Most of today was again at the computer... Headed up to town in the early evening to spend with the Fish, and Paul Xavier who was doing the haircut routine. Phil was over too so the four of us had a great Chinese and then it was what kind of a twat can we make Ashley look like while trimming his hair?? (pictured!)

Ended up catching the last train home which was a mistake, bus replacement!! And then only one bus so on a full bus we had to go all the way to Haywards Heath to drop off four people (there are usually two buses!) Home way to late with an early rise only moments away when I finally got to sleep...

A day of computer/p-shop catch-up... Finally got out a few things finished that there has been no time to do. Must keep all clients happy!

Here the cover of K! tomorrow with the Converge shoot from Salem.

Feeling very tired from the lack of sleep. Now the point of travelling from Gatwick was lost today as once landed we sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting to get off the plane. Apparently there was a plane in our spot and no one was qualified to operate the Jetway!

Grabbed the bags and caught a train home which was also late, perhaps the bus isn't so bad after all. And you usually get a laugh when the nutcase National Express driver Tony is doing his best to be a comedian!

Passed out for a while and then rocked through a little work at the computer... Here's a pic of Zolberg of Sign from the Reykjavik torture dungeon shoot that's in this week's K!

Met up with Ian for breakfast and then took a later checkout... We were off to do a shoot/interview with a band today. Can't mention too much as it's not supposed to given away. It was lovely to see Anna again and the band were great. I know it wasn't exactly what the mag were after but I think it will work shoot wise. After the shoot it worked out perfectly as I went back to the hotel, said bye to Ian, and caught a car to Newark airport.

Showed up right on time to spend a half hour watching a bit of athletics in the bar before boarding a plane back to Gatwick. Now this flight had to be one of the bumpiest flight I had ever been on! The seat belt sign didn't turn off the entire flight, and you could barely see anything out the window... There were some religious choir singers on the flight who all held their hands up during take-off but you know what? Your little prayer didn't really help with the turbulence now did it!!

As you can see from the picture it was nothing but a whole load of 18% gray out the window for the bumpy flight! Tried watching Be Kind Rewind and then 21 but kept falling asleep...

A day of travel... Off to New Jersey today but finally from Gatwick which is great as it means I don't have to make the trek all the way to Heathrow for once!

People were great at check-in and everything went so quickly. Flight was fairly boring and once at Newark after hours waiting to get through customs it was only a few more hours until Ian arrived from Heathrow.

Met up with Ian who was in great spirits after being on an empty flight with a yoga instructor! We caught a pre-booked car (where they wait with signage in arrivals) out to East Brunswick to our hotel that was in the middle of no where. It's funny when people say oh you lead such a luxurious lifestyle... Really? I think pictures are really what speak!

With the two of us hungry the hotel recommended catching a cab which basically took us across a highway for a silly amount of money to Famous Dave's. Ian and I ordered some starters and once they came realized we didn't need any mains!

After dinner we decided to walk back to the hotel which was more of an adventure than an evening stroll! No sidewalk, long wet grass, and cars whizzing by on the freeway not the best idea but hey it was definitely an experience! I did learn though that Ian was scared of Frogs as he freaked out when one jumped in front of him. He said he wasn't keen on nature and if there had been any snakes I'd have had to carry him back!! Brilliant! And so the Adventures of Ian and Ashley continue on...

A mellow day at the computer sorting out images. Finished off the Johnny Truant shoot from yesterday which turned out great. Reminded me of the Minus shoot from a few months ago, look wise not the windy part!

Packed up all my gear as I am off to New Jersey tomorrow. Now this will be the shortest trip and I am not complaining. First of all going from Gatwick is great! So doing the shoot early Sunday so I can catch an evening flight and be back in the UK for Monday morning. If only all trips to places where there isn't much going on went like that, now it going smoothly is another thing altogether!!

An ad for Go Audio's upcoming tour that looks pretty good...

Left at 10am and rolled home at 10pm!! A very long day that involved sitting on trains for the most part. Was told the best way to get to Bristol was to go through Fratton that was until the train to Bristol was cancelled. So ended up arriving an hour and a half late! Thankfully Johnny Truant didn't mind waiting. They were even up for driving to a location I had seen in a book.

Well the Clifton Suspension Bridge didn't disappoint! The wind was the only problem at the bridge. Hadn't done a shoot in such blustery conditions since Korn in Prague this time last year! Thankfully only had to wait for Rueben's hair to calm down rather than the entire band...

Spent about 3 hours in Bristol and then back on a train all the way home, another thanks goes out to the lovely Fish for having saved some lovely made dinner for me!

Right saw this creepy little number in the Top Shop window in London the other day. What are you advertising???

Brighton and Hove council! What the fuck am I paying council tax for? For you to close offices, reduce services and now I have to go miles into Hove to sort anything out. Thanks for nothing!

Between a couple of errands, spent most of the day at the computer sorting the Converge shoot, and a shot of Scars On Broadway... Went into town to have a few drinks with Carly who had a great Canadian care package for me. Crazy thing is I think I had been back since I had last saw her! Maybe she should move to Brighton??

Here's the cover of Kerrang! this week with the Maiden shoot which seems like it was ages ago.

So this time last year I was in Greece with Larissa celebrating Canada Day! Well today was a day of errands around London. But it had to have been as hot as it was in Greece last year. I think Larissa picked the wrong year to come to England because it rained non stop last summer. Well if you could call it a summer...

The Fish and I tried out a Thai recipe that Scarlet had emailed over and it was really good. I don't think we messed it up as and the taste was great. Here's a pic for Larissa of when I did get a chance to put my feet up!!

Went over to Retna studios for the afternoon to do a shoot with Scars On Broadway. Very easy going guys and were up for the idea so it went quite smoothly apart from a little white shirt mishap but Simon Hargreaves saved the day! Also big thanks to Alex for helping out and made the background change over run smoothly.

Met up with Simon Sarin in the next room over and we hit the pub for the rest of the evening. Had a great night, and Jonathan joined us as well. Again it had been way too long since I had went out with Simon. He may come down to Brighton next week which would be great as I have the week open but I'm sure that will change!!

One of my favorite's from Download of Kiss is running in K! this week...

What was going to be a relaxing day turned into gardening fun! Went out by the school of Fish and straight to the wholesaler for some very cheap plants.

Headed back home and then had a little go at planting before having a wonderful dinner from Spice Nutriment the best Indian food in Brighton!! They don't advertise so only the locals seem to know about it...

The school of Fish came over for a visit today. So wandered around doing all the cliche Brighton things... On the way home from dinner bumped into Tommy from STG in the Lanes who was having a relaxing weekend away from London...

Once home rang up Gez and went to the Hove/Brighton border to the Robin Hood pub for a few drinks. Great little place and apparently some of the profits go to charity!! Katie P and Olly, Alan, and Paul of Johnny Truant were there so it turned into a great night out.

Here's a shot of Richard Patrick from Filter that will be in Wednesday's Kerrang! Quite pleased with how it turned out...

Did some errands with the Fish today as she had the day off. Too many things need doing and not enough time in the day! The early evening was a shoot with the Dead Swans. We went out to the magical Swanbourne Lake by Arundel Castle and messed around in the rickety old boat house for the shoot. Great location, I remember scouting it as a child decades ago!!

After the shoot got a ride back to Brighton with the "Bens" and had a mellow evening in with the Fish which was nice and much needed! A little preview of what we did today...

Feel like shit today perhaps it's NOT the recycled air on flights after all!

Did a shoot with Skirtbox today. They were on great form and more than happy to rock a certain look and as they told me it wasn't to unfamiliar to them! They talked about changing their name too so it's thinking cap time. Although some lady in the North Laine came up with a great one... How about Tattooed Squid?!? Big thanks to the Prince Albert pub for letting us use their front tables!!

Right now saw this sign which was in a nice area of Boston... Perhaps this is where all the American tax dollars are going?

Arrived early with no sleep... Transatlantic flights are starting to really get the better of me! The bus finally got back to Brighton an hour after schedule and I came home to plaster guys singing at the top of their lungs. Actually they held a pretty good tune!!

A droopy eyed day in front of the computer doing as much as I could... Will need some sleep tonight!!

Got an email from Daniel Lane and it looks like we've been immortalized on the official Iron Maiden website by Rod Smallwood on his blog here!

Here's a pic of the historic graveyard from Boston yesterday...

After checking out of the hotel Ian and I headed for Boston. Quickly dropped off the rental gear at EP Levine and then took our time finding somewhere to park.

We decided to go at it alone so I headed for the Boston Common and on the way there stumbled across a graveyard that had head stones for Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock which was pretty weird to see. After that did the classic tourist trek through the Common, towards Beacon Hill and had my photo taken in front of Cheers. Well there was no studio audience and no one knew my name either!!

Found a very quiet pub and did a bit of work before meeting Ian back at the car and after a quick drive to pick up our bags it was off to the airport for the frustrating check in. Virgin stop being so shit, then we get on the plane and it's the old entertainment system... Didn't bother with it but probably should have as I couldn't sleep with kid behind kicking my seat and the people in front messing about with their seat the whole flight. Can't be home soon enough!!

Pouring rain outside of course on the day we need to do a photo shoot! Drove around Boston picking up the gear that was needed for the shoot. I can't recommend EP Levine enough for all your photographic rental needs in the Boston area!! Ian and I then drove out to Salem to meet Converge. Arriving at Kurt's studio I setup a make shift photographic studio while Ian did the interview. Did the shoot which was hard work but think I managed to get a few decent shots.

After doing a quick shot outside, came back to the studio where the band played 3 songs for us. Ian was great telling the band what he really thought of the music!! And here he is, not actually plugging his ears but seeing how far he can pull out the his ear plugs. Too intense for soft ears that prefer Elvis Costello!

On the way back to the hotel Ian and I were driving through the most insane storm I'd seen in ages. Rain drops that were about 3 times the size of a 50p coin! Once we managed to get back to the hotel we went to the local depressing shopping mall and then went out to same Mexican place for dinner... Called it an early night which was needed as it will be a long day of wandering tomorrow!

Met up with Ian for breakfast and then we caught a shuttle to the airport, where we took the subway to Fenway Park home of the Red Sox.

Wasn't sure if I was going to bother with the game but ended up going with Ian and we bought the best seats possible. The seats were so good we were on the TV right behind home plate! Now the game started with a rain delay and then went to extra innings so by the time Ian and I left we had been there almost 6 hours!! Amazing seats and got to see the Green Monster in person but to be honest it looks bigger on TV. Now the Blue Monster sitting in front of Ian was a sight to behold!

After that it was back to the airport to pick-up the rent-a-car where we ran into Ian's mate Phil Jupitus. I'd never heard of him but Ian was quite excited that we had a chance to have a chat with Phil, who was a very nice guy!

Once we had our mini van it was back to Saugus or wherever we were staying!?! We called it an early night after eating at the Mexican restaurant we ate at last night. That baseball can be very draining, at least we made the highlights on ESPN!!

Grabbed all my things and headed out the door to do a few errands with the lovely Fish before she drove me to the airport. Off to Boston today for a job on Monday.

It was interesting driving down the M25 and was completely reassured that limos are filled with cunts for the most part! Two drinks narrowly missed the car and after a call to the limo company two more narrowly missed the car again... Limos=white trash?? Prove me wrong!

Met up with Ian after the Fish and I had our teary goodbye! He was on particularly good form constantly pointing out how long everything took. Once we landed we caught a cab to our hotel in Saugus?? It couldn't have been further from Boston! It's distance to town is rivalling the VIP parking to the Download site we encountered last weekend. Luckily it was beside a place called Hockey Town which amused Ian. The big sign of the Steak House (pictured) amused me and we found a great little Mexican restaurant to eat at...

Now not my longest travel day actually quite quick compared to most! Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it was the longest day of the year??

Bit of an errand day once Fred (the guy doing our bathroom) turned up. Sorted loads of images early for next week as I won't be back until Wednesday morning. Going to Boston which should be interesting as I've never been before. Had a peak at where the hotel we are staying in is and it looks like it is MILES away from Boston!

Did a shoot with The Legacy this afternoon which went well. Quiet guys but did get a nice shot in the end by a run down warehouse I've always wanted to shoot by. Ben from the Dead Swans came along which nice as I hadn't seen him in a while. It looks like we are going to do a shoot next week sometime at another place I've always wanted to shoot at. Now all I need to do is put a band in front of the amazing building that is _______ College and I'll be a happy camper!!

Had a great dinner with my little Fish at Love's just wish they would bring back the squid and chorizo salad they used to do!! Stopped by the TinDrum after to have a drink with Justine (One of the Fish's 845 mates) and her husband Matt. Called it a night and I hadn't even started to pack.

Forgot to mention that the Sand People were ready to rock at Download this past weekend!!