Portraits

People of all stripes dress up on the third Thursday of each month and do a Colour Walk around and about in Old Spitalfields Market in London. It’s advertised on various sites recommending things to do in London, and that’s how I heard about it.

I went and it seemed that there were as many people photographing as there were parading. I thought the people who were dressed up would be in a group or parading as a group, but no. At least not when I arrived, after it had started.

It was advertised to start at 1:00pm and perhaps they did gather at the start. When I got there colour walkers were being shunted off in ones and twos to stand against a dark hoarding to be photographed. It all felt a bit odd somehow, as though the original bonhomie had gone or deflated a bit.

But there was one person who would not be deflated, and here is a shot of him. I recognised him because I also saw him in the middle of a crowd at the Extinction Rebellion protest in 2019 when protesters nailed a pink yacht to the intersection on Oxford Circus in the middle of London, and handcuffed themselves to the stanchions that secured the yacht.

The police at the Oxford Circus protest were a bit nonplussed about how to deal with what was then a novel situation. Eventually they made some arrests, but in terms of human interaction it was a success.

Two women I bumped into on the way to the Oxford Circus protest that day saw only good things that would come from it. A bit like young soldiers marching off to war. But we are all wiser now. ‘Just stop destroying the place’ has taken a back seat.

Just Stop

When the last Conservative Prime Minister issued new licences for oil drilling, the UK was in uproar. When President Biden said it would do incalculable harm to stop using fossil fuels rather than wind down their use, the US and the world’s media just took it on the chin. I guess it is the manner of the delivery.

Whatever the case, the Just Stop Oil protest movement has had less success in uniting the populace when they have blocked motorways to protest the use of fossil fuels. And where is Extinction Rebellion now? I haven’t heard from them for a while.

Back To The Colour Walk

Here is a photo of a woman who I think is one of the organisers of Colour Walk, being photographed, with a good natured attempt at a smile.

I shot this with the Canon EOS R6 and Canon RF28-70mm F2.8 IS STM lens at f2.8, 1/30th of a second, and ISO 100. The lens was at 70mm.

ISO 100

Shot with a Nikon D750 and 50mm lens at 1/1000 second at f3.2

On Saturday 22 February, people gathered to protest at the Russian Embassy in London against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The protesters stood at the entrance to Palace Court off the Bayswater Road opposite Kensington Gardens. The road was cordoned off and the protesters stood behind the barriers, with police controlling any overspill into Bayswater Road.

All photos shot with the Ricoh GRIII

Rio Matchett Artistic Director, Camden People’s Theatre describing her experience at CPT, in what she considers to be a rare nurturing environment. After posting this photo I looked up Rio and she has an interesting story with a soon to be published book detailing how at 18, she set fire to a church, for which she was sectioned then imprisoned for arson, and her steps to redemption.

He was performing, guitar and vocals, outside the Tate Modern. The song was Knocking On Heaven’s Door, a song that usually makes me see in my mind’s eye, the scene in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid where Slim Pickens is shot and sits down on the river bank, dying. His wife or partner, played by Katy Jurado, sees he has been shot and she comes to comfort him. She is on her hands and knees, a respectful distance as he goes through what he is going through, and they look at each other with love and sadness.

Meanwhile, Pat Garrett is tackling another outlaw back at the cabin seventy yards away or so. So there’s a split narrative in the scene as it cuts back and forth – and it is full of love, regret, acceptance, and death.

Wayne’s card says he is available for gigs singling and playing classic pop from the 50’s to the present, including the Beatles, Oasis, Bob Marley.

Canon R6 and Canon RF 35mm lens