Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

I’ve just finished photographing the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.

It’s been an amazing week of photographing 40 young pianists from all over the world performing the works of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Brahms, Beethoven and Liszt. Along with photographing them competing, I was given access to their rehearsal and tutorial sessions, where I could get up close to watch the work in progress.

The winner was 17-year-old Taek Gi Lee from South Korea. But all the contestants sounded brilliant to me, and it was a great joy and honour to be able to get so close to them when they were playing.

If you want a more comprehensive review of the music played during the week, please have a look
at Antony Mair’s excellent Blog.

"Generations" Private View in the House of Commons

Hastings fishermen and women were the stars of Tuesday night's private view of "Generations, Hastings Fishing Families" on exhibition at the House of Commons, January 27-29th.

Hastings' own MP Amber Rudd, along with Cornwall MP George Eustice, plus representatives of Greenpeace, FLAG (Fisheries Local Action Groups) and a huge crowd of friends and supporters from Hastings and London made this a very special evening for the beleaguered fishing community.

The only hiccup was that I wasn't able to attend the opening due to sudden illness (I'm much better, as I write this!), but the truth is, this was more about the fight for better quotas for coastal fishing communities than my photographs. ITV's Meridian News interviewed both MP's, along with Chair of Hastings Fishermen's Protection Society Paul Joy. Please read Erica Smith brilliant in-depth story of the evening in Hastings Online Times and the article in the Hastings Observer.


As I was doing a 'Bansky' and couldn't be at my own opening, family and friends kindly supplied photos of the evening: the exquisite artist Sally Cole, Hastings councillor Kevin Boorman and Connie Aziz from Amber's office. A Big Thank You to you all!

Fishermen in the Houses of Parliament

Generations, Hastings' Fishing Families will be exhibited in the Upper Waiting Hall in the Houses of Parliament at the end of January.
Last spring, we submitted an application through our local MP, Amber Rudd, to have the Generations photographs (see previous Blogs) exhibited in the Houses of Parliament Waiting Hall. There is normally a huge queue of applications for showing work in this prestigious location. Needless to say, we are over the moon with this is very exciting news.

The exhibition, which opens January 27th, will be a very powerful opportunity to promote the cause of the Hastings fishing community, as well as publicising the work of FLAG (Fisheries Local Action Group). From the success of this exhibition, I hope to continue the project throughout the UK, as well as similar fishing communities in Europe.

Madiba

Somehow, we all thought Nelson Mandela would live forever. His passing was like the death of a beloved grandfather, who you know will die soon, but in your heart you’re never really quite prepared for the pain, disbelief and sadness when it happens.

I was especially moved by Barack Obama’s eloquent and moving testimonials to this great man.

"It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection, because he was so full of good humor, even mischief despite the heavy burdens that he carried, that we loved him so," Obama said.

"He was not a bust made of marble, he was a man of flesh and blood, a son and a husband, a father and a friend, that is why we have learned so much from him and that is why we can learn from him still.”

I photographed Nelson Mandela in London shortly after he was elected President and came to Europe to encourage trade with the new South Africa. He had recently recovered from a bout of illness, but you never would have known it during the press conference, as he sparkled with charm and wit, and his deep felt passion for his beloved country. He was the epitome of charisma and I felt very privileged to have been that close to such a great man.

And it is to Nelson Mandela that I owe a very personal thanks and gratitude. Because of the photograph I took at the Happy 70^th Birthday/Free Nelson Mandela concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988, I became involved in one of the most exciting and fulfilling photography projects I’ve ever worked on,  ‘Wembley to Soweto’. 

Thank you Madiba! 

Generations

I've recently been updating an on-going project on the Hastings fishing community and twenty six of these photographs are now on display at the Stade Hall Gallery, Hastings, from 2-14 November. The Private View is Thursday evening, 7 November, 6:30-9 but it's not private at all, so Please come!
I began documenting the Hastings fishing community back in 1992, while still living in London. When we moved down here in 2000, I wanted to update it. But as so often happens with creative ambitions, life has a funny way of getting in the way.

In 2012 I was fortunate enough to talk with Yasmin Ornsby of Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society (HFPS) who encouraged me to continue with the project. We decided that this time the emphasis should be on the generations of families, as fishing in Hastings has always been a family business, with some of the family names going back over 800 years. 
We also felt that it was important that I photograph the women who are such an important and vital part of the Hastings fishing community. 

To be honest, this is a work in progress, as I've really only begun to scratch the surface of recording all the inter-connected generations of fishing families. I want to continue with the project until I've photographed all the different overlapping generations of fishing families -- which could take quite a while!
The sale of all the photographs and postcards will go to (HFPS) to help them in their battle to get a fair quota for Hastings' fishing fleet.

The Battle of the Sexes

‘The Battle of the Sexes’ is a gripping documentary about the 1973 tennis match between Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King and the self-confessed “male chauvinist pig” Bobby Riggs ( New Black Films). King won the match, but the film is much more than just the record of a tennis match. It is the story of King’s fight for equality for women on the tennis courts, and in society in general. Tennis is now the only professional sport where women are paid equally, thanks to the tenacity of Billie Jean King.

I attended the Premier of the film several weeks ago with two of my students from the “Wembley to Soweto” project (Wembley to Soweto)

‘Wembley to Soweto’ began in 2010 during the South African World Cup, teaching young men and women from Soweto how to feed their families with their cameras. The project has since grown, working with young photographers in Newcastle, Cumbria, Brighton and most recently in London during the Olympics.

Samin Ahmadzadeh and Casey Newton, two students from the Olympic project, had the opportunity to work in a real-time situation, rubbing shoulders with London’s top press and news photographers at big celebrity event.

Plans are afoot to run “Wembley to Soweto” in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Stay tuned!