My protest photography has taken a bit of a back-seat to my street work on this here website recently. Readdress the balance here are some of my pictures from the Stop The War demonstration which happened in London on 18th December 2011. It was a small very good natured protest (would be a bit silly to have a violent antiwar demonstration….) and didn’t need many police to marshal it.
Stop The War protesters along Whitehall
Lee Welton Photographer Guardian Published
Fingers crossed I can get some more images published in national newspapers this year, more commissions from people, groups, promotions etc holding events in London and Southend and looking for a photographer. So there we have it a early post for 2012 and not the last. Don’t forget if you wish to hire me as a photographer for an event or commission you can email using the contact form.
Yesterday I visited The Bank Of Ideas, a former UBS building that is currently being occupied as part of what is being reported in the mainstream press as the Occupy London campaign. I did go with the intention of doing portrait pictures of the protesters and squatters inside the building. Unfortunately most were adverse to having their picture taken and lost interest in me because I wasn’t an “official” agency or press photographer.
So after listening to a couple of discussion groups that had formed on the first floor and talking to protesters taking part I decided to wander off and explore the occupied UBS building on my own. As a photographer who normally photographs events and specifically people at those events, taking interior pictures of this old office block isn’t something that got me all that excited. I’m just putting the pictures from inside The Bank Of Ideas on my photography site to show the wider world what’s inside.
I know it’s hardly the height of the publishing world, but here is a scan of my pictures published in the October 2010 edition of Nuts magazine. I was working as the photographer for the BAMMA promotion photographing the main fight between Alex Reid and Tom Watson. Nuts magazine were sponsoring the event and held a competition to find the BAMMA ring girl. So they were keen to use the candid picture of the winner, Brandy Brewer, inside the cage.
2 Pictures Published in Nuts Magazine
Had a nice little surprise yesterday when some of my pictures from this year’s Gay Pride event in London were reviewed on the photography section of the Guardian website. Seeing your photography on a national newspapers website and having some kind comments from the guys and girls on the picture desk is fantastic and a huge confidence boost.
I recently visited the Simon Wheatley exhibition Don’t Call Me Urban! The Time For Grime at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. As you would expect from a Magnum photographer the photography is excellent and really draws you into each image. Simon Wheatley spent 12 years producing the work for Don’t Call Me Urban! A Time For Grime following the development of the Grime scene in East London.
The selection of images on show at the exhibition is small but powerful enough to draw you in and want you to see more (very good as it’s to promote the a book so good there). Many of the images do feel a contrived, specifically (for me) the picture of a young woman rolling a joint on a Mothercare magazine surrounded by a knife and a teddy bear and to a certain degree glamourises gang culture in East London! However it is a very well curated selection of strong images.
Exhibition - Simon Wheatley – Don't Call Me Urban
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On Saturday I went along to the Rally Against Debt demonstration in London to take a couple of pictures of the event and catch any potential rival protests. Other photographers came with their helmets, prepared for any clashes and the police told me they were expecting a rival demonstration to form at some point. None of that happened, well apart from a couple of well behaved anarchists that turned up but didn’t cause any trouble, but that doesn’t really count. Below are the pictures I got at the Rally Against Debt before moving on to do more street photography around London.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage attended and spoke at the Rally Against Debt.
