nu:studio

A few weeks back I had an email from a friend who told me that a random mail invite featuring one of my photographs had landed on his desk at Bauer Media up in Peterborough. The invite was to a photography event called Ffotography Futures, part of the Creative Capitol events at Canary Wharf, London. I had no idea what it was all about and much confusion ensued until I received a phonecall from my old uni tutor explaining all. I'd been invited as one of the top photographic alumni of the University of Wales (!) to be a part of their new art and commerce project called nu:studio and since I was planning on being in London with C that week anyway, we rejigged our plans to coincide with the launch.

For the first time in my life I joined the early morning squish of the London underground commute and took the tube to this huge corporate hell of a place where everyone has pallid skin & carries a Blackberry & bashes your knees with their briefcase as you all zombie march together towards the escalators. I was super early so was banished by the doorman to an underground pit of polyester suited despair where I was served up a cup of corporate hate by the rudest Italian in Canary Wharf. Lovely.

Thankfully the actual event was far more welcoming! After getting signed in and dropping off my bag (containing my trainers - I'm not  hardcore business enough to wear heels all day long yet!) I hit the tea & biscuits buffet, saw a few people I knew and introduced myself to the ones I didn't; Stuart Bailes and Faye Gibson were there as well as our old tutor Geraint Cunnick. And I met Michal Iwanowski (who it turned out I had actually met at an exhibition at Chapter a few weeks previous) and a retoucher called Liz Richmond who was tiny & gorgeous & extremely talented. After a spot of networking (& more biscuit eating) we all took our seats in front of three giant Canon digital screens that  imposed upon the entire front half of the room. Various people talked about the importance of engaging young, creative talent in professional industries and I got a small, nerdy kick out of watching my work get projected so big! By and large, the most important person there was Francis Hodgson and he didn't disappoint; engaging, intelligent, perceptive... fantastic! I was introduced to him at the end and plonked one of my best looking busines cards into his hand.

We finished with an elaborate buffet and they cracked open the wine at 11am which was a shame as I absolutely cannot drink so early in the morning. I snuck away during a random fashion show and went back to the hotel with C for a little nap as I am terrible at getting up early and completely non-functional without enough sleep. The rest of our London jolly involved tea & sandwiches & all the silly little things I enjoy about going away. Our hotel on Edgeware Road; a nondescript glass fronted place, completely indistinguishable on a a street of indian supermarkets, fruit stalls, electrical shops and creepy collection boxes for 1970s blind children charities. Wandering around Soho, eating strawberry tart at Maison-Bertaux, checking out a the vintage guitar shops and then over to Oxford Street so I could fail to splurge on the disappointing selection of centenary celebration products at Selfridges. Pulling my cardigan over the goosebumps on my arms and slipping my hand under C's elbow as the wind picked up. He's warm & smokey but he hardly ever wears any kind of aftershave and I find it strange not to have a boy-perfume reference to place him. Dinner at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in Soho. Trying to find a place to drink afterwards was frustrating as locating decent bars in London has never been my strong point and C has no sense of direction. We caught the tube to Angel for the Dan Auerbach & the Fast Five gig at the Academy. Oh. My. Word. AMAZING! Opening with "Oh-oh-oh, I want some more," prowling the stage on some kind of animalistic post narcotic sex stomp, guitar straps glittering, beautiful lighting, TWO drummers and dirty harmonies. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ After the show we bought beers & sweets & fruit from the Sainsbury's over the road and took them back to the hotel. Finally a huge breakfast, tube to the Saatchi gallery (closed for a private view), stroll around Chelsea, coffee at Patisserie Valerie where we saw Davina McCall, Habitat & furniture shops, stumbling across a gorgeous little church park full of pigeons, walking to Kensington, V&A for a few hours, Harrods for cake then picking up our bags and catching the train home.

So, if you're interested; nu:studio is a Newport School of Art, Media & Design project that provides professional services to the creative industries including consultancy, training, career and business development. Things to do on the nu:studio website:

• Check out my portfolio.
  
• Commission the finest in creative graduate talent.
  
• Benefit from a comprehensive range of consultancy services.
  
• Or purchase artwork direct from the source.

But don't go to the Cafe Nero in Canary Wharf. It sucks.