I’ve been rather busy in the past few days, with emergency protests around bombing Syria adding to what was already a fairly busy period, and computer problems at one of the agencies I submit work to causing ridiculous delays, with stories that should have taken 10 minutes to file (after I’d worked for an hour or two on captions and image adjustments) taking repeated attempts over several hours – and with one set I gave up, went to bed and then took three hours the following morning.)
So I’ve not found time to write my thoughts for >Re:PHOTO, indeed not found time to have much thoughts not directed to the work I’ve been engaged on. Normal service will I hope be resumed shortly, although I’m at another emergency protest tonight.
I began this intending to write about something quite different, but was interrupted by the doorbell and the postman bringing two items for me. Not the usual bills, requests for donation and catalogues of things I have little interest in (I get shoe catalogues for Imelda Marcos though I only buy a pair once or twice a year) but two things I’m rather excited about. One was a replacement 35mm negative holder for my Epson V750 scanner which I’m hoping for great things from, and the other a complimentary copy of Times Higher Education.
I’ve not the time today to try out the new negative holder – its the Epson redesign for their more recent V800/850 with anti-Newton ring glass. better height adjustment and negative holding – but I have read the relevant pages of the THE, where two of my pictures accompany an article Lisa Mckenzie on the day she was arrested.
The first double-page in the magazine is simply the picture at the top of the on-line article with just a few lines of introductory text apparently coming from the bell of the megaphone. Its one of a number of pictures I took when Lisa was launching her election campaign against former Tory leader and welfare terrorist Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford – and you can see it and more at Class War Chingford Election Launch. It isn’t the frame I chose as my lead image for the story, where I wanted the poster in the foreground and other members of Class War with her:
but an image with a plain background which isolates Lisa from a closer and lower viewpoint against what was actually an empty grey sky. The file I sent THE was a little better colour-corrected than that I put on the web site.
We went on to celebrate in the pub, an essential element of the Class War constitution, before making a rather hilarious journey across London to the occupation taking place on the Aylesbury Estate, where Lisa came to my defence after I was jumped on by activists for taking her photograph with the Aylesbury activist, Aysen. Carefully framed not to include other faces.
It was the next Thursday at http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2015/03/mar.htm#classwar Poor Doors where I took the second image that the THE used (rather smaller but still at a decent size of Lisa holding a poster:
though I think there are other better pictures that would have served, such as this:
and several weeks later I was there again with Lisa when the police surrounded her and arrested her for something they later admitted she had not done.
There is a set of around 11 pictures of her arrest on http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2015/04/apr.htm#lisaarrested My London Diary, and I rather like the two that actually show the least of her. Less is often more!
Later I was pleased to be present – waiting outside the court in case I was called as a defence witness – to be present when two of the charges against her were thrown out and she was found not guilty after the briefest possible hearing on the third – with the judge telling her barrister that there was no need to argue the case after the prosecution evidence had been given. And of course we went to the pub to celebrate.
Of course it’s Lisa McKenzie’s article that is worth reading, but the THE have done her proud, and its an article that I’m very pleased to have been able to contribute to. Photographers seldom get any say in how there images are used, and sometimes – particularly with images of Lisa – I’ve been disgusted at how the papers have used them. It’s good to have something I can be proud of.