Where do we form our opinions of the world from? Is it mainstream media if so we need to ask is the information that we are presented biased in some way? How do orthodoxies of thought get created so that we all think or reason in a similar manner. As an example in the United Kingdom like a lot of countries around the world at this time there is a understanding that deficits need to be reduced and that the approach to this is to cut budgets for all sorts of social services but surprisingly not from our military in the same manner. We seem to find the money for foreign adventures (this by the way is my opinion). We need to start asking for sources more not relying on opinion and statements that are made by media commentators. These are people like you and me who have read and formed opinions, which are then displayed within mainstream media.

One source of opinions that I trust mainly from a left perspective is http://www.zcommunications.org it is a website that I have read for a number of years and have grown to trust what is said on the blog. There are others but we need to be critical of our mainstream media as we need to remember why the mainstream media exists and who controls it and for whom.

This is not a trivial matter as where we get our information from and as importantly how we filter it into our consciousness affects how we react to news and current events. This affects a whole range of things that are fundamental to human existence on this planet, from our reaction to climate change, social injustices, the democratic deficit and our wars of neo-colonial dispossession to name just a few of the issues of contemporary society that we should really be addressing.

Now, why this subject on a photography blog. I am beginning a PhD, in September and I will be exploring how photographers, can visualise the effects of Capitalism using visual methods. To bring visibility to something, that is for the most part the background organising principle of our social existence (our economic structures). This will require me to be able to define what existing capitalism actually is, before I can begin to create images of it.