Pink Sauce

Knowing that despite the staggering seven million copies printed, not everyone would have been able to see it, French blogger Antoine Léaument has kindly shared the editorial published by Charlie Hebdo in its issue following the terror attacks last week. With a similar aim of getting as many people as possible to read the piece, I have produced a rough and ready English translation of said editorial that you can read below. I attended two of the gatherings that took place in London (on 07th and 11th January) to show solidarity with the victims. My pictures of the events are here and here . You can make a donation to Charlie Hebdo here . Will there still be "yes, buts"? Charlie Hebdo Editorial, No. 1178 of January 14, 2015 For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has performed more miracles than all the saints and prophets combined. What we are most proud of is that you have in your hands the paper we have always made in the company of those who have a...

Impressions. My pictures of Brussels can be found on flickr  here . Due to a some problem when coming back from a trip to Paris on the Eurostar, I had been given 50% off on another trip and rather than returning to Paris, I thought I would use it to go to Brussels where I had never been. I had been warned that Brussels is not a particularly pretty city. My expectations were therefore not very high, further dampened by the forecast of rain. Thankfully that rain never materialised and I was lucky to have very sunny, unseasonably hot, weather. It seems however true that Bruxelles is not the best looking of cities. The commentary on the bus tours I took extolled the merits of the city as the once capital of the second richest empire on earth, now the modern international centre of the economic and political union of over 500 million people. But, with the exceptions of a few pockets dispersed throughout the city centre, it lacks the grandeur you would expect from such a p...

I started writing this a question on the Facebook group of my photography group and it seemed to turned into something much longer, so I decided to post it here too.  Those of you based in the UK will probably have heard of the Women Who Eat on the Tube furore that's slowly leaked from social media into the mainstream news cycle. I think this raises some questions for those of us with an interest in street photography (whether just passing or more serious).  This morning the guy behind the idea was on Today defending his actions as an innocuous personal art project victim of its own success. The consensus among the critics seems to be that the whole thing is sexist and just another way for chauvinists to shame women.  Although I can see that specifically "targeting" women can be seen as a little suspicious, my understanding is that it was mostly the later (once the thing (started in 2011) got some traction) comments on those pictures that did the shaming....

I managed to get a press pass for Pride London again this year. This gave me access to a loo in a nearby hotel at the end of the parade(!) but more importantly to the pit at the front of the main stage where my arms got thoroughly burned by an unusual appearance from the sun. The dwindling number of fundamentalists protesting the parade (there weren't even 20 of them this year!) would probably remind me that that's one gets from pride: the burns of hellfire... I'm glad to report that no debacle like that of last year with Boy George took place this year and that the artistes with whom I shared my images on Twitter have been very gracious about it. Some have even asked for permission to use the images. On Sunday, to finish a gay old week-end in style, I was at Tate Britain for Queer Britannia , a mellow and relaxing tour of the newly hung galleries, highlighting some of the gay-friendly pieces on display. Again pictures were taken... ( full flickr set ) Full Pride se...

Saturday marks the opening of an exhibition organised by Foyles and the Gay Photographers Network. It will showcase the works of some of the GPN's members around the themes of Literary London, Travel, Love and Marriage and Mind, Body and Soul. I'm very proud to be among those whose images will be featured. As I also have an image in a show celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Pink Singers , this marks the fourth exhibition in which my work has been displayed. And I have more plans for later in the year... So if you find yourselves in Charing Cross Road in the next five weeks, drag yourselves to the gallery on the 3rd floor and (hopefully) enjoy our works. On your way down, you can stop at the cafe for a nice sit down and a cuppa and enjoy a few more works from some of our members. Beyond Words Gallery at Foyles, Charing Cross Road 29 June to 03 August Admission free more info: here and here .

The latest photowalk organised by the Gay Photographers Network was at Kew Gardens. I had been some years ago but the location (not really close from my patch) and the entrance fee had prevented me from returning. I must also confess to not being that excited by plants and trees... I had my fill as a kid, I suppose. As we got there it was raining which didn't bode too well for the next few hours. We took shelter in the sweltering atmosphere of the Palm House and thankfully the weather soon started to clear to finally offer a glorious afternoon. The rest of the day, punctuated by a well deserved and most welcome cup of tea with cake, went on without problem, taking us from the waterlily house to the treetops walk and the formal gardens of Kew Palace. My images can be viewed on flickr here .

You know how Facebook has decided to include "sponsored posts" to your timeline, advertising things you don't need or already have? Well, recently one of those adverts (let's call a spade a spade), actually turned out to be of interest. Sony is launching a new compact camera and to mark the occasion were inviting people to sign up to attend an event on the 31st floor of Centre Point. The highest building in the West End. Called the Viewing Tower, this was an opportunity to test the ultra powerful zoom of the new camera. And of course an great opportunity to whip out our own cameras. The weather was good for most of the time, though sadly it all clouded over later in the evening, anihilating any chance of a sunset and we got busy. My images can be viewed on flickr here .

It's been a couple of weeks now. Almost every day I see people on the roof of a building I know to be broaded up. And of course, I want to get on that roof too. I made a first attempt on Sunday but unfortunately couldn't find access. In desperation, I decided to email JB , who specialises in shooting London from the rooftops . Perhaps he would have an idea on how to get there. I met JB at the meeting of my photo group where he persented his work. I chatted to him afterwards and offered a couple of leads of possible places I could use for future shoots. JB kindly offered to meet up to try and find out a way. First we went to a nearby building and took a few shots from there before having a walk around the Heygate estate. Finally we managed to find hidden access and found ourselves on the roof just in time for sunset. We weren't alone there. Street artists were at work already and other visitors joined us later. It is clearly a popular spot. That's how I spent an...

The demolition of the Heygate Estate is apparently soon to begin. Technically it already has, with phase 1 of the project, at the far south east of the site, already flattened for some months. I'm talking about the main building, those big looming slabs of concrete that delimit the site. First they will start by the buildings south of Heygate Street. That should happen by the end of this year. Within 3 years, it should all have gone. In the meantime, street artists are taking over the place with Southwark Council desparately and ineffectively wasting paint and money to try and keep everything a uniform grey. Urban gardeners, photographers and parkour adepts are also at it and the place though decrepit still welcomes a surprising amount of activity. Goaded by the sight of people on one of the rooftop, I made my third proper visit to the site yesterday. Sadly, I couldn't figure out how to access that rooftop but I got a few nice shots. Yesterday's images can be viewed...

Gaydar's new Find Him feature Apps for smart phones have become all the rage, we all know that. You can get one for just about anything. And while they are an effective tool to reach customers for any brand wanting to appear modern, they do present a big problem for developers and to a point for users: The need to comply with whatever rules the owner of the shop/OS carrying your app decides to impose on content and format. There are also fears that apps could lead to a ghettoisation of the Web, where it is no longer possible to move easily from one platform to another. From a gay user's perspective, perhaps the most obvious manifestation of those restrictions on content, are the policies on levels of nudity allowed in geolocated "dating" apps; policies, the implementation of which has been known to be patchy and inconsistant, not to mention, for the developer, (no doubt) costly to enforce and police. It is therefore interesting and perhaps not altogether surp...

VPT. Very Personal Trainer. That's how they call personal trainers at Gymbox, a slightly pretentious chain gyms, a branch of which I joined in October after an office move. They are not cheap and boast inspiration from the club culture for the decoration (they even have resident DJs) but they were the closest to the new office and the equipments are quite good, I have to admit. I must have been going to gyms for close to 20 years now (with mixed results, as we know) but I've never had a PT, let alone a VPT. I had never really felt the need. Recently however, with my body apparently finally willing to show signs of reacting to what I was doing to it in the weight room, I started to feel the need for some help to get better results faster. As luck would have it, two weeks ago, a new contingent of VPTs was unleashed on the unsuspecting members of my gym, all smiles and bulging pecs, hungry to build a client list. Within a week, I attracted the attentions of not one but two p...

At the beginning of December, I learned via Twitter that the owners of the Shard , the EU's tallest building which has recently being completed, had donated 4000 tickets to access The View from the Shard , the viewing galleries on the 68th and 72nd floors of the giant to Southwark residents. All we had to do was go to our local library with proof of residence and collect our tickets. I did and this Saturday, a week before the viewing galleries open to the public, I got to admire the views over London. Luckily, after a week of snow, the weather had turn to a more sunny disposition and we were treated to the extra spectacle of window cleaners abseiling the southern side of the building and playing to the gallery. As can be expected the views over London are unparalleled and my worry, based on the pictures I had seen so far, that we may end up being too high and therefore at the wrong angle were unfounded. From the entrance on Joiner Street, we queued to have our bags scanned a...

Last night, The news that Instagram has decided to assume ownership of the content generated by its users with the view of possibly selling it on and make money from it spread through Facebook and Twitter like wild fire. The change to the terms of use of the popular instant photography app took place very discreetly (if one excepts the online backlash already brewing). As a user I wasn't even aware that any change had occurred. And there is no option to opt out other than by deleting your account . We have kindly been given a month's notice to decide. Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, implementing a strategy familiar to its new parent company, is, it seems, already backpedaling, telling the BBC that "the updated policy will not change how it handles photo ownership or who is able to see a user's pictures". It's apparently all to do with better Facebook integration. As far as I am concerned the damage is done, though, and I have decided to leave ...

During the summer I stumbled on a photographic exhibition installed over the 21 floors of an empty office block in Vauxhall. I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to the exhibition so focused was I on the fabulous views of London I had been given access to. I was lucky to have my camera with me, and of course I took loads of pictures . Having visited the website of the exhibition's organisers, I had discovered that they would be back with a different set of images in December and so, thinking this was too good an opportunity to miss, and despite not knowing if the set up would be similar, I decided to take the chance and bring a model with me for a spot of guerrilla photography. Ross had never modelled before and was introduced to me by Mark , one of my previous victims, but he took to it like a fish to water. He's even asked for more, so watch this space. We did get access to the top floor and the views, and it was a beautiful, light day out there, but we cou...

This afternoon, thanks to a friend's generosity, I went to see the William Klein + Daido Moriyama exhibition currently being shown at Tate Modern. As the photographer I am striving to become, I found what I saw very thought provoking.  I was totally ignorant of either artist before entering the rooms of the exhibition and I only recognised one image of all those that where on display, yet I didn't find myself in totally unfamiliar territory. Perhaps due to the influence that those two photographers have had on our modern visual landscape, I found myself pointing out the Instagram-like qualities of several decade-old pictures. I was also pleasantly surprised to look at images, the sisters of which, by virtue of their subjects and compositions, adorn my flickr photostream . I am currently at a point where, trying to take a more serious approach to photography, I am strongly questioning the quality of my output. A few of my pictures are reasonably good but I feel that ...

Firmly blaming the Gay Photographers Network (GPN), I recently took the step of buying a lighting kit to be able to do my own studio work at home. The kit includes three lights and ancillary paraphernalia (softboxes, barn doors, umbrellas, trigger, gels). I'll probably have to spend more money on some sort of background. The white sheet I am currently using is not ideal. This week, after doing a few test on myself and other similarly boring objects, I had my first session with a live model. Bruno is a fellow photographer I met at the last GPN meeting. During that meeting, I was intrigued by the way the light had been playing with his features, in a way similar to the picture above, so when he mentioned that he'd be willing to let me shoot him, I jump at the opportunity. Aside from the image above I had another concept in mind for him: wrapping part of my background around his head. I am not totally happy with the result but Bruno's lovely smile makes up for the othe...

Below is a non-edited version of my first comment piece for Gay Star News. Just like in the UK, marriage equality features high up on the news agenda in France. And like in the UK, the most vocal voices against equality come from the right and usually with a religious flavoring. From the fringes of the main conservative party, Sarkozy's UMP, there have been various mentions of paedophilia, incest or zoophilia as possible consequences of a change in the law. Brigitte Barèges, Christian Vanneste and François Lebel are the main culprits here. A handful of Mayors have warned that they would disobey the law if it passes, and refuse to perform same-sex ceremonies. Christine Boutin, who had already distinguished herself by the virulence of her homophobia during the parliamentary debates on PACS in 1999, has called for a referendum on the subject. So far so sadly familiar. Religious leaders have, of course, also made themselves heard, none more vocally than the Catholic Archbish...

UPDATE : Since I wrote and published this, I have been made aware of the fact that things may not be quite as they have been reported in the press (and I saw several reports before taking to my keyboard). It's seems that Carey didn't quite say what everyone says he did . Of course much of what I argue below is still relevant but some of it is now also wrong. An amended version of the post reflecting the above has been published in PinkNews . Yesterday during a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party Conference, a 1000 or so Tory militants gathered to hear speakers vituperate against marriage equality, thus showing the world that, ten years on, Teresa May's Nasty Party is alive and well. Aside from David Burrowes, the backbench MP for Enfield Southgate, and former MP Ann Widdecombe, Lord Carey was at hand to share his views on the subject. And the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the once leader of the established Church of this country, could not resist getting on his...

On Saturday I found myself trying to make my way to Brighton and the studio of Manel Ortega for a photoshoot with my friend Steven. As last time , the trip was not the most straight forward but I finally made it more or less on time, even after missing my train. It took me longer to get to the station by bus than it would have walking there! Once we got started, things went very well indeed and Steven seem to enjoy himself a lot after the usual period of nerves. I got a good crop of very decent shots. However, for some reason due solely to my incompetence, lots of the shots turned out grainy. They look fine viewed in small sizes but not so good when you start blowing them up. I'll have to figure out what I did wrong there. On the whole, I am happy though. I think the images have moved a step or two further than those of previous shoots in terms of quality. I need to find more victims to sit for me now... The images can be viewed on Flickr, here .

The following piece appeared in PinkNews.co.uk and was later picked up by i . The Daily Mail, there’s a surprise, is leading the charge against Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg about the supposed “fury” at the use of the word “bigots” in a draft speech to describe opponents of marriage equality. The offending word has now been replaced by “some people”. The new version of the speech was delivered last night at a celebrity-studded event marking the end of the consultation on proposals to extend civil marriage to same-sex couples. Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is quoted in the Mail as saying that “many Christians and non-Christians […] will be highly offended to be called bigots” adding that they “should not be treated in such a way”. While he stops short of making his usual deluded claim that Christians are persecuted in the UK, this is clearly the subtext here. He also has the gall to claim that he is “totally for equality” while in the same breath saying that sam...