MoHoyt.com

Moses Hoyt Photography

Moses Hoyt — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:00:04 +0000

I’ve been busy these past few weeks with not only work, but also some fantastically fun photography with my little photography venture, Moses Hoyt Photography. If you get a chance, have a look and perhaps even like it on Facebook.

With Moses Hoyt Photography, I’m very happy and excited to announce that I am available to hire to start covering events. A lot of my current portfolio revolves around party and event photography and specializing in getting a great, down to earth and highly memorable record of a special occasion. I have various forays into different styles, some of which are represented on my Facebook page, but if you’re interested then by all means get in touch and we can discuss your project.

They make steel. They wear suits.

Moses Hoyt — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:00:51 +0000

They make steel. They wear suits. They have blue carpet tiles. They make steel.

- http://eatbigfish.com/subject/culture/stimulus-state
Absolutely fantastic insight from Rupert Millington via eatbigfish.

eatbigfish is one of the most fundamentally fascinating places out there. You have no idea how happy I was when I first discovered them…

Caving into to Xmas

Moses Hoyt — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:42:14 +0000

So I basically caved and purchased myself an early Xmas present. It’s about as shiny as you can get on this side of bling bling. However it has a LOT of chrome. Feast your eyes on this…

La Pavoni Europiccola

The height of awesome manual espresso making – the La Pavoni Europiccola. It may take a while to master, and I may not have my Zassenhaus grinder with me to experiment with the fine grind settings, but it is still incredible.

Additionally, check out my photos as part of Moses Hoyt Photography on Facebook.
Additionally, just like it here…

Food porn

Moses Hoyt — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:38:50 +0000

Looking through my Aperture library I realised that I had quite a few other great photos of food that I’d made. Mostly sandwiches, as somehow they make up a large part of my diet, but a few other things. So, a selection.

Pulled pork ciabatta

This is a pulled pork ciabatta that I made a week ago or so. I had a shoulder of pork that I marinated/covered in chipotle and BBQ glaze and then roasted for a few hours until totally tender. And what better way to eat it than in a sandwich (actually over multiple sandwiches (and they were all awesome)). The inspiration for this came from Pig in Victoria, BC and the Cuban sandwich from Garden at the Cellar in Cambridge, MA. Both very excellent places. Lots of mayo, tomato, rocket (arugula?), swiss cheese, pulled pork, stuffing (how British!), BBQ sauce and hot sauce all in a fresh ciabatta made this lunch gnarly.

Gammon with Piccalilli

Next up another pork based monster. This time I got a roast gammon, and kept it simple with just piccalilli, a little mayo, Pave d’Affinois, and rocket in a seeded multigrain roll. The contrast of the tangy piccalilli with the strong cheese worked well…

Caramelised Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza (before)

Caramelised Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza (after)

Finally, something other than a sandwich. I got so inspired by going to CPK for the first time (thanks Amy!) and having the great combination of caramelised pear and gorgonzola that I thought I should give it a go. Suffice to say it was fantastic. Especially the smell of the caramelising pears. I made the pizza dough myself using a fantastic recipe involving a little honey and olive oil, which was then left in the fridge for a day or so to sit there/ripen, the pizza topping was pretty much self explanatory (it kinda was in the name…), and I had a little rocket (not quite pictured) on it just to make it seem vaguely healthy.

Leftovers

Moses Hoyt — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:34:21 +0000

Even leftovers can be awesome. I snapped a quick picture of my lunch today as the colours looked genuinely fantastic.

Roast beetroot, chorizo and carrot with goats cheese.

It’s from yesterday evening where I decided that I should throw a whole bunch of seasonal ingredients in a roasting dish and see what happened. Vaguely Ottolenghi inspired, it’s a mix of beetroot, carrot, onion and serrano chile roasted in olive oil, balsamic, and a little sesame. Lots of oregano, a little basil and some salt and pepper. Finally topped with goats cheese and squeezed lemon. Yum.

A Spotless Future

Moses Hoyt — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:48:53 +0000

So I had a great day today, one of those days where I get a chance to catch up with myself, and get down to some reading. Getting a better understanding of life (mainly other people’s)…

So I managed to finish off both Delivering Happiness (Hsieh), the book on Zappos, and Let My People Go Surfing (Chouniard), that on Patagonia. Don’t I just love corporate autobiographies? I also made a sizeable dent in The Checklist Manifesto (Gawande) and Walden (Thoreau) (just to read something different).

Anyway, they’re both great books, and I feel like I should put forth some take home points that I enjoyed from them. Firstly, from Delivering Happiness:

There’s a point in the book where Hsieh is talking about how he goes about giving talks and presentations and that after giving up the strategy of writing a script and reciting it, he essentially freestyles, and reaches what he envisions as a state of Flow as Csikszentmihalyi describes in the book of the same name. I’ve read a little of Csikszentmihalyi’s work, I’m halfway through Creativity, after seeing it recommended somewhere (the New Yorker?) and it’s fantastic. So this is a new book for my list.
There’s a great list of ‘Top 10 Questions to Ask When Looking for Investors and Board Members’ that Hsieh goes into when looking for new people or new companies to get involved it. I’d check that out.
Finally, after toasting ‘Infinity and Beyond!’ to the takeover/marriage of Zappos and Amazon, there’s a lovely little quote, not attributed to anyone which reads:

No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future.

What a great way to end.

And then from Let My People Go Surfing I noted this particular points:

Look into a book called The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, about the careful ecological use of land.
I also really like the definition of wilderness as “a place that is more than a day’s walk from civilisation”. This however leads on to the fact that there are few such places left. It almost explains going into the wild.
I also made a note to look into the book Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. And that reminded me also to check out Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang. Two more books I guess…
I really rather enjoyed reading about the section where they looked into where the chemicals that were used in their dyes came from. Entirely reminded me of Cradle to Cradle (a book that I wholeheartedly adore). I was later then unsurprised in the book to come across mention of William McDonough. Fantastic work on the behalf of Patagonia though, looking into the origin of chemicals in their products.

I guess I now just have to read some more. I might even re-read C2C.

Field Notes

Moses Hoyt — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:05:47 +0000

Field Notes have been on my radar for a long time. Frankly, they just look awesome. The throwback design and quality in which they’re put together is great. All thanks to Draplin Design Co (and Coudal Partners). I almost managed to go to Aaron Draplin’s talk last Tuesday in London (as I imagined it would have been incredible (this was then confirmed)), but I had other plans in the form of a birthday party…

Anyway, I went ahead and finally bought some. Specifically the Red Blooded edition (a future special edition?). The cover is letterpressed awesomeness. Enjoy.

Into the Wild

Moses Hoyt — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:52:05 +0000

It’s been a long time since I was as obsessed as this about something. In this case it’s Into the Wild. The film, initially, now the Vedder soundtrack, and finally the book by Krakauer.

I guess thanks have to go out to the people who introduced me to such an epic tale and with such forcible suggestion, wanted me to watch the film. Thanks, and wow. This has changed everything. It’s such an enigmatic tale of self discovery, about finding the meaning of life, discovering what it’s all about.

I find it hard to pin down what I love most about this tale of adventure. In some ways it’s the spirit of adventure itself, having the freedom, going out on the road, actually just doing it, doing something with your life and not being afraid or deterred by anyone or anything. Knowing your vision, and actually going and chasing after it are two different things. But Christopher McCandless is an example of the latter. It takes a lot to do that, and though a lot of it is about the chase and the journey, I think getting there for him, getting into the wild, was the perfect prize. To sum it up in his own words:

And just remember, if you want something in life, reach out and grab it.

Everyone I come into contact with regularly probably knows I’m obsessed with this film, and I’m not going to shut up anytime soon. Just watch it. And if you’ve watched it, just read it, and while you’re reading it, listen to it. Then go out there and do it.

Onward – reflections…

Moses Hoyt — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:58:51 +0000

Well after outlining the list of books to read/the ones I’m currently attempting to get time to read, I managed to finish Onward, Howard Schultz’s (of Starbucks fame) second book.

Fittingly I sit here writing this in Starbucks, but nonetheless there are some wonderful take home points from this book that should be brought up. Firstly, I did not realise how bad a state Starbucks was in back in 2007. Literally had no idea it was that bad. This book explains them wonderfully, and Schultz’s writing style is fantastic, super accessible, but more importantly ultra informative. The lay-off and cuts sound terrible, real shitty, but at the end of the day they’re necessary for the business to survive and prosper in the long term. Which gets me to my (or at least the one that I discovered from Onward) first take home point:

…growth for growth’s sake is a losing proposition.

This book (and the company) is a wonderful example of why. Expanding on that point, and very much related, is the second take home point that I perceived:

From day one, I knew we could not transform the company if we did not excel and lead in our core business, and so a goal that began with Espresso Excellence Training evolved into innovative products and practices that continue to improve the quality and delivery of our brewed and espresso beverages.

Understand and build on your core competencies is probably the best way to put that. It’s so true.

Finally, the brief mention to the concept of Lean, affectionally put as:

…a nontraditional way of managing and working that claims to reduce redundancies and waste while making conditions easier for employees and improving products and service quality for customers.

is a fantastic little section, spearheaded by a guy called Scott Heydon. It outlines beautifully what programmes like this can achieve, or at least how they can be worked into practice. I’ve started reading Ries’ The Lean Entrepreneur, and i hope it will be as interesting!

A few more books have appeared on my radar, and they’re being added to my Kindle ever so soon, so expect an update on the reading list. Meanwhile, Michael Lewis has a great new(ish) Vanity Fair article.

A talk I discovered a while back on design and freelance work, and the role of lawyers and contracts is also very worth watching. F*ck You, Pay Me is the title, Mike Monteiro is the speaker, and it’s available here.

Businessy (sic) Books…

Moses Hoyt — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:06:04 +0000

So my recent readings on my Kindle, and my plans for future readings on my Kindle have all currently been strangely in the topic of business-like/entrepreneurial books. Many of them autobiographical in the sense of the business being talked/written about. I find these fascinating, mainly for the inspiration and enthusiasm that they ignite in me. I figured I should probably compile a list at some point of the ones that I’ve read, and how great they are, and the ones that I’m yet to read and so on, just to keep a record of sorts. If you think of any obvious titles that might be missing, then let me know. I’m always eager to discover new reads.

The Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss – I discovered this through his profile in the New Yorker (which, by the way, is fascinating and can be found here). It’s great to read, as is his 2nd book, The Four Hour Body, and I’m totally looking forward to his new one, which will be the flagship of Amazon’s publishing venture.
Losing My Virginity, Richard Branson – This was mentioned in the New Yorker profile on Ferriss, and is in my to read list, currently waiting on my Kindle for some attention.
Let My People Go Surfing, Yvon Chouinard – Again, from the same New Yorker article, but I’ve pretty much finished this one. It’s a great read, exciting and insightful.
Rework, Jason Fried – I’ve been recommending this book to friends after using some 37signals products and reading how great a company they are (and how great this book is), despite never reading it. Suffice to say it’s on my list and it’s a matter of time.
The Lean Startup, Eric Ries – I read the intro to this in Inc. (which I would wholeheartedly suggest keeping up with), and then picked it up once again in the Harvard Coop book store, began reading it, and then wondered where I’d read it before. It’s a pretty great book, I’m about halfway, check it out.
Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh – It’s all about Zappos, and the tales behind its founding and culture. Really fun stuff and particularly enjoyable.
In The Plex, Steven Levy – Google. Enough said. I enjoyed his book on Hackers, and his pieces in Wired. This is on my to read.
Pour Your Heart Into It and Onward, Howard Schultz – being a former Starbucks employee I should really have read these, I’ve read the first 1/3 or so of Pour… and I like it so far.
The Rare Find, George Anders – It’s a pretty new book, I only really heard about it today, but as with others, it’s on the list.
The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman – It’s really fun and appeals to my engineering mind. Not the newest book, but it’s still very relevant.
The Big Short, Michael Lewis – He’s pretty much my favourite author (along with Gladwell), and this book is part of the reason (though not anywhere near as much as Moneyball or The Blind Side). His articles in Vanity Fair on the European Economic messes are spot on, and his new book will be on my Kindle soon.
A Book Apart books, Various authors – These cover a range of topics, primarily web design and strategy, but they’re concise, useful and there’s always new ones appearing. Have a look.

Beyond this, which is only a limited selection so far (prepare for it to expand in the near future), then I read Inc. magazine, Wired and (if I have time) Harvard Business Review. There’s a lot of good ideas hidden in there.