I won’t be doing a September issue this year. I just don’t have the time to be doing he hours of design, post-production and magazine production work needed to pull off a September issue. Realistically it takes about a week of work in total to pull it off and I just don’t have that kind of time anymore. I’d love to do it, but this year I’ll have to take a season off.
It doesn’t mean I can’t still do really cool, high in production shoots. Case in point the shoot you’re reading about now.
So this is a Russian T34 tank I’m clambering all over in this shoot. It’s situated in Southwark, on a small patch of grass and it has the most brilliant urban legend as to how a Russian tank got to south London.
His name is Stompie and he was placed there by a property developer, who wanted to develop the patch of land that he’s sitting on. Originally he bought it as a birthday for his son, who didn’t want it or like it. The legend goes that he wanted to develop this tiny piece of land and build an apartment block on it, but Southwark Council denied his planning permission. So enraged by their decision, he told Southwark Council he wanted to put a tank there. Thinking he meant a sewage tank, Southwark Council allowed him this, since it was his private land and instead he put a military tank there with he gun facing the offices of the planning department for Southwark Council.
Now how much of this is true is debatable, but that is how Stompie ended up there and that’s where he’s been since. Every few months he’s given a fresh coat and a new design painted on him by local artists, and it’s how I came across him. I’ve known of this tank for a while, but hadn’t quite managed to find a shoot to do there. It also doesn’t help it’s just off the Old Kent Road, and gets quite dodgy there once it quietens down, so not ideal if you’re doing a shoot at 5 in the morning.
Let me know what you think of the shoot. It was a lot of fun to sit on a gun of a Russian tank for a shoot, and certainly not something you do every day.
Patent puffa jacket: PrettyLittleThing, found here – White low back bodysuit: ASOS, found here – Silver cycling shorts: Topshop, found here – Silver knee high boots: ASOS, found here – Silver mirror sunglasses: Topshop, found here – Wide hoop earrings: PrettyLittleThing, found here
