Kofi Annan

Back in the UK...but not for long

Flew back from the Middle East two days ago, and off to Ibiza in two days time. I still have a lot of updating to do and having a nightmare time what with having lost so many bookmarks, passwords, login details with my old comp dying. Hopefully soon however I'll have some work up in a slideshow from Israel-Palestine along with some of the more interesting images from recent assignments. The image above is one I shot in my last night in Tel Aviv - seems to sum up my current state if mind, but read into it what you will.

Jerusalem again...

Al Nakba - Qalandiya checkpoint

Clashes at the checkpoint of Qalandiya in the West Bank, on the day of the 60th anniversary of the birth of Israel. See more on my flickr page

A picture of me taking the above photo - courtesy of David Azia

Back in Jerusalem..

..for a few weeks. If anybody needs to get in touch my local contact number is +972 (0) 543541395

Gotta keep moving...

I'm off again this weekend - this time the middle east. What with having to get a new computer system up an running (which as meant all sorts of headaches such as formatting problems and losing data and website files...grr) I'm kind of looking forward to getting back and having time to sort these things out. However I'm also hugely excited about going as there's no pressure on this trip as its a self funded one from which I'll just get what I can. Watch this space.

Recent publication - Sweden

I recently had to shoot a portrait for a Swedish publication. The subject was a professor in London who'd been given an award for his work in the research on the subject of 'Virtual water'. For this he won the "2008 Stockholm water prize" (what do you mean you didn't know such a thing existed?). Anyway taking the initial brief I was given I elaborated slightly and ended up shooting him in the London Aquarium. Below is my favourite from the shoot along with the final layout.

snow sports - Meribel

More shots from Meribel shot in April this year

The ebb and flow of Inspiration...

Above: Driving round the south of the Island the other day I saw this scene emerge as the smoke from a bonfire mixed with afternoon sun...all I had to do was wait for a car...

I've been thinking a lot lately of inspiration in photography terms. With the death of my old computer I lost hundreds of bookmarks to photographers and work that made me stop and think, pieces that I admired, images that inspired. Sometimes when I'm taking pictures everyday for work I feel I start to lose a bit of enthusiasm and sometimes lack inspiration - some things that would have made me stop a year or so ago and raise the camera to my eye can now sometimes pass without me even giving them a second glance. Sometimes they are opportunities I later kick myself for missing - they inevitable sense of guilt and the feeling that a better photographer wouldn't have missed that opportunity. Not that I think this affects my work too badly, in fact some of the work I've been doing recently as actually surprised me because it's making me look at things differently and forcing me to create a style and through doing so gain a consistency in the work. However I still feel that sometimes I lack ideas for personal work, snapshots don't interest me as much as they used to because they are often meaningless unless they are good enough to stand out on their own (which is rare in my opinion). I have a few projects that I'm starting to look into but I need enough time back in London to get them off the ground - at the same time I'm searching for long term concepts that I can have slowly have cooking in the background. As much I'm enjoying the traveling I'm doing at the moment for work I still feel like I'm looking for something, seeking something I haven't quite found yet...the problem is I'm not even sure I know what I'm looking for. bugger.