It was as Michael Lawrence recalled being the subject of a kidnap plot, thwarting him from re-entering war torn Iraq, that it dawned on me: this polite and down to earth man I’d spoken to on a number of occasions, had experienced significantly more than most.

It happened again when he mentioned an impassioned debate about the definition of a terrorist he’d had with the Turkish Prime Minister. And again with a meeting with the US top brass in Iraq, uncovering a change in American military operating procedures.

It’s testament to Michael Lawrence the man, that the former Global Editor at Reuters does not announce himself with fanfare. But as his Campfire talk proved, don’t let his modesty fool you.

Tracing a narrative through his journalism career, from copy boy on a Sydney afternoon newspaper to global news editor meeting Popes and Presidents, Michael’s story focused less on his numerous personal achievements and more on the transformations that have taken place in the media. And as someone whose reporting career began on a typewriter and progressed to issuing social media guidelines for thousands of journalists worldwide, there can be few better placed to comment on this subject.

A key theme throughout his talk was the importance of community journalism.

Michael recounted that while working for 2GB radio in Australia, the station’s coverage of a local flood was heavily reliant on information provided by listeners. This was an early example of what would contemporarily be called crowdsourcing; dispelling the myth that such practices are a 21^st century phenomenon. He compared this to The Tuscaloosa News; an Alabama based local newspaper, which won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. Covering the story of a deadly local tornado, staff at the paper used social media in combination with traditional reporting to provide real-time updates and help locate missing people. Michael’s point was clear: despite great flux in the industry, the principals and purpose of quality journalism haven’t changed, even if the tools and techniques may have.

The night was not without poignancy. Michael spoke of the numerous conflicts he helped cover whilst at Reuters. His memories of the Iraq War and its aftermath were particularly emotive, paying tribute to his colleagues for whom the assignment would prove to be their last. For those in the audience like myself who’ve never been near a conflict zone, hearing the perils involved in reporting news from such an inhospitable location was both an eye opening, and harrowing experience.

Throughout his story, Michael was always at pains to point out how fortunate he has been to work with such talented staff, one of whom, photojournalist Goran Tomasevic, was exhibited downstairs on ditto’s doors. As Michael said, “Goran tells a better story with one click than I could do with 2000 words”. I’m not even going to try and explain the vivid nature of Goran’s images, except to say if you get chance, please view them here.

The evening was rounded off with a lively Q&A, with many of the enrapt audience keen to hear Michael’s views on the future of journalism in the Internet age. It was just left for ditto to thank Michael, an engaging speaker, esteemed journalist and gentleman, for a privileged insight into the sharp-end of global news reporting.

Listen to  Michael Lawrence’s Fireside Favourite radio show here

We are delighted to invite you to City Meets Digital Shoreditch on May 17 at 7pm, an exclusive preview of the forthcoming Digital Shoreditch festival. From lean startups to established global players, we’ll be showcasing the best cutting edge technology and innovation that London’s vibrant Tech City has to offer. The evening will be hosted by Michael Lawrence, former Global Editor at Reuters. It’s an evening not to be missed.

Highlights of the event include:

• BT’s Jappy Takhar, Head of Product Innovation and Apu Mitra, Head of Sales, sharing their success with collaboration capabilities influenced by today’s social digital media, enabling financial market makers to provide differentiated knowledge and advice

• Renew’s Founder & CEO Kaveh Memari presenting the Renew Pods, the latest in “on-the go” media, the “outernet”, and how Renew are taking digital interaction to the streets of major cities globally

• Alex’s Founders Harry Drnec and Andy Hudson and their alternative operating system for people unfamiliar or just frustrated with computing and their mission to bring the digital revolution to everyone

• Squirro’s Founder & CEO Dorian Selz previewing Squirro – a powerful social media and content aggregation tool that harvests information across the web and delivers it in context to any device

• Kam Star the Founder & driving force behind Digital Shoreditch talking through the highlights of the festival, the upcoming events and companies that are presenting

High profile entertainment for the evening will be provided by Martyn Ware, founding member of 80’s legends Heaven 17, who will be manning the turntables and spinning classic tunes

Join our handpicked audience of tech-company founders, financial institutions and venture capitalist at the Lighthouse – the home of ditto tv – for an evening of new product demonstrations and announcements.

City Meets Digital Shoreditch. Part of ditto’s CAMPFIRE series – the art and science of storytelling. Numbers are limited so please RSVP ASAP. Email: campfire@ditto.tv

Join us at 7pm, Thursday 17th May, at ditto’s studio: The Lighthouse, Canonbury Yard, 190 New North Road, N1 7BJ.
For more information contact: Mike Bonnet on mikeb@ditto.tv or 020 3006 7850

The numbers are impressive: over 30 years journalistic experience, managing a worldwide team in excess of 3,000 journalists and reporting from over 200 international bureaux; yet in Michael Lawrence’s case they only tell part of the story. After all, this is the man who led Reuters’ acclaimed coverage of Iraq from the war in 2003 to the chaos that ensued the following decade . So naturally we’re both delighted and very excited to welcome Michael as ditto’s latest Campfire speaker on Thursday 19^th April at 7pm.

Global news editor at Thomson Reuters until this September, Lawrence’s career has led him from Sydney to London, during which time there can be few corners of the planet left untouched by his passion for reporting the news.

Having started his career in Australian print media, Lawrence moved to television news at Macquarie, becoming the network’s European correspondent in 1988. After a four-year stint as programme director at London’s LBC radio station, Lawrence joined Reuters in 1994.

Given his major role in leading Reuters’ multimedia drive, Lawrence’s experience in working across all the major media platforms is both impressive and enviable.

As if that wasn’t enough, ditto is also excited to present the work of multi-award winning photojournalist Goran Tomasevic.  Last year Tomasevic won the coveted Reuters Photographer of the Year prize, making it the third time he has received this prestigious accolade. We’d list the other awards bestowed upon him, but there simply isn’t room. And besides, they say a picture tells a thousand words.

Born in Belgrade, Tomasevic’s talents came to the attention of the world in the nineties as he documented the conflict that swept across former Yugoslavia. He was one of the few journalists to remain in the Kosovan capital of Pristina during the NATO bombing. After shooting the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in 2003, placements followed in Jerusalem and later Cairo. He is currently based in Nairobi where he works as Reuters’ East African Chief Photographer. Photographs from throughout his career will be presented on the ditto doors at The Lighthouse.

Please join us for what is sure to be an unmissable opportunity to gain an insight into the fast-paced and ever-changing world of 21^st century media coverage.

Campfire with talk by Michael Lawrence  and photography exhibition by Goran Tomasevic will happen on the 19th April 2012 from 7pm at The Lighthouse.

Unit 1A Canonbury Business Centre – 190 New North Road – Islington – London N1 7BJ

RSVP: campfire@ditto.tv

Dennis Bovell Campfire from ditto campfire on Vimeo.

“Not a story but a revelation”. That’s how Dennis Bovell began his Campfire and it turned out to be exactly that. In front of a packed Campfire, fuelled on Irish stew and Guinness, Dennis began his tale.

Ironically Denis nearly didn’t come to Campfire at all. He was wearing earplugs when ditto alumni and previous speaker Ashley Beedle first propositioned Campfire to him in a club. Over the thumping bass Ashley shouted “Campfire! Campfire!” Dennis lip-read it as “Mien Kampf! Mien Kampf!” which is probably not the best way to attract a reggae pioneer.

But fortunately Ashley persevered, and brought Dennis onboard. What struck the audience on the night was how humble and “normal” Denis is. No airs or graces, just a relaxed genial man in navy jeans and a pink polo shirt; which is remarkable considering how much he’s achieved in a towering career. The lack of attitude, not the ensemble.

Dennis spoke of his early years, his school opposite Wandsworth Prison from which Ronnie Biggs escaped, his friendship with keyboardist Nick Straker, and how he used to crouch in his bedroom watching enraptured by Westerns, one headphone on, the other ear listening out for the creeks of his father coming up the wooden stairs.

Moving on, Dennis turned the audience’s attention to the projection screen of an early Top of the Pops appearance (those were the days weren’t they). Referring to his performance live with Janet Kay on vocals, Denis instructed the audience to watch out for her high note. And it was truly extraordinary – in pitch, timbre, and duration. Even more astounding, however, was what followed, as Dennis hit that self same note, getting as close as nature allows a man to. Incongruous, entertaining, and enlivening – so many of the terms that describe the man himself.

Ever self-effacing, Dennis regaled the audience of an epic guitar dual with John Kpiaye. Each claimed to be the rightful successor to Jimi Hendrix, and Dennis planned to throw down, hands and fingers ripping into a Satriani-like air guitar solo, trading licks in a musical battle royale. Unfortunately for Dennis, moments into Kpiaye’s first run, Dennis realised he was seriously out-gunned, duly announced himself herewith to be “the bass player”.

The eclectic nature Dennis’ producing career was evident, from The Slits to Edwin Collins’ “Never met a girl like you before”. On the latter’s first release it rocketed to number one – in Belgium. It’s only because of Dennis’ judgement and tenacity that it ever got the recognition it deserved, forcing through a second release, bringing that classic riff beyond the borders of the Benelux nations.

But as a yardstick as for Dennis’ talents, he produced none other than the legendary Marvin Gaye (who’s also big in Belgium). Marvin wasn’t the most orthodox producing experience for Dennis, who described him as “a character”. Rather then be in the studio, Marvin elected to retire back to his hotel bedroom and let Dennis ply his trade. When our guest speaker returned to Marvin’s Queensway abode he put the mix on the tape recorder and awaited the great man’s reaction. “I can’t hear Marvin!” he shrieked. What Marvin was referring to was his lead vocal. The 20 odd backing vocals (also Marvin) were of course the “Marvinettes”. Oh to have been a fly on that particular wall.

As ever though, Campfire is also about visual storytelling, with the ditto doors perfectly on song, featuring an exhibition from Adrian Moot, one of Britain’s most celebrated reggae photographers.

ditto felt honoured that artists of Dennis Bovell’s and Adrian’s Moot’s calibre would say “yes” and join us on our Campfire journey. When there’s Irish stew, beer, great art and reggae, it’s very hard not to have a good time – but the key ingredient was, and always will be: good people. And that’s Dennis and Adrian to a tee.

It is impossible to talk about the UK reggae scene without mentioning Dennis and his vast influence and contribution.

Moving from Barbados to South London at twelve, he was absorbed by the Jamaican culture and Dub scene at the time. Having been in two bands, had various adventures with sound systems, and still being only 17 years old, Dennis was member of Matumbi. The band became an international reggae sensation, recording with EMI and scoring top tens in the UK charts.

A multitalented musician, producer, sound engineer and a key figure in the lover’s rock genre, Dennis also known as Blackbeard, collaborated with a range of stars including 1 Roy, Steel Pulse, Errol Dunkley and Johnny Clarke. Dennis also produced a single that became number two in the charts and after opening his studio he started partnering with Linton Kwesi Johnson, producing legendary albums Forees of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), Tings An’ Tirnes (1991) and LKJin Dub: Volumes One and Two (1981, 1992).

At the same time, Dennis was playing around the world and working with a whole range of household names, including Fela Kuti, The Slits, Bananarama, The Thompson Twins, Sharon Shannon, Alpha Blondy, The Pop Group, Orange Juice and Madness.
And as if this weren’t enough, his solo career extends to more than 10 albums, The Babylon film score, music for TV series and a celebrated participation at Reggae Britannia for the BBC. With all this ground breaking and passion for music its no wonder Dennis is honoured with the title of Britain’s reggae Maestro.

The ditto doors will play host to reggae legends with an exhibition co-curated by Dennis Bovell, along with Adrian Boot from Urban Image, one of the incredibly experienced music photographers and curators who put together the famous exhibition Reggae Explosion in Camden. Expect to see wonderful images from other reggae legends and listen the spirited adventures of Dennis Bovell.

Join us to celebrate our special St. Patrick’s Campfire in style, with Irish stew, and pint or two of the black stuff, and plenty of craic.

Campfire with Dennis Bovell will happen on the 15th March 2012 from 7pm at The Lighthouse.

Unit 1A Canonbury Business Centre  - 190 New North Road – Islington – London N1 7BJ

RSVP: campfire@ditto.tv

Taking a look through some of Ian Tilton’s amazing photos of the great, the good, the bad and the mad of the world of rock bands, you might find yourself asking “how on earth did he get that shot?” once or twice. Kurt Cobain in tears post show, for example. That shot of Ian Brown with an orange in his mouth. Morrissey live and louche on stage. Moments of intimacy, insight and privilege.

February’s Campfire with Ian answered that question eloquently – within moments of beginning his talk, Ian unwittingly made it all very clear. Patently, he is not simply a gifted photographer, he is also a very nice man. That may sound trite, but it could well be the key to his success. Ian is a nice man, and people trust him. That’s why he gets the shots of those superstars with their guard down, because they know he’ll look after them.

Photograph by Camilla Greenwell

As a result, and as he explained to a captivated Campfire audience at The Lighthouse, Ian has photographed and toured with some of the biggest names in the business. He’s been there, done that, got the tour t-shirt, and then some. Let’s face it – if you’ve partied with Guns and Roses, you know you’ve partied.

Another key element to Ian’s astounding success has been his ability to discover the next big thing before they hit they go supernova. And so it was with The Stone Roses, a band that meant so much to so many, and that Ian had unparalleled access to in their early years. In fact it was Ian who drew Ian Brown’s signature monkey face from him that first time – a natural, spontaneous moment of levity, as can be seen from the laughter etched on Jon Squires face in the background. With The Stone Roses back together, Ian will soon be publishing his extensive collection of photos of the band, in a book titled Set in Stone, which is certainly worth a look for all Roses fans.

So the evening saw tales of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, of booze, tour buses and very friendly fans, plusmillionaire rock stars with a penchant for other people’s hats. But Ian also shared his own personal story, away from the limelight. The deafness that had such a huge affect on him in his teenage years, and the revelation that was the physical experience of music, then eventually, hearing aids.

In keeping with the kind of person he is, Ian is now a qualified councillor, and works with various marginalised and vulnerable individuals, helping them in a multitude of ways. There’s still up-and-coming bands, and the theatre photography, but life’s a little calmer now. He’s had his tough times, and his moments high on the hog with awards and accolades. But most of all Ian has succeeded in marching to the beat of his own drum, if you’ll pardon the pun – listening to the voice within himself, and trying to do the right thing. And that in itself is a true indicator of success.

“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” Those ten simple words were projected in large letters on the screen behind David Rowan, revered editor of Wired Magazine, as he took centre stage for our twenty-fifth Campfire and possibly our best attended to date.

The words belong to William Gibson, of course, author of A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and much else besides. And what they were intended to mean, we suspect, is that certain individuals – the inventors, the programmers, the visionaries blessed with unnerving foresight, and the technologists squirreling away in their labs – have already invented the future. Now they’re just waiting for the rest to catch up.

It’s a description that also applies to Wired Magazine (tagline – The Future As It Happens) who’ve been on the forefront of the technological revolution for almost 20 years (in digital years, that’s an aeon). And we like to think it also applies to ditto. Ahead of the curve is where we’ve perennially found ourselves, and that’s exactly where we intend to remain, especially if we follow some of the ideas that David Rowan entertained us with during the course of his enthralling talk.

On a subject which needed little rehearsal for this seasoned guest speaker, David, dressed sharply for the occasion, proceeded to explain the ways in which technology has changed human behavior, and gave us a glimpse of the world of start-up billionaires, maths geniuses and web gurus who are boldly going where no man has gone before.

By way of introduction, David showed us a clip from the film 1999 A.D. Released some 45 years ago, it predicted with unnerving accuracy 21st century “push button” phenomena such as internet shopping. What it failed to predict was the sexual revolution, and a world where women no longer needed their husband’s credit card to pay for their shopping – but you can’t be right about everything.

David then undertook to be our humble guide to the future, accompanying us on a tour at the speed of light through DNA-based social networking, social commerce, mobile payments, 3-D printing and some of the issues surrounding web privacy (what has elsewhere been referred to as our ‘digital soul’). It was a truly global trip, taking in rural Kenyans using their phones to send money, Russian billionaires creating location-based dating services via mobile and European P2P lending websites.

The pace of technology change over the past few decades has been truly astonishing. Things that used to take our breath away as children watching Tomorrow’s World, today we take for granted. Inevitably, it is the youngest generation who are the first to embrace the potential new technology, as David explained to the audience. Teenagers today will probably be doing jobs with titles that haven’t been invented yet. For the rest of us, it’s a case of keeping abreast of each new wave of change – probably by reading Wired.

While David was the undisputed star of the show last night, we must also mention the exceptional art that was on display in our gallery space. Kinetica Art Fair is a yearly show dedicated to kinetic, electronic and robotic art. As a prelude to their 2012 show taking place in London this February, we featured a selection of Kinetica installations including a dyspeptic antique typewriter (it’s the literary equivalent of a barrel piano) which clacks out reams of abuse for being consigned to scrapheap of technology.

There was also a piece called Robot Birds, which are mechanical birds made of broken mobile phones. Each has a unique phone number, and when you call it, the bird flaps its wings and coos electronically. The creators Neil Mendoza and Anthony Goh were around the ditto offices all day and we were glad to make their acquaintance.

Upstairs the motion graphics studio, The Darkroom, created a miniature installation of their enormous light shows, which they take all around the world. They were also projecting images from our beautiful 2011 Compendium, hot off the press, which everyone who attended Campfire got to take home with them.

With so much going on, and a VIP cast of past and future Campfire speakers in attendance, this was a sensational start to 2012 and it will take some beating… Who would have thought, when we began our journey at ditto three years ago, that we’d reach this point? The future may not be evenly distributed, but it is most definitely here, you can be sure of that.

If hanging out with seminal bands and travelling the world sounds like a dream job, come and meet the photographer who did it, lived it and rocked it.

Ian Tilton started his photographic life back in 1982, and like many others he had to work his way up, working for expenses on local magazines. Keen to be the right person in the right place at the right time, Ian moved to the heart of the ‘Madchester’ music scene, in the early days of the Hacienda and Factory Records, before the rest of the world caught on. Commissioned to cover the likes of The Smiths, New Order and O.M.D. his career was now on the path of rock n’ roll mayhem. His impressive portfolio features the likes of The Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Bon Jovi, and Guns n’ Roses, with all the tales debauchery and delight that you expect. A particular highpoint was the moment Morrissey’s shirt was torn apart by the front row of The Smiths’ crowd – a shot the band used on the inside of their album “Rank”.

Another was being the first European photographer to cover Nirvana, getting close enough to capture the iconic image of Kurt Cobain crying on backstage. This shot was named Q Magazine’s number 6 in their prestigious top 100 rock and roll photographs of all time.

The role call of household names continues with Oasis, Supergrass, Bjork and many more, with Ian’s images gracing the record sleeves, magazine covers, and international exhibitions. How many incredible stories lie behind those pictures? We’ll find out at Campfire.

Alongside his photography, Ian is now a counsellor, proving that his way of interacting with people goes beyond observing and capturing, and includes feeding back too. He also dedicates time to working as a volunteer for several charities, and gives talks and workshops about photography.

Celebrating 20 years as a rock band and theater stage photographer, Ian still works with some of those incredible bands, and his book “What the world is waiting for” is due for publication soon.
Join us to share this exciting journey and see some of his rare images on the ditto doors. All exhibition images are signed and will be for sale on the night.

16th February 7pm at The Lighthouse, Unit 1A, 190 New North Road, Islington, London N1 7BJ

RSVP: campfire@ditto.tv

Have Campfire on the go, download our Campfire app for You can explore the stories online at www.ditto.tv, or head to the iTunes store and download our radio ditto app and ditto TV app – our digital version of the Campfire 2011 Compendium. You can watch videos of the night, the ditto doors exhibitions and hear the Fireside Favourites shows.

To inaugurate the 2012 series of talks, and celebrate Campfire’s second anniversary, it is with great fanfare that we confirm David Rowan, the UK editor of Wired Magazine, as our January storyteller.

Matthew de Abaitua was in every respect the perfect speaker to round off the 2011 Campfire calendar. We folk here at ditto think we know a thing or two about Campfires, but Matthew is a real, bona fide expert (as the author of The Art of Camping, you’d expect as much) and was about to reveal to us the meaning of the campfire.

Forget sitting round in a field, toasting marshmallows and singing ‘kumbayah’, the origin of the campfire can be traced back many millions of years to when our simian ancestors took an evolutionary leap down from the trees. Prehistoric man (and woman) would tend to sleep in trees, alone. When they finally learned how to tame fire, however, they could begin to sleep together and form pair bonding. And from there it’s just a short step to Ikea beds and electric blankets.

So there you have it, an abridged history of mankind, and it all began with a campfire. We’d been hosting our Campfire events for two years. And since our monthly events are all about bringing people together, down from their trees, so to speak, so they can communicate, collaborate and create, well it seems we’d stumbled on exactly the right word.

Camping holds a special place in Matthew’s heart. As an acclaimed author – his debut novel, The Red Men is presently being adapted for the big screen by Shynola/Warp Films – it’s for his second book The Art of Camping that Matthew is perhaps best known. It chronicles, with some verve, his memories of family holidays spent in the south of France, trips to Ireland with his wife and daughter, and many other expeditions too. But what is also important to Matthew is the symbolism of camping, as an escape and an alternative way of life.

“People have used camps as places to explore and discover alternative ways of living,” he told the audience. “That’s going all the way back – the origins of the word go back to campus, the Latin word for field. Ancient Rome had the campus martius, the place where soldiers were trained and foreign dignitaries were met.”

In the 1920s, it was a group of Germans called the Wondervogel who traipsed around the German countryside in strange Teutonic uniforms (when they weren’t in a state of complete undress) and went on to inspire the naturists, the hippies and many other youth movements of the 20th century.

Camping, however, in the British popular imagination at least, is perhaps most synonymous with Glastonbury, that long weekend in June when a sea of tents turn the fields of dairy farmer Michael Eavis into a makeshift canvas city. It’s what political writer Hakim Bey might describe as a Temporary Autonomous Zone, a place where you can make your own rules.

“After a weekend of camping, civilisation seems a lot more arbitrary,” said Matthew. “Our concrete cities seem less like the laws of physics handed down to you, and more some kind of aberration, a wrong turn taken at some juncture in our collective history.”

In 2011, it was another image of tents that flooded the media with the Occupy Movement. The guys and poles first went up in Zuccotti Park in September, quickly followed by protesters on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral and across the globe, from South Africa to Chile, Italy to Australia.

Camps are a breeding ground for alterative thought, Matthew stressed, and it’s pointless to criticise the Occupy Movement for not having an agenda. “At a march, you know what you want,” said the author. “A camp, on the other hand, is where you work out your demands. It’s pointless to criticise them for not having their demands. In a camp you’re trying to work it out, that’s what’s been wonderful about this movement, that it’s been a place of exploration.”

As Matthew rounded off his invigorating Campfire performance, he also put a full stop to our 2011 series of talks. These too have all been a place of exploration, venturing into topics as diverse as: how to programme a Cultural Olympiad, how to produce cult cinema classics, how to develop the business leaders of tomorrow, and how to have an international #1 hit. It’s been one hell of a ride, and it’ll begin all over again in January. But for now, adieu, sayonara, ma’salama, adios and farewell as we go put our feet up for a well-deserved break.