london!/instagram

And just like that, the book is finished and off to the printers, I get a bit of work done for one of my favorite (and first!) clients and I am off to London. Time for a bit of an adventure for me. YAY!!!!!!!!
I am here for all the fun and friends of London Design Festival and then off to Antwerp to photograph some wonderful places and people. If you want to follow along in real time, your best bet is to follow me on Instagram . My handle is lesliewilliamson . Don't be alarmed that my account is private. I love to get followers and will accept your request asap, I just keep it private for copyright reasons. If you have been missing my posts which have been rather sporadic as of late, you'll get a nice hit of images from following on Instagram.
I will be posting here for longer posts where I have something to say and images that are not from my iPhone (my IG is Iphone pics only).
Whichever way works best for you, I look forward to sharing another adventure with you all! Here we go!!  : )

old operating theatre/london

On my visit to London in September, I visited the Old Operating Theatre Museum. Truth be told, this was one of my "I am not leaving without visiting" destinations. I love things like this! Maybe it is because I was weaned on Masterpiece Theatre, or that I have a fascination with surgery (I have photographed a few...) - I don't really know, but the room itself did not disappoint. It is surprisingly small and the details (like the little box of sawdust under the table to soak up the blood) added so much to my imagining this room in use. It is rather horrific to think what it would have been like to have had surgery without all the modern advances like anesthetic, X-rays, etc. - you know little things like that. There was a display of old surgical instruments that was rather harrowing/fascinating as well.
The theatre is located in the attic of an old church which added a layer of intrigue to the visit. We had to climb up a spiral staircase into the attic and then go through another part of the "museum" that was filled with old apothecary artifacts called the "Herb Garret". That part of the museum was a little hokey in my estimation, but hey...what ever floats your boat. I added a couple images of the Herb Garret at the end there. Funky, right? Wonder what the alligators were used for...

freud's couch/london

Sigmund Freud's couch. It is so crazy to look at this and think how the things said on this couch have affected our understanding of human psychology. If you believe in Freud's theories or not, you cannot dispute his influence.
Just to paint the picture for you, Freud sat in that green velvet chair, just out of the sightline of his patients. Fascinating, right?

rewind/dr. freud/london

Well today it starts my friends. I am going back to the beginning of all this travel I have been doing and filling in what I have glossed over. There is so much I have not yet shared. Like this image of Sigmund Freud's office. Some of you may know I am a bit obsessed with Dr. Sigmund Freud and this office. He actually didn't really see a lot of patients here because he was rather ill by the time he was in London. But when he fled Vienna, his office was meticulously packed up and shipped over to London and reconstructed in his home in Hampstead. Can you imagine the thoughts he had sitting in that chair?

happy halloween/

cabinet war rooms/london

While I was visiting London a couple of weeks ago I went to the Winston Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms. For those of you that are unfamiliar, this was the secret bunker where Winston Churchill and the British government worked and planned during WW2. I remember my first visit when I was 19. It had a huge effect on me. The idea that a door would be locked and not opened for 30 years was so thrilling somehow. I was thinking about it is fair to say that my obsession with preserved and "time capsule" interiors started here. The first time I was there I was not even shooting (I did not start taking pictures until I was 20 or 21), so I brought my camera this time. Of course it was so dark it was like shooting in night time and the images are all grainy, etc. but I still love it in there.
On another note, I was working on this post yesterday and had to laugh when I realized that everything is beds. You see yesterday I did my last shoot for this trip (whohoo!!!) and it had the funniest effect on me. I just got sooo sleepy! I am practically narcoleptic, falling asleep anywhere and everywhere. Even my subconscious is telling me I need some rest though the edit of this post! Guess it is a good thing I am heading back to California early tomorrow.

london/random highlights

Just a few random shots from my time in London this past week. I was tooling around with friends enjoying the London Design Festival. A much needed week without any major photo shoots. These are all from my iPhone. The first is across the street from Established & Sons Studio Showroom.
The next two are from Jasper Morrison's tiny store in Shoreditch near his studio. My favorite exhibit was probably his crazy little show of different tape from around the world (you know how I love those collections). The last is from the beautiful Bruno Munari show at the Estorick Collection called "My Futurist Past". Of course I liked the utility of the fire extinguisher and alarm switches with his poster.

max lamb/nyt.people watching/outtakes

My all time favorite from the outtakes at Max Lamb's London home. There is something perfect here...
See more here.

max lamb/nyt.people watching/outtakes

Lots of outtakes from my NYT People Watching post on Max Lamb. This first one is one of my favorites, and Max's too as I recall. I love his collection of Richard Batterham jugs just standing there like little soldiers.
See more on Max here.

speedies/shoreditch

Just an image today from my travels - this one in London.
They had some good stuff in that shop...

note from london/freudian goodness

My time here is London is coming to a close. I had so many things I wanted to do and see and in the end I was working on the next People Watching post for the NYTimes a lot longer than I planned. But hey...you gotta get it right.
Anyhow, it all works out the way it is supposed to. I did get to see the Lucian Freud exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday, which was an absolute priority for me. So today when I was deciding what to do with my last day I just could not resist the pull of the Sigmund Freud Museum. I have wanted to go for years. I am fascinated by him and his office - the couch the chair. No photos allowed in the museum (of course I will be returning for a proper shoot soon), but they did let me shoot the ceiling in what is now the gift shop. Ernst Freud (Sigmund's son and Lucian's father) was an architect, so these fantastic skylights were his work. A couple more from all the Freud experiences as well. Both powerful emotional experiences for me. But the Lucian Freud show had me in tears. I saw some of my most favorite paintings on the planet for the first time.
Heading to NYC tomorrow for a brief shoot! Tomorrow I'll be in the USofA. How strange!

Sigmund Freud's home in Hampstead.

Something about this quote really resonates with me. Of course the rooms I shoot, I don't know when I enter, but I know them as intimately as I can when I leave. And I am there because I love and am interested in the people.

note from london/bethan laura wood

Spent a really lovely afternoon with designer Bethan Laura Wood today talking about laminate and light. I kinda love her! Just one quick image from her tiny studio! Check out her work here or at Nilufar.

note from london/day 3/max lamb

I just had the best day!!! I cannot really say too much about where I was or why, but this is a quick shot from my phone that I love. I think it is nondescript enough. Fantastic London live/work space. Can't wait to share more. Soon!

About to drop off the map for a few days to shoot the first house for the book! I am rather coming unglued with excitement. When all the planning was getting frustrating, or irritating, I would think about being in this particular house finally shooting the book. So much prep goes into these trips that finally getting to actually shoot just feels like aaaahhhhhhh! I am happy.  ; )

note from london/day 2

I finally made a pilgrimage to a shop I have wanted to visit for years. Labour & Wait. I got a crush on their brush collection (of course these aren't for sale). They had plenty of other brishes for sale though and many more perfect, well made utilitarian household objects. I mean...they sell pencils! That makes me happy just alone, but so much more wonderful stuff there. Take a look at their website. I bought two perfect cotton handkerchiefs. I like cotton better that silk to wear on my head when I shoot (silk just slips right off).
I was actually in Shoreditch to do my first radio interview for Present Radio. It airs this Sunday. (Present is a really great mens shop, btw. You should check them out too! covetable stuff!) I had a wonderful time chatting with Grace about my musical leanings and working on Handcrafted Modern and how they two are so very inextricably linked for me. Have a listen if you feel like it. I'll post a link after it airs.