These are a collection of photos I have taken relatively recently and quite like, all for different reasons. I don't have a snazzy camera unfortunately so some of them are taken with a camera phone and others my pretty basic (and now broken) digital camera. I have given them names as you can see, and a little bit about them, and why I have posted them.
Urbanism
Urbanism is like a condition that people living in big cities get, where they have become so desensitised to the constant mayhem going on around them that they no longer SEE things. This photo was taken at the main junction in Golders Green, North London. The police van had pulled in on the pedestrian crossing and had been abandoned right outside Barclays Bank like a getaway vehicle for a bank robbery. I found this most strange, but what I found even most strange was that no one stopped to look at it, or even to give it a second thought, people just walked around, eyes forward apparently unaware of anything out of ordinary. Blinkered.
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Walking
This photo has made it into the little collection for quite a personal reason. When I was young, a teenager, a friend and I twice went on these terrifying adventures through the dark. My friend Mimi and I did this twice, and we did it because it was thrilling. We would have been drinking at one of our favourite watering holes on a hot summers evening, getting more than a little bit merry on Pimms and Lemonade. We then decided, mainly because we could, we knew we shouldn't, and it felt a bit naughty to enter Kenwood Park in the middle of the night through the only entrance that was not locked. Now there aren't many places in London that are dark, not properly. Light pollution and street lights a-plenty mean that no matter what time one is guaranteed to be able to see. Hampstead heath at the dead of night however, is about as dark as I think it gets in London. We walked together with a male friend we forced into being our alpha-male type body guard despite him being just as scared as we were. When things are pitch black, anything can seem a threat; a rubbish big on the side of a hill looks like a crouching assassin, hunched silently ready to pounce and maim you. How ever it was just these unfounded anxieties that made for a hilarious, at times hysterical, adrenaline filled adventure. The other strange thing is that both times we went on this strange expedition, despite having no idea where we were going, or even what direction we were walking in, we arrived at the same exit, which was the exit nearest our house. This photo wasn't taken on one these adventures, but few years later, during the day, in the exact same part of the heath, it does however look exactly how I remember those hazy voyages of intoxicating darkness looking. It looked darker of course, but the blurriness indicates how difficult it was to see. The shaking camera suggests a sense of being slightly out of control of situation; the fear and excitement which go hand in hand with not having control or knowing what happens to you next.
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Tease
Burlesque stripper in Proud Galleries. I have a weird relationship to Burlesque, part of me loves it, and completely romanticises all things about it. Books like Wise Children and Nights at The Circus by Angela Carter paint this dark and magical portrayal of Victorian Britain and the underground burlesque scene. I also love the fashion, the glamour and the more modern 50s rockabilly meets Burlesque thing that a lot of people are repping these days. However When I see shows like these I feel conflicted, part of me feasts on the spectacle and the theatre of it and part of me can't help but cringe at the blatant female objectification of it, and wonder if it is really just a trussed-up version of the seedy strip clubs and brothels you see in Soho, Bangkok and beyond. I wonder if the Burlesque performer genuinely values herself as a performer or if she seeks some warped gratification at having people ogling at her naked body or if it feeds some deep routed insecurity. Pornography has a lot to answer to.
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Carnival
For me this photo encapsulates the wonderful extravagance and fluidity of the Notting Hill carnival. The tremendous head dress weighing down on the woman displaying it, so proud and jubilant to be heading a precession at the biggest street party in the UK. I heart Carnival.
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Eran
I love this photo. I love this person. I love sunny days spend with my gorgeous, innocent and inspiring little brother.
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Postcard Perfect
The end of a long day for London (26th March 2011), after the mass TUC demo turned the streets to an anarchists playground. Central London was left thick with smoke, windows smashed, and Trafalgar square had been turned into what looked like giant art installation representing different causes, groups and political movements. All agreeing on one thing, Change. As I walked through London, empty of tourist, bankers and business men but reclaimed by angry citizens determined to show our government that we would not stand for them cutting and everything that makes this country great; I though to myself, "I wish it was like this all the time!" Having lived all my life in London, and generally finding Leicester Square and Trafalgar square pretty repugnant, I could genuinely say that despite the carnage and burning rubbish, London, to me, looked the best it ever had. I don't agree with myself taking part in unprovoked violence, or senseless acts of vandalism. But violence to property is not the same as violence to people, and smashing some windows to show tax evading corporations and the powers that be, that we are angry is not senseless. It is time the media stopped portraying activists as terrorists and more people start to actually give a shit!
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Laundry Times
I was not posing for this photo, just chilling out waiting for my laundry to be done in Sussex University campus laundrette. I did however really like the lighting of the room and how the sterile mundaneness of the backdrop made for some very interesting and amusing photos. This is one of many that were taken, all with an old camera phone I am afraid so the picture quality is pretty grainy.
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Mimi
This is a perfect portrait of Mimi, it illustrates so much about her personality. Her fun-loving, cider drinking, high-heel tottering, girlie giggling, non-prioritizing, people loving, vulnerable and beautiful ways. This was taken on her twenty third birthday do (which she should really have put off to write her dissertation,) after we had left an abysmal night in the arse end of Hackney and were walking to find somewhere else to go. I spotted these cupcakes and grabbed her from the group and stood her in between them. She was far to drunk to be self conscious and pose and was probably laughing at someone to the right had said or done. I am so glad she did not pose, as I think it is perfect. I don't even mind the red eye.
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My Vagina
I feel to leave this simply with it's title only and let you draw your own conclusions about the picture, my vagina, and me for placing it here.
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Protected vs Contained
This was taken at the same TUC demo on the 26th March 2011. I know that there is a lot of hatred for police amongst activist circles, and given the way I have witnessed some riot police behaving it is hardly surprising or unwarranted. I do however sympathize with both sides of the riot shield. Here we were essentially being kettled by the police, although it was, we were told for our own protection as some idiotic "protesters" has set fire to the contents of the bins in Leicester Square. Protected or contained, you can draw your own conclusions.
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