#200 goes to Luke

Luke with his mum Nicola. © Magnus Andersson

I never thought that I would reach 200 posts on this blog before shelving it, but frankly, it's been a lot of fun, and this is post #200! Time for reflection.

The fact that there are people in places like Taiwan, South Africa and Japan reading this makes it all worthwhile really. I still haven't had a single hit from Greenland though, this needs to be rectified. Greenland photojournalists, where are you? Do you exist?

On the other hand, the blog can also feel like a burden when you're having a slow week and there's only boring diary jobs with lots of overtime and nothing exciting to share. The long periods where I'm constantly aware that I need to put a new post up because...well, because why? Do I owe it to you, the reader, or do I owe it to myself?

I think I'm just going through a period of melancholy right now, but the answer is: I owe it only to myself. Nobody pays any money to come here, you do it in your own time and I'm grateful for that, so its up to me to make the most of things, even when things sucks.

I could bitch all day about how I - in 2009 when everybody else shoots 24MP - am confined to shooting all my jobs on a 4MP camera (D2Hs) and three lenses (17-35, 50 and 80-200), or how our (lack of a) picture editing policy on the paper is demeaning to even our readers, let alone the professionals behind the pictures, or the owners lack of understanding of the impact of the internet for newspapers.

Outside of that I have my own life to contend with, and my frequent recurring dreams of a full-frame camera with proper HD-video capability (no, not the 5DmkII, the upcoming Nikon version which actually can focus). See, I could bitch (and dream) all day but I wont.

When things are tough, I cast my mind back to Nicola and her son Luke, and three things become apparent:
a) I have nothing to complain about
b) I have the best job in the world
c) (to paraphrase Spiderman) with a great job comes a great responsibility.

Bear with me if the posts are not daily or even weekly, life happens to all of us, so thank you for reading (and commenting) and remember to keep plugging away at your own pace.



Still image from 'A time comes - the story of the Kingsnorth Six' © Greenpeace/Nick Broomfield

And...to lift all this reflective gloom, this shit is outrageously good and I had the good fortune to meet and photograph the director - Nick Broomfield - a few years ago and he was a a thoroughly nice chap. Splendid piece of documentary too.

Quote from the film: "Someone somewhere had got a bit of kit and that's used from time to time" on intercepting live camera feeds from a police helicopter camera. Kudos.

Thanks to http://atthesauce.blogspot.com/

Denied treatment

© Magnus Andersson Luke and his mom Nicola, moments before he tears of his obligatory oxygen supply, which took his mum 20 mins to apply.

This is Luke, he is 5 years old and suffers from Down's syndrome. He cant walk or talk like a 'normal' 5-year-old. Not that his mum Nicola would treat him any different. When she was told about his condition the GP said 'I'm sorry to tell you but he has Down's..." Her response was - Sorry for what? He is still my child no matter what!


© Magnus Andersson Nicola tries her best to apply the much-needed oxygen mask - a daily struggle which takes 20 mins. Within 5 mins Luke has ripped it off his face because to him, the tape needed to hold it in place hurts his skin.

Ever since then she has faced numerous obstacles in bringing him up, including reducing her sleeping pattern to a maximum of 3-4 hours per day as Luke is dependant on having additional oxygen 24 hours a day (as applied by his totally devoted mum Nicola).

She's also suffered people's ignorance in the street when they accuse her of mistreating her son for 'forcing' him to wear one of two oxygen masks. Her life revolves only around Luke. Luckily she gets help from her own mum Linda, but its still a massive sacrifice that she makes.


© Magnus Andersson Nicola consoles Luke after he (successfully) ripped off the more efficcient oxygen mask, which was replaced by this one.

Did she get upset when she learned that Luke's consultant - who had deemed him fit for a crucial injection that would benefit his health enormously - was replaced by a new consultant who simply said no? You bet she did.


© Magnus Andersson Mum Nicola kisses her son after he gets exhausted of switching oxygen supply.

Nicola reckons she is just one of many mum's in similar situations where their childs' health is jeopardised by the economy of health care politics.