The Lord's Resistance Army in Sudan

Moses was abducted by the LRA, and held captive for four months.


'They killed this one family except for one little girl. She was 7 or 8 years old. They ordered me "Kill her!" I said I can't. They said "Kill her or we kill you". I had to. What could I do?'


Moses is 15.

from Enoughproject.org

Leeds riots

A ring of steel surrounded Leeds city centre on Saturday afternoon, as thousands of police officers from across the country descended on West Yorkshire's commercial and financial powerhouse. Their mission: to keep apart rival factions as the 'English Defence League' rally against Islamic extremism was countered by a rival protest of Unite against Fascism supporters. I strolled over to grab some shots, just like every other photographer and Flickr member in Leeds. There were more amateur newshounds and gawping bystanders than protesters, and probably several thousands of pounds more in camera and video equipment than police riot gear. And there was a lot of that.

To the journo's and photographers' evident disappointment, things didn't kick off in a massive riot, though the EDF led police and camera-toting Flickrites on a merry dance through the streets when they left the barricaded cordon in City Square under escort then suddenly broke into a run down Bishopgate Street. Apparently five people were arrested, probably for crimes against photography.

Anyway, Alex wanted to see the riot snaps after I called him from the middle of a police scrum (so he could hear what it sounded like). So here you go... I hope you like 'em.

Gav and Lisa's Wedding

On Friday I went to Matfen Hall in Northumberland, to Gavin and Lisa's wedding. Rather than muck about writing a load of stuff about each picture I thought I'd stick up a slideshow for you instead. So crack open a cold coke, put some Rammstein on and settle in for 72 seconds of photographic mayhem.

Sorry if the postage stamp sized photos are too small - a tip for Firefox users is to hold down Ctrl and roll your mousewheel to magnify the page. A tip for everyone else is to get Firefox.

Cheshunt

Last weekend I went to visit Williams and his missus in Cheshunt, just outside London. Label readers will recognise Cheshunt as the UK headquarters of supermarket giant Tesco, and indeed, the streets of the town are paved with low cost bean tins. Longtime fans of this blog* will remember Williams from an earlier post.

Williams is a virtuoso guitar player, and in fact the film El Mariachi is based on the years he spent in Central America as an itinerant busking hitman. Not only is he a dab hand at plucking a rousing flamenco tune, but he makes a mean Thai Green curry and can stand on his hands for as long as you like.

Ursula (right) asks Darren (left) if it's true that he composed the national anthem of Bulgaria.

So here are some snaps of Williams and his axe. It's rumoured that he's the mysterious sixth member of Manowar, but he denies this vehemently.

I met Williams at a Kreator concert many years ago. It was one of those concerts which you must have read about: multiple casualties and virtually everyone who has ever heard a Kreator lyric has either committed suicide or gone on a killing spree. And then committed suicide.

Camera buffs will be interested to know that the shutter speed on this was approximately 1/8000th of a second. And William's fingers ARE STILL BLURRY!!!

His guitar body is made of titanium impregnated cedar from a 1000 year old tree.

Williams is married to the indefatigable Mrs Williams, who strives to keep him in line. Here are some photos of them being married and stuff.

I was roaring at them to look at the camera. Would they? Not a chance.

Caution: Graphic images ahead.

"I know! White Zombie were ground breaking and genre forming!!"

OK enough of that.

Williams and I sought danger and adventure in the wilds of the Lee Valley Park. This is Williams' personal estate, which he has generously and anonymously opened to the public at large, a mistake in my opinion.

Having just spotted tiger spoor, Williams wonders whether it was a mistake to leave the .303 at the House.

Keeping an eye on the notoriously fickle Hertfordshire weather...

"Let's offroad!"

This picture is out of sequence, here Williams shows me how work is progressing on his private baths.

Investigating a nearby bush in terms of its' utility as a place to have a slash

This is Black Sunshine.

So there you go. A vignette of the whirlwind that is my life. You are not man enough to take it.

* I'm not going to stop you if you start a fan club.

Battle for Hearts and Minds

This'll take less than two minutes of your life, so stop whinging and start watching:

Battle for Hearts and Minds Trailer from Danfung Dennis on Vimeo.

http://battleforheartsandminds.com/

http://www.danfungdennis.com/

Bingley Music Festival

Gav came home last week all abuzz: a free music festival was to be held at Bingley!! Well, that's not totally accurate - only the first evening was free, so that's what we went to. Anyway the words 'free', 'music' and 'festival' were enough to overcome the 'Bingley' part of it, and as an added incentive the evening's main draws were reformed Britpop funsters Toploader and Irish rapscallions The Undertones!!

"The Undertones! Are they still alive? OMG I wasn't even born when they first broke up!"

Along with Gavros and Lisa, renowned Leeds-based band photographer Giloscope came along to add some kudos to the event. Giles was good enough to let me make free with his battery of quality fast prime lenses, as well as a naughty Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 - essential kit for low light photography.

"Toplawdah? In Bingleh?"

After a enjoyable tour of the roundabouts of West Yorkshire, we finally found our way to Bingleh (as the locals call it), quietly nestling among green hills dotted with council-estates and burnt out skips. We joined the throngs of eager locals in queueing at the entrance, but things looked like they were taking an early turn for the worse when the gate-lackey opened Giles' camera bag and started hauling out thousands of pounds worth of fragile and valuable camera equipment.

Even Toploader's roadies get cool stage lighting.

Instantly suspicious, he demanded to know Giles' professional status, presumably having an inbred fear of all photographers - no doubt something to do with police line ups and CCTV cameras. Thanks to the G-man's cool nerve and deadly charm, we were allowed in - though not before the bouncer got his meaty paws all over Gav's very expensive 70-200mm 2.8 IS, causing Gav to lose about three pounds in sweat.

"Please sir, I have a question!"

The music kicked off with a welcome and intro by none other than Welsh warbler TOM JONES! Or at least a lookalike impersonator so damn good he would have convinced Cardiffian chanteuse Charlotte Church. If that wasn't enough to overshadow the big name acts, the first band Tom introduced was none other than NEW2!! Possibly the best U2 cover band in the western world, fronted by a faux Bono (Fauxno) who actually utterly believed he was the real deal. To the extent that he referred to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as "a little tune we wrote in Dublin"... Totally earnest and totally hilarious.

Toploader: "Aright Bradfor- Bingleh! You ready to dance in t' fookin moonlight?"

There was no way I was going to get a killer shot of any of the singers like what Gav and Giles were pulling off, so I concentrated on the crowd, and trying not to get my head smashed in for taking photos of strangers. Most were entranced, Bingley never having been graced by this level of celebrity before...

"Ah thought Kerreh Katoona was t' most femmis person ah'd see in t'me life like"

Most people were hypnotised by the presence of OMGToploader on stage ("In Bingleh! Eeeh!" etc) to notice me jamming a lens in their faces. The real killer was the bitter cold and quagmire of mud. I saw at least two revellers sink without trace in the treacherous muck and a quick assesment of the situation lead to an executive decision by us to abandon Bingley Music Festival to its fate.

Not a moment too soon, as it turned out because the crowd suddenly turned into a snarling ferocious pack - intent on destruction and mayhem. Perhaps the fake Tom Jones had passed out backstage in a stupor, and with his benevolent and calming presence no longer felt an animal berserker urge took over.

The Undertones. We gave up three songs into their set because the mud was threatening to engulf us and the crowd were turning violent.

Leading a charge for the stage.

We may never know, but with the front runners snapping at our heels we made a run for the car, and freedom.

An evening of golf


I spent yesterday evening wandering around a golf course with Gav, while he practised his golf shots I practised my shots of golfers. Gav is a highly talented golfer, who not only has a set of his own clubs, but also has a handicap.

Gav trying to smack a wasp out of the sky with a 9 iron

I made a major faux pas early on in the evening when Gav sank a 50 foot putt. Astonished, I gave him a round of applause only to have him tell me to shut the hell up in case I disturbed other golfers. You'd think the other golfers would have appreciated a bit of clapping, to get them prepared for tournaments and stuff. Maybe that's Tiger Woods' secret - he can zone out extraneous noise, and be One with the ball.

Anyway, I reckon Gav'd be pretty good at mini golf, so I have swiftly devised a handicap system for putt putt. Basically, your handicap is the item you have to carry around with you for the whole game. So Gav's handicap would be dishwasher, whereas Alex's for example would be a meringue.

Capture the flag, a new way of playing golf

Gav don't need no caddy. Well, I was too busy taking photos to be any good as a caddy.


Having a rough time.

Trees and golfer. A fine art shot.

Taking another 50 yard putt in his stride

Another flag - I seemed to develop a bit of a flag obsession.

You know how when volcanoes erupt skeins of lightning fire across the clouds? Well in a similar way, every time Gav drives a golf ball, the sky turns apocalyptic.

Sorry, I couldn't think of a reasonable club-based pun to put in here. Feel free to make any suggestions.

Gav had to chuck a ball into this bunker so I could get a picture of sunlight hitting the sand. Normally he gets the ball straight onto the green, usually within 3-4 cm of the hole. Though on occasion he'll land it several yards away to practice his putting.

Guns don't kill people, golfers do!

Another super putt. As I recall, Gav had his eyes shut on this one - and he still sunk it.

See? Another flag...

A par 5 hole, Gav probably nailed it in about two shots.

After about 70 attempts I managed to take a photo of the ball as Gav hit it. This has resulted in a picture showing the ball apparently stationary in the grass, yet simultaneously moving through the air (the white streak on the right hand side of the frame). That's how fast Gav hits the balls. His main problem on the golf course is shattering balls through smacking them so hard.

Practicing with a wedge. See the ball? It's just above the flag. Well done that man.

I had a load of silhouetted pictures, but have whittled it down so you only have these two to endure.

See, that wasn't so bad was it?

More bunker practice.

End of the day. Gav's final score was probably something like 30.

A load of balls. OK, just one. Focus was slightly off here.