Last week London was abuzz with activity surrounding the World Barista Championships. The national champions of 54 countries came to London to compete for the title of World Barista Champion. Each competitor had 15 minutes to prepare four espressos, four cappucinos, and four espresso-based signature drinks of their own design. And they must do this all whilst talking passionately about the coffee they’re using. This year’s World Champion is Mike Phillips from the USA. Mike works for Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago and he is the first World Champion to come from the United States.
This year I volunteered to be a ‘barista buddy’. My role was to help a competitor find equipment, ingredients and to provide local knowledge. I was the buddy to Honduran Champion Anna Lucia Hawitt and Argentina’s Gustavo Castro. Ana Lucia, in the big image above, placed in the top 12 during the preliminary rounds and made it through to the semi-finals. You can watch her semi-final presentation here.
For the last three summers I have been photographing at the Larmer Tree Festival in Dorset, England. Last August, shortly after the festival finished, I approached the organisers of the festival and the Salisbury Arts Centre with the idea that we have an exhibition of my images from the festival. They agreed and on 17th March the private view/opening will take place at the Salisbury Arts Centre. The show, which includes my images and those of three other photographers, will be up from 18 March until 10 April.
I love being part of the festival community and seeing the same people every year, most of whom I see only at the festival. I enjoy going back each year as a photographer to capture the characters I meet there. I like to photograph the festival so I can remember it, but also so that others can experience the festival through my eyes and the pictures I take. These day it’s very rare that in normal life you can go out with a camera and photograph the people you see. But the festival has created an environment where you can do that. At the Larmer Tree Festival people let their guard down, which is rare in British society. My photographs feed off that and represent it too.
Copenhagen is awesome. The world would be a better place if every human were required to spend a month there and see how a proper society orders itself. Rachel and I spent my birthday weekend there and I want to go back and stay forever! Yep – it was that great!
My friend Mark McNamara is in London for the rest of the month working on David Byrne’s sound installation Playing the Building at the Roundhouse in Camden.
The installation consists of an old organ that is hooked up to actually play the building. The keys are wired up to motors that vibrate the girders, solenoids that ping the iron columns, and air jets that blast and make flute like noises. I spent two afternoons at the Roundhouse this week photographing the installation process. To see all of my images click here and here. Please join me in experiencing this art work on the evening of 20 August.
Last night the coffee community of London gathered at the Square Mile Roastery in Bethnal Green to taste four espressos from Canada. The conviviality and caffeine combined to push the colours up a notch as we downed espresso after espresso after espresso. Many thanks to James, Annette and everyone else who made Taste of Canada possible. All the images can be found via this link.
Brian Jones is an audio producer, podcaster and photographer. He is passionate about learning everything he can about coffee and café culture. He lives in London where he gets around on his trusty Brompton folding bicycle all year round.
