"What makes the perfect picture?"

On 24 November, I will be taking part in a talk hosted by The Team design agency at The Embassy Tea Gallery in Bankside. Together with two other photographers, I will be discussing the subject of 'What makes the perfect picture'. Very intriguing!

This is an invitation-only event. Please follow this link to go to The Team website and register if you would like to attend.

More information to follow closer to the date.

Making cymbals

While spending some time in Istanbul recently, I managed to get an invitation to Bosphorus Cymbals, one of the few companies that still manufacture cymbals in pretty much the same way they have been made in Turkey for centuries. 

Today’s big cymbal makers such as Zildjian, Paiste or Sabian churn out millions of cymbals a year and most of them are, at least partly, computer-designed and machine made. 

Not so here, where 15 trained cymbal makers create just 200 cymbals per week and each one of them is completely handcrafted. Once the copper-tin metal mixture has been cast into blanks, these are rolled through machines that vaguely resemble printing presses, the metal sheets are hand-hammered into shape. Finally some cymbals are lathed to give them their final thickness (others remain un-lathed for a drier sound and rougher look).

It’s hard to believe – but visually very attractive – that these high-quality instrument are made in a shack on the outskirts of Istanbul that resembles a medival blacksmith’s workshop. What’s even more astonishing is the fact that not one of the people working here is a musician, let alone a drummer.

More photos can be found here.

Election 2015: Do people's hustings put voters back in control?

Some of my photos in this BBC News article.

More interviews

I talked to Jonathan Fitter, who speaks about the Israel-Palestine conflict at Speakers' Corner. Jonathan is busking for a living, playing the tin whistle.

I've also met up with Steve Same, the Christian Cowboy, who has been preaching at Speakers Corner since 1992. I spoke with him at a the 'London Outreach Centre', a pub he and his wife Tina converted in Rotherhithe.

Both interviews will hopefully end up in the book.

Global Chorus

About two years ago, Maren and I were approached by Todd McLean, a musician and journalist from Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Todd asked us the following question:

“Do you think that humanity can find a way past the current global environmental and social crises? Will we be able to create the conditions necessary for our own survival, as well as that of other species on the planet? What would these conditions look like? In summary, then, and in the plainest of terms, do we have hope, and can we do it?”

Our answer to this question, together with those from Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and some other slightly more famous people than us can be found in the book Global Chorus that came out last October and is now available in good bookshops everywhere.

Interview with Martin Besserman

Another interview for the Serious Conviction project. Last night I spoke with Martin Besserman, another Speakers Corner veteran who also runs the Monkey Business Comedy Club in Camden.

Heiko Khoo interview

Last Sunday, I interviewed Heiko Khoo after his speech at Speakers’ Corner. Heiko has been a regular at Speaker’s Corner for almost 30 years and always manages to draw a sizeable crowd. He also runs the website speakerscorner.net and runs a regular radio show on Resonance FM.

I hope to be using some of this conversation in the context of a Serious Conviction book and/or exhibition next year.