Venus Drive 14 August 2013, 2.3km Who’d have guessed that the X100S isn’t just a brilliant streeting camera, but does decent nature macro photography as well! First field test went better than expected: slapped on a Raynox DCR-250 close-up lens and used my Nikon SB-800 flashgun with a flimsy DIY diffuser softbox (it fell into a pool of murk when I was shooting the frogs), synced with a SC-29 remote cord. Everything is manual: exposure, flash settings, flash handling sans extension brackets. The only thing that’s stopping me from using manual focusing is that I’ve run of out free hands.…
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Category: Featured
After a series of peaceful demonstrations for preserving a recreational area in Istanbul… … Turkish police attacked the protesters violently with tear gas and water cannon, directly targeting their faces and bodies… … Turkish media, directly controlled by the government or have business and political ties with it, refuse to cover the incidents. Press agencies have also blocked the information flow. Please share this message for the world to become aware of the police state created by AKP of Recep Tayyip Erdogan [the Turkish Prime Minister]… — Leaftlet handed out at the Turkish protest in London A sizeable gathering of…
How it all began In 2006, a photographer friend asked me along to the ‘No More Fallujahs’ peace camp at Parliament Square, where anti-war campaigners were demanding an end to the UK/US military occupation of Iraq. It sounded exciting. It was all new ground to me, photographically and otherwise. I was tempted, but hesitant. Coming from a country that has near-zero tolerance for dissent, and where a gathering of more than five persons could potentially be considered an illegal assembly, my nervousness then was understandable: But we’re not the press! Is it okay? Will we get into trouble? Will it…
aka ‘Everything looks better in B&W’, born of a running gag between me and a photographer friend when we went to see the Genesis world premiere at the Natural History Museum. I had a free guest pass sitting in my wallet from years ago. Ten years ago maybe. It had gone flimsy and was frayed at the edges, looking like the piece of antique that it was. The staff at the exhibition counter refused it, explaining that he couldn’t take it for that would be like ‘accepting a fake ticket’. He advised me to try exchanging it for an exhibition…
As far as museum exhibits go, the Grant Museum‘s new(ish) Micrarium has taken the top place of honour on my list. It’s a wickedly wonderful place for the ‘tiny things’ that are my favourite things: the invertebrates that constitute an approximate 95% of all animal species. You won’t get that feeling if you walk into most, if not all, natural history museums. Vertebrates, especially large, charismatic, or extinct species, are grossly over-represented. Galleries of imposing dino skeletons, taxidermied mammals, birds with their wings of glory outstretched, life-sized models of Komodo dragons – that’s how to best inspire awe… right? The…
George Orwell’s 1984 leads to V for Vendetta leads to a bunch of Guy Fawkes-masked activists marching on the Houses of Parliament from Trafalgar Square this 5th of November. Lots of discontent, it seems, about the government’s failure to serve its people, the dismal state of the economy and the environment. Also something about the wars, social service, education, and a lot about Cameron; it’s everything rolled into one. “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.” Possibly my most challenging reportage coverage yet – a nighttime protest! Again I set out…
“You cannot pass through here.” One of the stewards stepped to the side and blocked my way, “You have to go round the other side.” “But I’m not passing through,” I told him. “I’m here to cover the event.” A moment later, I was receiving a briefing from their media person, and then let loose into the crowd. Finally, after having photographed quite a number of protests and demonstrations, I was at ease in such situations. No fear, no hesitation, no waffling. Just gear up and shoot. Although I was not a bona fide photojournalist nor did I have any…
Experience has taught me that some performers don’t take it too kindly to having a lens poking into their faces, so I approached one of the aunties, wearing my cheeriest smile and in halting Mandarin, if they’d mind my intrusion backstage. Then from down the road came D and M, who marched straight up the stairs by the side of the stage and disappeared behind the scenes. Old hands like them make me feel like a timid pup. I hurried in after them, and waltzed a few decades back in time to see mostly men and women in their 50s,…