Week 4: The Element of Surprise

The Delight of a New Experience

It's week 4, we're already at the end of January feeling like we've got to the end of the train journey and you look around thinking, what, we're already here. I certainly felt like that when I travelled for the first time last year, on the Eurostar. The destination as you might have guessed, was Paris. Like a man who had just arrived on the island, I hadn't experienced the Eurostar before. I was thinking it was going to luxury, arm chairs, afternoon tea, a bar in every carriage and tv's behind every seat... I was jolted into reality. It wasn't like that at all. Nevertheless the journey whizzed by, helped that I had good company in my long time school friend Jag, some headphones for some music and my book. Now, I don't know about you, but being a creative, I often judge a book by it's cover, and then I read the synopsis on the back. Being a creative, I judge and critique every piece of design I see, whether it's a poster on the tube, an ad on youtube, a website I am browsing or a new menu on an app. It gets my once over. I should probably start a video podcast critiquing other people's design work. Constructive criticism of course. I digress.

I love reading books but as is often the case, I don't read enough and don't carve out time (which I definitely have) in my day to dive into a good book. I love the type of book that I cannot let go of, the kind of book which take you to another world (no, I don't mean Mordor), I just mean away from reality. So much so, that you might miss your tube stop or not hear someone talking to you. Here's a tip for you, when you are reading, put some headphones on, and play some instrumental music that relates to the theme of the book. That'll really get you into the zone. For example, I've done that many time when reading Sherlock and putting on the BBC Sherlock series soundtrack by David Arnold. It's brilliant.

One thing that really pisses me off is movie trailers. These days, they include every single bit of action and the best lines from the film. Where has the element of surprise now? Can you imagine if they made a trailer for Usual Suspects now? I won't spoilt it for you but it's brilliant. I think, if I am not mistaken, please do correct me, the idea for the essence of the film was taken from the Naked Gun films. I might be wrong.

So now I don't watch movie trailers anymore. I just want to know the essence of the film and perhaps who is directing and who stars in the film. Something that I noticed on my walks at lunch time around Angel, Islington, which I thought took the element of a movie trailer away, is this... "Blind Date with a Book". This concept is sitting proudly outside the Upper Street Bookshop, an independent book store in Angel. The idea is you don't know what book you are buying, but you get the basic idea of the book and nothing else. It's wrapped in a beautiful brown wrapping paper... as per the photos. And you can't ask the booksellers what book is inside. The element of surprise. Who knows what book you may discover. I love this concept. Discover a new author, a new story, a new trilogy or a new genre.

We can take this into our lives. This week, I photographed someone new, I went to my first salsa class, I had lunch with someone new and wait for it... I tried a new japanese tea in my favourite Japanese Tea House. The tea is called Hojicha and I had a Hojicha latte. The tea house is called Katsute 100. I am still waiting for an email back from them on whether I can photograph them making tea. Hoping that I can feature them here. Watch this space.

Let me know what you think. Follow me on this journey.

If you'd like to work on a photo with me one week, feel free to drop me a message via Instagram @bimalt or via my contact form.