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Last day recap: London Street Style with Mark Lebon

Few world renowned fashion photographers will tell you that they started their career sweeping floors in a building site, or that they had Boy George style looks for them before becoming a musician. But for our final instalment of citizen reports last week, British Fashion Photographer Mark Lebon spoke candidly about his early days starting out and how his career developed. It seems it was all a happy accident and he was surrounded by interesting creative people who were his friends, muses, subjects business partners and confidants. He has since shot some of the biggest names in fashion, music and film around – and he usually snapped them before they shot to fame.

Mark Lebon is a down to earth, fashion icon in his own right. At over 50 years old, he still seems to maintain a youthful artistic spirit and passion about London and the fashion scene. He shared his career path, taking guests on a journey through the London fashion scene of the late 80s and 90s from his enrolment in a Communication Course in the east end, to his early days working with i-D and The Face. He dabbled between film and photography, setting up his own production company early on. And he wore many hats throughout his early career – running night clubs, working as a fashion agent representing emerging designers, producing films and honing his photography skills. Throughout this he says his life has a sense of ‘controlled chaos’ as he hovered around the street scene in London. ‘Nick Knight [Show Studio]  is my peer. We started out at the same time. I was always so in awe at how controlled he was and is’, explained Mark.

  When asked about the evolution of photography and the difference between digital and film, Mark hands down prefers film. He loves shooting on paper. He also reminded guests that ‘hey, just remember, without electricity, digital cannot exist!’.

To check out Mark’s work, visit http://marklebon.com/

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day eight recap: Street Style Photography – London and Beyond with Eddie Otchere

On Wednesday evening, for our final Workshop session, photographer and LCC alum Eddie Otchere shared a history and commentary of Street Photography. He took us back to the late 1800’s and the ‘Flaneur’, the gentlemanly wanderer who strolled freely along the streets of Paris. It was this moment in history when we started capturing and recording street style. “Go out and lose yourself in the streets,” explained Eddie, as he shared a chronological photo history of street images. “Any snapshot taken now is just a snapshot, but think about it in 100 years’ time. It will tell a story and have meaning and context”.

  Eddie Otchere himself an established street photographer uses the streets as a backdrop to capture his acclaimed images for the music industry, sports brands and club culture. He’s a native South Londoner and often inspired by that neighborhood and the music scene down there – capturing the colorful, local drum n’ bass culture.

Eddie shared a few of his favorite spots in London to shoot on the streets. He highlighted places like Monument where you get sweeping views of the city and how great it could be to visit every year and take a photograph of the sky line from the roof top to see how the landscape changes. Brunswick House Café is a cool and quirky place to capture interesting people and things. And you might like to pop into Silver Print, a camera shop in London Bridge that sells all kinds of photography goods.

  To keep the ‘romance of photography’, Eddie suggested getting a disposable camera (£5!). “It takes great pictures and the process of having to get the film developed and not knowing what will come out is exciting”. 

Why not assume the roll of the Flaneur and go out and show us your best street photos. It could be a piece of street art, a person or people engaged in conversation, a scene without human presence or anything of your choice. You can tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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meet: Mark Lebon

Have you missed previous workshops and talks? Here is a recap: Images from the Front Lines by Carol Allen Storey Alternative London Street Sports by Dan Edwardes from Parkour Generations.  Everything is Art by Mr. Bingo The Changing Faces of London by Homer Sykes Street Food Revolution by Jamie Berger & Victoria Stewart 

Tonight #citizenMreports is hosting the guest speaker fashion photographer Mark Lebon.

Mark Lebon is a world renowned artist and  photographer A key contributor to the 'Buffalo' movement which embraced multi-cultural 1980s London and began to depict this diversity in fashion photography, Mark was one of the first photographers to snap the one and only Madonna.

He studied at West Sussex College of Art and Design and North East London Polytechnic and started his career working for magazines such as  i-D and The Face. Since then his clients have included Rifat Ozbek, Katherine Hamnet, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. Mark Lebon also runs Crunch Productions, working in fashion, advertising, broadcasting, and music promotion. He currently teaches fashion photography at the London College of Fashion, as well as having contributed early photo blogs to showstudios.com, he has continued work as a filmmaker and photographer.

Join us tonight and hear from Mark Lebon on "London Street Style: out of the gutter, onto the page and into the street", at citizenM London Bankside. There are few seats left, to sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.

credit photo: Mark Lebon

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Street food revolution in London!

Share with us photos of your favorite street foods, food trucks or home-made meals. We want to see and hear what makes your mouth water. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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Street food revolution in London!

Share with us photos of your favorite street foods, food trucks or home-made meals. We want to see and hear what makes your mouth water. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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day seven recap: Street Food Revolution with Jamie Berger & Victoria Stewart

Yesterday’s street food revolution workshop focused on the rise of young people accessing really, really great food on the streets of London. Jamie Berger, co-founder Pitt Cue and Victoria Stewart, food journalist and Evening Standard features commissioning editor, stressed the influence of social media in being the key ingredient in kick starting the street food revolution. Stewart mentioned how social media helped capture the “buzz’ for street food and therefore allowing food startups to expand and grow from a food truck in a Peckham car park to a restaurant in Soho. This was exactly how Jamie Berger co-founded BBQ specialist, Pitt Cue. Within days of Pitt Cue opening, Twitter had created a fantastic buzz about their BBQ truck and the tweets had caught the attention of food bloggers, local and national press. Berger mentioned it was the early followers that took them where they are now. Pitt Cue now has a restaurant in Soho and a pop-up on the Southbank and Berger now wants to focus on sourcing his own produce and even joked about creating a Twitter account for the farm.

  Victoria Stewart again mentioned how the passion for this "guerilla dining" was down to how Twitter created an incredible hype which sold out events instantly. For example the Tweat (tweet and eat) Up presents Ribstock, a pop-up in Soho, which is a battle between the UK’s best rib chefs, sold out in no time. Twitter has also encouraged the top chefs in London to open up to a new and younger audience, changing London’s fast food scene by making really great food affordable. And recently ES magazine published their 20 best food trucks where most of them only reveal their locations on Twitter. These pop-up phenomenon’s such as the eat.st collective which promotes British street food and Red Market, East London’s original night market inspired Stewart to create her own blog called the London Street Foodie. Stewart blogs reports from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between.

Show us your photos of your favorite street foods, food trucks or home-made meals. We want to see and hear what makes your mouth water. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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London pop’s up, by Sabine de Witte

Go on a cultural or shopping spree

As a London visitor or citizen who’s not really into sports, you don’t have to worry, there’s plenty of other activities you could still do. For example visiting the museums for free. All the National museums don’t require an entrance fee. Not only during the Olympics though, all the time! Besides exploring cultural stuff, you can finally give in to your shopping spree. All the London citizens were ‘warned’ not to go in the city center. So now you can find your favorite items in the last weeks of sale without any elbows in your eye, fighting over items and long lines in front of the cash. 

Pop-up

Not looking for sale but searching for special items? Here you go: London pop’s up this summer! Literally everywhere you see new pop-up stores, temporary shops and mobile trucks. Big brands like Opening Ceremony chose the summer period to open up in London and stay there until October at least. The pop-up store in King Street is completely decorated with Olympic gimmicks and exposes a lot of fashion with a sporty touch. And do you remember the water shoes you used to wear as a little kid? Well, Melissa makes them fashionable again. She turned plastic into high fashion and works with designers like Jason Wu and Vivienne Westwood.

  One of my personal favorites is the Chanel Pop-up store at Covent Garden. Small, but a great presentation of their latest make-up and their brilliant nailpolish collection. Holiday is the perfect color to treat yourself with!

Olympic winks

The LOCOG’s brand ambassadors have been very strict on using the Olympic rings, colors or names in windows of shops, restaurants etc. If you’re not an official partner, you’re not allowed to use them. That took some creativity and there are some windows really worth mentioning. Escaping the Olympic logo, clothing store Oasis did a great job. They created a complete limited edition collection called London Love Letters, celebrating London landmarks in all their glory. A great way of honoring the Olympic city and show some city love. Compliments for the Reiss London guide. The London based brand became popular after duchess Kate Middleton was wearing some of their dresses. Reiss brings you affordable classic items with a modern twist. For this summer they’ve created a London guide mentioning all their shops and favorite spots per area. With a smart map showing where the Olympic activities take place (and what to avoid if you’re not looking for sports), great insiders tips and a handbag prove size. Classy Reiss!

Temporary fun

Of course it’s not only shops popping up and taking over the city. Nike has a pop-up spot where they organize events, trainings, tests and workshops. There are temporary restaurants, food trucks and park entertainment. Most of the temporary fun can be found in London city, but upcoming areas as Shoreditch and Southbank are popping up as well. Planning a trip to London during the final days of the Olympics, or later this summer? Check out the brilliant blog http://www.londonpopups.com/ to see where to go for the newest fun in town! Wanderlust also created a handy list with all the events going on during the Olympics. Not interested in sports but you do like to party? Tickets to the Holland Heineken House and a crazy night is ensured!

By Sabine de Witte (Twitter: @sabinedewitte) A passionated copywriter intrigued by the magic and effect of words. "Writing is my passion and lifestyle, curiosity is what feeds me."

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Changing London!

Whether is an interesting neighbourhood or the ‘Olympic people’ (staff, tourists, Londoners) around town, we want to hear from you too. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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day six recap: The Changing Faces of London with Homer Sykes

Yesterday renowned documentary and portrait photographer Homer Sykes kicked off week two of citizenM Reports. Having worked for The Telegraph, Sunday Times, Time and Newsweek, Homer took the group through his incredible photos of changing London decade by decade, from the 1970s through the present.

Homer has captured everything from the shops along Brick Lane and workers strikes in the 1970s, the decadent London clubs and punk scene of the 1980s to the pre-construction setting at Olympic Park leading up to the Games.

What makes a photograph great according to Homer? Its all about opening your eyes and not missing the moment! Take note of all the small details that place you in a particular moment in time. Tell a story with every image, notice important landmarks, clothing and street signs, and always tell a story.

Show us your photos of changing London! Whether is an interesting neighbourhood or the ‘Olympic people’ (staff, tourists, Londoners) around town, we want to hear from you. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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update: workshop "Street Food Revolution"

Unfortunately, Ellie Grace will no longer be able to co-host the street food workshop with Jamie Berger. Read the original post about this workshop.

On the other hand, we are really pleased that food journalist and Evening Standard features commissioning editor Victoria Stewart is now co-hosting the event! Victoria has also just started a street food blog, http://londonstreetfoodie.co.uk, and is very enthusiastic about participating in #citizenMreports. While you can check out the blog, here is a short introduction from her:

During the day, I’m the features commissioning editor for the London Evening Standard newspaper where, amongst other things, I coordinate the food pages. I’ve always loved finding and eating street food but I think this is the year it’s going to take over the city.

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, 7th August, for the workshop “Street Food Revolution: London’s changing food scene, from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between”, at citizenM London Bankside. This workshop is open to the public and free to attend, few spaces left. To sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.

credit photo: Victoria Stewart

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Alternative art or street art? Here is a contribution from Victor Jarque and Emma Boneham after Mr. Bingo's workshop.

Show us what you find in the streets of London! Snap a photo of accidental art and anything out of the ordinary on the streets and tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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day four recap: Everything is Art with Mr. Bingo

An illustrator and graphic artist by trade, Mr. Bingo is always snapping moments of unexpected inspiration he finds on the streets of his East London neighbourhood. The Master of Pens, also known to many as ‘the Justin Bieber of drawing,’ spoke to a packed crowd yesterday at citizenM.

One typically thinks of art as something only found in a gallery or museum. Not so for Mr. Bingo, who believes there is an infinite supply of free art on the street all around us every day. He took the group through a slideshow of accidentally beautiful and funny found images he comes across on the street. With a little imagination, you can find ‘art’ everywhere, from amusingly dumped objects to funny signs. In Mr. Bingo’s world a pile of discarded furniture becomes the scene of house party, a stain on the sidewalk is the outline of an old man’s face smoking a fag, stacks of punctured cardboard boxes become a series of faces of shock and dismay, ‘buffing’ used to cover up graffiti can form amazing abstract patterns.

Next up for Mr. Bingo is the publication of a book of his infamous offensive postcards, Hate Mail, being released this autumn by Penguin, and you can check out more of his work at http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/.

Show us what you find in the streets of London! Snap a photo of accidental art and anything out of the ordinary on the streets and tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenm.com.

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meet: Jamie Berger & Ellie Grace

Have you missed previous workshops and talks? Here is a recap: Images from the Front Lines by Carol Allen Storey Alternative London Street Sports by Dan Edwardes from Parkour Generations. 

Next Tuesday, Jamie Berger, Pitt Cue's co-founder and Ellie Grace, French & Grace's co-founder will be leading the workshop "Street Food Revolution: London's changing food scene, from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between", scroll down to learn how to join. Below is a short introduction about them:

Jamie Berger

Jamie read Chinese at Cambridge and sold his house upon graduation to put money behind his college friend Karan (now Lord) Bilimoria to found Cobra Beer.  Once Cobra had become an established brand, Jamie become a non-executive director and left to pursue pastures new. After a stint as an investment banker in the Far East, Jamie completed a PhD at Harvard where he taught for two years before taking up research posts at Tokyo University, for two years, and the Collège de France, in Paris, for three.  Returning to England to head up the London office of an American business intelligence firm, Jamie was quickly reminded why he had left the corporate world in the first place and fell back on his joint loves: food and drink. Having been given his first cocktail shaker by his American mother at 12, Jamie finally realised his dream of setting up a food truck when he co-founded Pitt Cue Co. in 2011 with his chef-friend Tom Adams.  After a successful summer serving Southern US barbecue, bourbon and beer on London's Southbank, Pitt Cue Co. opened in bricks-and-mortar in Soho in January 2012. 

Ellie Grace

Ellie Grace is co-founder of French & Grace, which started as Salad Club together with her friend Rosie French, an award-winning food blog and supper club. Due to popular demand from an ever-growing and loyal fan base, they expanded to become part of the mobile street food crew, Eat.st, and even opened their own restaurant in Brixton Village in October 2011. In May 2012, first cook book was published with Kyle Books - Kitchen & Co: Colourful Home Cooking Through the Seasons.

Next Tuesday, 7th August, Jamie and Ellie will be leading the workshop “Street Food Revolution: London's changing food scene, from markets to food trucks and everywhere in between”, at citizenM London Bankside. This workshop is open to the public and free to attend, limited spaces available. To sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.

credit photos: Jamie Berger, Tim Pohle

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alternative sports in London range from suitcase to 'cloud' surfing, or the interior designer Marc who turns into a trapeze artist after work.

share your alternative sport by tweeting #citizenMreports, blogging or emailing us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com.

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During yesterday's workshop, Dan Edwardes challenged all citizens out there to share alternative sports to Olympics. Here is a submission by Toby Andrew (@toby_andrew).

But what is YOUR alternative sport? Get out there with you cameras or iPhones and take a look at all of the non Olympic sports happening in the streets. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com. We’re excited to share your reports here.

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day two event recap: alternative sports

What is an alternative sport anyway? This was the question posed by Dan Edwardes at yesterday’s workshop. Dan is the founding member of Parkour UK, a physical discipline rooted in martial arts that involves running, jumping, vaulting and climbing within an urban landscape with a rapidly growing following of hundreds of thousands members globally.

With Olympic fever sweeping London, it seems like a fitting moment to think about what defines ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative.’ Is it something non-commercial? Niche? Without rules? Non-competitive? The answer: none of the above. The audience for non Olympic sports actually far outnumbers what we see as more conventional sports, many of these have enjoyed huge commercial success and involve strict discipline and training.

So, get out your cameras and iPhones and take a look at all of the non Olympic sports happening in the streets of London. Whether its BMX bike polo or juggling, you might be surprised at what you find. Tweet, blog or post #citizenMreports or email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com. We’re excited to share your reports with the world.

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day two: alternative London Street Sports

What is your example of non Olympic sports? Tonight, Dan Edwardes shows London Street Sports. Read about him here and come to join the workshop "Alternative London Street Sports", which is open to the public and free to attend. To sign up, email us at citizenMreports@citizenM.com, limited spaces available. Location: citizenM London Bankside

credit image: @avleeming