Homeless in the Streets of Birmingham

Birmingham is one of the largest and most racially diverse cities in the country.

Each year it hosts the Frankfurt / German Market and it’s visitors increase greatly over this Christmas period.

What we perhaps don’t see are the number of homeless people tucked away…I say tucked but that is perhaps inaccurate as they are in plain sight – just ignored by the majority of passers.

 

Their are many reasons why these people find themselves living on the streets, some due to an unfortunate set of circumstances leading them to a place they never expected , others cannot hope with the confines of buildings and find a certain comfort in the lack of restrictions. Who are we to judge? Sadly there are also the organised gangs that professionally beg….the ones who arrive an hour or so before the early morning commuters to set up their little sleeping bags to give the pretence of being there all night. Perhaps these are the worst, they are preying of the real street people – next time before parting with goodwill, have a talk to them… find out their story and make sure you are actually making the difference you believe you are.

 

Autumn Winter Fashion 2015

We are just getting out of the the depths of winter now and spring clothes are starting to hit the high street….however the retailers are currently shopping for the Autumn Winter range!

Moda Exhibitions hosts the trade fair for fashion retailers and February sees the Autumn Winter Fashion showcase, here retailers can choose from the huge range of designers showcasing their clothing and accessory ranges.

This year seems to be bucking the trend of autumn clothing following autumnal colours with a swathe of bright colours and bold designs to warm up any chilly day.

LEO GUY showcased their knitwear, bringing a dash of french fashion to deliciously luxurious knitwear

bold colours in knit
LEO GUY luxurious french knitwear

Italian brand Elisa Cavaletti once again didn’t fail to impress with their range of beautifully tailored clothing, I was particularly taken by this piece which would be at home both on the high street and when dressing to impress.

Elisa Cavaletti
Italian style and grace

James Lakeland (rapidly becoming one of my favourite designers) opening collection included this bold gradient coat, echoing the interest in geometric shapes and bold designs we are seeing.

James Lakeland
bold gradient design coat

Amongst other autumn fashion we are likely to be seeing the use of fur, both real and faux. Faux fur is today almost indistinguishable from the real thing, which is a great stride forwards in the ethical treatment of animals.

Here we see a great design by James Lakeland where he has blended traditional autumnal themes with bold lines and trimmed it with a luxurious fur trim. This is a design which cannot help but get you noticed.

James Lakeland
fur trimmed James Lakeland design

London Town

Recently I spent some time in London covering some of the off schedule shows at London Fashion Week 2013.
I took along on the last day one of my regular models to do some street images I had been wanting to capture for a while. I love the area around brick lane due to it not only being the heart of london fashion but also because of the diversity of the surroundings.
Indeed while we were there we saw two other shoots taking place!
Obviously shooting in Urban areas comes with its own unique problems. There were the builders who drove past us 3 times to ask for directions….the abandoned house which obviously wasn’t when the owner opened the door or the 20 french school kids who wanted to watch our shoot taking place!IMG_1967

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All images taken by Paul Hastie, Vision of You, a Coventry based photographer.IMG_2014

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Our lovely model for the day was Jodi.IMG_2030

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Brick Lane served as our location for these shots, a complete contrast to the mean streets of Coventry and I feel they appear Italian for some reason? What do you think?IMG_2050

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