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Where Am I Going To Get A Copy Of Forbes Magazine At This Time Of Night ... Will Amateur Photographer Do ?
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland, captured in February 2025.
I made the mistake of reading the news this morning. An Internet meme from the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, came to mind. "Ah shit, here we go again!"
The self-proclaimed "president of peace" has bombed more countries than any other president and now attacked two sovereign nations with the expressed purpose of regime change.
The history of the United States of America interfering in foreign regime change is not exactly a good one. The risk of creating another power vacuum for extremist groups to rise up again, as happened in the aftermath of the US war against Iraq, is incredibly high.
From the speech that the "president of peace" made, it sounds like he expects the people of Iran to rise up and take power and that he has no plan to prevent a power vacuum from occurring. I hope that I am wrong. The people of Iran of endured enough suffering already!
Hope... that's all that I have left.
There is a famous expression in English: When the going gets tough, the tough get going – meaning when the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge. Sometimes, when we are in a tough situation, inspirational quote or saying can help us calm down and focus on what we need to do.
The proverb is attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy (1888-1969), the father of (U.S.) President John F. Kennedy. It was recently popularized by Billy Ocean's song 'When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going' . The saying is found in varying forms.
Brighton seafront 🇬🇧
31st July, 2019
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street and reportage photography from Glasgow, Scotland, captured with permission in March 2025.
Taken at a protest against punishing disability benefit cuts last year. Some of those cuts were shelved but some were not.
From today new claimants for LCWRA benefit will receive 49% less money. Bearing in mind that the benefit is already insufficient and leads to poverty - someone claiming today will get half the amount that would have been awarded yesterday for the exact same condition.
LCWRA stands for "Limited Capacity for Work or Work Related Activity". It is only awarded to those people with disabilities that have been determined to be so severe that they are not expected to work or seek employment. The Labour Government thinks that cutting this benefit in half will incentivise people into work. People that, by definition, are unable to work!
Don't think this won't affect you either. Most people will become disabled at some point in their lives. In fact, it is a vulnerable group that you can join at any time. You are only one accident or illness away from needing this vital societal safety net.
Care now before you need it. Speak up now before it affects you. Make a lot of noise about it. Let politicians know that cutting benefits in half for the most vulnerable will result in extreme poverty and death.
Disabled people are not "useless eaters" as the far right would have you believe. They are people. They are your friends. They are your family. They may be you.
Before I became disabled I had a career, mortgage, car and expendable income. I didn't expect it to happen to me. I didn't expect my disabilities to worsen either. Looking at these shots from last year, when I already had Long COVID, I could expend twice the effort for half of the cost in pain and fatigue. Deterioration on both fronts. I miss my abilities from then and I was already disabled.
Cutting essential benefits to the most vulnerable in society is despicably cruel and unnecessary.
Of course, this is a government that allows COVID to continue to repeatedly infect people and cause rising levels of disability. Rising disability levels that have driven their move to bring in these cuts. A crisis of their own making. We are the victims of this short sighted inanity.
So, my Flickr friends, please speak up and care for disabled people. Let your politicians know that a civil society protects its most vulnerable because we are all just one accident or illness away from being vulnerable ourselves.
Take care.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Photojournalism from an Anti-Trump demonstration in George Square, Glasgow, in July 2018.
Glaswegians going all out on the signs, I thought this was a particularly poignant juxtaposition at the time.
I hate to post politics here on Flickr and I am not sharing my political views. I am, however, expressing my humanity, empathy, compassion and understanding of science.
We have the President of the USA tearing up and deleting peer reviewed science on sex, gender, reproductive medicine, vaccines, cancer research and climate science.
They burned the books in 1933.
Now we have the President of the USA openly talking about the removal and relocation of millions of people, from their homeland, with no challenge from our mainstream media and Netanyahu sitting beside him smiling. A war crime. Ethnic cleansing. Completely unchallenged.
If you ever wonder how the world watched and waited for Adolf Hitler to tear up the borders across Europe and commit atrocities against millions of people, then open your eyes and ears right now.
The mainstream media are ignoring a great number of desperately important issues right now because it doesn't suit the narrative of their billionaire owners and manipulators. Ignoring the rise of fascism is just the latest of their complicity.
Again, I post this simply because I care. I care about us, humans, our world, our survival and our place in the universe.
Hate only ever leads to suffering.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Reportage street shot from a Disabled People Against Cuts protest outside of the Ministry of Defence building in Glasgow, Scotland, on 26th March 2025.
I think it's fair to say that the true measure of a society is on how it treats it's most vulnerable people.
Bearing in mind that any one of us can become disabled at any time through no fault of our own. The societal safety net that we all pay into during our lives is there for that very reason. To care for us if or when we are unable to care for ourselves.
We therefore owe it to ourselves to fight these welfare cuts, to put pressure on our MPs to vote against the changes. Don't just think about it, do it, let them know because one day it could be you that needs to depend upon them for survival.
Take care.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street and reportage photography from Glasgow, Scotland.
Captured in April 2019, this young person was counter protesting, amongst others, to a group who were holding an 'anti abortion' rally in George Square, Glasgow.
Yesterday the United Kingdom Government were praising the brave protests by Russian people in Russia. Anti war protests all across Russian cities were resulting in people being arrested and facing up to 5 years in prison. At the same time the United Kingdom Government voted through a new Police and Crime Bill which will remove our own democratic right to protest. It would see anything deemed as 'noisy protest' being given prison sentences of up to 10 years. Let that sink in.
Make no mistake that such a bill is an affront to the democratic right to protest. Protest is essential in a free and fair democracy. Without protest you have an autocracy that can further remove your rights and freedoms and you will have no power to demand otherwise.
We now, once again, rely on the House of Lords, an unelected body, to vote down the bill in order to preserve our democracy. The irony of this is not lost on me.
The world is seeing attacks on democracy from autocrats and dictators but also seeing attacks on democracy from within the very seat of democracy itself. Insanity abounds.
Stay safe my Flickr friends.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.
Previously unpublished shot from this day, 14th March, in 2016. Enjoy.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Captured at the September 2019 'Strike for Climate' march in Glasgow, Scotland. Thousands upon thousands gathered in George Square calling for urgent action to prevent irreversible climate disaster.
On the eve of #COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, this image feels as poignant as ever so I gave it a re-edit with a little bit of 'Photoshoppery' to remove a clipped sign from the edge of frame.
I wish that the pandemic was under better control in the UK and that it would be safer for me to be in the city to document the occasion - it is heart-breaking for me that I cannot be there. I do, however, have some suitable images for the event captured over the past few years.
I can but hope that "fine words turn into even finer actions" from the world leaders. I can, however, make personal changes that, if most of us took on board, would make a massive difference too. A lot of those changes I have already made.
COP26 is the last chance to keep the goal of 1.5C of temperature rise, above pre-industrial levels, alive. Every percentage of a degree matters. When it comes to temperature - small numbers make massive differences.
We are one species sharing one tiny blue oasis in the vastness of space. Earth is our home and we cannot live without her.
Stay safe.
I haven't been out of the earth's atmosphere to take this shot...it was taken out of a plane window on a low cost domestic flight somewhere between Coolangatta,Queensland and Sydney Australia!
I think the thick window added depth to the colour of the sky.
File: 2022002-0036
Cathedral Plaza, at the south end of High Street, Worcester, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. Sunday 6th March 2022, at around 2pm to 4pm.
About the photograph.
Those shots were in colour, I converted those two into black and white.
This photograph shows a man taking his turn to speak of his option on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is seen standing next to the Edward Elgar statue, at the Cathedral Plaza, the direction of the photograph is facing north.
The last time I attended a protest to try to do some photojournalism kind of photography, was back in 1987-89 during my college days.
Since then, been trying to get a job in photography or graphic design. Got married, started having kids, then got a divorce and became a very busy single parent and full-time carer. Now that my kids are older and left home, I’m free and independent, so I decided to try to get back into doing photography. I need to refresh my skills anyway.
In the first week of March, 2022, I heard that there was a planned protest in Worcester which is the nearest city, so the night before, I charged up my Nikon’s batteries, formatted the memory cards to make sure I have plenty of storage space left for more photos, and made sure my photography kit bag is ready.
On the afternoon of Sunday, I drove to Worcester, parked my car at the car park, and walked over to the Cathedral Plaza, which is where the protests were due to start. At that time (March 2022), the Knife Angel, a 27 feet tall sculpture made out of knives seized by the police, was on display.
As the 2pm start was approaching, more and more people arrived there, I would say there was around about between 50 to 75 people, or something like that. The protest was really more like a Speaker’s Corner kind of protest, with many people just standing around, rather than a march. At least 4 or 5 different guys took turns to speak out their statements, while some people held up their placards. There wasn’t much of a protest, but then again, it is because Worcester is a small city compared to other major cities where protests were taking part on massive scale.
I tried my best to do a photo-journalism kind of photography, I went around the crowd and took as many photos as I could. Those are just the few good photos I could find out of the approximately 400 photos I managed to take.
About the overall subject.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine started on the 24th of February 2022, and in a short space of time, many Europeans, Americans, mostly and mainly anyone of “Western” lifestyle, people living in free countries, with freedom of speech, of choice, of votes, many of them started taking to streets to protest against the Russian invasion.
There were so many signs in various languages, often advising that Russia should leave Ukraine, stop the war, Putin being a war criminal, and so on.
This protest that I attended to take the photos, was organised by the Worcester Trades Union Council, and was listed on the Stop the War Coalition website, under the No to War in Ukraine protests section. This was just one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of protests happening all around the world on Sunday 6th March, in respond to President Putin‘s decision to attack Ukraine.
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Excerpt from www.railwaycitytourism.com/murals.html#portfolio-a2e0757a...:
“Exit Strategy”
Artist: Sarah Van Pelt
Artwork: Digital Media
Location: St. Thomas Public Library, 153 Curtis Street, St. Thomas ON
Sarah jokingly refers to this piece as Elon's Escape (but she hopes he will have better luck than this poor astronaut in case of an apocalyptic event.) The artist channelled her early years for this illustration, as she grew up in a world of comic books and science fiction, and still loves both to this day. Much of her art is nature related, so this was an enjoyable deviation. While Sarah doesn't live in fear of an impending alien invasion, she does enjoy asking the question “What if?” Her imagination is inclined to jump down the rabbit hole whenever and wherever possible.
Excerpt from www.railwaycitytourism.com/murals.html#portfolio-09168cc6...:
“Current Affairs"
Artist: Deni Gauthier
Location: St. Thomas Public Library, 153 Curtis Street, St. Thomas ON
Well known and loved for his music and story telling around the world, Deni Gauthier started out as a visual artist. In fact, while he was building a career in music, his visual art skills often came to his families rescue during lean months in the early 2000’s. Now, rarely a painter, Deni still enjoys plying his skills to canvas and digital art when he’s not on tour.
The miniature mural project was organized by Sarah Van Pelt for the 2022 Track to the Future Mural Festival. She created a small scene with a 2” high figure of a photographer seated on a tiny cement bench, admiring tiny murals featuring the art from 11 local artists, herself included. They can be found at multiple locations around St. Thomas. A huge thanks goes to all of the participating artists and to all of the hosting locations.
London’s street artist, Loretto is fast becoming the new Banksy with with captions and satirical images of public figures.
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Captured at the derelict Admiralty facility near to Arrochar, Scotland, in March 2020.
The scene here is part of the Loch Long Torpedo Range where weapons testing took place from 1912 to 1986. Activity peaked during World War II with some 12,000 torpedoes being fired down the loch.
The memory is from me, a young girl at middle school, aged around 10 or 11 years:
It was early morning, a busy family morning with a non-orderly queue for the only toilet. It was amidst that normal routine getting washed, dressed, breakfasted, when the 'attack' started. A distant wailing began.
The wailing spread. A cacophony surrounded us, a nightmare of noise that you could hear in every World War II movie or documentary. This, however, was the early Eighties and the air raid sirens were supposed to herald four minutes of last goodbyes, the piling up of mattresses in a hallway and preparing name tags for any 'dead' relatives. *(Protect and Survive)
I had seen the horrific BBC drama 'Threads' (*they showed it at SCHOOL) and caught glimpses of other apocalyptic movies on TV. There was playground chatter and I knew a fair bit of science at the time for my age (I loved reading encyclopaedia and science books). I knew the realities of what it meant. I understood the difference between instant vapourisation and long lingering painful death. I knew that Mutually Assured Destruction would signal the end of the world as we knew it. Barely a teenager and I knew but this was what it was like to grow up during some of the hottest years of the cold war.
Did I live in fear? Absolutely not. It was one of those things that only crossed your mind when you were reminded of it. When you were, it could chill to the bone. On that morning, with my mum in the kitchen, my father in the toilet and me on the stairs waiting for the toilet or breakfast, whichever came first, the sirens wailed.
I remember my knees buckling from underneath me. A deep inner sinking feeling to the pit of my stomach. Irrationally, though understandably, I started screaming at my parents that we had to get to the nearest city as there was a shelter there. Well I was certain there was, it was playground chatter stuff, and I knew we had just four minutes at most. Okay, the city was 7 miles away and my parents did not own a car and, even if we did, there was no knowledge of where the actual bunker might be or if we could get in. My mind was racing though. This was it. The end. Nothing but ashes would remain.
Thankfully my mother sensibly switched on the radio while the sirens were still wailing, one of which was opposite my school, and the local radio station was broadcasting a message 'not to worry' because some absolute idiot had pressed the wrong button during a local test and accidentally set off the sirens for the whole county. Oddly, I can barely remember the feeling of relief.
That gut wrenching and knee bending feeling remained with me for years whenever Cold War tensions rose but after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the U.S.S.R. those feelings disappeared. I thought we had entered a safer world. A more peaceful world.
Right now I have read on Associated Press that Russian troops are currently fighting over the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant (*which was another event from my childhood) and a Nuclear Waste Storage Facility has been hit already. What is this insanity?
Knowing how these events can escalate rapidly, that accidents can occur and that backing down becomes harder to do. The risk, however much we may not want to even think it, is there. Veiled threats have already been made and I can't see any rational, logical or humane thought processes coming from the Russian Leadership at this time.
I currently live too far away to HMNB Faslane (The UK Nuclear Stockpile) to be instantly vapourised if it were attacked. I also live too close to be safe from a horrific lingering exposure to massive amounts of radiation. Yeah, of course this is on my mind right now. Those feelings though, the knee-bending stomach-dropping feelings, they are nowhere to be seen right now. I guess two years of isolation from the pandemic have somewhat subdued my will to live, my ambition to grow and explore.
I just hope that my chance to do that will come.
I'll never forget the day that the sirens wailed. I cannot imagine how it feels to hear rockets, artillery, sirens and explosions on the doorstep though. I cannot being to imagine the fear that many Ukrainian people are facing today. My thoughts are with them.
Pray, wish, and/or hope for peace. X
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Candid street photography from Glasgow, Scotland. A small street party had set up to celebrate change in Zimbabwe and they were chanting for Mugabe to go with jubilant voice and some accompanying drums. A small group but one that echoed massive celebratory demonstration in Zimbabwe following the recent military intervention in the country's leadership. Enjoy.
The reason that all the Royal Family do an art history degree when they go to University, Buckingham Palace.
Street art depicting the Statue of Liberty holding a gun in the air. Shoreditch, London, 2017.
Justin
File: 2023006-0844
Queen Street, Cardiff (Caerdydd), Wales (Cymru), United Kingdom, on Saturday 17th of June 2023.
About the photograph.
After a quick rest at Queen Street, I got back to doing photojournalism of the Pride parade that was on the last leg of the planned route. They still need to go around a block to reach the finishing line.
Here I noticed this guy and his colourful wig, so I decided to start taking some photos of him, when he noticed me.
And so, he gave me some thumb ups and smiled.
About the event.
Pride Cymru was previously called Cardiff Mardi Gras when it was formed in September 1999. It held annual festival in Bute Park. It became a registered charity in 2010, and starting from 2012, they held a parade through the city centre.
In 2014, Cardiff Mardi Gras was renamed to Pride Cymru, and had operated under the new name ever since the change of name.
Pride Cymru is in reality a weekend event, often called Pride Cymru Big Weekend, and attracts up to 50,000 people over the three days, with Saturdays having the parade through the city centre.
The route for the parade is approximately about more or less one mile in length, and would take anyone approximately up to an hour to complete the route.
Because I was doing photojournalism, trying to find interesting shots, therefore I often sometimes walk back and forth, up and down the parade, so it would take me about a couple of hours to do the photo-shoot.
That day was a very hot and strong sunny day, and I some sunburn.
You are free to comment on my photograph, about the subject in the photo, or your similar relevant experience.
in relation to the USA. Not my photo.
A screen capture from --{I forget}.
I’m reading a very good, very new, book about Volodymyr Zelensky, “The Showman”, written by Simon Shuster. 2024.
(Europe is 17 times larger than Ukraine. Europe and the US are about identical in size.)
File: 2025002-0503
Colston Avenue, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
This photograph was taken at the junction of St Augustine’s Parade and Colston Avenue.
Here, a protester climbed onto the top of the plinth that once had the Edward Colston statue, which was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020.
At that point of time, the protesters’ march was momently halted, I have no idea why, maybe to let the rest of the protesters at the rear catch up, or maybe the front ones were simply preparing for the rest of the way.
That was the reason this protester decided to climb up on the plinth and wave a banner or a flag.
The protest was due to the Scottish Supreme Court ruling that the legal gender is based on the sex at birth, and thus many transgenders all around the United Kingdom carried out a series of protests.
When I found out that there was one in Bristol, I decided to go there and try doing some photojournalism shots.
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
The souk (market) in Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. Up until recently, the souk was a vibrant, busy market. However the establishment of an extremist settlement within the ancient city protected by the IDF has put enormous pressure on the local Palestinian population and economy. Now the souk is virtually empty with many stores closed. Palestinians are barely visible and increasingly in the shadows.
This situation is not welcomed by all in Israel. From its beginnings it was recognised by many, including such influential figures as General Moshe Dayan, that acting as an occupying force would compel Israel to behave in oppressive ways that ultimately would undermine the very moral fabric of Israeli society.
As B'tselem argues - Israel’s regime of occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end the occupation, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
For updates on alternative views please see the human rights organisation B'Tselem that is based in Israel - www.btselem.org/topic/hebron
and also Breaking the Silence - www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies?as1=hebron&...
an organisation of former IDF soldiers who are speaking out about the reality of imposing the occupation, and what it does to the Palestinians and how it corrupts the soul of Israel.
My photographs are (C) Copyright Richard Friend and All Rights Reserved
File: 2025002-0516
Colston Avenue, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
The photo was taken approximately around the junction of St Augustine’s Parade and Colston Avenue, when the protesters’ march into city centre was briefly halted, I think to make sure the next stage of the march is prepared.
Here I noticed those two women and their flag, so I took some shots.
The flag signifies lesbian feminist movement, and judging by the writing on the flag, those two ladies are showing their support for the transgender people.
The protest was due to the Scottish Supreme Court ruling that the legal gender is based on the sex at birth, and thus many transgenders all around the United Kingdom carried out a series of protests.
When I found out that there was one in Bristol, I decided to go there and try doing some photojournalism shots.
File: 2023006-0825
Queen Street, Cardiff (Caerdydd), Wales (Cymru), United Kingdom, on Saturday 17th of June 2023.
About the photograph.
I was at Queen Street, very near the Kingdom of Sweets shop and the Chopstix restaurant having a quick break, then got back to doing the photojournalism of the Pride parade as they marched past me.
I was simply trying to grab some shots, and this guy walks past, I figured he would make an interesting subject, so I grabbed some shots.
I’ve no idea who he is, when preparing the photo for uploading, I simply nicknamed him as “Some Guy”
Notice the jacket, it would look like he could be with the health care services, maybe an ambulance crew or something, considering that he was with a group of others whom do have health care services badges on their shirts.
About the event.
Pride Cymru was previously called Cardiff Mardi Gras when it was formed in September 1999. It held annual festival in Bute Park. It became a registered charity in 2010, and starting from 2012, they held a parade through the city centre.
In 2014, Cardiff Mardi Gras was renamed to Pride Cymru, and had operated under the new name ever since the change of name.
Pride Cymru is in reality a weekend event, often called Pride Cymru Big Weekend, and attracts up to 50,000 people over the three days, with Saturdays having the parade through the city centre.
The route for the parade is approximately about more or less one mile in length, and would take anyone approximately up to an hour to complete the route.
Because I was doing photojournalism, trying to find interesting shots, therefore I often sometimes walk back and forth, up and down the parade, so it would take me about a couple of hours to do the photo-shoot.
That day was a very hot and strong sunny day, and I some sunburn.
File: 2023006-0730
Queen Street, Cardiff (Caerdydd), Wales (Cymru), United Kingdom, on Saturday 17th of June 2023.
About the photograph.
I was at Queen Street, very near the Kingdom of Sweets shop and the Chopstix restaurant having a quick break, then got back to doing the photojournalism of the Pride parade as they marched past me.
Here, this guy is seen wearing a long sleeved top, shorts, and cowboy-like hat, all in the patterns of a cow, even the angel wings on his back have the black and white spots like that of a cow.
I managed to take some shots in colour, but figured to convert into black and white while in Adobe Lightroom because his outfit was mainly black and white anyway.
At that stage of the parade, they need to go around one more block before reaching the end of the parade.
About the event.
Pride Cymru was previously called Cardiff Mardi Gras when it was formed in September 1999. It held annual festival in Bute Park. It became a registered charity in 2010, and starting from 2012, they held a parade through the city centre.
In 2014, Cardiff Mardi Gras was renamed to Pride Cymru, and had operated under the new name ever since the change of name.
Pride Cymru is in reality a weekend event, often called Pride Cymru Big Weekend, and attracts up to 50,000 people over the three days, with Saturdays having the parade through the city centre.
The route for the parade is approximately about more or less one mile in length, and would take anyone approximately up to an hour to complete the route.
Because I was doing photojournalism, trying to find interesting shots, therefore I often sometimes walk back and forth, up and down the parade, so it would take me about a couple of hours to do the photo-shoot.
That day was a very hot and strong sunny day, and I some sunburn.
You are free to comment on my photograph, about the subject in the photo, or your similar relevant experience.
File: 2025002-0438
St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
Because of the Scottish Supreme Courts ruling that sex is defined as sex at birth, many transgenders with the support of the LGBT community all around the United Kingdom, took to the streets in a protest against the ruling.
Bristol is one of the cities that had one planned, and I drover down there to try photojournalism shots. I arrived at College Green park where they gathered so they would start their march into city centre.
The above photo was taken approximately near the junction of St Augustine’s Parade and Denmark Street, looking towards a building next to Clare Street.
While the protesters were marching towards the city centre, in the right-to-left direction as seen by two of them in the foreground, one of them is going the other way, likely to look for some friends.
I thought to take a street style photo of this protester. Notice the flag on his/her back, this is the transgender flag.
File: 2022004-0251
Lower Castle Street, Bristol, South West of England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 9th of July 2022.
About those photographs.
The 2022 Bristol Pride started at Castle Park, moved into Castle Street, and turned left into Lower Castle Street, heading north towards Penn Street. Those photographs were taken somewhere near the NCP Broadmead car park next to the Marriott hotel. It was approximately about 15 minutes after the start of the march.
I took up a position near the car park’s entrance. In the wide photo (0251), you’ll notice the KEEP CLEAR wording painted on the road, and the lowered kerb (in American-English: “crub”), that is where the entrance to the car park is.
This was where I spotted the guy with baseball cap, sunglasses, and a rainbow mask around his face, holding up a placard. I had noticed that thousands of people on the march had showed their faces, only a very rare number would choose to hide their faces.
In the second photo (0263), I zoomed to the 200mm length and took some shots of the guy. I have no idea who he is, when preparing the photos for uploading to Flickr, I simply called him “The Masked Man.”
It had occurred to me that I had taken zoomed in photos of him for uploading to Flickr or Instagram or whatever, to showcase my experience and skills, and considering that he wants his identify hidden, he may want his privacy.
So I went over to him, to ask him for his permissions. Here is where it gets interesting…
Bearing in mind that I am a deaf person with speech impaired, often mispronouncing my words, and that he is wearing a mask over his mouth, making lip-reading impossible for me.
So how do we communicate with each other? No problem! The simple fact is…
Days before coming down to Bristol to cover this event, I had prepared some kind of ID tag of my own, stating that I’m a photographer and that I’m deaf. On the other side was a simple typed text, that simply asked “May I have permissions to publish the photos online? I ask out of respect because you are clearly seen in the photographs.”
On this day, at that point, I went up to him, and I said to him “Excuse me, I’m deaf.” Then I held up the back of my ID tag, let him read the wording.
Even thought he’s wearing a mask around his mouth, so if he were to say something like “Sure, go ahead.” It would be impossible to know, but no problem there. As he knows I’m a deaf person, all he did was simply nod his head.
When I was in my last year at a deaf school, I told the hearing teacher that I wanted to get into college and study photography. I was told that I can’t become a photographer because I’m deaf and how am I supposed to communicate. Even my mother agrees with the teacher and wasn’t supportive of my aims.
It’s not like I wanted to become a wedding photographer, which would need a lot of communications between the photographer and the wedding party.
My mother, her friends, the teachers, and most other people, were all wrong. Even thought it is difficult for me as a photographer to do this kind of photography, it should be seen as a challenge to overcome, not a barrier.
So, I got his permissions to publish the photos, and there it is.
About the event.
Bristol Pride is an annual festival held over couple of weeks, promoting equality for the various LGBT+ people, with a march through the city at a weekend.
The Bristol Pride started life in 1977 as a fundraiser for the local LGBT community, and evolved into an annual event held every year. There was a gap of only some years between 1994 to 2010 when it was restarted.
The 2022 march started at Castle Park, near Castle Street. The route took them past Cabot Circus, and went around the major shopping area by using The Horsefair and Union Street, and as they went down Union Street, they headed towards Castle Park. When they reached Castle Park, they turned into Wine Street, went into High Street, and into Baldwin Street, headed towards the A38 which is Anchor Road. This route took them into Canon’s Road, and ended up near the Bristol Aquarium.
The march was said to take about an hour, but as a photographer whom would go back and forth, up and down the line, looking for good shots, it took me at least a couple of hours to complete the route.
After the march, those whom bought tickets, can attend an evening musical festival at The Downs, approximately to the north-west of city centre. I did not attend this event, and by the time I got back to my friend’s home, I was worn out from the heat.
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You are welcome to comment on my photos, but do NOT use canned comments, which are pre-prepared comment codes that talks more about the groups than about my photos. Those are considered to be spam, and will therefore be deleted.
File: 2025002-0403
Outside the Bristol City Council offices at Collage Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
Because the Scottish Supreme Courts ruled that the definition of sex is biological sex at birth, many transgenders all over the United Kingdom started a protest. I found out that there was going to be one in Bristol, so I decided to drive there.
The protest started at 10am, at College Green park which is where the Bristol City Council is located, and by 11am, they started marching towards the city centre. I was doing photojournalism of the event.
In order to leave College Green park, and march towards the city centre, they needed to cross the road, so a few of the protesters formed a roadblock.
This is a viewpoint from the crowd of protests crossing the street, the two in front of the camera are the human roadblock holding up the traffic, in order to allow the protesters to safety cross the street.
On the left side of the road are two cars that had turned around, to try to find another way around, but the bus doesn’t have much of a choice as it had a route to stick to.
I figured to take this viewpoint, to give the illustration of what it looked like from the crossing protesters’ point of view.
It was shot in colour, I converted it into black and white while in Adobe Lightroom, to try to get a dramatic feel to it.
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
File: 2025002-0407
College Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
This photograph was taken at the junction of College Green and Anchor Road, opposite the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel.
This dude was just sitting on what appears to be a bench of some sort, in front of a shop, and using his smartphone. At that time, many transgenders had started a protest, and started marching towards city centre, they were going past his guy.
I thought to try a street photography kind of candid capture by taking a photo, while the protesters were still in this street.
It was originally shot in colour, but during Adobe Lightroom, I decided to convert it into black and white for the good old fashion classic photography looks.
After taking a few photos of this guy, I keep up with the marching protesters towards the city centre.
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
"പപ്പേട്ടാ ...ഇവരോട് പൊറുക്കേണമേ..!!" #icuchalu #currentaffairs Credits: Rajesh Mathiary Edat ©ICU , ift.tt/2gKwpr4
File: 2025002-0434
St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
After the Scottish Supreme Court ruling that sex is defined as sex at birth, many transgenders all around the United Kingdom, along with the support of the LGBT community, too to the streets in a protest.
I found out one was planned to be staged in Bristol, so I drove there, and arrived at Collage Green park, which was where they started from, and they marched into city centre.
The photo shown was taken approximately near the junction of St Augustine’s Parade and Denmark Street, looking towards north. In the background is the Luxe Fitness.
Here, those two people, and I have no idea of who they are, could be friends or a couple, appear to be not part of the protest, and are simply bystanders whom just stopped for a moment, to watch the marching protest walks by.
The colour shot was converted to black and white while in Adobe Lightroom for the good old fashion photojournalism feel.
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
File: 2025002-0394
Outside the Bristol City Council offices at Collage Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
As a result of the Scottish Supreme Courts ruling that the definition of sex should be the same as sex at birth, many transgenders with the support of the LGBT community, took to the streets in protest, all around the United Kingdom.
I found out that there would be one in Bristol, so I drove there, and arrived at the Collage Green park where the gathering crowd was growing larger until about 11am, when they started their march into the city centre.
In order to leave the park and make their way to the city centre, they needed to get across a street, so they could start walking on the route to the centre. At this part, a few of the protesters decided to block the road.
This car was at the front of the queue of cars waiting to get through, and the driver wanted to speak to the protesters, likely to ask how long the crossing would take, or to ask if there is another way around.
There was a calm chit-chat, the driver and the two protesters were having a calm chat, very much diplomatically. The person wearing the hood and sunglasses is one of the few organisers of the protest.
It was shot in colour, I converted it into black and white while in Adobe Lightroom, to try to get a dramatic feel to it.
Please feel free to comment on the photo, about the photo, about the subject in the photo, or about your experience.
File: 2025002-0415
St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
After the Scottish Supreme Courts ruled that sex is defined as sex at birth, many transgenders and those in the LGBT supporting the transgenders took to the streets in protest. When I found out that there would be one planned in Bristol, I drove down there, parked my car, walked all the way to College Green park which is where they started.
The protesters started their march towards the city centre, and it was not only just the transgenders, but also support from other people. This photo shows the length of the marching protest, and there was still some more behind me.
The photo shows them marching down St Augustine’s Parade towards Colston Ave South which would be just to the right of the traffic lights seen in the background.
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
File: 2025002-0283
Outside the Bristol City Council offices at Collage Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photograph.
If you are wondering about the meaning of the title Making Sure, the reason is simple.
This guy was at a protest staged in Bristol, against the Scottish Supreme Courts ruling that a woman is defined as a female at birth. As you can see from his placard, that he is a father of a transgender.
I spotted him with this placard, and moved around to get a better angle, started taking a few photos of him, while he was actually looking ahead, and listening to a speaker.
Then through the viewfinder, I noticed he turned his head round and looked at his placard, it was not exactly facing forwards, it was only a few degrees turned around, he looked like he was making sure that his placard should be facing directly forwards, and clearly readable from anyone in the front.
At this moment I took the photo, he twisted the placard slightly, to make sure it is exactly forwards facing.
The photo was converted into black and white while in Adobe Lightroom, and then cropped in Adobe Photoshop.
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You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.
File: 2025002-0467
Colston Avenue, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photographs.
The photo was taken approximately at the junction of St Augustine’s Parade and Colston Avenue as the protesters were crossing the road, and heading towards city centre.
I attempted to take this shot, hoping to show a sense of how many people were on the march, and figure to convert it into black and white for a newspaper-like photo.
The protest was due to the Scottish Supreme Court ruling that the legal gender is based on the sex at birth, and thus many transgenders all around the United Kingdom carried out a series of protests.
When I found out that there was one in Bristol, I decided to go there and try doing some photojournalism shots.
File: 2022004-0276
Lower Castle Street, Bristol, South West of England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 9th of July 2022.
About those photographs.
The 2022 Bristol Pride started at Castle Park, moved into Castle Street, and turned left into Lower Castle Street, heading north towards Penn Street. Those photographs were taken somewhere near the NCP Broadmead car park next to the Marriott hotel. It was approximately about 15 minutes after the start of the march.
I took up a position near the car park’s entrance. In the wide photo (0251), you’ll notice the KEEP CLEAR wording painted on the road, and the lowered kerb (in American-English: “crub”), that is where the entrance to the car park is.
This was where I spotted the guy with baseball cap, sunglasses, and a rainbow mask around his face, holding up a placard. I had noticed that thousands of people on the march had showed their faces, only a very rare number would choose to hide their faces.
In the second photo (0263), I zoomed to the 200mm length and took some shots of the guy. I have no idea who he is, when preparing the photos for uploading to Flickr, I simply called him “The Masked Man.”
It had occurred to me that I had taken zoomed in photos of him for uploading to Flickr or Instagram or whatever, to showcase my experience and skills, and considering that he wants his identify hidden, he may want his privacy.
So I went over to him, to ask him for his permissions. Here is where it gets interesting…
Bearing in mind that I am a deaf person with speech impaired, often mispronouncing my words, and that he is wearing a mask over his mouth, making lip-reading impossible for me.
So how do we communicate with each other? No problem! The simple fact is…
Days before coming down to Bristol to cover this event, I had prepared some kind of ID tag of my own, stating that I’m a photographer and that I’m deaf. On the other side was a simple typed text, that simply asked “May I have permissions to publish the photos online? I ask out of respect because you are clearly seen in the photographs.”
On this day, at that point, I went up to him, and I said to him “Excuse me, I’m deaf.” Then I held up the back of my ID tag, let him read the wording.
Even thought he’s wearing a mask around his mouth, so if he were to say something like “Sure, go ahead.” It would be impossible to know, but no problem there. As he knows I’m a deaf person, all he did was simply nod his head.
When I was in my last year at a deaf school, I told the hearing teacher that I wanted to get into college and study photography. I was told that I can’t become a photographer because I’m deaf and how am I supposed to communicate. Even my mother agrees with the teacher and wasn’t supportive of my aims.
It’s not like I wanted to become a wedding photographer, which would need a lot of communications between the photographer and the wedding party.
My mother, her friends, the teachers, and most other people, were all wrong. Even thought it is difficult for me as a photographer to do this kind of photography, it should be seen as a challenge to overcome, not a barrier.
So, I got his permissions to publish the photos, and there it is.
About the event.
Bristol Pride is an annual festival held over couple of weeks, promoting equality for the various LGBT+ people, with a march through the city at a weekend.
The Bristol Pride started life in 1977 as a fundraiser for the local LGBT community, and evolved into an annual event held every year. There was a gap of only some years between 1994 to 2010 when it was restarted.
The 2022 march started at Castle Park, near Castle Street. The route took them past Cabot Circus, and went around the major shopping area by using The Horsefair and Union Street, and as they went down Union Street, they headed towards Castle Park. When they reached Castle Park, they turned into Wine Street, went into High Street, and into Baldwin Street, headed towards the A38 which is Anchor Road. This route took them into Canon’s Road, and ended up near the Bristol Aquarium.
The march was said to take about an hour, but as a photographer whom would go back and forth, up and down the line, looking for good shots, it took me at least a couple of hours to complete the route.
After the march, those whom bought tickets, can attend an evening musical festival at The Downs, approximately to the north-west of city centre. I did not attend this event, and by the time I got back to my friend’s home, I was worn out from the heat.
.
You are welcome to comment on my photos, but do NOT use canned comments, which are pre-prepared comment codes that talks more about the groups than about my photos. Those are considered to be spam, and will therefore be deleted.
File: 2025002-0332
Outside the Bristol City Council offices at Collage Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photograph.
After the Scottish Supreme Courts ruled that sex is defined as biological sex at birth, many transgenders all around the United Kingdom staged a protest. I heard there would be a protest at Bristol, and decided to go there to do some photojournalism photography of the event.
Starting from 10am onwards the crowd started arriving at College Green, which is where the Bristol City Council buildings are, and they gathered until there were like hundreds of them, by 11am they started the march into city centre.
They started the march, but only a minute or two later, paused the march. I think it is to make sure everyone at the back part of the march, are able to get into position or something like that.
In the background, the building is the Bristol City Council offices.
In Adobe Lightroom, I converted the colour photo into black and white, for a good old fashion newspaper like feel to the photo.
File: 2023006-0472
St Mary Street, Cardiff (Caerdydd), Wales (Cymru), United Kingdom, on Saturday 17th of June 2023.
About the photograph.
This photo was taken on St Mary Street, between Guildhall Place and Wharton Street.
Here, this lady is wearing a coloured stripped skirt, and have an impressive butterfly-like cape on her shoulders. As she walks with the parade, she also spins around, and in doing so, the cape kind of flies around, displaying the butterfly-like wings.
I was taking photos of her when she spotted me, hence her smiling at the camera.
This was my second Pride photography, having done the Bristol Pride in 2022. I was covering the pride parade in order to build up a portfolio, with the aim of going freelance.
That day was a very hot sunny day, the parade was about one mile in length, and for those taking part in the parade, it would take them only about an hour to complete the journey. It took me about two hours, considering I often went back and forth along the parade looking for better shots.
At the end, I got myself a massive sunburn, but don’t worry, I learnt my lessons, on the next similar photography pursuits, I use sun cream.
About the event.
Pride Cymru was previously called Cardiff Mardi Gras when it was formed in September 1999. It held annual festival in Bute Park. It became a registered charity in 2010, and starting from 2012, they held a parade through the city centre.
In 2014, Cardiff Mardi Gras was renamed to Pride Cymru, and had operated under the new name ever since the change of name.
Pride Cymru is in reality a weekend event, often called Pride Cymru Big Weekend, and attracts up to 50,000 people over the three days, with Saturdays having the parade through the city centre.
The route for the parade is approximately about more or less one mile in length, and would take anyone approximately up to an hour to complete the route.
Because I was doing photojournalism, trying to find interesting shots, therefore I often sometimes walk back and forth, up and down the parade, so it would take me about a couple of hours to do the photo-shoot.
That day was a very hot and strong sunny day, and I some sunburn.
The Comment Box is NOT an adverting billboard or adverting space for the groups. Do NOT leave canned comments or award codes. You are free to comment on my photograph, about the subject in the photo, or your similar relevant experience. If you want to promote the groups you are member of, do it in YOUR own photos and YOUR own Photostream.
File: 2025002-0308
Outside the Bristol City Council offices at Collage Green, Bristol, England, United Kingdom, on Saturday 26th April 2025.
About this photograph.
After the Scottish Supreme Courts ruled that sex is defined as biological sex at birth, many transgenders all around the United Kingdom staged a protest. I heard there was going to be one at Bristol, and decided to go there to do some photojournalism photography of the event.
From 10am onwards, they started arriving at College Green which is where the Bristol City Council buildings are, and they gathered until there were like hundreds of them. By about 11am, they started the march into city centre.
This is the front part, and very shortly after the photograph was taken, they started the march towards the city centre.
The building in the background is the Bristol City Council offices.
In Adobe Lightroom, I converted the colour photo into black and white, for a good old fashion newspaper like feel to the photo.
The Comment Box is NOT an advertising billboard for any Groups. If you want to promote the Groups you are member of, do so IN YOUR OWN Photostream!
You are welcome to comment about the subject in my photo, of the photo itself, or of your relevant experience.