Solsbury hill

2011-12-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hereford photography festival 2011

A 300 year old ballad with photos from the protest

2010-11-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

MC5 American Ruse

2010-11-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Riot dog

2010-05-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Secret Life of the Motorway by Simon Winchcombe

2010-04-28T04:51:00.000-07:00

Motormania

2010-04-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

A must watch . For more info. see John Harris (below)

2010-03-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

English Freemen Standing In Court - Council Tax Hearing - The Takedown Begins! from Rebel Leader on Vimeo.

John Harris # 1. This is a revelation. With many thanks to Spartacus.... Search Iam spartacus on Facebook

2010-03-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

John Harris # 2.

2010-03-23T02:12:00.000-07:00

John Harris #3

2010-03-23T02:11:00.002-07:00

John Harris # 4

2010-03-23T02:11:00.000-07:00

John Harris # 5

2010-03-23T02:10:00.001-07:00

Splitting The Sky

2010-03-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

Radley Lakes - Oxfordshire

2010-03-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

Not related to Solsbury Hill directly but it does ask the question what kind of society are we now living in.

The range of public order laws (around 18 new ones in the last 10 years) have made civil protest virtually impossible.

Would I have been able to photograph Solsbury Hill in 1994 if these same laws were in place then ?

In the case of Radley Lakes (2007) I was working for the Guardian Newspaper and BBC Wildlife magazine covering a story about waste fuel ash from Didcot power station being dumped into wildlife lakes at Radley , Nr Abingdon, Oxfordshire. By fortune or misfortune, depending on how you look at it, I photographed a Kingfisher's nest being destroyed by N Power contractors.

This ash could have been turned into building materials such as breeze blocks . Unfortunately N Power chose the alternative of dumping it into the lakes, a much loved nature spot and home to a variety of rare species such as the Cetti's Warbler. The lakes were also frequented by Otters.

The residents of Radley had also gone through a lengthy inquiry to have the lakes registered as a Town Green.

While they waited for the decision N Power continued with the felling of trees and the destruction of vegetation at the lakes.

I received a call from a concerned local resident who told me that N Power contractors were destroying a Kingfisher's nest .

(I'd photographed the same Kingfisher only a few days before).

A Kingfisher is a protected species under the European habitat's directive and destroying its habitat is a criminal offence.

N Power had further increased local anger by imposing a High Court injunction that prevented anyone who had read, seen or was aware of it from walking around the lakes as they had done for many years.

Anyone who ignored it faced up to 5 years in jail.

When I arrived at Radley Lakes I photographed, from a public highway, the N Power contractors stripping vegetation close to the Kingfisher's nest. Within minutes I was approached by four balaclava clad security (with video cameras) and two lawyers in pin-striped suits carrying armful of injunctions which they proceeded to serve on me despite my press card being shown to them. They ordered me to stop filming with the threat that if I continued I would go to jail. The injunction specifically forbade the filming of N Power contractors.

It was clear that the media was being silenced.

Fortunately I managed to video the entire affair which, after obscuring their faces, ended up on Channel 4 News.

See video below.

After a lengthy legal wrangle the injunction was found to have no strength against the media, but the effect was to prevent me from covering the story at the time. It also had the effect of terrifying the law-abiding locals.

In in this case the whole affair backfired badly on N Power who had a public relations disaster on their hands.

The public outrage caused by their bully boy tactics forced them to back down and hand the lakes back to nature .

The land is now going to be a nature reserve.

Under Punches - big brother mix

2010-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

This is a film by photojournalist Gary Trotter.

It sums up where we are at in the UK better than anything else i've seen for a while

more of Gary's work can be seen at www.isfphotos.com

Walcot Chapel gallery exhibit.

2009-02-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

Walcot Street, Bath, 17th - 28th February

It's a really beautiful gallery. Dead basic and down to earth. The crypt of this gallery was occupied by a few from the hill back in '94, so it's a very appropriate place to hold the exhibit.

Truly public galleries like this one are jewels, requiring more investment so they aren't run

into the ground and sold off like everything else

in this £££ country !

Flooding and development.

2009-02-14T01:44:00.000-08:00

Flooding at the proposed park and ride site in Bathampton meadows at the base of Solsbury hill. More madness ?