Storm chasing adventures...

5th August storm, a set on Flickr.

This weekend has seen yet more of the lovely weather that this summer will be remembered for. For many, this is sickening, but for me it's terribly exciting.

You see I love doing a bit of storm chasing. I've been chasing the occasional storm for around the last 8 years, using a combination of several websites to plot the path of the weather, and then going out in my car and following my nose.

Tonight I spotted a storm mid afternoon and went out to take a few photos just up the road. By late afternoon another storm was rolling in, and I decided to go for a drive. I went across to Runhall, and into Matishall, where the most amazing sunset happened with lightning bolts streaking in front of it. I sat in my car a little bit scared as lightning bolts touched down fairly close on at least 2 occasions.

From there I went across county to Reepham, stopping on the way to get some shots of the fork lightning. It was a bit too dangerous to get out and take photos, so I was restricted to setting my camera up on the dashboard of the car and shooting through the windscreen. This worked surprisingly well considering and the results are some of the shots you see here.

Around 10pm I decided it would be good to come home, little realising the state of the roads. From Reepham to Bawdeswell the roads were completely flooded, and even worse still from Lenwade through to Hockering. I wish I'd stopped to take a few photos actually, as the effect of a sheet of water on the road and the mist rising was just beautiful, if a little dangerous for anyone in a car. Weirdly by the time I got to the A47 bypass the road was completely dry.... I guess that's just the way these things go.

A brilliant evening and some amazing sights, even if I didn't capture them all on camera.

Jess Morgan

Jess Morgan, a set on Flickr.

On a nice summer evening in July I did my first photo shoot with Jess Morgan.

Despite knowing each other forever, we had never quite got round to doing any proper photos together.

Jess appeared on my music radar years ago – many gigs later we finally talked about doing these photos. After discussions about locations and looks that we wanted to achieve we were ready to go. We mulled over the setting of the shoot for a while, but eventually ended up very close to home in a secret farm location. It was just the right place, offering bright colours and bold textures for our backgrounds.

I often get rather nervous about doing photo shoots, and this one was no exception. I needn’t have worried as it turns out - it was definitely the most fun shoot I’ve done in ages.

Jess’ released her second album ‘Aye Me’ in Spring 2012 and has several gigs in the pipeline at any one time. Check her out. http://www.jessmorgan.co.uk

Paris Motel at the Karamel Music Club, London

Paris Motel at the Karamel Club, London, a set on Flickr.

On 13th June I headed to the Karamel Music Club in Wood Green, London, to see the wonderful Paris Motel play.

The night marked the launch of new album "Songs of Innocence", a collection of songs that singer Amy May listened to as a child, reworked in that brilliant Paris Motel way.


It was, as expected, a fantastic evening, and I thoroughly recommend both the new album and also the previous one "In the Salpetriere".

Support on the night came from Brighton based musician Chris Simmons, one to watch. See the photos here.


It was also my first visit to the Karamel Music Club, a lovely venue in Wood Green, London. With a friendly atmosphere and warm welcome, it was the perfect place for the album launch. Also hosting exhibitions and theatre and serving as a bar and canteen it deserves the growing reputation it has. I'll definitely be returning one day.

To find out more about Paris Motel visit www.parismotel.co.uk

"Songs of Innocence" and "In The Salpetriere" are available from all good music retailers.

For more information about the Karamel Music Club visit www.karamelclub.co.uk

To see the Paris Motel photo set on Flickr click here

A taste of India...

Madhu chargrilling some aubergines

One of my other life passions is food. Good, fresh food. Nothing beats a lovely meal, prepared, and then enjoyed with friends.

On 19^th November I spent the day with some good friends learning a little more about indian food, under the expert tuition of Madhu Choudhry.

Madhu trained as a chef in 1994, and did her work experience at the world famous Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India. She moved to Norfolk in 1999 and started offering cookery tuition at her home, before starting her own catering company “Ethnic Fusion”.

She has introduced her food to the masses with regular stints at the award winning Creake Abbey Farmers Market, regularly selling all her stock within the first hour. And earlier this year she opened her brand new cookery school – based at Etling Green. This was our location on Saturday, tucked away in the Norfolk countryside just outside Dereham.

The cookery school is set in an old barn complex, part of which has been transformed into a fantastic spacious kitchen which is both welcoming and comfortable to work in. There were 5 of us learning from Madhu on the Beginners workshop, which is a full one day course introducing you to all the major ingredients used in Indian cooking, along with a chance to taste and then recreate some classic Indian dishes. We arrived just before 10am, and with cups of tea a plenty, settled around the demonstration hob to begin our day of learning.

Entrance to Ethnic Fusion

A welcoming environment with a few home touches!

Madhu first told us about all the key herbs and spices used in her cooking, which we passed around the class to look at, and importantly, smell. Madhu uses the freshest ingredients possible in her cooking, and this includes freshly ground spices. Being able to smell all the ingredients really showed us the difference freshly ground spices make. Then we watched as she created 4 dishes which we would then get to eat for lunch, and recreate ourselves in the afternoon.

Spices - you have to imagine the wonderful aroma

Cooking whole spices

Madhu gives all students on her courses copies of the recipes learnt on the day, so you get more time to concentrate on looking and listening, and don't have to worry about scribbling notes about ingredients. This was really handy, although its worth taking a notepad to write down some of the many tips shared throughout the day.

On the menu for our workshop was chicken masala, vegetable pilau, baingan ka bharta (an aubergine dish), and carrot raita. The morning was spent watching Madhu create these four flavoursome dishes, before we sat down at the dining table at the end of the workshop to enjoy them for lunch. This was another great point of the day, as we got to experience exactly how the dishes we were to prepare in the afternoon should taste – all the different flavours and textures.

Madhu at work

Delicious carrot raita

Madhu's four delicious creations, a taste sensation!

And then after a leisurely lunch, it was time for us to do the hard work, under the watchful eye of Madhu and the ever helpful Jenny, who made sure we had enough drinks (cooking is thirsty work!) and also cooking pans. We spent 4 hours creating the 4 dishes. It sounds like a long time, but actually flew past and was most fun.

Each dish was taste tested by Madhu, and at the end, our creations were packaged up ready to come home with us. My creations fed 6 people very well, so you get plenty to take away!

My workspace at the end of the day.

Take out for 6? OK then!

All in all a really good day, and thoroughly worth doing. And, tonight I put my new skills to use and made a lovely chicken masala for dinner.

To find out more about Madhu Choudhry's cookery courses visit http://www.ethnicfusion.co.uk 
Vouchers are available for Christmas this year - a great gift for anyone who loves Indian food!

North Norfolk Farmers Market details are at http://www.creakeabbeystudios.co.uk/farmers_markets.html (another blog waiting to happen!)

On tour.....

I'm very conscious that it's been quite some time since I did a photo blog.

For those of you who don't follow my travel blog over at www.alexdoeslife.blogspot.com - for the last 8 weeks or so I've not really been able to take any photos. I managed to hurt my back so even lifting my camera has been quite the effort. Hopefully I'll be back to it soon.

In the mean time, I've decided to write this blog about a time which changed my life somewhat, and ultimately led to my decision to leave the UK for a while.

It all happened at the end of 2010, and involves a band from Portland, Oregon, called Come Gather Round Us.

First let me tell you about Come Gather Round Us. They are Catherine Feeny, Sebastian Rogers, Jon Neufeld and Mike Danner - and they make great folk type pop songs.

All brilliant artists, they came together in Portland and have so far recorded two albums, 'Remember Where You Are' and 'Despair'.

In late 2010 Catherine and Sebastian came over to the UK to tour, joined by Mike for some of the shows. I suggested it might be an idea for me to join them for the first few dates on their tour, having never done this kind of thing before and always having quite wanted to. Luckily for me, they allowed me to, and so one merry day in October, we filled the boot of my Ford Focus estate with a mixture of cases, camera gear, musical instruments and merchandise, and left Norwich for exciting times on the road.

During the week I ended up learning a lot about myself, a lot about touring, a lot about merchandise selling, and some more about great friends. A good combination I think. 

Catherine and Sebastian learnt that I have mild OCD and occasional road rage....and that I have some rather dodgy songs on my Ipod. 

The tour took us to Birmingham Glee Club and Cheltenham D Club before we took a rest day in Bristol. Then a date at the Bristol Fleece beckoned. I was due to leave the tour at this point, but after some gentle persuasion I decided I needed to experience more of this life on the road stuff, and I rejoined them up in Edinburgh a couple of days later for the show at Sneaky Pete's. We were joined by Mike for the Edinburgh show and drove in convoy down to Manchester to do a show at the Night and Day. 

Then sadly I really did have to leave, although I was able to join them all for one last Halloween show at Norwich Arts Centre, which was spectacular. 

The experience was brilliant, and I loved hearing the set evolve over the course of the shows. I loved the different audiences, and meeting people with just as much of a passion for music as I have. I also loved being able to take photos of the whole thing.

 And at the end of it, I realised that I would actually quite like to be on tour more often. I like life on the road, and all the things that come with it. It's mostly great fun, very rewarding and pretty inspiring too. I challenged some of my own views and ways of doing things during the week, and I realised that for the first time in ages I felt really happy, and not so scared of following my own passions. Spending time with some amazing people who have followed their own passion for music gave me a whole new perspective.

Three weeks after coming back from tour, I made some changes to life. I resigned from my job, left my flat, and am currently living in Adelaide, Australia.

Come Gather Round Us are still making amazing music, and I can't wait to see them again soon.

Visit the Come Gather Round Us website at http://www.comegatherroundus.org/

'Remember Where You Are' and 'Despair' are available from CD Baby

Come Gather Round Us at CD Baby

(CD Baby are one of the best stores I have ever bought music from – I love their order update messages!.....)

A set of photos from the 2010 UK tour can be found here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjsDqpdd