TFI Friday!

Giant table and chair on Hampstead Heath in the summer of 2005 by Italian-American footballer turned sculptor Giancarlo Neri. © Magnus Andersson

Its Friday evening and I've just got home from a late job in Brockley - a nice little festival with a bunch of local bands, people drinking and dancing in the glorious sunshine that has come over London.

Its been a long week but the sunshine looks set to stay for the rest of the weekend, so hopefully I'll see some frisbee action. I'm sat on my balcony writing this, sipping a cold beer and wishing y'all a fine weekend!

Regional Press Awards 2009

(L-R) your humble blog host, editor Hannah, news editor Lawrence and chief sub Chris after collecting our 'Newspaper of the Year' award at the Regional Press Awards 2009, Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London. © Magnus Andersson

Man, this post is long overdue for a number of reasons, but mainly because none of us three nominated photographers at the paper won any of our categories. Bo-hoo, I know. To be honest, the winning photographers were very good, so we cant have any complaints there.

Nevertheless, it was the first time that any of us competed, so for all three staff photographers to be nominated is no mean feat, let alone something which I believe has never happened before in the history of South London Press. We date back to 1865, y'know.

In the end we only won one award for the paper, but it was the big one: Newspaper of the Year!

The judges said: "we wish we had a local paper like this, bright well written and subbed." And, ahem, nothing mentioned about the brilliant photography? Oh, well, there's always next year.

Photography Matters - live update II

Commander Broadhurst tries to answer photographer Michael Preston's (who had his arm broken by an officer) queries regarding training of officers. © Magnus Andersson

Right, the conference is actually drawing to a close, we are now in the final session for the day, but the previous session - concerning the changing legal landscape - was by far the most interesting, not to mention worrying - of the day.

Commander Robert Broadhurst, responsible for policing all public order events across the Metropolitan Police Force area, spoke of the difficulty officers are facing when policing events. However, when he questioned who actually gets a press card and then admitting that he is unaware of the vetting process behind it, it was literally a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A senior officer - invited by the press to speak on dealing with the press - displaying such a lack of knowledge led to a number of raised voices before - amongst many others - Marc Vallee and Michael Preston (who had his arm broken by police) asked some pertinent questions and tried to get reassurances that positive change actually will happen. See pictures above and below.


Photographer Marc Vallee (left) queries Commander Broadhurst. © Magnus Andersson



Met Police Commander Robert Broadhurst (centre) gives an unimpressive performance when questionedby Jeff Moore (R) on press card issues. © Magnus Andersson

NUJ Photography Matters - live

Kevin Cooper at Photography Matters. © Magnus Andersson

This will be the first - and probably only - attempt at live blogging from me. I'm at the NUJ organised annual conference for photojournalists in the UK. Right now 'Risks of the Trade' is being discussed by Kevin Cooper from Belfast, seen top left. The day is so packed though, so I'll probably have to come back in a later post to the day in full.

Look-a-likes?

Barack Obama © Nadav Kander/NYTM

A quick one, and no, its not about Obama look-a-likes. In case you don't already subscribe to British Journal of Photography's e-letter, here's a snippet from the latest issue, which features an interview with the superb photographer Nadav Kander on how he shot Obama's chosen few, just before the inauguration took place, and of course Obama himself, seen above. In fact, the above was shot during an interview Obama was giving to the NYT journalist, during which Nadav had zero time for a portrait. Quite a decent job, no?

You can find the all of the original photos that ran in New York Times Magazine here, along with another recorded interview with him and NYTM's director of photography, Kathy Ryan.

But don't you think that Obama's new 'Director Designate of the Office of Budget and Management' looks more than a little like the cartoon character Dilbert? I mean, check out the pens.


Dilbert vs. Peter R. Orszag


And how about (legendary British news presenter) Sir Trevor McDonald working for Obama?


Sir Trevor McDonald vs. James E. Clyburn

Joining the prawn sandwich crowd

Fans arriving outside Wembley Park station in glorious sunshine. © Magnus Andersson

The other week I managed to get some freebie tickets for the FA Cup semifinal at the new Wembley between my beloved Arsenal and some other team from London with Russian ownership. It was a VIP ticket with us being expected to arrive at 2pm and not leave until 8.30pm...for a game of football? Seemed a bit much. Turns out that there were lots of stuff on the agenda, various performance's, famous ex-footballers (Martin Keown & Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank) being interviewed, quizzes etc.

Me and my colleague Valroy rocked up perfectly late; just in time for the splendid three-course dinner. On our table were a journalist from Radio 2 and his wife, two local news reporters, a couple of business men, a rep from McDonald's (who sponsor the FA and had invited us because of a story we did on a series of South London McD franchises earlier in the year), and lastly, an unknown middle aged married couple.

It turns out that the married couple were none other than Don & Lynn Walcott, Arsenal & England forward Theo Walcott's parents. In the presence of greatness indeed. As it happens, everyone around the table were Arsenal supporters as well, so it was great company. The odd one out was Valroy, who hadn't sussed that Theo's parents were present, and before we could stop him, he asked Theo's dad if he was a Arsenal supporter. Doh!

Apart from Arsenal playing rather poorly and losing the game, the only other disappointing part was the section of Chelsea fans in the tier above us. Valroy missed the last five minutes of action on the pitch as he had to look up above him the whole time; the Chelsea fans were spitting on us below and Val got hit twice. Disgusting behaviour from those fans, and also very poor stewarding at the new and "improved" Wembley for something like that to happen. On a lighter note, perhaps it was just dessert for Valroy - normally a staunch Liverpool supporter - who decided to support Chelsea on the day? (Only joking Val, nobody deserves what you got). Pictures below, click to see slightly larger version.



Arsenal flag in front of the Wembley arch. © Magnus Andersson



Valroy and me outside the FA's VIP Club. © Magnus Andersson



Blue on the left...Red Army on the right. Fans are separated on arrival. © Magnus Andersson



The sun shines on the Gooners half, at least early on... © Magnus Andersson



Sadly the glory wasnt with us for long. © Magnus Andersson



The teams line up before the 17.15 kick-off. © Magnus Andersson



Theo's parents Don (flexing his bicep in his Arsenal top) and Lynn (nearest) celebrates their son's opening goal for Arsenal. Seconds later I shook their hands to congratulate both of them, BIG moment! © Magnus Andersson



After the match, the fans are again divided and 'staggered' by mounted police. © Magnus Andersson



The Wembley arch in the evening light. © Magnus Andersson



Goodnight and good luck. © Magnus Andersson

Gone fishing...

Dad taking up the steering position while canoeing with me on lake Tolken in Sweden, earlier today. © Magnus Andersson

I know that I've been a lazy bugger and lots of things worth sharing has happened, but I'm on holiday, be back soon.