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Brexit: The People’s Vote

This is a set of photographs taken at the People’s Vote March in London on 23rd June 2018 – a campaign to call for a public vote on the future relationship between the UK and the EU when the UK leaves on March 29th 2019. This post explains why the People’s Vote is important and why you should sign the petition supporting it.

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Review: The Minolta MD 16mm f2.8 Fish-eye Lens

This is a short user-review of the Minolta MD 16mm f2.8 Fisheye lens, with a selection of images taken using both Minolta film and also Leica digital cameras. This is the first time that I have used a fish-eye lens, with its immense barrel distortion creating unusually distorted images. This particular lens completely fills the full 35mm rectangular frame, with the image diagonal spanning a full 180 degree field of view.

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Frankfurt

A short set of architectural fragments, shot in Frankfurt. There is a lot of new development in this relatively small city, driven in no small part by the exodus of banking from the UK due to Brexit. One of the (many) economic problems for the UK created by Brexit is the impending loss of financial passporting rights, which allow more than 5000 financial companies in the UK to trade across Europe – including full access to the lucrative Euro denominated clearing and derivative markets. Brexit means that they will loose […]

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Review: Daido Tokyo

    This is a short review of Daido Tokyo, a photo book that contains two recent collections of images taken in the Shinjuku district by one of my favourite photographers, Daidō Moriyama. The book is based on an exhibition of photographs at the Fondation Cartier in Paris in 2016.

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State of Independence XV

Βlack and white film images taken at two Catalan independence protests in Barcelona. The use of Article 155 to suspend autonomous rule in the region has effectively blocked the indirect channeling of government finance (via cultural associations) to support events such as these, with the result that banners are being recycled or even hand made. This is in contrast to the piles of professionally produced posters that were routinely handed out at events earlier in the process. In these images, the protesters are mainly campaigning for two issues: to free […]

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Sun and Rain

A short set of recent street images shot on black and white film with the M7 in Barcelona. It has been a very unsettled spring, with alternating spells of torrential rain and blazing sun. Somehow these are coordinating with the calendar to land all the worst weather at the weekend! Shot on the Leica M7 with a mix of 35mm and 50mm lenses on Ilford Delta 400.

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State of Independence XIV

A set of images taken at the three protest encampments in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona. In February, the independence movement secured permission to mount a protest in Barcelona’s main city square, with dozens of campaigners camping out and distributing propaganda. This ran from early in February until the campers were finally removed in mid-April. Unfortunately for the independence protesters, the city council can not legitimately turn a blind eye to one set of people camping out while denying a request from another. So before long, there was a smaller anti-independence camp […]

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State of Independence XIII

An update on the Catalan independence protest with a set of images taken on a March march against the independence movement, led by the Tabarnian movement. Tabarnia is a fictional region, which is seeking independence from Catalunya. It is a satire of the Catalan independence movement which has gained substantial popular support.

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State of Independence XII

Another set of images from the ongoing Catalan independence protest. Following the elections in December, the Catalan parliament was returned with essentially the same political makeup: a small majority of pro-independence representatives elected from slightly less than 50% of the popular vote thanks to Catalunya’s weighted voting system in which a rural vote can carry up to 2.5x the weight of a vote cast in Barcelona. Carles Puigdemont is currently subject to a Spanish arrest warrant resulting from his attempt to lead a unilateral declaration of independence for Catalunya, in […]

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Come Walk With Me…

A short set of images taken around the piers in Brighton, during a rather stormy period. I have been meaning to try to take some pictures of the old piers for some time, although the original intention of making some long exposure sea-scapes was largely thwarted thanks to a slight aversion to the gale-force winds that were seemingly laced with sleet for much of the time…  

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Dolce Vita

A photo essay contrasting mass tourism in Asturias and Cantabria against city life in the same region. This reflects the growing tensions between increasingly wealthy and mobile tourists and and increasingly impoverished local population that sees little benefit from the tourist industry.

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Dilbar

Some more tests of the 90mm Elmarit-M, this time some semi-abstract shots of the hyper luxury boat “Dilbar” when it was last docked in Barcelona. The Dilbar is one of the largest private yachts in existence, and valued at $600 million it likely more expensive than the harbour at which it was docked. It is owned by the controversial Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Inexplicably, it is finished in a rather 1980’s beige colour that recalls many early budget PCs. It looks significantly better in black and white than in real […]

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