If ever there was proof needed that the people of Speakers Corner are dedicated (or crazy and obsessed) you would only have to look at today.  Despite freezing temperatures and really heavy showers three Speakers dutifully turned out to entertain the crowds.

Well I say crowds, but to be honest there were only about 15 people there and they weren’t all that enthusiastic!  Most seemed to see how quiet it was and give up only staying for a few minutes.  Even one of the speakers who was there couldn’t be bothered and just sat there on his stool in the rain. Bit crazy if you ask me!

But despite the wind and rain, and the lack of much of a crowd one of the Speakers was going full force.  He wasn’t one i’ve heard before, but his message wasn’t that uncommon.  He was talking about the most common topic in the Corner, religion.  He was obviously a proponent of a particular type of Christianity.  But my description isn’t brilliant so why don’t you listen to the two audio clips i’ve posted to get a better idea.  I have to say I think even the most religious people will disagree with this guys wide definition of what qualifies as murder!

Click here to see the video in HD

Another Sunday, another visit to Speakers Corner.  My brother is down visiting at the moment so I took him with me, and luckily I got to use his excellent Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 lens, which is perfect for this sort of photography.  After using the lens today it has quickly jumped to the top of my wish-list!

Today’s speakers corner was a little than different than usual as it had moved slightly.  Because of the Royal Parks Half Marathon route going right throughout the corner it was shifted a little closer to Marble Arch.  Last time this happened it had a negative effect because there was less space and some of the Speakers decided not to come out.  Luckily that didn’t happen today.  All the regulars were there and there was at least one new Speaker (at least i’ve never seen him before).

Anyway I hope you enjoy the video, and if you want to see it in all it’s HD goodness click on the video to head over to my Vimeo page.

Any of you who read my blog regularly or follow me on Twitter will know that im a regular visitor to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. There’s something fascinating about the place that keeps me going back. There are a few speakers in particular that make it such an interesting place. The best Speakers are probably those who are actually the most offensive, one speaker in particular seems to go out of her way to wind people up. But it’s that offensiveness that provokes reactions and it’s these interactions that make the Corner so interesting.

(To see the video in HD click the video)

Well for a while now I’ve been wanting to try something out, I’ve wanted to create an audio slideshow of the Speakers. When I got my Canon 500D I started taking video of the speakers and while I liked that there were a few problems, mainly the sound quality. Then about a month ago I got my iPhone which I discovered had a pretty decent voice memo feature. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to try it until this weekend because i’ve been so busy trying to write my Masters dissertation. But thankfully as of Tuesday last week my dissertation is finished and submitted meaning I have free weekends again. So of course today I headed to Speakers Corner. Despite the very nice weather which usually brings out the crowds it was a quiet day with only a few speakers so I didn’t get as much footage as I’d hoped. But for a first try I’m really pleased. I’m very impressed with the audio I got from my iPhone and I think there’s real potential so I’ll be going back to try and get some more speakers for a longer video next time. Anyway I hope you guys like it.

I’m not the only one in my family that enjoys going to Speakers Corner, my brother does as well.  So this past Sunday, during his short visit, we headed to Hyde Park to listen.  I decided to use the opportunity to film some more footage and do a third Speakers Corner video, the result of which is below.

We hadn’t really planned on staying too long at the corner, but the Speakers were on top form and we were enjoying it too much, especially my brother.  So we ended up spending quite a bit of time there listening to about five different speakers.  As usual Diane was there and was drawing the largest crowds.  Also in Hyde Park that morning was a run for charity so quite a few of the runners joined the crowd after they finished.  One of the highlights of this visit was hearing Diane trying to criticise these runners who were raising money for cancer charities!

All the speakers, except one, took a largely religious theme this time with two Speakers holding bibles and two others sharing their views on religion.  One of the Speakers (the lady in Pink) ended up in a discussion with my brother – you can see the end of her retort 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the video.  Unfortunately I wasn’t filming the start but the whole thing was hilarious.

As always the Speakers were equally thought provoking, crazy, maddening, confused and inadvertently hilarious.  Hope you enjoy the video. 

(To see the video in HD, click on Vimeo)

Last week I showed you a video I shot at Speakers Corner.  Well I enjoyed it so much I’ve decided to make it an ocassional feature.  It won’t normally be weekly, it’s just that its happened this way with the first two parts.

This Sunday was really hot in Hyde Park which usually brings people to the Corner and this week was no exception.  It may also have had something to do with the festival in Hyde Park!  But there was a pretty good turnout of Speakers so I could film some new people rather than those that turn up every week.

Anyway I hope you guys enjoy it, there’ll be another video coming later this week of Speakers dealing with hecklers which should be worth a watch.

While I was filming at Speakers Corner yesterday I heard a large amount of noise off to my side.  I turned to see a large crowd heading in my direction.  They were clearly heading towards a protest as most carried placards and there was a little bit of chanting.

As you will see in the video and from some of the placards this was a Sikh protest against the Caste system.  It was also an event in memory of a religious leader who was killed a number of years ago.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find much information on this event, but I think its an annual protest as I seem to remember seeing a similar protest last year.  If anyone can tell me any info about the protest i’d love to hear it.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, or my photostream on flickr, chances are you know I used to visit Speakers Corner in Hyde Park quite a lot. I find the place really fascinating, and I love listening to the different speakers, even if most of them are a bit mad! Well last year I would go on a regular basis and I would photograph all the speakers, but it sort of fizzled out.

Because the same speakers tend to turn up week after week, with just the occassional new speaker, I got a bit bored photographing the same people all the time. So as winter came I sort of gave up on the corner, feeling I’d exhausted all photographic possibilty (that sounds a bit pompus!). Anyway with my new camera and its ability to take video I decided that I should give the Corner another chance.

So this Sunday just gone I headed to Hyde Park to see what I could get with video. And I was pretty impressed with what I got. The video above is just a short three minutes or so, but I filmed much more. I finally started to feel like I was getting the hang of video and was very happy with the results. Certainly having a monopod helped things immensley, I could focus on what I was filming rather than on keeping my hands still. I think with Speakers Corner video has the advantage over photographs, because you can really see what it’s about, you can convey a lot of the passion and expression in a photograph, but by itself I think it’s hard to get across the Speakers message.

I can see a lot of possibility for video at Speakers Corner, so don’t be surprised if you see some more later on.

So as the conflict enters its third week, so do the protests.  There have been two weeks of protests outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, and there was last weeks protest in Trafalgar Square.  Today saw the protest move to Hyde Park where a rally was held before a march across London to the Israeli Embassy.

Today’s protest was, according to the organisers, the largest ever Palestinian solidarity event the UK has ever seen.  While the Police claimed only 12,000 people took part, the BBC estimated that at least 50,000 had been in the march. 

The protest was largely very peaceful, but as it became dark a small handful of people turned violent throwing things at the police, causing damage to some local shops (including throwing a police barrier through the windows of a Starbucks).

Tomorrow sees another protest in Trafalgar Square, this time by the pro-Israeli groups who will be demonstrating in support of Israel and its right to self defence.  I’ll be there with my camera so keep your eyes out for more photos.

Speaker 1 – The American Singing Preacher

The first of what will be a regular (hopefully weekly) post on the crazy people at Speakers Corner and the hilarity they create.

Not sure of this guys name, but his only reaction to criticism (and he was getting criticised a lot!) was to burst into singing.  Usually really odd songs that he seemed to have made up.