It is election day in the UK, as the country is asked to choose new MPs and a new government. Democracy functions by providing people with a choice of candidates and policies, backed by clear and accurate information about the options that are available. But this general election presents us with two deeply flawed party leaders and a standard of campaigning that the phrase “post truth politics” does not even begin to describe.
London – Saturday 20th October 2018 This was the second major march organised around the Peoples Vote: a call for a second referendum on the terms of Brexit. Almost three quarters of a million people attended – so many that the organisers were overwhelmed by the numbers and Parliament Square was unable to contain everyone. Many of the marchers carried home made banners and placards and they spanned all ages and came from all walks of life – including many from all over Europe who were denied a vote in […]
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.
A short set of images taken along the River Thames, mainly following the Thames Path. These were taken to test out a newly acquired 90mm Elmarit-M lens, which despite being more than 20 years old seems to be working amazingly well. The lens is extremely sharp, but lower-contrast than most modern lenses – although this is easily corrected when processing the images.
Not desperately pleased with the UK at the moment, and this short narrative explains something of that. I hope that I am wrong.
Today Britain votes on brexit: whether or not to remain in the European Union. Here are a short set of images chosen for their symbolism and taken on a all-too-rapid walk through central London last week.
Nice fan geometry from a kiosk near Canary Wharf metro station, London. Chailey has a much better photograph that shows the whole kiosk… The last of the expired-film batch that was badly scratched in processing, so again this picture has some extensive patching in photoshop.
The Canary Wharf metro station entrance, London.
Traditional London metro entrance sign contrasting against the glass and steel in the background at Canary Wharf.
There is something very harsh about the Canary Wharf architecture in winter. All of the colour and interest seems to have been driven underground in to the shopping centres, with mostly the industrial scale office blocks above ground – it is an interesting contrast with the more colourful buildings in the new developments around Barcelona (an extreme example being the Torre Agbar).
Under a bridge near Canary Wharf, London. It was a pretty and cold and grim Saturday, and very dark. Fortunately it seems possible to hold the Leica steady enough for some relatively slow exposures, despite the lack of image-stabilisation or other fancy features (get off my lawn!).
Slightly abstract architectural photograph from the area around Canary Wharf, London. Taken using expired Fuji C200 film.
A view of Canary Wharf, London. I was gong to make a pun about “Canary Row” (Cannery Row), but it seems that someone did it much better a long long time ago…
The first of a short sequence of images taken in the City of London. The clocks seemed appropriate today – I can not think why. When I see this picture all I can think of is “beware the radishes of time” – probably because it is twenty past Noon. Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm and expired Fuji C200 colour film, shot with stacked ND and polarising filters, and an ageing photographer.
Part of the wooden outer structure of the Olympic Velodrome, Stratford, London. For an excellent panorama of the interior of the building, follow this link… Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar shot wide open with expired colour film, and a stack of a 3-stop ND and polarising filters (to work around the maximum shutter speed limitations of the Leica and give a more curious colour).
Publicity Tower from the Olympics, Stratford, London. Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar, expired film and a polarising filter.
Transient Eye 