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This picture I put on the blog a couple of months back........ its 20 years old now....... Back then it was used huge on the front of the then newly re-designed Guardian Newspaper in the UK. It had a massive head line in ...... directly referring to the picture :

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?

I feel now the problem of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is if anything... even more intractable....... Even through all the violence and hardship of the first intifada ....... There was hope and optimism on the Palestinian side ...... I certainly felt that slip away as time went on.

I always felt the rise of Hamas in Gaza was the triumph of nihilism...... the cult of death...... the Shahid...... and suicide bombing...... the ultimate in pessimism.

Maybe all this welling up of international support against the blockade of Gaza will bring some optimism for change and progress back to the Palestinians of Gaza.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

http://www.jezblog.com

PS......... On a lighter note....... Steve Marshall is always good value...... here is a little exchange between him and me on the blog yesterday....... :-))

Apparently Tim Page was Hopper's inspiration for the part - now there is a crazy character...;-)))

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimPage(photographer) [reply]Steve Marshall @ June 5, 2010, 11:50 am

Tim Page...... he really is and was totally crazed..... I remember watching a documentary about him at my school ..... him speaking about the glory of war while smoking a massive joint in Vietnam ...... he was a classic hippy type nutter drugs drugs drugs..... but all those injuries he received during his coverage of the Vietnam war are testament to his really 'living up country' with the troops....... he was right there...... at the front throughout..... at the sharp end...... he was seriously done in on about 4 occasions..... finally taking a massive wound to the head from a landmine that exploded under a guy just in front of him as they helped to load injured men into a helicopter.......

The Hopper character is probably pretty true to the Tim Page of back then........ :-)

I actually got to know him a little.... When he was living in London about 12 years ago...... he was using the image.net service I was involved with and he was also shooting a bit in London.....

Once I was with a pile of anti-fascist demonstrators that had gathered to protest at a planned BNP meeting..... There were tons of cops tons of anti-fascists but no BNP people turned up.... so none of the expected violence happened.... I was there so were a fair few other photo journalist types including Tim Page...... he was still jammed in his Vietnam headspace...... wearing the combat jacket from back then..... issued to him with his name printed on the front pocket...... a cop who knew the name.... was giving him a hard time..... taking the mickey out of him for having Tim Page written on his jacket..... the cop was talking to him as if he was just a loser who thought he was like Tim Page...... Page himself was enjoying the situation...... in the end I had to say to the cop......' for gods sake...... It's the man himself.'

Cheers bro....... Jez XXXXXXXXXX [reply]jezblog London @ June 5, 2010, 1:17 pm

Hey, if I ever found a combat jacket with 'Tim Page' written on it I'd wear it and not give a toss about what anyone said!!! ;-))) [reply]Steve Marshall @ June 6, 2010, 5:53 am

The funny thing was I was pretty impressed that the cop knew who Tim Page was in the first place....... Well knew in principle..... But it was cringing when the cop did not know who Tim Page was in the flesh as it were.......... hehehe.....

I think that kind of thing happens when you have a mental picture of a photographer...... a dream of how that person is...... not based in reality........

I've had those kind of mental pictures of photographers.... that turn out to be completely wrong....... :-)

I've also had a couple of similar incidents myself ..... Kind of weird...... once I was shooting for a British Trade Union they commissioned me to come to an event they are holding ...... it's some kind of event for Palestinian Charities .... I am acting a bit like a cocktail photographer.... photographing the handing over of the charitable donation in the form of a big check ..... but i am also chatting to the guests...... i tell a bloke from Medical Aid to Palestine that i have photographed in the West Bank and Gaza....... but he is not interested...... he knows I am a cocktail photographer...... he is raving on about the work true photojournalists...... people capturing the trauma of occupation in their mighty imagery ... blah blah blah......

I agree some people are doing mega telling stuff....... I think he may actually be thinking of a friend of mine John Tordai but he does not think so ...... probably not...... (as he is a friend of mine) ..... he is raving about this particular blokes work..... when he says where some of the pictures are shot ..... I say I was there for those events too ...... but he is again totally dismissive of me.......

He then takes out the mighty images of life under occupation for me to marvel at .......... on postcards he has with him....... er....... slightly cringingly..... very familiar looking postcards ...... er....... yeah.... er....... these are my photographs......... it really is a bit of a cringe all round....... well it's a bit disappointing for him to realize these mighty photojournalist creatures..... are kind of like ordinary real life dudes ........ you know human beings............ er...... well you know people....... with cameras...... and ..... er.... well you know ...... shooting pictures for a living ...... maybe shooting something deeply moving and telling one day ......... but..... er........ well how can I say this...... but you know........ maybe doin the odd bog standard slightly naff shoot occasionally......... er....... say like at the presentation of a big check at a Palestinian Medical Charity event in London for a Trade Union ........ hehehe....... :-/ :-) :-))

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

http://www.jezblog.com [reply]jezblog London @ June 6, 2010, 4:53 pm

Hey Jez, I don't think I ever actually gave back my 'Steve Marshall' combat jacket... you can have it for cocktail parties.. hehehehe...;-)) [reply]Steve Marshall @ June 6, 2010, 4:57 pm

http://www.jezblog.com

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