Welcome to another weekly journal, filled with a busy schedule of photography and enjoyable moments. My highlight this week was the African Art Fair. I connected with fascinating artists and enjoyed hearing their stories about how they created their art and their journey to becoming artists.
First time I went to the Satanic Flea Market, it is a quarterly dark arts and crafts event celebrating its 10th year and featuring over 150 unusual shops full of curiosities & oddities over four floors! The place was packed with music, live drawing of a model and much more. Took some lovely portraits of people and took part in the live drawing of a model.
It is that time of the year when fungi bloom in the Whippendell woods. These magical heterotrophs start to bloom when the conditions are just right, damp and cold. Here are some photos of a nature walk in the woods. One of my favourite times of the year to do nature walks, looking to photograph mushrooms. I organised a nature photowalk each month in Watford; this month it was in Whippendell Woods on the fungi hunt. As you can see from the photos, we found plenty, and it was always good to spot the red toadstool, the fly agaric. Find out when he next photo walks are in my Watford Meetup group.
More Photos - Flickr
After the nature photowalk, I did a photoshoot with Meghan in the woods, filming her in different outfits for the TikTok Shop. I also took some creative shots with the autumn leaves. It’s always enjoyable to photograph Meghan because she is expressive and fun to shoot. Her dance skills also come in handy.
More Photos - Flickr
An early morning photocall at Somerset House was at 8.30 am, which means I left Watford at 7.30 am. This is always a fascinating exhibition, as you get to see art that is not often on display in the UK. 1-54 is the leading global platform for contemporary and modern art from Africa and its diaspora. Drawing reference to the 54 countries that constitute the African continent. It takes place at Somerset House between 16th and 19th October 2025.
A staff member guided us through the main highlights of the art fair, during which we took photos of her with the artworks. With only five photographers present, all familiar with each other, the shoot was friendly and relaxed. Some of the rooms had artists present, so we took photos of them with their artwork.
I wasn’t planning to attend, but while at Somerset House, another photographer mentioned the King would soon arrive there. I quickly crossed the road and made it just in time. Being a press photographer often means uncertainty about what you'll be capturing each day, which adds to the excitement! At 10:30 am, King Charles arrived at Australia House to meet Indigenous leaders for the 40th anniversary of the Uluru handover.
This month’s Colour Walk in Spitalfields Market was my first time in 4 months to visit and photograph. Always great to photograph with all the colourful outfits and to meet up with friends. It has been over six years since I started going to the colour walk, which takes place on the 3rd Thursday of each month. As always, it was very colourful, and I love the portraits I took of the people who went.
The 16th was a hectic day, as later I went back to Somerset House for the evening party for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
More Photos - Flickr
After the morning preview at Somerset House, I attended the evening preview because I didn't have enough time to see everything and needed to file photos to the news agency. I returned to the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at 6 pm. for a couple of hours.
More Photos - Flickr
This was the final event of the week, and I didnt know what to expect. It was a nude dancing performance by two guys. Most of it I couldn’t upload onto the news agency sites. It took place at the Porchester Hall theatre in West London. Repertório N.1 is the final piece of a trilogy by Brazilian artists Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira exploring self-defense as choreography. Since beginning their collaboration in 2018, Pontes and Ferreira, have developed a practice that bridges dance, visual arts and critical theory. Their work draws from their shared experiences and speaks to and from the global majority, amplifying the legacies of queer, Black Brazilian culture.
More Photos - Alamy
That’s it for this week. I am still way behind, but I am gradually catching up with this weekly journal. The Substack membership is now open and includes a calendar of 2026 events; more guides will be added each month. These resources, coming soon, include a standard model release form for you to copy, a guide to my process for exporting and editing photos for News Agencies, and more. You can see a list of upcoming articles here.
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