Just Stop Oil protest Dec 23

No prison for peaceful protest

Here are 8 shots of last week protest by climate activist group Just Stop Oil in London.

The protest was mostly against the imprisonment of members of the movement after some protest last year I think ( maybe related to Occupy Westminster ).

A very peaceful march from Scotland yard to the High court of justice. Probably as many photographers as protesters and more policemen it seemed.

I understand that as part of recent legislation changes some protest actions like road blocking can lead to prison charges for their perpetrators.

On top of this main request to free their fellow activists, they also protest against recent changes in UK policy to come back on their promises to fight climate change and limit fossil fuel exploitation.( In case you don’t know, UK has off shore fuel resources ).

Blame my inexperience in protests, but I was a bit shocked by seeing the police film the whole event. I know we live in the period of social media ( this post is proof if need be) and most people there will have their face / name in the public space, but still.

I also don’t like my journey being disrupted by protesters, but lets remember there is no planet B.

All shot’s done one a slightly expired TMX 3200, that has travelled by plane a couple of time ( here goes my carbon footprint ). Only one camera this time, the Leica M6 classic with Summicron 35mmF2 Asph. The film was shot at box speed.

There are a few more shots is the next roll, stay tuned.

There is no Planet B

This is not a piece of sci-fi write up, just a few shots from a protest about Climate Change on Trafalgar Square in London in early November.

It seems to become a recurring pattern in my posts (check here ), but this is a reality : some people wants to let the others know that climate is changing and its time we do something about it.

I don’t necessarily do enough myself (oh that business trip to Asia makes me guilty) , but maybe sharing pictures is a small action I can do?

It cannot be less productive than wearing an extinction rebellion tie 🙂 . Ok ok and what about the impact of film processing? Frankly I don’t know. This was shot with my Leica M4 from 1967, with an even older lens, so probably it has less impact that a digital sensor made in the recent years. Tough question, a bit like electric car battery impact vs thermic engine oil consumption.

This guy’s accordion is probably not younger than the M4, he kindly started playing when I asked to take his portrait, but even in 2022 the M4 is still not capturing sound. I used the KEKS EM-01 Light meter , it is nice and light and quite accurate, but I still have problems reading the measure.

This is another roll of my 100ft HP5 roll that I still have not finished, it is not so old, so I don’t think age has deteriorated it that much but I am not really enthralled by the grain. Well another 4 rolls to go. It seems it never finishes, but all in all it should be about 18 rolls overall. I think I’ll buy something else next. Maybe some Ultrafine 400, but it seems the Extreme is sold out. They now have a different product, Finesse, I have to dig a little before engaging me for another 18 rolls, but also that is just 60USD for 100ft roll.

Rebels at rest

By the way this is roll 23 of this year, all in all better than last year (in term of number of rolls anyway) but far from my 55 rolls from a few years back.

Oh I have decide to go back to Caffenol, so watch this space for badly processed pictures in the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoyed the pics, and remember : “There is no planet B”

The haze affair

Let’s make the harbor disappear

Under the conjugated effect of dry season and south west winds the annual forest fires in Sumatra have caused a major issue in Singapore this year. The pollution index rose to never seen before levels, some school sent kids back home and companies held meetings to see how to face the situation. Wearing face masks is recommended, but they came very difficult to find out and the highly efficient N95 3M masks were unobtainable at all the outlets I visited. Many pharmacists carry notices that “All face masked are out of stock, please check at a later date”. I met people who considered flying abroad for the safety of their children. Unexpectedly a crisis situation is happening under my very eyes. So what to do ? Wear a mask take a camera and shoot. The haze may not be very camera friendly by I hope I can convey a bit of what happened in these shots.  Saturday situation was slowly going back to normal, but at this time, the pollution index remains in the zone named “Unhealthy” by the authorities (back from “Hazardous” that’s quite a relief).

Singapore harbor disappearing in the haze

Marina Bay Sands disappearing in the haze

The flyer disappearing in the haze

MBFC disappearing in the haze

Hazy construction site

Masked – 1

Masked – 2

Masked – 3

Masked – 4

Masked – 5

Masked – 6

Masked – 7

Masked Selfie

 

All shots are done with the Nikon D700 and the old 35-70 F.3.5 “AI Pro” zoom, that I bought second hand back in 1992 with my F3. There are a couple of hip shots, I must say I quite enjoyed “going back to digital” after shooting one roll of film a week since the beginning of the year.