Anonymous against Scientology

10th Feb, 2008 – Protest against Scientology, London

Internet-based group, Anonymous, today protested in front of the Church of Scientology building in London. As far as I understand, this group is made up of members of 4chan, who are affiliated with Project Chanology, which is an internet-based protest against Scientology.

A number of people have tried to explain what this group (and 4chan in particular) is about, but to be honest, I don’t fully understand it (I’m not nerd-enough). Basically the idea for this protest was to wear masks, and demonstrate in front of the Church of Scientology’s London base.

Outside Blackfriars Station:

Outside the Church itself:

Quite a few cars honked – good to see drivers paying attention to the signs! Then again, it was hard to miss these guys.

I took this shot of the doors of the building from across the road.

I crossed the road to get a little closer and was approached by this policeman, who asked me not to take pictures of the building.

I asked why. I mean, I’m in a public area, it’s a public building, and I’m simply taking a picture of people who are choosing to watch the protest from within the building. I was told that taking a picture can be construed as threatening and provoking. WTF! I have a terrible cold and look close-to-dead, I can barely see or breathe, and I’m apparently being threatening by taking a picture of a building? Right, Mr Policeman. I’m sure the chaps at Scientology would consider me a highly threatening character!

These ‘rules’ at protests always amuse me. It’s funny how a camera can be so provoking

Bring in the horses to control the obviously out-of-control protest!

The turnout was better than I expected.

This is the first protest I’ve been to where I’ve been offered sweets.

There were apple pies too! Ace.

I spoke to a a few very cool guys including the one below.

The protest was great (have you ever been offered a Kipling pie at a protest before?). The demonstrators were loud, quirky (they were playing songs like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air tune – sorry for the low quality some kind of private joke I guess), humorous and yet managed to get a point across.

I think I shall read up on this organisation a bit more.

More demos like this please!

Watch this for the reaction of the policeman at the end. Win for protests and free speech!

Chinese New Year Celebrations, London

It was also the Chinese New Year parade today – ’tis the year of the Rat, which is my year

I bought this rat >__<

The celebrations in London are the biggest outside of China, which is no surprise as there was a huge number of people, and parts of Chinatown were closed due to overcrowding.

The Chinese definitely know how to celebrate.

So there we have it. Last year I managed to take a lot more pictures, but then I wasn’t suffering from the worst cold ever. Cold + crowds = bad combination.

That’s all from me for now – see you in a few weeks when I’m back from Uganda, hopefully minus mosquito bites.

400CN

… and we’re back in London!

The Tate Modern has a new installation in the Turbine Hall – Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth. I went to see it sometime in summer, but completely forgot about the pictures.

It’s essentially a huge crack along the floor. It’s cool in some respects (definitely better than this installation), but it didn’t engage me a great deal. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to drop my phone or something down it though!

But hey, apparently this is deep, meaningful art.

The other pictures I took are pretty boring (to me anyway) so we’ll move away from digital and to some yummy Kodak 400CN (C41 b&w mmm).

I shot the following using a broken Nikon FM. Well, OK it’s not technically broken, but the batteries are screwed up so I had to guess the shutter speed and exposure – on top of focusing manually, which is hard work for a non-techy like me! It really made me think about what I was doing with the camera, something I normally just take for granted with the digital. Even when I shoot film, as I just rely on the little red light

Walking around the Brick Lane/Shoreditch/Hoxton area (my new favourite place in London!) – there’s lots of Banksy around here.

I haven’t seen any of these before, even though I work 5 minutes up the road. Where have I been all this time?!

I hope the council doesn’t remove these – they really give the place character.

I liked the small print in the ‘cancelled’ bit of this next one.

Yes, yes – wrong depth of field, I know!

The Hackney area is full of little quirky signs like this..

.. and this

I like noticing the small things.

There’s some kind of light exhibition on but it was closed on Sunday, so I took this through the gates. I should probably rotate it a bit but I’m lazy.

The Brick Lane area is full of markets on Sunday, and one in particular was full of druggies and the extremely inebriated, like this guy, selling all kinds of junk.

I asked if I could take a pic of what he was selling, but then took a picture of him. He protested but then forgot I’d just taken a picture. Excellent!

Check out this cutie of a dog.

He’s a Pomeranian – extremely adorable. I love dogs.

This girl came and sat opposite me on the bus and was looking right at me. She continued looking so I took this shot of her. I thought she’d react when I lifted up the camera, but nope. I’m wary of taking pics of kids actually – I was once told not to take a picture of some twins, and I didn’t really understand why.. I mean, I don’t think I look like a dodgy character!

Or do I..?!

I personally don’t really see the big deal in taking pictures of children – I mean, can a picture really be harmful? Maybe if I had a child of my own I’d think differently. I just think the fact pictures can’t be taken (even by parents themselves!) in places like swimming pools and even school shows is slightly absurd.

If you’re wondering how Trafalgar Square remains pigeon-free, here’s your answer:

He goes around every day with a falcon and lets it loose to scare away all the pigeons. I’d heard of this but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it! I asked if I could stroke the bird and he said yes – the bird looked a bit confused though.. I heard later that one bite could have ripped my finger off Oops.

I’ll finish with some shots in Dublin, walking around with Seamus.

How tacky are these?! I mean, who actually buys this stuff!

Meaningful graffiti..

I’m sure you’ll agree that Seamus’ shot of it is a lot better!

C’est tout : )

I think I’ll be using 400CN again soon.