NAKED HONESTY

I assume that the age if consent, the school leaving age, the legal drinking age, the cinema rating system and the age at which you can marry and vote are all going to be lowered to 13: Really, the government have to. They have no choice really. That is, after all, the inference from the decision that a 13 year old has a right to decide whether they live or die. If it can be allowed for this 13 year old to decide on this decision then really the others just pale into insignificance don't they?

God know what this decision is going to have on the average household: "Time for bed it's two a m"
"No. I'm thirteen for gods sake and anyway I want to stay up and watch Debbie Does Dallas"*

It is crazy really. It takes away parental responsibility surely. Should it not be the parents who have the right to decide in this case? After all, the government continue to espouse that its the parents responsibility to know where their fifteen year olds are at night. And yet, on the other hand they stand by the decision for a thirteen year old to decide whether they live or die. Can you imagine the girl in question have a word in her mothers ear saying "Look before I pop off I wonder if I might just have a few drinks in the local pub and bring a guy home for a one night stand" Mum would have to say "No, because your not old enough". I know that the subject is not one to ridicule, and I certainly would not want to be in the parents place. But if I was I feel it would be down to me to make the decision. Or are we saying that parental responsibility really does now stop when they are thirteen. If it does think I might just have a few more. By the time they are thirteen I could have them out working forty hours a week  and I would have a happy retirement living off their earnings as I assume I would still be responsible for their pocket money.



A dangerous decision in my opinion and one that every thirteen year old is going to latch on to I'll be bound.


* sorry this is the only porn film I know other than Deep Throat and I thought that was in bad taste!

I remember that six years ago I had an argument with the then head of Leeds Mentoring. So much of an argument indeed that I almost got sacked from the school I was working in. I had the temerity to criticise the multi-agency approach to care of children. I argued that all it would do is essentially ensure that nobody would take responsibility. I also suggested that as a model it was imperfect because it is simply impossible to get all the professionals involved around the same table at the same time. A fact shown a week or so later when I attended a case conference on an abused child that was attended by me and a social worker with apologies from eight other people. Sadly, the case of "Child P" echoes some of the arguments I eluded to six years ago. I was also shouted down at a conference for Every Child Matters when I said that although the philosophy was OK putting it into practice could not be possible without addressing both the issue of multi-agency working and the matter of protection of the workers when actually putting in their suspicions of child abuse. Again, it is clear from what I heard on the radio today that social workers still cannot simply report a suspected case of abuse without "hard evidence". If we are serious about protection of children, and as a society I do not think we are, then this would not be the case. There should be no need to resort to the precautionary principle that protects the parents rather than the child.

I guess the question here is what would be your reaction if you had been accused and were innocent. Simply, I would think that it is a necessary means to an end. The end in this case saving the life of a seventeen month old baby and the sixty other children who die at the hands of their parents every year in the UK. It seems OK to assume that every man with a camera is a paedophile, but not that any parent will deliberately hurt their child. Or that anybody who smokes is bad for children and cannot be a parent.

A council has stopped people becoming potential parents simply because they smoke. They argue that the danger of passive smoking means that under their duty of care they cannot allow children to be subjected to passive smoking. Now I do not want to go into the debate about passive smoking. However, if the council fell that this is the correct way then surely they should be taking any child of a smoker into care. It stands to reason doesn't it? They have made a stance but failed to follow through the consequences of that decision. Of course it is ridiculous to say that parents who smoke put their children in danger. It is akin to saying that car drivers should not be parents in case they are in an accident.

When the smoking ban came into force just over a year ago I did write here that next would be drink. It seems that this is now the case after Keith Vaz called for government interference into the price of alcohol and the banning of so called "happy hours". So much for a free economy you might argue. But so much for my freedom to access this free economy. It seems that I will have to pay the price for the minority once again. The minority in this case who cannot drink sensibly. Yes we have a drink culture in the UK, but pricing measures will make no difference whatsoever to those people anyway. Indeed, as you get more social security if you are registered alcoholic, I guess more will register as an alcoholic. Might even do so myself to enable me to get a weekly bottle of wine. I mean, seems to me that I am one of those the government are after. A regular drinker! So, I am a smoker and a drinker. Suddenly I feel that all that is wrong with society is my fault. I have managed to avoid the smoke police, but now I have the drink police on my back. Still with the multi-agency approach they will never catch me

Do yourself a little favour: Get a recording of the Obama victory speech. Store it. And if you ever think that all hope is gone play it.

It was a fine speech. Uplifting with a sense that there may be real change globally. The thing that impressed me about the speech was not the rhetoric of victory but the honesty. It is not as he rightly admitted all going to be plain sailing and that there will be many false starts but I think America now as a president who is of the people and one of the people.

There is hope after all. How much hope we'll know in about four years time I guess.

If McCain happens to win the US Election tomorrow then quite simply he has sold his soul to the devil and the four horsemen of the apocalypse will be saddling up. Either that or the electorate have a been in their bonnet about him being black. That really is the only issue I can see for anything other that a win for Obama. And then everything will be hunky dory and the world will be a better and safer place to live. Actually it will not, because lets be honest here politics do not make a difference any more. Have a think about that. I did hear an argument once that we needed politics otherwise there would be nothing but chaos. But haven't we got that already? The world is in a chaotic state and will remain so whoever the American President is. I wonder what would happen if nobody voted tomorrow, if that was followed by a no vote at the next general election in the UK. What would happen? Would the world suddenly stop turning? No the vast majority would still get up in the morning and not see one iota of difference in their lives. Indeed, it probably would not even make the front page of some of the papers. We would still be more interested in what Brittney is doing or which X Factor star has been voted off. A sad state of affairs but nonetheless true. I wonder if Satanists vote. Frankly, they have nobody to vote for. I have been listening to the debates and each candidate has indicated one way or another they have "God on their side". This bit I simply cannot fathom, being a non-believer and all. If the candidates have so much faith that it is God who decides the election then every voter should be blindfolded and have to mark the ballot paper. Then God really would be deciding. But it will not be God it will be the people and surely American people cannot be that stupid to vote for a Bush clone. Can they? Well when somebody says Obama is too thin to be president then you really do wonder.

As you know I love music: It's one of the reasons why I photograph it. Not for the glamour, because there isn't any really. Or the money, because there isn't any. But simply for the passion. And I come across people who play the music with the same passion. Like last week when I met a couple of rather famous people: well famous in the facts that one had written with Sir Paul McCartney and one who who had had a song written about him by Noel Gallagher of Oasis. I also met Jon Power of Cast, who was an assuming lovely guy. They had one thing in common. They were doing the music not for the kudos but for the pure passion of doing the music. Which brings me to the X Factor.

Before I get started on it by the way: Please do not buy the record they have produced for the poppy appeal. Buy a poppy instead. Anyway, there I was over for tea at mums with her and Adam. Both are fans of the programme. But let's be honest here they are only doing it for one thing and one thing alone. It is not the passion for music but the passion for celebrity and money. Simple as. If they had the passion they would be in clubs on Saturday night singing, sometime literally for their supper. Add to this that there is no outstanding talent there this year: I know they keep saying that the favourite to win (I've forgotten her name but Adam votes for her every week) is "unique". But she isn't really. To find out unique she is take a listen to Chairlift or Fiest. So yes, stop watching X Factor on a Saturday. Go out and find some real music will you? Because in reality the X Factor is fixed anyway.

My friend Leanne, who will be recording in New York in January and a star this time next year, went on the X Factor when she was fifteen. You will no doubt have seen the crowds turning up for auditions on the programme. However, not all of them get to actually do an audition. Leanne did not. She did not even get a chance to sing. In other words the people on X Factor are screened long before they get to see the judges. Seems a "story" or lack of a singing voice are more likely to get you to the judges rather than having talent because frankly Leanne can sing the pants off of any of the X Factor finalists and indeed, last years winner what's-her-name or was it a what's-his-name? I forget. Like I have forgotten 99.9 per cent of anybody who has ever appeared on the programme. Will Young I remember, but he seems to have done it is own way rather than the superficial way of whoever wins this year and spoils Christmas.

I wonder about health and safety: Not in the sense of looking after myself but in terms of the ridiculous rules they now impinge on our everyday lives. And let's be honest here since the increase of legislation we have become neither more safe or healthier it would seem. I went to the top of a car park yesterday. Well I was going to go to the top of a car park yesterday to take some shots of the ever changing Leeds skyline only to be told I could not unless I produced a PPL certificate for safety reasons. I thought that this was stupid because actually it was a place where a year or so ago a woman threw herself from the top of. Seems that you can go up there to do that bit not take pictures. You see what I mean by ridiculous? But the thing that really annoys me about Health and Safety, apart from the fact that all Health and Safety policies state the bleedin' obvious, is that it completely assumes that people no longer have any common sense whatsoever.

Maybe they are right because when it comes to taking pictures it seems nobody has any common sense. Adam and I were taking some stock pictures in town last week only to be told by a traffic warden to stop because we were breaking the law: we were not as it was a public place. But he wanted to know the ins and outs of what were doing. It inevitably and sadly then moved onto a darker subjects when he asked if we would "take pictures of kids". We knew what he meant by that, he knew what he meant by that. We have a camera, we are male and therefore we must be paedophiles. It reminded me that we have simply moved on from the 1970s argument brought forth by extremist feminists that "all men are rapists". It is just the sexual demeanour that as changed. But what really annoys me about this is it goes against that everybody is innocent until proven guilty. Seems this does not apply to men. All men it would seem are judged by the 95000 paedophiles in the UK. If I could be bothered I would work that out as a percentage chance of meeting one in the UK. But as the figure is minuscule I shall not bother. We did tell the parking attendant the law but that did not stop us being followed by two police on bikes for the rest of the time we were in town.

Anyway: Have a few pictures.....

( A Year Ago Today..... )

I think I should stop posting on CraigList you know. I keep getting calls asking if I do pornography. I don't but maybe I should it would be money spinning. Except it wouldn't be actually as the only "payment" I seem to be offered is to have my way with girlfriend/wife/husband/boyfriend after I have photographed them being ravaged or taken to "ecstacyland" (as one said) by friend/actor or whomever turns up. But then again I did get a booking for my services as a Boudoir photography.

This is becoming popular in the UK and I have hauled myself up on the bandwagon. Imported from America it is a tasteful nude/implied nude picture taken as a gift for that somebody special. It's not as easy as it sounds for either photographer or client. The subjects usually have no model experience and despite what you may have heard elsewhere the UK still flinch when somebody takes their clothes off. But it is becoming one of the booming outlets for photographers. Indeed more important now as people are now less inclined to get married where a photographer can make quite a bit of money and an area I am moving into more seriously next year. I have taken my first booking today for 2009. Let's hope the credit crunch is over by then otherwise less people will get married.

Funny thing the credit crunch and the financial meltdown. I wonder where the government found the billions to bail the banks out. And does it mean that bank managers are now public servants or that I am a share holder as no doubt the money has come from my taxes. Maybe I should now pop into a bank and ask for some office space seeing I am officially one of its owners. Pity Abbey was not in the mix as I am still having problems with them. I am refusing to pay off the amount I am above my overdraft (about £200) as this is purely from charges for going over my overdraft limit because they paid out money to a company from a card that I cancelled 18 months ago (see previous entries). Do they listen though? Apparently not because the request to pay for the excess comes from a different office and I have to explain it to them that it is their fault and..... well it just goes on and on. Which maybe colours my thinking in terms of the bail out of the banks: Frankly, I would have let them go out of business like they did in Sweden or like any other business that got into financial trouble. Or have the government set a precedent now and if green grocers suddenly start having financial trouble will the government take the taxes of its people to bail them out? Capitalism eh? Just can't trust it can you? Bit like Abbey!

I was out photographing a young band last night. An emo band called Broken Summer. It was spoiled though by what can only be described as a blight on society: I wandered outside during the sound check to find one of their fans being pushed around by three chavs for no other reason than he looked different. Now I've been doing a few gigs lately that have been arranged for the Sophie Lancaster Memorial ( a young girl set about and killed because she was a goth). So, I intervened and the little shits turned on me. This admittedly allowed the young lad to go back inside and he had the sense to get help. The cowards became less brave all of a sudden when a rather large sound engineer friend came out. Indeed, two ran off leaving the one who had been saying he was going to teach me a lesson was suddenly left by his self. Me and the sound engineer laughed at him and asked him how hard he was now. The sound engineer moved towards him and he ran off too. Really hard guys as you can tell. But the point is that the three would have happily continued to verbally abuse, threaten or worse had there not been any intervention. I did ask them before the sound engineer arrived what gave them the right to be like they were: Not a question I expected an answer too, and none was forthcoming. Indeed I already knew the answer, which is, none.

I am though getting heartily fed up of people like this. And I have a plan for them. We should not send these types to prison. We should paint them yellow. I am serious. Paint them yellow to look like a character out of The Simpsons. The results would be terrific for the majority of decent people. Firstly, we would be able to identify them easily. And because we could we would feel safer somehow. We would be able to avoid them. And we could implement a curfew much more easily. Anybody yellow out after say 7pm would be rounded up by the yellow police. Consequently the streets would be much safer at night. Now an idea was spouted a while ago to put these people in orange suits. This was shelved for two reasons. The orange suits would, it was argued, become a badge of honour - not my word as these people have not an ounce of it. And the second argument against it was that it would infringe human rights. This always annoys me. what about the human rights of the people they attack or abuse? Whilst I agree the orange suit could be an aspiration for some painting them yellow would not be. Or maybe glow in the dark florescent yellow, or pink. Just think of the advantages of this. Of course I guess they could cover themselves up but the identification process would be quick and simple: And you would think about being a little shit a bit more knowing that you would be yellow (or whatever colour) for a number of years.

Or we could hope that being yellow would make them ideal fodder for Aliens to come and whisk them away....

( UFO Over Leeds - Exclusive Picture Below The Cut )

Apparently if the money given to banks to "save" them does not work then the UK will go bankrupt. I'm not sure what this means in all honesty. I'm sure we will be told when it happens. I do know that it will be an increase in poverty that's for sure. So, with some surprise, I am in agreement with David Cameron, the Conservative leader (and lets be honest probably the next prime minister, though rather him than me) that the CEO and Senior Executives of the banks that have been saved should not get a penny in bonuses. To be frank I wouldn't even pay them their salaries. I mean they are simply not worth it are they? Bit like me doing a wedding and saying I got three hundred awful pictures and one good one. And boy are you going to pay for that good one.

I suppose if we do go bankrupt we could rob all the Premiership footballers. I used to love football. I mean really love football. It was to all intents and purposes my mistress. I would have done anything for my mistress. Sold the family silver if it meant seeing her. I once did thieve for my mistress - there is no other word for it - but it was worth it seven times over. More in fact as it was the greatest game I had ever seen when Leeds United beat Southampton seven goals to nil. Thing is the team that played in that game were on, or pretty near to, the same wage that the thousands who turned up to idolise them were on. Bit now? Well lets be honest here nobody, unless they can save your life, is worth £140,000 per week. And its even more galling when they hold out for an extra £5000 per week or they will find a football club who will pay that extra £5000 a week. Can you imagine how many people will be pulled from poverty on that "extra" that they want. So, all this has put me off of football. With a bit of luck the country will go bankrupt and take these overpaid prima donnas with them.

Apologies for the spelling mistakes: I blame it on a lovely bottle of red bought by a friend for my birthday

Thanks for all the positive responses to my homecoming entry. I thought I would follow up on the same sort of theme with my views on television. I simply watch very little on TV now. So little that I am not going to have a television in my new flat. I am going to become televisionless. After all I only really watch one programme at the moment. That is actually sit down and not move for an hour. I actually prefer the radio now. Now I know that this will really annoy the hell out the TV Licence people as I already have a letter waiting at the new flat from them asking when, as the new occupier, I am going to pay for a new TV Licence. Not sure whether I shall just let it ride along until I get the final warning in a couple of months. I might even then invite them around to see that I am actually one of the .1 per cent of the population that does not have a TV. Not that I would have to let them in apparently. They could, so I am told, bring a policeman around to ask to be let in. I might let them in then on the proviso that when they do not find a television I expect to paid some compensation for all the hassle. They cannot even argue that I have the equipment to receive television as the place does not have an outside ariel. The question is I guess is do I have to pay for the radio? Better check on that.

The only programme I shall watch, and will have to pop into mums to watch it is The Family currently being shown on Channel 4. It is one of those programmes that you either love or hate. It seems to me that there is no middle ground here. The basic premise is that for four months cameras recorded everything that went on in the house of a family. Now this might sound as dull as watching paint dry. However, there is quite a strong narrative in the programmes. Mainly due I think to excellent editing of the material. But it is the normality of everyday family life that is so fascinating. And I am frequently reminded of The Simpsons as I watch it. This may well show you how good The Simpsons is at reflecting what family life is like. Whilst reality programmes are so far removed from reality as to be more like controlled fantasy The Family is real reality television.

I noticed two things on radio today, which I think would have probably washed over me if I had seen it on TV. Both sort of interlinked. The first is Germany issuing a European Arrest Warrant for an Australian who denies the holocaust ever happened. The issue is not what he believes bit the fact that he is to be arrested for something that is not a crime in this country. Now that is dangerous. It means that I could be arrested if I mentioned that the Greeks are horrible as it is a crime to be xenophobic in Greece. The Greeks could ask for me to be arrested in the UK and sent to Greece where I would have to wait in a jail for 18 months to see if there was a case to answer. And if there was another 18 months whilst it came to trail. I'm sure that I could get this knocked the final ten year sentence if I was found guilty. In essence though think before you speak it would seem as there is no free speech in this country any more if this extradition is allowed as whatever you say somewhere, someone will find offence and ask for you to be taken to some part of Europe to answer for your utterances. And as it now legal to listen in Big Brother is really watching you. Just wait until the clock strikes thirteen.

It seems that the clock as already done that for a policeman in Manchester who has been sacked for wearing a BNP badge two years ago whilst off duty. I abhor the racist policy of the BNP. However, they are a legitimate political party. And when you get the sack for supporting a particular political party then we really are skating on thin ice when it comes to freedom in this country. Apart from the assumptions being made here because of a badge (I mean I have one on a jacket saying "Porn Star". It does not mean I am one.), there is the question of being allowed to support whatever political party you wish without fear of prejudice. Moreover, there was not a shred of evidence that the policeman in question did let his political allegiance influence the way that he worked. I have said it before, and I shall say it again. We are become a controlled people. The thought police are already here people. So what what you say and watch what you think. And if you don't here from me for three years I'll be in Greece.

And so the Olympics ion China have ended. I have not watched a lot of it I have to say. Not out of principal or anything so gallant, but simply because I have not had the time. However, I have been watching the news bulletins and it seems they were a spectacular success. Should we be surprised? Lets face it, they were spectacular but they did spend £20 Billion on the games and you can only spend that amount of money if you are not a democracy and do not have to answer to voters. So, it would seem the message is clear. If you want to put on a world event that the world and its missus tunes into get yourself a dictatorship. Of course it may make China open up a little more to the world after it has seen we are not such a bad lot. And not much of a threat either. After all the Mayor of London cannot even wave a flag properly.

It would also seem that the we will have, when I say we I mean The London Olympics, will have four years of scrutiny under the microscope. As soon as we became host we run into controversy (see I'm getting lost in the euphoria by saying "we" all the time rather than London). It seems that in a video for London there is a clip of a piece of art using Myra Hindley the notorious child killer. I am at a loss to see what the fuss is a about really. Indeed, I think it is quite a clever rouse in terms of showing that we live in a country with freedom of expression and therefore somebody has the right is they so wish to express themselves in a way that Chinese people do not. But everybody it seems is aghast at "the error". Whereas we are less aghast at a child not being able to take part in the opening ceremony in Beijing because she did not look pretty enough. But what the hell! We won 19 gold medals, and apparently gave the world every sport under the sun because as Boris Johnson says "Sport is coming home", along with ping-pong.

The next great event for TV is the US Presidential race. Let's hope Obama wins as the alternative is too appalling to consider. Not that I will have much time to watch that either. Almost a full diary, including a nice trip to Preston for a weekend of motorbikes and music 

There is a saying. Actually there are lots of sayings. Many I will never understand . For example, "So happy I could s***". Why do you need to be happy to go to the loo? I can go to the loo quite unhappy and still do what I have to do. My happiness, or indeed unhappiness has no consequence on my bowel movement thank you very much. Actually the saying I am going to deal with is "What goes around comes around". Mainly because it describes perfectly what happened yesterday. Adam is on holiday and he took me to Tropical World at Roundhay Park and then to see a film. We used to do it all the time. Indeed we did it one time and went to see a Batman movie. The original Joker one being played by Jack Nicholson. History - if taking your son to see butterflies, bats and bugs counts as history - repeated itself yesterday as after seeing the Murcats in their new specially built pen (available to watch in the web apparently) we went to see the new Batman film. The Dark Knight. Excellent I thought. Maybe the best of the Batman films. The 155 minutes whizzed by and at times it took your breath away. However, I don't think Heath Ledger is anyway near as good as Nicholson was. I know his performance is being touted as an scar winning one but I don't think it is. He is very good as The Joker. But not that good. He may well get posthumously an Oscar but I think it will have more to do with him being dead than actually giving the best performance in a film in 2008.

One thing has changed though. Now I know you are no longer allowed to take your own sweets, snacks and drinks into the cinema any more. So I should not have been surprised that a couple of drinks and essentially a bag of Minstrels and MMs came to over £11 ($22). But Adam was paying. Still took the MMs back as they were four quid and the equivalent of two bags that cost fifty pence a piece. But, people keep paying the prices so I guess the Multiplex's will continue to extort money from all cinema goers and not a word will be said. People, stop buying the stuff. It's the only way. Or, if you have one, support a more local one screen cinema. Like The Hyde Park: They let you take your own stuff in for a start and you know what it is thriving. Just got to wait a couple of months before all the big films get there that's all. By which time they are probably on DVD so it does not matter about being able to take in your own stuff. Bah! Encapsulates human nature this. If a company can take advantage of the masses they probably will.

Yesterday British Gas hiked up their prices by 40 per cent and immediately put one and half million people in what they call "fuel poverty". Today they recorded half yearly profits of £1 Billion. Of course neither, according to British Gas, their fault. They say they have had to raise prices because they do not have enough storage space for winter supplies and that the £1 Billion is used on investing in the infrastructure. It occurs to me that maybe they should have spent some of the billions of profits made over the years on storage then. There, I have solved the problem and not a bonus payment in excess of a £1 million in sight. I should really be the CEO of British Gas. Hell I would like his job for just an hour. I mean the £5000 for the hours work would come in really handy to pay my fuel bill. Just in case I was exaggerating on the £5000 per hour he is paid. Apparently the web is not a place where you have freedom of speech nowadays. But that is another entry.

It seems clear to me that energy is going to be the new fuse to war and revolution. After all they tell us it is running out, or we need to use less to save the planet. Both excellent little wheezes to stick up the price of a barrel of oil. No wonder Shell are making hay whilst the sun shines. Another company, allergy hard pressed by the rise in oil prices. So hard pressed they have just presented their best profit figures in years. Any government with a bit of gumption would seize all their profits and give it to the people they have taken it from by to all intents and purposes stealth. I did ask myself am I over simplifying this issue. In truth I probably am. But when revolt is in the air issues are simplified and that is why I think that we are heading for a turbulent time in terms of civil order. Joe Public will see huge profits balanced around a declining of quality of life. And Joe Public will only put up with it for so long. Or would have done had we not turned into a passive society. Except not all society is passive. Look at the accumulation of stabbings lately. The younger generation are killing themselves we are told. Wonder how long it will be before the penny drops and they realise they are fighting the wrong enemy? Not long I'll wager.

Have a nice summer because it seems that it is going to be a long hard winter. However, I can guarantee that nobody will have their electricity disconnected. Well not in the UK anyway. If you cannot pay your bill you will be installed with a wonderful pre-payment meter. Then the CEOs of the energy companies whilst snug in their energy laden homes can say that nobody is in fuel poverty because nobody has been disconnected. But, you pay top whack in terms of prices if you have a meter, indeed sometimes as much as forty per cent more than those who pay by direct debit. Crazy I know. So, watch out for a rise in domestic fires for those who have not fed the meter. Hands up all those who want to come to an island with me to get away from all this.

It seems that the busiest months for a photographer are going to be June, July and August. Still not making a fortune from it: Indeed, only just keep my head above water, but people are now asking me to take pictures of them,rather than the other way around. I guess that you can call that progress. I also have twenty odd pictures hanging up in a pub in Leeds as part of an Hall of Fame exhibition. Been published in a few magazines. The best one Insomnia can be found at http://www.insomnia-media.com/files/Insomnia_Ezine_issue_2.pdf. But is the model work that has come my way that has been keep me busy. That and the rather sad news that an aunt of mind has a brain tumour - or as mum wrote it a "Brian tumour". She does not get on with her sister for such reasons that are too complex to go into here. She has therefore been torturing herself with whether she should go see her in hospital. I have simply advised her that she has to decide if the feeling s she has now for her sister will be replaced with regret for her her lifetime if she does not.

Other than the photography I am not doing very much: But that said I have now, courtesy of Adam, got Adobe Lightroom which has helped my work flow no end. I can now edit pictures in hours rather than days and when you are shooting two jobs a day that is very useful. It means that it will give me time to start writing here on Live Journal again. Thanks to all of you who have kept me on your friends list. I have been managing the odd read of your entries. If anything drastic has happened do let me know as I will be sticking around here.

I have also won a place at a gallery in Leeds with a portrait. Below the cut are two of the entries. As a little time filler can you guess which is in the exhibition to be held in Leeds from 14th August? (sorry they are so big)

( And The Winner is........? )

I am angry at three things. Adam says this is a sign of becoming a grumpy old man. However, I see it as a sign that maybe things are getting worse. I am not with the erstwhile tabloid The Sun in saying that Britain is Broken. However, it is on it's way to needing substantial repair. Still when it is eventually broken we can always go swimming for free and buy cigarettes from under the counter. Incidentally, I have never heard anything so stupid as that in terms of stopping people from taking up smoking. Things from "under the counter" have a sense of naughtiness and increases the temptation rather than removing it. Indeed, it will add a thrill. Look if you want to put kids off of cigarettes make them smoke twenty Woodbines till they are sick. It worked with my mum and I wish my dad had done the same to me when he found out that I had started smoking and taking the odd sly one from his packet. Anyhow that is not what has annoyed me.

On Thursday night, returning from a gig job I chanced to spy a sprightly young thing waiting at the opposite bus stop. She was all of fourteen, maybe fifteen, and drunk as a skunk (wonder why we bedevil the poor old skunk as being drunk?). She then asked every passing stranger for a cigarette and spat at them when they failed to respond with one. Nice girl don't you think. Then she became even more abusive, eventually pushing a fellow in the chest after he had asked her to calm down. Not an everyday occurrence, or every night one really. Except if I work on a gig every night I do see this type of thing once or twice a week. The thing that annoyed me, and other bystanders so much was that watching all this going on were two police vans. A few people actually went up to them to point out the disturbance they were viewing. Shaking their heads incredulously as nothing was done. The thought had occurred to them, as it did me, was what if her next stage of disturbance involved more violence or a knife? I take it they would have done something by then. Which of course is bad news if you were going to be the stabbee. But good news if you like spitting at people and making a general nuisance of yourself. Get on with it would seem to be the message here. Adam argued the following day that it was all down to paperwork and taking police off the streets had the police dealt with it. I made the point that it is the reason that no action is taken against this "low level" stuff that we now have a situation where "high level stuff" could becoming the norm.

To compound the feeling there were two stories in the press the following day, yesterday as it were. An eighteen year old girl on her way home from work one night when she was set upon by a couple for no apparent reason other than she was there. They stamped on her head, broke her jaw and a few ribs. Left her scared to go out so she has had to pack her job in. She was even more frightened when the sentence for the two culprits was announced. 140 days community service. The culprits smiled as they left court. After all they had got a result! Wonder how many days they will get next time? Maybe they will not be a next time. But maybe there will. But less chance of one if they had been locked up rather than have a slap on the wrist. And it would also seem that you can get a discount on your prison sentence anyway as long as the judge deems the injuries not to be life threatening. The victim may never be able to see properly again and have to walk with a limp for the rest of his life but apparently that is not taken into account. How else can you explain the judge in Leeds shortening the sentence for a man who beat and kicked a man in the head repeatedly for "giving him a look". These two cases just send out the wrong message. It says we will put up with low level stuff. And give you a second chance. Trouble is the victims of crime have no second chance.

By the way. Anybody seen 28 Days Later? Did you know it was all based on "concentration imaginary"? A tool essentially to remind us all of concentration camps. Well you know now. And you will know even more after thirty thousand pounds has been spent on the research. I am not quibbling at that, but quibbling at the supervisor who in defence of the PhD student said "Concentration camps have nothing to do with the holocaust"

Tonight I'm photographing Adam and The Ants: well a tribute to them anyway. Watch out for pictures and see if you can tell they were taken in 2008 rather than the 1980s.

Yikes! I did not mean to post this here but in a group journal. Ah well.. This is actually part of a project I am doing for the Leeds Art Fair in 2009. I hope to sell a framed one for £100 as that seemed to be the going rate for photographic art. Janis - a Greek artist I am working with - was "Newcomer of 2008" and she has challenged me to be "Newcomer of 2009". She is on the judging panel so........

( Motion...... )

Here is the picture that you could not see......



Hope you can see it now:

For the last three nights I have been covering a Goth/Industrial/Alternative festival called Woolstock. This is held at a club in Leeds called The SubCulture (some of you know it). It is not a big place. Indeed, look at your living room divide by half and that is about the size of it. So imagine 150 people in your living room with a band blasting out songs with title such as "Britain Is A Cesspit And We Are All Going To Die Unless We Kill Tony Blair" - I assume that this will be updated soon - a splendid piece of industrial electronica by a band called something or other. But you get the picture. Anyway had a great time clicking away both bands and attendants at the festival. I like this sort of thing  mainly because of two things. The bands bend over backwards to help and are appreciative of your efforts. And the crowd are some of the most genuine people you could wish to meet. They dress, some of them, extravagantly. Some simply, some dress differently. But if there was ever a case of do not judge a book by it's cover it is at places like this. So I have a from the festival about three hundred terrific pictures. Four of which are going in a magazine called Insomnia (two of which are below this cut.......

( Insomnia...... Uninvited Guest and Spares )
I was almost chatted up too. By a "Lolita". She informed me that she was a "Lolita" because - and I quote here so forgive the language - "I only fuck men older than my dad. People like you"
"How old is your dad?"
"Forty-two"
Now I know I fall into the category of being older than her dad, but not really my scene, though she was beautiful.
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen"
"Ah you see it wouldn't work because I can never sleep with anyone younger than my son" I told her. This is indeed true. Adam has promised never to sleep with a woman my age or older and I have promised never to sleep with a girl his age or younger. But she is going to pose for me.

I am now having a night in to recharge the batteries. I have two model shoots over the coming days and a gig shoot on Thursday with the UK's answer to Evanescence. A band from Bradford called Esoterik, who are excellent and just been on tour with Wednesday 13. On Saturday I am shooting an Adam and the Ants tribute band. I am also looking forward hugely to Sunday morning when I shoot an idea I've been cogitating over for the past couple of months plus I have to decide which pictures to put in my new Gothic/Industrial./Alternative Music Portfolio. Bust busy, so forgive the lack of comments though I am reading!

Good morning everybody, or at least everybody who reads this. Some exciting news. I have been abroad as you can see from the picture below



Actually I am telling a fib. No this is not some far flung place of Asia Minor (whatever happened to Asia Major by the way?) but is actually Leeds Town Hall on Thursday night as I was going to a gig. Would appreciate comments on it because the really exciting news is......waits for the fanfare of trumpets to die down........pauses and builds up tension.............

The really exciting news is I am going to have an exhibition of my work in August at a gallery in Leeds. Whether this will be one of them I do not know yet. I am trying to sell the photographs too and I guess I can see this hanging up in front of somebody's fireplace. Indeed, I might have two exhibitions. I'm not sure about one in May. I want to do something for Oxjam and I am planning doing an exhibition and sale of my gig photography. Hopefully it will involve Live At Leeds which sees eighty bands playing at ten venues throughout the first weekend in May. So I am hoping to get The Pigeon Detectives and maybe The Kaiser Chiefs and Kate Nash involved. It would be a great project if it came off. Will let you know. The August one is almost definite so please all come if you possibly can.

I am up early as essentially this is the only time I am going to be on-line today. I will be taking pictures from 8am through to midnight today. First port of call for the camera is me is Adams work. He is going to be dressed an a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It will be worth seeing. Then it is a benefit gig. I am also working on an entry for a competition called Canon European Photographer of The Year. I am working in conjunction with a Greek artist called Janis. I'll be entering the portrait section but with portraits that are more based on a paparazzi rather than Cartier-Bresson style. All very exciting stuff and to top it all in two or three weeks time my PPI will be through so I may be working weddings too. I hope so. I need the money for bills and outstanding debts.

Sorry about not putting the picture under a cut............

The end of a busy week and a start of another one. However, I doubt whether this week will be as interesting and as varied as last week. From straightforward portraits to Rugby League in a hailstorm and the rather macabre. I say macabre, maybe it is the wrong word but if devil worship floats your boat then Devil Electro Metal might just be for you. It certainly presents some great photographic opportunities that's for sure. On Friday I photographed an Italian band called Alien Vampires. I was expecting a sort of harder Evanescence as that is the impression given on their web site. Two guys and a rather striking lady. What I got was three guys, one form Camden (or was that Vampden?) but now relocated to Rome. All dressed as Vampires (that bit I guessed). Nice guys as I spent several hours with them but once they hit the stage well they became possessed. I have to say that their music was repetitive and a bit of a dirge and in Italian but I gather their latest single is called I Fuck Nuns, not I Fucked Nouns as is what the English version sounded. You have probably not heard of Alien Vampires. However, they have a six figure record deal and are massive in Eastern Europe, particularly Serbia apparently.

I am not supposed to release any photographs but below the cut is a rather large on of the lead vocalist, I would say singer but imagine a rather angrier version of Reagan from The Exorcist and that will give you an idea of the sound he made

( Don't Let Kids See This It Will Give Them Nightmares..... )

The good thing is that the record company are interested in the pictures I took. As I say I cannot show you more without permission. I have 150 good ones that I am offering the rights to. Not sure what to charge though. I'm thinking at pitching at £10 per picture. I will have to research into the prices I guess. Funny what sells and what gets published. I am hoping to do more soon. The UK promotion company for these types of bands are impressed. So who knows where this may lead. Incidentally, Alien Vampires sell more records in Italy than Leona Lewis!

I was almost published on Friday. I managed to get a great set of pictures of the demolition of the flats I have been photographing for the last six months. The local evening paper was due to put them on page 2 until they were pulled because of a "bigger" story. The same thing happened on Saturday too. It is now old news and maybe will not be published. The bigger story? The Shannon Matthews story. The girl that was abducted and found 24 days later in the draw of a bed at the uncle of her step-father, who has now been remanded in custody for the possession of child pornography. Shannon's mum then dumped him. This was the story that got my pictures pulled. Then two of her aunts were arrested, which shunted the pictures on Saturday. I doubt whether they will be published today as now her mother has been arrested under suspicion of "perverting the course of justice". Still with it? Well it seems that Shannon on the day of her disappearance was due to be taken into care by social services because of alleged child abuse. I have got this information from a policeman who is working on the case who is the son of one of my mum's friends. It seems that the whole of the abduction may have been set up. Wonder what is going to happen to her other six children?

Anyhow, that's my lot for now. Today I am photographing a piece of conceptual art.

So the government have decided to have a video games review after a report by Tanya Bryant. I guess this takes the spotlight from Gordon Brown telling us he will not boycott the Olympics in Bejing. As does the chaos at the new Heathrow Airport. Incidentally, we already having a video games rating system. So what is the bloody point? Look, of course kids should not have things that are age inappropriate. But they will get hold of them just as they did when I was younger. I was not supposed to hear The Beatles "I Am A Walrus" because I was only twelve and mentioned "You let your knockers down". Dad took the seven inch vinyl and threw it into the street calling it "filth". For one minute I thought the record player was going with it too. And would have if mum had not stopped him by asking how she was going to listen to her Tony Bennett records. But the point of this story is that it is parents who should be responsible. The majority are. I do not see the sense in making laws to deal with the minority.

I know the murder of a girl simply because she dressed as a goth has touched somebody on my friends list deeply. One of the cowards responsible was today found guilty of murder. No sentencing has been announced yet. However, listening to the news reports and the destruction this cowardly act has brought to many a life I hope that they throw away the key. They won't of course. I still believe that whilst our justice system is strong sentencing simply is not. And I still cannot see why they should have any right to the possibility of starting a life outside prison again. Not at least until the time when the life they ended could have ended naturally. Approximately seventy years in this case.

I should be working on some pictures right now. However, I decided to have a look at some I took for fun. I was waiting for Adam last night and took the selection below the cut. I just thought the composition and lighting was interesting enough. Let me know what you think.

( Home Time )