The Gentle Way
In November 2024 I had the privilege of covering a Judo event, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Judo, a martial art originating from Japan, has been in Northern Ireland since 1952. Competitions are nothing new. Yet according to Northern Ireland Judo Federation Commercial and Marketing Manager, Mark Donald, there has never been a "No Gi" event.
Mark has been training in judo since when he was 8 years old. He took a break to focus on rugby, but for the past 18 years he has dedicated himself to Judo - both teaching and competing - and wanted to inject a different kind of competition.
Individuals who practice Judo are known as Judoka, and typically complete in a Judo suit also known as a "Gi". This allows for the fluid execution of certain throwing and grappling techniques within Judo.
A "No Gi" competition offers a new challenge to the Judoka, "Maintaining judo values, while diversifying the rules and techniques that utilise the traditional Gi". Mark stated that, "I want people to develop and improve their lives through Judo."
My focus was to capture the energy and spirit of each fighter on the mat, while at the same time showing the often brutal demands of this majestic martial art.
Parkour
Parkour is an athletic practice in which the practitioners (known as Traceurs) attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without any assisting equipment. Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others.
Commonly practiced in urban spaces, it involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and envisioning the potential for navigating the lived environment as means of physical self expression.
Georgia is a Traceur who has been dedicated to her practice for over ten years. This photo essay was part of an ongoing project which documented the practice of two female practitioners based in the UK.
It's Not A Debate
The Cocoa Butter Club gives a voice to Black, Asian and racially othered performers, founded by Saddie Sinner in 2016, The Cocoa Butter Club seeks to also amplify voices from the LGBTQIA community.
Recently I had the opportunity to document their rehearsals in a intimate space in East London, as they prepared for their upcoming summer shows.
Pride 2022
The first official Gay Pride Rally in London was held in 1972. Pride London 2022 was the 50 year anniversay, and the first Pride since the start of the pandemic.
The event was launched in response to the Stonewall riots, which began in the early hours of 28 June 1969 when a police raid took place at Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York.
Following the police raid, for three nights members of the LGBT+ community fought back against police brutality. These riots played a key role within the wider gay liberation movement.
London Pride was born three years after the Stonewall riots. It took place on Saturday 1 July 1972. Approximately 2,000 people took part, since then it has grown in size, to the the estimated 1.5 million that attended Pride London 2022.
I attended at a participant and not in any official capacity. I plotted up on Whitehall Road, at the bottom of Trafalgar Square, and captured the parade as it made it's way throught the historic finishing stretch.
Fire In The Mountain
This is my grandmother, Mary. This picture was taken outside her home in Plymouth, Montserrat, in the the early 1980s on an instant camera. My grandmother was a nurse. Her work took her from Montserrat, to the UK and back again.
Montserrat is a mountainous Carribean island, known as "The Emerald Isle of The Carribean" due to it's complex history. It is a British territory. Structurally it is 11 miles long, and 7 miles wide, with a circumference of approximatley 26 miles. The three mountainous regions, the Silver Hills, the Centre Hills, and the Soufriere Hills, are home to volcanoes.
These volcanoes lay dormant for over three hundred years until volcanic began in 1995. Major erruptions in 1997 saw much of the island destroyed and uninhabitable. Erruptions continued into the early 2000s with another major erruption occuring in 2003.
When the major erruptions began, and the Island was evacuated, my grandmother returned to the UK once more for many years. When it was safe, Maryreturned to the emerald isle, where she now lives.
In 2006 I decided to visit Montserrat. The place that I remembered growing up as a child had changed irrevocably. Before we entered the restrcited zone, we went to the police station and signed a log book to say we were entering at our own risk, and essentially no one would be coming to save us (there had been volcanic activity detected earlier that same week).
We drove into Plymouth, to see if we could find my grandmother's home. We were unsuccessful. The house was no longer there, it was completely destroyed by the erruptions of 1997. The following images are from the surrounding areas to Plymouth.
