Snapper for lunch

2011 Sideways Summary

2011-12-31T19:25:00.000Z

A brand new year is just around the corner so I'll try and summarise 2011 with some of my favourites shots/shoots along with some pictures that never ended up going on the blog. I'll be the first one to admit that blogging has become a bit of a burden this year. The black hole of never ending good stuff that is Twitter overtook the sharing of online content. The planning of my wedding took up an enormous amount of time too, but lets be honest, laziness is at the heart of the problem. Enough with the excuses, here we go.

The moment my now wife said 'yes' to me on top of a castle overlooking the sea, with friends and family from all over the world gathered in one spot, was definitely the highlight of the year (and my life!), and these two pictures are from our resulting mini-honeymoon to Dorset, where amongst other things, we took in the delight that is Durdle Door.

One the funniest and most rewarding of my own projects that I worked on was the phenomenon of same-sex dancing. This picture is from an event at The Rivoli in Brockley, where couples from all over the world come to compete in ballroom dancing. An audio slide show will hopefully be complete in time for next years competition.

Sitting beneath West Norwood Cemetery is one of the country's few large-scale catacombs. Known as the Millionaire's Cemetery, it was one of the most fashionable places in the city to be buried during Victorian times, when death was commemorated in the most indulgent way a family could afford, and catacomb burial was seen as the pinnacle of high status. Chipped and moulding coffins are on plain display. There are approximately 1,500 coffins down here, with capacity for about 2,000.

The first thing to greet you when you enter the catacombs is the old hydraulic catafalque (above), aka coffin lift. At the end of a funeral, as something of a dramatic conclusion, this would have been used to lower the coffin straight into the catacombs from the old chapel above (which was destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War). Waiting below would have been a team of pall bearers, who would have then unloaded the coffin and taken it to its allocated space. An awesome place, which really gave me the creeps.

Since 2010, I've had the pleasure of working with Kick It Out. This shot is from one of their many coaching sessions for black and Asian managers, where England U19 manager Noel Blake (R) and Chelsea FC's Michael Emenalo (L) took part. The work they do is much needed, with only two black managers involved in top-level football in this country, and as racism charges against John Terry and Luis Suarez have proved, there is still a lot to do to stamp out racism from the game.

More sports, this time a nice portrait. I was sent down to Ladywell Fields in Lewisham to get a site shot as they had just had a new surface laid down on the athletics track. A chap which I vaguely recognised was about to start training and I got chatting to him. Turns out it was Conrad Williams, a Team GB athlete training for next years London Olympics, and he was more than happy to pose for a few shots.

A final sports pic, this one from Wimbledon, where sadly I only had time to go for one afternoon. This is ultimate champion Novak Djokovic twisting his arm unbelievably as he serves. I love how this looks and have a whole series of these.

A couple of shots from the flash mob outside City Hall in May, where security guards have made it into a sport to stop photographers from getting their cameras out. Getting creative with the message are Leah Borromeo (top) and NUJ's Jess Hurd. More on all things related at PHNAT.

The Royal wedding was fun! The nation went into hyper drive and got a day off for their troubles. Little girls dressed as princesses and neighbours threw street parties in a seldom seen show of friendliness. For me, it was a extremely busy day, but luckily I didn't have to go into Buckingham Palace, where photographers have been speaking of the job from hell. I was well fed and watered all day. This shot is from East Greenwich Pleasaunce.

More royalty, here's Camilla getting a stiff upper lip from an equestrian friend as she visited Ebony Horse Club in the middle of Brixton.

The biggest story in London was probably the August riots. I came back from work just as Hackney was erupting. I went down to have a look and within 10 minutes I'd seen three people being robbed of their cameras. There was no police in sight, people were committing robbery right left and centre, and as I wasn't covering it for the paper, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Numerous photographers got beat up and robbed, and I'm kind of glad that I stayed away. The above pic's are of the aftermath in Woolwich and Lewisham, but, the riots also brought some good things. How about these (below) riot inspired custom finger nails from an art exhibition in Peckham?

Finally, here's a round up of links to some of the numerous 'Pictures of the Year' out there:

Tom Jenkins of The Guardian, AFP's Leon Neal, Time, The Guardian, BBC, Greenpeace, The New York Times, The Telegraph, MSNBC, The Big Picture parts I, II and III, Reuters UK and global, Flickr, The Daily Beast, British Red Cross, to name but a few, and of course the pictures of the year in LEGO.

Happy New Year to all of you!

A heathen message

2011-12-23T22:31:00.000Z

Darryll (above) is helping me with a photo story on how a young boxer is about to turn pro. He is having his first professional bout next month and I'm hoping to be there with him for his first of many victories.

More to follow next year, but right now, 'Christmas' is upon us, so I bid all and sundry a nice break from the working life. I am not a religious person, but spare a thought for the less fortunate, eat and be merry, just like the heathens did long before those Christians arrived! ;)

See you all in 2012!

Behind the scenes

2011-11-13T22:56:00.001Z

Daredevil Danny riding shotgun. © Magnus Andersson

Just a little heads up that on this Friday there will be another free screening of our documentary The Best Seat In The World and you're invited! Its at Look Mum No Hands at 7pm, but before you go, check out our daredevil Danny (above) as he mounts a motorcycle reverse in order to film some track action.

If you happen to live somewhere else than London and still want to watch it, perhaps you know of a cool venue that might want to host it? If so, do get in touch in the comments.

Stiff upper lip

2011-11-11T18:37:00.001Z

The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker-Bowles, paid a visit to the Ebony Horse Club in Brixton a few days ago and as always with a Royal visit, you never take your eye off the target and pray that magic will happen. I cant say that this visit presented vintage opportunities, but at least it gave the subs a chance to roll out old clichés like 'Saddle do nicely', 'Stiff upper lip', 'Why the long face?', 'Feeling a bit hoarse' etc.

In all fairness, Camilla was great, but I suppose a girl like her will always feel at home around horsey people, even though it is in deepest Brixton. The Ebony initiative itself is amazing though, and the kids that come here clearly benefit from the place. The fact that horse riding can be found in the midst of this urban jungle is no mean feat, so stand up and be proud, Ebony Horse Club, and keep on saying yay in the (long) face of the neigh sayers...

Cambridge slice of light

2011-10-16T02:38:00.000+01:00

Full house

2011-10-14T22:41:00.000+01:00

Standing room only (+serious face) at our second screening.

Here's some pix from last Saturday when we did the second screening of our documentary The Best Seat In The World at Look Mum No Hands.

Danny does his bike imitation while setting up.

We knew that we we were preaching to the converted when we accepted a viewing at the bicycle Mecca of London. We thought that a few people might turn up, but we didn't expect a full house. The extended applause at the end made it all worth it!

Full house.

If you were there, thank you for taking time out of your weekend to check our work, and if you missed it, there will be more screenings soon.

In other good news, Herne Hill Velodrome received a whooping £400k to safeguard its future!

Thank you to Look Mum No Hands for the screening!

We are nearly at 6000 views for the trailer and we appreciate the sharing! As always, stay tuned on twitter and the blog. Merci beau coup.

Welcome to the cheap seats

2011-10-04T22:07:00.001+01:00

The bike-powered première screening of The Best Seat In The World at Herne Hill Velodrome, Sunday 11 Sep, 2011.

Last month I invited you to the sneak-première of a documentary that I have been involved in with some friends. That première day here in London started out a little bit wetter than we had hoped, which was especially bad since it was an outdoor screening....but the weather gods stayed on our side! If you stayed at home, you missed a belter!

And I'm not just saying this because it was a film that I was involved in. The rain was solid for most of the day but by sunset there were clear blue skies over London, including a nice big moon on the rise.

This was a bike powered screening held inside the very subject of our documentary - the Herne Hill Velodrome - and I would guesstimate that we had around 40-60 brave souls in attendance. Judging by their reactions it was a success, but if you missed it, why don't you judge for yourself this weekend?

Yes, there will be another free screening at Look Mum No Hands! here in London this Saturday (8th Oct 2011) at 7pm. Address: 49 Old Street, London EC1V 9HX.

Here's the trailer, hope to see you there!

The Best Seat In The World TRAILER from The Best Seat In The World on Vimeo.
A documentary about Herne Hill Velodrome. The track has known some hard times with its main building now closed-down due to deterioration and political feuds that stopped any long term redevelopment. This is the back drop to a series of moving interviews with cycling enthusiasts that range from a 1948 Olympic medallist to eight-year-old track users who all want the track to stay open.

You can also check out our tumblr for updates on future screenings and perhaps some behind-the-scenes footage from The Best Seat In The World.

Perpignan

2011-09-27T19:41:00.000+01:00

Marcus, Mattias and fellow visitor.

Now that the cuts and bruises that I got at Visa Pour L'Image are starting to go away, I thought I'd briefly take you through the trip to Perpignan in Aug/Sep. I stayed with my friend Mattias Johansson and his mate Marcus Funke in a swanky new hotel, much closer to the town centre than in previous years, meaning that we managed to walk a lot less and drink a lot more than usual. Bad tings.

Perpignan street.

Anyway, the streets of Perpignan are beautiful and in previous years my go-to-camera has always been the LX3 but it now sits in the most-boring-camera-ever category and therefore most of these are iPhone pictures using mainly Hipstamatic (Nick Turpin is excused from looking at this post*).

Mmm, wine.

This being my third year, I was determined to actually see ALL the exhibitions on show, something we hadn't managed previously. You'd think in a small town like Perpignan it isn't a big problem, but when you factor in 1) we're on holiday, 2) its south of France and full of restaurants and cafes and 3) phojofatigue** and 4) all the free drinks, etc, it becomes a problem. In theory you can probably see all the exhibitions in one day, but for the above stated reasons, we paced ourselves and tried to make the most of it.

Dedicated photojournalists as we are, we always start the week with a champagne breakfast and this year was no different. I flew straight from London to Perpignan while the rest of the 100 or so Scandinavian PJ's flew to Barcelona and then caught a bus to Perpignan, leaving me to do the shopping for my room mates, below.

The traditional champagne breakfast.

When it comes to the exhibitions, the one that really stuck with me was Martina Bacigalupo's 'My Name Is Filda Adoch'. An essay about one woman's daily experiences of life in the Ugandan civil war. Heartbreaking yet tender, not to mention humbling, but what set this work apart from everything else on show was the handwritten captions on the frames, direct quotes from Filda herself, with short succinct sentences about her daily struggle, making an immediate impact and giving a strong voice to the person depicted, something that felt distinctly lacking in almost every other exhibition; the voice of the subject/s.

My Name Is Filda Adoch exhibition.

My second favourite was LA Times Barbara Davidson and her work of Los Angeles residents who have been caught in the crossfire of gang warfare. Again, low key and intimate photography with lots of voices from the people affected by stray bullets.

It comes as no surprise that the two best exhibitions are by female photographers with stories away from breaking news, instead focusing on long-term projects, Davidson spending over four years on hers, initially in her own time, then having to nag her editors to let her continue.

Caught In The Crossfire exhibition.

We of course wanted more of the same and, against better reasoning, got up early one morning to see Brian Storm and hear more about the multimedia converts in our business. It wasn't until about 50 minutes of watching slide show after slide show that we realised that we had misread the schedule, today was only a showcase of MediaStorm's work, yesterday was the actual talk. Brian was only in the room to cue up the projects, one after the other. Photojournalism 0 - 1 Alcohol. :(

Some of the drinkers.

Also worth a mention was Joceylyn Bain Hogg and his work about the London underworld families who are now slowly fading away, a continuation of his work The Firm from 2001.

Again, we never made it to Campo Santo, the place where they do amazing outdoor screenings, but the screen in the main square; Place de la Republique, where you have the added benefit of eating and drinking at the same time, is just as good. Its even better if you can view it from a rooftop overlooking the square, with some champagne and nibbles. Thank you Christina!

The view from Christina's rooftop.

My friend Maciej Dakowicz also had his 'Cardiff After Dark' series shown at the big screen (the day before we arrived) and when we bumped into each other outside Cafe de la Poste where he told me that it had gone down really well. Last week The Daily Mail decided to run a series of the pictures with bad crops (their own, not Maciej's crops), misleading caption information and of course the word 'foreign' in the headline, cue a shit storm. To date there are over 2200 comments from 'outraged' readers, and Maciej apparently saw a spike of more than 500.000 hits in one day on his flickr pages. His work is great, just sad to see the Daily Fail use it for its own scaremongering purposes. Luckily The New York Times and The Guardian took a more measured approach.

A lone musician on a corner on the last evening.

All in all a great week but slightly exhausting, luckily we made it to the beach on the last day for some much needed frolicking in the sea. A special thank you to the Scandinavian organisers Christina (SFF), Per (Canon Sweden) and Jamil (Canon Denmark) for pulling out all the stops, especially on the last dinner at L'Arago! :)

The beach.

* to be fair, Nick was talking about not sending Hipstamatic shots to his in-public mag, his tweet here
** the feeling of deja vu after each new image, and/or succumbing to depression of seeing too much photojournalism in one day.

So what about Perpignan?

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000+01:00

Dont worry, a post will come soon.

Red carpet time

2011-09-08T21:32:00.009+01:00

You are all hereby invited to the première of our first documentary film - The Best Seat In The World. This Sunday at 8pm you can be among the very first to see our 30-minute documentary about the Herne Hill Velodrome; a fantastic cycling venue dating back to 1892.

The 1948 Olympics were held there but it gradually fell into disrepair. Last year it was on the brink of closure, so we started following the story. This Sunday you can see the results of several months of hard work. Its free and its a bike-powered outdoor screening, and it is of course held at Herne Hill Velodrome. Hope to see you there!

Back to blogging

2011-08-20T17:48:00.000+01:00

For those of you that have asked, no, I havent stopped blogging, I've just had a little break while the planning of my wedding was taking priority, but now that I'm a married man, I will start posting in earnest again.

At the end of this month we're returning to Visa Pour l'Image in Perpignan, and although it tends to be a very hectic week with talks, screenings, photography fatigue etc, some Mediterranean sun and food wont go amiss in the beautiful Catalan city. Here's some pictures from last year.

Rats!

2011-06-04T17:21:00.024+01:00

Completely unrelated picture of a dead rat with an ant in its mouth.

As I walked towards the shore to get closer to the windsurfers in Apelviken, I remember checking my pockets. Should I zip them up in case my LX3 falls out? I patted down my side pocket and felt that it was secure. No way that my iPhone could jump out of my chest pocket with its deep lining. Right.

Last week I was in Sweden to oversee the final preparations for our impending wedding there next month and I dropped my iPhone into the sea. I try to keep things in perspective, but it had started badly, my fiancée missed our flight because the Swedish Embassy hadn't cleared her visa as promised, and so we couldn't apply for the marriage license. No wedding at this stage.

The plan was to secure the wedding license and a band. I tried every band in the region, with no luck, and then some more bands on the other side of the country, and they were all booked. Silent wedding, great. And then I dropped my phone in the sea. Rats.

It was a small skip - not even a jump - between two rocks that caused it, one of those moments that seemed to happen in slow motion. Somehow the phone must have been lodged just SO because it projectiled out of my pocket, up under my nose and away from me, my hand nearly caught it but the phone evaded my grasp perfectly, bounced on another rock and then into the sea.

Luckily the water was fairly shallow where it landed and I stepped in immediately to retrieve it. I got soaked, sure, but at least I had my phone again. The strange thing was that it still worked! I could not believe it. It had only been in the sea a few seconds, but it worked.

I hurriedly walked back to the car, hoping that no one had seen the idiot walking into the sea and quickly putting a soaking wet phone back into the pocket where it had jumped out of. Back in the car I checked the phone. I could swipe to unlock it, tried an app but then it locked up again. I started shaking out water, lots of it, but it still worked.

Then it began to flicker. Then the bottom half of the screen went white. It started vibrating non stop. After a few minutes it finally went dead. I placed it on a radiator overnight in the vain hope of it drying out and working again. I hardly slept that night, all those images, notes, emails, work, heck - all of my life was on that phone!

Of course it didn't work the next day. I was in grieving. Disconnected from the world. I remember working as a mobile telecomms researcher in the 90's, working for O2 and Vodafone, telling my director that one day our phones will handle everything, and him telling me that will never happen. He is still in his old job.

But traumatic it was, as Yoda might've said. I lost a handful of images taken during the trip, that's all, and the only thing I've gained is a question: how-did-we-do-it-before-internet-phones?

The submerged phone has now been jiffy bagged and sent off to the insurers and I've kindly been lent a spare 3GS from a colleague, and the wedding is still on! My fiancee got another flight the next day and the above mentioned colleague has also accepted DJ'ing at our wedding. Woot!

Thanks to my colleague Valroy, thanks to the the Visa handler at the Swedish Embassy for sorting my fiancées papers in London and thanks to my hometown's bureaucracy for being so considerate with our missed appointment.

In other news, get some some visual pleasure, watch Henri Cartier-Bresson and pay close attention, photographers.

Oh, and check out my website at www.magnus-andersson.com, its gone live. Constructive comments only, if any, please.

Rolan Adams & Stephen Lawrence

2011-05-18T20:10:00.015+01:00

20th anniversary march for Rolan Adams in February, 2011.

"It's been a long time in coming but we still have a long way to go, and so at this moment in time, all I can think about is Stephen. Perhaps somewhere down the line we will finally get justice for him, because everything has just been a long time for us to get to this position." Doreen Lawrence, May 18, 2011

These pic's come from the Thamesmead Housing Estate, south east London (where parts of one my all time favourite movies A Clockwork Orange was filmed). I first visited in 1997 when a friend lived there and I will always remember it as a bleak and desolate place. It was bad back then and it is bad now, one of the poorest parts of London.

On a grey February day, along with fellow photographer David Hoffman, I attended the 20th anniversary memorial to the little-publicised racist murder of Rolan Adams, 15, which happened only a stone's throw away from these pictures.

I had arrived a bit early for the job and had time to wander around the estate again for the first time in nearly 14 years since my first (and only) visit.

People at the memorial told me about their stories from 20 years ago, how the racist BNP had moved in and how scared they were. Nobody of colour could visit the pub - if you did it was a gamble with your own life, and Rolan's peers all had a story to tell on how, once, perhaps to watch a football match, or simply try to have a drink with a friend, they bravely ventured to the pub only to be chased away by white youths wielding knives, bats and chains.

In Rolan's case it was to be fatal, just like Stephen Lawrence, 18, two miles away and two years later.

On the day before Rolan's murder, anti-racist organiser Dev Barrah, still active in the community, said on Thames TV that it was 'only a matter of time before someone got murdered'. His ominous prediction proved true within 24 hours. Rolan was outnumbered by 15 white youths and slashed in the throat, as he and his brother walked home from a youth club.

If you have the stomach, read this 1991 Guardian article by Jocelyn Targett via London Street Gangs. Its colourful language at first, but nevertheless a good read.

Rolan's murderer, Mark Thornburrow, has recently been freed but Stephen's killers never served time in the first place. There has been trials before, but the amount of injustice in his case is unbelievable. When an institutionally racist police force handles a racially motivated murder, this is what happens.

Today though, there were at last some good news: two men are to be tried for Stephen's murder which happened 18 years ago. Justice for dead young black men in this country turns slowly.

Rolan would have been 35, Stephen would have been 36. Rest in peace.

If you arm yourself only with a camera...

2011-04-21T21:41:00.006+01:00

Tim Hetherington. Image courtesy of Frontline Club.

...you are most likely going to lose out in a war zone. Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros paid the ultimate price yesterday when they were hit by a targeted RPG/grenade/mortar attack in Libya.

I did not know either of them yet I have cried over their passing. The more I look at the interviews and images from these two men, the more I realise that this loss goes beyond merely two more dead in a far away war. I feel inadequate calling myself a photojournalist when I look at their work.

I've watched Tim's 1.5h appearance at the Frontline Club in full and if you were ever in doubt that photojournalists are mere button pressing monkeys, please take some time out and watch this clip from 2009. Few people are as well informed and eloquent as him. This is an extremely sad day for their families, a sad day for (some) of the people they documented and a big loss for photojournalism.

I've got nothing but respect for what you did with your lives. Rest in peace Tim and Chris.

Terry Scales

2011-04-16T13:57:00.000+01:00

This is artist Terry Scales, 78, in his Greenwich home and studio. He's a lovely and humble man who has been painting scenes along the Thames since he was a boy and will soon have an exhibition at The Old Royal Naval College. Go see it!

"I remember making my first river painting in 1946 at the age of 13. It was in John Minton’s class at Camberwell School of Art. Ever since then I have seen the Thames as a constant source of ideas and challenging subject matter." Quote from his website.

You can also watch a piece on Terry from the BBC here.

Upcoming exhibition info here.

Elvis

2011-04-04T00:06:00.003+01:00

Power to the people

2011-03-26T20:51:00.017Z

Earlier today we went on the TUC organised March for the Alternative in central London. My fiancé (who works for Camden council) and me tried to find the NUJ section but finding anyone in this crowd was difficult. I ran into three SLP colleagues but quickly lost them again. No wonder when there have been reports of up to 500.000 people attending the event. Good show!

We went along to show our support for the people who have already lost their jobs because of this Con-Dem government, and for those that are fighting to keep theirs, and for the future generations of children who can no longer afford university, for the people who might not get proper health care and to show our outrage at the bankers getting bonuses while the rest of us paid with our tax money to fix their problems, etc etc etc. Hey David Cameron, if you ever wanted to see a big society, look now.

As I write this, the 24-hour news channels are busy repeating the incidents caused by a few idiots who took the opportunity to cause havoc in London under the guise of The March for the Alternative, rather than focusing on the enormous amount of people who marched happily and peacefully, unified against this unholy coalition government.

With that in mind, I'd rather share some 'ordinary' images from the march as it was perceived by the majority. Power to the people!

All images © Magnus Andersson

PS. For a little extra flavour you can check out my earlier live feed from today here.

Super moon

2011-03-19T22:26:00.008Z

The super moon as seen earlier tonight. © Magnus Andersson

Nat Geo tells you all you need to know about it. Look outside now! That impact crater on the bottom right is serious (for the pixel peepers, shot on a D700 with a 300/2.8 and a 2x extender).

Spring is here

2011-02-25T18:38:00.008Z

Bumble bee sucking spring nectar. © Magnus Andersson

Today we had +15C in London, a marvellous spring day with plenty of bird song and numerous bumble bees waking up from their winter slumber, drunkenly sucking all the nectar they can find on the new flowers. Mum and dad find it hard to believe as apparently they had -11C yesterday, so this is for the doubters back home. ;)

Spring flower. © Magnus Andersson

Spring flower. © Magnus Andersson

Spring flowers. © Magnus Andersson

A little woopsy

2011-02-16T20:30:00.000Z

Michael Palin giving a speech in a retirement home. © Magnus Andersson

I messed up before Christmas. I was scheduled to photograph Monty Python funny man and explorer-extraordinaire Michael Palin at an retirement home, but I was running late. It was a cold day and I was wearing the customary scarf of a photojournalist-in-denial: the Keffiyeh (aka Palestinian scarf, aka كوفية‎ and many more names, basically a head scarf traditionally seen in Arab countries.

In the West however, we misunderstand it and wear it around our neck. There's currently a huge lack of sand storms in the UK, which renders this head dress more suitable as a scarf. So you get the point. OK.

I arrived within minutes to spare of Palin's speech and parked quickly, paid the meter and ran across the road towards the entrance. The security guard was chatting to a mate in a car in the drive. When he saw me sprinting across the road he suddenly sprang into action to intercept me. I thought that this was a little odd for a retirement home and slowed down so he could reach me at the door.

I declared my intentions (local paper photog here for Michael Palin) and he seemed positively relieved! I was let in to the reception, where I was greeted by a smiling black lady who simply asked me to sign the register before introducing me to their PR person.

(At this stage I am still wearing my big camera backpack, winter jacket and, crucially, my keffiyeh scarf)

I am led down corridors perfumed with Glade to cover up the smell of old people (this is in no part a slight on old people's hygiene, it is simply a fact that these places tend to smell of wee+Glade).

Eventually I am led into a really warm room where 60-odd oldies are gathered waiting for Palin. I am told NOT to obscure the elderlies vision (long lens job) and only to take a few pictures during the opening MINUTE of his 40 minute speech, using NO flash in a near dark room. OK, I say (thank you D700).

"Would you mind putting your bag in hold during the event"? I am asked. Yes I would mind. I need this bag to do my job. "Harrumph" I can keep my bag but am asked to remove my jacket, fair enough.

It is only now, when I am firmly wedged in-between the chairs of a couple of really old frail ladies, with my long lens protruding, that I realise that the job description did mention something of a Jewish retirement home.

After my little woopsy, I was eventually allowed to shot the remainder of the session on both short and long lenses, but my keffiyeh magically disappeared into one of my lens cases.

Lesson learnt from all this? Try and read the job description carefully, and dress accordingly. ;)

Kick Them Out!

2011-01-30T18:59:00.011Z

Front page: A training session for Kick It Out, run by Paul Elliott MBE (far left), a legendary ex-footballer whose career was cut short by injury. © Magnus Andersson

In the age of dinosaurs sports commentators spouting sexist comments, yes Andy Gray and Richard Keys, look away now, it's always nice to get to work for the good guys on the other side of the fence, those that realise that if you want to make a difference, you have to be that difference.

Bearing in mind the sports presenter events of last week, it is with some pleasure to announce that a picture (above) which I took just over a year ago while working with Kick It Out was chosen for the front page of their latest Annual Report. The report itself was launched at the House of Lords in Westminster last month, an event which I also covered.

As a staffer on a local newspaper you end up getting a lot of front pages so the excitement tends to wear off a little, but when its through one of your own freelance contacts and you are proud to play a (albeit small) part in the important work that is being done, it feels good!

Lord Herman Ouseley chatting to my buddy Francis Nkwain and Benoit Assou-Ekotto of Tottenham Hotspur FC at the House of Lords. © Magnus Andersson

And while Kick It Out's primary concern over the last 17 years has been against racism, they have always worked against all forms of discrimination in football. Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out, said: "This indicates a lack of understanding by individuals at the forefront of sports broadcasting who are revered and respected by many, and hints at wider issues about sexism in society."

Getting the Kick It Out's Annual Review 2009-10 cover was a nice ending to last years output. The ousting of a couple of old 'experts' in the new year was a bonus. Onwards 2011, kick all the bigots out! :)

Full Kick It Out Annual Report 2009-10 here.

See you in 2011

2010-12-31T23:59:00.002Z

Christmas tree needles in a lift. © Magnus Andersson

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! See you in 2011.

Postcards from Sweden

2010-12-31T17:38:00.008Z

Little Stina at her christening party. © Magnus Andersson

We went to my hometown Varberg, Sweden, for Christmas and had a wonderful time. It was -15C with clear blue skies. The hairs in our noses froze! Sadly the schedule was packed with social engagements and there was little camera time, but here's a few selections. The highlight was becoming god parents for little Stina (above), my brothers third daughter, cute as can be!

Fishing boat in a frozen harbour. © Magnus Andersson

Ice surrounding rocks in a frozen sea. © Magnus Andersson

Kallbadhuset, the bathing house which stays open no matter the weather. They just chop a hole in the ice when the sea freezes over. © Magnus Andersson

The view from Varberg's fortress. © Magnus Andersson

Book

2010-12-07T22:43:00.013Z

I en särskild sekund by Magnus Andersson | Make Your Own Book

OK, it is ready, my first attempt at a Blurb book. Its been great fun making it but, surprisingly, a lot of work too. I had a lot of help from my friend Lucia who handled all the InDesign stuff, so a million thanks goes out to her!

For those of you that aren't too familiar with Swedish, all I can say is that the poems were written by a younger, more bright-eyed me, around the time when two friends and I made a fantastic road trip across Sweden in 1993. We were all 20 years old and I had a Konica Autoreflex T from the early '70's with me and I shot a few rolls of Tri-X as we stumbled along the festivals, lakes, islands, camps, cars and bicycles.

Although this really is a personal project I have made it publicly available for you guys to take a peek at - enjoy!

More snow

2010-12-02T20:11:00.001Z

Imagine that, a snowboarder in London! Dave grabs some air in Greenwich Park. © Magnus Andersson

It just wont stop! Today we have had snow for three days in a row. That's longer than WWII. Thankfully England lost a World Cup today, so tomorrows papers will be slightly different, pouring over their team selection; both David Cameron and Prince William played, captained by David Beckham. How could they possibly loose with those players? Then its back to the snow again.

Snow!

2010-11-30T23:03:00.007Z

Snow in Horniman's Museum Garden. © Magnus Andersson

Today was a beautiful day - the snow finally arrived to London. We had been promised some for the weekend but the prognosis was revised until today. Snow, snow, glorious snow! There are of course more pressing matters going on in the world, but when the snow hits London, we do as we are told. In other news: wikileaks, student protests, Lewisham Town Hall, etc.

Sitting on the fence

2010-11-26T18:43:00.005Z

Three crow siblings sitting on a fence in Oxleas Woods. © Magnus Andersson

Drive by shooting

2010-11-20T22:56:00.014Z

Fancy Dan photographer with a Ha$$elblad and Ray-Ban's and his smoking model, London Fields. Jealous, me? © Magnus Andersson

New hobbies

2010-11-19T18:39:00.007Z

Portrait of Frederick Salter in his home. © Magnus Andersson

Today I met Frederick Salter, a man at the tender age of 99 who also happens to be the oldest competitive dancer around. He told me about his recent appearance on TV with Bruce Forsyth. He told me about his experiences in WWII and likened the current war in Afghanistan to 'peanuts' compared to what they went through back then.

He's 99 and only took up dancing six years ago. What new hobby will you take up at 93? This man is of the kind which I think wont be around by the time my generation (if ever) reaches 99, let alone taking up new hobbies.

Just look at the twinkle in his eyes. Makes me proud just to have met him and shared some stories together.

Jallim Eudovic

2010-11-05T20:11:00.000Z

Three people carrying the body of a dead person; sculpture by Jallim Eudovic. © Magnus Andersson

Last week I visited the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford for an event on Black History Month, but this post isn't really related to that (yet it is). Instead, the receptionist kindly reminded me of an earlier session which I photographed during the summer and then completely forgot to tell you about, along with a million other things.

Mother and child; sculpture by Jallim Eudovic. © Magnus Andersson

As a newspaper photographer I meet and photograph a lot of people during the course of a week and occasionally you make a connection with your subject. I'm not going to go into the art of handling your portrait subject (just google it) because I don't know how it works , but when the connection happens, it is a rare thing, and on this particular occasion my subject was a young artist from St. Lucia called Jallim Eudovic. I arrived early and had time to look at his sculptures on my own. They were nothing short of exceptional.

The banking system; sculpture by Jallim Eudovic. © Magnus Andersson

Cutting long stories short, I was already taken by his work but when Jallim himself arrived, he was certainly a breath of fresh air. He's a modest man, and he took great care explaining every single sculpture to me, the history, the cultural significance, and his recording of fading traditions from his own society, the story behind each object. It dawned on me that he really is a man documenting, observing and writing the obit of his own local history. To be a local newspaper photographer somewhat paled into insignificance, if it wasn't for these moments of connection.

Building windows; a sculpture by Jallim Eudovic. © Magnus Andersson

If I had been rich I would have bought one of his sculptures straight away but as it stands, all I can do is try to share some of his craftsmanship. Wouldn't it be nice to make a visit to Jallim's studio in St. Lucia one day?

Portrait of artist Jallim Eudovic. © Magnus Andersson

Ai Weiwei

2010-10-15T19:01:00.033+01:00

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. © Magnus Andersson

Last Monday I was down at Tate Modern to witness the opening of the new installation in the Turbine Hall by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. For those that don't know, the Tate Modern is housed in an old disused power station (designed by the same man who gave us the classic red telephone box as well as Battersea Power Station). The size of the building is enormous and the Turbine Hall is one huge empty space; a real test for any artist to inhabit with a single piece of work.

The turbine hall in Tate Modern. © Magnus Andersson

For me, the most impressive works to date have been Anish Kapoor's 'Marsyas' and Olafur Eliasson's 'Weather Project' (below), who both really made the vast space their own. This time was different though...as the doors were opened for us, I couldn't see anything at all. As we drew closer I noticed that there seemed to be a beach of some kind at the far end of the hall. My first impression was one of disappointment.

The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson in 2003. © Magnus Andersson

It turned out that my fears were unwarranted. Although smaller in size than some of the previous Unilever Series, it is certainly one of the most thought provoking. What first appears as a beach of pebbles soon becomes a vast ocean of slightly over sized sunflower seeds.

There is over 100 million of these hand crafted seeds. © Magnus Andersson

Once you are in it, it then becomes clear that they are not 'real'. There's over 100 million of them. In fact they are individually crafted and hand painted by skilled artisans, and it took a small army (1600 of them) over two years to create.

A TV reporter lies in the porcelain seeds. He asked his crew: "Why am I doing this?" © Magnus Andersson

The sheer work that has gone into creating this is breathtaking and Ai Weiwei makes several comments on both mass production (Made in China) vs. individuality and Chinese history during the Cultural Revolution; something which he experienced first hand.

The foot steps. © Magnus Andersson

Ai Weiwei himself is one of the most significant living artists on the planet today. You might not have heard his name but you have most certainly seen his work before. He was involved in the design in some of the Chinese Olympics venues. But he is also an activist risking his life. He believes in mass communication and he also dares to go against the Chinese regime, (requiring brain surgery for his efforts). He's a massive Twitterer, blogger and his Wiki page is fascinating. If you are in London anytime before May 2, 2011, go see it! Just make sure that you read the artists' notes before you dive in.

Ai Weiwei about to be interviewed on live TV. © Magnus Andersson

He's also a cool dude. During the photo call he took the time (and I mean a looong time) to stop, pick out his compact digital camera, take a few pictures of us while we were shooting him; then he tweeted it. Nice.

Close up of the porcelain sunflower seeds. © Magnus Andersson

Bad news came through yesterday though, with reports that the constant walking on the seeds created a fine cloud of porcelain dust, which in no way is healthy for you, so for now the exhibition is one to be looked at as opposed to immersing yourself in. What a shame. Picking up a handful of the seeds and inspecting them up close was a massive point in this work of art. Hopefully they will sort it out.

Ai Weiwei throws his creation up in the air. © Magnus Andersson

Ps. I may or may not have kept one of the little porcelain sunflower seeds for posterity. ;)

Pps. Exhibition gets a 5-star review in The Guardian.

Autumn (updated)

2010-10-06T10:28:00.008+01:00

Discarded shoe and autumn leaves. © Magnus Andersson

Autumn has arrived in London. This morning it was cold and raining, the leaves were hurling themselves off the branches of the trees. Only six months more of this stuff! :)

_________________

Updated 06/10/10

I think I jumped the gun a bit, it turned out to be a lovely day in the end; see pic's below from Battersea Park where I had some time to kill after arriving early for a Royal appointment. /M

Raid

2010-09-17T19:00:00.004+01:00

Police hat on the dashboard of our van. © Magnus Andersson

The picture above is from a police raid that I went on this morning but sadly - for reasons I can't divulge - it was called off. A bit like all the blog posts that I had planned from Perpignan haven't materialised either. I will try to do better, maybe find some time this weekend, next week or before Christmas at least. I call it the 'Perpignan effect'. The festival experience was great but you feel a bit empty afterwards. Behind the scenes there is work on my homepage plus book finishing still going on so hopefully you'll be updated again soon.

No news

2010-08-20T19:11:00.010+01:00

Another face (painted kid) in the crowd, this time Jonathan, aged 6. © Magnus Andersson

Its August, the driest month of the year when it comes to news, and consequently there aren't that many interesting images being produced either. Many people are away on their holidays, the school kids are off for the summer and we struggle to fill the pages with interesting stories. For us photographers its an endless sea of face painted kids (like Jonathan above from earlier today) enjoying their well deserved break.

My little summer break comes up in a weeks time when I'm off to the grumble fest of photojournalism; Visa Pour l'image in Perpignan. There will be lots of grumbling of course, but also tonnes of rumbling. Bring it on.

The boxer

2010-08-01T19:00:00.000+01:00

Otuo, a 15-year old boxer, photographed after sparring with his trainer in an east London gym. He is a promising young boxer from Peckham, south London, one to keep an eye on for the future, according to his trainer. © Magnus Andersson

Bitterness and short memory

2010-07-28T21:00:00.003+01:00

Laura Pannack's winning shot of the foto8 Summer Show. And no, I don't know him and I didn't ask him to pose. © Magnus Andersson

The wretched* thing that is the foto8 Summer Show took place last Friday and I was going to boycott it based on the simple fact that none of the three images that I entered got accepted. Plus it cost £10 to get in on the night, on top of the £15 entrant's fee that I'd already paid to enter my unsuccessful images. Bitter, me? Pfft!

If you are thinking of going with your dignity intact, please remember your rangefinder; in this case a Hasselblad X-Pan. © Magnus Andersson

I mean, come on, PPY charges £20 but all entrants gets a copy of the £17.99 book and free drinks if you can make it on the night, and its in a spacious venue to boot - The National Theatre. And the PPY book is bigger...

Size comparison: foto8 vs. PPY books. © Magnus Andersson

Anyway, I then got word from my friend Tiziano that there was a spare ticket going and would I be interested? Of course I would! Short memory, me? Hell yes.

Not sure what is going on her in terms of B&W/colour etc. © Magnus Andersson

Turns out that our mutual friend Alex couldn't make it to London in time for the show so instead I came along and acted as his intrepid reporter from the show. The lucky git had all three of his entries accepted.

Jon Levy announces that happiness is now to be enjoyed (for the remainder of the party, at least). © Magnus Andersson

From his perspective, he might have been a bit disappointed to that see 2 of his 3 pictures where hung right at floor level. Do you know how difficult it is to view an image at ankle height? If that wasn't bad enough, his trio of images all came from the same story but were not placed together. But these are my words - NOT his - and at least his work was good enough to to be included, so I just need to try harder next time [swallows bitter pill].

An Alex Masi print (R) hung at ankle height. © Magnus Andersson

Another Alex Masi print hung at ankle height. © Magnus Andersson

After several unsuccessful attempts of avoiding the free bar, we finally managed to get around to see the whole exhibition and I think the words 'information' and 'overload' comes to mind. And before I get an angry rant from Jon Levy, I must add that I really appreciate what foto8 are trying to do in this show case and in fact we need more people doing it, giving a space to all strands of current photography.

A print/back of heads. © Magnus Andersson

Having been part of a group exhibition before (which was nowhere near as complicated), I know how much time the foto8 team must have put in into hanging 153 (!) prints properly in such a small space, but more importantly, space or no space, as a showcase for current photography it is a must see!

Towards the end of the night you could actually see some of the prints properly. © Magnus Andersson

Perhaps this lack of contemporary photographic spaces reflect the lack of funding in the industry at the moment, but a show like this deserves a bigger space and I cant really fault HOST or foto8 for for pulling off the show and especially the opening night, year after year.

Live band in action on Honduras Street. © Magnus Andersson

Note to self (and anybody thinking about entering the Summer Show in 2011):

Don't go for IKEA frames. You'll disappear in the judges eyes. Saying that though, quite a few IKEA frames still made it...hmm. OK, just print BIG and you're in, no matter how average your pic is.

*Its actually brilliant, especially the opening night, which is worth a tenner in booze alone, not to mention the photography on display, so there.

PPY 2010

2010-07-25T16:16:00.004+01:00

Organiser Tim Bishop (R) eventually gets David Bebber's name right after initially announcing Daniel Berehulak as this years winner. Oops! © Magnus Andersson

Monday night saw the winners of The Press Photographer's Year accept their prizes at The National Theatre on Southbank. I went down there with my former colleague Rob Logan to enjoy the exhibition but more importantly the free bar. It would be even better if next year the do is on a Friday rather than Monday night...not that it made a huge difference to us, we always drink responsibly.

Some - but not all - of the winners. © Magnus Andersson

David Bebber of The Times deservedly won Photograph of the Year with his sublime shot of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi but there were quite a few photographers who couldn't accept their prizes due to having to work. I think the whole event coincided with the eviction of the protesters from Parliament Square as well, so that might well explain some of the absentees.

My favourite photo was the haunting portrait of snooker player Alex Higgins (who died yesterday) by Cathal McNaughton. © Magnus Andersson

The only hiccup came when one of the organisers, Tim Bishop, accidentally read out the wrong name when presenting David Bebber's big prize - in Tim's mind it had apparently gone to Daniel Berehulak again! It took a couple of seconds before he realised his mistake and announced David as the winner, but I think we all know how Tim voted. ;-D

My contribution up on the wall. © Magnus Andersson

And finally my shot of Boris in the PPY book, next to some crying fascist and the leader of the free world. © Magnus Andersson

Cushy Royal Wednesday

2010-07-25T10:34:00.020+01:00

HRH Prince Charles inside All Saints Church in Peckham. © Magnus Andersson

On Wednesday I was on the Royal rota all day. Prince Charles and Camilla visited Windrush Square and Brixton Market and it was the usual melee with lots of press photographers jostling for limited space, security guards going nuts and people standing in front the two people we all wanted to photograph.

The famous Royal cushion. © Magnus Andersson

Being on the rota usually means that you get up close and exclusive access and you then share your pictures with other media (who have to photograph from a distance, if at all) but on the Brixton Market visit it was just chaos and one security guard nearly knocked me over in his zealousness to clear the path.

Prince Charles stylishly drips some honey into his tea. © Magnus Andersson

The rest of the day was much better as the rest of the press weren't invited, he was on his own (Camilla had gone elsewhere, so there were less staff around) and of course the pictures got better as well. The second visit was to All Saints Church in Peckham where the Prince met church members and groups from the community.

Both Prince Charles and God loves Peckham. © Magnus Andersson

You have to hand it to him though, he is a very likeable fellow. If it wasn't for his press aides (who are only doing their job) constantly ushering him along, Prince Charles could quite happily chat to these people all day long, no pompousness about him at all.

HRH gets a fit of the giggles whilst having a cup of tea. © Magnus Andersson

The third visit was to a hospice in Greenwich where he mingled with the elderly residents, going from table to table. One funny detail was the Royal cushion; a small pillow that would be placed by one of his aides on the chair that HRH was supposed to sit in, therefore minimizing any confusion as he goes around to all the various tables and places for a chat. Royal cushion pusher? Nice job if you can get it.

Prince Charles says hello to a dog, but check out the guy in the foreground - cushy job or what? © Magnus Andersson

Ps. You can follow the Royal's on youtube, flickr and twitter (The Queen follows no one!)

Directing for reel

2010-07-17T14:41:00.008+01:00

iPhone 3GS Tilt & Shift Photography from magnusphotog on Vimeo. © Magnus Andersson

If you don't like the iPhone and/or hate reading about it, you should probably skip this post. Furthermore you'll also be spared the details on what a sad life I live, when an app on a mobile phone can give me so much pleasure.

For the rest of you; above you can watch a slide show of photographs which I took on the iPhone 3GS. Nothing special about that of course, lots of other phones have got much better cameras, but not many of those are as much fun, or as versatile.

With the release of the iPhone 4 I got a bit intrigued about iMovie on the iPhone. Of course I tried installing it, but having an older handset meant that I wasn't allowed. Bummer. So I looked around to see what else was out there to edit video and I found ReelDirector. I now realise that a lot of people have been raving about it already; its been out for quite a while - but as soon as I tried it I fell in love with it.

I readily admit that I don't shoot a lot of video, either professionally or personally, BUT having the ability to create slide shows from still images natively on the iPhone is such a treat. Its been a while since I used Soundslides and that program is just a pain in the arse. The advent of Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and even iMovie on Mac's made it all so much easier, and now its even easier on your mobile.

ReelDirector outputs to .MOV and you can either email it or save it to your camera roll as a compressed version. The rendering takes an age of course, the processor on the 3GS isn't as powerful as on the iPhone 4, but leave it for a while and soon you'll hear the bell announcing completion.

Music rendering can occasionally throw up a little time shift, notably a second or two of slowing down the pitch, but apart from that it works just fine. The amount of transitions that you can choose from is very versatile and the only big gripe I have about the app is that there is no way of choosing orientation of a new reel, i.e. will the latest output come up as a landscape or portrait video?

Extremely annoying and I do hope that the creators - Nexvio - will issue a fix for this soon. On the plus side, you can use music from your own library (albeit not directly from the iPhone, you have to do it from your own computer over Wi-Fi first, but its easy enough) and you can combine still images with video if you so wish, split clips etc. A lot of people seem to prefer ReelDirector over iMovie as well, and that says a lot.

Above all though, ReelDirector is so much fun to use and for £2.39 its a snip! This little app combined with the previously mentioned ZoomIt and a SD recording camera gives you one of the most compact multi media production kits on the planet. Other planets have even smaller stuff, but sadly they don't ship to Earth yet.

PS. Here's a link to the same slide show uploaded to youtube, but I find that the resolution seems to be a bit lower over there compared to Vimeo, maybe its just my eyes?

What does it mean?

2010-07-15T16:49:00.009+01:00

A pair of Nike Air's up in the air in Deptford. © Magnus Andersson

I don't know what it means. You can see these sneakers thrown over telephone wires all over London and there are loads of urban myths about their significance but so far I haven't heard a credible one; gang territory, drug dealers spot, street art, someone died, the list goes on. Got any ideas? In Rotherhithe there's a large tree that is actually full of them and it all seems very mysterious to me, I'll see if I can find* a pic of that to update the post with.

On Monday I will go down to the PPY event at the National Theatre. I recommend all those in London to go and check out the exhibition, it runs from July 12 to September 19, a whole nine weeks. Last year it was seen by 250,000 people!

--------------------
*Updated 25/7, below is the previously mentioned tree in Rotherhithe.

© Magnus Andersson

Remembering 7/7

2010-07-07T23:29:00.020+01:00

People stand outside a TV shop on Edgware Road to watch the coverage of the London bombings, which happened only yards away. © Magnus Andersson

This morning, five years ago to this day, I was in a job interview for taking pictures for an estate agency (I didn't get) in zone 4, west London, when I got the first text message. 'Are you OK?'
I was embarrassed; I'd forgotten to turn the phone to silent during an important moment. Then another one. Then a call. By this stage I had my phone turned to 'silence'. And they kept coming. I couldn't understand this sudden interest from my friends, all at the same time. Then I told my interviewer that something seemed to have happened in central London, possibly something terrible. The interview was cut short when word from their office finally confirmed that there was an attack on London.

The entrance to Edgware Road station at midday. © Magnus Andersson

I got back to my flat in Wandsworth via train (they were still running at that point), grabbed my kit bag and jumped on the bicycle to central London. It was raining and it felt cold. I pushed as hard as I ever had on a bike. Got to Edgware Road station but alas it was midday before I got there, cordons were up for miles, the injured had been taken away already but I did what I could, being a humble photojournalism student.

During heavy rain, a police officer lets a member of the press inside the cordon on Edgware Road. © Magnus Andersson

Only one of my friends got caught up in the bombings and she was OK. She was one of the first to surface from King's Cross as she was on her way into work at BBC. She simply called the office and ended up being one of the first quoted online that day.

A few hours after the bombings I blag my way into the Scotland Yard, where Brian Paddick received yet more intel during the press briefing. © Magnus Andersson

Today all the victims are remembered.

PPY 2010

2010-07-01T22:58:00.009+01:00

London Mayor Boris Johnson tumbles into the Ravensbourne river during a photo call. © Magnus Andersson

You'll have to excuse me if its been a while since posting but I've taken time off work to care for a loved one who is in hospital. There is a lot of waiting involved so yesterday, as usual, I perused Twitter to pass some time. I noticed that the winners of The Press Photographers Year 2010 had been put online so I browsed through the winning entries.

To say that I was surprised when I saw my name and one of my pictures is an understatement! I had been one of the 'selected' (i.e. not a winner) in the News category, but I had no idea until that very moment, killing time in the hospital.

I had to do a double take. Usually local press photographers get short shrift when you go up against the international photojournalists, so I'm doubly pleased and honoured to have been selected. Massive congratulations to the overall winner; David Bebber of The Times!

The original blog post about the picture can be found here, and if you go the PPY website, it shows up as #81 of #119 in the 'slideshow' option.

Here's a previous post from the awards night of PPY 2008, when Daniel Berehulak scooped the big one.

Gear change

2010-06-12T16:26:00.002+01:00

The nifty little ZoomIt SD card reader for iPhone. © Magnus Andersson

This morning my ZoomIt arrived! I ordered this in early February and four months (!) later it is finally here. I paid $49.99 for mine and got a free 4GB SD card for being one of their first customers. They had various problems with manufacturing, including having to wait for Apple to deliver a key component. I'm pretty sure that Apple deliberately delayed delivery to ZoomIt so that they could get their own Camera Connector Kit for iPad ready (it only costs $29, but doesn't work with the iPhone as far as I can tell), but never mind.

The ZoomIt is a small device which connects to the iPhone and via the free app it turns into a SD card reader and a file management system. It means that you can now move large files to and from the phone and that's great news for us photographers with SD recording cameras! My walk around kit has always been a good compact camera - currently the LX3 - but its always been frustrating to instantly share pictures, having to revert to the iPhone and its camera with little control. Don't get me wrong, I love the usability of the built-in camera, its fun to use, especially when there are so many apps to edit your pictures with, and its easy to share them online, but you never had full control over focus or exposure and file sizes left a lot to be desired - until now.

The ZoomIt connected to the iPhone. © Magnus Andersson

After charging the internal battery for 20 minutes it was good to go and it works straight away. You plug in the reader to the phone, pop in your card and then launch the ZoomIt application. It should say 'Connected' on your screen and then you can start moving your images and videos onto the iPhone for editing with your favourite apps. I tried it out this morning with this tweet and it works a treat! Everything on the card shows up, so you can keep movies, TV shows, music and other documents on a separate card and transfer to the File Manager when you need it.

My walk around kit; a battered LX3, a shiny new ZoomIt and the slightly scratched iPhone 3Gs. © Magnus Andersson

The only drawback so far is that they have opted for a proprietary USB cable that you have to use to charge the internal battery and I can see this being a problem if you forget it at home or worse, loose it. Battery capacity could also be an issue, but I've only had it a few hours so its too early to tell.

All I need now is a CF card version so I can edit D700 pictures on the iPhone, but so far there have been very little movement on that front. Come on, developers, you can do it!

Long day

2010-06-02T23:41:00.003+01:00

Mary Robinson, 89, Pearly Queen of St Pancras. Mary has spent years of her life raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and other good causes. She would like to move to a ground floor flat, as there is no lift where she lives. She had a hip op last August and struggles to get up the stairs, but Greenwich council says there are no flats going. © Magnus Andersson

Lordy, what a day. Some lunatic goes on a crazy killing spree up North and I have the temerity to complain about my day? OK, I wont complain too much. For the record, this is just a little glimpse into the car madness that you have to put up with to be the only photographer covering most of south London for three different titles.

First thing in the morning, I depart Hackney for a job in Peckham which involves an artist, an MS sufferer in a mobility scooter and a miniature bulldog called Onion (who apparently has her own website, up to you if you want to Google). The next one takes me to the outskirts of Bromley to photograph a charity worker who is off to Sierra Leone and has set herself 25 challenges before she goes.

After that I'm on my way to a galleria in London Bridge where stall holders have been told to clear out with only two weeks notice. On foot I somehow dropped the front cap to my 17-35 lens, blast. Strangely, the stall holders have enlisted two kids to play viola and cello to highlight their plight. Hmm.

I was all set to leave for a job in Catford when the office called and said I need to go back Peckham again instead, this time a murder scene. A man had been poured petrol over and set alight inside the back seat of a car the previous night. The cordon meant I couldn't get very close from either end of the street but if I walked into the nearby park I could get as close as 2 yards to the police forensics. The bizarre thing was that this part of the park was also a playground and there were several little kids running around me and looking at the strange men and women in forensic suits on the street by the burnt out car, separated only by a metal fence.

The next job was in Oval where a community centre was throwing a party. One kid suffered a bad nosebleed in the bouncy castle (I missed the shot) and the older kids were smoking weed outside (I didnt dare take the shot). The sun was shining. Back in the car I found the previously lost front lens cap; it was in the boot all the time.

By this stage it was past 15:00 and I still hadn't eaten, but it was onwards and upwards to Sydenham where the Mayor was opening a new green space in Mayow Park. Jolly nice it was too because I arrived 10 min early for the 16:00 start, so I had time for two glasses of water and a quick Nescafe (and some photographs) before I had to be in Vauxhall train station for 16:45. As if.

En route to Vauxhall another job materialised before my eyes. Traffic ground to a halt and I decided to go and see what was happening. It turned out that the reason for the standstill was a car crash where one of the cars ended up smashing through the wall of a primary school. Took some quick pictures and phoned it in so that news desk had the facts, then back in the car.

This meant I was being waaay late for the last job which would involve the ever reliable London Mayor Boris Johnson. Having found parking space I lost £1.20 to a faulty parking meter and had to find another street to park in (in London this can be very tricky indeed). I finally parked up and ran over to the station (this was a hot day and my jeans were glued to my legs). Boris was supposed to show his face at one of the knife arches, basically metal detectors were travelling members of the public are forced through to make sure they are not carrying weapons.

I arrived at the station sweating like a beast, approximately 20 mins late, and I thought f'#k, f@*k, I have missed the shot. I am being directed to where the knife arch is and as I arrive I realise that Boris Johnson is about to stride through the arch for us photographers. On my 5-minute run over I have of course set my camera for 'dingy-station-tunnel-exposure' and over the backs of four other photographers I spray-and-pray...and manage to get the shot. Of course, if Boris hadnt been late, I wouldnt have got the shot at all, but still, hallelujah.

Some 50 miles was covered in one day, and if you consider the fact that the average speed of a car in London is 10MPH, not counting the endless minutes wasted finding parking or being stuck behind a car crash, this left me with less than 1.5h to take decent pictures at eight different jobs. That's roughly 11 mins per job. Does that make for good copy? And what about lunch?!!

And to put things in perspective; this time last year we where always three photographers on any given day. Not a lot when you consider the size of the area we cover, but a year later I am now the only photographer on the three busiest days of the week; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Saying all this though, I'm pleased with the shots from today. Tomorrow is another day and I look forward to it, but I'd rather it'd be Friday night instead of this Wednesday night.

PS. I'll try to update this post with some of the pix once they have been published.

Alfred Dole, 80, Pearly King of St Pancras, partner of Mary (top). © Magnus Andersson

Quack

2010-05-23T20:35:00.005+01:00

Geese greedily eating our bread crumbs. © Magnus Andersson

Today was easily the hottest day of the year in London. I feel like cheese in a hot pan. Its wonderful when it happens because it feels like Tunisia all over again, except you can get booze wherever and whenever. Holiday extended!

Postcards from Tunisia

2010-05-16T23:55:00.000+01:00

A lucky shot where a butcher cleans his shop front wearing a cow's head. © Magnus Andersson

Back from a fantastic holiday in Tunisia, I though I'd share some impressions of this place. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the tourist resort of Hammamet on the northeast coast, which is dominated by these huge hotel complexes along the beach with the rest of the city up in the hills. We arrived in the evening so our first impressions was that of darkness and crazy traffic. This is a place without a single traffic light and I must say, as someone who navigates horrible London traffic every day, it was a breath of fresh air. It simply works and I think we should introduce the system here as well. What do you say, Boris?

A woman doing the arduous task of weaving a carpet. It takes a month just to do one square meter. © Magnus Andersson

Dust! It gets everywhere and it isn't that strange, its a country in the Sahara desert, and you soon learn to breathe through your nose at all times, otherwise you get a mouthful of the stuff in just a few minutes.

Collage of some of the portraits of the president which were everywhere. © Magnus Andersson

The police seems to be everywhere, every single roundabout is manned day and night, and they routinely stop vehicles although we didn't have any trouble with them. Another omnipresent was the portrait of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the man who has been Tunisian president since 1987. Add to that that during our stay there were local elections in the whole country, and you felt that he was watching you from every corner. The ruling Tunis party took some 90% of the votes, but you can hardly call it a democratic country, more a one-party state. The EU have now entered talks with Tunisia with their record on democracy very much in the spotlight.

The old Medina in Karouan, central Tunisia. © Magnus Andersson

There is a lot of construction going on in the tourist resorts but elsewhere in the country it seems as if construction all of a sudden stopped. Endless houses are left unfinished and there are many shanty towns where the poorest live. There are also nomadic shepherds along the roads and in the fields. They stay in makeshift tents and roam from area to area in order to feed their sheep. I never managed to get close to them but they seemed to lead an age old existence and would love to explore them more when I return.

iPhone panorama of the amphitheatre in El Djem (El-Jem). © Magnus Andersson

Once you get out of the tourist resort Tunisia becomes much more interesting. We hired a car and went to Karouan in the centre of the country. Here we visited the Great Mosque, the 4th holiest place in Islam and a beautiful building to behold. While there we also looked around in the old town Medina. It is of course a very poor country but the beauty of their buildings and especially their doorways was extraordinary. We also went to El Djem and its Roman amphitheatre, dating back to 238AD, capable of seating an amazing 35,000 people, and still in great condition.

Fruit stalls by the road side like this one are all over the place. © Magnus Andersson

We got lucky with the ash cloud, on the day we left the airports of nearby Morocco had closed but we managed to find a window and leave on time, however, with our very last meal, my fiancee managed to get food poisoning and had to seek medical help in the airport. A word of warning, Tunisian health care is not of the same standard that we are used to back home. The doctor was going to inject her with something when he dropped the needle on the floor. He promptly picked it up and tried to attach it to the syringe again, thinking it was perfectly normal practice to use dirty needles. My fiancee protested and he grudgingly replaced it with a new one. He then needed two attempts before a successful injection. Yikes.

One of many tanks left from WWII battles in the eastern hills of Tunisia. © Magnus Andersson

There is so much more to say about this beautiful country, but tomorrow its back to work again so I need to catch some sleep, but man, it was a good holiday.

The Great Mosque in Karouan. © Magnus Andersson

iPhone dump #03

2010-05-03T17:01:00.001+01:00

Line of yellow buoys in Greenwich Dock, Rotherhithe. © Magnus Andersson

Time for a little blog pause! I haven't been prolific in my postings lately and as I have the next two weeks off work, I've decided that I might as well officially rest the blog along with myself. A trip to Tunisia beckons and I think that the batteries will be recharged after that.

I've been told that there were some 70-odd applicants for the job we had going at the paper, luckily I wont be involved in sorting the wheat from the chaff, instead I'll be on a beach in north Africa with no internet access. Bliss.

BTW, these iPhone dumps are all shot and edited in-phone so to speak. The only Photoshopping I do on them is amending the meta data with a copyright notice and resizing them to be 750px wide, the rest is edited via either the brilliant Photogene and/or TiltShiftGen (such as the one above). I've also been in touch with Omer who developed the Photogene app and he will be looking into adding the GPS-location when tweeting a picture. That would be sooo nice.

Now I have to pack and I've been thinking about bringing the Hasselblad or perhaps the D700 with a 50/1.4, but this is a holiday after all, so the pack list reads: sunglasses, t-shirt, shorts, sandals, towel plus a good book and the LX3.

Happy St. George Day!

2010-04-23T18:30:00.002+01:00

St. George revellers in the Star & Garter pub in Greenwich. © Magnus Andersson

It is St. George Day here in England and with the sun shining people tend to knock off early and head for the pub. That's exactly what I'll be doing in a minute too, just one more job to download.

Today is also Rob's last day as a snapper here at the SLP and he will be sorely missed! We will be drinking tonight in Brixton on his sending off. The response to fill his position has been phenomenal and next week we'll sit down to whittle down the applications.

iPhone dump #02

2010-04-18T21:03:00.007+01:00

Erosion. © Magnus Andersson

iPhone dump #01

2010-04-17T03:21:00.007+01:00

Mother and baby statue inside the Stephen Lawrence Centre. © Magnus Andersson

Its official

2010-04-16T20:30:00.003+01:00

Its a crappy PDF of the newspaper advert but you get the idea. Its official. Whatever you do, don't tell your other PJ friends, no no no.

Are you up to the job?

2010-04-08T23:11:00.005+01:00

Pat, 71, has arthritis, she's had two strokes and her upper colon removed. She struggles to get up/down the stairs in the high rise where she lives. She claims Southwark council are refusing to re-house her. © Magnus Andersson

Eventually it has been decided; our outgoing photographer Rob Logan will be replaced. Hallelujah! (And I don't mean that in a bad sense, Rob will be sorely missed, I am just pleasantly surprised that management decided to replace him rather than cut his position altogether).

That means that we will have a vacancy for a full time photojournalist at South London Press very soon. Kit, car and company phone included.

For technical reasons the job won't be advertised out there for another week or so, but when it happens it will be on HoldTheFrontPage, so keep your eyes peeled. Alternatively hit me in the comments if you are interested. Qualified PJ's only.

Tell your friends.

Gandalf vs Magneto vs Godot

2010-04-05T11:31:00.005+01:00

Sir Ian McKellen talks to students at a Theatre Peckham workshop. © Magnus Andersson

In a face-off between the above mentioned characters I reckon that Godot would win every time, simply because by the time Godot turns up (if at all), the other two would have done each other in already. Anyway, lets face it, its not often that life feels complete but on Tuesday it all came together.

I grew up reading Tolkien books as a kid and then one of the living legends of the dramatic arts - and a personal hero of mine - made a surprise visit to Peckham; Sir Ian McKellen. He is known as Gandalf from Lord of the Rings to most people of my generation, and he came to look at the various workshops led by Theatre Peckham (he's the patron) at the Harris Academy. Best of all; being the only media there, reporter Lindsey and me had an exclusive.

Ian keenly observes a drama class. © Magnus Andersson

His role for the afternoon was simple - observe and don't intrude. The kids in these groups were all teenagers or younger and perhaps wasn't quite aware of the grandeur of such a presence, which made the whole thing that little bit sweeter. Most of them seemed to recognise him as Magneto from X-Men rather than Gandalf and he ordered them all to go and watch LOTR immediately.

I think for a moment Ian (apparently he doesn't like to be called Sir) could actually just sit back and relax, taking in the enthusiasm of new talent and their interpretations of the old classics by Shakespeare.

Mr. McKellen is course a man of integrity but he is also a man of the people. He didn't mind arriving in a small Fiat Punto. I got a couple of shots of him coming out of the car before the pinnacle occurred - he shook my hand and I introduced myself. My life was complete. Meeting your idols can sometimes be a bit disappointing. I once met one of my favourite musicians (who shall remain nameless) and after a short rebuttal for an interview, I simply couldn't listen to his music anymore, the illusion was shattered. Luckily I had no such bad luck with McKellen.

Drama class action. © Magnus Andersson

I'm not sure if he believed me when I said my name is Magnus - the same name as his character Magneto in the X-Men movies - but from there on in we had a non-speaking relationship. Observer photographer Jane Bown once claimed that a photographer should neither be heard nor seen, and that's exactly what I did - until I asked him for a close-up that is. Nearly two hours in to what should have been a 30 minutes stay, I had kept my distance. We had been promised a few minutes at the end so hopefully I would get my shot as well...

And before we get to that awkward moment, let me just explain how the whole thing went. Ian would be led into a room of youngsters going through their various dramatic routines, and he simply sat down to observe. As I was the only photographer there from the media I didn't feel like I had to get in Ian's face, instead shooting from a distance and hoping that I would get some nice shots at the end when we had been promised an interview.

Two students act out a scene from Macbeth in front of Sir Ian. © Magnus Andersson

In the early 90's I was doing some media studies paired with Irish studies (don't ask) in the deep south of Sweden and my final dissertation was to be on the works on Samuel Beckett, the Irish playwright of Waiting for Godot. Just like Godot, my final paper never arrived. However, Sir Ian has just finished performing this play in London - and the final performance was last night - but don't fret if you didn't get to see it because the play is about to go on a world tour, so you might have a chance to catch him treading some boards near you.

It was great to hear his thinly veiled contempt for some of the [unnamed] actors in X-Men, who perhaps didn't take their trade as seriously as he does, although both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart got a mention as good colleagues. Ouch. I don't think he cares much for his American colleagues.

McKellen showcasing some scenes from LOTR, including 'You shall not pass' on the right. © Magnus Andersson

He did a couple of re-enactments of LOTR scenes and the kids were non-plussed. They had no idea what had hit them, until he did a Magneto move instead. All of a sudden the kids where with him. I felt old immediately. He also explained that when he filmed the famous scene in LOTR where Gandalf The Grey tries to stop the Balrog on the bridge, the graphics people hadn't even designed the Balrog yet, so he had no idea what it looked like. Instead he had to film the scene with a stand-in for the Balrog in the shape of a perfectly normal tennis ball. Remember that next time you watch Gandalf shout 'You shall not pass!'.

McKellen during a short Shakespeare monologue. © Magnus Andersson

My favourite bit though was when he all of a sudden launched into a version of Shakespeare's monologue 'All the world's a stage' or 'The seven ages of man' as it is also known, a concise summary of infancy, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon and second childhood. It only lasted a few minutes but right there and then I knew that I had witnessed a masterclass in acting, right before my eyes. The hairs on my neck stand up even as I write this.

Ian looks out the window while answering questions from my reporter. © Magnus Andersson

Nonetheless, before all his interaction with this last class, he had been a quiet observer and I knew I was missing a more intimate shot of him looking into my lens. Towards the end he finally spared us a few minutes on a sofa, and he didn't mind sitting near the window for better light, while he was answering Lindsey's questions, yet he wouldn't look in my direction and I could sense he was getting eager to leave.

Ian McKellen at first protests but eventually I get my three frames, of which this is the last one. © Magnus Andersson

When she was done interviewing he got up to leave and I quickly asked if I could have some frames with him looking directly into the lens? 'I didn't come her to be photographed' was his abrupt answer and I thought 'shit, there goes my last chance'...but then he winked and smiled and gave me three frames! The one you see above is the third and final frame. He had given me approximately three seconds, but it was enough. Thanks for being a good sport, Ian.

The old man and the trees

2010-03-31T22:06:00.006+01:00

The old man and the trees, plus his dog. © Magnus Andersson

Yesterday I had the honour of shaking hands with Sir Ian McKellen. Without doubt the pinnacle of my life. I'll tell you more once its been in the paper.

In other news: its quite difficult to get your hands on 120-film nowadays. Why is that?

Sally McKay

2010-03-28T22:45:00.017+01:00

Sketch of me while I was busy taking portraits of the artist. © Sally McKay

Isn't it funny how things turn out sometimes? Bored stiff at work, I have taken exactly zero pictures that are worthy of going on the blog. Planning ahead on personal projects becomes a salvation from the dross that I turn out every day at work. The reduction of staff in the newsroom has inevitably taken its toll on interesting jobs. Most days I mainly shoot school children or boring PR jobs for either the local council or a local company. No room for manoeuvre. Hence I'm pleased to announce that the above picture was neither taken by me nor made for PR purposes.

Artist Sally McKay. © Magnus Andersson

It is a picture drawn by artist Sally McKay as I was photographing her and it all came about when she confessed that she hated having her picture taken. As photographers we are acutely aware of this disposition - I for one am not very keen on being photographed. Anyway, the portraits were done in her studio in Charlton and she had a nice set of sketches on the wall that would make a nice backdrop so we got down to work, but Sally was very nervous and in a bid to stave off her self consciousness I suggested that she do what she does best - draw. And so she drew a sketch of me while I was moving around doing my job. Voila! Job done.

Artist Sally McKay. © Magnus Andersson

Later, after having seen the published article, Sally emailed me and said that I had snapped her looking relaxed and smiling - a feat that no photographer had managed before - and asked if she could use one of the images that I took for her website. I said of course, BUT only if I could have a copy of the fabulous sketch she created during our session. The rest is history.

But if you think that us creative types come for free, just have a look at this outrageous attempt of trying to to get professional pictures for nothing. The answer they get is truly what they the deserve (also the best cut'n'paste job I have ever seen)!

Like all photographers, I'm pretty sure that Sally and her fellow artists get the same ludicrous propositions, trying to get us to work for free.

You can read Sally's new blog here.

Back in ten

2010-03-16T22:28:00.018Z

Notice on an office door in Blackheath. © Magnus Andersson

Hmm, there has been a void on the blog, getting close to a two week hiatus, but honestly, not a lot has been going on. OK, I lie, quite a few things has been going on and I have started four blog posts on various issues but thankfully I didn't hit publish on those. Some things are better kept off the radar.

But I have been quite busy; the good BA Photojournalism students at LCC turned up for my guest lecture and despite a stupid fire alarm going off in the middle of it - and subsequent full evacuation of the building - which dented the full presentation, it was great to see the next generation of snappers and their enthusiasm. I might have scared them about the future of newspapers. Sorry about that, but things are changing at the moment. Hopefully there will be some clarity soon.

Two hours isn't anywhere near enough for a talk though. Thanks goes out to Nigel Tanburn for having me once again, but can I have three hours next time, please?

I've also had a meeting about a new project that hopefully will see some Hasselblad action as well. It's a strange one as it will ultimately result in a play but there will be an exhibition to go with it, and perhaps more. My poor medium format kit has been gathering dust but this might be a good opportunity to get back to some 6x6 framing. The project will run in the next 6-8 weeks and I'll update you nearer to the finish.

Oh, and my colleague Rob handed in his notice today, so all you snappers looking for a job, there might be something coming up in the next few weeks at the paper! Prepare your CV's and all that BUT...given the current management policy of 'saving' money by not employing/replacing staff, don't hold your breath on this one just yet. I'll keep you posted though.

That's all for now, I'm going back to blowing balloon's.

The end is nigh

2010-03-04T22:41:00.000Z

An angry motorist snaps (sorry) after being photographed by a Lambeth Council CCTV Enforcement vehicle, and starts photographing the two officers on his mobile phone, shouting: "If you can photograph me I can photograph you!" © Magnus Andersson

I think we all have had enough of Big Brother, and there might actually be an end in sight for the stupid use of 'Section 44 of the Anti terrorism Act' against ~~terrorists~~ photographers. Earlier today Lord Carlile of Berriew - the independent terror law reviewer for the Government - called for S44 to be scrapped, weeks after the European Court of Human Rights found it illegal, as BJP reports.

Good news indeed. More from the Evening Standard here, including this ominous Carlile quote: "Nothing fills my in-tray and in-box more than complaints on the use of Section 44."

When a law reviewer gets concerned about his inbox there must be a serious problem at hand. If S44 is scrapped, perhaps the police can go back to whatever they were doing before, i.e. catching ~~camera wielding people~~ criminals.

Here's a good read on the chances of being killed by terrorism (spoiler: 1-in-a-million chance for each person, about the same as the chance of flipping a coin 20 times and it coming up heads every time).

© Leon Neal/AFP

In other news, here is a fantastic blog post from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver by AFP photographer Leon Neal. Great read, lots of insight on covering such a huge event and stellar pictures too, especially the picture of one of the luge riders staring at the metal pillar which killed his team mate before the Olympics had even started. A very sad yet telling picture.

A lone girl is refreshing under the late monsoon rain in the impoverished Oriya Basti Colony in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, near the former Union Carbide industrial complex. © Alex Masi

And finally, only last night I met up with my dear friend Alex Masi and it is good to see that his solid good work has been rewarded yet again, this time with a 2nd prize in the PGB awards. Big up!

You looking at me?

2010-03-02T19:38:00.002Z

The future is...orange?

2010-02-28T18:39:00.001Z

An orange-looking David Cameron at a photo call, launching their election campaign on education inside a Labour-built academy in Walworth. © Magnus Andersson

In mid-January I covered a photo call with Conservative leader David Cameron. They had just launched a poster campaign were he appeared heavily airbrushed and the Tories came in for a lot of criticism for it. Judging by his pigment tone on this occasion, he certainly appeared to have spent the morning in a sunbed or a spray booth, quite possibly both.

Almost immediately the spoof posters started turning up as well, I've included a couple of them in this post and you can find more of them over at MyDavidCameron.com.

Spoof poster from MyDavidCameron.com.

On that day, Cameron visited a newly built academy in Walworth and it was very cheeky of him to be standing there trying to take credit for a brilliant new school when it was all proposed and built under Labour initiatives. Same old Tories?

David seems to loose his concentration as Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, explains their educational pledge. © Magnus Andersson

There was quite a few photographers and journalists there on the day and on his walk around one of the agency photographers was assigned so I never got any shots of Cameron chatting to our local pupils, but in the reception I noticed BBC News political editor Nick Robinson having an argument with one of Cameron's press aides.

Orange on red; David delivers his educational pledge inside a Labour built academy. © Magnus Andersson

Apparently she didn't want to hear any questions about the proposal to give married couples a tax break. The Tories had first suggested it, then started backtracking when they realised they had no idea how this tax break would work, and now the press aide pleaded with Nick not to ask about it on their live interview in a few minutes. Her argument? It wasn't 'newsy' enough. Yeah right.

Nick Robinson, political editor at the BBC, points out that David Cameron doesn't really know what he is talking about now, is he? © Magnus Andersson

Around this time the Tories were almost 10% ahead in the polls. This weekends' poll shows that there are now only 2% (well within the margin of error) between Labour and the Tories and there has been much speculation that Gordon Brown is about to call a snap election.

Perhaps the airbrushed posters have backfired on the Conservatives? The future is always bright but the future might not be orange after all.

Another spoof poster from MyDavidCameron.com.

Post amendment: here's what David said earlier today and it includes the poll figures I alluded to in this post.

Another blast from the past

2010-02-24T20:48:00.023Z

A young and innocent Mattias sometime around 1993. © Martin Andersson

While scanning images from the previously mentioned book project, I came across this little gem of a picture of photographer & good friend Mattias Johansson. At first I didn't recognise him at all because this was on a roll of film which had the tail end of my book project on it, and I couldn't for the life of me remember taking this picture on that trip.

Then it dawned on me that I must have left the film in the camera, only for my brother to bring the camera on one of his and Mattias' trips, so my brother - Martin - is most likely the photographer in this case, because me and Mattias don't really hang out unless we are in the south of France.

I'd say that he is still a teenager there, about 18 years old and still unspoilt. Above we see him as an binocular-wearing young boy, but what I really want to know is: how did he become the bearded maniac photographer that he is today? Answers on a postcard, please.

Mattias wonders how he got here. Perpignan, 2009 © Magnus Andersson

Photographers and hard labour

2010-02-21T15:08:00.000Z

My dad trying to shift the relentless snow, sometime around midnight, in the middle of a 3-day snow storm. © Magnus Andersson

Wahey! I made it back to London in one piece but I have to say that I am really missing the snow. Upon landing at Stansted it was miserable, pissing down with rain.

Back to Sweden: with snow comes a lot of snow-shifting and this is done manually, i.e., we all have to chip in to shift the snow. If we don't, we simply won't get anywhere. This means hard labour, and during my stay we did the shifting at least four times a day just to keep our drive clear, because the snow just didn't stop.

That's my dad up there (top) and to be honest, he did most of the shifting, and I did most of the 'documentary' photography. Photographers are of no use when hard labour is required.

But snow also comes with a free license to create mischief. Ebba and Alice, my two little nieces, ran me ragged with snowball fights. Pure pleasure, no matter what my aching body tells me now.

Now that I'm back in London I had a look through the files and realised that I had a couple of shots that will stand up to comparison. The angles are not quite the same but it doesn't matter.

The first one is from Christmas '09 and the second one is from this weekend - a mere 2 months apart. I like the snowy one, even though it involves shifting of the white stuff.

Now I'm just hoping that I wont catch the stomach bug that one of my nieces had last night. At least its not the winter vomiting bug because I'm not feeling anything at the moment (famous last words).

Sunny day around Christmas. © Magnus Andersson

Snowy day around 24h ago. © Magnus Andersson

One from the upcoming book

2010-02-21T08:12:00.001Z

Young lovers embrace, Gotland, Sweden, ca 1992-3. © Magnus Andersson

Taken on a Konica Autoreflex II with a 35/2.0 attached, sometime during the summer of love, 1993. Possibly 1992 even. The light meter got busted on this trip, but it didnt matter, shooting from the hip and using the inside of film packages for reference, most of these shots are salvageable. Its been great fun looking at these old neg's and the contact sheets, and even more fun when you put them in the scanner, drawing out old gem's like the one above.

Two friends (both seen above) and myself went on a road trip, first by car and then by bike, from west to east and then back again. We were around 19-20 years old and had a total blast, freewheeling through festivals and camp sites, stopping wherever we felt like it.

This Konica kit was the first that I ever tried serious photography on and I am pleased that it is still in my possession. What is really nice is that it was purchased sometime around 1969-70, when my dad correctly guessed that a Brownie camera just wouldnt cut it when it came to producing good family snaps. Thank you, dad!

I started using it in 1987-88 and I also used my dad's 6x6 fold-up camera, from when he was a teenager, but lets face it, even a Lomo looks better than the pictures from that old 6x6 (nameless) camera. The Konica was different and dad had got some nice glass for it too. I started buying 30m rolls of Tri-X and shooting to my hearts content. One or two rolls have gotten lost, but that's the nature of film, its not forever. Its more organic, it ages, literally breathes and finally expires. Cant say that I miss it all that much, but digital certainly lacks a certain something.

I'm hoping to publish this private project in the next few weeks and there will possibly be some more info here on this later, but regardless, much thanks needs to go out to my designer Lucia Dehez who has put a lot of effort in on this project. Merci!

Snowcards from Sweden

2010-02-20T19:35:00.009Z

Apparently we haven't had this much snow for at least 35 years. Its amazing. I am seriously knackered after finally getting out to play with my nieces and their neighbours kid. Snowball fights plus igloo's plus climbing snow mountains equals one aching body.

Snow plough outside the house. © Magnus Andersson

Snow lined tree. © Magnus Andersson

Man clearing the snow on his garage. © Magnus Andersson

More snow ploughing. © Magnus Andersson

Dad knee deep in the snow. © Magnus Andersson

Large icicles, especially at the back. © Magnus Andersson

My brother clearing his drive with the tractor. Bluuu light! © Magnus Andersson

Snowed in

2010-02-20T12:07:00.014Z

Snowfall last night, when the card reader was still working. © Magnus Andersson

Back in Sweden for a quick weekend and we have had the most snow we've seen in the last 25 years. I love it, don't get me wrong, but I'm not able to drive out to my brothers place and play with my cousins because the roads are pretty unsafe. Stuck at home on my dad's lo-spec laptop, which cant handle RAW files. Sigh. My card reader has stopped working so I can't download from my compact either. That's the D700 and the LX3 out of commission, at least for blog purposes.

I'm supposed to be flying back to London tomorrow morning but it doesn't look very likely. The flights were cancelled today and the snow hasn't let up so my chances of a speedy return looks very slim. That means buying a new ticket, paying extra for the extended stay at the airport car park, possibly missing out on salary if I'm not back at work on Monday, yada yada, you get the picture.

Anyway, dad and me are going for a walk in the woods no, the silence is incredible. The snow just sucks up all sound around us, its so beautiful.

Hanging in there

2010-02-11T13:49:00.006Z

Its been a bit quiet on the blog in 2010, but there's been lots of other things going on; an engagement (she said yes!), the loss of my grandmother - R.I.P., birthdays and some trivial stuff such as broken equipment, insurance hassle and repairs trouble, all mounting up to my blog distraction. This is just a quick post to let you know that I'm still hanging in there, my focus is just elsewhere at the moment.

Urban fox

2010-01-29T17:56:00.002Z

An urban fox sits quietly on a street corner in Bermondsey, south London, as the evening sets in. © Magnus Andersson

Ah, its been a while since I last posted one of these pictures shot from the car while sitting in traffic or just waiting around. I'm pretty sure that I have a few of them lying around, will have to dig around in the archive and see if I can find them.

Its Friday night and I've just finished work but over in America, the marketing genius that is Chase Jarvis, is doing a live video feed from a photo shoot. Starts at 6pm GMT. It will probably go up on his site after the event, should you miss the live broadcast.

Have a good one.

Umida Akhmedova vs. Uzbekistan

2010-01-25T12:03:00.010Z

Bizarre is the only way to describe the ongoing trial against documentary photographer Umida Akhmedova for 'insulting and libeling the Uzbek people and its traditions through her work' and could face up to three years in jail if convicted. She was commissioned by the Swiss Embassy to produce documentary work on gender issues and photographed scenes from everyday life in Uzbekistan.

She was accused after a “complex expert review” of her work revealed that “with her unscientific, unsound, and inappropriate comments, which contain hidden implications, are directed at discrediting values and traditions of our people, and hold negative information that can affect moral and psychological conditions of the youth,” she insulted “traditions of the Uzbek people, which is viewed as defamation, scornful, and disrespectful attitude towards national traditions.”

This is simply a absurd yet shocking case of shooting the messenger. Surely you cant hold a photographer accountable for the traditions and practices of the people that she comes across on her travels throughout a whole country? Her pictures are measured and poignant and full of rich historical detail for future generations. By simply observing a country she has now drawn the wrath of its government and 'defamed an entire nation'.

Sign the petition here.

A gallery of images available from CPJ here, read more here, BBC gallery here.

50% off?

2010-01-17T13:29:00.002Z

Crashed double decker bus in Balham earlier in the week, with a nice little advert on the side. © Magnus Andersson

2010 is upon us and it has been a slow news year in London so far, not much to report. The terrible events in Haiti have been harrowing though and the images coming out of there are shocking. Here's a collection of images from CNN, but be aware that it contains graphic content. See it here, and please donate even just a little bit to the aid agencies, local or international.

As for the picture above, this happened on Thursday in Balham. Initial rumours said that it was a hijacked bus, but in the end it had an much easier explanation. The driver was still on the scene when we got there so we had a chat with him. Luckily no one was injured as he was on his way to the depot, but his response was classic: 'I normally drive a single decker bus'. Fail!

Happy new year to photojournalism?

2009-12-31T14:11:00.000Z

A large stuffed toy left is all that is left outside the home of a man who was evicted in November 2009. His former employers owed him £5000 when they went into liquidation. The landlord, rather than offering him a repayment plan, evicted him after five years of impeccable tenancy. The eviction notice is nailed to the door. © Magnus Andersson

2009 is almost over and I think it comes as a big relief for many in the industry. Newspaper titles and magazine budgets have been cut/slashed across the world, more and more photographers have found themselves unable to pay the rent using their cameras. Rights grabbing and abuse from the police have escalated beyond what is acceptable. Councils are launching their own free 'newspapers', funded by our council tax they are selling cheap advertising and their own council propaganda, which goes unchallenged by professional journalists, undermining the whole process of democracy and scrutiny, the list goes on.

I read a piece by now retired PJ Dick Kraus entitled 'Rest in Peace: Photojournalism Is Dead'. It doesn't sound very uplifting and trust me, it isn't. There is a huge irony to this piece though, because it wasn't written in 2009; it was written ten years earlier in 1999, and it was already bad back then, let alone now.

Dick Kraus has over 40 years of experience in the photojournalism business and he shares his views on a profession that more and more has been eroded, leaving us shooting mere 'head shots and real estate', as he puts it.

For sure, I am lucky to still be in a job, but I couldn't help feeling that his description from 10 years ago is very similar to my job today and, I'm sure, that of many other newspaper photographers still out there.

The Digital Journalist does us all a favour by a timely re-print for us all to see, a decade later after it was written. You can - no, you will - read it here .

Jean-François Leroy, the 'General' of Visa P'our L'image, wrote earlier this year about the death of photojournalism, and both pieces have similarities.

So what will 2010 bring? More industry death or is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Surely the end of recession must come soon and freelancers and staffers alike might see a rise in income/decent jobs.

Multimedia might finally start to make an impact on newspapers and perhaps revenue from online content finally becomes viable? The amount of people with video enabled SLR's out there is growing but it is of course a new profession that needs to be learned and so far very few news organisations are investing in training. Instead they assume that a stills photographer should be able to produce stills plus video content.

Normally a TV crew would contain three people; a cameraman, a reporter and a sound engineer, and quite often a producer too. How can newspapers expect all that on top of stills production from just one person? That's quality control versus shareholders for you, and so far only one winner; the owners line their pockets and readers go elsewhere.

As it is, the proposed pay walls are up for discussion, but one thing is certain - advertising has already moved online and so has readership. The question is: can newspapers regain the revenue they lost at the introduction of the internet when cars, real estate and small ads all slowly went online to separate sites such as autotrader, rightmove, craigslist, gumtree, eBay and the like?

It might be a case of too little, too late for many of the old news empires, but the demand for content hasn't diminished, so there is still hope for us. We just have to see where the money men and women take us. Failing that we have to do it ourselves.

Have you got any resolutions for 2010? I usually don't make them but this year I will endeavour to produce at least two book projects. They will of course have nothing to do with my day job on the newspaper, instead they will be both self-financed and self-published, but hopefully it will bring back some joy into my day job, push me to do better things and see better days.

I don't know a single photographer who does this job for the money (OK, one or two have given up PJ and moved to advertising, but hey, they have a families to feed).

We are always much more motivated by communication, creativity and empathy rather than the monetary factor, and personal projects are often much more rewarding and hopefully also feeds into the newspaper work.

With all this in mind, here's hoping for better days in 2010. Happy new year to you all, especially to the photojournalists! :)

Merry Christmas folks!

2009-12-24T12:35:00.011Z

Open fire next to where we ice skate, hot dogs and mulled wine. © Magnus Andersson

I am currently celebrating Christmas back in Sweden and we've been fortunate with some snow this year although some of it has rained away already. I've also been reliably told that Santa will make an appearance but I doubt that he will bring me a replacement Nikon D700. That's right, mine broke yesterday, bohoo.

My brothers new kitten, Smulan, who is just like her mum Sivan, seen here in an earlier post. © Magnus Andersson

All of a sudden it wont record any new images to the SD card. Everything else works fine; AF, flash, shutter etc, but instead of writing a new file to the card when I've taken a shot, it shows the last image taken before it broke down. Seems to be some fault with the processor/buffer. I spent a half day yesterday Googling for a fix but to no avail, it is unusable at the moment and I will have to take it to Nikon in London when I'm back, and instead rely on the LX3 for the Santa shots.

Portraits in the snow. © Magnus Andersson

Luckily I've managed to get some nice pictures already - and I still have my health - so Merry Christmas to all and sundry! See you in the new year.

A pine tree mid-fall. © Magnus Andersson

Hey, stupid! Camera = WMD?

2009-12-12T20:27:00.004Z

© Steve Bell/The Guardian

I'm saving the best for last in this post, so here we go: This is totally getting out of hand. The ACPO issued a letter to their staff last week stating that photographers should no longer be persecuted. The big question is: has this worked out on the ground? In short, no.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

I like the fact that the guy in 'Exhibit A' used film and therefore the ill informed officers were unable to see a preview of the images he had taken. Is that the solution if you want to take a photo in public; go old school on their Metropolitan asses?

The big point for me is that the police seems to have forgotten what they are there to do, namely catch criminals. That differs quite wildly from incriminating anybody with a camera, i.e. anyone with a mobile phone, which equates to pretty much every single person on the street, tourist, casual or professional. Are the police underused? Have we got a case of too many officers on the payroll without doing any proper work? Could this be the source of this police obsession with cameras?

In the recent case of Grant Smith, who took pictures of a church near to the Bank of America, where four police units, some of them armed, responded to a person with a camera doing his job. Surely it would have been much more beneficial to society if police actually would have gone inside the premises of the bank to see what the employees were up to?

Detailed view of Westminster as seen on Google Street Maps.

Its been said before, but I doubt very much the idea that criminals intent on doing some serious recon would use a full DSLR setup. Personally I would stick to Google's Street Maps.

© Steve Bell/The Guardian

Last time I looked, the powers fighting terrorists were branded MI5 and MI6. Somehow our friendly neighbourhood officers seems to have overdosed on Spooks and decided that the chosen weapon of mass destruction is a camera.

A plainclothes officer covers the camera of Guardian journalist Paul Lewis.© Paul Lewis/The Guardian

If you are interested in disturbing video evidence of the Kafka-esque society in which we live today, look no further. It really is frightening.

Marc Vallee has a comment piece here.

Even The Daily Mail has raised the issue here.

Sleeping man

2009-12-11T18:23:00.001Z

Collage of a man having an afternoon nap on a sofa inside the NFT, Southbank, London. © Magnus Andersson

I've been feeling a bit dozy lately, the dark days and the time of the year has all been taking its toll, plus there has been nothing but bad news internally at work, sadly the blog isn't the best forum to vent that stuff in (plenty of angry drafts that wont see daylight though).

On the photography front its been a bit quiet as well, but this is normal for this time of the year; the silly season is upon us and that means a lot of Xmas lights being lit up, kids performing their Xmas performances, etc etc, ad nauseum.

BUT...it is also three years ago since the first post appeared on this blog, and a lot has happened in that time. Print media is in big pain, Facebook came and went, Twitter has taken over the world, I've got eight pages of apps on the iPhone, yet the blog is still here (at least for a while longer, until we are all Google Waving each other).

I recently read a post on why having a blog might actually be more beneficial for us photographers than having a traditional homepage showcasing your work. Read it here, makes a lot of sense, plus it means I can still drag my ass on finding a decent web designer who can finally do some work on my homepage, which has been dormant since I bought the domain in 2006. If you know of someone good, drop us a line. Alternatively, send me a link to the best page on 'how to become a web designer in one evening'.

Just to give you an idea of the type of folks coming here for a look I shall present you with some stats, bear in mind that these only go back until May 2008 when I installed Google Analytics.

Most of all though, this goes out to my dad back home in Sweden. He gets on my back if I have been slack with blog updates, plus he keeps pushing up my Google stats as well.

Number of visitors: 5197 (since May '08)
Overall pages/visit: 1.55
Overall avg.time on site: 1 min 36 sec
Most visits in a day: 194 (Nov 28, 2009)
Top 3 countries: UK, then USA, closely followed by Sweden.

Geographical breakdown of the top three visiting countries. © Magnus Andersson

Most viewed post here. 838 times, and that stat will probably remain for a while. I'd much rather it was this one, currently lingering in the third most read post, and that moment was really funny.

On the browser front, Mozilla holds a steady 44%, while IE and Safari are tied on 25% each, leaving 6% of random connections. Bonus points for the person/s who are reading this through their PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable!

My favourite stat relates to the number of countries visiting: 85 (see image below)

Eighty five countries, that is mental! I love the internet! Thanks for looking!

(Sadly, Google doesn't supply stats from other planets yet)

Map of the world indicating (in green) where visitors have accessed my blog from. © Magnus Andersson

Working together?

2009-12-08T21:30:00.000Z

The financial district of London partially immersed in clouds, as seen from Greenwich Cemetery. © Magnus Andersson

There was one very significant development over the weekend here in the UK after chief constable Andy Trotter declared that photography was no longer to be seen as a threat by police officers. Both amateur and professional photographers should now be allowed to enjoy the hobby/work without being hassled by real police and/or plastic police (Police Community Support Officers).

And then this happened today. Photographer Grant Smith was first questioned by security guards (who have no rights to do so) on why he is taking pictures of a building. It should be noted that Smith is an experienced London architectural photographer. The security guards call the police and shortly three police cars and one police van are on the scene, with up to six armed police officers. WTF?

The problem seems to lie with ground staff's training: #1 why would the police operator who took the call decide to dispatch four patrols to a photographer? #2 why would the officers at the scene think that this was a terrorist at work? #3 why did the security guards get involved at all? Smith was photographing the building next to theirs.

You might argue that a crime was potentially prevented here, but I would argue that a crime was potentially enabled here; four police units and two security guards allowed themselves to be drawn into a perfectly peaceful and non-violent past time of most UK citizens, i.e. photography. Meanwhile genuine criminals went about their normal criminal routines, safe in the knowledge that the officers on the ground waste their time pursuing law abiding, tax paying citizens. These officers don't have a clue about how to interpret the laws in place.

Here's the official line from the Met Police. Their slogan is: 'Working together for a safer London'.

Great piece from Henry Porter in The Guardian.

Tomorrow's BJP piece.

And perhaps a silver lining to all the media exposure these events have been given in the last few days?

I would like to know the exact figure on stopped photographers versus discovered terrorists. I suspect it stands at umpteenth vs. none. I think the Met slogan should read 'Working to alienate the population of London, especially anyone with a camera'.

Even more scary, today it was announced that the British Transport Police will be allowed to carry 50,000volt taser guns. For those that remember, the police officer that illegally confiscated my camera was also from the British Transport Police. And next time he will be armed with a taser gun as well? Lordy.

Cause of death still under investigation

2009-12-07T19:20:00.002Z

Dead pigeon floating in Regents Canal, London. © Magnus Andersson

When you think about it, you don't see many dead animals around do you? Lots of living one's are all around us, scurrying, flying, skipping and jumping, barking, growling, howling, yelping, scratching and itching.

And if you ever have been to London, there is one animal that is omnipresent; the pigeon. Two things amaze me; you never see pigeon chicks and you never see dead pigeons. Maybe they are like elves? Perhaps they live forever?

The pigeon is from earlier in the year, but this big mama of a fish (possibly a carp?) is from yesterday. © Magnus Andersson

Lets dip into the sea!

2009-12-06T23:59:00.000Z

Diving into the Mediterranean sea, somewhere between France and Spain. © Magnus Andersson

Its gotten cold in London and when that happens, it doesn't hurt to look back at the delights from the summer just gone. Visa pour L'image was one of the highlights of the year for sure, but there was a trip inside the trip which made the whole thing extra-special:

Five Vikings in the Mediterranean. © Magnus Andersson

Canon Sweden have been along for the ride for 10 years and they decided that it was time to celebrate a decade's worth of sponsoring the event. Thank God for Canon! A bus was hired which took us down to Collioure, a small seaside town at the bottom of France, just before you get into Spain. Medieval and beautiful, we still didnt have much time there before...

Ringo Star - aka Mattias Johansson - also dipped in. © Magnus Andersson

...we got on a rented yacht which took us all the way into Spanish waters and back again, and of course we were treated to a Mediterranean feast whilst on board.

Tuckin' in on the freshest seafood on the...sea. © Magnus Andersson

Anna and her crew from Collioure served up the most amazing smorgasbord of food, most of it fresh from the sea, and only one of us Vikings felt seasick, the rest had the time of our lives. Thank you Per!

The Scandinavian Canon boys that made it all possible. Sadly they were all showcasing the Canon EOS 7D, nuff said about that camera. :) © Magnus Andersson

Rhianna inspired photograph

2009-12-06T19:30:00.002Z

I'm missing the summer of 2009...

2009-11-28T15:52:00.001Z

Inner city cricket in London Fields, Hackney, summer of 2009. © Magnus Andersson

Bike on Broadway Market, Hackney, in the sunset, summer of 2009. © Magnus Andersson

Launch of a new category: randoms

2009-11-19T23:10:00.005Z

No, I didnt Photoshop this. What you see is what you get as a photojournalist. © Magnus Andersson

I know that they have had bad weather and all at the moment, but what where they thinking naming this town in Cumbria? Cockermouth?

Getting rid of the evidence

2009-11-18T21:57:00.008Z

A WPC (without clearly displaying her ID number) attempts to batter me as Jeff Moore (to her right) of BPPA does nothing to stop her. © Magnus Andersson

The picture above is from the 'I'm a photographer, not a terrorist' event which I attended at The Foundry in August (some background links in this post).

Now it has been revealed that the Metropolitan Police are asking their photographers to delete any images showing officers with their identity numbers hidden/removed.

Basically the Met are asking that any evidence of misconduct by the police are to be destroyed. Does this actually happen in 2009? Was it previously OK for officers to remove their ID numbers, prior to the G20 demonstrations? Was this actually a directive?

How high up in the police hierarchy does this go? Surely someone at the top must get looked into for issuing such orders to destroy evidence, and prior to this, allowing the removal of their ID numbers?

If this was a court case, it would be perverting the course of justice.

If this was business it would be insider trading and then covering your tracks.

If it had been history it would have been David Irving.

The truly frightening thing is that this is all of the above. This is 2009 in the UK, the official police state of the Western world, where the police bends the law to protect their own, where photography is seen as a terrorist sport whilst we are the most photographed population in the world courtesy of CCTV footage.

These are the chilling words from the people that are supposed to look out for us; The Metropolitan Police:

'As of now, any still or moving photography or images of police officers must show them wearing their correct shoulder numbers/markings and name badges if these areas of uniform are included within the shot.'

and:

'As a precaution, if you hold any photography or images that do not meet this instruction they should be culled from your libraries.'

Sometimes things are not what they appear to be

2009-11-14T19:46:00.007Z

Friday 13th

2009-11-13T17:29:00.012Z

A crow flies past the war memorial at Greenwich Cemetery, where - for no apparent reason - no wreaths were laid for this years Remembrance. © Magnus Andersson

Friday 13th...to some its a sign of a really bad omen, for others its good luck. To me? It's a day where I have to say that the camera on the latest iPhone is actually really decent, now that I've had some time getting used to it.

For the pixel peepers, I've left it hi-res, so click on the image to see the full Monty of what the 3Gs can do. Minor curves adjustments done.

Have a good weekend!

Eugene Richards

2009-11-12T23:25:00.016Z

From his exhibition which I saw in Perpignan, 2009. A returning soldier with half of his head left, hugged by his mother (the reflection of a baby next to her head is coincidental). © Eugene Richards/Getty Reportage

Of all the exhibitions that I saw at this years Visa Pour L'image in Perpignan, Eugene Richards' work on returning injured US soldiers has produced the longest lasting impression on me.

Now you can read a very good interview with him here, courtesy of BJP.

For those of you in London, he's talking at BJP's Vision09 event in London on 27 November. Don't miss it.

Remembrance Day

2009-11-06T18:00:00.004Z

Portrait of Sgt. Arnould, veteran soldier of 12 years. © Magnus Andersson

This weekend will see the marking of the 90th (I think) Remembrance Day; remembering all those who died in WWI. In today's paper we have done a piece with Sgt.Barry Arnould (above), to get the perspective on how a serving soldier views the Poppy Appeal and what it means to those currently in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

My girlfriend also did her bit for the cause, spending all of last Monday on her hands and knees (steady on) volunteering for the Royal British Legion, hammering the little crosses into the ground outside Westminster Abbey in London. Today her back (and knee) breaking efforts paid off as The Times adorned its front page with a large picture of the volunteers work, filling the page with thousands of little crosses. On Sunday we will go down there to pay our respects.

Also starting this weekend, The Guardian are serialising '100 years of great press photographs', starting tomorrow and running for nine days. Don't miss out.

And its Friday! Hopefully I'll get to check out my friend Bear down at The Wilmington as he plays in Rescue Cat, who are destined for big things. Have a good one!

Neighbours

2009-11-01T19:50:00.001Z

Flipped car in South London. © Magnus Andersson

This is the sight which greeted the owner of this car one morning. She lives on an estate in south London and she is one of very few people who dares to stand up to the local gang members and drug dealers who use the communal stairwells to hang out in. She claims to know exactly who did this but without witnesses the police is powerless. Credit to her for having the guts to stand up to them though.

I live on an estate myself and there used to be a bunch of kids always smoking joints in the communal stairwell one floor below us. They always went quiet when I walked past them and I never said anything to them. One day, on the landing they always sat on, it had some furniture left on it from someone decorating their flat.

It was set alight on a Saturday morning but I didn't notice as I was asleep. I merely woke up at around 11am and found myself coughing up black bits of soot from my lungs. I opened the front door and the whole stairwell was pitch black with soot, the door, windows, walls, everything. Lots of people could have died because no one was challenging these kids.

Luckily, since this arson incident, those kids have not returned, but to this day I don't know if they actually lived in the building or not. Now I say hi to the kids around here and they say hi back. Not a big effort really, but to stand up like the aforementioned woman takes big guts.

Tree on the loose!

2009-11-01T19:01:00.001Z

A warning sign in Potters Field, Southbank, London. © Magnus Andersson

Apparently the offending tree was trying to branch out but eventually it got chopped down...yes, this is an actual story I had to cover. Slow news week I guess.

To tweet or not to tweet?

2009-10-26T18:56:00.006Z

Alien or chestnut? Neither; its my current Twitter background. © Magnus Andersson

Apparently that's not even a question in 2009 and I cant help feeling that me signing up so long after the initial buzz makes me a bit 2000-and-late...ahem.

The wonderful Stephen Fry was of course the reason for me signing up, especially after the huge furore over a Daily Heil article last week, but I actually got contacted by a real celebrity - yes! - only on my second day on Twitter.

The night before I had gone to comedian Lee Hurst's club in Bethnal Green to have some fun but unfortunately for me (and to everybody else's delight) we had to sit at the table right at the front. Never a good thing in a packed house.

Lee came on and started his first routine, picking people in the front row to ask a few questions about them. He got to me and it was very innocent to begin with:

- What's your name?
- Magnus.
- Where are you from, Magnus?
- Sweden.
- Aha! Thanks for your help with the Germans.
- Eh...
- So what do you do for a living, Magnus?
- I'm a photographer.
- Tell us what you have photographed recently.

At this stage my mind went blank. It was Friday night and I had put all thoughts of work behind me so I tried to remember what my last job had been that day. Think, think, think, I was telling myself. A whole room plus Lee Hurst was waiting for my answer and then it came to me, yes, I had been at a school which had held a huge celebration for their 50th anniversary, dancing and singing, etc.

But I didn't say all that. Instead, the only thing that came out was:

- School children.

Not the ideal answer in a comedy club. The whole room erupted and Lee had the rest of his first set written for him by me. I'm sure you can figure out how I was labelled for the rest of the night: Swedish...phototgrapher...school children. Arrgh!

Anyway, that experience ended up being one of my first tweets. The day after, Lee himself had found me on Twitter and sent me a message, saying that he'd hoped to see me at the club again! Nice. But I might sit at the back next time and claim to be a mute.

Anyway, if you're on Twitter, seek me out and give me a tweet here.

Time to up my game

2009-10-22T13:43:00.006+01:00

Portrait of Alexandre, 101 years young. © Magnus Andersson

Oh dear, the spotlight is on us! Two blogs are shining the light on local newspaper photography like never before. It is true that a lot of jobs that we do are quite mundane, some are boring and some are outright stupid, so I will have to up my game in order to stay off these two blogs:

Angry people in local newspapers

Glum councillors

If you want to have a detailed insight into my working life though, look no further.

I've got another 700 reasons to be very happy...

2009-10-21T22:36:00.009+01:00

One of my first test shots on the Nikon D700; wireless TTL left, seedy red lamp behind, TV light from right. © Magnus Andersson

...because I've just got my hands on a brand new Nikon D700! I was holding out for an updated D700s version but as the D3 got upgraded instead I couldn't wait any longer. Rumour has it that a possible D700s is likely in a years time...ho hum.

But I welcome the super fast and super accurate AF, the brilliant ISO performance, the built-in commander flash, the dream like DOF with my family of prime lenses, the solid build quality and on and on and on...yup, I'm very pleased with it.

Its not insured yet though so I am scared to take it out of the house. Frustration! Hence the random image above; shot in my living room. Hopefully it'll be sorted soon.

Yeah, I'm busy

2009-10-15T23:05:00.003+01:00

I've got one hundred two thousand and four hundred reasons...

2009-10-14T17:11:00.010+01:00

...to get the newly launched Nikon D3s. The ISO goes up to 102,400. That's a little bit insane. According to BJP it is actually usable as well. That basically outperforms the human eye, meaning this camera will pick up details although you are struggling to see what's going on in the dark. Gimme gimme gimme. I think it will be a little while before I actually own one though as it will set me back £4,200. Hmmm.

Embargoed

2009-10-13T23:00:00.000+01:00

AP photographer Dominic Lipinski filing his pictures in direct sunlight, opposite the police station in Lambeth North. © Magnus Andersson

A while back I showed you some of the stuff from the early morning dangerous dogs raid that I went on and I just found this little gem of AP's Dominic Lipinski editing his shots after the raid. We had been embargoed, meaning we couldn't release any pictures until after 11am (we started at 05:30am), ensuring that all raids across the country had finished before they end up on the news...so what to do?

Grab a coffee anda croissant, edit your shots, wait for the deadline to expire and then start filing. Impossible to do in bright sunlight like that of course...unless you have one of these nice little hoods for you laptop.

I've got an early start tomorrow...

Pure laziness

2009-10-11T20:35:00.008+01:00

Charles, 100, beaming with pride over his birthday card from the Queen herself. © Magnus Andersson

That's what it is, or maybe the change in the weather, autumn is definitely here now and winter is around the corner, its getting chilly outside and staying in is such a nice prospect in the evening. Soon it will be dark when I get up to go to work and dark when I get home again.

Factors which may play a role in the laziness on the blog, but if there's one thing that reminds you that there's plenty of time to do stuff, just speak to a 100-year old. Above you can see Charles, who turned 100 last Sunday, and he kept saying that the amount of things he's done and seen in his life were so many, he couldn't believe it. He was of course 'all there' in the head and he really enjoyed life.

When you make it to 100 here in the UK you get a special birthday card from the Queen herself, no less. There's no limit to the pride this instills in the older generation, quite touching to witness actually, and this card always takes pride of place in their homes.

Personally though, I'd be quite offended that she's managed to ignore my previous 99 birthdays...the lazy woman.

Today

2009-10-02T00:04:00.002+01:00

A photographers code of conduct

2009-09-30T22:34:00.003+01:00

Courtesy of Xtra Normal.

Kosher doesn't fly in Iran

2009-09-24T18:23:00.000+01:00

The shortlisted entries on the wall. © Magnus Andersson

As I mentioned in the last post, I had the privilege of going to the Frontline Club as they hosted a panel discussion on how photojournalism is suffering from citizen supplied content.

Crowd shot and the panel. © Magnus Andersson

My friend Alex was nominated in one of their competitions and on the night I bumped into fellow photographers Matt Grace and Edmund Clark and it turns out they were also shortlisted in the competition.

Only one man was sensible enough to actually sit down during the hour-long discussion. © Magnus Andersson

Sadly none of them won, but it was still a great night with a healthy debate on how to deal with content that is supplied for free, thus undercutting us professional photographers and removing our livelihood.

The panel, (L-R) Matthew, Olivier, Ben, Marc and Turi. © Magnus Andersson

The panel was chaired by Ben Hammersley from WIRED magazine and debating the issues were Matthew Eltringham from BBC News User Generated Content, photographer Marc Vallee, Turi Munthe from picture agency Demotix and Olivier Laurent from BJP.

The Frontline Club at night. © Magnus Andersson

Here's a video of the event from start to finish, the prize giving is at the end for those interested, but the highlight of the video comes at about 07:30, at which point you'll understand the title of this post.

Shooting kids

2009-09-17T15:59:00.015+01:00

Girl in a test shot for a class photo. © Magnus Andersson

During this week and the coming two we are planning to visit 97 (!) primary schools across south London for a supplement called First Class which we do every year. We line up the reception classes of each school and get a group shot, then we put it in the newspaper hoping that it will generate lots of photo sales.

Nothing new there, and for some photographers it might sound like a mundane task but its actually been great fun doing it this week. Tomorrow is my last day and on Monday its back to 'normal' photojournalism again.

As it is their first ever week in school some of the kids are a bit confused, some are scared, one got locked into the toilet so we had to re-shoot and I've even had two kids who just wouldn't stop crying for mummy...poor little things, imagine if they realised that they have several more years of school ahead!

The setup is very simple as you'll see in one of the shots below, but I also find the test shots strangely arresting, something about the colours and the symmetry and the lack of people, so here are a few examples of benches and chairs, sans children.

Tomorrow night I am heading down to the Frontline Club where there will be a panel discussion on citizen supplied photos and the impact it has on photojournalism. I am covering for my friend Alex Masi who is shortlisted in one of their competitions, and the winners will be revealed on the night. Sadly he cant make it as he is still in India, but I'll report back here later on.

All images © Magnus Andersson

Shooting!

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Bullet hole in a window of the office building next to our bedroom. © Magnus Andersson

This was quite scary; while we were asleep in our hotel in Perpignan, a shooting occurred less than 10 metres from our bedroom. When I woke up the following day I noticed the police outside our window, and they were inspecting the office building next to where we were staying.

After breakfast we went to have a look and this (above) is what we were confronted with. The amazing thing was that (apart from nobody being hit by a stray bullet) not a single person in our hotel had heard a thing; must be the fresh Perpignan sea air that gives you such a deep sleep.

A Beatles album cover?

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Abbey Road, Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

Of course not! This is photographers Sofie and Lisa, mentioned earlier here, and Mattias, leaping like a salmon out of the water, only in this case I cant quite remember why we took this picture. We were coming back from le grand finale party on Saturday night and the sun is already up (which makes it Sunday morning)...maybe that explains my amnesia.

So what about the shows in Perpignan?

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Exhibition goers at Eugene Richards' 'War is personal', Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

Next year I will definitely try to go and see all the exhibitions, we missed some of them and sadly we didn't make it to a single one of the talks that were given by various photographers. It is difficult when you go to these places though; you need to strike a balance of trying to enjoy your holiday, make the most of the exhibitions and also the city itself, socialise and have fun, outside all of the industry hullabaloo. It is also quite easy to over do it, there's only so many harrowing stories you can take in before your mind goes numb.

Of the exhibitions we saw, 'War is personal' by Getty photographer Eugene Richards is one of the stand outs. Centred around wounded US soldiers after their return from duty, it is a very simple show, nothing fancy, just uncomplicated images and a wonderful presentation of large captions from relatives and carers, giving a strong voice to the people in the images, something that was often lacking elsewhere in the shows.

It was telling to see that hardly a word was spoken by the large crowd when we went. It was absorbing, and the viewers seemed to be really moved by the images and the words, watching in hushed silence. You felt a kind of respectfulness in Eugene's work, something which was reflected in us as we took it all in in silence. You can find a BJP interview here.

Tattooed gang member in prison by Miquel Dewever-Plana in his exhibition 'The other war', Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

Another good exhibition was Miquel Dewever-Plana (again a BJP interview here) of Agence VU, with images of Guatemala's gang members inside prisons and with the police on the violent streets, where a human life is worth next to nothing, a country stuck in an endemic cycle of violence.

Obama with his feet up from Callie Shell's exhibition 'Barack Obama', Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

TIME photographer Callie Shell also had a great show of Obama's journey to the presidential seat, three years in the making, showing the man we all love to love. See the whole essay online here.

One of the funniest shows was 'Only in America' by French photographer Francois le Diascorn. Humorous B&W images from the US, circa 1960 onwards, with a gentle touch an and almost Cartier-Bresson-like quality to them, but sadly I didn't take any pictures in there.

The giant screen at Place de la Republique, Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

The one thing we didn't miss was the slide show held every night for the duration of the professional week. You could either watch it live in the stands of Campo Santo, enabling you to take in the booming voice of Jean-Francois 'the general' Leroy, or you could opt for a live transmission in the main square; Place de la Republique. We went for the latter and this meant we could also have dinner and a drink at the same time, watching the slide show on a screen at least 30m wide. Great stuff!

Wall of fame

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Remy Cortin's photo of David Burnett at the Canon party at El Boca Boca, Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

I've mentioned it before and Mattias has the shot to prove it, but legendary photojournalist David Burnett had just had his photograph (above) taken by Remy Cortin when we decided that we should have a go as well.

It was inside Canon's area at the Palais des Congres and the best shots were then displayed in a mini gallery on the wall. Safe to say that only the famous photographers got to hang on that wall, but at least we walked away with a free A3 print of ourselves from the event.

That is until someone stole my Visa Pour L'image press bag where I had stashed my print whilst I was busy doing the jitterbug on the dance floor of Habana, sometime around 3am....

Anyway, later on we had the pleasure of being in the mix of the wall-projected slide show at El Boca Boca during a VIP Canon party (OK, maybe not that VIP as we were allowed in, but people were offering us Euros for that black Canon wristband when we left), sharing the wall with selected PHOTO front covers and Remy's shots. For those not familiar with PHOTO, it basically took the Playboy cover and gave it an eighties French twist. Very good company indeed for Mr Burnett.

Conflict photographer Philip Blenkinsop sporting a black eye, signing books outside Couvent des Minimes, Perpignan, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

And then there was the story of the experienced conflict photographer above Philip Blenkinsop of the NOOR agency. Having safely negotiated his way back from his latest assignment, perhaps he forgot that the civilian world can sometimes be a lot more dangerous than his usual subjects.

He hitched a ride on a friends scooter down the narrow alley streets of Perpignan, and before you knew it the driver lost control, Philip flew off and the handlebar connected with his eye socket...I think he was lucky that he didn't suffer any permanent damage to his eye, a photographers worst nightmare.

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Update: Just found it, below is the print of Mattias and me along with various others.

© Magnus Andersson