Category: Political Issues

No, this isn’t going to be a post about Thatcher or the Miner’s Strike. I’m pleased that I avoided photographing the former – except in effigy – and a little ashamed that I was too busy with other things in other places to cover the latter. But since everything else published today seems to be about her I felt obliged to start with a reference. To me she represented the triumph of the politics of personal greed that has led with a certain inevitability to our current financial sickness and Victorian or worse levels of inequality (but without any of the Victorian virtues), but perhaps even more basically that she managed to stigmatise all ideas of social conscience as the politics of envy. But enough of Thatcher, more than enough. If only it was Thatcherism that was going to its grave.

Of course my politics and my photography are inextricably linked in my life, as I think they have been for virtually all if not all those photographers I admire. Even Ansel Adams, who came to photography through the Sierra Club.

The blood in the title is for ‘blood diamonds’ and around the end of march I was outside Sotheby’s in New Bond St because as well as selling old jewels they also are in business to sell diamonds from the Steinmetz Diamond Group which sponsors the Israeli Givati Brigade which is accused of war crimes in Gaza. Although this and the “about $1 billion (the Israeli diamond industry contributes) annually to the Israeli military and security industries” was the reason for the protest, one of those present who has researched the Israeli diamond industry also told me that Israel exports more cut and polished diamonds (and they are around 30% of its exports) than can be accounted for by its imports of raw stones, and alleged that Israel secretly imports illegal rough diamonds from war-torn countries such as the Congo, and cuts and polishes them so they can then be legally sold, despite being one of the leading players in the ‘Kimberley Process’ against the use of blood diamonds. I was in no position to assess the truth of this claim, so should I report the allegation or not? As you can see in Blood Diamonds at Sotheby’s I did.

Photographically my problem was that there was really little to make interesting pictures. A few people – about a dozen protesters, not all present at the same time were all the protest needed to make its point, and there were a few members of Sotheby’s staff standing in the doorway and occasionally coming out onto the street, and the public walking past, some stopping to read the banners or taking a leaflet. But really rather little to work with, though I tried my best.

Both of the windows at Sotheby’s had a video display, and one was on their sales of antique jewellery, including a image that filled the screen with diamonds. They weren’t the diamonds the protest was about, but it was a good enough background for a photograph. The usual pictures of the protesters and placards and banners. The staff and protesters…

Then came what I saw at the time as a little gift from the photographic gods. A passing cyclist paused to look at the display, stopping his bicycle on a painted bicycle symbol on the street outside the shop, next to one of the protesters. I saw a possibility and moved to take a picture, then saw that another cyclist was walking down the street, and took a second frame just before he walked behind the hand of the protester holding out a leaflet.

It may not be the greatest picture I’ve ever taken, but it was certainly a little less pedestrian (sorry) than the rest! And to continue my thoughts from yesterday, perhaps had just a little touch of Winogrand?

Long ago, when I became a parent, we did it on the NHS. Linda I think liked the idea of a relatively clean ward with medical services to hand being looked after compared to the mess and confusion of our own home, and didn’t entertain the idea of a home birth. Back then our local hospital was clean, in a newly opened purpose built maternity unit, and seemed well and efficiently run and there appeared to be no shortage of midwives. The hospital and the ante-natal classes were a short bike ride away, though for the birth we travelled by ambulance. It was a long and tricky business and we were pleased there was a doctor to hand when needed.  Linda went back there a couple of years later for our second child.

Now, that unit has long been demolished, and most of our local hospital services have moved away elsewhere. When I had a week or two in a couple of the remaining wards around 10 years ago I was horrified at the failure of the contract cleaners to clean and it was often impossible for patients to find a nurse when one was needed.  But perhaps the replacement maternity unit at the hospital an hour away by public transport is still well run – I’ve had no occasion to visit.

But many mothers want the more personal service that independent midwives can provide, although it is only available through the NHS in a few areas, and in some respects it provides a model that the NHS could and should learn from.  David Cameron probably regrets having called the service they offer a ‘gold standard’ of care, but it is, and one that the NHS should aspire to, but unfortunately often appears to put unnecessary hurdles against cooperating with. But this protest was more about the European Union regulations and the failure of our government as yet to provide an affordable professional indemnity insurance scheme – something private enterprise has failed to come up with for over 10 years.  It doesn’t make a great slogan:

What do we want?
An affordable professional indemnity insurance scheme!
When do we want it?
Now!

but it really is vital for the future mothers of this country.

Photographically the main problem was keeping warm, though I had wrapped up well. Though I think the Nikon D700 and D800E I use are ridiculously large – probably twice the volume of my old OM bodies – you can at least use them wearing pretty thick gloves.

I wanted to avoid the stereotype that using an independent midwife or wanting a home delivery were the prerogative of rather cranky middle-class mothers, but there were quite a few present who perhaps fitted. But one speaker introduced herself as an “ordinary mother”, making it clear that she wasn’t wealthy or middle class, not someone who could normally afford private medical care.  She told of having to scrimp and save and of her good fortune in finding an independent midwife who would take her on at less than the normal rate.

One of the clichés about photojournalists is that their response to human misery is simply to photograph it rather than give help; something that is often untrue, although often the most positive thing photographers can do is to show what is happening to the world through their pictures. But we all know the story about the photographer describing the terrible condition and need of a beggar, near to death on an Indian street. “And what did you give him?” he was asked. “1/125 at f8. ”

I found myself having to make a decision in a rather less critical situation when photographing the large group picture of mothers and children which one of the gentlemen of the press had asked the event organisers to set up. Not my kind of thing, but if it happens I take advantage of it, and I’d moved in close to take pictures of a small group of mothers and children. As I did so one called out to me for help, saying she felt she was about to faint. Fortunately she didn’t hand me the baby that was rather securely strapped to her, but needed me to look after her things while she struggled to release the child.

For a couple of minutes I was no longer a photographer, simply someone giving assistance to a fellow human being. She didn’t faint, and thanked me for my help and I went back to taking pictures. I’d probably missed some opportunities, but it didn’t seem important; I was pleased to be able to help.

More about the event and more pictures in Independent Midwives Need Insurance on My London Diary.

Continue reading With the Midwives

My last photographs on Budget Day were of an early evening march and rally against austerity and the cuts in public services, with George Osborne confirming the expectations that he would say these needed to continue despite the continuing lack of growth in the economy and the growing evidence that his plan is not working.

It was dusk as people began to gather – though it hadn’t been that bright all day, but it was definitely getting darker, and although I could take pictures at high ISO, as usual flash generally helped. It wasn’t a huge march, but it was quite lively, though it was tricky to catch that in the pictures.

People walking along the road with placards and banners somehow just didn’t get the spirit of the event, and I needed to find something more dynamic, with a group of students who were making rather more noise, even though I wasn’t recording sound.

This is perhaps an image with a suitably ‘bad’ composition and a little chaos that for me gets a little closer to the event, taken with a very wide angle rather close to the woman with the microphone, deliberately pushing her into the corner of my frame – and this is exactly the full frame. I had the flash angled around 45 degrees to the right and have had to do a little dodging and burning as usual to bring the lighting to something rather more even. The shutter speed (1/60s f5 16mm ISO 2500) is slow enough to give a little blur on the hand in the centre of the frame (over the headline message ‘MORE TORY CUTS’) but fortunately the rest of the image is sharp.

I didn’t stay too  long at the rally opposite Downing St, as it was just too cold. There does seem to be rather a lack of street lighting in the area, so again I was mainly working with flash, though I did make a few exposures with available light, such as this:

Also taken at 1/60 second at ISO 2500 at 16mm, this was underexposed by a couple of stops, which Lightroom coped with pretty well, but much of the light was a nasty orange, only partly correctable. I’ve tried to get reasonably sensible skin tones with a colour temperature setting of 3313Km but the placard is noticeably pink.

Flash – as in this picture taken with the DX 18-105mm at its longest – around 158mm equivalent – does give a better and more predictable light – in this case at 5450K.

Continue reading Budget Day March

Saturday was one of those days when ‘logistics’ were very much at the forefront, and I left the Syrians disappearing into the Hyde Park underpass at 1.20pm and by 1.50pm I was walking along the side road next to Willesden Green station where the Brent St Patrick’s Day Parade was gathering.  Fortunately the trains were running normally on both parts of the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines, though it still involves a very long walk between platforms at Green Park.

Most years the Brent parade has actually been on St Patrick’s Day, but this year this was on Sunday, and the main London parade was taking place then, so Brent held its parade a day early.  There had been some doubt until a fairly short time previous as to whether it would take place at all, as Brent council like all others has been hit by the cuts, and one cut was the funding for community events such as this.  The parade went ahead despite this – and the mayor came along as usual, walking at the front with St Patrick.

Unlike the big London occasion, the Brent parade is truly a community event, and perhaps because of the uncertainty it was a little less so this year, without the usual large crowds on the streets. The weather hadn’t looked good earlier in the day, and it rained a little on this parade, and being on a Saturday was perhaps a reason for the schools being absent. Last year, when St Patrick’s day actually fell on a Saturday I’d noticed the crowds were down on previous occasions, such as the 2011 parade.

So compared to previous years it was just a little disappointing, though there were still people on the street to watch, particularly in front of some of the local bars, with people getting into the hats, the spirit and the Guinness of the event.

The parade ended at Willesden Green Library, where there were related events taking place, but by now I was getting rather cold and tired and it was time to go home. You can see more pictures in St Patrick’s Parade Brent.

Continue reading St Pat’s in Willesden Green

Supporters of Whittington Hospital fought a hard and successful campaign back in 2010 against plans to cut its A&E and maternity services, but like many other London hospitals are now threatened by another round of cuts and closures, largely driven by the greed of friends of the government who would like the large amounts spent on the NHS to bleed into their pockets which lies behind much of the current NHS reforms.

Part of the proposals for the Whittington would see around a third of the site sold off for development and there would be wards closing with fewer beds available, reduced maternity services, and 570 jobs lost, in a area where existing provision is hard pressed with bed occupancy rates at 10% above recommended levels. So it isn’t surprising that there has again been a great public outcry, and the Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition had called for another march.

It was a cold, wet morning, enough to put many off from coming to march a couple of the miles and stand in the rain listening to speeches, but there was still a hardcore of a couple of thousand supporters who turned up at the starting point by the time the march actually began. Earlier it had seemed rather empty, but many turned up sensibly – given the weather – at more or less the last minute.

As often, the protest was advertised with a time for people to meet an hour before the march was due to start. When going to cover the events I always try to arrive at the earlier time, or even sometimes a little before, as travelling times in London can be unpredictable. Often the time before a march starts is by far the most interesting for photographers, giving you time to work with people, and at some events there are speeches or other activities before the march sets off.

There was little happening when I arrived at Highbury & Islington on the morning, except for people – including one dressed as the Grim Reaper, wielding a scythe with the message ‘NHS Privatisation’ and others handing out placards at the station entrance, and a couple of hundred yards down the road a bus and a few people standing in the fairly light rain. But people were beginning to arrive and get ready and I started taking pictures.

Among the crowd that was building up were apparently a number of celebrities, few of whom I could recognise (partly because I don’t own a TV and seldom read the popular press), though occasionally there was a small crowd of photographers and fans who obviously did.

Among those I did know were the remarkable Hetty Bower who became a pacifist in 1914, and had marched all the way to the hospital in 1910 and was hoping to do so again today at the age of 107. There were some familiar politicians too, including Natalie Bennett the Green Party leader, though one local MP was noticeably absent.

As usual when it rains, I was holding a cloth on the front of the lens most of the time, and wiping the filter before taking pictures, but there were still a few frames made unusable by drops on the lens. I followed the march for a short distance up the road, and then rushed back to the station to go across London for another protest. Although it was some miles away, it was a fast journey on the Victoria Line and then a short hop on the Piccadilly, both of which were working normally that weekend.

More pictures at Whittington Hospital March Against Cuts on My London Diary.

Continue reading Whittington’s Turn Again

Sometimes its a problem trying to find a different picture when you are photographing a protest. Although the protesters themselves sometimes seem happy with just a lot of people behind a banner or holding up placards, pictures like that seldom have a great interest for those who weren’t there.

It helps if there are some interesting placards, whether because of the words or images on them, and a little animation in the people taking part often helps. People shouting or blowing horns or whistles often attracts attention and gets passers-by to look, but although it tends to attract photographers too, it often adds little to a still photograph – unless you are careful to ensure you capture it at a suitable moment. But protests where people just stand and talk to each other are often tricky to cover. Even worse if they turn away from the cameras when they do so.

Protesters tape up a poster of Arafat Jaradat

I don’t set things up to photograph, though if others set things up it sometimes provides opportunities, though I still try to take different photographs. But more often I’m looking out for things that are happening – like these two people putting up a poster on the wall.

The poster shows Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian who died after being tortured in an Israeli jail, and whose death was the reason for the protest, outside the main London office of the security firm G4S who provide the security systems for the jail and interrogation centre – you can read about it and see more pictures in Tortured to Death in Israeli G4S Prison on My London Diary.

The placard and its message were a powerful graphic black and white statement, and I tried to present it a little differently by taking an image of one woman holding it, with intensely coloured blue headscarf and purple gloves. I thought it worked well with the dull orange of the office foyer behind (a very different colour temperature and less bright than the pavement outside.)

Posters and a banner outside the G4S offices in London

I tried to improve on the simple row of people holding up posters and the banner by including at left the face on the poster. With the 16mm there was perhaps an awkward empty area of pavement at the right, and the best picture came when one of the protesters – dressed in black and white to echo the poster – walked into frame. She apologised for getting in the way of my picture.

Uncorrected view from the 10.5mm semi-fisheye

The protesters were actually scattered over quite a wide area and it was hard to include more than a fraction of the over 20 people there in any one image. When I made a picture from a similar position with the 10.5mm fisheye I was careful to crop so as not to include the whole of the banner at right. I knew that I would get a curved arch above the line of protesters, which I think helps the image.

On My London Diary you can see several other pictures made with the 10.5mm, which often provides a different view. In most of them I’ve corrected the images to cylindrical perspective – as in this example. Particularly when there are people close to the edge of the frame they otherwise look distorted.

10.5mm image corrected – otherwise the woman at right would look very distorted.

But my main problems covering the event were to do with temperature, and this seemed to be one of the coldest places in London, with large buildings around perhaps channeling the bitter east wind through the area. Even though I’d dressed for the weather it was still too cold for me to stand around in one place for very long; I’d been outside taking pictures for several hours and I had to leave halfway through the protest.

Continue reading Tortured to Death