It was a bitterly cold night — my iPhone said -1° — I paid the girl on the door, got my wrist stamped and made my way to the a bar. “A pint of Harp, please.” I took a sip just as Arc Royale started their set. Featuring the brilliant vocals of Amy McGarrigle — whose 2006 EP I still listen to occasionally — and equally emotive vocal soundings of Owen Lamont.

I put my bag down and took my coat off. It was about 3 songs in before I got the nerve to get the camera out and start snapping away. That old age-old feeling, “Do I do it now?” “Oh now everyone’s watching me”. When I got going again it felt great; a rush every minute.

Next up: The Lambing Season. Gerry McCrudden (I still put Boathouse’s ‘What I Remember’ on playlists) again showing that he is a multi-talented musician; brilliantly bringing together the sounds of brass and soaring vocals.

Backstage, various band members were shifting about, moving gear on and off-stage. Steve Lynn, Amidships‘ bassist, took a minute to calm his nerves away from the others, while JP McCorley (of Push Borders and Red Sirus in previous incarnations, now fronting Amidships), and myself caught up on where I’d been, echoing what Owen Lamont had said earlier in the evening of how I “just vanished overnight”. And in a way I did, to some. I stopped shooting music for a few years while I concentrated on other things, though it’s where I began, and I will always enjoy returning to it.

The set was filled with emotion, and raucous guitars. JP becomes fully immersed in the sound and makes use of all available space around him. But I’m not here to review the set, I wasn’t even there to photograph the bands. I brought my camera with me as I wouldn’t know what to do with myself at a gig without it. I, too, become absorbed in the music; watching each band member closely, watching every movement, watching the lights and listening. For me it is one of the most enjoyable experiences. I listen to great music, and for a short while, become king of that space between audience and musician.

Back out to the cold and the brisk walk home, I recall sending a text message detailing the joy I felt. I reckon be at a live gig again soon.

Amidships ‘Friendly Fire‘ EP is on Spotify.

Arc Royale; Amy McGarrigle & Conor McCafferty

Arc Royale; Owen Lamont & Amy McGarrigle

The Lambing Season; Gerry McCrudden

The Lambing Season

Amidships

Amidships

Amidships

Amidships

Amidships

I never fully understood the idea of addressing the “YouTube community” in a video, let alone where the “YouTube community” existed. Dr. Michael Wesch talked about this in his talk ‘An anthropological introduction to YouTube‘ in 2008. I still don’t know where the YouTube community is though I understand the need for a word, in this case one that sounds as silly as “vlog”, to describe the regular videos posted by regular, often very talented people. When said often enough it fits.

My latest favourite vlogger is Darren, not only because he is my favourite person, but because his videos are superb and make me laugh every single time. He has managed to capture the parts of him that I like into short, almost-daily, bursts; complete with snappy editing and poignant or funny underlying tones. Or just utterly pointless. Most importantly, real. And having only started 7 days ago he’s off to a killer start!

Here are a few to get you started before you subscribe.

The Blog will be updated less, at least less about stuff that isn’t photo-related. Again, I hope to record my progress through the next few months of photography projects and developing ideas. There’ll be a new website, blog, and various other things over other platforms.

To start off, here are the two handbooks for my two modules this semester:

Professional Practice: [here]

Advanced Indendent Practice: [here]

The grounds look good, though far from complete, the café has good food (free coffee refills, which I abused) and great service, and accommodated us as we stuck around to chat.

Mixed in with the Robocop, R2D2 and the head of C-3PO are a number of obscure robots which may well be part of a private toy collection, either way, it’s a fun day out, and it was great to meet some lovely new and old friends: Ron, Sarah, Paul, Skip, Cat, Lexi, Paul, Kay, Bill, Mark and Steve.

The exhibition runs until 12th Jan.

In all, it’s been a pretty good twelve months. Yeah there were a few bad times, things went wrong and I made mistakes, but overall things were better than ever; I made many new friends — some of those I consider my best friends — I also released who I no longer consider a friend. It was a year of growth, of finding myself more than ever, of being myself to everyone around me. Realising more and more how awesome I am, and not being afraid to express myself. Furthering my narcissistic persona and breaking it down bit by bit. Putting myself more and more online, often with no less control. Just, more.

The first change of the year came in the form of Typo, the husky-collie cross who joined the family. The sweetest fluffiest of all things… now a large, hyperactive, needy beast who doesn’t like to sit still for long. But we love him to bits all the same.

In Feburary I took a few long walks along the Falls and Shankill roads; my first time walking on each. Camera and Google Maps on-hand I paraded up and down, stopping at nuances and cultural oddities which stood out to me. I took a tour of my first peace wall, the most prominent wall in Belfast, on Cupar Way.

This was followed by a brief visit to St Peter’s Cathedral on the Falls Road. Not to mention the discovery that the Shankill Road library is far superior than the one of the Falls Road.

The first “tweetup” in a Government building took place in March, with the NI Assembly inviting Twitter users/bloggers for a tour of Stormont and a discussion, hosted by UTV’s Marc Mallett, on the use of social media by the Assembly. Apparently it was my idea, spurred by a Twitter conversation between myself and Chris Taylor.

March was also the last ever Irish Blog Awards; a drunken affair, and a goodbye to a huge part of my life over the last number of years.

Of course, as tradition dictates, a photo-walk was held on the afternoon before the bash. Being help in Belfast, myself and Davy put together an epic affair; a tour of the City Hall, followed by a hard-hat tour of the still under-construction Titanic Signature Building, finishing up with a tour of the Titanic Drawing Rooms and the dry dock. To top it off we were given permission to roam the roof of the Europa Hotel, 13 floors from ground-level: here are two panorama images of Belfast from this height. Further images from the photo walk are in the following blog posts: 1, 2, 3, 4.

April was my foray into the world of politics. Whilst learning who does what, where, when and why, my response remained: “I hate politics”. And although I still don’t enjoy “being involved”, I feel that having a basic understanding of local politics is extremely important. Particularly when it comes to deciding who to vote for.

Following the crowd is a big no-no for me. I have to find out for myself who is the best one for the job, using my own carefully selected criteria, in particular: moving NI forward through a non-sectarian attitude, pro equal rights — including LGBT rights — makes efforts to bring together all communities in Northern Ireland without segregation, etc. In doing this, I found myself at the manifesto launch of DUP and SDLP, a variety of hustings, and walking around Holywood with Stephen Agnew, leader of the NI Green Party, and Stephen Stewart, 18 year old East Belfast independent and SDLP councilor Colin Keenan.

Steven Agnew Green Party canvassing

May saw the wedding of two very good friends, Michael and Andrew:

Later in the month Queen Elizabeth II made a historic visit to Ireland and I happened to be in the area.

A very wet North West 200 took place in the last weekend in May — sort of. Due to crap weather the full number of laps were not completed. Despite the wet, myself and Chris had a good time all the same.

June kicked off Pride season with a protest against CORE, a Christian group which supports “men and women with homosexual issues who voluntarily seek change in sexual preference”, which held a one-day seminar at Belvoir Parish Church.

The Twelfth of July is always a fascinating time in Northern Ireland; many people love it, many people hate it, many just want a peaceful outcome. This year I spent the 12th shooting Belfast’s main parade to their field where they drank, rested, ate, and prayed. On the 13th I was in Scarva with the Corbet Accordion Band where there was a very very different atmosphere — something I will write about it more detail in coming months.

Pride Parade Belfast:

In August the wedding of Sarah & Ryan took place:

(not pictured here)

September

October: Well this was an interesting month. It began well. It ended well. In the middle it went a bit wrong. Or indeed very right, but not in the way it should have. I’ll stop before I say something any more vague.

November:
A large part of the past few months has been my introduction to the world of marching bands; the music and the culture. I spent a lot of time in the company of the Corbet Accordion Band, during practices and their Christmas events; the biggest event for them of recent years was taking part in the Festival of Marching Bands at the end of November in the Ulster Hall. I’ll be posting more about the band in coming months.

2hr+ daily Skype conversations became the norm in November.

December was a interesting month, revelations and realisations. But bigger than that, for me my own narcissism has had to deal with a different side of me: I’ve let my guard down. My social media persona has altered. I’ve become a soppy, nauseating, happy person. Shouting from from the metaphorical rooftop that is the internet. And I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m lucky to be comfortable in myself, I have people around me who love me and who I can talk to about anything. People who are there for me through the good and bad, and have shown nothing less in recent months.

Darren:

2011 ended superbly. I hope to continue the happiness through 2012.

Church on Sunday
For the most part I love Christmas. For me it it’s about few days to chill-out with family; eat lots of chocolate, have a few drinks, hang out with my awesome cousins, a nice meal (stuffing!), refuse to wear paper hats, argue with my parents about going to church one day a year “because it’s what we do at Christmas”, give awesome presents to the ones I love, get some awesome presents (but giving awesome presents is better). Yet it is never about a Jewish philosopher, a fat man in a red suit, or a skinny man in a green suit, nor the commercial bullshit which surround it.

I debated whether or not to go to church with my parents. In the end I went. It’s a boring ritualistic affair with drab music in between the monotonic voice of the man at the pulpit coming out from the speakers dotted between the congregation. A larger congregation than usual; the hypocrisy is far from subtle.

Back at home the question comes again: “Why don’t you like religion?” There are many answers. I have my reasons. But mostly, when I get involved in a conversation like that I realise the fundamental questions that someone of faith has. It helps challenge me and rehearse other angles. Most importantly, it’s enjoyable to have a wee debate and express my own feelings. However, insignificant church is to my Christmas, it is a standard part of my parents’ Christmas, and a part of what their family does.

Giving of the gifts
In our house we don’t wake up to presents. We’re older now and there is no need for that sort of thing, so we’re told. It’s a formal affair that has lost its fun.

Christmas Dinner
Ah yes, the one time of the year where the adults spent hours in the kitchen preparing a feast beyond all proportions as though Jesus himself were to join us at the table. In fact, it’s just the four of us and we’re forced to eat under-cooked Brussels sprouts, watered-down gravy, under-cooked potatoes, turkey, carrots and no stuffing because Dad forgot it.

The fight after dinner
After dinner we sit in front of the TV with a beer and hope that there isn’t too much fighting about what we’re watching. Some chance.

Lets just get through the night together. Forget about everything going on. Put on the façade that we’re all okay.

Boxing Day
This is Christmas for me. Hang out with my cousins and get merry. This year was sponsored by the antics of 7 year-old Ethan.

And now I pack up my things from the room with the single bed.
Until next year.

It’s december and I’m majorly stressing.
The todo list is long. Free time is non-existent. I need help.

• Google Wave – an attempt to combine email and instant messaging for real-time collaboration.
  I didn’t use it. Just like everyone else.

• Google Bookmarks List - a service which allowed users to share bookmarks with friends.
  For cloud-based bookmarks I still use and enjoy Delicious (via the trusty Firefox plugin). This may be useful if the likes of Delicious is shut down, as was threatened by Yahoo! recently, thankfully it hasn’t got to that.

• Google Friends Connect – allowed webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a snippet of code.
  Personally, I haven’t heard of this and won’t miss it.

• Google Gears – much-hyped effort to maintain web browser functionality when working offline.
  It was a nice idea but who uses the web offline these days anyway?

• Google Search Timeline – a graph of historical query results.

I find this very irritating and will be glad to see it go.

• Knol – a Wikipedia-style project, which aimed to improve web content.
  Completely new to me, clearly difficult to compete with Wikipedia at this stage.

• Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal – a project which aimed to find ways to improve solar power.
  One of a great number of research projects Google is working on; they say there are “other institutions are better positioned than Google to take this research to the next level” and have published their results.

This is all just a part of what Google seems to enjoy doing, starting projects and shutting them down when they don’t work. No harm in that really.
More info on the Google Blog.

Article 71. Public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness amongst minors.

Public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness amongst minors incur imposition of fine on citizens in the amount from one to three thousand rubles; on officials – from three to five thousand rubles; on legal entities – from ten to fifty thousand rubles.

Article 72. Public actions aimed at propaganda of pedophilia.

Public actions aimed at propaganda of pedophilia incur imposition of administrative fine on citizens in the amount from one to three thousand rubles; on officials – from three to five thousand rubles; on legal entities – from ten to fifty thousand rubles ($1,600).

A second reading takes places today, Wednesday 23rd November, although it is expected that this too will pass, given the unanimous vote of 27 to 1 vote, with one abstention. The bill will become a law when it has passed three hearings and is signed by the governor. Nikolai Alexeyev of the GayRussia.ru said the bill could become “the main legal reason to deny any public actions by the LGBT community.”

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, yet each year gay pride parade applications are met with rejections, and any which do go ahead result in riots involving police and anti-gay rioters.

Sadly there are too many places in the world where it is unsafe to be openly gay, due to backwards governments and the uneducated mentalities of those in power. In may 2011 Ugandan leaders attempted to introduce an anti-homosexuality bill, dubbed the “Kill the Gays bill”, this has been shelved for now. Also in May 2011 a bill was passed in Tennessee, known as the “Don’t Say Gay bill”, which bans elementary and middle school teachers from discussing homosexuality within school lessons, limiting instruction or material to “age-appropriate natural human reproduction science,” explaining that the language was fitting because “homosexuals don’t naturally reproduce.”

However, in restricting speech about homosexuality, rather than heterosexuality, this creates a one-sided agenda, in addition, it will likely prevent anti-bullying initiatives, limiting the number of people children have to talk to, particularly for those being bullied due to their own sexual orientation.

In what is essentially another attempt to legalise discrimination, Michigan Senate Republicans passed “anti-bullying” legislation in August 2011 which sets out that schools cannot prohibit “a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil’s parent or guardian.” This is essentially allowing religious beliefs to justify harassment. The very notion that, within a law aimed to protect the vulnerable, it also ensures that religious beliefs be given special attention leaves me completely bewildered. In Time magazine Amy Sullivan argues that “social conservatives believe that efforts to protect gays from assault, discrimination or bullying impinge on their religious freedom to express and act on their belief that homosexuality is an abomination”.

Amnesty international has stated that this latest anti-gay bill to be introduced in Russia “would threaten freedom of expression and fuel discrimination against the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community”. Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme Director, went on to say that “The notion that LGBTI rights activists are somehow converting Russia’s youth through ‘propaganda’ would be laughable, if the potential effects of this new law weren’t so dangerous and wide-reaching”.

If this bill is passed, it must be remembered that in March 2010, the Committeee of Ministers voted unanimously to approve Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states
on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity:

Recognising that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons have been for centuries and are still subjected to homophobia, transphobia and other forms of intolerance and discrimination even within their family – including criminalisation, marginalisation, social exclusion and violence – on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, and that specific action is required in order to ensure the full enjoyment of the human rights of these persons;

Paragraph 13 of the document, which Russia agreed to, reads:

“13. Member states should take appropriate measures to ensure, in accordance with Article 10 of the Convention [on Human Rights], that the right to freedom of expression can be effectively enjoyed, without discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, including with respect to the freedom to receive and impart information on subjects dealing with sexual orientation or gender identity.”

So far an online petition by All Out has amassed 166,968 signatures in its attempt to gain worldwide notice from international and European human rights treaties. Whether this makes a difference is yet to be seen.

Update
A vote on the law has been postponed until next week, November 30th.