Blues & Reds

And no, I don't know the lady on the right.

Stiff upper lip

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...

Remembering 7/7

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.

New for 2009

Possibly a home to a Celtic fan in Peckham, London, January 13, 2009. © Magnus Andersson

I seem to be suffering from blog inertia these first few weeks of 2009 so I need to do something about it. Not sure what yet, but it'll come to me. I have some stuff in the pipeline, but these are yet to be published, so nothing just yet.

Did you have any New Year's resolutions? I didn't, but something seems to have changed anyway; I have gone from coffee to tea on a permanent basis, I have swapped my usual beer for red wine, and I no longer shoot JPEG, all my work stuff is now shot as RAW (except for the LX3 which occasionally is left in JPEG mode, as seen above). On that last point, I have no idea why I didn't shoot RAW before, but there you go. Some things are inexplicable.

And 2009 might just become a damn fine year!

Jack The Ripper/Welcome back

Tower Bridge in the fog, today. © Magnus Andersson

Not much to report between here and last time you saw a new post, except that Christmas and New Year's Eve was a blast for me, with little-to-no-work, unless we're facebook friends - in which case you would have seen me dressed up as Bob the Builder...


Bethnal Green Church in the fog, today. © Magnus Andersson

Today, finally, the London fog descended upon us and it felt like going back in time instantly; Jack The Ripper lurks around the corner and its frigging cold! The sights are from my commute today, back to the safety of east London, where Jack used to hang out, allegedly. 2009 is upon us, don't squander time.

Rear view #02

Southbound on Dunton Road, Bermondsey, Oct '08 © Magnus Andersson

My Christmas and pre-Christmas plans have now both gone to pot, so I might have to pause the blog (even more) to consider my options, because nothing has been working out lately. /Misery guts

Rear view #01

Northbound on Blackfriars Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral in the background, October '08. I spent 5 years working in the tallest of the buildings which can be seen in the rear view mirror, before becoming a fulltime photog. I'm very happy to see the back of it. © Magnus Andersson

Working as a photographer in London invariably means that you spend more time in the car than you ever do taking pictures. Lots of traffic jams, accidents, road works, major gas works, floodings, re-routings, marches, demonstrations, etc, which leaves you stationary. So you get bored. And to pass the time a little you bring out your compact camera and start taking pictures of the things around you. Sometimes even when the car is moving, if its interesting enough.

This will probably be a continuing series, so hit the tags 'rear view' or 'car' and you'll likely find all the (future tense) images.

Craze 24

© Magnus Andersson

This week has kind of flown by, not too many jobs, just nice and steady. Nothing noteworthy either though, no BIG news coming our way at the moment, at least photographically, so here's a nice little shoot instead which I did before I went off on holiday. Craze 24 is an up and coming South London rapper, real nice guy too, we had a good session down in his studio. Check out his myspace. Also, its always fun to shoot musicians because they wanna be seen, they're not scared of the camera. Makes my job so much easier!


© Magnus Andersson

He used to be into some bad things you know, but music is taking him to a different place. This (below) ran on the front page but sadly I was away, I didnt even know it was going to be on the splash but there you go. Claire (sub) did good as always though, so big up to her.


© Magnus Andersson

Skate or die already!

I managed to get the PDF's (converted to jpeg here) on yesterdays skate feature, here's how it ended up looking. Sub Damian did a good job! Above is the front page to our Friday entertainment section; Pulse, below is the double truck inside.

Skate or die!

© Magnus Andersson 2008

On Friday we'll be having a feature on skate parks in South London. The shot at the top is for the front page, but I've yet to see what going on inside on the double page spread. What follows is unrelated commentary.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

I used to skate as a kid in Sweden and I grew up on Thrasher Magazine and especially the photography of a guy simply called O. He was the don.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

Lots of fish eye photography, lots of natural light, long before flash photography started dominating the scene. I wish I could link to his home page here, but you try googling 'O' and 'skate' and 'photography' and see what you come up with.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

Add/subtract to that search 'legendary photographer', 'seminal' etc, but still nothing. Maybe 'O' died, who knows, but his images of saturated pool riding, hand plants, Christ air's etc in the Californian 80's sun is still very much in my mind. If you have the link, please post a comment.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

I seem to remember that he was a Nikon guy as well, maybe eventually a Nikon F4 shooter. Not quite sure why I remember this as it was way before I started shooting seriously myself, I was just happy to skate.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

My best friend Daniel and me used to rip it up in our home town and around 1987-88 nobody could touch us. Daniel was the master of the big ollie and I was the first one to land an ollie airwalk.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

We gave up when kids half our age landed the ollie kick flip more frequently than us, but we're still best friends today, dreaming back to our days of fluid movement.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

Come to South London, skate or die. I used to ride a Steve Caballero Powell & Peralta board just because he used to do the big air. Indy trucks with Rat Bones underneath.

Tony Hawk was just a wannabee at the time. I've still got a skateboard in my closet (literally) and I've used it only once to ride down the local supermarket in two years. I felt such a fool. Back in the day I would have called myself a poser. The same thing applies now. I can still do an ollie though. No, really, I can.


© Magnus Andersson 2008

Back to work

© Magnus Andersson

Yesterday was my last day off and as always when you've gotten used to doing nothing for so long it was impossible to sleep. Why, oh why must the brain worry about it? I was actually looking forward to it, but not my brain. Maybe time to see a shrink?

I was knackered before I even got in the car this morning, and when I finally had done the last job for the day - or so I thought - I was looking forward to the sofa. Instead I got a call from the office with a job I had to go to right away. No sofa for me.

Another day, another murder in south London, this time a 15-year old girl stabbed several times in a lift. The picture above is of the forensic guys about to go in and examine the scene. She's the 16th teenager to be killed this year, which means it will be a new record again. The total tally last year was 27, and the halfway mark has already been passed at the beginning of June.

Special access

I love the access you get as a photographer. With a camera as an excuse you can go places where people normally aren't allowed. Crime scenes, prisons, construction sites and military bases, not to mention war. Personally I'm not sure if covering war would be that much fun, but I wouldn't turn it down if I was offered.

Earlier in the week I was invited to have a look inside the Thames Barrier, a place which is extremely well guarded as it is of critical importance to London, and very few people have access to it. The barrier is an awesome - and beautiful - construction, and this is the kind of stuff I love, going behind the scenes to look closer at how it works. Now you can have a look, too!

Picture: The barrier as seen from its control tower on the south bank of the Thames.

More (little) big hitters

I'm developing a slight boxing theme here, but I spent last Friday night in Rotherhithe covering a boxing event. Shooting sports is something which we sadly dont get to do very often, especially as the big clubs in our patch - Charlton, Crystal Palace, Millwall etc - have their own photographers, which send in their photographs free of charge.

I loved shooting this one though, and it was put on by a local boxing club in a school hall. Drinks were served for the adults and it didnt take long before they started to behave like a crowd in Vegas, baying for blood.

However, it was only when I was leaving that I started fearing for my life, there was about 20-30 youths outside smoking weed and drinking, and they all knew I was the photographer with all the kit in there. I was thinking I would get robbed, seriously. Trying to look cool, I strode past them as best as I could with my camera bag and lighting kit, and hey presto, I made it to my car in one piece, so in celebrating being alive - still - here's a slide show from the event.

Picture: Bradley Mitchell (blue helmet) delivering a perfect body shot on Oscar Browne.

Just a normal day at the office

Today I photographed Ashley Walters for a front page job. Formerly a So Solid Crew member, now working hard on being a respectable actor instead of a gangsta. He was indeed a very fine man, distancing himself from the bling and trying to be a real role model for young black kids today. However, fame brings weird trappings. He had just gone to work when he met us at 12.15, fashionably late, and his first job entails lunch with three people...Phillip the artist (left) who drew Ashley non-stop, Dan the journalist (right) who asked questions non-stop and Mags (me) the photographer, taking pictures non-stop. Attention-deficit anybody?