I almost died last night… I can still feel the pin-prick in my middle finger where the paramedics checked my blood sugar.

The feeling still runs through me… I was in a car, spinning. Seventy miles an hour. I had swerved left to avoid him and skidded wildly to the side. I swung right to correct it and spun out of control - around and around, across the carriageway. Read more…

07-07-2005. Manchester, UK.
It was the day of the recent London bombings and I was wandering a little aimlessly through the city centre, on my way to the recording studios. A strangely ethereal sound came wafting over the hustle and bustle of the square and I was drawn to come closer. Read more…

Rochdale Canal, Ancoats, Manchester.

I was photographing the bridge when Mike asked me what I was doing. We went on to talk for about an hour with a conversation that really touched and affected me. Read more…

I received this in an email from a friend, the day after the London bombs:

You call that a bomb! These new terrorists are just rubbish! I’ve lived in London on and off since 1973 and there has never been a time free from bombs. The IRA were much better at it.

The 1990 bombs in the city were very impressive. A big truck full of nitrate fertilizer parked outside what is now the Gerkin building, broke every window for four blocks. I was leaning out of my window in Islington at the time and it sounded like the explosion was just a block away.

The bus bomb yesterday was about six blocks away and I didn’t even hear it.

Read more…

Recent events have demonstrated the power of grassroots journalism. The recent bombs in London were followed by a wave of media from independent citizens. Before the first TV crews had arrived, passersby were recording and documenting the events, and blogging on their sites, uploading photos to Flickr, commenting on news websites… Read more…