Here’s a recent tearsheet for the German Magazine, Effilee of an article that I wrote and photographed about a particular response to non-native invasive (alien) species – Muntjac Deer, Grey Squirrel and American Crayfish… the German headline has it best – something like, “Who is a stranger here is eaten”. Less sensationally, the piece explores the environmental fallout of introduced species and a discussion about both ‘speciesism’ and, the realization that we now live in an age that may come to be known as the Anthrocene.
Appropriately on Valentine’s Day, the New York Times carries a piece today about the changing landscape of romance and especially kissing in Indian society. During my project about documenting Delhi’s green spaces, I photographed many couples seeking intimacy in public places unable to do so at home. Here are a couple of images from the series Public Spaces, Private Lives. A fuller set ran on the Camera Obscura blogin 2009 with a little interview about the work.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
India – New Delhi – A couple hold hands in the park at India Gate. Public displays of affection are rare in a conservative city like Delhi. The parks and open spaces however are often full of romantic couples away from the prying eyes of traditional families
India – New Delhi – A couple in the grounds of the Purana Qila share an intimate moment
Amazing what you find walking the streets of Cairo (my new favourite city I think)…
Egypt – Cairo – A young man smokes a shisha pipe outside an ahwa (coffeehouse) whilst wearing a facepack to look his best for his wedding later that evening
It’s deeply saddening to discover that in Mali, militants seem to have systematically destroyed much of West Africa’s Islamic heritage by ransacking and torching the libraries that hold priceless Korans and Hadiths.
Some years ago I made a story in nearby Mauritania about the wind destroying the desert cities of Chinguetti and Oudane, both significant repositories of similar ancient manuscripts. I wrote:
“Once upon a time, the Wind grew jealous of the prosperous cities and resolved to bury them beneath the sands so that the only traces were old men and dusty books. So it was that the wind crashed against the purple stone mass of the Adrar, the mountain range that crosses Mauritania in West Africa. It blew until the rocks were carved into sculptures of fearful complexity. It blew until the dunes advanced and Chinguetti and Ouadane, two once mighty cities of scholars and traders of the Sahara, began to choke under the ocean of sand. Today they are almost gone…”
Mauritania – Chinguetti – A librarian reads an ancient Koran outside the Chinguetti Mosque
Mauritania – Chinguetti – Ancient books, Korans and lahs inside a traditional library
Mauritania – Chinguetti – A man hold a wooden lah covered in Koranic inscriptions
Mauritania – Chinguetti – A pile of priceless manuscripts in a desert library
As you will by now no doubt have seen (by the tsunami of images generated) humanity’s greatest gathering is taking place on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahbad, India. The Kumbh Mela, a bathing festival for Hindus that draws millions of devotees (and photographers and tourists) to bathe in the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna has just started.
This year, up to 100 million people are expected to attend. I last covered it in 2001 when there were ‘only’ 70 million in attendance. I’d also shot one in 1995 – an Ardh (or half) Kumbh so I sort of knew what I was letting myself in for. They both feel a long, long time ago. I remember that in 2001 I was working a good deal in medium format and all I took with me were two Mamiya 6s and an old Vivitar flashgun. I remember shooting the entire set on Kodak colour neg film (I used to be sponsored by Kodak). It felt like I was trying to do something different, something new.
On that trip I travelled up to Allahabad with Kalpesh Lathigra and Jason Eskanazi. I seem to remember bumping into Stephen Dupont and the late Tim Hetherington (then at Network with me). Bruce Gilden saved me from getting beaten with a lathi by an Indian policeman (a long story…) and I remember being freezing cold every day before dawn as I rose from my inadequate sleeping bag. My fondest memories are reserved however for another fellow Network photographer, Nikolai Ignatiev, who died tragically a few years later. A very talented journalist, Nikolai had a colourful life story to say the least. Sadly, few traces of his work – nor indeed of Network Photographers – remain online (but see here for an archived obituary) but good memories.
Some pictures and thoughts of absent friends.
India – Allahabad – Pilgrims stream into the Maha Kumbh Mela grounds across pontoon bridges
India – Allahabad – A man dressed as Hanuman the monkey god shows an act of self-mortification
India – Allahabad – A saddhu and his Western disciple
India – Allahabad – Ropes cordoning off bathing grounds at the Kumbh Mela
India – Allahabad – Pilgrims crossing pontoon bridges over the Ganges at the Kumbh Mela
India – Allahabad – Pilgrims bathing in the Ganges
India – Allahabad – Naked saddhus prepare to process to the bathing grounds at dawn
India – Allahabad – A man peers into a slidehow at the Kumbh Mela
India – Allahabad – A man and wife bathe in the Ganges during the Kumbh Mela
It seems that the road lobby is on the march again (or should that be driving…). A link road planned between Bexhill and Hastings has meant a whole new generation of young eco-protesters (known as the ‘Combe Haven Defenders’) have taken to the trees in order to thwart the chainsaws and the bailiffs. The road will destroy the unspoilt Combe Haven Valley damaging an ancient woodland home to protected species.
It takes me back to the mid/late 1990’s when I did a few assignments for magazines (including I remember one for the Independent on Sunday Magazine on the Land is Ours group) about the environmental protests taking place under a previous Conservative government. My abiding memory is of descending a ramshackle tunnel somewhere under Twyford and crawling on my belly for ten yards underground to photograph a young man who’s arm was secured into a concrete pillar (see below). I never realised that I was a tiny bit claustrophobic until that point and was very relieved to get the picture and retreat the way I had come.
Here are some images from the archives.
UK – Berkshire – An environmental protester plays a guitar outside his tent at Twyford Down in a protest camp opposing the building of the M3 motorway
UK – Berkshire – A protester cemented into an underground chamber to prevent the M3 motorway development
UK – London – An eco-protester from the group The Land is Ours on a squatted site in Wandsworth owned by Guiness
UK – Berkshire – A protester in a tree protesting the M3 motorway development
UK – London – An eco-protester from the group the Land is Ours salutes the sun on a squatted site in Wandsworth
