the angling of the glass and the way it used to reflect the sun down like a magnifying glass before it was rectified.

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Haifa, Northern Israel. The home of a vast amount of my family since the 1920s. It's a multicultural city that doesn't hide it. I took this photo in the middle of what's considered a more Arabic side of town. Looking up towards Mount Carmel and the famous Ba'hai temple, which gardens scale all the way up to and beyond the dome building seen in this photo. It's one of the most incredibly well-kept buildings and gardens, providing views beneath it, within it, above it and all around it, honestly.

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White Hart Lane, 2017. Enough culture, back to the football. There used to be a whole section of a football stadium where that big white screen is reading 'The Finale'. But as you can see, the foundations for the much bigger new stadium had to come cascading through in order for the project to run on time. This was the last game of the season and it was against Manchester United. The last ever game within the old walls of White Hart Lane Stadium. Tottenham won, and we invaded the pitch. This photo was taken about 40 minutes before the game kicked off, and the stadium was already almost full. Not a normal thing for English football fans who stay in the bars and pubs right until kick-off. But we all wanted to just take it in before it was gone.

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Haifa, Northern Israel, 2019. Welcome back to my family's city. Welcome to the city my grandma was born and raised in. A city that her father, my great grandfather, made his own after fleeing Nazis in Croatia. This view is from the famous Dan Panorama hotel. It's a 1950's style tower block hotel situated on the side of Mount Carmel, overlooking this section of Haifa. From this distance, you can see the port. My great grandfather worked at that port for his whole Israeli life and career. He would race out to sea to check incoming vessels and greet the captain of the ship, before allowing them to enter Haifa's port.

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I had 4 pints of lager and took this photo last week (end of July 2022). It's not even edited and I took it whilst mid-stride with a friend. This picture shouldn't have come out so centralised and 'right', yet it has, so here it is.

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Lastly, my city in all its glory. I had consumed even more alcohol before I took this at the start of July 2022. Sunsetting over the Thames, over Big Ben and over the London Eye. The water even looks relaxed.