Hunger striker's 19th day

On 15th August 2009, I went to meet up with the hunger strikers from the Iranian Liberty Association outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The ongoing protest is largely over the treatment of peaceful protestors in Ashraf City in Iraq. The Ghandi-like protestors (all peaceful and unarmed) have been met with chains, bricks, stones, batons, iron bars and live ammunition from the Iraqi military.

There are a number of reasons these peaceful people appear to have encountered such open hostility. Firstly, and probably the most likely reason is that their leader is an Islamic woman who is secular (believes that the church and the state should be separate).



The Ashraf City culture is one of fairness and equality and a profound belief in human rights. The activities of the Ashraf City residents has been supported by Amnesty Internationational and other human rights groups.


Partly because of the secular nature of the Iranian Liberty Association, some of the people who came to speak today were not Muslims, just human beings who share the Association's hopes for peace, harmony and fairness.

Many of those people present today have lost family members, solely because they spoke out against oppressive regimes. Some had been tortured or killed because their views differed from those in power. There are few members of the Iranian Liberty Association who haven't lost someone close in the fight for justice and equality.

At the foot of a statue of Dwight D Eisenhower outside the Embassy is the plinth below. A statement from the wartime president's opening address that most people would have difficulty in disagreeing with, yet there are so few people around the world who are truly "free".

As I see it, there is an irony here that so often gets overlooked. The citizens in developing contries who yearn for the sort of freedom we taken for granted in the West find that freedom is so often denied to them because of interference from the very countries who boast about democracy.

The fact that the government of this or that democractic country wants their oil or other natural reserves, means that they will collude with and line the pockets of dictators who have something to sell them. In payment, (some) governments of the developed world turn a selective blind eye to the human rights violations of the corrupt governments around the world.

Every government should contain a government health warning. Nothing political is correct.

For more information about the Iranian Liberty Association go to: http://iranliberty.org.uk/

Annabel Williams Bumps & Babies Course

As the title might suggest, on 20th July 2009 I attended a 1 day course in photographing pregnant women (bumps) and fairly newborn babies.

The venue was the Annabel Williams centre of excellence in Cumbria. Annabel's Contemporary Photographic Training has just moved premises, so I think we might have been the last course in this brillaintly lit studio cum classroom. The grub was great and the "models" (volunteers) seemed unphased by a dozen bonkers photographers snapping away and asking lots of questions. Thanks to all involved. Here's a few shots from the day.

For more information on the courses available at the Annabel Williams studio visit: http://www.annabelwilliams.com/

Gay Pride London 2009

On Saturday 4th July, I attended a breakfast hosted by the London Fire Brigade for this year's London Gay Pride.

I was accompanied by Hugh Hill and Marta Demartini and we shot our images as we marched amongst the others celebrating and commemorating and remembering and thinking. I love the fact that in the UK we have the right for consenting adults to love one another without breaking any rules. This is not the case everywhere in our world of course, nor is my above statement an attempt to get away from the fact that hate crimes resulting in murder or serious injury still occur. Why one human would kill or mame another becsuse of their sexual orientation, skin colour, gender, religious belief, disability, age - is beyond me.

That ism list that so many people talk about but so few actually deal with properly proves again and again that nothing political is correct. Well if I'm going to be so late posting my blog items I guess I might as well make them lively....



Right up the front representing the Greater London Authority was the Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes, pictured below with Rhona Cameron. There are 200 images uploaded to our main site at https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=7635&Action=_VC&id=32968450&ppwd=nc3835pr




During the entire time I worked in the Royal Naval Submarine Service, where I was trained as a photographer by the Fleet Air Arm Phot Section, if anyone had come out as gay, it would have immediately terminated his employment. The perverse rationale argument from the MOD(N) on applying an absolute ban on gay men in the navy was that the person would be a potential blackmail victim, being forced to sell state secrets to the enemy in fear of being exposed! So the argument is that if it aint banned, it aint concealed. It must have taken military intelligence years to fathom that one out, but at least in the 21st century people like this two badge submariner below, no longer have to live two secret lives.

Boy George put in an appearance surrounded by some colourful mates.

To view Hugh and Marta's work too, go to https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=7635&Action=_VC&id=32968450&ppwd=nc3835pr