October has been a strangely repetitive month for me, but in the best way possible. I’ve always hoped I would find my sort of niche while abroad, and I have (a style of photography that is mine, solidifying my collage flair, going to shows alone but having a great time), so being repetitive about it is nothing but enjoyable.
It is in fact the Autumn month of Spooks, and I always get a certain way every year. I need to watch all kinds of Halloween movies every day and I need to be chilled to ! the ! bone ! I had watched a three-part BBC documentary series about horror movies, and learned that the second wave of horror films were filmed in Britain (returning to their birthplace), and I was hoping for some sort of monument to this era! London, if you are not considering the Jack the Ripper walking tours and the Dungeon, really doesn’t have a lot of creepy things to offer that other cities don’t have. In a hunt for some sort of horror shop, I did find a store that sells “ingredients to monsters” and you can only buy the items on top shelves with a “proof of death certificate.” To prep for the holiday, I’ve been watching a classic horror film as often as I can (like the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from 1941), and I went to a haunted house in Essex. The haunted house was more interactive than any other houses I had been to, and it ended with an opportunity to be tortured (quite literally, as you were waterboarded, force-fed mealworms, and electrocuted).
I have repeatedly been going out to shows, especially during my fall break. London is one of the best cities to live in if you like to rock (Philadelphia and Atlanta are also wonderful for this activity), because everybody ends up touring through here at some point. What is really cool is that there seem to be a lot of genuine local bands opening up for my favorite artists, and I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a chance like that! Punk band Culture Abuse came through the Old Smoke; I didn’t stay to see them, but I did see Fort Lauderdale punks Gouge Away (so! excellent!) and some London locals called High Vis. The singer of High Vis spit on the people in the front row, everyone was screaming into the mic of Gouge Away’s lead singer, a small crowd of people were two-stepping… it was so high energy and I captured it all on 35 mm film. 
I am getting my first roll of film developed as I write, I will drop off my second, and I am so excited to see all of these moments captured forever. Some are from the shows I’ve been going to (I have really good shots of Sam Evian and Gouge Away) and I even took some spooky snaps for this month I do love. In the meantime, enjoy my iPhone photos, that I also love dearly.
