My Guide to Sydney

Hi Andrew,

You requested some ideas about what to see in Sydney. I've stayed away from the most obvious activities such as catching the ferry to Manly because you already know about those. This document features just a few of my favourite things about my home city that I particularly recommend.

 x Sonia.

Seals on the beach

Every Winter Norfolk's Horsey beach becomes a seal pup nursery. 

On Friday 700 seals were counted. 

The pups can't swim just yet and they haven't acquired their sea coats so 

they just loll around drinking milk and gaining 2 kilos a day 

until they are ready to head for the water. 

Starvation and disease mean that only 40% survive. 

This little one loved the camera and seemed very mature in some of her poses.

Norwich Festival 2012

Music video shoot no. 3 at the Gorleston Pavilion

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OutThere Festival Great Yarmouth Sept 2014

The OutThere Festival is an extraordinary gathering of European circus and entertainment acts all gathered in and around St George's Park, Great Yarmouth. Eclectic and eccentric on the East Coast.

I love this shot, it reminds me of Martin Parr's work.

Film shoot for Bradley Buxton's new music video

Sunday morning and we had a 7am start because Biddy's opens to the public at 10am. Only problem was someone locked the door from the outside and the keys were inside. I broke in with a coat hanger hook strapped to an umbrella. Everyone was a great sport and it felt more like a late night at L'Agile Lapin, Montmartre, circa 1905 than Upper Goat Lane, Norwich 2014. 

Sleaze and cupcakes, delicious. 

36 hours in London with mum

2 days in London isn't long but with careful planning I managed to squeeze in lots of treats I hoped mum would enjoy.

Istanbul 2014

I love this city and my recent visit was all the
more special for introducing mum to its charms. 

Stuck in a lift with balloons

Norfolk & Norwich Festival May 2014, stuck in a fake lift
with strangers whilst silly people stuffed it full of balloons and then popped them. Why?

Amused at the old Hippodrome

Spent a hot sticky Friday indoors at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome with Will, posing as Victorian snobs in taffeta and pearls. It was like entering Angela Carter's "The Magic Toyshop". This place is all the better for its neglect and total absence of curation.   

Will collecting shots for his next painting.

The natural light gave these ready-made sets a Vermeer quality.

Berghapton Sculpture trail 2011 - Journey

Berghapton Sculpture Trail takes place every three years in a beautiful corner of Norfolk. Art, gardens, musicians, magic and Parravanis ice-cream - perfect.

You see a thing for the first time only once.

Days out in London

Spring is here at last, time to come out of hibenation.

Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Park on a sunny Saturday morning in Spring. Views, joggers, children and daffodils. Greenwich market is well worth a rummage, especially if you are peckish. The Royal Maritime Museum is free and fabulous. There is ample and cheap parking nearby.

Midday, 18 March at the Royal Observatory

20 minutes away in Nunhead is one of the Capital's great cemeteries. Park free at the front gates. The grounds are maintained but in a very unfussed way. This is Gothic Central as nature and masonry engage in a century-long battle for domination. 

Such a cliche, I couldn't help snapping it.

The Red House at Bexleyheath was designed by Philip Webb for William Morris. It is an Arts and Crafts sampler of a house. We've wanted to visit since it opened to the public in the 90s. Morris' ambiance is still strong in the house. A sense of his melancholy fills many of the spaces. May Morris scratched her name in a window pane and Janey shared her affections.

You can imagine Rossetti climbing standing atop the settle recounting poetry and nonsense.

The design is aesthetically perfect. Airy, high ceilings, big windows, homely and full of such tasteful decoration.