Ten Years On...

They say the world has changed over the last ten years, and I suppose it has, however my own world has changed much more.

I remember the afternoon of 11th September 2001 in vivid detail.  When the story broke I was working at a college, and was stuck in a tiny room photographing students (for their student ID cards) using an awful quality video camera capture system.  A colleague told me a plane had crashed into the tower.  My first vision was that of a small 2 seater plane crashing into the tower by accident and causing almost no damage.

The internet was a little bit broken, all I could get from the BBC site was a single line news story.  Towards the end of my shift I was told that one of the towers had fallen.  I felt numb.  I did no work for the last two hours of the day, just sat there in disbelief watching the telly.

New stories always seem more real when you’ve been to the place, and I’d done just that some years earlier.  The observation deck at the top of the tower had outdoor access, and you were able to walk around the very top of the tower.

I cycled the 5 miles home from work that evening in a daze, and sat in front of the telly all evening still not quite believing what I was seeing.

A week or so after I found myself at Heathrow airport taking a flight to Germany.  The flight was half empty, and everything was very subdued.

10 years ago I was in a dead end job that I hated, working with people that for the most part I had little or no respect for (and I believe the feeling was mutual).  I was getting myself into stupid debts that I had no idea how I’d ever repay by constantly booking holidays in far off places, just because I was so unhappy and had nothing else in my life.

10 years on and I’m in a much happier place.  I said goodbye to that hated job 4 years ago when I took redundancy, and made the leap into self employment.  I’m very nearly debt free now, quite a bit poorer, but oh so much happier!

One of my favourite Sting albums “...All This Time” was recorded live on the evening of 11th September 2001.  It was a small concert, just for friends of Sting, but you can almost here the emotion in the music.  The opening song, “Fragile” could have almost been written for the day.

“Fragile”

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are

NB.  A few words about the photos.  1st photo taken from Liberty Island, 2nd from the top of one of the towers, 3rd is a view looking north over Manhattan from the top of the tower, and the final two are taken around Ground Zero I believe a couple of years after the attacks.

My Dads' Model Boats

My Dad, who sadly passed away a few months ago, used to build model boats as a hobby.  Each one took him 18-24 months or so to complete, built from the shed at the bottom of the garden.  That same shed is now my product photography studio, so what better project to launch (pun intended) it with than photographing his boats.  I only had a few minutes to set up the studio for the first of the boats, a trawler as it was being given away to someone who works with special needs adults.

Before photographing the rest of the boats (there are at least 10 more), I need to buy a roll of paper to use as the background.  As you can see from the last photo, A3 sheets just aren't working well.

Southampton's Mess

I actually quite like Southampton.  It's my home town, and I know the city centre like the back of my hand.  Business in some areas of the city is doing amazingly well, West Quay is just one example and with a record breaking 6 cruise liners coming into the city on Saturday, and 1000's of people coming through because of it, the streets are just embarrassing.  What must visitors to our city think about us?

I set out today to show the city centre at its worst, with boarded up stores, and the terrible mess of litter and full up rubbish bins everywhere.

Most of the mess is due to a dispute between the Council and the Unions causing amongst others the street cleaners and bin men to have been on strike for the better part of the last 2 months.  Not really wanting to bring politics and my own personal opinion into this, but one side is elected by the people to make decisions for us, and the other side isn't.  Being self employed for the last 4 years, I'm afraid I have to side with the council on this one

So to the pictures.  I admit I did deliberately set out to take pictures that for the most part showed the city in a "bad light", not because I want to be negative about my home town, but hopefully to make someone with the powers to make decisions to actually get off their butts and do something to sort the place out.  It's a good city, with good people, but at the moment it's all just a little bit embarrassing.

London from up high

Other than the London Eye and maybe the Monument (although compared to the new buildings around it its really not so high), I've never seen a view of London from "up high".

So when Lisa Carrodus offered to take me the Hilton on Park Lane and their bar on the 28th floor after our shoot I jumped at the chance.

Sadly due to stupid health and safety regulations you're no longer allowed out onto the open air balcony, which meant I had to shoot through the windows.

Tech Info: All photos taken with a Canon G12.



 

Shooting British Army Apaches

One from the archives.   Almost 3 years ago (back in the days where I had hair in different places on my head) I was lucky enough to get a personal one-on-one tour at Wattisham Airfield, the British Army base where they keep (kept?) Apache helicopters.

The tour was for the whole day, and included inside the hangers, and outside within a few feet of them taking off and landing.  I was even able to sit inside one in the hanger.  It was so loud that even without the engines fired up you needed ear defenders.  All of the noise was coming from the cooling fans to stop the computers from overheating.

Amazing, and somewhat scary bits of kit.  Thanks to Darren & Krysia for making it happen.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls depending on where you come from are one of the most amazing places I've ever had the pleasure of visiting.  They split the border between Argentina & Brazil (and just down the road Paraquay).  The only other "big" waterfall I've visited is Niagara, which while impressive, doesn't come close to the almost 300 different falls at Iguazu.

It's been ten years since I was there last.  The snap-shots on this page were capatured with a Canon G2 camera.  While it wasn't my first digital camera, it was my first decent one.

If I had the chance to return to the falls I'd jump at it.  I'd love to spend a week or two there capturing them.

A quick on the shot below...  a long exposure lit only from the light from the moon.  Also the final image, lightning, a lucky shot captured from the balcony of my hotel room during a jungle storm.

I want to go back!





 

 

Didcot Power Station

Earlier in the week, while on my way to visit a friend in Oxfordshire, I stopped off to watch and photograph the sun setting over Didcot Power Station.  While probably not everyone's first choice of location to photograph the sunset, I did get a couple of shots I'm rather happy with.

Holly Matthews with tea and cake

As promised here are a couple of photos from my recent photo shoot with actress Holly Matthews where she isn't pretending to be a nasty chav.

I think it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, we did eat the cake after.

Photographing a pregnant chav with an attitude

So I recently found myself in one of the rougher parts of Coventry, with a pregnant alcoholic junkie chav with an attitude.  From her hand gestures I'm assuming she didn't really want to be photographed, but I continued just the same.

Okay so some up the above might not be entirely true.  I was indeed in a rough area of Coventry, but my subject for the shoot was actress Holly Matthews.  Holly appeared in Byker Grove for some 7 years and has more recently appeared in Waterloo Road, Criminal Justice 2 and Casualty.

Normally if a model looks at the pictures during the shoot and says "oh that's minging!", or "that's horrible!" I'd be in big trouble, but this time, it was exactly the reaction we both wanted.

Holly is one of the first actresses I've worked with, and it has to be said she was a pleasure to shoot.  Asides from having a thing about making tea exactly as the person likes, giving me cake, and also cooking dinner after the shoot, she was a great model with lots of her own ideas for the shoot.

Thanks for a great shoot Holly.  Great to finally meet you!

Update: I'll be posting some very different (to these) pictures of Holly this evening.  Stay tuned folks!

Update 2: It's been bought to my attention that those living in other parts of the world may indeed not know what a "chav" is.  While chavs live the world over, they are known by different names.  For example in the USA you'll probably find them shopping at Walmart and living in trailer parks.   For a better explanation of a chav, read this...

Update 3: Holly with tea and cake photos are now here.

Old Walls of Southampton

It had been raining for most of the day and I nearly decided to stay home, but I forced myself out and went out on a little photowalk around Southampton this afternoon.  Although cold, the skies cleared a just enough.  We were treated to a wonderful sunset from the townquay.

These are a few shots I took of  the old walls of the city, photographed a little differently than I ever have before.

Camera used: Canon S95.