Grenfell Tower

Notting Hill Carnival visitors will be stopped from taking selfies at Grenfell Tower

Aug 25, 2017 by John Aldred 6 Comments

It’s been over 2 months now since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, London, causing the deaths of at least 80 people. Shortly afterwards, to the dismay of local residents, it became something of a tourist attraction. Attracting selfie shooters from afar. Visitors were then asked to refrain from this disrespectful practise.

This weekend is the Notting Hill Carnival, one of the highlights of London’s annual calendar. It attracts around one million people each year, making it one of the world’s largest street festivals. The carnival runs through Kensington, and visitors are again being asked not to shoot selfies with the tower. Only this time, the requests are being backed up by the Metropolitan Police.

Grenfell residents beg people not to take selfies at the scene of tower block fire

Jun 20, 2017 by John Aldred 36 Comments

The selfie seems to be an unstoppable force now. Wherever we go, either we need to take one, or we see others taking them. Over the weekend I went to visit some friends and we took a wander through a local park. It felt like every other person we saw had their phone out shooting selfies in the glorious weather. But there’s a time and a place for it.

There are also times and places where it’s definitely not appropriate. The site of the burnt out Grenfell Tower is one of them. Inappropriate or “Disaster Selfies” seem to have become something of a trend in the last couple of years. It’s been happening so much at Grenfell, that local residents are actually putting up signs asking people not to shoot selfies.

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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