The right place at the right time

The outside of the pub as seen from the men's urinal. © Magnus Andersson

I went to catch up with my friend Sara in a quiet pub the other night, close to where she works in Farringdon. Neither of us had been there before, we just happened to chance upon it; the evening was nice so we had a beer outside.


Solo song from the brilliant guitarist/singer top left-ish. © Magnus Andersson

Soon though, musician after musician started turning up, one after the other with their instrument cases. After about 10 of them had arrived I had to ask what was going on.


Beginners to experts, all were welcome. © Magnus Andersson

It turns out that every first Monday of the month they are gathering there for a session in Greek, Cypriot and Byzantine music, and we were in the right place at the right time. Everyone was welcome, and it was free.


More musicians than spectators. © Magnus Andersson

For most of the night there were more musicians than there were people in the audience, with lots of musicians popping in and out of the session. We met some really nice people who explained the songs to us and I was invited to bring my own guitar for the next session so that I could start playing these songs myself.


Some traditional Greek dancing. © Magnus Andersson

Bouzoukis of all sizes were most prominently featured, but there were also guitars, violins and cellos, along with some percussion and an accordion and of course lots of voices singing, and towards the end, some Zorba style dancing too. It was quite incredible to hear 20+ musicians playing and singing the same song. I cant remember the name of the pub, will update here once I get the facts.

Bank holiday bliss

Tower Bridge this morning, no traffic at all. © Magnus Andersson

I'm sat at work not doing much, waiting for the subs to put the paper to bed. In total there are eight of us in the office today; two editors, two subs, one journo and two on the sports desk, plus me. Nice and quiet, no jobs booked in, lots of time for eBay, facebook, blogs, etc. And the traffic is a dream!

Regardless of whether you happen to celebrate the heathen witches (like me) or choose to believe in the greatest illusionist of all time, who apparently pulled off an amazing feat this weekend, some 2000 years ago; Happy Easter!

Yes & yes!

230-strong police operation on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, going after known drug dealers on the street after a 3-month surveillance operation. A suspected dealer is arrested and searched. © Magnus Andersson

Just got back from a police crackdown on crack dealers in Brixton and its way beyond midnight now, but earlier today I got some brilliant news; my colleagues Rob and Hannah along with myself are all shortlisted for 'Photographer of the Year' in the Regional Press Awards 2009! All three of us!

And what's more, I'm also up for 'Sports photographer of the year'. More to come in a later post, but here's the full list. Got to get some sleep now.

My new best friend - pt II

My new best friend showing his/her gratitude... © Magnus Andersson

So here's the conclusion!

If you didn't notice already, right at the end of the clip - after I have hand-fed this little bucktoothed bird - she (I'm pretty sure it is a she now, even possibly migrated from northern Ireland) tries to shit on my hand as a thank you. That's how I tend to get repaid at the moment...

As another sign of how good things are going for me at the moment, today it took me three hours to drive home from work. I was bursting for a piss! It's an 8.8 mile (14km) journey from the office to my place, but the G20 protests threw a BIG spanner in the works. Here's hoping for a better future.

G20 (updated)

Anti capitalist and climate change activists demonstrate in the City of London on April 1, 2009 in London, England. Protesters marched through London demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs, as World leaders arrived in London ahead of the G20 summit. Getty Images / Jeff J. Mitchell

The G20 meeting is in town and so are the protesters. Much as I would have loved to cover these events, two things prevented me; 1) my newspaper only cover events south of the river Thames (all protests are to the north of it) and 2) yesterday I was incapacitated in bed with a migraine (bohoo), watching it all unfold via BBC News 24 on my laptop. Looked like fun though. And while it dominated front pages for one or two newspapers here in the UK today, The Sacramento Bee in the US has the best photographic coverage! Shame on the UK press for disregarding good photojournalism to this extent.


An injured policeman, second from right, is helped by colleagues during clashes with protestors near the Bank of England, in London, on April 1, 2009. Leaders wrangled Wednesday on how a G20 London summit could fix the global economy as demonstrators attacked a bank in an anti-capitalist riot in the British capital's main financial district. AFP/ Getty Images / AFP Carl De Souza

Update: BTW, an Anonymous reader informed me of this, following on from this. Good stuff, keep it coming.

My new best friend - pt I

Starling on my rear view mirror earlier today. © Magnus Andersson

Today I made a new and unexpected friend: meet Mr (or possibly Mrs) Starling, on my rear view mirror! Now I don't deny being a bit of a birdwatcher, no siree, but this was quite incredible to have this wonderfully responsive creature so close to me.

Initially I only took a couple of still pictures, just to preserve the moment, but then the bird didn't seem bothered at all, so I switched to video...you wont guess what happened next though.

Part II to follow!

Tragic incident

A charging adult T-Rex and Charlotte Bailey, 8. © Magnus Andersson

Being a photographer means you often get special access to great events, but the other day it all went horribly wrong. A new exhibition called 'Walking with dinosaurs' was to be showcased at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, but it all went wrong when the adult T-Rex broke loose...moments later this little girl and the guy behind - trying to save her - both got eaten by the ferocious beast. I managed to hide under some stairs until the handlers got the creature under control. The rest of the pictures are just too horrific to show here.

However tragic this episode was, it did remind me of one of my favourite comic strips: Calvin and Hobbes!

HA HA HA!

Our intelligent anti-terrorist officers have come up with a brilliant, two-pronged, new plan to beat terrorism;

#1: go through your neighbours trash. If its full of takeaway boxes and beer cans, report him/her, otherwise they might have an early death.

#2: did you see anyone taking a picture of a CCTV camera? Report them! Any half decent photographer will tell you that the background is just as important as the person you are photographing.

I like the idea of turning the population into your own little Stasi machine, imagine how much time it will save the intelligence gathering folks? Boingboing has the story here.

It also looks like this will set off another avalanche of brilliant remixes of these posters, flickr has a bunch already; here, here, here, here, here and here, to name but a few.


Link

This relates to the previous police posters, where this poor fella got done for having a beard. A "big brown beard". Quality.

If you actually have any problems with the police, here's what to do.

However, its encouraging to see that at least parts of the government doesn't agree with how the police treats journalists.

Sign up! (updated)

John on the bench he was photographing. © Magnus Andersson

Local historian John Beasley was taking photos of this bench in Holly Grove, Peckham, when he was stopped and questioned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in January. An elderly gentleman with a compact film camera is now seen as a terrorist.

With this in mind, please sign up to photographer Simon Taylor's petition to 10 Downing Street to remove new restrictions on photography in the United Kingdom. Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act, introduced on February 16, makes it an offence to “elicit, publish or communicate information” relating to members of the Armed Forces, police and intelligence services if that information is “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

Those convicted under Section 76 could face a fine or up to 10 years’ imprisonment.


Update: cutting from NUJ's latest newsletter, not on the Terrorism Act but on the cuts we face in the regional press;

Please lobby UK Members of Parliament – NOW
Tomorrow (Wednesday) NUJ members are lobbying the UK parliament over the massive job cuts in the regional media. If you can’t attend but live in the UK please support the activity by sending a letter to your MP NOW. You can find a suggested text and a free, quick way to send it here.

Let’s make regional media the talk of the House of Commons. If you plan to attend and you haven’t received a briefing from NUJ HQ please email campaigns@nuj.org.uk.

Whoopsy!

A bunny rabbit overlooks an overturned fire truck in Waterloo roundabout earlier today. © Magnus Andersson

Came across this overturned fire truck on my way to a job today, I think he was going a bit too fast through Waterloo roundabout...and he wasn't even on call!

Chaos ensued as all traffic was stopped southbound over Waterloo bridge, but incredibly, no one was hurt, not even the driver.