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Dreaming of the stars
2007-10-31 10:13:00
Sadly, I don?t have a lot of luck with judges associated with the RPS. I have a theory as to why that is but suffice to say that the judge at last night?s WPS photo competition wasn?t terribly impressed with my image of a down-and-out asleep on the street.It?s an image that I?ve treated and post-processed in an attempt to bring out the grotty surroundings and I?ve tried to emphasise the vulnerability of the man. However, for one judge at least, it wasn?t a success. I?m going to stick to more ordinary interpretations for future WPS competitions.Probably.
More About: Stars , Dreaming , The Star

Morocco Tannery
2007-10-23 16:30:00
Returning to some of my pictures from Morocco this week, I?ve found time to re-process a couple. I always liked the shot of this tannery worker, not least because he was one of the few people in Morocco willing to be photographed.Processing the shot to give a slightly more contrasty effect and adding a vignette and a border seems to have set the image off quite well.I like his stained hands and dye-spattered face and the weary expression he seems to have. His co-workers were very amused to see him being photographed and teased him mercilessly. He simply took a drag on his cigarette, smiled and shrugged.
More About: Rocco

Shibboleth
2007-10-21 12:37:00
After a very pleasant lunch with Tewfic on Friday, I took a leisurely ferry ride down the Thames to the Tate Modern to see the giant crack that has been made in the floor of the massive Turbine Hall.The crack forms an artwork, an installation by Doris Salcedo called ?Shibboleth?. Now, whether or not you think that a giant crack in the floor of a building can be considered ?art? or not you?d have to admit that it?s an absolutely fascinating thing to see. The crack itself is, well, it?s a crack. It gets a bit deeper and a bit wider as it progresses along the length of the Turbine Hall and one can see that the sides of the crack are formed with a wire mesh that I?m told was once used in a fence that divided two countries in Eastern Europe. Whether that?s actually true or not I don?t know.Flicking through the leaflet that visitors are given as they enter, I see that there?s a great symbolism attached to the work by the artist ?the history of racism, running parallel to the history of mo...

MAC OSX Leopard
2007-10-18 16:43:00
Apple have released a list of 300 new features that will form part of the new OS X (Leopard ) Mac operating system. Well, they say there are 300 new features but six of the features listed are the six new screensavers so you have to take that number with a pinch of salt.Nevertheless, Leopard offers Mac users a few more of those nifty things that make using a Mac so much more satisfying that using a PC. Little things like being able to click on a name in your address book and being shown the appropriate Google map for that person?s address. And, as we all know, it?s the little things...Of more interest to photographers will be things like 16 bit printing, which will be more important in coming months as more printers and cameras begin to support full 16 bit technology.The new OS also includes ?Time Machine?, which will provide backup versions of your Mac that allow you to return it to a previous state or offer previous versions of files that have changed.The ?Preview? application has ...

Digital Railroad Marketplace
2007-10-18 09:10:00
I?ve been with Digital Railroad for a while, posting my pictures to their online service and using the cataloguing features of their web site. I first met up with some of their representatives at a seminar in New York and then again later at a similar event at the Apple Store in Regent Street. There?s obviously a vision for Digital Railroad that?s been followed since the service launched, perhaps at some stage to sell out to a Getty, Corbis or similar. The recent launch of the Marketplace feature seems to tie in with that vision.Photographers with work on Digital Railroad can now sell their work through the Marketplace. It?s good for individual photographers as we can combine our images with other photographers? work, in what in effect has become a library. Providing there is sufficient content then I assume buyers will like it because it will offer them a one-stop shop for new images.I?ve heard a few reports of photographers making sales through Marketplace although it?s early days...

Genius of Photography
2007-10-16 09:40:00
The BBC start airing a new series about Photography on BBC4 next week. ?The Genius of Photography? is a six-parter that looks at the history of the art.Programmes include a look at how Kodak brought photography to the mass market, Editorial photography, Travel, Documentary and Photography as Art.Nice to see the my licence fee going to something of interest.The first programme goes out at 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 25th.

Where am I?
2007-10-11 19:06:00
I?m tempted to ask if you can guess where I am but suppose that the photo of onions, garlic and a Euro price tag might make it a tad simple.Yes, I?m in Brittany, France, having escaped the madness of searching for, nearly selling and nearly buying a new home.An offer came in for my house but was quickly withdrawn when the potential buyer realised that the front door doesn?t have a cat-flap. Seriously, some people are quite strange.So, a break from house-hunting seemed to be a good idea although it does reduce the likelihood of moving before Christmas and, consequently, increase the likelihood that I?ll have to pay out on the bet I made that I?d move before the end of the year.I?m giving up for a few days and enjoying the Breton sunshine, which is an unexpected bonus.

Is the Tate Modern all that it?s cracked up to be?
2007-10-09 16:22:00
Not according to my friend Masher it?s not. And if Modern Art leaves you bewildered then the latest installation at Tate Modern is probably unlikely to bring you any further into the folds of the Modern Art community.After giant spiders, slides, white cubes and a massive solar installation, the Tate is, like The Jam, going underground. The latest piece to grace the massive Turbine Hall is a chasm that stretches the length of the building.Now I can see how that might be an interesting concept and I can understand how it might invert our usual views of such a robust and impressive structure as the Tate but artist Doris Salcedo claims to be ?addressing a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world?. I haven?t seen the crack in person but I must admit that it didn?t immediately bring the subject of racism to mind.Either way, you can?t deny that it?s an unusual subject for an artwork and continues the Tate?s record of displaying ground-breaking art. ?Ground-brea...
More About: Cracked

iPhoto Library manager
2007-10-03 11:24:00
iPhoto comes as part of Apple?s iLife package for the Mac. It?s pretty good and I?ve been using it to manage those photos that I want to keep out of my Professional workflow: pictures of friends and family gatherings, parties, etc.The only problem is that the iPhoto library can soon get pretty bloated and it seemed impossible to manage multiple libraries very easily. I wanted to keep the main library on an external disk but a smaller library of the most recent photos on my laptop, so that they?d be available when I?m out and about.Enter iPhoto Libra ry Manager . Doing pretty much what it says on the tin, this software manages multiple iPhoto libraries, enables sharing of albums, copying, switching, iPod synchronisation and even a bit of iPhoto First Aid should your library throw a wobbly.There?s a free version although that restricts copying to no more than 20 photos so pretty pointless really but the full version is only just over £10 and well worth the investment.No, I?m not on comm...
More About: Ager , Iphoto

BBC Buys major share in Lonely Planet
2007-10-02 08:58:00
BBC Worldwide has bought a 75% share in Lonely Planet and has announced plans to put the full Lonely Planet guidebook range online in the near future.The BBC don?t have an especially good reputation among photographers who often complain that the BBC?s contract is a little unfair, demanding, as it does, that contributors grant a ?perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right? for the BBC to use the pictures where and when they like. The prospect of those contract terms influencing dealings with Lonely Planet Images is quite unappealing.Having said that, the opportunities offered by the BBC linking up with Lonely Planet could be very inviting. These are two iconic organisations and I?d hope that the BBC would reinforce and support the Lonely Planet brand. If that proves to be the case then the weight of the BBC?s reputation can only enhance the perception of Lonely Planet in the public?s eyes.The expertise that the BBC has built up in creating one of the world?s best w...
More About: Share , Major

Travel Photographer of the Year
2007-09-29 17:47:00
It seems to be the season for photographic competitions. The TPOTY competition deadline is next Wednesday and there are several others with deadlines looming. I?ve put together a couple of entries for the ?One Planet, Many Lives? category and a couple for the ?Sense of Place? category. The sequence of four pictures above are of Varanassi in northern India. I think these are my favourite group of four and I?m hoping they convey a ?sense of place? sufficiently well to be looked upon favourably by the judges. However, whether or not they make the grade, the process of re-examining photographs, even very recent ones, can yield unexpected pleasures. The process of putting photos side-by-side to see which ones work well together is interesting and I was pleased with this group of four as they cover a full day, from the busy sunrise when tourists take ferryboats along the Ganges to sunset and a picture of a ferryman rowing me back down the river.The two photos on the left are entries for t...
More About: Travel , Photographer , Year

National Geographic Best Mountain Photos
2007-09-29 08:37:00
The photo above was taken three years ago on the descent from Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal. I?ve posted it here to introduce the 2007 National Geographic Best Mount ain Photos competition, the winners of which were announced this month.The seven photos you can see on the National Geographic site were all taken in the Americas, six in North America and one in Bolivia. I?m not sure if entries were restricted to that continent but it seems strange to me that there were no winners from the Alps or the Himalayas or any of the other mountain ranges across the globe. Perhaps it?s just another example of an American institution being America-centric. Nonetheless, the photos are interesting. I?m not sure about the photo of the plane dropping fire retardant, it seems more than a little artificial to me, but the picture of the grizzly bear holding the head of a caribou in its mouth is fascinating.The photo above might not win any prizes and yet it?s a favourite of mine as it was taken by a Dutc...

Trouserless Peaking
2007-09-27 18:33:00
?Trouserless Peaking? is the phrase chose by Hank Wangford to describe Nude Mountaineering in a Guardian article defending the sport. Following the first conquest of Everest by a nude climber, Hank (real name: Sam Hutt) reveals his inspiration for founding the Nude Mountaineering Society was a photo of George Mallory and a friend standing at Everest base Camp in the all-together.?Their kecks-free frolics are a tribute, a sacrament to the mountain. And we'll never know if Mallory not only got to the summit but also went for the trousers down approach as an ultimate gesture.?As Wangford points out (not, on this occasion, literally), the dedication of the naked Nepali climber to strip down on the summit of Everest at ten below zero in unquestionable. What some people will do, just for the craic.

Photosynth
2007-09-27 17:05:00
If you can bear the trendy, jerky camera action and the sight of bespectacled Microsoft engineers gobbling on Jelly Beans then this video from Live Labs might be of interest.Photosynth combines existing photos into a 3D world and then allows a viewer to navigate a virtual world, picking out specific images, zooming in, looking around corners and viewing two-dimensional images in a three-dimensional representation.This is another piece of technology that it?s easy to see becoming a reality in the near future and, indeed, becoming a familiar technology to most of us within a few years. I?m slightly concerned about the rhetoric with which Microsoft discuss it?s implementation, especially the comment about ?Seamlessly merging? the real and virtual worlds but perhaps that?s just a little bit of over-enthusiasm from a geeky individual.This video shows a 3-D Photosynth tour of the Space Shuttle constructed from thousands of images.
More About: Synth

Content aware Image re-sizing
2007-09-27 16:43:00
This video shows a new method of image re-sizing. When I first had it explained to me I couldn?t see how the process wouldn?t distort the relative size and perspective of parts of the image but it does seem to work. I?m particularly interested in the ability to remove objects from a picture without cloning so that it?s not necessary to copy and paste some parts of the photo over others to remove unwanted elements.The software appears to still be in development although the YouTube comments suggest that there is already a plug-in. I can?t find one online but am sure that it won?t be long.The one thing we can be sure of is that in five years we?ll be looking back and shaking our heads at the thought of how we once used to process our photographs.
More About: Content , Image , Tent , Aware

Des Res?
2007-09-25 00:18:00
Looking for somewhere new to call home can be a frustrating experience. Half the battle is undoubtedly the need to wade through Estate Agents? web sites, deciphering the definitions used to describe the properties and then trying to glean some sense of the true state of a house.How refreshing then to find the above advert. ?Classically designed and then royally rodgered? has to be the most unlikely sentence ever to be uttered by an Estate Agent. Obviously, one can?t scroll on down the page without first clicking to read the fuller description. Sadly, at first inspection, the further information reverts to a simple list of rooms and dimensions but careful reading reveals ?Bedroom 12?3?x6?9?, window to the rear and radiator if you can find it?. You can almost hear the exasperated tone. The small photos that accompany the text speak volumes.So, if you?re looking to move to Glastonbury and want somewhere that already feels like home - a home for the hygienically-challenged - then this c...

Mini Business Cards
2007-09-23 12:18:00
I?m having some new mini-business cards printed. I was looking for something that people might be tempted to keep on their desk. They?re about half the size of a normal business card and the narrow format doesn?t work with all images but I think I?ve found ten that work OK.Perhaps people will start to collect the set.Links:Ten Business Cards
More About: Mini , Sine

Google Flight Simulator
2007-09-20 20:06:00
I often refer to Googl e Earth when I?m looking at new locations and can easily spend an hour just viewing new destinations.The new release has a not-so-hidden Easter Egg in the form of a Flight Simulator , which works pretty well. There?s a choice of flying either an F16 or an SR22 propeller aeroplane and whilst calling it a Flight Simulator might be stretching the definition slightly, it does at least give another dimension.Switch the 3D buildings on and fly over London or New York to get a whole new perspective. If you really have nothing better to do, you can practice flying along the Thames and under Tower Bridge.

Why f/9.0?
2007-09-20 16:38:00
A heated debate has broken out in the usually quiet halls of the Winchester Photographic Society. Well, I say heated, it?s luke warm at best but I?m trying hard to stoke the fires.It all started (deep breath) when Barry e-mailed us with a link to some of his fine landscape images. They were impressive, especially a selection showing the Cardiff Millennium Centre but that?s not what we?re here to discuss. As is often the case with pictures in the digital age, each image carried beside it an aperture and shutter speed reading, created from the EXIF data made when the picture was captured. I noticed that several pictures were taken at f/9, rather than the more ubiquitous f/8.Now, I often shoot at f/8, or at least I begin with that setting but being as clumsy as I am I often inadvertently move the dial one notch to f/9. Shooting on Aperture Priority, it doesn?t make any difference as the camera compensates with a slower shutter speed. I assumed that Barry had done the same and thought ...

Getty Editorial Grants
2007-09-20 09:23:00
A Bristol man is one of this autumn?s winners of a Getty Images grant for Editorial Photography. Leo Maguire?s photojournalism project will ?focus on the world of Gypsy bare-knuckle fighters in England?.Perhaps naively, I thought that bare-knuckle fighting was a thing of the past in 21st Century England but clearly I was wrong. At least, I was surprised to learn that there?s an organised element to it and that it?s sufficiently prolific to warrant a photojournalism project. But that simply shows how easy it is to miss things that happen right around the corner when you?re tucked up in your tidy, commuter-belt Semi.Leo?s project will, I?ve no doubt, be well worth keeping an eye out for. Getty?s blurb suggests that he will ?examine the romance and tradition of a culture based on brutal values, where fighters would rather die than lose face or money?. It really is another world. Ten of Leo?s photographs can be seen on the Getty Site and there?s an obvious brooding darkness to them that...
More About: Grants

Lonely Planet Images Newsletter
2007-09-19 09:37:00
I recommend a quick look at the Lonely Planet Images Newsletter for September. I?ve recently started contributing to Lonely Planet and their images have long been a source of inspiration, not only in photographic terms but also in terms of destinations.I think the six pictures in the ?Habitat? gallery sum up what the typical Lonely Planet image looks like: bags of colour, great composition, masses of impact and something that leaves you asking ?where is that?? and ?how can I get there??.The ?Living? gallery is great too of course and the first picture in the sequence is one that any travel photographer would be proud of. Well, this travel photographer would be.If you have time, take a look through some of the older editions of the newsletter, there are some great images on display.

Evening Shadows
2007-09-19 08:55:00
This photograph was taken in Marrakech, in the square just outside the Koutoubia Minaret in the centre of the Old City.I?ve never been very good at meditating. I struggle to do what Buddhists call ?taming the monkey mind?. I?ll sit down, start concentrating on something and begin to focus on my breathing. Within minutes I?m either asleep or thinking about what?s for dinner. My mind flits from one inconsequential thought to another and this ?monkey mind? runs rings around my most concerted efforts to bring a little bit of karmic calm into my life.However, there have been rare occasions when I manage to achieve a level of concentration similar to that which I imagine successful meditation would bring. Taking this photo is one such example. I sat down on the low wall surrounding a fountain in the square and noticed that the orange wall would make a great backdrop. As the sun sank lower and lower the orange hue grew deeper and the shadows lengthened. I set up the controls on the camera ...
More About: Shadows , Evening

Kumbh Mela
2007-09-18 10:14:00
So far, I?ve resisted an almost daily temptation to regurgitate a post from Tewfic El-Sawy?s blog for my own blog but today the temptation is too great.Tewfic manages to locate some terrific examples of editorial travel photography, which he then shares with his readers. These include some of the web?s best multimedia slideshows but today?s offering, from photographer Poul Madsen, is a real head-turner.If you think Glastonbury is packed each year, consider that the Kumbh Mela attracts almost 70 million people. Yes, that?s the population of London times ten. In tents.I encourage you to view the four-part slideshow, which is certainly educational as well as entertaining. I also recommend that you subscribe to Tewfic?s blog as I can?t steal his posts every day and you?ll miss out otherwise.

More bad news?
2007-09-18 09:48:00
Following on from earlier news, Getty have made an initial response to photographers with a reduction in the period of the licence for their $49 images to three months. It doesn?t really make any difference as far as I can see as these sales are going to be for short-term use anyway.Perhaps, as one forum post suggested, it means that Getty ?blinked first? in this apparent stand-off between the library and photographers but I suspect not. I?d find it difficult to believe that Getty hadn?t already considered the possibility that photographers would be up in arms and so had built in some negotiating room. The discussion continues and photographers? representatives are still in talks with Getty.The other bit of news that I noticed this week is a post on Alamy?s contributor blog that isn?t so much an announcement as a possible softening of the ground. Alamy propose to release a ?number of new products to broaden our customer base?, which seems like good news until you read the rest of th...
More About: News , Bad News

AOP Open Exhibition
2007-09-17 20:00:00
?This Saturday, come and see the 84 selected images chosen by our panel of judges including the overall winning image by Shamil Tanna and the six other winners. The gallery is open from 12-4 p.m.The September edition of Image magazine is an Open special edition and on Saturday it will be available for all visitors at half price, that?s just £1.If you would like any further information, please contact: aopopen@aophoto.co.ukWe look forward to seeing you on Saturday.?From Association of Photographers Press Release
More About: Exhibition , Exhibit

All Aboard
2007-09-17 09:52:00
You know what it?s like, you wait around for ages for a bus to Sydney and then six arrive at once. Yep, the first of six buses from London to Sydney left the capital yesterday and another five trips are scheduled in the coming year.The 12-week Oz-Bus itinerary will take passengers through Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Transylvania, Gallipoli, Istanbul, Turquoise Coast, Bam, Taj Mahal, Corbett Tiger Reserve, Kathmandu, Mount Everest, Bangkok, Ko Samui, Kuala Lumpur, Sumatra, Komodo, East Timor, Kakadu National park, Ayers Rock, Sydney.As well as paying the £3750 fare, passengers are expected to cook, clean the bus, shop and ?security watch?. Accommodation will often be in tents, which in places like Komodo and Ko Samui would be wonderful.It?s possibly a tougher journey to do now than it would have been twenty or thirty years ago. The stretch through Turkey and Iran could be an adventure in itself and one imagines that there will be some extraordinary logistical efforts going in to make t...

Simon and Louisa
2007-09-15 14:13:00
I?ve just put the finishing touches to Simon and Louisa?s wedding album and there?s a slideshow below. It?s best viewed on a fast Internet connection but if it?s too slow, try the ?small? version.Photos can be obtained as prints, on DVD or in a hardcover album. Please contact me if you have any queries or special requests.PRODUCTS:PRINTS from £1.99Printed on art paper with archival quality inksDVDContains over 200 photographsPlays on PC/Mac and most DVD players£59.99WEDDING ALBUM (See slideshow below)Hardcover, 100 pages, full-colour, 11.25?x8.75?£129.99

Getty $49 sale (PDN Article)
2007-09-14 02:20:00
Further to yesterday?s post about Getty ?s dramatic price reduction, PDN Online has a good summary article that explains the background to the current situation. The Photographers? trade associations are awaiting a reply from Getty but, as I mentioned previously, I suspect that this battle is already lost.The problem is that other agencies will inevitably follow suit and the likes of Corbis and Jupiter might not prove to be viable alternatives for photographers seeking representation. Time will tell and I hope that the fears of the Stock Artists Alliance and other associations will prove to be unfounded. Getty have managed a very successful business for many years now so perhaps they?ve got their finger on the pulse and the rest of us are unnecessarily concerned. We?ll see.Download the SAA?s letter to Jonathan Klein, CEO of Getty Images
More About: Article , Sale , Artic

Getty $49 sale
2007-09-13 09:11:00
Unfortunately for me, it?s not the best time to be a stock photographer. Back in the 70s and 80s Stock Photographers were making a packet. It was, I imagine, a different ball game then and probably much harder to get into the market but photographers who managed it were able to set themselves up quite nicely thank you.It?s changed a whole lot since those halcyon days. The ability to deliver images over the Internet and the immediacy of digital technology has changed the marketplace substantially. Prices have been driven down and anyone reading the Stock Photography forums in recent months and years will have seen an ever increasing number of posts complaining about the ?race for the bottom?, a phrase used to describe the apparent desire of stock libraries to give their images away for free.I?m no mathematician but if stock libraries are giving images away for next to nothing and then giving me 50% that?s not going to add up to a whole lot. Some argue that the reduction in revenue is...
More About: Sale , Getty

Allow me to be your docent for the evening
2007-09-13 01:05:00
I?ve recently subscribed to a podcast by Brooks Jensen, the publisher of Lenswork magazine. I?m a big fan of podcasting and find that I listen to podcasts now as much as I listen to the radio or watch the television. It?s useful to be able to tailor your listening material to your mood and situation. When I?m driving into town I?ll click on a five minute Photoshop tutorial. For longer journeys I?ll catch up with Radio 4?s Front Row or From Our Own Correspondent. When it?s time to relax I?ll switch to Channel 4?s Fonejacker or This is a Knife and for an honest-to-goodness blend of Apple Mac geekery and British eccentricity then it has to be British Mac.But I digress. There are lots and lots of podcasts concerning photography and I?ve listed to a few in the hope of finding something entertaining and educational (sounds a bit like the brief for the BBC). Unfortunately, most photography podcasts seem to either talk about the hardware, which is of limited interest to me, or be promotiona...
More About: Evening , Allo