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.

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.