It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post but I have been travelling around, visiting exhibitions and taking photos.
London 21st October
As many of you are aware, London is one of my favourite locations for photography so I headed south again for the day ( with my eldest daughter in tow), but it was a very poor one weather wise so photography opportunities were going to be challenging. Firstly I took a wander around Camden Lock and had a very nice breakfast at a canal side cafe. Right on cue the rain started, but I pressed on. Once it had subsided I came across an interesting chap on the canal bridge holding a sign that said “Photos £2, help this punk get drunk”. I admired his honesty so I decided to help him get drunk and took a few photos. He was a full-on punk but also a very nice chap to talk to. With nothing else catching my eye I decided to move on.
Later in the afternoon I headed towards Trafalgar Square, and as we approached it I could see that the Pro-Palestine protesters were starting to disperse, or so I thought. On arrival at Trafalgar Square, I could see that Nelson’s Column was covered in flags and protesters chanting. I mingled with them and took some shots. After that I ventured down Whitehall and the further down I walked, the more dense the crowds became and the more agitated they seemed to be. I planned to head down to Westminster tube station but just past Downing Street the crowd turned into a solid wall of very angry people and although it didn’t bother me I was becoming concerned for my daughter who was uncomfortable. We about turned and headed down the embankment to Westminster. It was a very interesting spectacle to witness and the opportunities for photography were endless. Just in case anyone was wondering..I don’t take sides, I just take photos.
Glasgow 26th October
Another trip I made was up to my home city of Glasgow, another favourite photography haunt of mine. I had to drop off some zines at “The Glasgow Gallery of Photography” who have now opened a second gallery in the city on High Street. The exhibition “Abandoned” was on-show and included some very nice photography. I couldn’t help getting a feeling of deja vu when entering the premises. It is in the original “Street Level” gallery that I used to go up to on Sunday afternoons to help convert the old premises into a gallery. It’s worth a visit to see and support if you are in the city.
I also visited “Street Level Photoworks” to view the “Govanhill” exhibition by Simon Murphy. This is an excellent exhibition of mainly street portraits taken by Simon over a number of years. Govanhill is a very diverse area of Glasgow with over 80 languages spoken in a very small radius of the city. Simon worked the area very well and gained the trust of the people that live there. This comes across in his photography and I must admit it is one of the best exhibitions I have seen for a while. I hope to get a copy of the book that accompanies the exhibition. The first print sold out immediately so awaiting the second print being delivered. I would encourage you to visit this exhibition if you find yourself in Glasgow.
Short but sweet edition of the blog this week, but here are a few of the shots taken during the above travels.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and thank you for reading it. If you want to comment on this blog post please do so below or you can contact me by using the “Contact Me” facility in the website header.
