DocuPhotog Blog

Meeting Alf Morris

2011-02-26T10:59:00.000-08:00

As a photographer one of my greatest pleasures is meeting interesting people and being given the opportunity to photograph them. On this occasion I was accompanying my sister, the author Miriam Halahmy, who is conducting research for a new book.

Yesterday I met a real old "east-ender" with an extraordinary story of human triumph over adversity: Alf Morris. On the night of March 3rd 1943, at the age of 13, Alf became an unfortunate victim of a civilian disaster at Bethnal Green Tube station which for many years was barely acknowledged by the authorities. Alf survived the disaster and kept the secret of that night for over 50 years before relating his experiences to his family and becoming a founder of the 'Stairway to Heaven' project to build a permanent memorial to the 173 people who died: men, women and children.

I met Alf in Nico's cafe, a well known feature of Bethnal Green, literally a few yards away from where the events of that terrible night took place. Alf is a most animated relator of the events of that night which I hope my photographs communicate. It was a real privilege to hear his personal story and of his desire to see a proper memorial created for the dead.

Alf has collected a great deal of documentation and evidence to explain what happened on that terrible night, in this case an architectural drawing of the tube station layout

Alf describing the events of 3rd March 1943

At this point, Alf is relating how he was pulled out of the crush by his hair by Mrs Chumbley who was the station Air Raid Warden

Alf in a happier mood discussing his memories of an east end childhood

Donations to the 'Stairway to Heaven' can be made here.

A full description of the events of that night and its aftermath can be found at Spitalfields Life.

On a technical note: my camera of choice for this type of reportage for many years has been Leica rangefinders and for the last three years my Leica M8 DRF. However, recently I have increasingly been using my Panasonic GH-2 micro 43rds camera. It is light, it is discrete and in reportage it has another useful advantage: the touch screen display.

With this feature is possible to tap the focus point and fire the shutter at the same time. Rangefinders are good for reportage because they are small and rarely intimidating to the subjects. Using the GH-2 takes this a stage further where the subject may not even be aware of the photograph being taken which avoids the occasional 'self-aware' moment that happens in photography - where the subject 'freezes'.

For this particular occasion I used the Lumix 20/17 and Leica 45/2.8 lenses. I was shooting at iso1600 using the 'Dynamic B&W' jpeg setting (although I was actually capturing the images in RAW).

There are many detractors of m43rds ("sensors are too small", "noisy", "expensive", "not APC" etc) but my philosophy is that the camera is to a large extent and irrelevance. If you like the tools you work with and know how to use them then all the arguments are superfluous in light of the results.

I doubt my pictures would stand being blown up larger than 16x12 without IQ issues becoming visible. But then in reportage, how often is that even required? Even a full page magazine shot is not that large and I suppose a double page spread might just approach it. For that reason I think the GH-2 with its interchangeable lenses, unique touch screen technology and high portable size is an ideal reportage camera.

And in any case, as I always tell people who ask, it is not the camera but the photographer that makes the picture.

Winner 2010 LU-RSPB "Life Between The Lines Competition"

2010-11-13T01:05:00.000-08:00

I was delighted to be informed by London Underground this week that I had won the adult category of the 'Life Between The Lines' photographic competition for my picture, "Hunting For Pollen In An Artichoke".

The photograph was taken in my front garden, within a stone's throw of a nearby tube station - hence its interest to the competition which reflects the biodiversity of animal life within the area of London covered by the railway transport system.

The photograph came about because of a concern my wife and I shared after the reports in the news of the recent reduction in the bee population of the UK. This phenomena has also been recorded in other countries, as well. Anyone, with even the most rudimentary understanding of biology understand the importance of bees in the cycle of pollination and therefore reproduction of most plants. Bees are absolutely fundamental to the process and the most important 'pollinators' on the planet.

My wife and I had noticed a fall in bees in our garden, so I was delighted one July afternoon to discover the the flowering heads of my wife's artichoke plants were full of bees. What was fascinating was to see them burrowing deep into the plant as they hoovered up the pollen.

For some time now my macro photography has been largely undertaken using my Panasonic GF-1 and a Panasonic Leica 45/2.8 macro lens. The latter is a Leica designed lens made under license by Panasonic. It has a maximum aperture of f2.8 and stops down to F22. Now traditionalists like to stop down to quite small apertures when doing macro photographs, to maximise depth of field. What I discovered early on is that when opened up to f3.2 this lens produces the most wonderful and etheral glow and a diffuse depth of field. It is not macro photography in the strict scientific sense but it can, as evidenced here, lead to some marvellously artistic effects.

To get this photograph I was standing on a step ladder (the plants are about six feet tall) so I was poised above the head of the plant. I set the ISO speed to iso1000, very fast for a shot in daylight but that in return gave me an action-stopping-shake-reducing 1/1000 shutter speed. Unfortunately, I do not have a tripod which is six feet tall(!) so I had to have as much speed as possible to avoid camera shake. In fact the lens does have its own anti-shake system built it, as well.

I focussed exactly on the delicate structure of the bees wings and fired off about half-a-dozen shots. The result is above. There is a narrow plane of focus across the back of the bee and the tips of the surrounding flower 'petals', on which you can see little clumps of pollen. But the area of focus gives way to a diffuse bluey-purple glow.

My picture prooves an old saw in photography that it is not the camera but the photographer - the kit is consumer level without any of the expensive bells and whistles that dedicated macro-photographers use. On top of that it also prooves that the most important aspect of photography is to be there!

School Work: one day in the life of an outstanding secondary school

2010-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

About 7 years ago I decided I really had to change my life. I was in my late forties and my corporate career had hit the skids. I was out of work, living off my savings and completely uninspired at the thought of taking another souless job in industry. My wife first planted the seed that flowered into my second career. She suggested I consider going back to 'school' (quite literally), undertaking a PGCE and becoming a teacher. I would not have taken the idea that seriously if it had not been for the fact that when I approached the Institute of Education and met with Jacek Brant, who runs the Business Studies PGCE programme, he was immediately enthusiastic about the idea of taking on someone of my age and experience as a teacher. The result is that after a year's PGCE course, and six years of teaching I am now approaching my mid-50s as Head of Sixth Form at Swanlea School, in the heart of the historic Whitechapel district of London's East End.

Now, I have a confession to make. My industrial career involved working for some of the largest corporate companies in the world, including Citicorp, Reuters and Dixons Stores Group. I'd even run (not too successfully) a rather bold internet startup which had flourished and been sold on in 2000. So, my expectations on arriving at Swanlea School, rather naively, was that I had better prepare myself for a culture shock in terms of the quality of management I would experience.

Nothing could be further from the truth and I can honestly state in the 6 years I have worked at Swanlea that the level of management, enterprise, creativity, teamwork and problem solving would put your average triple-A rated global corporate to shame. It was out of this salutory realisation that the idea for photographing and writing "School Work" was born.

My central thesis in "School Work" is that I want to tell the world about what really happens in a school in the period between 8:30 and 4PM which swallows up the life of our youngsters and which to most parents is a vague and distant memory. We remember the teaching but in fact we are profoundly ignorant about the organisation and operation of a school. So, my purpose in creating "School Work" is to inform and make much more widely understood, "how a school works".

I had already produced my first book "Walk to Work" which covered my daily commute on foot through the rich historical hinterland of Whitechapel which was well received by my Head Teacher, Linda Austin. When I had the opportunity, I sounded her out about the idea of "School Work" and to her credit (Linda, is a remarkably shrewd professional) she immediately identified with the idea and gained approval from the school's governors to proceed. The rest, as they say is history.

Below are some of my favourite pictures from the book - with an explanation of why they are important to me. I hope I inspire you to look further and purchase a copy - not for reasons of crass commercialism, because as many of you will know photography books make little or no money - but because I really do want people to be better informed about the enormous professionalism, dedication and hard work of all staff who work in an inner-City secondary school, judged to be 'outstanding' by Ofsted.

07:45AM: Ros, the Catering Manager, prepares mushroom sauce for today's lunch. Swanlea feeds over 800 pupils a day, 68% of whom are entitled to free school meals. Ros not only manages the daily process but must also manage the day-to-day of staff, planning, recording, etc.

08:12AM: Andrew, a NQT (in his first year of teaching) is preparing lessons using his PC and his interractive whiteboard. You can see cardboard castles the students have made in their history lessons on the Normans on the far side of his classroom.

11:47: Monica, an Advanced Skills Teacher of Modern Foreign Languages has carefully organised the work in her class, so that while some students are working in pairs on a comprehension exercise she can provide personal tuition to one of her students. This kind of micro-planning is the hallmark of an excellent teacher and manager.

12:31 Onder, the Network Manager, trouble shoots an in issue with the school's network infrastructure. Swnalea has a PC and communications estate which rivals that of a fair-sized PLC and requires significant expertise to keep it running. Lesson times are particularly critical as there is nothing worse than losing the opportunity to use a computer room due to network downtime.

12:49: "Dinner Ladies", or more appropriately nowadays, "Midday Meal Supervisors" are essential to keep the flow of hungry students moving through the dining hall. Carol and Evelyn are examples of the dedication amongst Swanlea staff having worked at the school almost since its beginning in 1992.

13:10 In a quiet classroom, Andrew - an Associate Head Teacher (deputises for the Head Teacher in her absence) is conducting a School Council meeting. Andrew is responsible for 'Student Voice' in Swanlea, which compliments his calm and respectful manner. I have learned a lot from observing his approach to defusing situations where students are angry or upset.

14:26 "Employer Engagement", Shane Anderson - an independent web developer - has a long association with the school having developed one of the first Virtual Learning Environments, the "Learning Eye". Here, he is working with Year 8 pupils, teaching them a technique he uses in his consulting work to design web sites. Bringing the world of work into the classroom is exceedingly valuable and much appreciated by the students.

16:44 Cleaners at work; each day the 11,000 square metres of space in Swanlea must be cleaned. This takes a significant team of cleaners. Of particular importance are areas like this, the restaurant.

These pictures are only a handful of the almost 100 full colour pictures in "School Work" which tells the story of a typical day in the life of an inner-City secondary school. The book will be of use to all stakeholders with an interest in, or influence over school activities in the UK and in similar environments throughout the world.

Copies can be ordered online from my web site

Technical Note:

School Work was entirely shot using my Leica M8 Digital Rangefinder camera. In terms of lenses the pictures of Ros, Andrew and Onder were taken with my Leica 16-18-21 WATE. The pictures of Monica and the "Dinner Ladies" were taken using my Leica Summilux 35 ASPH. Shane Anderson was shot with a Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.1 whilst the picture of Andrew Goodmnan was taken with my Voigtlander 50/1.5.

All pictures were processed in Adobe Lightroom and the soft-proofed in Photoshop Creative Suite 3.

All individuals have given permission for their photographs to be used in the book and promotional activities.

City Skyline

2010-03-27T01:11:00.001-07:00

City Skyline, originally uploaded by louisberk.

Managed to get on the roof of one of the building I teach in, the Wessex Centre in Hadleigh street in Bethnal Green. Very nice views towards the city and over Bethnal Green itself. It looks like Heron Towers is going to be at least as high as the Gherkin when it is finished but possibly not as eyecatching.

A very special public convenience

2010-03-06T03:23:00.000-08:00

What has happened to the great British public convenience? Nowaday, you are more likely to find them closed or even obliterated from the landscape. Thankfully, there are some town planners who have a soul and this can be seen in the renovation and continued use of the public conveniences in South End Green, Hampstead. These wonderful Edwardian sub-terranean pit stops were brought back to their original grandeur by Camden Council. The interiors are beautifully tiled, and the flanks are clad in wood. Each stall is a reminder of the glorious past of British manufacturing industry (even if it was all done on the imperial rather than metric scale).

I decided to photograph the conveniences using film rather than my digital camera. These are all taken with my Leica M7 and Summilux 35-ASPH on Kodak Portra 160VC.

Well worth a visit if you are in the area, whether or not you need to use the facilities!

Banksy Ambushed

2010-02-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

It's hard being an anonymous guerilla artist. There is always the danger that unfeeling public servants will overpaint your masterpiece, or that other artists will alter their meaning. Just before Christmas last year (2009) the residents of Camden Town woke up to a visit not by an early Santa Claus but by the equally enigmatic Banksy who overnight painted 4 new pieces on or near the Regent's Canal.

The first piece was a incisive political comment on the Copenhagen Climate summit. The two other pieces, one of a boy fishing (in the canal?) and the other of a rather dapper rat in a dinner jacket (in my mind a comment on our favourite group to hate: bankers) are more whimsical. The appearance of original gems drew a significant crowd, so much so, that the residents of the canal boats contrived to block to the towpath to turn back sightseers. Below I've reproduced my photographs from the time, which were taken a few days after the works appeared.

However, Banksy's gift to the world in Camden has clearly not met with universal delight. According to the graffiti cogniscenti Banksy violated the work of another street artist, "Robbo", when creating the Camden 'graffs'. This has lead to reprisals by "Team Robbo" who has altered all of the new Banksy's.

To fully appreciate the nuances of all the alterations the following video report is enlightening.

So, Banksy the guerilla artist has himself been ambushed and his works altered. Some might call this poetic (or is it artistic?) justice? Or is it just fishing for street cred?

Darth Viewfinder

2010-01-23T23:57:00.001-08:00

Darth Viewfinder, originally uploaded by louisberk.

Taken at the 'Photographer Not A Terrorist' gathering at Trafalgar Square on Saturday 23rd January. Over 2,000 amateur and professional photographers attended the event to demonstrate their growing anxiety at the way the Police indiscriminately apply the anti-terrorist laws. This gentleman attracted a lot of attention and was pursued by two fake police officers. I hope the fact that so many people attended gets the message through to our boys and girls in blue that photographers are not a threat and rarely (if ever) break the law.

Narrow Boats Framed by Bridge

2010-01-19T14:29:00.001-08:00

Narrow Boats Framed by Bridge, originally uploaded by louisberk.

Regent's Canal, Sunday Morning, January 2010

Hawley Lock at dusk

2010-01-10T04:59:00.001-08:00

Hawley Lock at dusk, originally uploaded by louisberk.

I was really pleased with the result of using Fuji 400H film to capture this early evening scene. I was also shooting my Summilux 35 ASPH wide open. I didn't even bother to focus, just shot it on infinity. Very little processing was required in Photoshop, just some adjustment to the black point and sharpening.

I like your Leica, you like my cheese?

2009-12-31T04:13:00.001-08:00

I like your Leica, you like my cheese?, originally uploaded by louisberk.

My friend David in conversation with a trader in Borough market about life, cheese and the Leica M9

I Don't Believe in Global Warming

2009-12-30T01:33:00.001-08:00

I Don't Believe in Global Warming, originally uploaded by louisberk.

Four new Banksy murals turned up in Camden Town in the past week. I've found three of them and this is the most potent.

Bentley With Its Bonnet Up

2009-10-31T10:11:00.001-07:00

Bentley With Its Bonnet Up, originally uploaded by louisberk.

Walking down the street in Belgravia I looked over a wall and saw a garage specialising in Bentley and Rolls Royce motorcars. This was too good an opportunity to miss, so a grab shot from above. Film shot using my Leica M7, Voigtland 50/1.5 Nokton and Fuji 160C.

Latchford Ford 1931

2009-10-30T01:32:00.001-07:00

Latchford Ford 1931, originally uploaded by louisberk.

My Leica M8 DRF is on its way back to Solms for a service which means I am left to use my recently acquired Leica M7 in its place. The M7 is Leica's most recent film camera although it is perhaps getting a bit long in the tooth considering it was introduced in 2002. It is however a superb tool to work with as the results here demonstrate. This was a tough shot in terms of the dynamic range: the difference between the darks and the lights. However, the spot metering on the M7 allowed me to measure difference areas in the frame and then go for an average which preserved the highlights but also opened up some shadow area. A little post processing in CS3 also helped. This was shot on bog-standard Fuji Superia 200 and processed and scanned at Snappy Snaps.

Thames Beach

2009-10-25T02:12:00.001-07:00

Can't Touch Me, I'm A Grumble Bee!

2009-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Unusual departure for me from my normal urban or country landscapes but last night I took my kit with me to my son's gig. He plays with Reality Cheques an indie band which does self-penned grunge and rock. This is their singer, Dean, doing an imitation a bumble bee as he delivers one of their best know songs. "Grumble Bee".

It was very interesting for me to be working in very low light with my Leica M8 which is, apart from the aperture priority metering a completely manual camera with respect to focus and aperture. And in fact, using auto metering in such a dark space with weird lighting would have been a complete waste of time, anyway.

I was actually surprised at how quickly I got into a rythm of following the songs and anticipating the movements of the subjects. Working at almost wide open apertures with my Leica 35 f1.4 Summilux and my CV 50 f1.5 Nokton I was quite surprised when reviewing the results at how many keepers I had with good focus on the main subject. Actually, manually focussing, rather than relying on autofocus I think actually helped me concentrate far harder than I would have if I'd been using a DSLR with AF lenses.

The M8 has often been criticised for poor low-level light peformance. Well, a Nikon D700 or Canon 5DmkII it ain't but in fact the superiority of the Leica glass compensates for the fact that above iso640 the results are sometimes dodgy. For example, I know I can shoot my 35-lux at f1.4 and still get edge-to-edge sharpness (of course the M8 does crop the image by 1.33x). I know my CV 50/1.5 Nokton is not quite up to the same performance (well it does cost about 1/10th of the Summilux) so I only opened it up to f2.2/f2.8.

If you look at the picture info below you'll see I did not shoot above 1/30th. Again, this is an advantage of a rangefinder camera where there is no issue of 'mirror-slap' causing additional shake.

For anyone who is interested:

1. M8 CV50/1.5 iso1250 f2/2.8 1/30

2. M8 lux-35-asph iso640 f1.4 1/30

3. M8 CV50/1.5 iso640 f2/f2.8 1/20(!)

Leaves Turning

2009-10-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Colours turning as Autumn takes a hold on the trees along the tow path of the Regent's Canal in London

City Road Basin, Regent's Canal London

2009-10-11T04:48:00.001-07:00

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1650x1080

Time for tea?

2009-09-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

Tea shop in the Ashdon Village Hall museum.

Ham River Bank, below Richmond

2009-09-20T11:59:00.001-07:00

Click on image for

1680x1050 PC Desktop Wallpaper

Old Soldiers Never Die

2009-09-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

Every year the old synagogues of the East End have an open day when you can go in and see the interiors. Some of these are a bit like stepping back into the 1960s or even the 1890s. This year I visited Fieldgate Street which stands in the shadow of the East London mosque. Both religeous sites work in close harmony but of course one has thousands of members and the other now has only a handful. I got talking to a member of the management board and he had brought along some documents of his brother and a friend both of whom had served in the army in WWII. I laid them out to see them better and took this picture. I believe both men lived in the East End until their death.

The New River

2009-08-30T05:33:00.001-07:00

1680x1050 Wallpaper, right click and 'save target'

Neither new, or a river, the New River was constructed between 1603 and 1609 to bring water from the Chadwell Spring to the expanding metropolis of London, terminating in Islington. It is an excellent path for walking and not difficult to get to, starting on the River Lee (the New Guage) just outside Hertford.

River Rib at Latchford Wallpaper

2009-08-23T02:35:00.000-07:00

River Rib at Latchford in Hertfordshire

1680 x 1050 Wallpaper - click on photo then right click and choose save

Ampthill: the elevated series

2009-08-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've started work on my 3rd book of photogrpahy which is an architectural study of the Ampthill Estate in Camden Town, London. I was fortunate enough to be allowed access to the top of Greater London House today to take some elevated views into the estate. This view shows the red tower, Oxenholme, set against the backdrop of the City with the recently refusbished St Pancras Station prominent in the near distance.

Japanese Anemone

2009-08-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

My guilty secret as a photographer is that I like to relax a little by photographing flowers. I do it because I like the delicate structures and the colours. I am actually completely ignorant of what I am photographing - I rely on my wife to inform me what they are. These are Japanese Anemones that my wife has grown in the back garden. My wife is also an expert on Hyacinth Vases and bulbs.

It's an upside down world

2009-08-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Weird upside down reflection of Old Street roundabout, using the strange 'mirror seat' nearby.

Royalty: all in a day's work

2009-08-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

Great fun today when an unexpected photo opportunity presented itself. Not the queen but a talented actress playing the part for a film, scenes of which are being shot at in the Painted Room in the Greenwich Naval College. I thought the Camilla look-alike was even closer to the original.

Umbra Sumus

2009-08-12T00:39:00.001-07:00

"We are but shadows", Jamme Masjid mosque, formerly the Neuve Eglise in Brick Lane.

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Tree, Hampstead Heath

2009-08-11T02:27:00.001-07:00

I've passed this tree in a meadow on Hampstead Heath several times on my trek from Hampstead to Kenwood House. I've never been able to identify it. It has bright red berries from early in the year right up until late Autumn.

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Water Lillies in the Rain

2009-08-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

Upton House gardens, in the middle of a rain storm

One Kind Favour I'll Ask Of You

2009-08-04T13:55:00.001-07:00

"Just one kind favor I ask of you,

One kind favor I ask of you,

One kind favor, I ask of you,

To see that my grave is kept clean"

Blind Lemon Jefferson song - a man who always said "I never criticise another man's music!". Taken at the National Garden Museum, Lambeth

St Bart's Water Tank

2009-07-29T10:20:00.001-07:00

If it hadn't been for a visit to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry last year, where I saw a magnificent cast water tank, this item wouldn't have jumped out at me when I visited St Bartholomew's Hospital today. This is clearly an old water cistern, dated at 1782 and stamped St B H. A magnificent item now re-used as a flower container.

Cable Street Mural

2009-07-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful piece of commemorative art, well worth seeing in the flesh (so to speak). It is located half way down Cable Street between Cannon Street and Shadwell DLR station.

The mural tells the story of the "Battle of Cable Street" which took place on Sunday 4th of October 1936. Oswald Mosely's blackshirts, an ultra right wing organisation which are best likened to today's BNP, were met by stiff opposition from Jewish activists and London Dockers. who barred their attempt to march through the streets of the East End. The march was intended to stir up resentment towards the large immigrant population of the East End but it was disrupted by barricades and stiff street fighting. It lead to the Public Order Act of 1936 which required police consent for political marches and banned the wearing of

political uniforms in public.

Gilbert and George go to breakfast

2009-07-11T00:41:00.001-07:00

I'm not normally a 'pap' but I couldn't resist this back view, taken in Fournier Street in Spitalfields. I was taking a friend on an East End tour, showing him the spots I have discovered whilst creating my new book "Walk to Work", when the door opened of a nearby property and in the corner of my eye I saw two typically English gentlemen emerging. I carried on photographing but my friend came over "all anxious". As they passed he whispered, "It's Gilbert and George and they are off to have breakfast!". I only had time to snap their receding backs. Despite this view, everyone I've shown the picture to has immediately recognised them as the two eccentric artists.

On the way home

2009-07-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

On the way home I was seduced by the setting sun over Hawley Lock, which is just below Camden Lock, on the Regent's Canal in north London. A lot of people were out enjoying the cooler temperature at the end of a long, hot day.

Walk to Work is published!

2009-06-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

At Last! Finally! I have managed to release my first book of photography: "Walk to Work: from the City to Whitechapel". I am very grateful to Rafael Q Publishers for backing the project which is realised using the excellent print-on-demand facility of blurb. The book contains 120 pages of photography which I assembled during my morning walk from the edge of the City to my destination in Brady Street in Whitechapel. These early morning walks, often in near darkness in the middle of winter, yielded dramatic, poignant and downright bizzare images. The books contains my observations on the important social history contained in the back roads of Whitechapel, only a stones throw (literally in some cases) from the powerful presence of the City of London.

The book is also a testament to my kit, my Leica M8 and Leica D-LUX 2, and the range of Leica lenses I have used. The beauty of the Leica M8 is that it is discrete enough not to attract attention yet powerful enough in combination with Leica lenses to render truly professional results.

Walk to Work is available in a standard and also Limited editions. The Limited Edition is a large coffee table book, limited to only 250 copies. The standard edition contains all the same images and text but is a smaller 10x8 inch book.

Bee and Allium

2009-05-17T06:44:00.001-07:00

Been too busy at work and putting the final touches to my book "Walk to Work" that I haven't had time to take pictures or post them here. Here's one from my garden this weekend.

BSA Combination

2009-05-04T02:04:00.001-07:00

These photographs of a BSA motorcyle combination were taken at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham - an unlikely place for me to visit but my wife was attending the UK National Glass Fair, which was held at the venue. As glass really isn't my thing I spent my time looking over the motorcycles. Seeing all these old british marques like BSA, Triumph and Norton reminded me again how far we have changed as a country when it comes to our business activities - and how dangerous it has proven to rely on service industry to create our wealth.

The Tomb of William Bligh

2009-04-18T10:56:00.001-07:00

My wife, Julie, dragged me off to the Museum of Gardening in Lambeth on Wednesday. The museum is in the Church of St Mary. An unexpected surprise was to discover the tomb of William Bligh. He is most remembered for the infamous "Munity on the Bounty", episode in British maritime history. Of course, the 1930s did no favours to his memory (dashing Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian battling with demented and autocratic Charles Laughton as Bligh) but further reseach reveals Bligh to have been an urbane and intelligent fellow, as well as an exceptional navigator (a craft he learned while sailing with Captain James Cook). I was intrigued that his tomb bears the description 'Esquire' and notes his FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) above his distinguished rank of Vice Admiral. For more information it is well worth reading the entry for Bligh at Wikipaedia.

Fyfield Down

2009-04-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

I had a great time yesterday trekking around Fyfield Down in Wiltshire. This area of rolling, heath-like hills contains natural deposits of Sarsen stones. It was a significant source of material for many neolithic monuments in the area and it certainly has a prehistoric feel to it. The Sarsen stones themselves are often mistaken for sheep from a distance.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow.....

2009-04-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

I left the house today with little expectation of being able to take any photographs in this typical, drizzly, miserable, British bank-holiday weather. The main purpose of an outing was to visit nurseries in Buckinghamshire to support my wife's latest gardening project.

Then, about midday, the overcast changed and the diffuse light highlighted the lush, spring-green landscape. I stopped at this field near Creslow on the A41 and tried to capture the light and colour.

Anemones

2009-04-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

Gilbert White's garden, Selborne, Hampshire

Jimmy Page's Stage Clothes

2009-04-09T01:27:00.001-07:00

It is nice to go to a "photographer-friendly" museum like London's Victoria and Albert museum where you are encouraged to use your camera. No one hassles you and no one complains. There is a great exhibition at present of stage clothes and paraphernalia used in theatre and music. As a long time fan of the Gods of Rock I was particularly attracted to this exhibit. The mythology of the Zeps is that Page was into all sorts of eastern religious influences. The back of his costume includes insignia from the masons, Indian and Jewish religions. The Garish clothes in front belong to Elton John.

Cleaning up after the G20

2009-04-02T13:02:00.001-07:00

Call me an old reactionary but it seems to me that G20 meeting is a green light for public disorder and vandalism. I decided to spend a half hour on the way to work this morning recording the impact of Wednesday's demonstration on the City. The moron who daubed Wellington's statue outside the Bank of England must have been up all night thinking up this particularly vacuous slogan. That is, of course, assuming it was an adult and not the infant whose handwriting it resembles.

And like any infant, thank goodness there are always real workers available to scrub the crayon off the walls.

I am sure that a lot of the kiddies playing Anarchist for the day had to go home for a long sleep afterwards. They must have tired themselves out with all that colouring, thinking up pseudo-intellectual graffiti and throwing their toys out of the pram, as they did outside the RBS branch.

I don't normally take my inspiration from the Allmighty but it seemed to me the only cogent argument on Bishopsgate this morning came from St Helen's church, which is opposite the site of the Climate Camp. It survived over a thousand years and two IRA bombs, so it deserves some respect.

Multiculturalism

2009-03-27T00:40:00.001-07:00

Fournier Street, Spitalfields, E1
An interesting mix of cultures: the Hugenot villas on the left, the Bangla Town supermarket straight ahead, infill 1960s block to the right and a mid-20th century Citroen Traction in the foreground.

Yusuf

2009-03-14T09:51:00.001-07:00

I'm so used to the general public being negative towards photographers in the street that I was surprised when this gentleman asked me to take his picture on Whitechapel Waste on Friday morning. When I say morning, I mean at 7:40AM when I was, as per usual trying to capture the landscape in the early morning light. Yusuf wandered into the picture, clearly the worse for wear, clinging to a can of lager. He was all smiles and apologised for interrupting my picture taking. He asked if I would take a picture of him and I did. Yusuf told me he comes from Somalia and from the scars on his face I'd imagine he has either been in a few fights, or seen a few wars.

Building Reflection

2009-03-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Reflection of London's famous inside-out Lloyd's Insurance building against the glass frontage of the Willis Building.

This Is Sclater Street, 1708

2009-02-20T23:47:00.000-08:00

Sclater Street, E1 is not the most salubrious part of Brick Lane but it does boast this unusual street sign, which is almost unique in London. In the 17th Century an Act of Parliament established the requirement for London to display street names, presumably to aid identification and I am sure the support the collection of taxes (why else would Parliament bother?). There are only a few ornate signs like this one left in London, many have been destroyed or removed. What surprises me about the Sclater Street sign is that there appears to be very little effort by anyone (the local authority?) to preserve this important historical artifact. Given the decrepit nature of Sclater Street, which has become little more than a cut-through to the Bethnal Green Road I would have thought it would be sensible to remove the sign, extant and put it into the Museum of London, or even the nearby Geoffrye Museum. Either way, it is an accident waiting to happen and its loss would be a shame.

Ideas Store, Whitechapel (again)

2009-02-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of my "Walk to Work" project is that I can shoot the same subject at different times of the year. The last time I photographed the ideas store is was early November. On Tuesday, after the big snowfall I photographed it again in the intense early morning light you sometimes get in the winter. This time I was using my Leica 16-18-21 Wide Angle Tele-Elmar (WATE) which is an architectural photographer's dream lens. I was tempted to correct the verticals in PS but in the end I think the convergence gives it more impact.

Camden in the Snow

2009-02-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Well the UK got well and truly blasted by snow this week. Of course, that meant that our entire transport system ground to a halt. Still, it allowed me some time to spend out in the snow photographing it. This is the world famous Camden Lock photographed in a light blizzard.

This was one of my favourite photos of the last two days:

Pansies

2009-02-01T09:40:00.001-08:00

These hardy pansies seemed in full bloom this afternoon despite the arctic conditions that included intermittent snow showers.

Best value ride in London

2009-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Gotta love it, the Number 15 Routemaster from Tower Hill to Aldwych (and sometimes Oxford Street). Absolutely full to the brim with tourists wanting to fulfil their dream of a ride on an authentic London bus. Took this late on Saturday afternoon, on my return from a trip to sample the delights of Bermondsey.

The Scream

2009-01-18T14:11:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with using my LX3 as a high speed B&W camera at my son's gigs (he's the drummer in the background). The results are bit like Fuji Neopan, in that the noise is converted to grain. I shoot at iso1600 and iso320 with the camera set to 'Dynamic B&W' mode. I only process the JPEGs and forget about the RAW files. For small web usage the results are good and in fact a friend, who used to shoot gigs for a music magazine back in the 60s says the results are better than he used get with film. Still, I do wish these small pub venues would occasionally invest in their lighting systems instead of their over-the-top sound systems which pose a serious threat to everyone's hearing.

Industrial Chic

2009-01-11T14:09:00.001-08:00

Unusual new shop next to Camden Lock

2009-01-04T03:28:00.000-08:00

Primrose Hill, view towards London, yesterday evening about 30 minutes after sunset.

Winter city scape

2009-01-01T03:46:00.001-08:00

Brrr. Darn cold on the last day of the year. Went for a walk with my buddies from the Leica User Forum and this was probably my best capture of the day. The reflection of the city skyline in the windows of Number One London Wall.

2008-12-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

This is David Anthony Reid a luthier of some repute with his latest creation, an Auditorium Vaultback Guiter. David has been building guitars since first being inspired by the loan of one from a friend, at the age of 25. He left school when he was 15 but when he began to experiment with making guitars he overcame a lifelong issue with reading and literacy and went on the attend university in Scotland and London in order to further his luthiery skills. Each guitar takes David nearly 400 hours of painstaking work and each of his guitars is unique - they may have the same shape but the woods and the delicate finishing flourishes are different.

Salvation Army Hopetown: A Christmas Tale

2008-12-20T03:21:00.000-08:00

I discovered this roundel on the railings of Valance Gardens in the Whitechapel a few months back and was intrigued by its meaning. I have to confess to being a secret admirer of the Salvation Army and the work that they do. It is partly nostalgia because the best history teacher I ever knew, Miss Clarke of Frimley and Camberley Grammar School (back in the 1960s) used to fire my imagination with her description of the poverty and deprivation in London's East End, and how William and Catherine Booth mobilised to attack the conditions of the poor. Miss Clarke (this was long before anyone objected to the identification of unmarried women by salutation) also used the writings of Dickens and Disraeli to bring alive the conditions of the poor in the urban centres of Victorian England. Such was the impact of her teaching that I still recall the phrases "Why should the devil have the best tunes?" and "Tea: the cup that stimulates but does not inebriate". Now, I am aware that the main purpose of the Booth's work and indeed the continuing work of the Salvation Army is to bring people into the Church but can anyone doubt the sincerity of their commitment to helping the poor and destitute in this country and overseas?

In order to better understand the roundel I discovered I contacted the Salvation Army and I received a fascinating response from Major Kevin Pooley, the Social Historian of the organisation:

"Hopetown

In May 1884, the Salvation Army opened one of its earliest rescue homes, at 212 Hanbury Street, Whitechapel, London E1. Five years later a women’s shelter was opened at 194 Hanbury Street, by which time the rescue home had been re-sited.

‘In 1910, some of the shelter's patrons were reckoned to have used the shelter almost every night for twenty years, while others used it for a period and then vanished, especially in the summer, to go hop or strawberry picking.’ [www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?SA/SA.shtml]

By 1928 the address had become 194‑196 Hanbury Street, and then in June 1932 the shelter closed, the work having been transferred to a new hostel, named ‘Hopetown’, in Finch Street, some months earlier. Following bomb damage during the Blitz, ‘Hopetown’ was temporarily relocated to Linscott Road, London E5, the Finch Street building being re‑opened in 1948, and Finch Street was renamed Hopetown Street.

In 1977 the building of a new hostel was started on the site opposite the existing building. Thirty years later the hostel was redeveloped again, still known as Hopetown, at 60 Old Montague Street, just a few hundred yards from the original women’s shelter in Hanbury Street.

At one-hundred and nineteen years Hopetown is the oldest Salvation Army social service centre in the country."

A fascinating piece of social history with an important message for us all at this time of the year. If you wish to donate to the Salvation Army to help them continue their essential work, Click Here.

Decrepit

2008-11-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

Building in Valance Road, E1 - early morning, just after sunrise.

LX3 vs Thick Slabs

2008-11-22T10:09:00.001-08:00

I've taken to letting the wife drive while I sit in the passenger seat and experiment with taking photographs through the windscreen. You get a different perspective from the middle of the road. This is the Westway, near Hammersmith taken with my Panasonic LX3.

Walk to Work Project

2008-11-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

For the last 6 months or so I have been walking between Liverpool Street or Great Eastern Street and Whitechapel, in the mornings. On a good day it takes me about 30+ minutes to cover the distance of about 1.5 miles (I refuse to go metric). I'm building a portfolio of pictures which I hope to turn into a book. My destination on these walks is Brady Street in Whitechapel, home to my school but also marked out by the Ideas Store which is on the corner with Whitechapel High Street. I'm still trying to capture the ultimate picture for use in the book but this one is quite close to what I am looking for.

Last Day of Autumn?

2008-10-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Went out for a glorious walk through Regent's Park yesterday and took this picture. Then, yesterday evening, it actually snowed in London - even settling on the ground - a sight I don't think I've ever seen in all my years in October. Anyway, this may have been the last picture of Autumn.

Ambition

2008-10-18T03:57:00.000-07:00

I was pleased (sort of) to find that Ambition magazine used a couple of pictures I took of a very talented young man, Sabirul Islam. Sabirul is a former student of mine who has made quite a name for himself as a young entrepreneur. I offered to take some professional shots of Sabirul and we both decided to use the backdrop of Canary Wharf as the setting. He made a perfect subject and I suspect part of the success is the rapport we have built up over the years. Mind you, the M8 and my stunning Cosina Voigtlander 50 f1.5 lens also helped. The picture was taken wide open and frankly the only lens I own which eclipses this performance is My Leica 35 f1.4 Summilux-ASPH - which costs approximately 8 times the CV50/1.5. Now I come to recall it, I had to use the CV instead of the Summilux because it was at Leica's factory in Solms being coded.

Autumn Rose

2008-10-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

Never fails to amaze me how the roses in our front garden keep on blooming, sometimes well into the winter. This is a lovely bloom which I photographed earlier in the week.

Lucky shot? Not really.

2008-09-30T10:36:00.001-07:00

I've been 'stalking' this shot for at least a year. During September, as the evenings cool down and high pressure may occur, you can get some spectacular sunsets. On Sunday I just knew I had about 15 minutes to get down to the towpath at Camden Town and record the beautiful twilight hues, which are always criss-crossed with the landing patterns at Heathrow. I also know from passing this point regularly that the final part of the picture-jigsaw is to wait for a commuter train to add a little bit of 'Ansel Adams' to the composition. In photography planning and persistence pays off.

Leica steal the show with new S2 SLR

2008-09-25T08:59:00.001-07:00

Just when you thought that perhaps Leica was a force to be ignored they go ahead and wow everyone at Photokina with a brand new SLR format, boasting a 57% larger sensor than a full frame camera in a body which matches the size of a Canon 5D. Not bad huh? The new Leica S2 boasts beautiful industrial design but is not for the faint walleted as the new camera body alone will set you back around $20,000 when launched. Compared to a Hasselblad with Digital Back the price is well in line with the high end marketplace. It is interesting to note that Leica's PR makes mention of the camera's use in studios and harks back to its days as a camera of choice for photographers of Vogue and Vanity Fair. Does innovation get any better than this? Especially as Leica insist that the benefits of the S2 technology will work their way down into a revamped R10 (perhaps competing with the likes of the D700 and updated 5D?). A very tempting prospect even for a rangefinder photographer like myself.

Honourable Mention: IPA Awards 2008

2008-09-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

Just discovered that I have received an "Honorable Mention" in the 2008 Pilsner Urquell International Photography Awards competition for my picture "300 Years of History in Spitalfields". I get a nice certificate and my name is printed in a roll-call in the annual competition photography book. The picture is of courtyard doors on Fournier Street in London's Spitalfields area, a location known for a long association with immigration into the East End. The casements either side of the doors are 17th century Hugenot doors, the main doors are 19th century with a typical eastern European name above and on the doors are tags left by youths from the largely Bengali community which inhabits Brick Lane. This picture will also feature in my forthcoming book "Walk to Work", which I hope to complete in the near future.

Douglas C-47 Skytrain

2008-09-14T08:21:00.000-07:00

I was quite surprised to be buzzed twice by this DC-47 Skytrain as I walked around the historic market town of Petersfield at the weekend. It was bedecked in RAF colours and camouflage. I thought perhaps it was related to the anniversary of the WWII battle of Arnhem but the anniversary is not for a couple more weeks. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough to capture it with anything more than my Panasonic LX3 point and shoot.

New Sony Full Frame Camera

2008-09-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Sony has just announced the Alpha 900 its first full frame Digital SLR, with an astounding 24.6 million pixels. It is worth looking through the samples published in the pre-review at Dpreview. Personally, I think they are pretty astonishing, especially the higher iso captures at 3200 and 6400. I'm of the opinion that Sony will come to dominate the DSLR market, as they have done in all the other areas of consumer electronics they sell in. It is also the first camera I've seen in a long time which I would consider owning in addition to (or instead of?) my Leica M8.

Ugly Ducklings

2008-09-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

I was pretty surprised at how domesticated these young swans were at Langstone Harbour, near Hayling Island, last week. They came up to the shore looking for tidbits from the nearby pub.

Welcome to LouisBerk.com

2008-09-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new, improved LouisBerk.com photography web site. This blog will be used to notify visitors of changes to the web site including new features and picture updates.