Welcome to Split.  Round about this time last year, we landed in Split Croatia’s 2nd largest City and our home for less than 24hrs.   In the cab from the airport into the City you could see the devastation caused by a raging forest fire that had travelled 20km with 400 fire fighters struggling to keep it under control.  Split is a-buzz with a heady mix of old and new.  Steeped in tradition, the centre is anchored around Diocletian’s Palace a walled city with cobbled streets and higgledy-piggledy lanes filled with restaurants, bars, cafes, street stalls, shops and Roman monuments (a Unesco World Heritage site).  

From Split’s port, you can eat fresh seafood (the restaurants are a better catch beyond the main Harbour Promenade) and take a boat to stay on or visit the beautiful islands of; Hvar, Brac and Vis.  According to Wikipedia, Croatia has 718 islands and only 47 are inhabited.  We slept off an amazing lunch at one of the local beaches.  Croatian beaches can be a little daunting upon first glance, it’s a bit like ‘where’s wally at the seaside’.  It feels like everyone from the entire Town… all shapes, sizes, ages and walks of life is on the beach enjoying everything at once, be prepared to hustle for space.  Once wedged in, you can enjoy the people watching! 

Diocletian’s Palace is a romantic place to wander through at night.  Split’s summer festival kicks-off each year on the 14 July and runs for one month until the 14 August (this year marks the 64th year).  The festival includes opera, theatre, dance and music held within venues throughout Split.  Stages pop-up all over the City with music and folk dancing.  

Tisno is about 60 to 75 minutes drive from Split.  The small town has a wide seafront promenade busy with holiday makers pavement bathing throughout the summer.  Donkey Racing is a tradition that dates back to Victorian times and Tisno hosts the International Donkey Race (established in 1963).  Donkeys from 15 countries descend on Tisno to celebrate a time when these hardy animals were an invaluable part of life to the local residents.  This year’s race takes place on the 8th August.

My top two tables in Tisno for dinner in 2017 included; Restoran Prova; Put Jazine 104, 22240, Tisno +385 98 911 0399  with traditional dishes and various kinds of carpaccio and fish pate made of Adriatic freshly caught fish.  I had freshly caught Tuna steak wrapped in sesame seeds.  Plus,  Konaba Tereza; Put Jazine 78, 22240, Tisno +385 22 438 492 we had a mixed Seafood Grill to share which I think worked out at circa £20. 

Suncebeat is the Croatian lovechild of the UK event Southport Weekender.  It’s a small and friendly festival with an old school vibe hosted at, ’The Garden’.  This year marked the 9th Suncebeat festival.   The 2018 lineup included a host of quality underground House, Disco, Techno, Soul, R&B and Funk aficionados; Kerri Chandler, Roger Sanchez, Louis Vega, Jeremy Underground, Joey Negro, Osunlade and Mr. Scruff to name a few.  Boat parties are extra and legendary and if that’s not enough, you can dance what’s left of the night away at Croatia’s most pre-eminent Open Air Night Club ’Barbarella’s’.  Located in Pirovac, featuring a gargantuan mirror ball it’s a short journey by car or by speedboat from The Garden Tisno. The venue owes its name to Barbarella’s in Birmingham, a UK a club that The Garden Festival’s founder, Nick Colgan, was inspired by in his formative years.

There’s plenty of beautiful spots to relax in the pine trees a short walk from Tisno heading around the bay towards Jazera.  There’s a yummy bakers in Tisno if you want to take lunch.  It’s rock bathing (not sand) and you can expect to swim in crystal blue waters.  Take a pair of reef shoes to avoid being spiked by a rogue sea urchin hiding between the rocks.

One of my favourite places in Tisno to take a swim and watch the world go by.

‘The Smile’ portrait of my favourite lady in Tisno.  

Krka National Park is a 40 min drive from Tisno.  We took the boat trip along the river and went for a dip (with everyone else) in the warm and slightly slimy waters of the Skradinski buk waterfall.  It’s slippy getting in/out so unless you plan to enter on all fours take some reef shoes.  

Getting a sense of perspective, we took a walk on the wild side.. in flip flops (probably not the best idea) and stumbled across this awesome view of the Island of Murter.

Next year 2019, marks the 10th anniversary of Suncebeat.  And on that note, I’ll leave you with a message in a bottle ‘Plan special moments for the people you love.  Do something for them that will make their lives happier’.  

A month or so ago, I stumbled across Clive’s vintage iconic SX70 Polaroid camera all neatly packaged away in a box.  I remember being excited at the thought of shooting a moment and turning it into a printed memory.  I set about finding film to capture photos of a ‘Rite Royal Knees Up’ an intimate gathering to celebrate the wedding of Megan & Harry.  The day turned out to be one of the best weddings I had never been invited too!  

Polaroid film is expensive at circa £18.00 for 8 x photos I wanted every shot to be perfect.  With Polaroid photography, ‘it’s time to embrace failure’.  The real beauty of a polaroid is…  it isn’t perfect.  We live in a world striving for perfection with ‘look at my perfect world’ selfies, flattering filters and editing out our wobbly bits.  Polaroid is keeping it real and curating mini pieces of artwork one click at a time.  The SX70 doesn’t always do what you want it to do.  It loves light (don’t shoot inside), don’t stand too close to your subject (about 1.2 meters away), it doesn’t like white walls and the light/dark knob shouldn’t be changed to reflect the light - it likes to sit almost halfway between the two - a little on the darker side.   

To make the most of borrowing the SX70, I enrolled on an ‘Experimenting with Polaroids Art Class’ at the London Institute of Photography just off Brick Lane with the uber talented Rhiannon Adam.  Rhiannon’s a professional photographer and polaroid expert.  She’s written a book called ’Polaroid The Missing Manual - The Complete Creative Guide’ Thames and Hudson.  It’s a fascinating read for photography fans and polaroid geeks. The book includes an incredible quote from the creator and entrepreneur of ‘one step photography - Edwin H Land, ‘Imagine the Future and Make it Happen’.  The more you think about it, capturing a moment and printing in one click is genius.  There’s a fascinating back story about the patent for Polaroid covered in the book.

We got 40 mins to shoot some Polaroids with a Vintage SX-70 SLR, one of the most sought after folding cameras.  I love shooting street art in Brick Lane, so off I went to capture some moments with a camera that had a naughty sticker on it.  Just around the corner, the road was blocked-off for a community street (or block) party ‘invite only’.  I didn’t try to gate crash but would have benefited from a zoom lens camera at this point.  Off Brick Lane, I met a lady selling fresh pineapple juice who was fascinated with the camera and wanted to be in the shot!  On my way back I walked past a van… the doors flung open and there was a musician in the back who started to bust a tune by playing his drum kit.  

For the SX70 there are two types of film that you can use; Polaroid’s SX70 and Impossible’s SX70.  The images above were taken from a digital shot (first image using a digital SLR) and printed onto Polaroid film using an Instant Printer (bottom images).  The Instant Printer copies images onto instant film - some are compatible with smart phones.  The image bottom right is printed onto a Polaroid film and the remaining three are printed onto Impossible Film. You can see the colour difference.  Different films, old versus new and Polaroid versus Impossible have different colour tones.  Whilst the film is expensive, you can do so much more with a Polaroid in terms of creative techniques.  By taking apart the image and retaining the transparent window you can lift your photo onto almost any surface.  Working with Impossible, the film should be no more than two weeks old and for Polaroid film, no more than a month old.  The technique for an emulsion lift broadly includes;  submerging the transparent image in warm water and removing the chemicals gently with a paint brush.  This takes some time so patience is important.  It’s quite therapeutic.  Once the image is clean it’s placed on an acetate and flipped onto a piece of paper.

When ready, remove the acetate and smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles.  The emulsion is very delicate.  Once finished and fully dry, you can protect the image against UV by applying a thin layer of matte acrylic gel medium with a clean paint brush.  With a bit of practice, using the above technique you can make the most beautiful mosaic art works.  The black polaroid backs can be submerged in bleach to curate another interesting effect similar to oxidised iron.   

I hope the above inspires you to pick-up a camera (borrowed, old or new) or take a class in something you love.  You don’t need expensive kit to enjoy or shoot incredible photographs.   Key take-outs from this inspirational day;  1.  Imagine the Future and Make it Happen 2.  Embrace Failure 3.  Impossible is Everything use this film for colour emulsion lifts and last but not least 4.  Never Shake a Polaroid!   

60’s inspired #photography #portraits with our very own 60’s #style icon, the lovely Claire.  Make-up from the Facial Goddess - Donna Ryan.  Dress from Zara.  Red Vintage 1960’s GPO Two Piece Telephone from the collection at Ebay.  Pink Lambswool Cosimina Collar by Florence Bridge Young British Designers.

For inspiration, we looked to some of the most iconic fashion influencers from the swinging 60’s; style icon Brigitte Bardot, sixties star - Jean Shrimpton, the original supermodel Twiggy, and actress Jane Birkin too. 

Photography inspiration came from the legendary David Bailey and the tv adverts of the time featuring the original 1960’s Martini Rossi model.  Drinks from the era that have now lost their fizz included; Cinzano Bianco, Babycham and Snowballs only at Christmas.  It was the era of the ‘Mash get smashhhh’ advert and the BBC’s magic roundabout and the invention of the audio cassette.  

Vintage mirror from location ‘Maybels Vintage Tea Rooms’ where you can enjoy a Royal Afternoon Tea and vintage tearoom experience.