The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change is promoting the use of photography to tell your climate change story in their #BackClimateAction photo competition. Rather than photos of melting glaciers and polar bears, the DECC wants to see photos showing the ways in which climate change could affect the things you value most in your day-to-day life.
Beginning at 9am GMT on 2oth February Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, launched the competition by inviting you to post your images to Instagram or Twitter with a short caption and the hashtag #BackClimateAction. The contest ends on Friday, March 6, and the winners will be announced later that month. First prize is a photo masterclass with Getty Images in London.
Read more about the contest on the DECC’s website.
To inspire the public to take part in the photo contest, and to initiate discussion around a wide range of climate change issues, the DECC has commissioned me to illustrate ways in which climate change could affect the UK. In the above photo, I show how rapid coastal erosion has undercut and washed away roadways and private property at the Yorkshire Village of Skipsea. The image shows the full moon rising over the North Sea in a 15 minute exposure. I also photographed less visible ways in which climate change could affect life in the UK, such as its fish markets, where invasive species will appear in greater numbers due to changes in water temperature.
This is really great initiative and I look forwards to seeing the different ways in which both professional and amateur photographers, SLRs and Smart Phones can capture Climate Change in the UK.
On the 3rd of February 2015, shortly after 4pm, Akis Kollaros was cycling along Homerton High Street in London and collided with a tipper truck making a left turn. Paramedics were on the scene within seconds but were unable to revive him before Akis was pronounced dead at the scene.
On the 20th January 2015, during morning rush hour in Hackney Stephanie Turner was cycling through the junction of Amhurst and Seven Sisters road and was also hit my a tipper truck making a left turn. She suffered critical injuries and died shortly afterwards.
My wife and I live equi-distant between these 2 locations and know these roads well. Like Akis and Stephanie we rely on our bikes both to commute and get around London. We are only too aware of the perils of sharing a road with heavy goods vehicles and are almost exactly the same age as Akis and Stephanie. We feel saddened and frustrated that such young lives, similar to our own, could end in such preventable and similar circumstances.
I read the tributes and flowers laid for Stephanie at the scene of the accident with feelings of grief and frustration. My sympathies extend to the families and friends of Stephanie and Akis but also to the truck drivers who, regardless of fault, must be suffering great anguish.
As a cyclist. driver and someone who contributes to the construction industry I appreciate the complexity of the debate on ‘how to improve cycle safety’. However, reviewing the statistics and scores of ‘ghost-bikes’ I have spotted around London I cannot help be angered at our lack of action to ‘prevent the unnecessary loss of life’ in our own city.
As a photographer I feel strangely compelled to add to this debate and somehow reflect on the issue with my work. I spent some hours filming video at both locations which itself was very meditative. The footage here depicts the junction where Akis was killed and was filmed a day later at exactly the same time. I hope by removing the traffic and pedestrians the viewer can feel a sense of loss, peace and remembrance.
I’m excited to be in the mix for a commission looking at climate issues in the UK. Inspired to dig out and process some images captured en-route to some sea-forts off the Norfolk Coast.
I’ve enjoyed and naturally moved towards full multimedia in 2014. 4K cameras and professional sound give clarity, bite and realism to subjects.
I’m also very proud to welcome Brian and Chloe to the team here. Together we’ve ramped-up production quality on-set and sped-up turn around back in the editing studio. Testing both the new camera and editing workflow has been a crucial part of the last 2 months.
The second example video is a montage of over 78,000 5D Mk3 RAW files, processed groomed and edited to create a stunning day to night sequence in 4K. The camera was fitted with a 17mm TS Lens and mounted in a custom solar powered marine housing.