Coming hot on the heals of the SOS Band a few weeks ago, the Indigo is fast becoming the venue of choice, much like Hammersmith Odeon was back in the day for listening to live soul music in London. It’s becoming that place where memories are made.

I saw the SOS Band back in 1988 at Hammersmith and even though the gig a few weeks ago was fraught with some weird technical problems, as my friend Jo said, we were simply enjoying the memories of the music.

Frankie Beverly O2 Indigo April 2010

Maze are timeless! The songs, the music, the musicianship it’s all quality. To have music transport you to all your favourite places, and times, to have melodies conjure memories from the deepest recesses of your mind, when you don’t care about the drunk spilling their drinks down your expensive leather coat and when (as a photographer) you looking around you for somewhere to put down one of your most prized possessions because you just don’t care,  you know you could dance all night, you just want to get lost in the music, vibing you know. (I’m listening to ‘While I’m Alone‘ whilst I’m writing this so you know I’m still vibing!)

All the well known we’re on the set list, Joy & Pain, Golden Time of Day, Southern Girl. they didn’t do any new material but that didn’t matter. According to Mr Beverly, there is new material soon to come on a new and long awaited album, aptly entitled ‘Anticipation‘. (In fact I believe this is the Anticipation Tour)

Maze used to perform in London regularly until around 10 years ago, but having been at Saturday’s gig with people who had seen the band play in London last year who were just as thrilled as I was (it being my first Maze Live experience), Maze don’t need new material to fill a 2000 seat auditorium and fans of their music will always come to hear the classics like Before I Let Go, Call On Me  & Happy Feelings.

We welcome the new stuff, because we know their will be some gems in there to add to the massive back catalog of tunes in their repertoire, but they can continue to dine and live of their existing work for years to come. At 63 Frankie Beverly and the boys (a mixture now of original members and some younger mans) jam and groove just the same as when they were young boys fresh, keep it coming dudes! and keep coming back.

On a final note: To all those t***ers who passed the digital rights bill the other day in the commons in the ‘wash up’ people like you don’t understand that if you produce throw away music, people won’t value it, but if you produce quality it lives on and on, and people BUY IT! I own loads of Maze on Vinyl, on tape, mini-disc and CD, that didn’t stop me buying and downloading tracks on iTunes YESTERDAY!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to take a look, and take in the subject matter, then I urge you to tell everyone you know about it and get them to watch it as well.

The programme ‘The world’s most dangerous place for women‘ is available right now on BBC iPlayer (link). I would also suggest that you write to the BBC and request that the film remain available to watch on iPlayer for longer than the default 7 days (30 if you download it).

The story follows a young Congolese woman Judith Wanga (Jude) who was born in DRC, but was sent with her older sister to the UK with their uncle at the age of 3. Her parents, sent their two youngest daughters because they feared that the onset of conflict in the region would be dangerous for their daughters and to protect them, they pooled their money and resources to allow them to leave and live and grow up in London, UK.

Jude is a typical Londoner, but one who, like most first generation immigrants, has deep ties with the country of their birth and the families they have left behind. Up until her return, she had not seen her parents in 20 years.

The reunion with her parents at the beginning of the film, is wonderful, but the purpose of her trip is twofold. To reunite her family and experience the joy of being ‘home’, but more importantly for the wider audience, to highlight the plight of Congolese women who have to endure rape, mutilation, humiliation, torture and death at the hands of Soldiers, Police and Militia in this very troubled part of the world.

Jude travels to the eastern Congo, close to the Rwandan border, where factions fight for control of the countries mineral and precious metal wealth is taking place. In these regions, rape of women is routinely used to destroy villages and communities and keep them subjugated. It is so common place that one of the women in the film, Masika,  who has been a multiple victim said in an interview

‘…a civilian rapes, a policeman rapes,  a soldier rapes. Womanhood has been destroyed. A woman has become worthless’

This statement expressed and read over was for me, one of the most powerful statements in the film. The realisation that women are brutalised and have to endure not only the physical and mental suffering that such a personal and violent attack on their body entails, but also have to deal with the potential for disease in the form of HIV and AIDs, potential pregnancy, but also the social isolation and stigma from their families and their communities more often than not ostracized by their families and thrown out of their homes and villages because of shame.

Due to how these women are viewed after an attack and it’s aftermath in terms of social exclusion, it is said that the majority of victims of rape don’t report it to any authority. As a result, official figures are determined to be the tip of the iceberg.

You are left with a feeling of despair, although there is hope in the region with initiatives by women for women, to help rebuild their lives through programmes of education and provision of safe houses and places of recuperation.

However the problems in DRC won’t go away overnight. The generational aspect and the multiplicity of factors contributing to it’s continued use as a method of subjugation and torture, including the fact that military commanders are reported to stand over boy soldiers urging them to commit these heinous crimes, the fact that women soldiers participate in the lure and capture of vulnerable women and stand by as their sisters are brutalised, the fact that husbands, brothers, fathers of raped women are able to ‘dispose’ of their women and any babies that may have resulted from the rape, as if they were rubbish, does not bode well for a swift change to social attitudes.

The problem of the use of rape against women in the DRC is one that must be brought into the full glare of the media spotlight. Strategic plans to eradicate the practice and re-educate the Congolese communities and any other communities where this practice is commonplace and systematic must be brought to the UN for action by all member states. The public must be made aware that it exists and must be encouraged to pressure their governments to participate in finding the resources to action such a plan. Commercial enterprises must be strongly encouraged to volunteer substantial resources, finance and otherwise to enable the start, continuity and resolution of strategic initiatives to counteract and support the generations of victims of this horrendous situation.

I myself only learned of what was going on through watching this programme. Thank you Jude for agreeing to go and bring this to my attention. I have now brought it to your attention.

Do watch it the programme, do read Jude’s article published at Guardian.co.uk, do find out more, find out what you can do. Start a Facebook page, a twitter campaign. Urge the companies that you work for to make this cause a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

These women need our support. They need our action. Please see the main BBC website, if you read down to the comments, the show’s producer has posted links to charities doing work in this area. Find ways of supporting them in any way that you can.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcthree/2010/03/the-worlds-most-dangerous-place-for-women.shtml

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Back in London, the snow has most of us on lockdown, cold and wishing we didn’t have to tackle the transport system, black ice and chilling winds just to get to and from work.

2010 is set to be an interesting year for all of us. In the UK we have to have a general election by the end of June. We don’t know whether we will get a change of government but it seems likely (at least in name, if not in policy). What this willl mean for us, who knows. The country is in a shaky state, globally people are talking about double dip recession becoming a reality later this year. With all this happening, with people still facing very real threats to their jobs and livelyhood it’s a wonder anyone can feel optimistic.

Have you set new goals for 2010? Regardless of what may happen, we still have to live. We have to get on with our lives, loves, family, work. There is still plenty to enjoy in life, and even if you think your life is bad, there is almost always someone else who is in a worse position than you.

I looked back at the posts I made in 2009 and realised that I haven’t written many on this blog, although I have been writing elsewhere. As this is my personal blog, it has fallen behind those on which I write for money. Since my goals for 2010 are different from those of last year, I think I may spend more time writing here and not so much elsewhere online. 2010 will see me spend more time on personal development, and artistic practice.

A couple of the projects on which I have been working are up and running now. In particular, I am really pleased that my heritage related project is up and running at http://leerfuturo.com. The project only has only a working title at present Leer Futuro (which means To read the future in English). The project at present centers around heritage sites in the Caribbean and this last month I have been able to spend some time looking at sites in Jamaica that have some relation to the transatlantic slave trade.

In addition to that I am working on some more projects around indentity and cultural heritage. As they progress I will let you know more. If you’ve got plans for this year, don’t let them sit on the back burner waiting for things to pick up. Get going, make your moves, start on your goals. the time to start is right now.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

You can earn money through travel photography without leaving your home town, did you know that?

I am going to write a fuller article on another site that I write for, and will post the link here, but for a taster of what I will cover, check out this synopsis.

No Need To Leave Home

Year before last I went to Rome. It is an absolutely breath taking city, and if you’re someone like me who loves history, then Rome has bags of it and then some. Whilst sitting outside the Colliseum, marvelling at the wonders of Ancient Rome, it suddenly occurred to me that I don’t appreciate the history that’s abundant in my own home town London.

It also then occurred to me that I don’t take advantage of the photographic opportunities that are available in my city. It’s one of the worlds biggest tourist cities and I realized that because I know it as a citizen, I don’t think of it as a travel destination, and as such, don’t think about it as an opportunity to make travel  photographs.

Now we’ve had a really great summer this year. Not much rain, plenty of blue skies. Even now today on the 13th of October, the sun is shining and the temperature is mild so it’s idea from a photography perspective, to go out and create some fantastic images of the capital.

Are you like me? Do you live somewhere that tourist visit, whether en masse or in groups, on tours because of some historical or special interest, then you too can create images that will appeal to the travel photography market.

Have a peruse next time you’re out at the local supermarket, chances are you may have little competition in your neck of the woods so you could make that market your very own.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I would like to share these resources with you so that if you are also a blogger who want’s to expand the reach of your blog and attract more visitors you may also benefit from these writers good advice.

• Adsense Basics from BloggerUnleased
• The Make Money Online Niche from Make Money Online for Beginners
• Search Engine Optimization for Blogs from Make Money Online for Beginners

You will find a comprehensive advice and case studies that you can follow and each of the owners are willing to help newbies get their foot on the ladder to building traffic and earning money from your blog.

Good luck1

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The new law was ushered in with a protest at the home of the Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard by around 150 photographers who staged a mass photo-shoot

What’s the fuss about?

Well the new section states

(1) A person commits an offence who—
(a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been—
(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces,
(ii) a member of any of the intelligence services, or
(iii) a constable,
which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or
(b) publishes or communicates any such information.

This is yet another vague amendment to Anti Terror Laws that could pose a threat to photographers, both amateur and professional who are innocently going about their business, but who could yet find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Over the past few years, more and more complaints of harrassment of photographers by police have been reported. This new law, in my opinion, will lead to an increase in reported incidents, especially as police officers get to grips with the implications, and photographers ignorant of the legislation get caught out.

Will I be averting my lens should I see a constable approach? For sure I will, I don’t think I want to go to jail or have my equipment confiscated, but perhaps that’s a cowardly position to take. Should I be protest against these changes that the Metropolitan police spokesperson claims are ‘unworkable’, yes and my letter is being drafted right after I post this.

What do I expect to happen? Absolutely nothing, because we have turned into a nation that does not respect protest, we don’t respect the right of the individual to free expression, we feel scared of our law enforcement services, and we don’t trust them, or our government to respect and uphold our freedoms.

The standard responses seem to center around  (you fill in the blanks)

1. If you’re doing nothing wrong……
2. These laws won’t affect you if……
3. These laws are meant to protect……
4. The security of our citizens is…….

It’s a bloody farce! Stop and search amendments meant to be used to find more terrorists are being used on ordinary citizens at an alarming rate (Times article). CCTV touted as necessary in stopping street crime, is used to hand out parking tickets, where does it end?

A few days ago, my brother told me of a shooting that happened somewhere in the USA, where police officers apprehended and eventually shot at point blank range, an un-armed, subdued suspect. The killing was films by ordinary citizens on camera phones. Although I have not seen the footage, the fact that the members of the public in the vicinity were unafraid to capture the footage on their phones, from the point the suspect was apprehended is something we may see disappear in the UK once police officers feel they have enough backing to ‘dissuade’ the public from filming their actions.

What? What’s that, the police don’t kill innocents?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A few years ago, a friend of mine was dating a musician. Observing his behaviour over a period of time, led me to believe he was indeed a ‘tortured artist’. Are you aware of the (stereo)type?

The tortured artist seems to be one who is having the most problems with their work, the world and everyone around them. In relation to their work, they will never let it go or are frustrated beyond reason (at least to the rest of us) sbout the work being ready, right or perfect before the release it to the world.

Such people are often perfectionists, they judge their work harshly, and they judge the work of others harsher still. Tortured artists are said to have destructive tendencies, mostly it has to be said towards themselves.

So does this sound like you? I felt a bit like one this weekend, but managed to get to the point where I realised I have so much farther to go before I hit the ‘tortured’ phase. Life is too good and it’s too short to be that person.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Amongst all that was said in a very informative session, was this nugget that got most of the audience thinking. She delivered it via an interaction with a Jazz artist and the point of the exercise was to get us thinking about ways to figure out the potential market for our products and services.

As photographers, we’re in the same position as a musician who wants to make a living doing something that they love doing. Basically, not to put too fine a point on it, who is going to buy our products, engage our services, come to our shows. So it follows that we should be examining ourselves, and coming up with a profile of the types of people who would buy our work, engage us to photograph them and attend any exhibitions in which we are likely to be showing work.

Hmmm, does this means that I have to begin navel gazing and deep thinking about my life? Again! Well not really, what it does mean however is that we can take different aspects of our life and see where people of like interests may be suitable receptacles of our marketing message.

Take for instance, the fact that I am an Arsenal fan. We’re having a hard time at the moment, not as bad as some, but compared to the glory years in the not too distant past, we’re in the uncomfortable position of not being in the top two or  even four of the Premiership, currently outside Champions league qualification places, out of the Carling cup, dropping points in games we should be winning, the list could go on for a long time, needless, the point is as an Arsenal fan, can I market my services to Arsenal Football Club?

Well possibly, but there are lots of commercial and sports photographers out there in a better position than I am to market to a large Corporation such as AFC, and sports photography is not my specialism.

However let’s look a little closer, I like football. My nephews play each week in organised leagues, and besides cup final games, I don’t see many photographers on the sidelines, taking pictures of the little ‘Beckhams’ week in week out.

There could be an opening to be the ‘official’ photographer for my local under-11′s team. Most clubs who operated under FA guidelines and leagues, even at those ages have multiple age teams (I think my nephews club has at least 6).  So, if I was of the mind to spend Sunday mornings freezing to death taking pictures of kids football games in the vain hope that I’ve captured a future star, I could probably find an audience, who (eventually) would feel obliged to reward my commitment to grassroots football by engaging me as the club photographer.

Most clubs have end of season awards events. If the team does well in cup games or wins the league, then there are opportunities to get your photos in the local press. There are team photos, profile write ups for players, the list could go on. The more work you do for a club, the more your work will get noticed by other clubs. There are opportunities to sell your photo’s to family members proud of what their kids are doing. The list goes on…

Now that wasn’t too deep, I didn’t have to navel gaze too long to get one potential audience for my photography services. Hmmm, Leena may have a point. Maybe I will have a go at recording some of my story in order to see where connections to a potential audience for my work could be found. If you’re in the position where you’re just starting out, or maybe thinking of turning your photography hobby into more of a commercial enterprise, then perhaps you could benefit from doing this exercise as well.

If you want to know more about Leena’s services visit her online marketing services website

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

My friends and I was sandwiched somewhere just below the Washington Monument on a day that started around 5am and finished (as far as being outside) some 12 hours later. I couldn”t believe I could be on my feet for so long, God knows I felt it afterwards, hobbling around the apartment, but it was totally worth it!

Crowds walk towards Capitol Hill on inauguration Day

Man, Washington DC was a great place to be, such warmth and good vibes the whole week we were there. Everyone commented on how much love was being shown by everyone who was there. Talking to loads of people from around the world, everyone expressing the same or similar sentiments. Feeling the hope, craving the change, recognising the significance of the past two years and the culmination of the effort by voters, grass roots campaign workers, the Democrats and Barack Obama himself to pull off a historic campaign that got him the top job in the World.

I spoke to folks back in the UK where I think there were almost as many inauguration celebration events as there were going on in Washington The world celebrated what is sure to be a sea change in American politics. Though the expectation on President Obama is HUGE, if he manages to achieve half of what he has promised during the campaign, it will still be a significant achievement.

On election night I stayed up to watch the results come in and despite the pundits and the pollsters, I didn’t believe it until the results passed the number of electoral votes needed to secure the presidency. On Tuesday, I saw old people, young people, black and white, disabled people, veterans everybofy cheering, waving flags, smiling and crying as he took his oath. The city was awash with people, millions turned out on a freeing cold day, many stating that they just had to be there to be a witness.

Maybe I will write more about the week and the day, but to tell you the truth, I am still absorbing all the video and reading reports on it right now. Just wanted post something to acknowledge this moment in history. The first African American president of the USA. The brother doesn’t have to call anyone Sir!

Congratulations Mr President.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Two days before he is inaugurated as the 44th President of the USA, Barack Obama, his wife Michele and their two daughters Malia and Sasha are due to make an appearance at the pre-inauguration event where stars of screen and music, including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington, Shakira, U2 and many more performed songs and delievered readings to the huge crowd that streched from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.

One Nation under a groove

The crowd, estimated to be around 500,000 waited patiently for hours. We didn’t however, being the laid back types, we arrived just as Denzel was delivering the first reading. We did however manage to weave our way down as close as we could to the reflecting pool, and position ourselves in front of one of the Jumbo screens, thus ensuring we had a good view of the proceedings.

It was another freezing cold day in Washington DC, but that didn’t dampen the mood of the spectators or the dignitaries. The air was pulsating with excitement as we waited for the man himself to take to the microphone and every time the camera panned to show him on the monitors, there were cheers and whoops of delight, especially as he sang along to songs like “American Pie” performed by Garth Brooks.

Stevie slammed, and Beyonce (minus the usual bounce) but looking and sounding every bit the elegant songstress she can be thrilled the crowd. Bono and U2 performed with vigour and you could feel the joy and pride from Denzel, Jamie and Samuel L. Jackson as they read or spoke about their new president.

If this event is anything to go by, Inauguration day is going to be out of this world. The expectation is great, the joy is greater. Maybe he can’t perform miracles, but just being elected the 44th President of the USA, their first of African American origin is a miracle in itself when put in context with America’s racist past. It shows that we have made it into a new era. The 21st century is one of opportunity for all regardless of race. Obama has shown that if you put your mind to it you can achieve anything, even the top job in the world.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.