I Eat Therefore I am
Anyone who eats should watch this film, please take half an hour of your life for it, it is one of the most informative and important things you may ever see – I know it was for me.
Anyone who eats should watch this film, please take half an hour of your life for it, it is one of the most informative and important things you may ever see – I know it was for me.Behind the Seeds – part 1 complete
Last month I was in the westcountry for the first phase of Behind the Seeds photo project. Staying in Devon for 2 weeks, I visited some small and medium scale organic farms to see how independent producers are making it work in the UK. This is the first phase of a larger project all about the issues of food security and food sovereignty, an issue that needs a lot more attention in the media and from the public, something that affects us all and is only going to get more important as time progresses.
Strawberry picking at Riverford
During the fortnight there I managed to gain access 6 different sites, looking at a variety of food production and techniques. The organic veg box people at Riverford were the largest producer visited, and they were very accommodating thanks to Rachel Lovell, I now get one of their boxes every week. I visited Permaculture projects Embercombe (also a WWOOF site) and the Agroforestry Research Trust. Also on the agenda was Higher Hacknell which is an organic take on a traditional arable and livestock farm (thanks Jo), natural farmhouse cider courtesy of Hunts, and as featured in a previous post, the revolutionary Verticrop at Paignton Zoo.
During the project I was living in my campervan, in the evening editing the photos by candlelight and getting online with the new found wonders (to me) of my smart phone, it’s amazing what technology is possible of these days! So although I may not have been able to have a shave for a couple of weeks, I was still up to date and connected. The Canon 5D performed fantastically throughout the project, the battery life being particularly impressive. I was recording audio during most of these shoots, both for informative notes and to put together a multimedia piece in the future. This phase of the series is now edited and will be published on here at regular intervals. I’m also sending it out to various magazines in the UK and Germany for potential publication, both as sections and later as a whole piece. This stage of the project will form a pitch to push things forward and try and get access to larger scale agricultural sites, intensive dairy and meat farms and industrial food processing factories, when they agree to grant access.
Embercombe Chicken hutch
Higher Hacknell
Hunts Cider
Verticrop at Paignton Zoo
Food Sovereignty
Last night’s event at the Rich Mix in London, organised by 6 Billion ways was a talk about food sovereignty. This term was coined by Via Campesina, which is the largest social movement in the World, started in 1993, it is a coalition of 148 organisations, representing as many as 150 million members globally.
The screening and talks raised some excellent points and was a real insight into the imported food industry, how it affects all of us and why it is so important to buy locally. The most important point is how the WTO sets a global price for a commodity, which is the lowest that it can be possibly be bought in the WORLD, therefore not taking into account local economic situations, price of labour and seasonal factors.
Talking was Friends of the Earth’s Kirtana Chandrasekaran who wrote the excellent report ‘From Forest to Fork’ which can be viewed here.
This is something that every single person who eats should know about and act on. Behind the Seeds photo project is designed to help bring light to this extremely important issue, bringing the message to the public.
International Day of Action to Defend the Amazon
Today there will be actions all over the World is protest to the building of Belo Monte Dam in the Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. The protests are organised by regional groups co-ordinated by AmazonWatch
London event page – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106398789461800
It therefore is an appropriate day to link to my photos story about the communities that will be affected by the Belo Monte dam, shot earlier this year, view the story here
Verticrop
I’m now editing through the first phase of Behind the Seeds, below are the photos from Verticrop at Paignton Zoo from a couple of weeks ago. It produces the same yield as a farm in the equivalent space as a garden, very interesting idea: something that could be at the forefront of food production, especially in an urban environment, for more info – Verticrop
Verticrop at Paignton Zoo produces food for the animals in a minimal amount of space
Kevin Frediani – the mind behind Verticrop
Super efficient and reliable indoor growing
Good Advice
Found this film / audio clip, orinigally posted on photojournalism links, some great advice for young photographers – Top industry pros on the Canon professional network site, telling it like it is – do the work, and it will happen: If you build it, they will come…watch it here
Fruit Focus
Last week I was photographing the Fruit Focus trade show for Haymarket exhibitions. The show was a real insight into what’s going on inside the fruit industry, learning the opinions and concerns about UK growers and distributors.
The conference the day before the show was in it’s inaugural year, and the topic was automation. With speakers from all over the World, there were some interesting techniques on show, including an automated fruit selection machine closely based on the human hand, currently being developed using US military technology, raised cropping systems for apple harvesting, film of a heavily automated lettuce factory in Spain, and Verticrop: the vertical hydroponic growing system at Paington Zoo, which I visited this week (photos will be posted this week). The question now is will automation catch on, and how will it benefit the consumer and the industry. It seems this question will be coming up a lot during working in the ‘Behind the Seeds’ project.
Here are a few photos from the show:
John Stanmeyer – The End of Plenty
Link to John Stanmeyer of VII’s extended photo essay ‘The end of plenty’ about the global food crisis. It’s fantastic work, if I can get close to this standard with my food project ‘Behind the Seeds’ I’ll be very happy.
Link – The end of plenty
Permaculture Design Course, Norfolk
Here’s some photos from the Permaculture design course in Norfolk that I photographed and participated in back in June, courtesy of Integral Permanence. They are currently fundraising for a Permaculture film project, aiming to set off very soon, so if you like, give them some support, I did, as I think it’s a very worthwhile project… http://www.impermanencefilm.org/
The course was a great insight and introduction to food growing from an alternative and unusual angle. It was the beginning of a journey that’s shaping up to be very educational about all aspects of growing and making food, what’s happening now and where it’s headed: visiting food production sites at every end of the spectrum.
Westcountry bound
Over the next 2 weeks I’m going to be in devon and Cornwall, visiting some very interesting and forward looking initiatives.
First port of call is Paignton Zoo as mentioned in my last post, followed by some ground breaking projects at the Agroforestry research centre at Dartington, Embercombe, Plants for a Future in Cornwall, and the veg box people at Riverford Organics. I will be uploading plenty of photos and updates during this time, hoping to get some food related discussion going.
Heres some links to the sites:
Fruit focus
Today I’m shooting the fruit focus event for haymarket media. From the speakers today, it seems that food security and sustainability is on everyone’s minds.
There’s a lot of discussion about increasing and improving food production in the UK, which is certainly a good thing.
At the fruit focus conference yesterday looking at automation, there were a number of interesting ideas and techniques about how to move food production forward.
This included a talk from Kevin Frediani who runs the award winning vertical garden at paington zoo, which I have arranged to visit in the coming weeks.
Several Amazon environmental activists murdered in Brazil in less then 2 weeks, also co-inciding with the full approval of Belo Monte Dam on 1st June, something smells fishy – http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/in_brazil_murder_of_activists_underscores_bitter_fight_over_amazons_resourc/
Food or Future
The next few months are going be the summer of food and things food related. A subject that is both close to my heart and of great international importance at this time, and will only be increasingly so, as volcanic ash clouds ground flights and developing countries economies and populations grow, increasing their domestic demand for food that is currently grown for western consumption.
Even though agriculture is the largest manufacturing industry in the UK, we now import over 50% of the food consumed annually (according to the Food and Drink Federation) a total of approx £31 Billion worth of food and drink every year.
So we really need to be looking at alternative ways to eat, or else we’ll be caught out and going hungry. I’m investigating interesting, innovative and forward thinking solutions to what could become a real problem if it’s not addressed. On the other end of the spectrum I will also be looking at more commonly recognised agricultural techniques, seeing how they work and what they can do to adapt to a changing world.
This week I will be documenting a permaculture course in Norfolk, run by Richard Perkins of integral permanence
Very powerful and moving story about child brides just published in National Geographic by Stephanie Sinclair of VII: http://www.viiphoto.com/feature.html
Belo Monte Dam, Brazil
I’m now back in the UK. The lack of radio contact recently is because I was in the deepest Brazilian Amazon, shooting a feature about the controversial Belo Monte hydro dam project in Para. For this story I was working in conjunction with Amazon Watch and Survival International : key NGO’s in the Belo Monte campaign.
Last week was a significant moment for the campaign, a decision was made that will affect the people of the Amazon and the World – Brazil’s environment agency IBAMA approved the full licence for the building of Belo Monte. Read the New York Times and AmazonWatch press release here
I’m currently in the process of editing the feature, and will be sending out to press this week. Here’s a couple of images from the project…
