Connect with us

Published

on

A photographer is encouraging people to view Notting Hill Carnival “differently” from how she perceives it is often “awfully” portrayed in the media.

Rio Blake is an enthusiast of the largely Caribbean event, and has been snapping carnival-goers and the celebrations since she received her first camera more than eight years ago.

Her photos aim to reframe the festival in a positive light.

Ms Blake, who specialises in documentary and portrait photography said: “I hope my photography encourages people to see the [carnival] differently and I’d like to think that the majority of people see it as a celebration.”

She believes the carnival can often be “portrayed awfully in the media”.

“I think, for me, it’s never really been about trying to prove the opposite, but I think my photos do just that, they speak for themselves,” she said.

“I’ve been every year and I’ve never personally been in trouble or had any altercations of anything like that, and I love bringing my camera and taking photos of everyone there as most people are happy and in a good mood.”

More on London

Reflecting on some of her favourite moments she captured, the 27-year-old said: “People on the steps really sums up west London and the carnival, and the way people chill and congregate [at the event] and make for really interesting portraits.

“I love taking photos of the children that go – it really shows the celebration that it is.

EMBARGOED TO 0001 FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 Undated handout photo taken by Rio Blake of a man and his daughter enjoying the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio is to take part in an exhibition called Here & Now: Black History Month Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets, run by Alternative Arts, where she will unveil never-before-seen images of the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio specialises in documentary and portrait photography, and started her journey in the field taking pictures of the Notting Hill
EMBARGOED TO 0001 FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 Undated handout photo taken by Rio Blake of two little girls at the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio is to take part in an exhibition called Here & Now: Black History Month Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets, run by Alternative Arts, where she will unveil never-before-seen images of the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio specialises in documentary and portrait photography, and started her journey in the field taking pictures of the Notting Hill Carnival. Issue

“I took a photo of a little girl at the window and she’s just smiling – she’s like a little ray of sunshine – and it was a really nostalgic moment.”

The Londoner said she “always” takes a camera to the carnival adding that “it’s a moment you don’t really want to miss”.

Her collection is expanding with an entire archive of photos and she said she does not “plan on stopping anytime soon”.

Read more:
‘Bittersweet’ 75th Windrush anniversary marked across UK
Glastonbury announces ticket price for 2024
Wildlife Photographer of the Year: First competition images expose human impact on fragile world of nature

Trouble at the carnival

While the majority of the two million people who attended this year’s carnival went to enjoy the food, parades and music, the celebrations were sullied by arrests and a spate of stabbings.

Across the main two days of the festival there were 275 arrests for a range of offences including possession of offensive weapons, sexual assault, assaults on police and drug possession.

Eight people were stabbed resulting in two men needing treatment in hospital.

Thousands of officers were on duty at the carnival
Image:
Thousands of officers were on duty at the carnival

Deputy Assistant Met Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who oversaw the policing operation, said it was “regrettable that for a second year in a row Monday night at carnival [was] marred by serious violence”.

From Notting Hill to Grenfell

Ms Blake, who was born to a father from Trinidad and Tobago and an Irish mother, showcased her work in 2021 to raise money for the Grenfell Foundation – a charity for the families of 72 victims who died in the 2017 tower block fire.

EMBARGOED TO 0001 FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 Undated handout photo of Rio Blake, a photographer who is to take part in an exhibition called Here & Now: Black History Month Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets, run by Alternative Arts, where she will unveil never-before-seen images of the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio specialises in documentary and portrait photography, and started her journey in the field taking pictures of the Notting Hill Carnival. Issue date: Friday October 6, 2023.
Image:
Rio Blake

EMBARGOED TO 0001 FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 Undated handout photo taken by Rio Blake of people looking down to watch the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio is to take part in an exhibition called Here & Now: Black History Month Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets, run by Alternative Arts, where she will unveil never-before-seen images of the Notting Hill Carnival. Rio specialises in documentary and portrait photography, and started her journey in the field taking pictures of the carnival

Her images were part of a group exhibit called An Ode To Notting Hill Carnival, while the event was moved online during the pandemic.

“That was myself and 13 other photographers, and we all donated the sale proceeds of the works to the Grenfell Foundation, which was amazing,” she said.

“It was to commemorate Notting Hill Carnival when it was cancelled and that was picked up and represented by [advertising agency] M&C Saatchi the next year, and it was great to be able to shout from the rooftops about other people’s work as well.”

Ms Blake is to take part in an exhibit called Here & Now: Black History Month Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre, in east London, where she will unveil the never-before-seen images of the carnival.

It will begin on 6 October running until 29 October.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Mountainhead: Succession writer Jesse Armstrong’s new film takes aim at tech billionaires

Published

on

By

Mountainhead: Succession writer Jesse Armstrong's new film takes aim at tech billionaires

Succession writer Jesse Armstrong says he hopes his new film about toxic tech billionaires can be a receptacle for anyone who is “feeling wonky about the world”.

Now making his film directorial debut with Mountainhead, starring Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman, Armstrong has shifted his focus from cut-throat media moguls to a group of billionaire friends meeting up to compare bank balances against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis they appear to have stoked.

Speaking to Sky News about the project, he said: “For a little while I poured some of my anxieties and feelings into it… and I hope it can be a receptacle for other people if they’re feeling wonky about the world, maybe this can be somewhere they put some of their anxieties for a while.”

Cory Michael Smith (R) plays Venis in Mountainhead. Pic: Mountainhead/HBO
Image:
Cory Michael Smith (R) plays Venis in Mountainhead. Pic: Mountainhead/HBO


Jesse Armstrong with Ramy Youssef. Pic: Mountainhead/HBO
Image:
Jesse Armstrong with Ramy Youssef. Pic: Mountainhead/HBO


Few television writers achieve widespread recognition beyond their work, but Armstrong – the man behind Succession, one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of the past decade – has become a household name and is today one of the world’s hottest properties in high-end drama.

“If there was more self-reflection and self-knowledge, there probably wouldn’t be such amenable targets for comedy and satire,” he admits.

Long before he gifted viewers with the likes of manipulative Logan Roy and sycophantically ambitious Tom Wambsgans, back in the beginning, there was selfish slacker Jez and the perennially insecure Mark on his breakthrough hit Peep Show.

“I love comedy, you know, it’s my way in,” he explains. “I think I like it because… the mixture that you get of tragedy and absurdity strikes me as a sort of a true portrayal of the world… and I just like jokes, you know, that’s probably the basic reason.”

More from Ents & Arts

After putting his pen down on the finale of Succession, walking away with 19 Emmys and nine Golden Globes, attention was always going to be drawn to what Armstrong did next.

“I had a couple of other things that I thought I would write first and this kind of snuck up on me as an area of interest,” Armstrong says.

“After I’d listened to a bunch of tech podcasts and Ted talks, I sort of needed somewhere to put the tone of voice that was increasingly in my head.”

Tapping into the unease surrounding big tech, he wrote, shot and edited Mountainhead in less than six months.

Jesse Armstrong
Image:
Jesse Armstrong says the film’s theme ‘snuck up on me as an area of interest’

Capturing the audience mood

Explaining why he worked so fast, he said he “wanted to be in the same sort of mood as my audience, if possible”.

While he insists there aren’t “any direct map-ons” to the billionaire tech moguls, which frequently make headlines in real life, he joked he’s “happy… to play a game of ‘where did I steal what from who?'” with viewers.

“You know… Elon Musk… I think at least people would see some Mark Zuckerberg and, I don’t know, some Sam Altman, there is a bunch of those people in all the [film’s] different characters… and we’ve stolen liberally from the world in terms of the stories we’ve given them.”

Steve Carell is tasked with delivering some of the film’s most memorable lines as the satire explores the dynamic between those holding the power and those pulling the strings.

Read more on Sky News:
Brand denies sex charges
Wynne Evans leaves radio show
Tom Daley on LGBT rights

Lack of self-knowledge ‘good for comedy’

“People who lack a certain degree of self-knowledge are good for comedy….and if there was more self-reflection and self-knowledge, there probably wouldn’t be such amenable targets for comedy and satire.

“You know, living in a gated community and travelling by private jet certainly doesn’t help you to understand what life is like for most people.”

Armstrong’s gift for using humour to savagely dramatic ends is arguably what makes him one of the most sought-after writers working today.

Behind his ability to craft some of the sharpest and scathing dialogue on our screens, he views what he does as more than getting a laugh.

“I do believe in the sort of nobility of the idea, that this is a good way to portray the world because this is how it feels a lot of the time.”

Mountainhead will air on Sky and streaming service NOW on 1 June.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Taylor Swift buys back rights to all master recordings – but it’s bad news for Reputation fans

Published

on

By

Taylor Swift buys back rights to all master recordings - but it's bad news for Reputation fans

Taylor Swift has bought back all the rights to her master recordings – but has suggested she won’t be re-releasing her Reputation album.

“All the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me,” the star announced on her official website.

“I’ve been bursting tears of joy… ever since I found out this is really happening.”

The pop star had originally lost the rights to her first six albums in 2019 when her first record label, Big Machine, sold them to music executive Scooter Braun.

After she learned Braun had acquired her musical catalogue, she opened up about it in a lengthy Tumblr post, blaming him for being complicit in Kanye West’s “incessant, manipulative bullying” of her.

Swift said she was not given the opportunity to buy her work outright, and so, in a bid to diminish the value of the master tapes, she set about re-recording them.

Taylor Swift's back catalogue has been sold on by Scooter Braun
Image:
Taylor Swift’s back catalogue was eventually sold on by Scooter Braun

She had re-released four “Taylor’s Version” albums to date. Just her self-titled debut album and Reputation remained.

Braun later sold his stake in her albums to Shamrock Holdings, a Los Angeles investment fund, in a deal reported to be worth £222 million.

It is not known how much Swift paid Shamrock to re-acquire the rights to her songs.

Swift said she was “forever grateful” to Shamrock for allowing her to buy the rights to her music back.

“This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,” Swift wrote on her website.

“I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”

What it means for Reputation fans

Just two albums remained to be re-released by Swift – her self-titled debut album and Reputation. The latter was a particularly strong source of speculation among fans, who would look for clues in her outfits during her record-breaking Era’s tour.

But this announcement could spell the end of that.

“Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it,” Swift said.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Prince William spotted ‘dad dancing’ at Taylor Swift’s Wembley concert in 2024.

She said Reputation was “so specific” to a certain time in her life, that she kept hitting a block when she tried to re-record it. She also said she felt it was the first album she could not improve by re-recording it.

Debut has been re-recorded, with Swift saying she “loves how it sounds now”.

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record

But both albums could still “re-emerge when the time is right”, particularly the unreleased tracks.

“If it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have,” Swift said.

How Swift’s stance changed the music industry

In the music industry, the owner of a master controls all rights to their artists’ recordings. This is usually agreed in contracts with artists, and allows them to recoup the financial investment they make in stars, including funding production, marketing and promotion.

It also means they can distribute it to new streaming services or license the songs to be used in movies.

Wow. Quite literally the lady in red - and the big winner of last year - Taylor Swift. Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Swift, as co-writer of her music, had always maintained publishing rights.

“I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies. I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it,” she told Billboard in 2019.

Swift said today she had been “heartened by the conversations this saga had reignited within my industry among artists and fans”.

“Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this right, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Russell Brand: Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges

Published

on

By

Russell Brand: Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges

Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.

The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.

The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.

The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.

Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court. Pic: Reuters

Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.

The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.

Read more from Sky News
Man who sold poisonous diet pills jailed
Fraudster who sold fake Scottish tea jailed
Tom Daley on LGBT rights

More from UK

Russell Brand arrives in court
Image:
Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Friday

He previously told his 11.2 million followers on X that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.

The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.

As Friday’s hearing finished, Brand replaced his sunglasses before exiting the dock and calmly walking past reporters.

Continue Reading

Trending