LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST...

The Secret Wedding Photographers

This is Antonia, one of my best friends, on her wedding day.

I think it's beautiful.

It was taken by my very talented little brother George Torode who has recently launched a wedding photography company The Secret Wedding Photographers with Victoria Nightingale. Their aim is to produce non-cheesey, slightly reportage type pictures that really capture the spirit and emotion of the event.

They say: Their unique approach utilises the best facets of their collective experience, which they apply with integrity to every shoot. Subtlety underpins a contemporary, fly-on-the-wall style of photography, allowing them to blend into the scene and letting your day flourish uninterrupted. The approach to each project is personalised from the outset; focusing on teamwork to create the level of documentation that a wedding deserves, and leaving you with images that are natural, graceful and timeless.

If you know anyone who is planning a wedding it would be lovely if you could pass along his website.

http://www.thesecretweddingphotographers.co.uk/

Tell George that his big sis sent you...

Good Ideas Salon London, PSFK

I spoke at the PSFK session last year and really enjoyed the day. Unlike a lot of other conferences where you can feel part of a cattle-herd of attendees, this is always a bit smaller, a bit more interactive (in the types of conversations and debates that are sparked) and always a bit cheaper (in terms of ticket prices!)
In Pier's own words:

"On 30th January 2009, PSFK will host a day long Good Ideas Salon in London in association with The Guardian newspaper. For the event, PSFK will curate a collection of their favourite forward-focused innovators and thought leaders to discuss ideas in the fields of arts & culture, collaboration, design, digital, marketing, mobile and youth."

There are still a couple of days to go, badger your work and get them to pay for a ticket. Remember in a recession a brain still needs to be fed as well as a body...

Contemplating Interesting08

A few years back Russell Davies blogged about being interesting, if you never read the original post or have not read it recently then click thru and get acquainted, its good stuff.

"The way to be interesting is to be interested. You’ve got to find what’s interesting in everything, you’ve got to be good at noticing things, you’ve got to be good at listening. If you find people (and things) interesting, they’ll find you interesting."

Jeremy Bullmore once said to me that the best Planners were people who found something genuinely interesting in every single section of the Sunday papers.It doesn't matter if you have no car and have no interest in Cars & Motoring for example, take a look and surprise yourself by what you find. It all comes from the same essential premise that interesting people are interested in the world around them, not just the advertising world, the world world.

Russell's annual conference of Interesting which took place in London on 22nd was totally Ronsealin a brilliant way! Although I had nothing to do with it, it actually made me feel very proud of the community that Russell and his blogs have helped to facilitate. The fact that hundreds of people gave up their precious Saturday to go and listen to bizarre, brilliant but above all interesting people taking about stuff that they felt passionately about was oddly life/career-affirming.

There was so much that I enjoyed, even the speakers who just went over my head were still interesting. As soon as the links to the video are posted I will share them, but worth checking over at Russell's blog this week.

So 24 hours on, what are the things that have stayed fresh in my mind?

I loved the old school turntable zoetrope

I loved the talk about vacuum cleaners and RHOPOGRAPHY - the study of the trivial and overlooked.

I loved the talk on Creative Generalists and realized that is probably what I am!

The talk on booze and creativity was fascinating - gin being the enabling technology of the 18th century was a good thought...

F's fav was the guy who talked/played a presentation about the intersection of guitar music and album art and design.

(I have hunted on YouTube to see if people have uploaded footage, but no luck - BTW, how badly does the search functionality on YouTube suck!!!)

So many Hellos needed, it really seemed like all the great and the good of advertising etc were there - The Divine Miss N, Almost Always Thinking, Blackbeltjones, Johnny Vulkan, Mark Earls, Beeker, Paul Colman, Antony Goh, Yusuf, Will, Tom, John, Asi, Jeremy, Grad In The City, Anjali, Ruby Pseudo....lovely to see you all!! I think that Beersphere needs to get started again...

And almost forgot, the gorgeous-sounding handmade scotch eggs from Andrew at C4

The latest in "Blow Outs" and "Touch Ups"

Daniel Hersheson's Blow Out Bar at Topshop, Oxford Circus

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.
Topshop, as ever the UK's High Street fashion leader, does it again. Great idea, totally on brand, based out of a real consumer need.

Girls, especially girls with wavy/curly hair, struggle with their hair. I am aware that this might make me sound a bit of a bimbo, but it's a valid insight so I'm going to carry on! When we come out of the hairdressers we look and feel a million dollars, because our hair looks incredible. But most of us can't afford to get our hair done like that every week. In New York the weekly "blow out" is just something that women do without even thinking about. Salons are set up specially for this - they're quick and not expensive. Similar to New York's numerous nail bars.

Until now we've never had anything like this in London.

Topshop comes along, and in association with West End hair-dresser Daniel Hersheson, launch Hersheson's Blow Dry Bar. It's such a simple concept. 7 different styles (from Super Straight to hipster Wavy Gravy and the classic up-do Bardot), they all take 30 minutes and they all cost 19

Brilliant

Only downside is that Topshop have decided on a  No Appointment policy which means that you can wait for well over 1 hour and 10 minutes. And although my hair  did look great and  I received loads of complements at later on that night, my time would have been more happily spent  and profitably spent for Topshop shopping rather than waiting on line.

I gather that this is the start of a nationwide roll-out for Hershson and Topshop, but this could be used as a form of "Pop Up" retail for other fashion/beauty brands. The concept is aleady set to be a huge success.

Another great idea for the girls - on brand and based out of a real consumer insight:

Max Factor's Glamour Cab is out and about the streets of London this festive season. Another great and simple idea based out of a real insight. At this time of year girls, women, ladies rush from office to bar to party without really having the time or the place to apply their party make up. The Glamour Cab is the answer to this problem - complete with pink cushions, champagne and most importantly Ellen Bradley, Max Factor's senior make up artist, the cab not only drops you for free at your destination but you also get a quick make up "touch up". Reminds me of an idea that we pitched to Boots for one of their make up brands. Was a good idea when we pitched it and it has remained a good one now that another brand has decided to do it!

Interested to know if anyone has seen it/used it?