Happy Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
When I was diagnosed with ADHD, it didn’t come as just one feeling. It was a mix. Relief, mostly. Like finally being handed the right map after years of thinking I was just bad at reading directions.
But alongside that relief, there was something else. A kind of grief and mourning.
Looking back at being a kid, at school, at moments where I was told I was lazy, difficult, too much, not enough… I can’t help but wonder what it might’ve felt like to be understood instead of corrected. To be encouraged instead of managed. Included and not excluded. To be seen properly.
For a long time, I thought those parts of me were flaws. Things to hide, fix, or apologise for.
Now I see them differently.
Not as something broken, just something different.
And different doesn’t need fixing, it needs understanding.
If anything, I hope things are changing. That more people are growing up being recognised for how their minds actually work, not how they’re expected to.
This week isn’t just about awareness, it’s about celebration.
Different minds. Different ways of seeing the world. Different ways of being.
And all of them valid.
LIFE THRU A LENS: Venice Beach to Santa Monica.
LA on your own, without even any grown ups, can be scary. But when I’m walking around with my camera I don’t think about a single other thing. Let me know what you think.
#fujifilm #x100vi #sonyalpha #sonya7cii #losangeles
We’re still looking for that first signing!
Keep the music coming! We’ve been blown away. Tag bands and artists that might want to work with us!
And don’t forget to submit through the website, we promise we’ll respond to every single submission.
Vista x
One year since KOKO became our second number 1 album.
Thank you to everyone who bought it, streamed it, came to a show, or just kept listening. It really does mean everything to us.
It’s still a strange feeling knowing the songs we made have ended up in people’s actual lives.
We’re incredibly proud and we’re very aware we only get to do this because of you.
Thank you. Seriously.
KOKO,
Thom, Kate, Rob and Joe x
LIFE THRU A LENS:
First test shoots this week at our brand new Sidewalk Studio.
I’m still very much figuring it all out, but three amazing models came in and kindly let me practice, experiment, make mistakes, move lights around for too long, and generally try to understand what I’m actually doing… so I’m really grateful for that.
There’s so much to learn. Light alone feels like a whole world - angles, power, softness, distance. I feel like when I first started learning guitar again. I definitely don’t feel like I’ve cracked it, but I’m enjoying the process of trying to get a little bit better each time.
It’s also been really nice having something creative that’s separate from music. I love writing songs, but doing it every single day for years does catch up with you a bit. The burnout has been real lately, and this has felt like a bit of fresh air. Just no pressure.
Saying that… I was still writing songs after the shoots, so clearly I don’t know how to switch off.
Anyway, this is the very start of Sidewalk Studio. Loads to learn, loads to improve, but I’m excited to keep going with it.
Thanks again to the models for trusting me, and to @ianthe.w for building this with me.
More soon, and hit me up if you wanna do a shoot. Let’s get some guys in!
Me and @ianthe.w have made a new photography studio, which we’ll be launching properly soon. We did some test shots today in between building furniture and taking cardboard boxes to the skip.
Rizzo took these of me.
I’m dead excited to shoot in there, so if you or anyone you know has a lot of patience (I don’t know what I’m doing) and wants some photos doing for free, let me know or tag them or whatever.
❤️
LIFE THRU A LENS: some recent times from my camera. Including Manchester with @robbiewilliams , the @brits , a writing session with @guyachambers and the opening of @lemonstreetsocialclub .
My photography studio should be up and running by the end of the week, so if you want to come and be my subject let me know. I want to photograph everyone. ❤️
