Photo essay: A stroll along London's Grand Union Canal

"How did you find out about this canal?" inquired a random woman who chatted with me about the swans.

"My brother lives nearby so I thought I ought to have a look."

"You're lucky then. This is one of the most beautiful areas in London."

While Grand Union Canal is certainly not one of London's most well-known tourist attractions, it's utterly charming and romantic with the sweet chime of bicycle bells echoing under its bridges, colourful houseboats, and elegant swans. brring. brring. The narrow lane along the canal is filled with local joggers and bicyclists and the people you meet along the way are exceedingly friendly. This area has a quaint village feel to it and I suppose this is just one of the many varied faces of London I will encounter on my explorations and wanderings about town.

All photography by Shehani Kay. This bit of canal is in the Islington area: from Colebrooke Row to Southgate Road.

Shots from my exhibition at El Gato Verde

Setting up the show on Sunday.

Me and Gina in front of my street art wall.

Me, Belen and Pam enjoying the opening party.

The early crowd. It actually got a lot more crowded than this but by then I was schmoozing and boozing and not thinking of taking photos.

I got final confirmation of the exhibition Wednesday night and in the following days worked so hard on putting together a show that I couldn't even think about my move to London, let alone be sad about leaving Madrid.

Instead I spent my last few days in Madrid curating, getting my photos print ready, framing, working out logistic installation problems, making labels and worrying about the food. This was a DIY project and very labour intensive. Fortunately, I had a lot of help from my friends. They were amazing and I wouldn't have been able to pull off this show without them. So I humbly thank you, in particular:

Buchanan for the enchufe and acting as my advocate

Belen who was my translator and appetizer-making/installation goddess

Gina who helped me curate and put the prints up and whose endless encouragement was like an angel whispering in my tired ear

Sirio who helped me install the show with meticulous efficiency and invited so many people, he filled my exhibition space with bodies.

my buyers, I won't name you but I thank you for your financial support of my work!

and the guys of El Gato Verde for being lovely and to Quique for making it happen by squeezing me in, in between exhibitions.

Besos to the lot of you!!

I got a lot of really positive feedback and I feel like I'm prepared to have another show again soon. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a success! This was my opening/farewell party and so many of my friends came out to wish me well on my new adventure. It was a wonderful night and a awesome way to leave Madrid - not with a whimper but with a bang!

In the next little while, I'll be doing a revamp of this site since I now live in London and need to widen the scope of my blog. I'm also planning on setting up an etsy shop to sell my prints. So stay tuned, exciting changes are on the way.

Today I went for a lovely walk along the canal - one of London's lesser known beautiful spots. A photo essay is currently in the works.

So for now, cheerio!

My Photo Exhibition

I'm super excited about my upcoming show. It's my first ever show and I'm a bouncy ball of nervous and thrilled. So much to do, so little time. This show was an unexpected gift and I plan to carpe diem! A day of random bumping into friends in my barrio, Lavapies, on Friday, led to a solo photo show. How freaking cool is that! Thanks to Buchanan, a man about the barrio extraordinaire, who made this all happen!! You are the man!

I hope that some of you will be able to join me this Sunday and help me make this show a success!

See you Sunday! Besos!

Spring is in the air again and love is all around us.

The weather turned wet and cool and spring-like early last week so I donned my lemon yellow pea coat and began looking out for signs of rebirth. The forecast tells me the sun will return this coming week so I can again look forward to more browning of my face and arms. Yay, for I really need to stock up on sun rays before I set off on my new adventures.

Sending you all some Sunday Love! The rebirth of wonder is all around us!

All photography by Shehani Kay

Jesterday: a photo essay of a guerilla video shoot

We recorded a song based on the tune of Lady Gaga's Poker face a couple weeks ago. My buddy Alex wrote the lyrics and sang the main part. I sang the chorus and the ooh oooh bits. Last Saturday, our crew of 7 took to the streets of Madrid and shot the video guerilla stylee with no permits, just sweat, will power, a camcorder, a tripod, an mp3 version of our song, some portable speakers and a whole lot of laughter.

Here's a little video I made with some of my photos:

On the streets of Lavapies.

We had a chase scene through Plaza Mayor.

The befuddling at the fountain outside Plaza Mayor

Obviously we attracted a lot of stares. We were very entertaining for the locals for sure, who stopped to gawk at us, but we were also an attraction for a couple of tourists who watched us from their taxi for 20 minutes!

Oooooh what silly fun we had. Once the video has been edited, I'll post the link!

Photo Essay: mountain villages, monastery lighting and natural pools

Yesterday was a public holiday in Madrid so a friend and I took a day trip and wandered leisurely around the pretty mountain village of Rascafría, which is in the northwestern part of the Community of Madrid in the Sierra de Guadarrama. We indulged in a long lunch on the terraza by the bubbling brook that runs through the village and sauced ourselves with the huge bottle of wine that came with the menú del día at Casa Juanita for 11€. After we gorged ourselves, we took a stroll around the village. Here's what we saw:

Later we made our way to El Monasterio de El Paular, and sauntered its halls and corridors:

After we finished wandering the grounds around the monastery, we headed over to the nearby Área Recreativa de Las Presillas and lay on the cool grassy meadows along the bank of a series of natural pools formed by the Lozoya River.

We capped the day off by dining in the Plaza Mayor of a charming village called Cercedilla as the dying sun set fire to the surrounding mountains.

Yay for mid-week public holidays! I haven't had the chance to leave Madrid since Christmas so this was a much need sojourn and I feel very blessed for this perfect day away from the city.

Happy weekend everyone!

All photography by Shehani Kay