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Editorial(68 images)
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Editorial images from a variety of magazine assignments, published book projects and self-initiated personal work.

We see 100 years of aviation; electricity; the US Air Force; tuna fishing; Olympic Greece; space junk; America on 9/11; Red Arrows aerobatic team; the world of Work and Industry and more recently, Barack Obama on multiple TVs - all linked with visual rhymes and...
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  • Large arrows coloured red, green and yellow point north, west and east - or up, right and left - in three directions, to offer directions to seminars for accountants during their annual Academy Day held for 3,000 of company London employees at Excel in London's Docklands, England. The people are either confidently pacing forward, standing still to seek guidance or simply spontaneously emerging from the shadows to a brighter future, a moment when freedom of choice is offered and the road ahead dictates their fate. It is a scene of corporate theatre and each employee will attend this fair where motivational pep-talks from executives, outside speakers and gurus will talk to large groups of personnel so their presence on this day away from the office is vital for the year's business ahead. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • We are looking from behind a group of red uniformed meat market traders who are manhandling joints of pork from the back of a meat wagon at Macau's main meat market, on the Rua Sul do Mercado de Sao Domingos, just off the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, in Central Macau. The men have on hooded red tunics that hide the bloodstains of dead animal carcasses, a very practical choice of colour (color). One man has half a pig on his shoulders while another holds a leg in his left hand. The animal carcasses look heavy and they are both struggling under their weight. There is much more meat to be offloaded from the truck and the men queue up to take their turn and remove them for sale inside the market building. Besides historical Chinese and Portuguese world-heritage relics, Macau's biggest attraction is its gaming business. Its gambling revenue in 2006 weighed in at a massive £3.6bn - about £100m more than Las Vegas. Administered by Portugal until 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China, dating back to the 16th century. The administrative power over Macau was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1999, 2 years after Hong Kong's own handover. Macau's name is derived from A-Ma-Gau or Place of A-Ma and this temple dedicated to the seafarers' goddess dates from the early 16th century. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Darfurian women line-up at Al Fashir airport, Sudan to greet British peer Lord Ahmed of Rotheram who has brought over from the UK, a delegation to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur, hosted by the govenor in his own compound. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Ladies attending the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur, gather to dance and sing traditional songs in a compound belonging to the Govenor of North Darfur in Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) where the women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • In pouring rain, United States Air Force pilots stand like canmouflaged statues in the undergrowth near Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington. They are listening to a USAF survival instructor giving them advice about another challenge they are about to face, a few hundred yards ahead in the woods, so they listen intently in the saturatedconditions. They stand motionless, green figures in a green maze of foliage, wearing waterproof cagoules covering their backpacks which are shiny as the rain trickles down. They look like hunchbacks of the forest. The week-long survival course is held at the military facilities around Fairchild where the Air Force conducts a survival, escape and evasion course which combat pilots need to pass before rejoining their units for real-time warfare. This part of the lecture is held in the forest and forms part of an extensive physical and psychological assessment for young aviators on active service. In the future any one of them may be shot down behind enemy lines and need to use the lessons passed-on here to help facilitate their rescue by US forces. One pilot who passed this course in 1991, himself a Spokane-born boy, was F-16 pilot Scott O'Grady. He put his skills learned here to the test while evading Serb forces before being airlifted to safety and a hero's Presidential welcome. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Decorator and part-time chimney sweep Alan Squires prepares to apply another coat of emulsion paint to the exterior walls of a cottage called Burnside in the tiny hamlet of Hallin, Waternish, on the Isle of Skye, Scottish Highlands. With his shadow looming large on the newly-painted off-white pebbledash that is rendered a warm orange in the low sunlight, Alan walks with his long roller after a day's decorating in this beautiful place near Dunvegan. Alan is an Englishman who came to Skye in 1987 for the community spirit. "everybody knows everybody' he says though admits that southerners come from the south in search of an idyllic lifestyle but harsh winters often send them back to warmer climates. Alain's fresh paint therefore needs to dry before winter weather blows in from the Atlantic. Image taken for the 'UK at Home' book project published 2008. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • WTC stencils, Manhattan. Patriotic Americana - After 9/11.Pedestrian shadows pass an aerosol World trade Center stencil. In the week after the September 11th attacks, America sought to express their anger and patriotic unity. .Near New York City?s Armory, where relatives of the victims reported with DNA samples, a stencilled ?rest in peace? message has been sprayed onto the pavement for New Yorkers to walk over while paying their respects to the missing thousands whose pictures adorn the neighbouring walls. "We're gonna get busy!" - From the Jay Leno TV show... By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Now an overgrown, mildew-ridden farm shack in woodland in Seething, Norfolk England, this wall mural was once one of the barracks housing 3,000 young World War 2 bomber crews so was probably painted by a young aspiring artist and aviator with the 448th Bomb Group, a fleet of bombers based in England from November 1943 to July 1945. The picture depicts a confrontation between US Air Force B-24 Liberators, a P-51 Mustang and probably a German Dornier. There are hairline cracks in the plaster but the yellow hue of the hand-painted wall is largely intact despite damp conditions in the shed. There are however, other artistic details now faded. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. . By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Patriotic Americana - After 9/11. American icons dislayed beneath a tree near the Pentagon. In the week after the September 11th attacks, America sought to express their anger and patriotic unity. A smiling portrait of President Bush is surrounded by icons of American achievement, including a garlanded B52 bomber, placed as a makeshift memorial overlooking the charred Pentagon building, Washington DC. "President Bush is a great Christian.. the angels are looking after him and America." - As quoted from a Washington citizen. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • A father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. . By photographer Richard Baker
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  • A French Dassault-Breguet Mirage military jet interceptor/fighter stands on a pedestal in the Place de la Concorde, Paris during an aviation display weekend along the Champs Elysées. Passers-by seem oblivious to this celebration of French aviation as they walk through the Parisian square, the scene of public executions during the revolution. The Mirage seems to be climbing off its platform and up into the cloudless summer afternoon sky as a young child sits on top of his father's shoulders and passengers in a city bus seem trapped behind the windows. Its is a scene of incongruous moments, a surreal appearance of frightening military technology amid the calm of a public place. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. . By photographer Richard Baker
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  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of Boeing 747 airliners at the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world?s retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. . By photographer Richard Baker
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  • In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert, a complete set of main landing gear undercarriage stands upright amid a field of similar items from airliners at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world?s retired civil airliners is decided by age or cooling economy. Cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium is worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Airliner and jet engines in mid-day heat of arid Sonoran Desert at Mojave airport facility, awaiting recycling for scrap value. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Lady visitor to London's Theatreland gets directions from a passer-by beneath a Freddy Mercury outside the Dominion Theatre By photographer Richard Baker
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  • On a rainy night, a young female smokes under a heated, sheltered smokers' zone outside a bar in London By photographer Richard Baker
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  • A passer-by stands outside a Chinese Restaurant offering Dim Sum in Chinatown, home to London's ethnic Chinese community. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Just after heavy rain when the streets of London's West End are wet but brightening after the clouds have passed we look into the windows of a black taxi cab on the busy Charing Cross Road. It is a scene of urban transport and inclement weather. We can see the rough form of the taxi driver at the front of his vehicle but it appears that he is stationary, possibly awaiting for the return of his fare-paying passenger from nearby bookshops such as Foyles in the background. A No-Smoking sticker is on the window and advertising on the side panel shows the arms of an airline passenger sitting in an airliner seat but once the taxi passenger returns, their head will be directly above this. The car's roof is still wet from rain, glistening in the artificial street lights that have turned on during the dark rain storm. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Electricity cables stretch into early morning mist above Swanscombe, Kent, London England. In the foreground we see a stack of discs called Insulators which stop the electricity carried in the conductor (the wires strung between each pylon) from jumping to the pylon and then down to earth. The cables disappear into the winter fog creating a Sci-Fi scene of 21st technology. Diagonally, the cables travel across the picture but they are part of a line of 542 pylons that have already crossed 110 miles of English countryside, carrying 40,000 Volts along this network of aluminium cables from Dungeness coal-fired power station to West Ham sub station in London's East End - to power the West End's high supply demands. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Standing on weathered concrete at an old launchpad from a bygone age, space tourists stop to photograph the current Ariane 5 launchpad while on a tour of the European Space Agency at Kourou, French Guiana. They are mostly Japanese, representing their B-SAT communications satellite which is to be sent into orbit later that night alongside a US-made Hughes Corporation and Lockheed Martin technology. An American NASA space technician walks past the four Japanese as they hold cameras that record their souvenirs of a memorable day at this space facility deep in the South American rainforest. The orange bags carried by all are gas masks. Should the out of sight rocket booster explode or leak liguid propellant, dangerous fumes might overcome the visitors. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Hidden in a wooden hut, a group of bird-spotting ornithologists peer through binoculars at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) rreserve at Rainham Marshes, Essex England. Watching dozens of wintering birds, the group are intensely looking through their optical equipment in anticipation of seeing rare breeds at this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a wetland alongside the River Thames, 20 miles from Central London. A narrow slit is open to keep them hidden from sight so leaning on elbows and with a guide sheet in front to identify particular species, they concentrate on their hobby. The RSPB has 200 nature reserves covering almost 130,000 hectares, home to 80% of Britain's rarest or most threatened bird species. Its role is to speak out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten the environment. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Holding her doll, a young white child wearing a pink dress explores the Délice Restaurant in old Kourou, French Guiana, South America. The daughter of French parents who are in this French-administered colony in connection with the nearby European Space Agency (ESA). The girl is confident enough to leave her parents' side and appear in an open doorway. On the other side of the wall is a giant brightly-painted mural depicting a more traditional side of life in this tropical country. The word Guyane is the French name for Guiana. A female in national costume stands near a palm tree, local produce and vegetation. Meanwhile a dark-skinned Creole man sits on a stool smoking a cigarette chatting to unseen friends - a barfly occupying his usual lunchtime seat. It is a scene of internationalism, cross-culture and youth versus old age. . By photographer Richard Baker
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  • An aerial view of unidentified islands seen from a regional aircraft passing overhead the atolls and islands to the north Malé, capital of the Indian Ocean Republic of the Maldives. We see the perfectly clear blue sea surrounding the islands and tiny sandbanks of white coral beach sand, all of which are in jeopardy of rising sea levels as global warming makes sea level locations like this vulnerable to being overwhelmed. The only sign of life is the tiny island in the bottom right of frame where holiday resort accommodation ring this dot in the ocean. The Maldives comprise of twenty-six atolls, featuring 1,192 coral islands of which 80 are holiday resorts with 200 inhabited by indigenous communities. This Islamic nation of 298 sq km (115 sq miles), lie seven hundred kilometres (435 miles) south-west of Sri Lanka.. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Facing its own blood and guts on the blue deck, a yellow fin tuna is dead on the floor of a dhoni boat in the Indian Ocean. After clubbing it death, fishermen from the Maldives have removed its respiratory organs with sharp knives and washes it down with a hose. Next it will be plunged into ice containers to cool the flesh, reducing the risk of self-deteriorating flushed blood which renders it unfit for consumption under EU law (its live internal core temperature is 40 degrees centigrade). When as many fish have been caught (often weighing 50kg) before dark using hand and line method, rather than nets, the boat presses on to the processing factory at Himmafushi where they're filleted and boxed for export to Europe and in particular, for UK supermarkets like Sainsbury's. By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Two employees of Cyprea Marine Foods fillet freshly-caught yellow fin tuna fish at the company's refrigerated processing factory on Himmafushi island, Maldives. The 50kg carcasses have been swimming across the Indian Ocean non-stop since birth and just line-caught by freelance boat crews who share profits for only high-quality fish that passes stringent health tests. The tuna has been in ice since being landed to keep a low-temperature body core so the workers cut out the prime flesh as quickly as possible before boxing the resulting chunks of steak for export by air to Europe and in particular for customers such as UK's Sainsbury's supermarket. The Sri Lankan workers are ex-fishermen and widowers, having lost their families during the Tsunami. Using extremely sharp knives, they skillfully remove valuable meat and throw away the rest. By photographer Richard Baker
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