I have a problem with celebrities. Partly it’s that there are many of them I don’t find interesting. But it’s more the idea I have a problem with, and they way that they are treated by the media as a whole. Often it seems to be the only thing they have an interest in. Last November 5th, several thousand people were protesting in London, but the only interest in the press was that Russell Brand turned up. To me that wasn’t of any great interest.
Other photographers often ask me if I’m going to events and tell me that various well-known names will be there. I go if it’s an event that interests me, and when I’m there I’ll photograph the ‘names’ along with the less well-known people who are taking part, although often I won’t recognise them except by the crowd of photographers poking lenses at the.
I don’t watch much TV. Virtually none, outside short clips that people post to Facebook, mainly of news (I don’t bother to watch the ‘cute’ cats.) We don’t have a TV in the house, I’ve not lived permanently anywhere that had one since I got married in 1968. We just didn’t seem to need one then, and haven’t since. We get news from the internet and radio, and every time I see news from the TV it convinces me radio does most things better. But you don’t often recognise people from the radio!
But even I have heard of Dame Vivienne Westwood, and have photographed her before. Even for someone whose last interest in fashion was well over 40 years ago, she had a certain impact, part of the punk revolution that shook up our over-stuffy Englishness. And someone who has over the years supported many of the causes I’ve also been involved with, including nuclear disarmament, civil rights and most recently against climate change, setting up her own ‘Climate Revolution’ campaign.
She also has an interesting face, with plenty of expression, that I enjoyed photographing. At first, near the start of the march at Battersea Bridge, there were relatively few photographers around, just a handful or two of us, but on the Kings Road we were joined by quite a crowd, including those from the main agencies and newspapers. I don’t much like working with a pack, but it does bring out a certain competitive streak in me!
In Climate Revolution March to Fracked Future Carnival you can see I took rather a lot of pictures of her (I’ve included 6 taken in a short sequence) and later in the day while she was taking part in the main carnival events I took more. One of my pictures of her made at least one newspaper. You can read her own diary on the event on the Climate Revolution web site. (I appear briefly in the video in the p0st, squinting into my camera a the right of a group of photographers, though not looking my best!)
I don’t always agree with everything that Vivienne Westwood says, but her message that “We need to talk about fracking” seems to be beyond argument (and there is a petition with that name) and that we need to cut energy use and move away from all fossil fuels is one that makes good sense – as the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have also concluded.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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