Herat, Afghanistan. ©Stewart Weir 2002

Nearly 10 years since an assignment for Warchild and Oxfam. Images taken shortly after the fall of the Taliban in the city of Herat in early January 2002. I remember the high hopes the people of Herat had for their future. The West made promises of investment that were never kept.

The Taliban had been defeated back then by the Northern Alliance and the US/UK armed forces but the locals knew they would not disappear. A translator I met there spoke of his hopes that Afghanistan “would settle into peace and there would be no more war” but he said even though that was his hope the reality would be that “if the West stayed there could never be a real lasting peace anywhere in the country”.

The boy in the image above is younger than his looks suggest. He was then 12 years old and now he is 22. In 10 years his country has not moved 1 inch forward to peace.

©Stewart Weir 2009

This image was taken at Amsterdam Fashion Week as part of a feature for de Volkskrant. The image was shot backstage and the lighting was spotlights positioned high and directed down. The model is unposed. I was struck by how the spot lighting lit half her face perfectly. I composed wanting to put the shadow to the left. This is a full frame image with no cropping.

England fans fight Marseille locals. ©Stewart Weir 1998

I did a story about England football fans for Esquire magazine back in June 1998. I was 5 years into my career and my first big shoot. My brief was to do a photo story about the fans as they followed England. This shot was taken the evening before the first match against Tunisia. I had literally jumped off the train from Paris about 20 minutes earlier. I heard police sirens at the train station, jumped in a taxi and asked the driver what was going on. He told me that there were lots of fans in the port area causing trouble so thats where I headed.

Ueno Park, Tokyo. The Sleeping City. ©Stewart Weir 2002

I never saw the cat. I don’t know why but it wasn’t until I saw the negative that the cat made his presence known and made this image one of my favorites.

I find it very difficult to edit my own work but easy to edit others. I’m far to emotionally attached to my work and so battle daily with making a decision. Editing is part of the photographers daily routine whether its looking at contact sheets, a computer screen or in your head. Sometimes I’ve feel almost OCD about it, churning away like a hamster on a wheel.

Some images just jump straight out and grab you like a lunatic and they become burnt into your memory and never forgotten. When this happens you have an image that will stand the test of time. When I saw the cat thats exactly what happened.

Brighton Beach ©Stewart Weir 2006

“To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” – Susan Sontag

Semana Santa, Malaga. The procession of the Cofradia de la Esperanza. ©Stewart Weir 2007

English Woodlands ©Stewart Weir 2011

]]> http://thex1files.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/english-woodlands/feed/ 1 The Editor English Woodlands http://thex1files.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/more-than-ninety-minutes/ http://thex1files.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/more-than-ninety-minutes/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:40:52 +0000 Stewart Weir http://thex1files.wordpress.com/?p=718 ]]>

Dick Knight in his London home 1996 © Stewart Weir 1996

The ‘Hello Boys’ Wonderbra commercial which featured Eva Herzigova‘s cleavage was this year voted the most iconic advert image of all time. The traffic-stopping ad sparked a sensation when it was unveiled in 1994 and was blamed for causing accidents as commuters stared at the huge roadside posters. TBWA Holmes Knight Ritchie was the Ad agency responsible for the campaign and Harry Richard “Dick” Knight is one of the people credited with the campaign’s success.

In 1996 Dick Knight became involved with saving Brighton and Hove Albion FC from football extinction. He fought and ousted the hated former chairman Bill Archer to become chairman himself. For 12 years he steered the club from the brink of oblivion on and off the pitch in a story with more twists and turns, ups and downs than any cheesy TV drama.

Stuart Storer scores at the Goldstone Ground 1997. © Stewart Weir 1997

From a ramshackle but fondly remembered Goldstone Ground to the equally ramshackle but far less fondly remembered Priestfield Stadium where home games meant a 150 mile day trip to Gillingham (1997 to 1999) and then to a converted running track at the Withdene Stadium (1999 to 2011) to a sparkling new world class stadium at Falmer the story of how Dick Knight saved a football club was summed up by football legend and ex Brighton manager Liam Brady when he said about Knight.. “He’s probably had the club at the worst possible time and done the best possible job anyone could have. To keep the club alive in the circumstances is remarkable”.

In 1997 I published the book More Than Ninety Minutes. A photo documentary of the struggle to survive on and off the pitch, it’s a testament to the lengths football fans will go to save their club. Long term photo stories are begun but are they ever really finished? I began this in 1995 and still involved. Now I have begun to trace fans I photographed in the 90′s to re photograph them as they are today.

Dick Knight in the new American Express Stadium 2011 © Stewart Weir 2011

Beach Lovers © Stewart Weir 2005

Taken on Brighton beach as part of my long term photo series about the beach between two piers. It was just a very stormy day and had the idea to get some images of empty beaches. The couple were alone on the beach and oblivious to me, lost in their own world. The image came out exactly as I wanted it to.. like a scene from a 50′s movie. I love the randomness of photography.

“If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it.” – Jay Maisel

Protests in Shoreham, England against the transportation of live animals across the English Channel for slaughter in France 1993 ©Stewart Weir 1993

This image was my first published photograph which appeared in the The Guardian and New Statesmen in 1993. People were protesting against the transportation of live animals across the English Channel to France to be slaughtered. Thinking back to how I worked then is not a lot different to how I work now. I prefer black and white film and I prefer quirky cameras like the Contax T2 which was used for this image. In fact I have an urge to discover Pinhole imagery.. the idea of creating images with just an empty box, film and a tiny hole that takes minutes to expose is going to be therapy for my soul. Love digital but it doesn’t have a soul like film does..