Writer and Photographer in London: Stefan Ferreira

Snapshots of Kolkata from a taxi

Stefan — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:50:36 +0000

Don’t feel like reading? Click here to skip to the film

The last time I visited Kolkata I was filled with fear and wonder, shock and poetry, confusion and excitement – eager to dig beneath the dusty outer layer of this faded, vibrant, mad, laid-back, modern, ancient, rich slum of a contradiction. I wrote hasty notes on my phone, on the inside covers of my notebook and in various random emails – all filled with confused enthusiasm.

I was mainly intrigued by her people’s sense of calm in the face of a brisk, crowded and cacophonous environment. There was something admirable about their ability to blank out any kind of aggression or anger that impatient foreigners would sometimes direct at them – a passive yet powerful exclusion of Western middle-class angst.

It also felt as if my eyes lacked the right visual register to decode and classify what I saw, so nothing made sense. But that’s exactly what spurred my curiosity.

Despite all this, I didn’t make any time to go out and take pictures. In my defence, I was on a business trip spending my days in a windowless conference room, returning to the hotel at 10pm for a quick meal and then bed. Still, even though I didn’t have much choice, my own lack of adventurousness bugged me.

Why? Well, to paraphrase David Bailey, it’s a good idea to photograph a new place as soon as possible after you arrive, when you are still perceptive and impressionable. This lets you capture the best of a vision that rapidly blurs as your senses become more jaded: quirky street scenes seem strange no more; bright colour combinations fade into normality; exotic sounds go flat; and intriguing street characters turn into plain passers by.

My second visit happened under similar circumstances to the first, so I again had no free time at all. But for some reason it didn’t bother me much. I failed to bring my camera and I felt no urge to get out there and see more.

There was none of the previous visit’s visual and emotional incongruence. People just seemed to be parochial busybodies. The landscape: urban, dirty and poor. The traffic: insane. The contrast between rich and poor: infuriating. Nothing to see but an impoverished dump tainted by raw luck, inefficiency and corruption. The visit made bearable only by the preposterously inappropriate luxury of the hotel we were staying in.

Not a lot of poetry there!

Still, I thought it was ridiculous to visit a place twice without having some kind of visual record of it. The problem, though, was that I still didn’t have any time, nor did I have my camera on me. So I had to settle for what I could get.

What follows can never be a comprehensive or accurate documentary of life in Kolkata – there are no revealing shots of her people, for a start. It’s really nothing more and nothing less than a quick snapshot of Kolkata taken with my iPhone from the protected vantage points of the airport, my hotel and the taxi shuttling me from one to the other.

Snapshots of Kolkata from a taxi is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

The way to Hoxton

Stefan — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:36:44 +0000

There’s a dead stretch on Old Street, between Silicone Roundabout and Great Eastern Street, where the quirky boutiques and laid-back cafes of Shoreditch give way to a grim view of junk yards, dilapidated kebab shops and faceless council blocks.

I’ve never stopped or lingered here, except for one drunken night when Jean and Rennie and I stepped into one of those kebab shops asking for directions to a club called Medicine – or something like that anyway. We never did find the club and I never developed a liking for the area.

So I was quite surprised today when I walked past this colourful scene. Someone’s gone through quite a lot of trouble to give this patch of concrete desolation another chance.

The way to Hoxton is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

London City and the Thames from Hungerford Bridge

Stefan — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:08:28 +0000

It wasn’t long ago that the Barbican’s unapologetic 60s towers, the elegant dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and their ugly stepsister called the Natest Tower dominated the city’s skyline. From afar she sported a sad and disjointed profile, and her delights were best savoured from well within the narrow alleyways of the Square Mile.

Those hidden pleasures still remain, but recent additions to the skyline make it a pleasure to view it from afar too.

London City and the Thames from Hungerford Bridge is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

One New Change and St Paul’s

Stefan — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:52:57 +0000

I’ve never been sure about the new shopping centre next to St Paul’s Cathedral. Yes, the structure’s look changes dramatically with the light, but it often looks a bit dull and brown for my taste. Still, in this light and from this angle I can kind of see what the architect had in mind.

One New Change and St Paul’s is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

Great Eastern Street

Stefan — Sat, 05 May 2012 21:24:01 +0000

On Friday I took a walk from Kingsland Road to Moorgate, remembering once again that there’s little need to venture out of East London these days.

Great Eastern Street is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

Camden Road, London

Stefan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:01:51 +0000

Snap of the day @ Camden Road, London

Camden Road, London is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

The Thames after the race, Saturday

Stefan — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:22:20 +0000

The 158th Oxford vs Cambridge boat race was full of controversy relating to swimming intruders and broken oars. By sunset the crowds had departed, with many choosing the crowded noise of teeming riverside bars to party into the night. But looking at this strangely cold and innocent view from Putney Bridge, it was hard to imagine that any of this had happened.

The Thames after the race, Saturday is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

Clapham’s cleaning army

Stefan — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:16:26 +0000

Clapham's riot cleanup army await instructions to start cleaning up the streets

See my full Demotix photo report here

If London is a place of brusqueness and apathy, then the streets around Clapham Junction were a marked exception on Tuesday afternoon.

Determined to reclaim the city following a night of mindless rioting, people from all over the capital rose early to stock up on brooms, gloves, dustpans and bin liners before heading out to the previous night’s hot spots. Responding to a Twitter campaign run by @Riotcleanup and @artistsmakers, the aim was to support local shopkeepers and help clean up the streets.

Some early birds in Hackney and Camden Town were left with little to do, as councils had efficiently cleared the streets in the early ours of the morning. But the word on Twitter indicated that there was still work to do in Clapham Junction.

A small crowd started gathering outside the station entrance at around lunchtime, armed with their cleaning gear and sporting slogans such as “We Love Clapham” and “Power to the Peaceful”. The gathering slowly grew into a cosmopolitan mix of school kids on summer holiday, posh-looking students, self-employed arty types, skiving office workers, self-appointed community leaders, moms, dads, grandparents and the odd rastafarian.

With the swelling numbers came Twitter-fuelled predictions regarding further riots and some heated arguments about the underlying causes of the previous night’s violence. But the atmosphere remained peaceful throughout, with people getting increasingly excited as it became clear that the police would eventually allow people to pitch in and help clear the streets.

Cheers went up as the fire brigade concluded their investigation of the by then infamous burnt-out party shop on Lavender Hill, whilst workers from Wandsworth Council’s environmental services arrived to co-ordinate the clean-up.

A small group of people were led into a side street, where they were told to wait another 30 minutes to allow shopkeepers to inspect their premises first. People waited patiently as a solemn group of business owners quietly paraded down a deserted, debris-strewn St John’s Road.

The police cordon was finally removed, and people flooded onto the street – many more than was required – leaving the street thoroughly spotless within about half an hour. Eager helpers assisted shopkeepers to clear out and tidy up their shops, whilst others enjoyed the free coffee handed out at Starbucks.

A boy poses with his broom on St John's Road

See my full Demotix photo report here

St John’s avenue quickly became the cleanest street in London, without so much as a shard of glass, cigarette butt or piece of chewing gum to be seen. Yet people didn’t leave. The local accessory store erected a sign, saying: “Clapham, you’re amazing” and started playing some upbeat music; people gathered around shops to talk and hang out and a local photographer conducted formal portrait sessions featuring group of people with yellow gloves and giant brooms at her makeshift street studio.

It is rare to see a group of Londoners gather like this, without a specific mission to spend money, sun worship, consume or be entertained. With the cleanup done, people displayed a desire to remain, simply for the sake of remaining; to soak up the atmosphere and to reclaim the streets in a peaceful yet defiant gesture showing that London has a community spirit – if we choose to unleash it.

What was your experience of the riots and their aftermath? Do you think campaigns such as this one make a difference, or are they little more than posturing by the relatively well-off middle classes? Let me know what you think – just leave a comment below.

Clapham’s cleaning army is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

Marketing, PR and SEO: Reading Room

Stefan — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 10:39:21 +0000

Brief

Reading Room is an award-winning international digital agency with over 180 staff working in the UK, Australia and Singapore. Their Singapore office is new but it’s expanding rapidly, and they required high quality content for consumption by the Singapore business community, including:

Expert articles and blog posts
Press releases
Direct marketing materials (both online and offline)
Search-engine optimised content for their own website

Result

Internal marketing and SEO work are kept confidential, but publicly-available items include articles for Campaign Asia, The Singapore Business Review, the Reading Room Blog and various press releases.

Quote

“Really enjoyed working with you. You’re a fantastic copywriter and I hope we get to use you again!“ – Sally Grimes, Marketing Executive, Reading Room

<< Back to projects, or

Marketing, PR and SEO: Reading Room is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.

Policy Briefs: Stellenbosch University

Stefan — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:35:17 +0000

Brief

Stellenbosch University’s Department of Economics needed some slick policy briefs to communicate the results of their research to a non-academic audience. They recognised that journalists and policymakers face time pressures and information overload, and many of them don’t have the statistical knowledge or the inclination to digest highly technical research papers.

The requirement was for accessible summaries that:

Got the point across without trivialising the academic arguments
Created interest in the research, showing direct relevance to policies and current affairs
Encouraged further reading and invited people to get in touch

Result

I wrote a series of punchy, 4-page policy briefs, each containing

Click here to view examples

An executive summary
A statement linking the research to current policy debates
A brief summary of the research
And a clear explanation of what it implies.

Quote

“These policy briefs are very good. Many people try to do them, but they do not usually know how.“ Linda Chisholm, Advisor to the South African Minister of Basic Education

<< Back to my portfolio, or

Policy Briefs: Stellenbosch University is a post by Stefan Ferreira, writer and photographer in London Visit today to join the conversation.