Anima Fotografie's photos

Various Outtakes are knocking around from the recording of THE seminal Zeppelin Album (IMHO). This is the cover of some of those Physical Graffiti rehearsal sessions (11 tracks in all) on a CD I acquired from a long gone Music Store on Temple Bar Square in Dublin some time back in the 1990's. Now finally available via ipernity for sharing to Led Zeppelin Obsessives everywhere... enjoy! :)

Three women at The Cliffs of Moher

At The Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, County Clare

Marrakech, Morocco.

Marrakech has a large feral cat population. Life for them is I suspect short, & often brutal. Some get lucky, like this guy soaking up the afternoon sun (& some momentary human affection) at The Koutoubia Mosque. Alternate Title- Purrfect Moment

Marrakech, Morocco. Egyptian-born columnist and lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues Mona Eltahawy argues in favour of the proposed French ban on the burka in public... As a Muslim woman and as a feminist I support banning the face veil, everywhere and not just in France where they are to vote on a resolution and possibly a ban on wearing the garment in public places [hospitals, schools and public transport, but not in the streets] after regional elections end. I am appalled to hear the defence of the niqab or burka in Europe. A bizarre political correctness has tied the tongues of those who would normally rally to defend women's rights but who are now instead sacrificing those very rights in the name of fighting an increasingly powerful right wing. Every time I return to Cairo from New York City, where I now live, I wonder what Hoda Shaarawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist, would say if she could see how many of her sisters are disappearing behind the face veil. Returning from an international women's conference in Italy in 1923 – yes, we had feminists that early in Egypt – Shaarawi famously removed her face veil at a Cairo train station, declaring it a thing of the past. We might not have burned our bras in Egypt but some have described Shaarawi's gesture as even more incendiary for its time. And yet here we are, almost a century later, arguing over a woman's "right" to cover her face. What is lost in those arguments is that the ideology that promotes the niqab (the total body covering that leaves just the eyes exposed) and the burka (the garment which covers the eyes with a mesh) does not believe in the concept of women's rights to begin with. It is an ideology that describes women alternately as candy, a diamond ring or a precious stone that needs to be hidden to prove her "worth". That is not a message Muslims learn in our holy book, the Qur'an, nor is the face veil prescribed by the majority of Muslim scholars. It is instead a pillar of the ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam known as Salafism. It is associated with Saudi Arabia, where I spent most of my adolescence and where it is clear that women are effectively perpetual children, forbidden as they are from driving, from travelling alone and from even the simplest of surgical procedures without the permission of a male "guardian". I detest the niqab and the burka for their erasure of women and for dangerously equating piety with that disappearance – the less of you I can see, the closer you must be to God. I defend a woman's right to cover her hair if she chooses but the face is central to human interaction and so the ideologues who promote its covering are simply misogynists. I abhor the rightwing Muslim ideology behind the veils but I equally abhor the political rightwing xenophobes of Europe. The European political right – be it President Nicolas Sarkozy, his ultra-right rival Jean-Marie Le Pen (who did alarmingly well in the first round of those regional elections) or Dutch provocateur Geert Wilders – do not give a rat's ass about Muslim women or their rights: they are merely using the issue in an attempt to win votes. The racism and discrimination that Muslim minorities face in many countries — such as France, which has the largest Muslim community in Europe, and Britain, where two members of the xenophobic British National party were shamefully elected to the European parliament — are very real. But the silence of the left wing and liberals isn't the way to fight it. The best way to support Muslim women would be to say we oppose both the racist right wing and the niqabs and burkas which are products of what I call the Muslim right wing. Women should not be sacrificed to either. m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian...

Storks nesting on the Koutoubia Mosque's Minaret in Marrakech, Morocco. Everyone in the group I was in spent their time shooting the (to me) repetitive & boring (though admittedly intricate & sometimes beautiful) symmetrical tiles & mosaics & architectural features in the mosque. I went for birds (& a cat). :)

Scene seen while driving through the Atlas Mountains, Morocco.

Taken through the front window of a moving 4X4, hence the unfortunate light artifact as I had no polarising lens to hand when I shot this candid composition. I still liked it, the artifact lends it a certain ersatz 1950's Bresson-like authenticity peut être, oui? :) Two children (siblings surely?) make their way home in a village high in the Atlas Mountains outside Marrakech, Morocco. What future awaits this sweet little boy, & from the evidence of her tense expression, his already life hardened sister?

Even from a long way off through my long lens it seemed to this observer like a sister defying the will of an older brother. I felt no real fear from her body language, like a sister telling a domineering elder brother where to get off. Whenever she spoke to him she closed her eyes. He had to be a relative if they were adhering to traditional Islamic culture, but I'm I'm quite possibly guessing in error. Djemaa El Fna Square, late afternoon, in Marrakech, Morocco.

Not really on the edge at all but in the forefront of Morocco's future I hope... This photo was taken on March 12, 2010 using a Canon EOS 7D.

Taken at a recent Offshoot Photography Society location model shoot at Wicklow Gaol, Ireland, March the 5th 2010. Thirteen of us were literally locked into this historic old prison for three hours with three models & our imaginations. We were told we had to be back out by 8.30pm at the latest as there was a "Psychic" Tour Group coming in ghost hunting after us. Well, I felt no presence at all there, except that of my fellow freezing Offshoot Members & the three utterly wonderful (& even colder!) models we shot there under studio lights - Amy, Rachael (Irish) & Matylda (from Poland).

The incredible impression of sadness in her amazingly expressive eyes which Matylda was able to reproduce on demand was striking. In an instant they really did seem to literally echo the unknown & unseen sadness that permeated the Gaol's walls from the past. Matylda really was cold too (see her fingers), which seemed to infer an extra frisson of authenticity.

One of the first shots I took at our recent night time shoot under studio lights at Wicklow Gaol. I had the ISO set to Auto from previous night work in a field with the Moon, but in the dimness I forgot or didn't notice, or both. A shame, as it's very noisy as a consequence (ISO 3200!). Anyway, Rachael's posing was so beautiful I decided that some of these initial shots I took of her deserved an airing here... www.wicklowshistoricgaol.com/ www.offshoot.ie/

Well, we WERE in a genuine old dungeon at the time, & it was really chilly, you can literally see her goosebumps! Matylda was an incredible model, I knew her for all of two minutes when I took this shot. With an absolute minimum of direction she just exuded an ennui that fitted the cold & claustraphonbic atmosphere perfectly. Glacial Beauty indeed!

Rachael & Matylda... Recent Offshoot Photography Society session at Wicklow Gaol, Ireland on March the 5th 2010. I'll hopefully revisit these in RAW with PhotoShop sometime soonish & dodge all those lovely eyes so as to do them the justice they desrve...