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I haven't written or posted anything to the site for at least a couple of months, having been asked to put up some photographs on a wall at the Red Wizard cafe in Totnes. They are on the wall until the end of January. The fact I have been working on it is my excuse for the lack of writing and which will be rectified in the not to distant future. It seems appropriate that the photographs also be put up on the site. They all follow 'after the fold' as they say, and are fully captioned for a change.
Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Petition Delivery
The Welsh Office
Cardiff. 4th May 1992
The Trawsfynydd nuclear power generator is now being decommissioned, but there were, and probably still are, problems with the lake it drew its water supply from and discharged into. The doorman seems perturbed.
Tower Colliery
Hirwaun
South Wales. 19th October 1992
On Friday 16th October 1992, 7 years after the 1984/85 Miners strike, the Major government tried to finish the job and close all the mines in Wales. At the end of a short campaign by the mining communities 2 stayed open and working, Hirwaun Tower and Betws Drift. Hirwaun Tower colliery closes this year. Tower Colliery
Hirwaun
South Wales. 19th October 1992
Jon Jones had just come up from his night shift when he agreed to having the photo taken, despite being very tired. 1, Canada Square
London E14. Jan 1997
Since this photograph was taken the building has been joined by two other towers paying homage to dicks chasing money. "Ye!"
Yemeni Contingent
Bute Town Carnival
'Tiger Bay'
Cardiff. 31st August 1993.
There has been a Yemeni and Somali presence in Cardiff for 150 years. South Wales coal was shipped from Cardiff docks to Aden, the strategically important port at the southern, narrow end of the Red Sea where it joins with the Arabian Sea. Aden was the coaling port for Britain's Indian Ocean fleet and it was Yemenis and Somalis who crewed the coal ships. "Carmaggedon"
Friends of the Earth
Cardiff. 1st October 1994.
The Grim Reaper's scythe come alive in the guise of exhaust pipe and the man on the left made breathless. 
Royal Exchange
Threadneedle Street
London. March 1994.
Not long after this photograph was taken the litter bins throughout the City of London were removed. The reason was an enormous IRA bomb exploding a short distance away from the Royal Exchange. Allen Brigham BA
Road Sweeper Shop Steward
Cambridge. 06.00hrs, 18th June 1996
Allen Brigham has a degree in history and was the lynch pin for the Cambridge Historical (sic) Society when this picture was taken. Having a higher education gave him a choice of what to pursue in life. The student revellers on the right of the picture were returning home after one of Cambridge's famous May Balls, for which a pair of tickets cost £80.00 - two days take-home wages for Allen but loose change for their parents.  "He Built a Palace"
Buckingham Palace
London. 24th March 1994
While walking from Piccadilly toward Victoria Station with my camera in hand, as one did, I was passing Buckingham Palace and thought I wouldn't bother taking any pictures as the place was teeming with American tourists. Then I saw him. While all the Americans were desperately trying to keep him out of their snaps and not spoil their pre-concieved image of what Britain is, I couldn't get enough of him. He was the picture, so I kept the Americans out of mine. If you look closely enough you will see he is smiling, enjoying the moment despite his poverty and lack of proper footware.
The poem was written in 1977, during my Brechtian phase. It took another 17 years to find the moment and fall upon a picture that all those there at the time - the Americans - failed to see. It is known that Buckingham Palace wasn't built by the Duke of Buckingham and that 'poetic license' is a common device employed to give meaning to another, hidden reality. The person who commissioned the building of Buckingham Palace, whoever that was, was not the builder of it.  City Services
Cambridge City Council
Management/Road Sweepers meeting
Cambridge. 10th May 1996
At the time this photograph was taken local authorities were being made to implement a financial regime of Competitive Compulsory Tendering for the delivery of services to council tax payers - Privatisation in short. The road sweepers in Cambridge were having to re-apply for their jobs. The meeting was arranged so management could present to the road sweepers the tender they had submitted to the council so as to try and keep the contract in-house. Winning the new contract would mean the road sweepers having to accept a £20 a week reduction in wages and agree to work 41 weekends a year. Their emotions range from anger and bewilderment to anxiety and beyond. Understandably.
The out of focus cap says, "The boss is like a nappy, always on your ass and full of shit".  Steve Freear MA
Road Sweeper
Cambridge. 18th June 1996
Steve Freear was just starting a family when this photograph was taken and had recently received his Masters degree. The degree was for Women's Studies. I kid you not. He was possibly the first man in the country to win the degree and he faced a difficult struggle to get on course. He took the degree at the renamed Cambridge Polytechnic which is not a college within Cambridge University. The bookshop window display is all philosophy. "I've discovered how everyone can live long..."
Piccadilly
London. March 1994
I knew there was something in this photograph when I shot it, but thought it was concerned with the Shoe-shine turning up the trouser leg of his customer. It was only when printing in the darkroom that I saw the headline in the paper. 
"I'd earn more as a Lap Dancer"
Student Nurses
National Union of Students demonstration
London. 25th November 1999
(Digital print)
The NUS were demonstrating against tuition fees and for grant funding. Student nurses were, and still are, demanding a living wage for a more important and socially responsible job than pandering to the sexual fantasies of rich, misogynist dickheads. 
Police Lines
Campaign Against the Arms Trade
COPEX Blockade and Rememberance Ceremony
Sandown Racecourse
Esther. 5th November 1995
COPEX is an acronym for "covert operational procurement exhibition". It's the UKs annual, internationally attended market place for electroshock batons as well as other torture and urban pacification equipment made in Britain. The equipment sells to a wide range of dictators and military regimes throughout the world. COPEX is supported and promoted by the government as an important export earner.
The Police in the line are hooking their hands in the back of the belts of the ones in front, despite the hopeful grin on the Coppers 2nd and 3rd from the right. It's designed to stop the demonstrators from breaking through and blocking the entrance to the arms fair. 
"Black Skin, White Masks"
The Strand
London. 18th September 1994
"Black Skin, White Masks" is the title of a book written by Frantz Fanon and first published in 1952. Fanon was from Martinique, studied psychiatry in France and practised in Algeria. The book is a study of the black psyche in a white world and is a devastating critique of the racism underpinning white European colonialism. I first came across the book around 1976 and found the visual equivalent 18 years later. 
"Not In My Name"
Parliament Square
London. 18th March 2003
(Digital print)
On the day Britain joined with America and illegally invaded Iraq, school children across London spontaneously organised by mobile phone and email to march on Parliament in London. 5,000 turned up and shut Parliament Square to traffic by using tactics last seen in London during the Vietnam anti-war demonstrations. They sat down. The country could do with more of it. 
Newbury Art Bypass
Friends of the Earth
Newbury 25th August 1996
A long campaign to stop the building of another dual-carriageway bypass around an English town, Newbury. Towards the end of the campaign FoE organised a days open air arts show. 
The Euston Mona Lisa
Euston
London. 1st October 1996
(Digital print)
Walking from Euston railway station to Camden Lock and its market, I saw this young woman and asked if I could take a photograph and she said yes. I didn't get her name, the moment only lasted a minute at most, but came away with a delightfully open expression. 
Farouk
Piccadilly Circus
London. February 1996
(Digital print)
I'd spent the day walking London and had used 8 rolls of film. This was the last frame on the last roll. Perseverance can pay off! 
"Eyes Up"
Tottenham Court Road
London. September 1995
When ever someone has collapsed in the street, for whatever reason, some people, like mannequins or fashion models, will avert their eyes. The collapsed man has still got his watch and is wearing newish, polished shoes - not the usual wear for the alcoholic homeless. This was also noticed by some Japanese tourists who, moments after this shot was taken, remonstrated with the shop management and an ambulance was called. 
"Christmas Made Easy"
St Mary Street
Cardiff. 20th December 1995
Over the Christmas of 1995, while living in Cardiff, I spent two weeks shadowing the homeless of Cardiff, documenting their struggle to get by. Steve, Citizen Fish selling the Big Issue hadn't been asked to sell on this corner, it was his usual pitch for the time of day and of which I took advantage. The dog following his gaze was a bit luck.
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