Yesterday’s Gaza Demo-Police Stupidity?

Posted on January 4, 2009 | Leave a comment


The crowd are herded towards the underpass tunnel

I covered the Palestinian Gaza demo yesterday and was astonished by the route chosen by the Police for the march. After the rally at Trafalgar Square, the march made its way to the Israeli embassy on High Street Kensington. I’ve been covering demos for over 19 years now and have never once seen a march involving many thousands of people taken into a tunnel (the underpass at Hyde Park Corner). As we were herded by the Police into the tunnel I knew it was a seriously bad idea. To make matters worst, nobody was allowed to use another route, so women and children, some in prams, were all pushed through the tunnel.

A distressed woman rushed away from the violence at the front

The problem was that there was a Police line at the front and surely enough when we were in the middle section, it all kicked off. Sadly I was several meters back so didn’t see what happened. The protesters naturally said that for no reason the Police started to strike the floor with their batons and then began to hit people in the front of the march. I would think that there must have been a provocation as I saw wooden sticks being thrown over my head towards Police lines. I heard one fleeing woman shout that stones were being thrown at the Police.Whatever the reason, this resulted in a mild stampede and the crowd in front of me suddenly turned around and began to run. Screaming and panic ensued. Alas, by the time I reached the front all the commotion had stopped.
To cram thousands of people through a tunnel without any escape exits is utter stupidity. I think everyone was fortunate that there weren’t any injuries suffered apart from those hit by batons.
If anyone knows anyone who is placed high in the Metropolitan Police, please be kind enough to pass this post onto them.

The crowd are jubilant as they approach the tunnel’s exit

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Posted in Pictures, viewpoint

Palestinian Gaza Demo, London

Posted on January 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Pictures

Muse – Filmed on a Canon 5D MkII

Posted on December 31, 2008 | Leave a comment

Muse – Short from Edmond Terakopian on Vimeo.
Here’s a short clip from my first ever film which was shot using a Canon 5D MkII and a Canon EF 35mm f1.4L lens. The video and sound are straight from the camera and have not been edited. I’ll be posting the full film in around a week with edited sound.

Here’s a direct link to the clip so you can watch it in 720p HD.
Addendum: The film is now available to view in its entirety:


For the 720 HD version, visit Vimeo.


For the Full 1080 HD version (and other sizes),visit SmugMug.

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Posted in Video

Reuters TV – The Canon 5D MkII

Posted on December 24, 2008 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Camera Equipment, Video, viewpoint

Survival Technique

Posted on December 23, 2008 | Leave a comment

Well, I don’t mean how to trap an animal, make fire, cook it, create shelter and purify water all with a pocket knife; what I’m referring to is surviving if your laptop goes down whilst away on assignment.

I’ve never actually had to use this technique, but for years have had this as an insurance policy. Imagine this, you’re on a dream assignment abroad. You’ve got great pictures and your picture editor is desperate for the images. You boot up your laptop and…..nothing; its dead.
I have two USB memory flash drives; one for a PC and one for a Mac. They have a full host of all the software I need to be able to work. Image editing software (Aperture, Photo Mechanic, PhotoShop, FTP programs, settings for FTP and email servers, image rescue and so on).
With most software now purchased over the internet, its very easy just to keep the installer files and their associated serial numbers together in folders. You can also download trail software and not install it, but keep the installer files on your flash key.
If it all goes wrong, I can either pop into an internet cafe and ask them nicely if I can load up my software, find someone friendly with a laptop and do the same, or pop into a store and buy one! On a Mac you could even go one step further and have your whole operating system on a USB flash drive with all your software and settings and if your hard drive goes down, you just boot off the flash drive. I haven’t actually tried this yet, and I know it’ll be slow, but it will save the day.
If you’re wondering which ones to get, Test Freaks have done a round up of 21 flash drives and put them to the test. 

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Posted in Computers and Software, viewpoint

Gleb Garanich’s Crying Man Sequence

Posted on December 19, 2008 | Leave a comment


Following on from the previous post, I’m so touched by this set of images, that with kind permission from Reuters I’d like to share the entire sequence.

I first saw the pictures in French “Photo” magazine when attending Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan earlier this year. Those that are familiar with “Visa” will know that its an incredible collection of exhibitions and projections of the best images from around the world. However, no other set of images touched me as much as Gleb’s photographs of the mourning man holding his dead relative after their homes were bombed by Russian war planes in South Ossetia. I was standing in a little shop and looking through the magazine, and nothing during the whole week moved me as much. Incredible.

This is the caption that ran with the image:

A Georgian man cries near the body of his relative after a bombardment  in Gori, 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 9, 2008. A Russian warplane dropped a bomb on an apartment block in the Georgian town of Gori on Saturday, killing at least 5 people, a Reuters reporter said. The bomb hit the five-story building in Gori close to  Georgia’s embattled breakaway province of South Ossetia when Russian warplanes carried out a raid against military targets around the town.  REUTERS/Gleb Garanich  (GEORGIA)

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