Ben Allen (@benjaminsallen)

Announcing the launch of MADE - Makers Against Digital Exploitation. A Whatsapp Community bringing together creatives in the fight for their rights. Firstly, thank you to @okrichie for starting this with me, and thank you to the many others who have taken time to share opinions, connect dots, and in these early stages, bring shape to this initiative. The mission for MADE is to bring creatives from all industries together as we push to pass the necessary and relevant legislation to protect us from technological redundancy. We hope to work towards common goals with any unions, alliances, or initiatives that are aligned with us, so please share this post, DM me, or let us know in the community chat etc. There is strength in numbers, when we band together we can make the changes we want to see in this world. Today, Google has just launched its VEO3, capable of creating generated videos with synced audio. The future of human made media and advertising is in a perilous position. AI companies are out there right now, holding seminars and wine and dines, telling the biggest brands in the world that they have the solution to all their marketing needs, merely a prompt away. It doesn’t matter whether you’re shooting e-commerce, or filming the biggest adverts in the world - nothing is safe and according to them, we are all replaceable. We will fight till the end for human creativity and human productivity. Creatives are dreamers. They problem solve. They look to an ideal future, one that doesn’t exist yet but they believe they can create. One could argue we need creatives, more than we need CEOs. But the reality is we are heading into a world where creatives have no protections and all the ideas, all the “likeness” that has ever existed has been hoovered up by data thieving companies, and resold in a package deal to eradicate the need to ever hire humans again. After all, it is humans who consume their products - so why should a machine sell me my dream car, even my next meal, or the next movie I watch? Humans must remain part of this process, and we believe we must fight right now for the future of film, fashion, music, art, and all human expression. LINK IN BIO

🇹🇳 TUNISIA WITH THE LAMIRIS 🇹🇳 Thank you Sam for bringing me to your beautiful country. Thank you for trusting me in the sanctuary of your family homes. Thank you for showing me what real community looks like, not the type they mean on any VC pitch deck. This was one of the experiences of a lifetime. So little is known about Tunisia coming from the UK. Astonishingly, there isn’t a single Tunisian restaurant in the whole country, we sadly aren’t exposed to much Tunisian culture beyond harissa. With intention, I went in blind, letting myself see it through Sam’s lived experience. No google maps, no travel bloggers “23 BEST things to do in Tunisia” - perhaps most importantly, knowing this would be a food focused trip with Sam - no research on the cuisine. What followed was a mind blowing culinary experience. Kafteji, Brik, Lablabi, Mlewi, Slata Mechouia and the crown jewel, Sam’s aunties’ Couscous Osben (you truly haven’t had couscous until you’ve had Tunisian couscous) prepared with so much love even on a day when the water and electricity had stopped working. Nothing comes between family time, and boy do they know how to do it. Whether it’s graduations, wedding celebrations, 1st birthday parties - the Lamiris and the community of Bou Selsla are celebrating altogether in front of Ali’s shop, some time into the night. I promise you, you won’t see more smiles anywhere else. Thank you to Sam, Thea, Ali, Naima, Fatma, Douha, Dali, Mohamed, Aziz, Arbi, Nyzar, and many more.

QP Cover Story @qpmagazine ⌚️⌚️⌚️ Creative direction MUJDÉ METIN @mujdeti Photography RICHARD DOWKER @richarddowker Fashion DANIEL D’ARMAS @danieldarmas Groomer KACHI KATSUYA @kachikatsuya Location scout HARRY PROSSER @prosserlocations Casting director ELIZABETH MILES @elizabethmilescasting Photography assistants LUKE REGAN, TRUDI TREBLE @lukes.jpeg @trud.i Fashion assistant CORAIMA VALDEZ @coraimavaldezr @supa.worldwide @supa_ro_

Bluebells are just like elephants, so hard to photograph but incredible to see

In my @berserk_grindset era ⚔️ Picture by immensely talented beauty capturer sweet boi @daniyellowden 💘

Thank you to Carter, one of the many great new people I’ve met over the past year. Having someone believe in you like he does is such a privilege. Carter Young, now at Liberty. ‘After Midnight’ — A film by David Hurtado for @carteryoungusa & @libertylondon An homage to late 60’s cinema, Ben finds himself a stranger in a strange land, drifting through the streets of London. Directed by @dhurtado.us Creative Direction by @carteraltman Concept by @madisonec Director of Photography @finnboxer Stills @ellisscottphoto 1AC @maxrollason Soundtrack by @finnbillingham Co-Editor @sylviedart Special Thanks to Maude Elms #carteryoung #libertylondon

Surface Tension (2025) by Karyn Nakamura We were introduced to Karyn by a mutual friend, Maya, who mentioned it was Karyn's first time visiting London and could we hang altogether. Maya acting as the synaptic connector, bringing people together who otherwise probably would never have met. I love connections like this, they shake up the routine, and serve to remind you of how many unknown, unplanned, untapped connections lie ahead of you. A quick glance of Karyn's work on instagram and I was immediately intrigued, the kind of visual media work she produces usually provokes a strong response. Let alone a Steve Jobs Archive fellow having the instagram handle @frog_spit_simulation (I never did ask Karyn the meaning of the name). Seeing her incredible installation in the flesh yesterday, I knew I'd just seen something that moved me, but felt the need to sit with it for a moment. To try and succinctly explain the process of Karyn's work is a challenge for me, someone not blessed with brevity. Using optical tweezers (a tractor beam to manipulate small matter) Karyn manipulated neurons, the cells that populate our brain, around a slide. Eventually spelling out the word THOUGHT. A Kodak slide projector was gutted and converted into a microscope, magnifying the slide on to the wall. The microscope footage transformed and abstracted using generative Al models, constantly thinking of new layers to add to the original footage. Without wanting to make this about me, because Karyn is so inexplicably intelligent, endlessly talented, and simply well worth the follow, or better still a visit to her show at @showstudio in the London, there until March 12th. I felt it worth sharing the impact on me, and why art like hers is so worth visiting in person. Something about this incredible feat, of the cells in our very own brains performing for us, showing their "thought", and how they could change, felt like a very personal revelation to me. I recently started therapy. Part of my process will no doubt be moving negative thoughts into more positive ones. I like to picture the little neurons in my head dancing with me, changing and adapting how thoughts manoeuvre through my brain.

Light through the darkness

@lukederrick SS25 // NIGHTWALKING 🩶🩶🩶 Styling - @olaoluebiti Casting - @piotrchamiercasting Hair - @louisghewy Skin - @crystabelefemenariley PR - @modusbpcm Photos - @simran_k_01