it was with a rather pathetic attempt at winter, with a light coating of
snow a a few flakes as i got up. by 10 am it was disappearing and a little
light rain soon saw off the rest.
more pictures
security was the big debate, taking place as i walked through parliament
square and photographed one of the security cameras looking down towards
the houses of parliament. a home office study has shown that they have little
effect on crime - except in car parks. it's hard to move anywhere in london
without being on camera, and the increasing resolution of such devices means
a real loss of privacy and a potential for control well beyond the limits
imagined by orwell in his '1984'. cctv doesn't make me - or most others
- feel safer, just feel more watched.
colchester registered 'mark prior' is the largest vessel regularly working
through central london on the thames, bringing sand and gravel to a yard
upstream of vauxhall
bridge. a couple of years ago i talked to it's master as i photographed
it being unloaded. going back downstream on a high tide the ship is very
much higher in the water.
more london pictures
its 55 years since china took control of tibet, and 46 years since the
tibetan national uprising of 10 march 1959, when the dalai lama and over
100,000 tibetans fled for their lives in exile. in tibet, human rights are
abused, with over 150 political prisoners who are subject to torture. those
outside prison also face ill-treatment and a denial of their human rights.
pressure from international actions - such as the annual tibet day march
in london and other activities by the 'free tibet campaign', the 'tibet
society' and 'students for a free tibet uk' have led to the release of some
political prisoners. with china increasingly becoming an important force
in world markets it is important to keep the problem of tibet in the minds
of western politicians.
the march ended in whitehall, in king charles st, where tenzin samphel,
ex vice-president of the tibetan youth congress and michael trend, conservative
mp for windsor, both spoke. trend, one of parliament's less visible men
has previously spoken in the house on tibet.
more pictures
london's celebration of st patrick's day has grown greatly over the last
few years with official recognition from mayor ken livingstone, who walked
along with the leaders of the march from hyde park. it's also become a little
wider than just an irish affair.
but still at its centre are irish communities from around the country,
and keeping up some of the traditions of the old country. one of which is
a friendliness which makes it an easy event to photograph.
i find most interest in the older people, many with faces full of character,
and also the children, who are continuing to learn traditions through the
various irish organisations. at the end of the march i fell in with the
wolf tone society, honouring the memory of the nationalist founder of the
'society of united irishmen.' tone was sentenced to death when captured
during the 1798 uprising against english rule, but cut his own throat with
a penknife rather than be killed by the english, becoming an enduring symbol
of the struggle for irish freedom from english tyranny.
more pictures
the 'serious organised crime and police bill' bill was being debated in
the house of lords as this protest was taking place across the road in parliament
square. its a peculiar mix of measures, some of which address serious problems
of crime. part of the bill is a measure aimed directly at protestors in
parliament square, especially brian haw, whose continuing anti war in iraq
protest obviously affronts mr blair, reminding him of his dubious actions.
the bill will seriously restrict any protests in an area around parliament
that extends far enough to include that traditional place of english protest,
trafalgar square. it will also criminalise many aspects of normal protest
anywhere in the country. handing out leaflets or talking to people in the
street will be an offence if anyone objects.
existing laws cover the kinds of harassment by animal rights activist which
have made press headlines, but they have not been applied, probably because
of the difficulty of obtaining evidence. enacting draconian measures that
deny our human rights is not the answer.
parliament square has long been unsatisfactory on many counts. it needs
to be made more available to the people - both tourists and protestors -
and not less. it needs a makeover like trafalgar square has already seen,
thanks to the mayor of london, reducing the impact of traffic.
a more sensible government would have long ago seen the possibilities of
improving the security of the houses of parliament by altering the road
pattern, and with a little clever landscaping could also have improved the
square for visitors while allowing peaceful protest to continue.
more pictures
hoxton is the graffiti capital of london, and now and again i like to take
a look at how it is getting on when i'm in the area. currently it seems
to be in decline, with too much organised surface-filling as well as a plethora
of random scrawlings, though in a few places these are building into an
interesting depth.
more pictures
i remember standing in trafalgar square listening to tony benn and tariq
ali urging us all to take immediate and radical action should our troops
invade iraq. at the time a majority of the british people was clearly against
the war, and we should have taken to the streets to stop it. instead stop
the war organised marches and peaceful demonstrations the government could
easily ignore. and they did.
so the latest in the series of anti-war demos was a sad case of deja-vu
from the blinkered dinosaur. not least because again tariq ali (and doubtless
tony benn) again urged radical action and again we cheered.
tariq ali has the perfect anarchist hair-style, and it's hard to get a
bad picture of him. benn wasn't looking at his best, but there were plenty
of others to photograph, including those who had made their stand as soldiers
(and a diplomat.) and some very bubbly school students.
stop the war are also tough on the press, or at least tough on photographers.
most demonstrations welcome publicity, but they train stewards to get in
the way. one colleague was physically prevented from taking pictures at
one point in the march, i was obstructed and threatened quite unnecessarily
by a couple of stewards, and all of us were generally ordered around and
hassled.
more pictures
i'm running a one-day workshop on urban landscape photography later in
the year, and decided limehouse would be a useful venue. the weather wasn't
great today, but as i had to be in town late afternoon i went up earlier
to take another look at the area to see what has changed since i was last
there.
later i went to meet townly and friends - some i already knew and others
i didn't - to celebrate his birthday. we started by climbing up the monument,
then made our way to the george inn, finally having a meal together in borough
high street. the monument marks the great fire of london, and was completed
in 1677. its 311 steps take you to a viewing platform at the top of the
world's largest free-standing ionic column, 202 feet high. 300 years ago
it would have given an incredible view over the whole of london, and even
with so many tall buildings it is still impressive. the square platform
at the top is pretty narrow, and was caged in after it became too popular
with suicides. you can't tell from these pictures, but the george is also
worth a visit.
more pictures
the following day i went up the modern equivalent of the monument, the
london eye, taking two german boys who were staying with us to see the sights
of london. it costs around 6 times as much but there are only a few steps
to get in the capsule that carries you up into the sky. the view is a little
more impressive, at 450 feet, the eye is the largest ferris wheel in the
world, and over twice the height of the monument.
our train journey there was a little fraught. first a disgruntled customer
started a one-man protest in the station ticket office, causing this to
close briefly; then when our train came in, it stood at the platform with
doors firmly closed for around 5 minutes as the guard had lost his key.
we had caught up a couple of minutes by richmond, when the announcement
came that we were stopping additionally at barnes. once there, we were informed
that a lorry had hit a rail bridge at wandsworth and there was no knowing
how long we might have to wait before services could proceed, and travellers
were advised to continue by the local bus services. since i knew we would
never get there that way we stayed put. after 20 minutes the train moved
off, travelling at walking speed for around a mile before speeding up a
little, reaching waterloo exactly at the time we were supposed to check
in. we ran from the station, then took a frustrating few minutes finding
the machine to collect our pre-booked tickets. we were a few minutes late
on collection but still made the wheel before our booked time.
more pictures
good friday i started photographing a brief service at waterloo station,
but it wasn't easy to find a good viewpoint. things were a little easier
at the larger 'westminster crucifixion' which started with a brief service
outside methodist central hall before making its way along victoria street
to westminster cathedral. here was a slightly longer stop, including an
address by cardinal cormac murphy o'connor.
the large wooden cross was carried by men from the passage centre next
to the catholic cathedral, and a collection was taken for the work of this
centre. i left the procession there as it turned around to make its way
back to westminster abbey for a final service.
more pictures
saturday i went up to the south bank and then made my way to camberwell,
getting off the bus early to take a walk around. one of the larger council
estates from the 1950s and 60s iis in course of redevelopment, and there
were quite a few other developments; i couldn't find some of the things
i had photographed in earlier years.
in camberwell i met up with other members of 'london arts cafe' to visit
the house and studio of artist tom phillips. this was a fascinating experience.
after being shown around by two of his assistants we met the man himself
briefly. later after we had looked around his peckham studio (and i had
been given a hard time on the table-tennis table) we were able to ask him
some questions.
leaving the studio, we made our way to the nearby neighbourhood garden,
which includes some sculptural works by him and other artists.
more pictures
i think every time i've gone to the boat race i've said never again. it
was cold and wet and rather miserable, too many people in a small space.
at least i only got my feet slightly wet this year as the mob of boats surged
along behind the crews sending waves up the slipway. several years ago,
along with many other spectators i was marooned by the rapidly incoming
tide on a platform on the towpath and had to wade some 50 metres through
knee-high freezing muddy water
as i stood waiting for the cambridge crew to emerge with their boat, a
woman came up to me and handed me a leaflet. i didn't immediately understand
what she was saying, but when i looked at it, suddenly it made sense. the
very fine book that was on sale on the table i had walked past a minute
or so earlier 'what it takes to earn your place' was by julian andrews,
who had been a photography student of mine before going to take the photojournalism
course at sheffield college. while at spelthorne he did a project on spitalfields
market that told me he would be a success.
more pictures
bank holiday we spent with our german visitors again, taking them for a
short walk around eton, then leaving them to have a pizza in windsor. it
wasn't one of my better days photographically, especially when i forgot
and left the shutter at 1/30 when i put the telephoto on. perhaps i should
tape the knob to the program setting to stop me trying to be clever.
more pictures
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some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.
this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of the
rest at
london pictures
londons industrial history
and you can read what I think about photography at
>Re:PHOTO
All pictures on this section of the site
are © Peter Marshall 2005;
to buy prints or for permission to reproduce pictures or to comment on this
site, or for any other questions,
contact
me
your comments may be added to the site - or
not.
Payment may be waived for acceptable non-profit uses.
some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.
this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of
the rest at
london pictures
londons industrial history
and you can read what I think about photography at
>Re:PHOTO
All pictures on this section of the
site are © Peter Marshall 2005;
to but prints or for permission to reproduce pictures or to comment on this
site, or for any other questions,
contact
me
your comments may be added to the site -
or not.
Payment may be waived for acceptable non-profit uses.
