Wednesday 30 December 2009

2009 - A Year in Pictures

As a way to mark the end of my photographic year and as a way to revisit some of the stories and subjects I have photographed this year I've posted a selection of images below.

Looking back over the year I was able to cover some very diverse subjects - from toxic warships on Teesside to cross-dressers in London, from fly fishing to war veterans, from demonstrations against job losses to military homecomings - for those who came back alive and for those who didn't.

From evicted Druids to rock bands, from Summer Solstice revellers to horse jumping. This year certainly provided many photographic opportunities. I also visited Kenya, America, France as well as travelling to many places across the UK...
















No doubt next year will bring many more photographic challenges and opportunities and hopefully I'll get some good photographs as a result. I'm determined to keep working on more multimedia pieces and I've also got a few ideas up my sleeve to work on and help build my business.

2010 - All over it!

Monday 28 December 2009

Lineups

Saltburn lineups...




Winter Sessions

Cold water, biting winds, freezing temperatures, numb hands and feet, ice cream headaches......







...Stoked!!

Thursday 24 December 2009

New meaning

With the closure next year of the Corus Steel factory on Teesside, everytime you look along the beach from Saltburn the pictures you get all take on a new meaning when you know about the closure.


Tuesday 22 December 2009

Finally...

After what seems like an eternity I've finally being able to get some more surf shots done!










Thursday 17 December 2009

Sunday 6 December 2009

Kosovo

Browsing through an old archive of mine recently I came across some photographs I had taken in Kosovo in 1999. I had shot them on film, I don't remember what type, and subsequently scanned the images onto my computer at a later stage....

In the Spring of 1999 NATO resorted to military action to force the Serbs, under the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic, to withdraw from Kosovo and stop the violence against the Kosovar Albanians. An air campaign began in March 1999 and lasted for 74 days followed quickly by ground troops entering across the border with Macedonia to ensure the withdrawal of Serbian forces following their signing of the UN-approved peace agreement on June 9.


A Serb T-55 tank in a village in Kosovo

A shallow grave in a garden of a house in a small village in Kosovo contains the body of a man, his wife and his sister

KFOR troops prepare vehicles and equipment in Macedonia

British tanks and armoured vehicles mass on the border with Kosovo and Macedonia

Armoured vehicles and a Chinook helicopter move through a steep sided valley as they enter Kosovo. A vehicle with a TV crew joins the convoy.

Kosovar Albanian refugees sit outside a tent erected in a refugee camp on the border. They were among many thousands forced to flee from the fighting and from persecution by the Serb forces during the conflict

Waiting for food and water at the refugee camp

A Serb T-55 tank drives down a road as it makes it's way back to the border following the peace agreement.

A cheeky grin on the face of a young Kosovar

A group of smiling and cheering Kosovar children react to the camera during a stop in a small village in Kosovo.

Saturday 5 December 2009

Thistle-Doo Nicely

The North Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes offers many opportunities for the photographer - whatever the weather or time of year.

Any visitor to the town will be astounded by how much history such a small place can have.

Staithes is famous for its past fishing industry and hundreds of years of mineral production, an industry that continues to the present day with the Boulby Potash mine being one of the deepest in the United Kingdom.

Staithes was also home to many hero's. From Captain James Cook, to those with their names recorded in stone on the War Memorial and those who today at the sound of the maroon take the Staithes Lifeboat to sea as their ancestors have done for the last 100 years.

Staithes was once one of the largest fishing ports on the north east coast of England. In its heyday there were just under 300 men engaged in fishing with three trains a week, from Staithes Station on the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway, delivering the catch to the rest of the United Kingdom.

The fishing port of Staithes

Brightly painted doors on one of the houses in the town

A rusty padlock keeps a shed secure

No parking sign

Slipway into the sea in Staithes harbour

View down one of the cobbled streets

Sign on a house wall

Fishing boats moored in Staithes beck

Seagulls perch on the chimneys of the tightly packed rooftops