Archive for October, 2012

October Rain

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

October seems very much to have been a month when I’ve been concerned with justice, though it’s something at the base of much of my work in any month.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
Ekta Parishad is inspired by Ghandi, here getting very wet

It started with pouring rain in London where a small group met in front of the memorial to Ghandi in Tavistock Square to show solidarity with the 100,000 people marching for land rights in India, where it was doubtless considerably hotter and drier. You can read more about the Gandhi-inspired grassroots land-rights movement Ekta Parishad and their 30 day Jan Satyagraha – March for Justice 2012 from Gwalior to Delh, which should be finishing about now in Support for March for Justice 2012 on My London Diary.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
I’m not a fan of group photographs, but it was all there was to photograph

Even with an underwater camera I would have had problems. The D800E is normally quite well weather-sealed, but I’ve managed to crack the protection over the top place LCD; when I took it in to my usual repairer they told me they hadn’t yet been trained on these cameras and so it would have to go back to Nikon for repair, something I’ve not yet found time for, so I didn’t want to expose it much in this kind of weather, though I did take a few frames. The D700 too is pretty good in the wet, but the real problem is with lenses.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

I thought the 16-35mm was good in the wet, and this was the lens I was mainly using, but I’d been having a problem with it for some time, with autofocus sometimes simply refusing to work. Back in the old days this would not have been a problem. I probably wrote that autofocus was unnecessary with wide-angle lenses, just something that slowed you down most of the time, and manual focus was to be preferred – if you needed to focus at all, given the depth of field.

But true as that was with older cameras such as the Olympus OM4 I was then using, it just isn’t so with modern Nikons (or I think other modern DSLRs.) The focussing screens on these modern beasts are near to useless, and if you have to use them in the near darkness of a rain storm you can more or less forget it. With the OM and other systems you could choose a focus screen that best matched the lenses you used, and with the focus aid of your choice at its centre – and usually I preferred a split image circle with a diagonal boundary with which you could focus on horizontal or vertical lines.

Modern lenses tend to have a loose focussing movement so that the motor can drive it, very different from the silky and precise action of the best older lenses – such as the Zuiko or Leica range.  Unlike modern lenses they generally stayed where you put them.

Then I worked mainly with fixed focal length lenses. They all had precise and clearly marked focus scales – complete with at least some depth of field markings. With wide-angles, scale focus was often the best choice, faster than adjusting the image to be sharp on the focus screen.  Zoom lenses made these trickier to implement, and coupled with the shift to autofocus cameras, focus scales have generally become, at least in the eyes of lens designers, purely vestigial.

In rain, I work with a microfibre cloth (or sometimes simply a handkerchief when I’ve mislaid the cloth) balled up in my left hand, held inside the lens hood to cover the front lens filter, wiping the filter before every image, then removing it for a brief second to zoom, frame, focus and make the exposure, hoping that no raindrops will take advantage of the time to land on the lens. Sometimes they do, though it’s usually hard to tell on the small back of the camera image, so I take several pictures to stand a good chance of getting one without areas of bleary diffusion.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

But the real problem was that there really wasn’t a great deal to photograph, and we were all feeling a bit miserable in the cold rain. Several people had come ready to speak about what was happening but we all decided just to pose for a few pictures and then go to the café in the nearby Friends Meeting House for a discussion and coffee. By then both I and my cameras were too wet for me to want to take pictures.

London being as it often is, two hours later I was sweating in the sun as I walked to the bus carrying five 20×16″ framed pictures from our group show in the Hox Gallery at the Hoxton Hotel.  We hope to put on A Landscape In Motion at another gallery later in the year. The 16-35 had by that time decided to come back to life though with my hands full I wasn’t taking pictures. But it didn’t have long to live.

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Facebook Storms

Monday, October 29th, 2012

The problem with most pictures on Facebook is that either they are of cats or they are fakes. Though to be fair many don’t try to mislead you on this.

With Hurricane Sandy about to hit New York, I’ve seen one picture on Facebook several times today, which one glance told me was a Photoshop creation though it was being posted as if it were real news.

There’s a nice piece Think Before You Retweet on The Atlantic Wire which looks at this and some other fakes, and on other page they have more or less live coverage of Sandy, along with some pictures which are mostly real! With more on their page ‘The Most Spectacular Photos of Hurricane Sandy.’

They also have some very good advice. “it’s human instinct to go outside to get a good view of the action. Do not do this, you will get hurt.”

September 2012

Friday, October 26th, 2012

© 2012, Peter Marshall

My pictures from September are finally all on-line on My London Diary. It was a busy month for me although I spent less time taking photographs, partly because I was preparing for my show at the Juggler.  Sorting out and printing the 25 or so main images to go on the wall took quite a while,  and I had to scan over twice that number of black and white images to make a final selection of the dozen or so I finally chose to print.

September I took quite a lot of pictures that I liked, but probably none that will ever end up in my portfolio. Lots of good workmanlike stuff, and things that some of those I photographed liked, but little of the magic that we all need to make something special.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Action for Safe and Legal Abortion
Parliament Sq Peace Campaign Continues
Hornsea & East Yorkshire

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Women Protest Against Rape
Weybridge Walk

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Soho Drag Queens Race for Charity

© 2012, Peter Marshall

March & Rally for a Secular Europe

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Thousands March to Save Hospitals
Cleaners at Société Générale Again
Action For London Met Students
Grow Heathrow Open Day
Ghanaian Methodists Celebrate

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Day of Action Against Workfare
Justice for Cleaners at Société Générale
Don’t Deport London Met Students

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Waltham Forest Defeats the EDL

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Radical London Portfolios

Friday, October 26th, 2012

I’ve just been sent more details of the event:

4pm – 6pm Sunday 4 November 2012

Portfolios by:

2012 pics project*, Souvid Datta, Fugitive Images, Paul Halliday, David Hoffman, Scotia Luhrs, Peter Marshall, Phil Maxwell, Colin O’Brien, Andres Pantoja, Natasha Quarmby, Max Reeves, Mike Seaborne, Daniel Stier, Ed Thompson, Paul Trevor, Dougie Wallace, Freddie Fei Wang, Mandy Williams.

Rich Mix

34-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch E1 6LA

Shoreditch High Street Stn, Liverpool Street tube.

Admission Free

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Last Chance

Friday, October 26th, 2012

The show In Protest officially finishes today, 26 Oct, though it will still be up tomorrow as I’m busy behind a camera and won’t take it down until Monday. So it will still be on view tomorrow, and this is also the last day for Mike Seaborne: Landscapes in Transition. The two galleries are quite close, around ten minutes walk or 3 stops on the bus from each other, so if you go to one it’s easy to see both.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Mike is shown above talking about his pictures at the gallery earlier this week – unfortunately by the time I was going to mention it here the event was fully booked.

A week or so ago too came the announcement by Jon Levy that ‘The doors will close on the last show at Foto8 Gallery at the end of November – in little over a month.’ What will become of Foto8 in the future is unclear; it has a fine record since it was launched on the web in 1998, and as he says, ‘Foto8 can walk on with its head held high, without deploying financial counterfeit or subterfuge to dodge any unpaid debts or palm off past creditors. For this reason whilst Foto8 is leaving it is not closing.’

There are still a few events there after Mike’s show closes, including two more shows before things at Honduras St come to an end, and I suspect they will be well supported. But Foto8 has done much to raise the profile of photojournalism and documentary photography in the UK, where it has been largely neglected by our arts establishment, while large grants continue to go to far less worthwhile projects in photography and the arts.

Once my own show comes off the wall at the Juggler I too will be going back to a virtual existence on the web. I still intend to produce a web site for those who were unable to see the show – or who want to see it again, and on the web I can show some of the images for which there was no space at the Shoreditch Gallery.

Photomonth continues, and I’m sure there are other shows worth seeing, though half a dozen I’ve been to have been disappointing – or even non-existent –  though sometimes the refreshments on sale at the venues (those marked with a green spot in the programme) have compensated.  One event still to come certainly sounds of interest, and on Sunday November 4th at Rich Mix from 4-6pm you can see the screening of ‘Radical London Portfolios‘ submitted by “established and emerging photographers”, including myself and Mike. And it’s free.

Liz Hingley Prix Virginia

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

Congratulations to Liz Hingley for being chosen as the winner of the 2012 Prix Virginia, a new prize for women photographers which she read about in Le Journal de la Photographie, where I also read the news of her award.

I first became aware of her work when I saw her fine project Under Gods – stories from the Soho Road,  on Lensculture – and it was published as a book by Dewi Lewis – and this study of the various religious communities along two miles of road in Birmingham was one of two outstanding pieces of work at this year’s London Photography Festival.

The prize came for her ongoing project The Jones Family which was also published in Le Journal last year. The work also gained her a Getty Editorial Grant in 2011. You can also see it on the Prix Virginia site as well as on her own web site.

The Jones Family, begun in 2010 and continuing, looks at the experience of “genuine deprivation within the context of a wealthy country“, the UK where “for 3.9 million children … severe poverty is a fact of life.” The two parents and seven children live in a 3-bed council house in Wolverhampton, having refused to move to larger accommodation because of the “many memories” the house holds for them.

It isn’t a story of desperation, although in some respects the conditions are desperate. The eldest son of the family managed to get to university and then set up a business from his shared bedroom, and the eldest daughter has found love, moved out and is now a mother. Despite being a story about cycles of poverty, it is also a story full of hope and pride and graft in difficult circumstances, pictures that should make some of our unthinking and unfeeling millionaire politicians eat their often callous words. These are images with a real human warmth and with a great eye for atmosphere and detail.

The Prix Virginia is supported by Le Monde magazine who will publish a portfolio of her work in their Nov 2 issue. As a part of the prize she also  gets the opportunity to photograph a city of her choice for Éditions be-pôles who are the publishers of the book collection Portraits de Villes. She also gets  10,000€ and a show in this years Mois de la Photo at the Hôtel de Sauroy from October 19 to November 30, 2012 which I hope to see when I’m in Paris next month.

Sylvia Schildge writes on the Prix Virginia site:

Why a prize for a woman photographer ?

The women of my family were my foundation: Virginia, my pianist grandmother, my great-aunt painter, and my sculptor mother fed my curiosity about art from my earliest childhood. Having elders like them opened a path for me as a creative artist.

The Prix Virginia is a way for me to demonstrate my support for the recognition of women photographers. It is also a way of sharing the passions that were handed down to me.

The competition for the prize was certainly a tough one,  with 434 entries from women in 45 countries. Ten of them particularly impressed the judges, and their work will be presented one every other month from January 2013 up until the next Prix Virginia is awarded in 2014.  The ten are:

Carolle Benitah (France), Caroline Chevalier (France), Jen Davis (USA), Noemie Goudal (England), Cig Harvey (England), Jin Hyun Kwak (South Korea), Laurence Leblanc (France), Dorothée Smith (France), Marie Sordat (France) and Laurence Von der Weid (Switzerland).

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Soho Drag

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

 © 2012, Peter Marshall
The start of the race was rather crowded
People can and will do all sorts of things for charity, and if the idea of dressing up as a woman in high heels and running a kilometre around the centre of London doesn’t appeal to every man, there were certainly plenty of takers in Soho for the second Soho Drag Queens Race for Charity, and the cause, the Albert Kennedy Trust, which works with 16-25 year old lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people who are homeless or live in a hostile environment is a worthwhile one, and obviously close to the hearts of many customers of the Admiral Duncan in Old Compton St.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

For some of those taking part drag was obviously their normal gear while others seemed a little shy, and a few were perhaps regretting having signed up for the event but were determined to go through with it. Many had collected large amounts from sponsors to take part and have a great deal of fun in what is however a serious fund-raising event.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Most of those taking part were people who are very aware of their image and who were posing every time they saw a camera – and there were many of those around, with the event attracting large numbers of tourists as well as regulars in the area.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
The race winner blows a kiss to my camera

© 2012, Peter Marshall

Before and after the race there were performances by a number of entertainers, some of whom also ran or walked in the race. One of the contestants came in a Pussy Riot inspired costume and joined in on air guitar as Rose Garden was performing. It really was an event where everyone was having some fun and for a serious purpose.

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Secular Europe

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

© 2012, Peter Marshall

The main banner of the March & Rally for a Secular Europe read ‘For Universal Human Rights’ and its a shame that this message isn’t really legible on the image above which is I think the best of those that I took of the front of their march.

There are several alternatives on the web pages for the event where it is easy to read, but for me at least they lack the visual interest of this image. In part it is the lighting which creates a little drama with the shadows – and just a little more flare than I would have liked, though I could have toned down the pale arc in the shadow at bottom left and the discs on Waterloo Bridge and easily completely removed a couple of lighter spots in the sky I haven’t yet bothered to do so. I can hardly blame the 16-35mm (FX on the D700) as the sun was only just above the frame. It it had been a static subject I might have been able to augment the lens hood with a carefully placed hand or card, but there wasn’t time for that.

Several things add interest to the image other than the lighting – most obviously the scattered line of watchers on the bridge. But also important are the two red diagonals, one on the bottom of the banner and the other on the edge of the ‘red route’ of the Embankment. It’s also one of the rare occasions where I think the reflective jacket of the officer actually adds to an image. Not a great picture, but one that – for me at least – works.

The march went down Bridge St, under Big Ben, so I was able to play one of my favourite games with the 10.5mm, working on the D800 as a DX camera. You can see a few pictures on My London Diary, mostly, like the image below, converted from fisheye to cylindrical perspective as I often do to give a less obvious result.  The lighting is interesting on this, as you can see if you look carefully in the shadow area. Portcullis House, a rather ugly modern building behind me has rather a lot of glass to reflect light back into the street onto the protesters as a second light source. The shadows also show I’m working directly into the sun and the vertical angle of view is around 147 degrees. To take the series of pictures of this woman I was walking along at her side keeping the placard she was holding between the sun and my lens.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

At the rally after the march I made portraits of most of the speakers as well as photographing people in the crowd, and looking at the images makes me wonder about the tension between recording and dramatising events.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

I’ve caught this speaker as she makes a point, hair flying, eyes wide open, hand slightly blurred in a gesture, but would a rather more ordinary, more typical moment have been a more accurate and truthful record? Perhaps not, because I think in this case it conveys something of her conviction and spirit which would not be evident in a less intense moment.  But I do think we can try to hard to avoid the ordinary.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

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Southall – Save Our Hospitals

Monday, October 22nd, 2012

Going to Southall to photograph the start of a protest against hospital closures – Thousands March to Save Hospitals – brought back many memories for me. Some from the distant past, when in short trousers I used to cycle to the long footbridge over the Great Western lines (though I suppose it was really British Rail Western Region by then) and stand in awe as Kings, Castles, Halls and the rest thundered past beneath me, steam, smoke, grit, sparks and fire.

© 2005, Peter Marshall
In the community kitchen at Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, 2005
Others  more recent of going with Indian colleagues to eat fine food in often disreputable-looking rooms – hardly restuarants or cafés – where I was sometimes the only English-born customer; the best of these long gone upmarket or disappeared. Though there is still plenty of good Indian food, not least at the Gurdwara where it is free.

© 2007, Peter Marshall
Janam Ashtami Shobha Yaatra – Shri Krishna’s Birthday, Shree Ram Mandir, Southall, 19 Aug 2007

Of religious festivals, Hindu and particularly Sikh, with the streets particularly densely packed for the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa in 1999, but many others, of visits to temples and the Gurdwara, including a memorable wedding, and of various protests I’ve photographed there in more recent years.

© 2005, Peter Marshall
Gate Gourmet strikers protest in Southall, December 4, 2005

I wasn’t there the infamous day in 1979 when Blair Peach was killed – as the Met finally admitted 31 years later – by an elite riot squad officer, though I was in Southall for a march commemorating his life some years later, and also for various other protests over the years, including by the strikers from Gate Gourmet.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
Thousands March to Save Hospitals – Southall Park, 2012

The Gate Gourmet workers were there at the hospital protest with their banner, and there were others I recognised too among the 1500 or so who had turned up here – and more elsewhere – for the march to a rally in Ealing. There was a banner for Blair Peach also, and I tried to include him in the crowd of people listening to the speakers.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
Thousands March to Save Hospitals – Southall Park, 2012

More about the plans to cut hospital services in West London and of course more pictures in Thousands March to Save Hospitals  on My London Diary.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
Thousands March to Save Hospitals – Southall Park, 2012

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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated are by Peter Marshall and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.

To order prints or reproduce images

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Cleaning Issues

Sunday, October 21st, 2012

© 2012, Peter Marshall

This picture makes clear one of the main problems I faced (literally) in photographing the Cleaners at Société Générale for another evening of noisy protest.

The strong low early-evening sun at just after 5pm in September was coming straight at me as I took this image. I’ve tried to hide it behind one of the flags in the centre of the picture, but the thin red material of the IWGB flag is far from opaque, and doesn’t really make a good lighting ‘flag’. At protests I often find placards very useful (although people often seem to move them ‘out of the way’ at the last second as you go to take a picture. )

Of course I could move in closer and point my camera in a different direction, as I did for the closer view of two of the men in the demonstration.

© 2012, Peter Marshall

But here too there are problems. The sun is still shining on the flags and these are now powerful red light sources. Their effect depends very much on their position relative to the faces – in this picture their is a very strong red light on the nearer figure and little on none on the further man.

Added to that there is still a huge lighting contrast between sunlit areas such as the side of the hand and fingers holding the flag and most of the rest of the image which is in shade.

Flash can a did help a bit in many if not most of the pictures that I took, but it isn’t enough to eliminate either the colour or the contrast effect. A little playing with the colour balance can make the colour effect less disturbing, but it is a real visible effect and so I wouldn’t want to eliminate it if I could. If the exposure is kept low enough not to completely burn out the highlights it is possible to burn them in a little to give visible density.

© 2012, Peter MarshallHere the red light from the sun shining through the flag creates a clearly visible border across the face. But at least the position of the flag in the image makes clear why it is there. I’ve actualy made it a little less obvious by lightening the shadow area on the face.

There were two other problems that I faced. There was just too much red, bright red. A little red is fine, although digital cameras tend to have problems in reproducing it, but I think a lot makes pictures difficult. And finally, much as I like the cleaners and support their fight, I have photographed them rather a lot and it’s difficult to find something new.

Cleaners at Société Générale Again

I think I’ve not done too badly. Except for the red, which is unavoidable and fortunately appropriate for the IWGB. So I’m stuck with it unless the cleaners decide to change to a different union again.

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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated are by Peter Marshall and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.

To order prints or reproduce images

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