Hollywood: Who's looking at you kid?

Joseph tearing his hair out with Callum's antics

Joseph, the 4 year old school friend who's a good foot taller than Reuben, makes paintings for Reuben. He asks if Reuben's on Skype. They are great schoolfriends. So Mum Angela and I thought it'd be cool to get together sometime. As we drive up to their home, Joseph comes scurrying down the steps and Reuben is beyond himself with excitement. Callum puts away his stranger anxiety and runs straight in to explore.

Dad Robert has put together some lovely dishes of guacamole & chips, salsas, humus and Italian deli sandwiches. Callum insists on switching Find Nemo over to another channel since, as we don't have TV at home, only a DVD player, he's unaccustomed to pressing buttons and another show coming up. All he gets at home is "On" or "Off".

Their gorgeous home is a treasure chest situated on Hollywood Boulevard and was once owned by Carole Lombard along with the (one for herself, one for her lovers including husband Clark Gable). I say her name with some trepidation. Recently a photog friend had been trying to sell a desk once owned by Cary Grant*. Being a passionate lover of his films, one of my favourite actors of all time, I immediately jumped on the offer although worried about how to transport it with its huge dimensions. The replies said photographer received were along the lines of "Who's Gary Grant?" to which the obvious reply was "That's like your kids asking, Who's Brad Pitt?" in the future. He was the original George Clooney. When told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant?" he replied "So would I". When you've been a lover off all things Cary Grant and the silverscreen all your life, it's hard not to imagine being engrossed in the culture and its history. I love feeling a sense of yesterday today.

It's an extraordinary location just one block from Sunset Blvd with its heaving body of restaurants and yet backed by the serenity of the Hollywood Hills.

Really enjoyed talking about their work - Robert, a Brooks Institute photography graduate - and together the couple TV and film producers. It all sounds very Hollywood doesn't it? In person, I don't get to talk film and photography too often, or rather I do, but bore the hell out of my friends. Really lovely relaxing afternoon with a glass of dry white.

I'm loving the Brady Bunch** quality to this shot. This made with my homemade "Trilby" black and white preset in Aperture. I named it that after first creating it for an image of Reuben wearing a Trilby hat over Christmas and it's now my staple black and white, no PS required.

*PS: So if you don't know Cary Grant then you have to check out one of my top 3 movies of all time: North by Northwest. 

**PS: I mean you have heard of the Brady Bunch, right?