Print Above: James Kristian, Soho, London, 07.05.09. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.
I’m now on Twitpic. I’m going to use this more for personal images and post them via my phone. The first three images are of my good friend, the actor, James Kristian and I having lunch yesterday. Some of you may remember James as Allen from the Channel 4 series As If a few years back.
Publication: Adrenalin Magazine, Pages 98 & 99, Issue Six, 2001.
EIGHT YEARS ago I was a contributing photographer for the surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding magazine Adrenalin. The editor at the time, Michael Fordham, had me in the office one day to talk about a story on public and private space in an urban context.
The week before I had been shooting a group of skaters around Canary Wharf (private land), when one of them was arrested by the police and later charged with criminal damage and fined, for skating.
Below and above are the tear sheets from the story, which we called Prohibition, Michael (aka Gabriel Drake) did the words and I did the pictures, plus we added some quotes from City of Quartz by Mike Davis*.
“The physical space of most American and some European cities is becoming privatised. And in the process of this privatisation, deviants who defy defensive architecture are prohibited, demonised and excluded. A class war is being fought, at the level of space. Along with this recapitulation of space goes an extensive iconography; a semiotics of exclusion which is spreading…”*
“Design deterrents: the barrel shaped bus benches, overhead sprinkler systems, and locked, caged trash bins. The Mall as Panopticon. Recapturing the poor as consumers while benefiting from municipal subsidisation with a comprehensive security-oriented design and management strategy. High perimeter fences, video cameras lined to motion detectors, a handful of gated and monitored entry points, a security observatory and a police substation…”*
“Use of permanent barricades around neighbourhoods in denser, lower-income neighbourhoods, The transformation of the police force into an operator of security macrosystems (major crime databases, aerial surveillance, jail systems, paramilitary responses to terrorism and street insurgency, and so on, in part because the private-sector has captured many of the labor-intensive security roles.”*
“Fear proves itself. The social perception of threat becomes a function of the security mobilisation itself, not crime rates. Moreover, the neo-military syntax of contemporary architecture insinuates violence and conjures imaginary dangers, while being full of invisible sighs warning off the underclass other.”*
I shot the pictures in America, Australia and the UK and at the time I was still shooting on film.
Plus, this documentary film made by Winstan Whitter is well worth taking a look at. It was made last year in response to the uncertain future of the undercroft skateboarding area on London’s southbank.
Publication: Adrenalin Magazine, Pages 100 & 101, Issue Six, 2001.
Here is a slideshow of images of the May Day street party from outside the Bank of England. The flash mob style protest, was organized by the Space Hijackers, a group of anarchists, who are oppose to the way that public space* is being replaced by corporate space.
Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing and print sales.
Click here to view more May Day images.
* A big thank you to Olly Zanetti for the link.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 01.05.09. Trade Unions and left groups mark May Day on 1 May 2009 in London, England. Trade unionists, workers from many international communities in London, anti-globalisation organisations, students, political bodies and many others congregated in Clerkenwell Green to march to Trafalgar Square for a rally. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.
Link : Click here to view more images.
I covered two May Day protests yesterday, the first one was organized by the trade unions and started at Clerkenwell Green to march to Trafalgar Square for a rally. The second one was organized by the Space Hijackers outside the Bank of England.
Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. High resolution images are available on request.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 01.05.09. Anti-capitalist protesters congregate outside the Bank of England for a May Day street party on the Friday 1 May 2009 in London, England. The flash mob style protest, was organized by the Space Hijackers, a group of anarchists, who are oppose to the way that public space is being replaced by corporate space. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.
Link : Click here to view more images.
I’m now on Twitter. My aim is to update you on what I’m doing, be it in the office or on the street. So the next time something like this happens, you will get to read about it first here straight from the street!
Anti-Scientology Protest – (10.02.08), London, 2008.
One issue, three protests. Here are three Anti-Scientology Protest slideshows from last year. All images are available for rights managed editorial licensing plus printsales. Feel free to contact us for more info. Enjoy!
Anti-Scientology Protest – (10.05.08), London, 2008.
Anti-Scientology Protest – (14.06.08), London, 2008.
HOO, KENT, UNITED KINGDOM – 09.8.08. A young male protesters marches from the Camp for Climate Action camp site to Kingsnorth power station Hoo, Kent, England on Saturday 9th August 2008. The 2008 Camp for Climate Action is being held near Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. 2,000 campaigners marched on the Power Station with the aim to shut it down. (Photo Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.
Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. High resolution images are available on request.
Images: Camp for Climate Action – Mass Action Day – 09.08.08
Archive Link : www.archive.marcvallee.co.uk
HOO, KENT, UNITED KINGDOM – 07.8.08. A young at the Camp for Climate Action Hoo, Kent, England on Thursday 7th August 2008. The 2008 Camp for Climate Action is being held near Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. The week long camp is hosting hundreds of workshops on sustainable living and the politics of climate change. At least 2,000 campaigners are expected to take part in mass action to shut down the Kingsnorth power station. (Photo Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.
Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. High resolution images are available on request.
Images: Camp for Climate Action – Punk Boy – 07.08.08
Archive Link : www.archive.marcvallee.co.uk
HOO, KENT, UNITED KINGDOM – 06.8.08. A young man recycles a bottle at the Camp for Climate Action Hoo, Kent, England on Wednesday 6th August 2008. The 2008 Camp for Climate Action is being held near Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. The week long camp is hosting hundreds of workshops on sustainable living and the politics of climate change. At least 2,000 campaigners are expected to take part in mass action to shut down the Kingsnorth power station. (Photo Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.
Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. High resolution images are available on request.
Images: Camp for Climate Action – Recycling Youth – 06.08.08
Archive Link : www.archive.marcvallee.co.uk
The index page on the site has been updated with new images and quotes from Dennis Cooper and Scott Heim. The feedback has been positive so far which is all good.
Tomorrow I will be posting some very nice stuff from the French photographer and street artist JR.
