Blessing the Thames London Bridge, Sunday eleventh January, 2009
Fr Philip Warner was impressed by the annual Blessing of the Waters ceremony he noticed within the Orthodox church buildings of Serbia. When he grew to become the priest at St Magnus the Martyr on the Metropolis finish of the outdated London Bridge he determined to start an annual ceremony to bless the River Thames.
His parish and that of Southwark Cathedral meet on the centre of the present London Bridge, and in 2004 processions from each church buildings met there on the Sunday closest to Epiphany (January sixth) for a brief service.
Prayers have been stated for all those that work on the river and specifically for these killed shut up to now within the 1989 sinking of the Marchioness. Incense was swung round liberally, however dispersed by the breeze. The river was then blessed by throwing in a big wood cross. Water was then sprinkled over these participating within the ceremony earlier than all these current have been invited to course of to one of many church buildings for a lunch.
I photographed this occasion in 2007 and 2008 in addition to 2009, although it was solely in 2008 that I used to be in a position to keep for the lunch, that yr at St Magnus. By the third of those years the occasion had grown, with too many photographers, primarily amateurs, coming alongside and getting each in my means and in the best way of these celebrating. I felt I had already taken sufficient photos by then and crossed it off my listing of annual occasions to cowl.
After I first started photographing occasions in London, each protests and cultural occasions, there have been few photographers at most of them besides the massive nationwide marches. At many smaller occasions I’d discover myself the one particular person with a digital camera, and naturally every little thing was nonetheless on movie. However within the final 15 or so years issues have modified.
Again then even when there have been extra of us taking photos we have been all photographers and not less than doing so in knowledgeable means. We tried to respect the others and as far as attainable preserve out of every others means, although in fact that wasn’t all the time attainable. Typically there have been arguments between these of us who preferred to work near our topics with wide-angle lenses and people who carried large, heavy, normally white, telephoto zooms and all the time needed to make use of them from a distance. However usually we labored collectively.
Then got here low-cost digital cameras and digital camera telephones. Everybody now has one thing that may take image, and might readily share them on social media. And there was big motion from taking nonetheless pictures to recording video. Video results in a unique perspective, with many changing into unaware of something outdoors the display screen of their cellphone round them. At any occasion now I can make certain that not less than one particular person will stroll in entrance of my lens speaking into their cellphone completely oblivious of my presence and blocking my view.
In fact I don’t declare any particular proper to take photos, and others have the identical rights as me. However except we respect the rights of others it turns into troublesome and irritating to work; we have now to work collectively.
Extra photos from 2009 Blessing the Thames.
Protests on January eleventh
In 2009 I used to be sorry to not have time to remain for the lunch at Southwark Cathedral, significantly as two of my mates have been current, one a frequent worshipper there. However there have been a few protests to {photograph}. The primary was a march by Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain in opposition to the Israeli assaults on Gaza, aimed toward Arab dictators who collude with Israeli terrorism and going to Egyptian, Syrian and Saudi Embassies.
Extra at Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain Gaza march.
And it was the eleventh of January, and the anniversary of the establishing of the US torture camp at Guantanamo in 2004 was marked by a late afternoon protest on the US Embassy, nonetheless then in Grosvenor Sq..
Extra at Guantanámo – 7 Years
Tags: Arab dictators, Bishop of Woolwich, Blessing of the Waters, Blessing the river, Blessing the river Thames, digital camera telephones, digital cameras, Epiphany, Gaza, Guantanamo, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, ikncense, Israeli assaults, London, London Bridge, London Images, Orthodox church buildings, peter Marshall, Philip Warner, photographers, prayers, protest, River Thames, Serbia, Southwark Cathedral, St Magnus the Martyr, US Embassy, US torture camp, wood cross
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