Being in such a beautiful city has its perks, don’t get me wrong, but too often when visiting these places full of historic landmarks we forget to bring our eyes back to ground level and look at the happenings around us. Being in a new place is not just about seeing new sights, but about embracing and observing the differences occurring around you. I had recent trip to Paris courtesy of Lacoste and, instead of putting my focus on the popular landmarks, I people watched. Read on.

Last week, I was privileged enough to be invited to experience the launch of Nike’s latest addition to the Flyknit lineage, the Flyknit Lunar 2. The launch of the new shoe coincided with the unveiling of the new Nike Brand Experience store, located in the heart of Berlin. Yep that’s right, the kind folks at Nike were kind enough to send us out to the German capital for an exclusive preview of the store followed by an eventful run through the twilight city to trial the new running sneakers. Hop on after the cut.

When it comes to men’s outerwear, a versatile winter jacket is an essential item of the wardrobe. Something that will last, suit all your needs, and still have you looking good as you fight the winter in style. Today, we present MA.STRUM; a brand whose focus lies solely on producing high quality, technical clothing that can serve the weather in any given environment. We got asked by MA.STRUM to put some of their key AW13 pieces to the test in a day out in the grey, wet and windy city.

What happens when you step in front of a camera? Most of us, like myself, freeze up – act unnatural, squint our eyes and try to portray a better looking version of ourselves. Most of the time it’s not a true representation of ourselves hence why you have a plethora of Instagram bathroom stars. There’s also candid photography or as some may call it – catching the subject in a natural reportage manner. I’ve been doing that for a while now, it’s perfect for weddings, events and lifestyle shoots where you don’t have to worry about an artificial expression conjured up by your subject. However when you’re on set of an editorial or a portrait shoot, my role as a photographer (far from pro!) is to make the subject feel comfortable and give them direction where necessary or else you’ll end up with an uncle shot. By uncle shot, y’all know what I mean – those cringe-worthy family portraits where everyone’s stood like a statue. You all know which ones I mean.

Bilal Dunn is the Chief Executive of The Noor Initiative- an organisation he set up to support young offenders in staying out of prison, making better life choices and realising their life potential. I first met by Bilal at work by chance when I was invited to a meeting where Barnardo’s had invited him over to the office to discuss his work through The Noor Initiative. During his talk he shared his journey and reasons for setting up his organisation, a story that I find quite fascinating and very inspiring. Bilal, having coming in contact with the criminal justice system in the past; made it his mission to change societies’ perceptions- I was immediately blown away! Read his story after the break.

Man what a quiet period, it’s that time of the year where everyone’s a little burnt out and rejoicing in the fact that we have a few days off. For us, it’s time to start shooting content again after letting November and early December day job routines win the never-ending battle of balance. So it’s time to share what we’ve been up to behind-the-scenes, 2013 has been a great year in terms of repositioning Y&Y from a ‘blog’ to a content led platform. Screw your regurgitated blog nonsense. We prefer creating our own which is way more enjoyable.

On a dreary British day, or any other day for that matter, Northamptonshire may not appeal to most Londoners who are more used to the hustle and bustle of the city. However I discovered that there is more to Northamptonshire than first meets the eye and that it is arguably the home of British shoemaking. It is simple really, follow the sounds of clicking, buzzing and whirring and you will end up at the surprising birth place of a longstanding cultural British icon, the home of Dr. Martens.