Different pasts, shared future

This weekend I was in Swansea to photograph the Refugee Festival, a weekend of music and awareness raising. It was held at the National Waterfront Museum in the Marina. The music included Ukrainian, Kurdish, African and Berber, along with, of course, some Welsh ‘roc a rils’ folk, blues and lots more . It was a brilliant weekend.

 I made my way down on the train on Saturday morning, the only hassle being that there was engineering work and we had to bus it from Shrewsbury to Hereford, this was not without incident as the driver although calling into Ludlow after a diversion ( he’d gone the wrong way!) was phoned and in his words ‘accused’ of not picking someone up there, I was asked to be his wtness, all very interesting at 7AM on a wet Saturday morning. Eventually arrived in a wet Swansea where I was met by Carol, my host for the weekend, we made our way to the Museum where the festival was just warming up. There were circus workshops, unfortunately due to the rain much of this was in a limited space in a marquee. 

 The kids enjoyed themselves depite the weather. It was great to be at an event where the emphasis was on culture, and raising awareness through culture. Refugees and Asylum Seekers are on the list of people ‘blamed’ by the Daily Mail’s of the world for this countries ills. They are human beings and have the same thoughtds and feelings as the rest of us, they are here as a result of circumstances usually beyond their control and we have a duty to welcome and protect them. Much as I’d hope that we would be welcomed in another country should we ever have to flee our home.

There were a number of organisations exhibiting at the event, including BAWSO ( Black and Asian Women Step Out), SBASSG ( Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group) and many others. The only disadvantage with these type of events is that they always atract ‘like-minded’ people. It’s really difficult to reach out to the general public and engage them. 

more to follow… 

Biodiversity, celebrities and birds

Yesterday I helped man, or in these days of Political correctness should that be person a stall at the One Planet event in a local park. It was opened by ‘celebrity vet’ Steve Leonard as someone said at the time ‘him off tele’…he seems a reasonably ‘nice’ bloke, he had loads of time for the kida and gave the prizes out for the school arts competition. Here he is, its a tight crop as there were a few children in the original photo…  

   

There was also a falconry display by a chap up from Mid Wales, unfortunately all did not go to plan…the first bird he put up was a Turkey vulture who was mobbed by the local crow/rook/blackbird’s and promptly went and hid in a tree…here he/she is in a quieter moment… 

 

after this little adventure the chappie put his birds back in the trailer and said ‘the next show will be in 2 hours’, he did another show but the local birds were equally unimpressed and mobbed every bird he put up, they obviously had nests nearby…so here are a couple of the other birds he put up for mobbing…                         

              

It was a good day and lots of people took away loads of information about the  environment…

Belcher’s, Life stories and offer’s of trips to expensive locations

Its been a busy week this week, a week of trying to finish things. I needed to go into college to finish off some paperwork relating to my course and ended up teaching a class! That’s typical for me, I just can’t say NO!!!

I’ve also put the finishing touches to my Refugee Week offering, and it should be up in the Library tomorrow (Sat)..

I’ve also been asked to chair a ‘focus’ group, wait for it,on Female Genital Mutilation or as the jargon goes these days (FGM), I’ve been asked to ‘find’ some African males to take part in the group and to elicit views from them on the practice. Now this would normally be hard enough, but it is more complicated because the criteria for participation is relatively narrow, they want persons from specific countries!!! I love a challenge, and I’ve got a week to do it…

I had a run in with one of the, lets call them,  ’eccentrics’ that frequent my ’surounds’ the other day…they are known as the belcher for obvious reasons, this person was complaining that sites they were trying to access on the internet were blocked and that it was a conspiracy against them personally, and they wouldn’t have it that we weren’t interested in their internet doings…they actually got quite agressive, ah well, it beats a war zone I guess.

Another visitor ‘writes’ what they define as ‘erotic’ fiction, anything less erotic is hard to mention, especially when you see them…it takes all sorts, and we get them all…

I’m working again this Sunday at a Bio Diversity event, there are loads of stands and we’re near to the badgers and beavers ( nothing to do with scouts, guides or whatever) these are the animals…so I look forward to that…

Haven’t had chance to make many images this week, I did have a chat with some homeless people the other morning when I found about 50 of them sleeping out in the town centre, I was looking for them to see whether there were any Refugees/Asylum Seekers amongst them for a project on Refugees and Destitution…for information on the Destitution campaign go here   http://www.welshrefugeecouncil.org/destitution.php

There are the usual people sleeping rough here, the alcoholics, the drug takers and a few Migrant Workers, but I didn’t find any Refugees, that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t any, I just haven’t found any yet…here is one of the places that is home for the night to someone…  

    

The other thing that keeps happening to me is, I keep getting emails saying I’ve won ‘free’ tickets to exotic locations, these are from airling I’ve used in the past, unfortunately the ‘free tickets’ never amount to anything perhaps one day…

To ‘the one that got away’ if you ever read this, you should’ve been a little less speedy to judge on hearsay and a little more tolerant… xx

 

 

Volunteers, erections and wind

Yesterday was the ‘Volunteers’ event, the Gazebo performed well despite a breeze and nothing to anchor it down with…the more sides we put on the more they acted like sails, I eventually ‘anchored’ us to a lampost and a seat with some tent chord…we need some bricks…at the event it seemed like all the local odd bods were out in force…there were the complainers, the takers ( take anything so long as it is free) and the just plain curious.

 

It’s strange when one is a volunteer, I’ve volunteered for a couple of years now and you end up being taken for granted. Last year I volunteered for an orgaisation and lived off savings, yet they expect more and more for nothing…there are a couple of organisations here working in the same sector yet they work against each other, they both should be working for the clients but no they are in it for themselves…its a shame…

Today we had our usual sojourn to the jazz bar, where there was a weekend festival on…being skinflints we listened to the ‘free’ session, today a woman singong ‘clasics’, have to say I preferred her band rather than her…how to spot when you’re boring/crossing the line with your company, I’m lucky because apparently the lady I was with just goes out through the bathroom window…she hasn’t yet…I’m not going to be able to make it to the jazz for the next 3 weeks, next week I’ve a date with the Gazebo, this time a bio-diversity event, then it’s a weekend in Swansea photographing a festival for Refugee Week and finally on the 29th its Bridgend for the Refugee World Cup Final!! And all for free…when will I learn?????????

Look forward to working with ‘dave’ again soon…

 

Gazebo’s,French markets, parking attendants and snoops

Today was full of Gazebo’s, French markets and parking attendants. I popped into the Library to drop a time-sheet in and then put up  a Gazebo, great word Gazebo,also known as a belvedere although this one wasn’t quite so grand. I’m working on Saturday for Europe Direct at a community festival here in town, we thought it would be good idea to have a practice putting it up, it went up easily, the problem was how to take it down, the instructions were no help saying ‘to take down reverse erection method’ after a call to the ‘helpline’ who were helpless ( with laughter!!) great…eventually  it came down after the intervention of one of our colleagues, thank goodness for car keys and good sense…after that I needed the café…

The parking attendants were out again, they seem to be targeting the High Street, he is a sneaky little man who waits for cars and then gleefully issues tickets, he was at one point on his mobile and I heard him say ‘I’ve got loads here its great…!!’ Once he has written the ticket and has placed it on the front windscreen he photographs the offending vehicle from all four sides. Yesterday, when he spotted me photographing him photographing the car he came over and told me to stop photographing him, needless to say I didn’t…he can’t, as yet, stop me from photographing him in public…I say as yet because if the present government has its way I might not be allowed to photograph anything…have a look at this… http://www.flickr.com/photos/photodrift/2422740769

Have a look at a petition on the Downing Street website…  http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/photographylaw/   which is asking for clarification on the law. These days phones and cameras are everywhere, we are ‘photographed’ every day hundreds of times if we live in a city. Street cameras, shop cameras, mobiles…and so on…it has also been revealed that agency’s from the  are now able to ’snoop’ on our phone records, you might have seen in the news recently…

Poole council in Dorset spied on a family because it wrongly suspected the parents of abusing rules on school catchment areas.

Six of the 16 checks carried out by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council were intended to identify and locate a bogus faith healer…and many more…so if THEY  read this…they can have a copy of the photo just email me… 

 

 

 

Also in town today was a balloon artist, I didn’t make photos of him as he was surrounded by kids, I did however make an image of some of his handy-work walking down the street…

 

 

 can’t wait for tomorrow…

 

Café Culture is here and about time too

I love café culture, it’s great to sit and people watch and sneak a few images of the everyday goings on of ordinary folk. It’s one of life’s pleasures. Since moving back here I’ve found myself a great little spot where watching the world goes by is a pleasure. Attitudes up here in the provinces are changing, where once people used to visit cafés for a cup of tea and a brief chat before they were moved on by the waitresses, now one can positively linger, attitudes are, at last, becoming more continental. When I first came back here though and asked for a latté, the waitress asked ‘a late?, oh you mean a milky coffee…’

I used to sit for hours in cafés in Amsterdam, watching people pass by, friends always knew if I was in town where I’d be…is there a difference between the culture of cafés here in the UK and of those on the continent….yes, I think there is,  here there still is a distrust of the customer, they still haven’t got the tab situation down to a fine art…i’m lucky that my chosen café lets me have a tab, other customers have to pay up front.

Of course the views are different both physical and personal, here are two contrasting views, the first from my favourite café where I now live, and the second the view from a favourite café in Amsterdam…

                                                                                                                                                     here 

 

There

ah well… it must be time for another dose of ‘the culture’ What’s the view from your favourite café? I look forward to seeing them…

Charity Walk, smooth Jazz and good company

Sunday was a good day, it started off with me making a couple of photos for a charity walk in aid of the local children’s hospice. It’s one of the projects resulting from the ‘book’ I proofread for my neighbour. His son, teaches Martial Arts and told his puplis that there was a compulsory 13 mile walk as part of their training!! they were all given sponsor forms and yesterday they completed the walk…after that I was asked to do a photo of the dad ( a former champion cyclist), he’s written another book his life story this tme, and yes I’ve proofed that too) he wanted a comparison shot, he’s got one from when he was 23, now he’s 74, so we did that one too…after that it was definitely time for a trip to the usual Sunday jazz club…the company was good and we had a great laugh…somehow we ended up chatting about art, ‘A’ had done  some sculture for her A levels and she showed me a picture, they are quirky and cool…so we decided that she should rekindle her artistic bent…I have this huge double garage, which at the moment is full of stuff, which will make a good studio space, so there it is the offer’s made…somehow after that we got  to chatting about art, ragu  and handprints oh and tassles…Interesting ideas for ‘living art’!!

Reflected Light  

  

Setting up

 

Reflections in a handbag/clutch bag, its all a mystery for us poor chaps