Ian Olsson's Blog » Charity

Billy Blood Drop & Cast of Snow White

Ian — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:49:59 +0000

Billy the Blood Drop from the National Blood Service popped in to have his photo taken with the cast of Snow White at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. Supplies run low over Christmas, so he’s going round reminding people to donate if they can.

For more info and to find your nearest place to donate, click here.

RoadPeace Remembrance Day

Ian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:49:10 +0000

I have just come back from covering a Service of Remembrance for the charity Roadpeace. The service at St James’ Church in Picadilly was for friends and family of those killed in road crashes. Use of the word crashes (not accidents) here is important. As Roadpeace say, they are rarely accidents, and can be avoided, by not drinking and driving for example.

You may think that the statistic of 7 people being killed on our roads every day is not that many compared to other causes. Standing in that service listening to the individual names and ages of those who have died makes this very real and definitely not ‘just a statistic’.

My blog posts are normally of happy events, people having a great time enjoying themselves. I am privileged to able to cover such a wide spectrum of events, and thought it was important to post this and not just to show the happy side of my work. Think next time you decide to drink and drive, or when you’re offered a lift by someone who has.

Reading out all the ‘leaves of remembrance’ written by those who attended the service. These included the names and ages of all of those killed in road crashes. Truly moving.

RoadPeace is a UK charity providing support for victims of road crashes and campaigning for justice, road safety and road danger reduction.

Do you work for or know a charity that would benefit from having some professional photos? Please forward them this link, or click “contact me” at the top of this page. I offer my time for greatly reduced fees for charities, so please do get in touch.

London Marathon 2009

Ian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:24:30 +0000

What an exhausting day at the London Marathon… and I was only taking photos not actually running! I can’t believe people can run that far, and in under 4 hours, absolutely amazing. The weather and atmosphere were fantastic (well, the sunny blue skies were good for us watching, but not too good for the runners). I was covering the event for Christian Aid, who do excellent work to reduce poverty and injustice to people all over the world.

My favourite photo from the day is on the Christian Aid homepage, or see the screenshot below. I also managed to feature on the video, again see below. More images to come soon…