Photo Essay

Day Down At The Dolpin

The Dolphin Centre mainly consisted of fast food chain outlets and “pop up” food stalls. As the photographs depict, you can see a wide cross-section of customer types.

Happy Times

We found the restaurants and franchised coffee outlets and gastro pubs were concentrated primarily in the high street.  We found they tended to attract a diverse range of people including business men, students and younger families.

Venturing further onto Poole Quay, the type of restaurants catered for more specialists dining. Specific food categories included gourmet burgers; stone baked pizzas, sea food and steak houses.

Having arrived at Poole Quay we were sorely disappointed to find there were no fine dining experiences, but a host of practically empty restaurants. It would seem likely that due to the time of day we took the pictures customers would not tend to eat at such times. However it transpires that there are a small number of fine dining restaurants in the locality.

Week 3 Blog: Getting vox pops for a news story

Pic: Jaz Watson: Big Issue trainee Carl Byrne questions Green Party assembly member Darren Johnson on safety improvements at Old Street roundabout

Trainee journalists from the Big Issue online journalism course ventured out on assignment from to Old Street roundabout in east London to canvas opinion on the proposed redevelopment due to be consulted on this summer.

TFL are holding consultation plans on replacing Old Street roundabout with work expected to commence next year, according to a TFL spokesperson.

TFL and the mayor’s office have proposed removing old street roundabout with the aim of making the junction safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Between 1994 and 2012 there have been 70 accidents there: with one fatal and 17 serious.

Plans to redevelop the junction of Great Eastern Street and Shoreditch High Street have been suspended. On Friday, we met Darren Johnson, Green Party Assembly Member, at Old Street roundabout to discuss the proposals.

Pic Jaz Watson: Reporter Carl interviewing a cyclist about the proposed Old Street roundabout development.

We also canvassed opinion on the proposed redevelopment plans with various members of the public. Those who were willing we asked a number of questions: what do you think of the redevelopment of Old Street roundabout, is the current flow of traffic a danger to cyclist’s?

We also spoke to a number of business owners asking if they were aware of the proposed redevelopment and if or how it might affect their business.

The following morning we returned to Old Street with our tutor to meet Darren Johnson, a Green Party assembly member, to discuss the proposals. We interviewed him at the cycle rank as he himself is a keen cyclist.

Mr Johnson was joined by a Cllr Caroline Russell, who was recently elected a Green Party Islington councillor.

Week 1: My first blog – EVER

Day One, and this is my first blog – EVER. I have started the Big Issue online journalist-training course that is being run by Poached Creative in Dalston. First impressions were of a relaxed atmosphere belying a sense of urgency, as was proved to be the case. In the morning we went through the theory; communication skills, media law, social media, etc., then in the afternoon we quickly moved on to the practical.

I have never spent so much concentration on doing my fifty-word NIB (news in brief), which are extracted from press releases, interviews and articles. That is if you are lucky enough to find anything there! But the main feeling that I picked up on through out the day was the keen motivation of the other trainees and our tutors. By the end there was a tangible feeling of teamwork having been created by us having got stuck in and long may it continue…

John Watts

 

Week 2: Jan’s phone camera blog