Category: #MYLDN

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

this week I bring you a collection of positive public emotional displays…just to demonstrate that me and my city aren’t all doom and gloom. I was all riled up last week after reading Owen Jones’ book Chavs (which is excellent btw)  but am going to try to refrain from further political ranting…for a bit. I felt it was important to show that although this city has become an exclusive club for the top echelons of society  it is still full of lots of decent folk who care for each other and have a community spirit. London is my home and I am here primarily because of the people in it…the ones I know and love and the ones that I have yet to meet.

Things are never perfect anywhere but existence is really only as good as the people in your life. Whether they are lovers,friends or family, those you can hold, hang out and have a laugh with will make the difference between life being shit or not. Everything else is just details. This is worth remembering. We choose what to focus on and how often and always concentrating on the negative aspects of society  won’t necessarily solve them but reminding ourselves of the good bits will help put the shit bits into perspective.

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

short version (for those  in a hurry): Internet outrage is soooo 2013.

long version (for those with more time): There was a internet furore a while back over some Facebook page called Women Who Eat on Tubes. It was basically photos of exactly that and for some reason loads of people got their knickers in a twist over it and accusations of sexism and so forth were bandied around in the usual indignant manner. Lets get it into perspective. It was just pictures of women eating on the tube. That was it. No-one died. No was abused. Sometimes a packet of McCoy’s is just a packet of McCoy’s.

We live in The Era of Outrage ™. It now seems a daily occurrence for everyone to get a beef in their bonnet about some evil deed or something terrible someone said. Cue instant declarations of outrage from all and sundry across whatever social media platforms they occupy. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of things going on all the time to be genuinely irate about but this Cult of Indignation ™ is out of hand. It seems that people just enjoy laying into people who have apparently offended them  and be righteous whilst doing so. Its sanctimonious sadism. Wait for someone to fuck up then put the boot in.

Maybe people just need an outlet for their own pent up anger or are just bored and have nothing better to do but its all getting a bit boring isn’t it? Hasn’t outrage fatigue set in yet? Do we all have to get onto our high horses every time the Internet spoonfeeds us the latest outrage? Do we all need to jump every time the media says so? They have advertising space to sell, what’s our excuse?

For me the worst thing is there is no follow up. What people are spitting peas about one minute is utterly forgotten the next. The Nigerian girls abducted by Boko Harum initiated a week of every celeb and joe shmoe hashtagging the shit out of #bringourgirlshome and then that was it. They never came back and no-one bothered to notice or care as they were already onto the next thing.

The week before last the mob turned on the Evil lion killing dentist and rightfully so but again to put in perspective,  we are officially in the midst of  the 6th great extinction of Planet Earth, caused primarily by humans. Including the livestock bred for people to eat, we now account for 95% of all species currently in existence.  This is something everyone suitably ignores but one lion gets it and there’s a feeding frenzy. (pun intended-ish) 2 days of outrage later its over and we all move on.

Take the clock clock-making terror suspect pupil, Ahmed. The world got behind him for like one day. It was maybe even just a couple of hours. #Isupportahmedforthelengthoftimeittakesmetoclickshare would have been a more appropriate hashtag.

This week we have the magnificent  story of Cameron apparently sticking his cock and/or balls  in a dead pig’s head’ – cue suitable massive outrage. I mean, yes, that’s pretty messed up but it is by far and away NOT the worst thing he has done. Not by a long shot. And it will only be the object of focus until the next twitter storm emerges. And so it goes on.

People’s outrage only lasts as long as it’s in the news, which isn’t very long these days. The refugee crisis is current No.1 outrage and again, rightfully so but soon it will fade from the news because something will inevitably replace it but the misery for those caught up in it will still exist.  That problem is not going away anytime soon but the coverage of it will.

It seems people really don’t care about the subject, they just want to be outraged about it but more importantly, they want people to see they are outraged. Its like some badge of honour to be displayed. Look how much I care. Well if you actually did, you would probably continue caring for maybe slightly longer than it takes the A.D.D Internet to chew  it up and spit it out.

So if I have offended anyone with either photos of people eating or this impassioned (posh word for outraged) diatribe please turn your scorn on me and outrage away…just don’t use up all your vitriol, you might need it for the next thing, or the one after that, or the one after..zzzzz

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

a proper random selection this week…well..ish. In some ways the only thing the subject’s have in common is me. I noticed them amongst the crowd.  My eye is often drawn towards the unusual, something that stands out, something that compels me to take their photograph. Something I can’t quite let go. It could be their face, their outfit, the pose they are in but when I look closely into their eyes I always see more.

Something under the surface. A story they are trying to hide. I couldn’t possibly have noticed it at first glance but our brains absorb so much on an unconscious level it is possible I felt some underlying emotion emanate from them that made me want to capture them, more than what initially saw on the surface.  Something deep, guarded from the world yet which somehow is revealed by the camera.  

When you look at a photograph you stop time. It allows you to see what people spend their whole lives trying to disguise…their feelings. This for me is the beauty and power of photography. Selfies not included. 

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london