The Coffee Shop

In most lives today, most people have their special place, for some its a nightclub, a restaurant or pub, mine is a coffee shop that I have visited since the beginning of last September when I started my fine art Ba (honors) undergraduates degree in Fine art, I was living nearby in student accommodation, owned by the university, up the road from a certain coffee on a street corner. I decided to write about this place as it means a lot to me and has a great impact on my life, its been a source of inspiration for my art, its my place to relax from everyday lives, and from what I feel personally, its the best place in Preston to go to.

The coffee shop is located on Friargate Mill Lane, Preston near to the University of central Lancashire. This is very accessible to students in general as myself being one I can understand this, it is just opposite the Lamb and Packet pub, when I first walked in through the door I knew that this place was very welcoming and homely, the place is easily recognizable with the large red sign with green and white writing and a coffee bean logo above the shop windows, this is also on the cups and menus too which instantly shows that the business has been well thought about. the large windows let in a lot of light which makes people feel more free and comfortable inside. The only downside which I can think of about this is the large roundabout producing a lot of traffic, but overall this is nothing to do with the coffee shop.

I remember my first experience of coming here, it was a very sunny day and I was wandering about handing out C.Vs to apply for jobs, this place being one of the places that I stopped by in. Unfortunately they had no job vacancies at the time as they were fully staffed however they did help me understand a bit about what was needed to start up my own business in which I wanted to start up a coffee shop gallery after I finish uni (this dream still goes on) they were very helpful and very supportive of my queries. the place was spotless, not a speck of dust anywhere as they were constantly cleaning and wiping the surfaces which I was impressed with, which shows that the building is well looked after.

I watched the staff sometimes and they are very welcoming of their customers, very patient and hard working people which I find truly admirable, I myself have become very in depth in some conversations when I go in there, the tables are numbered clearly, the music that is played doesn't repeat itself like some cheap restaurant that puts their songs on a loop, the music is liked by the customers of all different kinds. Some outside reviews that I have asked people have always replied that they like one of two things, the staff, the service or what they sell all with good feedback, they would definitely go back there another day, I myself feel the same and became a regular, something what i have noticed myself is that the staff are not pushy or attempt to rush you to clear the tables like in some restaurants or cafes I have visited. I will tell you why this is as it has many different reasons.

The coffee itself comes in a variety of different blends from different flavored syrups and different styles such as the Americano, Frappe, Latte and cappuccino etc. I don't drink much of a coffee drinker myself, but from here I don't mind a hazelnut cappuccino or a hot chocolate with marshmallows in a large mug, it's one of very few places that I will drink coffee. the coffee shop does not only sell coffee, they sell tea too, regular and also green tea which I have experimented with and have grown to like, my favorite being the earl grey or the Assam, I like them for their rich and strong tastes, even just recently I discovered that they make milkshakes,   I was fascinated at how they prepared this from scratch, no cheap milkshake powders, the staff prepare it in front of you using traditional methods of ice and milk etc, If you don't want a hot drink they also sell cold drinks in bottles such as coke and juice, when buying Dr. Pepper for example the staff that work there ask if you would like it in a glass with ice if sitting in which i find to be really good customer service, i also find that it is really considerate that you can keep your cold drink chilled which means you can stay there for longer, they also sell bottled water.

So far I have talked about the service and the drinks but there is one or two things left on my list to talk about which i'm sure is the best topic to talk about which is the food. The coffee shop sells a variety of different type of pastries and cakes such as shortbread, biscuits, chocolate cake, lemon cake, muffins, Pain au chocolat, Croissants and carrot cake which is made by the staff of the Coffee Shop, this happens to be my favorite thing to eat here as the cream is very light and fluffy, the cakes themselves taste soft and have some spring to them with, you get a fair amount of cake slices for what you pay. If still you don't want any pastry to eat they sell a selection of different fruits to satisfy everybody. The coffee shop sells hot paninis as a meal, you can choose your toppings and cheese types to go on top, and again they prepare this in front of the customer, from time to time they have a special soup which i have been told has been very tasty.
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Hot Chocolate and Chocolate cake

This is the menu of the Coffee shop to show the reasonable prices for what they sell. 

Overall this very honest, friendly business that is loved by many in Preston, and considered by myself to be one of the best places to be to meet up, to relax, enjoy the surroundings and make it affordable, Is somewhere definitely worth visiting when in Preston to experience for yourselves what you think, and one day you will grow to love this place as much as I do.

This is the link to their facebook page if you are interested in visiting or more information https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Coffee-Shop-Preston/151821974830281?fref=ts&rf=105153179627458

Photography

This is a collection of different photographs that i have been working on for the past few years.

These photos were taken in Avenham Park in Preston, they were macro photos of tree bark, I was interested in the lines,tones and texture more than anything with these photographs.

This was a photograph that I came across this late at night during the event before the Olympics of 2012, from what i was told, this light as with many others were used to celebrate the coming of the Olympics to London, this could be seen from all over Preston, I could not find the source of where it was coming from.

These were a few different locations in which architecture and line had become somewhat very artistic, well to myself i feel this anyway as the line, tone, shape and tones were very interesting to look at.

I found this one very interesting as the broken glass reminded me of a spider web or a snowflake.

This is a variety of different photography that I took when in the moment of walking around Preston, I especially like these photographs because of the purple skies as I had never really seen anything like this before which added a certain atmosphere to the city lifestyle that i had not seen.

The certain blend from a gold to a dark blue really caught my eye, this clashing with the city landscape interested me. The more the sun set on the city the better the atmosphere became.

While walking about I noticed that the birds were beginning to migrate due to the cold weather, the birds would circle about in the skies for hours around the church spires, swarming and creating different formations which looked very fluid.

I feel there has become a great focus within my work which revolves around the use of line and the many ways in which it is used and portrayed in our everyday lives, it's interesting how often we see it but ignore this. talking about lines so much makes me sound as original as Josef Albers and his obsession with squares but to me I see this as a starting point for many new experiments.

This is one of my other interests in photography being architecture and historical buildings. I feel that they give off quite a strong sense of power from them standing for so long. They look different from modern architecture as they have been built with more traditional materials and methods.

While finding the old church i noticed an opportunity to take a photo of a passing train on the other side of some rails, i found it a good concept as there were 3 different ways that the lines were positioned all in one photograph included with this was a mixture of hard and soft tones and primary colors of blue red black and white which I liked for its simplicity.

During my exploration around Preston, I came across the local docks and shipyard which I found to be very peaceful and relaxing to walk down. I saw this as potential to take some good quality photos. These were the outcomes of what I saw.

This happens to be one of my favorite photographs that I took that day. the reflection that bounced on top of the water from the sunlight gave a very shiny paint like effect, I saw this and was amazed at how sharp the image was and how much texture it gave off. The water looked as though it had been finely painted.

From this I began to focus on what lived on the docks, mainly seagulls and pigeons, however with watching these and taking photographs I noticed there was more to them that meets the eye. The birds almost had human characteristics and could put them into everyday situations and feelings, such as being isolated, cast out, dominated and oppressed. It was easy to see the psychology that birds live, it was very interesting as they are very territorial and possessive, dominant and sometimes vain little creatures.

this was another source of my inspiration while down on the docks, not a significant part but it inspired me to work with overlapping lines within my work, plus it was peaceful to sit around and watch them form in the sky.

I found these old Buoys interesting to look at as they had line color texture and shape which looked really basic forms but their size expressed their importance.

This was another one of my favourite images as it included lines, shadows and shapes, with this negative spaces were created too. There is not much to say about it but I just really like to look at it. It has a very modern feel to it.

Some of the interesting sights that I saw while staying in Plymouth.

I liked these photographs because with combining architecture and nature together with a modern concept, I liked it because it looked attractive and presentable.

Some landscape photographry of when I visited Mallam Cove.

I thought of some of these rock formations in the ground to look more like bones that had been uncovered.

a view from the top of mallam rock.

a photograph of a train station window at Sleaford station near Lincoln. I like how one side is blurry and the other side is clear, in a way representing the past of the village from what has been and what is now, this divided with a very fine line.