Is My Hair White Enough?: An Ode to Drab

Before I start this post can I just share with you that my blog upload quality issue is sorted! Yes that's right, my pictures look better on the blog (well I hope you think they do!). So if you would like, have a look at the photos of Birte that I reuploaded to the post "A Little Help From My Friends". You can also click on the pictures now to make them bigger (I did forewarn you all that I take blogging far too seriously).

Now onto the more serious stuff. Nicki. The anomaly of the universe.

Nicki and I met about 9 years ago and haven't been able to get rid of each other since. Despite serious attempts to repel each other on all levels, some of which included Nicki punching a school locker, we have some how made it through and are still friends, great friends.  When Nicki and I first met, she apparently thought I was boring, and that we had nothing in common other than the fact that we had once, many moons before, stayed in the same hotel in Phuket (obviously our initial conversations lacked decent content). Luckily for me, she has since reassured me that I am not boring only extremely annoying. Despite our initial hurdle, Nicki welcomed, me, the new girl at school, with open arms, and we bonded instantly. Before long we spent every weekend together as well as many hours talking on the phone late at night. From the tender age of 15 she has remained one of my best friends.

To the outsider, and well, to the insider too, Nicki and I are chalk and cheese. I wear an apron with a dog face on it and love my garlic crusher, Nicki wears studded belts, ripped jeans, and men's ties. I pride myself on my long, dark hair and Nicki has sported an army buzz cut, experimented with neon white hair colours, and once shaved her eyebrow because they were doing it on Big Brother. I look for stability and domesticity and Nicki yearns for chaos and possibly a life as a polygamist. She likes arty, foreign films, generally with far too much nakedness, and I like romantic comedies with Jennifer Aniston.

I remember the day she came into school with a beanie hat on and a bald patch straight through her eyebrow. She whispered to me, "come into the bathroom, I need you to see my hair". As we entered the ladies and she removed her beanie, I realized that she actually meant "I need you to see my non hair". She had decided to experiment with a very exciting hair cut that delicately combined a buzz cut with a "I will just hack chunks from my hair" kind of style. Later came, the dog poo brown hair colour; after inquiring as to whether she had fallen, head first, into a pile of cow muck, I encouraged her to find the most powerful bleach available to rectify the dire situation before she started attracting a large herd of animals. Luckily she has now found a style that works for her. But I have to say that every year of our friendship and milestone we have reached has been marked by a bizarre hairstyle that Nicki has endured.

Although we may be chalk and cheese, we seem to get on so well. It's a mystery to the world, especially the Soho crowd....when we go out together I'm sure we look like the oddest friendship match ever to walk the Earth. But it just seems to work, we laugh extremely hard together and discuss our toilet habits as if we're discussing current events. I love her very much and can't really remember a time when we weren't friends. Nicki is an extremely talented girl and she has opened my eyes to lots of things I may never have experienced. And as I'm a bit of an odd ball myself, it seems only natural I would attract a nut case!

Despite the crazy hairstyles Nicki is a stunning girl, with amazing bone structure and beautiful lips; I think this really comes across in the pictures. As Nicki and I are true opposites, I realized when photographing her that I would have to adapt my style. I generally prefer a natural, soft look, but Nicki contrasts with green grass, amber leaves and strolling labradors (maybe it's her hair). Her aesthetic warranted something edgier, funkier and so I realized that you have to adapt your environment and be more spontaneous. So after starting in the park, we headed to the canal near Angel, Islington. While walking along the canal we found this crazy wall and did some fun shots in front of it.

Anyway here are some of the photos. I have decided to post a few more than usual.

I think Nicki looks gorgeous here!

I'm not sure what Nicki is looking at in the photo below but I love how she looks next to the big tree.

I found this in one of the boats along the canal; I thought it was a pretty good way to get a garden theme going on a house boat!

Here is the funky wall; Nicki's jumper coincidentally worked quite well with the graffiti!

How cool does she look! Hot!

Thanks Nicki for being a great friend and model. I truly love taking photos of people; it's a great feeling, capturing someone through the lens. Here is a picture Samuel took of the two of us: chalk and cheese!

To finish here is a healthy recipe for root vegetable mash. It's inspired by Rachel Allen, but anyone can make it their own. It's a lot healthier than regular buttery mashed potato as you only need a small amount of butter and good seasoning to make it taste good. These are the veggies that I use, but feel free to substitute different ones. Swede, turnip, regular potatoes, and pumpkin/butternut squash would work well too. There is some butter in this recipe, but you need it for flavour and when split four ways, it's not so bad!

Root Vegetable Mash

Serves 4

3 big sweet potatoes

5 big carrots

4 big parsnips

15-20g unsalted butter

sea salt, black pepper

1. Peel all your veggies and chop them into even sized medium chunks

2. Bring a biggish saucepan of water up to the boil and add a good amount of salt (I use table salt here not sea salt)

3. Put your carrots in first and after 5 minutes add the rest

4. Boil for 15 minutes

5. Once softened enough to mash, drain thoroughly (no one wants watery mash!)

6. Mash with the butter and a good pinch of sea salt (go easy if table) and ground black pepper.

This is great as an accompaniment to a roast dinner or with stews/casseroles.

Have a lovely week everybody. Feel free to comment!

xxx