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To celebrate an endorsement from the wonderful people at Thinktank photo, I have a chance to thank you for reading this blog. Who’s up for winning a free Thinktank Urban Disguise 35 v2.0, worth over £120?
Having used Thinktank gear for a few years now, it’s a real pleasure to say how great their gear is. On a daily basis, I use the Shape Shifter, the Skin 75 Pop Down V2.0, the Chimp Cage, the Thin Skin belt with an Airport Check In also often getting drafted into use. Having started out using Lowepro bags, I got rid of them after realising that they don’t seem to spend much time thinking about the actual user. The bags do indeed hold the cameras but are cumbersome, bulky and do what countless other bags already do. After a brief experiment with a Crumpler bag (that made me look like Touche Turtle, even when empty), I invested in a Shape Shifter and have been using it ever since.
For your chance to get your hands on the bag shown above (obviously without the Nikon toys), simply follow @tabascokid & @thinkTANKphoto on twitter and tweet the following message;
Follow @tabascokid & @thinkTANKphoto for a chance to win a Thinktank Urban Disguise 35 V2.0 #gimmeathinktankbag
MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE THE WHOLE SENTENCE, INCLUDING #gimmeathinktankbag AS THIS IS HOW I’LL FIND THE WINNER!
I’m afraid the competition is only open to those in the UK, so those readers in Bhutan will have to find a generous soul closer to them if they want a freebie.
I would say good luck but it’s a no-brainer! The winner will be picked at random on the 20th of January 2012.
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The competition is now over and the winner is Fraser Stephen of Fife, Scotland. Congratulations Fraser!
Jan 18, 2012 | Categories: Random oddity | Tags: bags, cameras, competition, free, photography, think tank, thinktank, urban disguise 35 v2.0 | 1 Comment »
Following my hijacking of Phil Coomes’ BBC “News in Pictures” blog last week, I thought I’d put my slightly revised selection from 2011 on here to continue the series that I began last year.
I’m obviously tempting fate as I have one shift left for 2011 on the 31st, so calling these my favourites of the year runs with the proviso that the Second Coming doesn’t happen on Saturday, with Jesus choosing to return for an impromptu monster truck session on Oxford Street while I’m on duty.
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First up is a scene from the Southbank of the Thames, during the build-up to the royal wedding. With tourists filling the city and everything either draped in union flags or police tape, most photographers in London were regularly being sent out to find feature pictures on the upcoming marriage. Aside from the poses looking like it could have been staged, the punchline to it all was that “The Queen” was in fact an Eastern European bloke. I hope Phil the Greek knows. The full blog can be found here.
The London riots saw some incredible images on the news wire from all agencies, newspapers and freelance sources. While I captured a good share of the flames and violence, one of my personal favourite pictures came on the first night as I was leaving Tottenham to edit my photographs. Just as I was about to go, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a woman carrying two young children through the rubble and broken glass. The blue lights from the police vans lit her face as she walked towards the line of armoured vehicles and riot police. A few hundred metres behind her, the police were still clashing with rioters and missiles were being thrown in all directions. Being in that situation was scary enough, but as a father I can only imagine how scared this woman must have been for the safety of the children. More images from the story can be found here.
The MCM Comic Con convention in east London turned out to be one of my favourite jobs of the year to shoot thanks to the ridiculous amount of pictures that were there to be taken, as nearly everyone attending was dressed in some type of costume. One of my favourites was Lindsay Vincent from Cumbria who dressed as US singer Lady Gaga and was happy to take time out to pose for me in front of the passing crowds. The set of images I came away with have ended up being my favourite picture story of the year, thanks to the devotion of the fans of Cosplay and all that it involves. Bravo, eccentric types! More frames can be found here.
The show below is an idea that’s been done before but I loved how well matched the girls were. While covering the “Vintage at the Southbank Centre” event, I’d spotted two girls playing around with the record covers as they searched through the stacks of vinyl on a stall. As I approached them, they’d just found these two covers and were starting to play around with them. I’d love to say I’d made the effort of finding out the exact covers and posing them just so but they made the frame for me. While not being the hardest frame to capture, it still puts a smile on my face. More images can be found here.
Covering the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships at Sheffield Arena in March, the photographers were given the chance to shoot from directly above, allowing us to catch the action from a new perspective. At the time, I didn’t really appreciate how rare an opportunity it was until I’ve seen the “best of 2011″ images from a number of leading sports photographers have included shots from the gantry from over that weekend.
I was sitting in the office of Agence France-Presse, the news agency that I work for, on a particularly quiet day when I noticed the end of a rainbow over the financial district of London. I grabbed my camera and began taking pictures of the rainbow that could be used to illustrate a future business feature or story, when I noticed that it was starting to get longer. Within a few seconds it had become a full arc, and shortly after a second rainbow appeared over the top. By this time I’d called everyone over from their desks and they stood and watched the incredible light show as I frantically snapped away from under my coat (to cut out reflections from the glass of the office window). Then, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone.
Another shot from the first night of the London riots and it’s pretty self-explanatory but I liked how it captured the energy and frantic movement as the night developed. With an appliance store on fire, the riot police moved forward pushing the rioters further down the street. It’s always a challenge in this kind of situation to find the right place to be, as you’re facing incoming missiles when too close to the police but are at risk of being attacked if you’re in with the rioters. More images can be found here.
Never having shot Wimbledon before, other than a few of the features surrounding the event, I got to cover the actual play this year with this shot being my favourite. After a long and frustratingly close rally, French player Benoit Paire threw his racquet while diving as he played against Spanish player David Ferrer. A truly desperate move but it gave me a shot for the yearly round-up! More images can be found here.
Another moment from the Comic-Con 2011 convention makes my list and this one was the opposite of the shot above, being a moment I spotted as I wandered around the main concourse during lunch. While all of the attendees were connected by their love of cosplay, they still divided into some groups, so I had a poke around to see how they were mixing. The guy in the centre was clearly quite proud of his costume and seemed to be a bit of an alpha-male of the group. I’m proud of catching his flirtatious look towards the passing girl while the guy on the right eyes me suspiciously. I also loved the Comic-Con show for this moment. More images can be found here.
It’s hard to fail on a story like this but when sent to cover the 25th annual International Kite Festival in Bristol, my favourite photo was of the interaction between a giant flying lobster and a spectator. Even if it wasn’t a favourite picture, I’d probably include it anyway, just so that I could write that sentence.
While covering the on-going fighting around the town of Bani Walid in Libya, AFP journalist Dominique Soguel and I started chatting to a group of National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters as they sheltered from the midday sun on a dried riverbed running under the road. After shooting a few portraits of them, a senior figure in the NTC army arrived with a reinforced briefcase filled with wrapped bundles of tens of thousands of Dinar and started to pay the troops. With the fighting dragging on longer than hoped, the fighters were struggling to survive with families at home in need of income, so supporters had raised money by selling their possessions and sending the funds to the front line. My posts from Libya can be found here.
The day of the royal wedding was truly one of the most stressful days of my life, but in the end it was saved by bridesmaid Grace Van Cutsem. The young girl became world famous after she covered her ears to protect herself from the noise of a fly-past, just at the point of the royal kiss, creating one of the moments of the day. I was very grateful that we were shooting from so far away, as if I’d been closer I may have tried to crop in really tight on the kiss and would have missed Grace’s moment. The whole story can be found here.
During the visit to Britain by US President Barack Obama, I was covering a number of the meetings inside number 10 Downing Street. It included this one between the president, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Prime Minister David Cameron. I have absolutely no idea what was said, but I love the body language between the three subjects. While the prime minister had moved out of the way to allow us to photograph Mr Clegg and President Obama, the combination of the apparent giggling fit on the left, and the rather stern look from Mr Cameron, makes for an amusing caption competition shot. More images from the visit can be found here.
So there we go. Unless you hear about a series of crushed cars near Oxford Circus over the weekend, bring on 2012.
Dec 30, 2011 | Categories: Random oddity | Tags: 2011, balloons, Barack Obama, best, best of, bristol, cartoon, comic-con, cosplay, costume, david cameron, dive, excel, fire, flames, grace van cutsem, journliam, kate middleton, kiss, kites, lady gaga, leon neal, libya, lobster, london, marriage, media, money, news, nick clegg, ntc, photographs, photography, photojournalism, pictures, police, politics, prince william, princess catherine, queen, racquet, rainbow, record, retro, riot, royalty, sheffield, skating, soldier, southbank, speed, tennis, tourists, vinyl, wedding, wimbledon | 6 Comments »
Having owned my Panasonic GF1 for just over two years now, I figured that technology had moved on enough to warrant investigating a new small-form camera for days off and secret squirrel assignments. With Panasonic’s follow-up models being too consumer-based with added touch-screens and gimmicks, while still utilising the same sensor, I’d waited eagerly for the GX1. However, when it finally arrived, it just looked, well, naff. The problem is that in recent months Fuji have taken a leap forward by looking backwards. Their X100 and X10 both have such classic looks, you’ll really enjoy looking at the camera itself, never mind their high quality output. I’ve only played with them briefly but, while feeling that the fixed lens on the X100 could prove frustrating for a £1000 camera, the feel of it would probably outweigh that issue.
So, with that aside, my hunt for my next camera led me to Nikon’s latest range of “Compact Camera System” models; the V1 and the J1. In my every day work, I use a wide range of Nikon lenses on D700, D3 and D3s bodies but have never used their smaller cameras before. In recent years, I’d used the Canon S70 (and still do for underwater pictures) and the Canon Powershot G7 before finding the Panasonic Lumix GF1. Thanks to the always-wonderful people at Nikon UK, I was allowed to get my hands on a range of bits and pieces from the range including the V1 and J1 bodies, the 10mm f2.8 lens, the 10-30mm f3.5-5.6 lens, the 10-100mm f4.5-5.6 lens and the SB-N5 flash unit. Before I go any further, I’ll explain the difference between the two. The slightly more expensive V1 has a hot-shoe and viewfinder, while the J1 has a pop-up flash and no viewfinder. I gather that the idea is that the V1 is aimed at the street photographer and more serious photographer while the J1 is aimed at the consumer who’s less bothered about buying extra attachments. With identical sensors and output, the extra money for the V1 buys you a host of other features including auto-sensor cleaning. Deeper within the tech side of it, the V1 has both options of using a mechanical shutter or electronic while the J1 has only the electronic. While the electronic is virtually silent, making it ideal for street photography, I always found myself back on the mechanical shutter. I’d love to explain my reasoning but I can’t. I just prefer the “feel”. The only other difference that I could find was that the V1 has a higher resolution screen. Basically, to wade through all of that, if you’re interested in buying one but don’t know which to go for, I’d lean towards the V1. Yes, it’s a few quid more and you’ll have to buy the flash but I think the extra options that it provides make up for it.
Look and touch (but no fondling please)
Oddly, both cameras manage to catch the balance between bang up-to-date and retro styling with a very minimalist layouts. The smooth form actually reminds me very much of the Leica M7 body design with no sharp edges and a lovely rounded form that sits in the hand quite nicely. Having a father who worked in the motor industry for years, I’ve grown up with a love of things that are well ergonomically designed, so anything that sits right gets the thumbs up from me. When held, they both feel solid and expensive, unlike many other pocket cameras that feel too thin and insignificant. As previously mentioned, controls on the camera are sparse, to the point of being a little too minimalist. Having worked with cameras for a few years now, it was a bit surprising to find that I had to mail Nikon for the instruction booklet to work out some of the options! In the end it turns out that the vast majority of functions are accessed through the software menu which I’ll get to later. The controls that are featured have the feel of a Hi-Fi separate, with a brushed chrome finish and in-set buttons on the silver J1 that I received, while the V1 definitely had the feel of the afore-mentioned Leica with a powder black finish and reasonably subtle branding.
The backs of both cameras have near identical design aside from the pop-up flash button on the J1. One issue that I had with both cameras was the positioning of the thumb-wheel to change between certain modes. With the controls all clustered over to the right of the screen, I found that the selection dial was very easily knocked and turned, either in use or while carrying the camera over my shoulder. While I wasn’t using the camera in anger during these tests, it would be very annoying to grab for my camera to take a picture and find that it had rolled around to either video mode or the slightly baffling “Motion Snapshot” setting.
Optics ago-go
Moving on from the body, the lenses were quite an eclectic bunch. With the 10mm “pancake” lens being the one that I was automatically drawn towards, the 10-30mm kit lens looked like most other kit lenses while the monster 10-100mm looked more like it was designed for me D3s!
Starting with the 10mm lens, I have to say from the start that it was disappointing to find that it was only f2.8. While this may seem very fast to some, my personal benchmark was set by the 20mm pancake lens that I got with my GF1 with an f1.7 aperture. It’s a real shame that even f2 wasn’t possible as it makes all the difference to those who want to have a small camera as a quick alternative to their main kit. Aside from that, the lens is sharp and fast and has a nice slim profile so it sits nice and close to the body.
Next up is the 10-30mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens. With very smooth zooming and sharp images, the lens is very reasonable but, like the 10mm, the aperture is too slow for me.
Last but not least is the 10-100mm, otherwise known as the “Thermos flask” due to it’s chunky size. Oddly, after all I said about liking slim and slender designs, this lens was possibly my favourite. Looks-wise, it’s a no go, looking like some sort of military drinks flask but when you’re sticking such a lump of glass and plastic onto the front of a slim camera, you’re doing it for one reason and that’s for the photographs. So once you’ve got used to the fact that it’s going to look a little silly, it’s a nice bit of kit. I’m guessing that its size is down to the amount of image stabilising that is needed to make this combination possible. With such a light body, you find yourself holding the lens rather than the body, but it does what it should with lovely smooth stabilisation allowing shots indoors, even at the f5.6 end. Focus is adjusted via a switch on the side of the lens which takes a little getting used to after years of on-camera focus buttons but doesn’t cause too much confusion.
All of my f stop criticism may seem harsh but I’m approaching this review with the intention of finding the right camera for me. If you’re planning on using this camera for everyday life and will happily pop the flash on at parties, then any of these lenses will be perfect. However, if you’re like me and want to suck as much natural light out of the day as possible before using flash, an f5.6 aperture is a bit of a no-go.
Cheeky little flasher
Take a particularly small and wide-eyed little mouse and cross it with a Nikon speedlight flash gun and what do you get? The SB-N5 flash. Never did I ever imagine that I’d be saying “ahhhh” at a flash unit but this truly is the cutest little bit of kit ever made. With full 180 degree rotation horizontally and 90 degrees vertically for full bounce options, it kicks out loads of light and slots easily onto the V1. As you’d imagine, it’s considerably more substantial than the pop-up flash on the J1 but does involve more extra outlay and more to carry around but as it’s such a gem, who cares? Even if you don’t own the camera, buy the flash and put it in a frame.
Operation (where you’re the doctor!)
Sadly, this is the area that really lets the camera down. Operations and adjustments that would be carried out in a fraction of a second on a camera that has on-body controls take much longer on both cameras. For starters, changing between camera modes involves pressing the menu button, moving to the camera settings, entering camera options, scrolling up to exposure mode and moving across into the options to pick between “Scene auto selector’, Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual.
It might not sound like much but I’m constantly moving between manual, shutter priority and aperture priority while working, often even within the same set of images so it needs to be fast and very accessible. The same applies to white balance with the process being equally lengthy. While these vital options are buried in the user menu, the menu wheel on the back of the body gives you the option to switch between HD video, still image, Smart Photo Selector and Motion Snapshot. While they’re nearly all useful options, having them as the options that you have easiest access to seems a real waste. I could understand it on the J1 as it appears to be aimed at the consumer but to have the same option on the version that’s clearly aimed at photographers who are more experienced is really odd.
Now for a quick explanation of those four options on the wheel;
- “HD video” is very high quality, up to 1920 x 1080/60i. One neat little feature is the option to shoot in slow motion at up to 1200fps. The problem with shooting at that speed is that you need to be FLOODED with light for it to work as it’s filming so quickly. If you do have lots of light to play with, you can get some great effects and playing around with flowing water and the obligatory “head shake for slo-mo cheek wobble” is good fun. Here’s a link to a snippet that I filmed in the park. As you can see, the quality isn’t great and it looks dark despite being in the middle of the day, due to the ultra high frame rate.
- “Still image” is self-explanatory. If you need to know what that is, I’m frankly baffled as to how you’ve got this far into the review.
- “Smart Photo Selector” is essentially autopilot for the camera. Nikon describe it as a way “to deliver a perfect image every time. When a “can’t miss” photo opportunity arises, users can switch to the Smart Photo Selector mode which uses the camera’s pre-cache to start shooting and storing images. All of these images are analysed within the camera, and the best photo is selected based on a number of factors including exposure, focus and advanced facial recognition.“ So basically, you don’t even have to think. While it’s the kind of thing that I can see on their consumer cameras, why is it on their camera that’s aimed at semi-pros and above? Bad move.
- “Motion Snapshot” is a way of making those moving pictures that they have in the newspapers in the Harry Potter films. It films two seconds of video in slow motion and combines it with a choice of four pre-programmed snippets of music. It’s just bizarre as a choice of quick-access option. How can this be more useful than being able to change between camera modes? While it’s possibly a fun little feature, it should be buried in the menu instead. You’re never going to need it in a rush.
Oh yeah, and the pictures too…
Firstly, one major problem that I found straight away was that Photoshop CS5 still hasn’t got a finalised RAW update that allows me to edit the files from this camera. They currently have an update that is still in user-testing stage (Adobe Raw 6.6) so while it appears to work perfectly well, the finalised update may produce slightly different results. While I know I could download and install the Nikon software, I’ve always avoided the software that camera makers provide as it’s invariably pretty ropey. I KNOW I’ll get grumbles for saying that as I’m sure it’s all singing and dancing these days but I’d rather just use the software that I’m going to use on a daily basis.
Pictures have a definite punch to them, straight out of the camera but, as expected for a camera with a very small sensor, noise can be an issue. Even though the camera can be pushed up to 3200ISO, I didn’t feel comfortable pushing it beyond 800ISO. Thankfully, in everyday life, you can get away with shooting within these limits but it’s a little frustrating seeing all that extra ISO listed on the menu but feeling uncomfortable using it.
Colour in the standard setting is, as expected, quite flat and allows for some tweaking while, of the image profiles, I found the monochrome setting to have a lovely smooth tone to it. If, like me, you shoot in jpeg and RAW, it’s quite nice to shoot in mono for instant results while knowing that the RAW file is in full colour if you want to play later. The RAWs allowed the usual amount of freedom of post production and held up well to close inspection.
The Grand Conclusion
Oh, if only this was a simple answer. Like anything that tries to set itself apart, Nikon have succeeded in areas while failing in others. Their line of compact cameras was well in need of a shake-up and the V1 and J1 definitely suggest a move in a fresh direction but I think the desire to create something interesting has resulted in them forgetting why most cameras do end up behaving in a similar manner; there are designs that work really well. If you’re going to make something radical, it needs to equal or improve upon what is already out there and the current operation lacks ease of use. If they swapped the wheel of toys on the back for a Av, Tv, M and HD option, it would be a VERY different camera. While it would lose some of it’s sparkly innovation, it would become usable again. The thing is, this could easily be resolved in a firmware patch. If Nikon isn’t prepared to offer it as an option, will someone else?
It’s a real shame that the picture quality from the camera has taken such a back-seat in the review as it does produce strong images and I think most people would be very happy with it. While noise does become an issue at the higher ISOs, anything within the usual range (100-800ISO) looks great. As I stated above, while the new toys that Nikon have added are fun and well worth an explore, they are just… toys. While people buy £200-300 cameras for exciting gimmicks, I think that anyone spending up to £849 wants a solid, well-performing camera that gets the job done. With tweaks, the Nikon 1 series could end up a great line of cameras but it’s not quite got it right just yet for me. I guess the GF1 will remain for a little longer but seeing what Nikon nearly created here makes me excited to see what’s coming next.
Pros
Interesting styling
Solid build
Fast frame rate
Innovative touches such as slo-mo
Solid photo quality at low to medium ISO
The flash that is like a light-producing Tamagotchi
Cons
Poor operation through heavy reliance on internal menu
Lens apertures not fast enough to beat the competition
ISO noise becomes apparent from 800 ISO upwards, despite options up to 3200 ISO
Samples
Dec 06, 2011 | Categories: Random oddity | Tags: 10-100mm, 10-30mm, 10mm, ccs, compact camera system, j1, nikon, nikon 1, pocket camera, review, test, v1 | 1 Comment »
CAUTION : THIS POST CONTAINS ONE IMAGE THAT IS PROBABLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK depending on where you work, I guess. If it’s the SoHo book store, crack on but if you’re reading this from the staff-room of a retirement home for nuns, it’s probably best to wait until your shift finishes before continuing.
At the start of November, I was sent over to sunny Belfast to cover the MTV European Music Awards at the Odyssey Arena. Oddly enough, it would not only be the first time I’d been to Belfast but also the first time that I’d ever heard a Justin Bieber song. I should point out that I might possibly have never even made it that far if I hadn’t had an understanding taxi driver. Getting into a Belfast taxi and telling the driver you’re looking forward to seeing Dublin could be seen as a bad start. I can only put it down to a very small brain and fatigue.
The night started off with a quick dash to Ulster Hall to shoot the Red Hot Chili Peppers sound-check ahead of their evening performance. They clearly weren’t massively keen to see our smiling faces though so we waited and waited outside before being allowed in to shoot a ten minutes of them talking on-stage before performing one song with little gusto. To be fair, I don’t blame them THAT much as I probably wouldn’t have wanted to be filmed when I was sound-checking back in my musical days either.
Still, it was good to see Chad Smith doing his thing. He happens to be one of the few people in life that I’ve ever asked for an autograph. You really really don’t want to know the others.
Anyway, after that quick appetiser, it was off to the Odyssey Arena for the main event. Shooting from the rear of the venue, it was an evening of high-risk juggling, with a 600mm f4, a 400mm f2.8, a 300mm f2.8 and a 70-200mm f2.8 to contend with. The layout of the set design resulted in the bands on the main stage being really loose on a 600mm while the 300mm was only just right for the close-up action on the stage below us. Thankfully, it wasn’t just me having to deal with this issue as I was in good company with Reuters photographer Cathal McNaughton, AP photographer Joel Ryan and Getty photographer Gareth Cattermole. A fine bunch of chaps (aside from Gareth who has a habit of wearing dodgy cardigans). 
I’m not going to give you a chronological run-through of who came where as if you’re that interested, I’m guessing you probably watched it in the first place! Instead, here’s a bunch of my favourite pics. Firstly, Selena Gomez caused a few exposure panics as she introduced the first few acts from within the centre of a ringof fire. “Yay RAW!”, is all I can say…
Following the warning at the start, here’s the offending fella with his little fella out. A streaker took to the stage as Hayden Panettiere introduced an act in what was supposed to be a “spontaneous” stage invasion. I’m guessing if it hadn’t been staged, Belfast’s finest security teams would have found a new place to park their bikes within minutes of him being dragged into the car park behind the arena.
So streaking aside, we were onto the main performance of the night. Having already been tipped off that Lady Gaga was the big winner of the show with four EMAs, we eagerly awaited her set to see what she’d be up to. She didn’t do too bad a job of it, I guess. Cratered moons aren’t the easiest thing to come by, never mind satellite dish hats…
Having said that, it was me that ended up doing a bad job of it. Having shot the song, including her cheeky bum flash at the end of the song and a lovely side-lit slow fade to black on-stage with her surrounded by her dancers, I quickly ripped the card out and handed it to the runner to get it back to my editor downstairs. Error. It was only at 2am the next morning, after exhausting all options, did I realise that I must have pulled it out before the buffer had finished writing. You’d think by now, a professional photographer would know not to do this, wouldn’t you? Still, a lesson learned the hard way as the pics on the screen on my camera had looked great… *sob*
After the sparkles of Gaga, it was time for the screams of the Beliebers as Justin took to the stage for his performance. As I said in the opening paragraph, I’ve genuinely never heard him sing before. I have to hand it to him for his glossy performance but it is genuinely terrifying that he’s seventeen and so comfortable in front of so many people. The cynic in me sees many years of psychiatry sessions down the line but I’ll battle to restrain that and say good luck to him. I wouldn’t have complained to be that popular at his age.
I’m unfortunately going to sound like a right old man when I write this but I have to say Queen’s closing set at the end of the show was the best music of the night. I’ve never been a massive fan but when they pull out a 10 minute medley of their classics, you can’t help but smile. It’s a well-worn cliché but it’s interesting to ponder how many of the artists performing tonight will be around in forty years. I’m guessing a few may have fallen by the wayside of musical history.
With the show over, I wandered down to the “boards” where fellow AFP photographer Peter Muhly was shooting so that I could hand my final cards over to the harassed editor, only to arrive just in time for Lady Gaga to make her final appearance with all four of her awards. While Gaga isn’t my thing musically, it’s good to have people in the industry that provide great pictures and interesting options. Bravo, Mrs G on a well deserved win.
Nov 28, 2011 | Categories: The working day | Tags: anthony kiedis, awards, belfast, brian may, bruno mars, chad smith, coldplay, concert, damien hirst, david guetta, ema, europe, event, flea, hayden, haydn panettiere, irish, jessie j, justin bieber, lady gaga, little monsters, live, lmfao, MTV, music, northern ireland, nudity, queen, red hot chili peppers, red hot chilli peppers, rhcp, selena gomez, streaker | 13 Comments »
In the list of sexy subjects to write about, the Leveson Inquiry may appear to be low down the top 40 but this is the one that has huge potential to change working practise for every photographer in the UK.
The fourth day of the inquiry has now finished and, along with a large percentage of my colleagues, I feel truly let down at how we, as photographers, are being portrayed. By way of a cheat-sheet for those not following the story, the inquiry was launched to investigate malpractice within the media, following on from the hacking scandal at News International but appears to slowly be turning into a witch-hunt against photographers. While celebrity witnesses have been lining up to vent their anger at the ordeals that they have faced at the hands of the paparazzi, the differentiation between news photographers and paps has been blurred to the point where the whole industry is now being tarred with the same brush.
Having started writing a blog post on the subject, colleague and friend Christopher Pledger beat me to it with his “open letter” explaining how he feels about the situation. He’s kindly let me reproduce it here. If you agree with what’s been said or even feel that it’s made you consider how you feel on the topic, please share this page. It’s important that as many people as possible get to know that there is a difference. Over to Christopher…
“These are my personal views and are not intended to be representative of any organisation I work for as a freelance photographer.
The testimony of witnesses this week at the Leveson inquiry has included damning condemnation of the behaviour of the paparazzi. Both the celebrity and ‘ordinary’ victims of phone hacking have told of being chased, spat at and terrified by photographers. These experiences could have fatal consequences for the news photographer, a vital part of a truly free press.
There are important distinctions to be made between a paparazzo and a press photographer. A comparison of the two is like that between the cowboy builder and a professional tradesman. It is also important to distinguish between the paparazzi and celebrity photographers. Celebrity photographers work with the permission, and often to the benefit of, their subjects. This can range from red carpet premieres to organised and set up photo shoots of a celebrity out shopping or on the beach. I do not class them in my definition of paparazzi. Lacking moral or ethical guidance, the paparazzi work with little respect for the law. The composition, quality, or origin of a photograph is a distant second to its commercial value. Paparazzi agencies will often employ people with little or no knowledge of photography. The agency will provide cameras with settings taped over so they cannot be changed. It is not a photographer that is sent out of the office, simply a man with a camera.
Press photographers by contrast are skilled professionals with years of training and experience. They work within the strict guidelines of both the Press Complaints Commission and their newspaper or news agency. These guidelines include respecting both a person’s right to privacy and the boundaries of private property. A good news photograph will be technically excellent and able to tell the story in a single frame. In contrast to the paparazzi, financial rewards are low.
This is not to imply that all press photographers are angelic super-humans working to expose the truth to an unwitting public. Like any industry, there are a minority of ‘rogue traders’ who are prepared to bend or break the rules to get a picture.
The problem for legitimate press photographers is they are seen as no different from the paparazzi. Regardless of the assignment they are covering, press photographers now experience regular abuse from strangers in the street. When photographing something as mundane as a the outside of a high street bank, it is not uncommon to hear shouts of ‘pap scum’ or ‘leave them alone’ from members of the public. If a group of press photographers are gathered outside a court or government building, the first question asked by curious passers-by is not ‘what’s happening?’ but ‘which famous person is coming?’.
The problem of public perception stems from two different sources; celebrity magazine culture and television news. The dominant celebrity culture makes it hard to avoid a constant stream of images cataloguing the daily lives of the A to Z list. It is no surprise that the general public perceive the primary role of photographers as being to feed this machine. The problem is complicated by disreputable publications being prepared to buy pictures on a ‘no questions asked’ basis. This makes it hard to distinguish between photographers working in a professional way and those who aren’t.
Television news coverage is the other major factor in the problem of perception. During most stories a clip of press photographers is included as a ‘cut away’ shot to add visual interest. If the clip includes the subject of a story being surrounded by the media, reporters will often refer to a “scrum of photographers”. This ignores the numerous TV cameras both in the scrum and filming from a distance. This has been demonstrated during TV reports on the Leveson inquiry. Press photographers have been working from an official area behind a barrier to give the witnesses space to arrive without being disturbed. TV reports have consistently referred to ‘hordes of photographers’ while ignoring the numerous video cameras surrounding witnesses as they arrive. By using these tactics, TV news aim to draw a distinction between the dirty press and the clean media. In doing so, they may perhaps be driving the Leveson inquiry toward concluding tough privacy laws are required, privacy laws that will include a ban on photographing people in public without their permission.
A ban of this type would be the death of the free press in the UK. Current guidelines require that individuals should not be photographed while they have ‘a reasonable expectation of privacy’. In practical terms this means anyone in a public place can be photographed without permission, as they cannot expect privacy in a public space. If laws were introduced requiring the written consent of an individual before they were photographed, it would mean press photographers would have to ignore events unfolding before them. Some of the biggest news stories in the last year could not have been reported. Pictures of Charlie Gilmour swinging from the Cenotaph would have been taken illegally, likewise pictures of Oliver Letwin disposing of government documents in a park bin. Press photographers would be as ham strung as reporters are when they are prevented from covering stories of public interest that are subject to super-injunctions.
The problem of finding a solution that avoids this type of privacy law is extremely difficult. Legitimate press photographers already have licensed press cards that are required to be shown to work in places like Downing Street. This system has not stopped any of the behaviour reported this week, or prevented the use of faked press cards. Digital cameras are cheap and increasingly easier to use, making it hard for anybody to distinguish between professional and amateur, press photographer and paparazzo. If 99 out of 100 photographers comply with a code of conduct, one will always break the rules and tar the rest with the same brush. Introducing government or police regulation and control over licensing of press photographers would affect impartiality and freedom.
It would be very hard to argue that there can be no changes following the Leveson Inquiry. We must be very careful what these changes are and where they will take us. Press photographers are in danger of being so restrained by regulation that we become like the fire fighter who cannot enter a burning building for fear of breaking health and safety regulations.”
So there we have it. This could well be a make or break time for British press photography. Let’s hope that the inquiry sees sense before knee-jerk reactions destroy some of this country’s powerful freedoms forever.
Nov 25, 2011 | Categories: Thoughts | Tags: chris pledger, christopher pledger, hacking, hugh grant, intrusion, jk rowling, leveson inquiry, max mosely, media, news international, paparazi, paparrazi, papparazi, papparrazi, paps, photographers, photography, press, privacy, sienna miller, stalking | 28 Comments »
So often in this line of work, we have to make something out of nothing, with either long waits for men in suits to shake hands, or photo-calls relying heavily on the photographer’s inspiration rather than the publicist’s ideas. However, this weekend provided a welcome cure to the problem with the “London Comic Con MCM Expo” at the ExCel centre in east London.
If anything, the media preview show on Friday provided too much camera fodder so I returned for a second day on Saturday morning to shoot video and enjoy more of the fantastic costumes and concepts. These fans put so much effort into what they do and take real pride in picking the most obscure characters to base their costumes on. The main problem was that after asking the person’s name, the technically quick question of “which character are you?” often resulted in a five minute answer as the person enthused about which incarnation of Japanese anime royalty they were representing.
Spread out over two huge areas within the centre, the event provided fans and enthusiasts with the chance to buy, sell, try, pose with or even dress up as a huge range of people and things in the secure collective of like-minded types. While some costumes would just raise a smile to the average passer-by, others certainly took more guts to wear.
With most of the character names meaning slightly less than nothing to me, I did get the odd right answer such as the Portal “turret” (above), the Team Fortress characters (below) and the Portal player (2nd down on the left). Yes, I know, it’s not something most people would own up to knowing but in my teens I mildly skimmed the realms of the comic with a love of 2000AD and Judge Dredd. All very entry-level to these people but hey, I know my Judge Anderson from my D.R. & Quinch…
Arriving at this kind of event for the first time, the lazy option would be to go along the derisory route, pointing out that, yes, there are some overweight comic fans and nerds that live up to all the stereotypes, but who really cares? All I saw was people having a really good time and enjoying meeting up with friends to celebrate the things they loved. My feelings were reinforced when I saw the people coming out of the Next Top Model show next door, dressed up in the hope that they’d be “scouted”, sneering at the Comic Con guests. I’d much rather shoot the creative types than the chain store clones.
In amongst the comics and memorabilia was a stall with big banners of very androgynous looking men embracing each other. The thing that stood out though was that the customers were three rows deep, clamouring to buy the comic books and were all young teenage girls. It turns out it’s a genre called “Yaoi” which is basically gay porn in comic book form. When I asked why it was only girls buying it, one customer told me that it’d “be weird if men bought it”. She may have a shock if she wanders round SoHo in years to come…
Having heard the phrase before, I’d never witnessed Cosplay with my own eyes so it was quite a shock to find myself surrounded by so many incredible designs and costumes. It’s a serious business with fans attending classes throughout the day to hear advice on how to improve their designs and find the elements that will set them apart. After a live performance and Q&A with British Cosplay star Beckii Cruel, attendees were allowed their brief moment on stage, displaying their own costumes. With some just stepping on and posing before leaving again, others went the whole hog and mimed along to scenes that they’d carefully choreographed. It’s incredible to imagine these kids dressed as Japanese princesses and tigers running through their moves in the living room of their parents home.
On my second day at the show, the doors were opened to the general public and they packed the place to capacity. As such, there wasn’t much chance to get clean backgrounds or space to work so I opted for some off-camera flash to isolate the subject from the shoppers and browsers milling around behind. Some of this was done with a simple off-camera cable but I also opted to break out the ring flash for it’s bi-annual testing! Being fully manual, it’s a bit of a bind but once you get it set up, it’s a great effect.
Knowing that I could easily stay there all day and the next, I hit the road well before closing time but found a nice little frame to wrap it all up as I boarded the London Underground. Look out, it’s a ghost!
Oct 31, 2011 | Categories: The working day | Tags: #comiccon, anime, avatar, beckii cruel, catwoman, collectors, cosplay, costumes, Empress Feferi, excel, ghost, harry potter, hetalia, hogwarts, Homestuck, japan, japanese, joker, lady gaga, london comic con, luigi, manga, mario, mcm expo, memorabilia, metal gear solid, neytiri, no-face, pacman, pikmin, planet of the apes, red samurai ranger, shinken red, shrek, smurf, smurfette, spirited away, super mario brothers, team fortress, vampire, vocaloid, wa-lolita, zombie | 16 Comments »
On October 12th, after ten years, the residents of Dale Farm traveller’s site lost their final bid to overturn their eviction, when the High Court refused them the right to appeal the judgement. With every legal option exhausted, it was simply down to the matter of eviction, so I was sent down to cover the unfolding story.
By way of background, the two sides of the story were pretty straightforward. The case for the prosecution had built its argument on the fact that the Dale Farm site was based on Metropolitan Green Belt land so, as such, building and development laws were very strict. No official applications had been made for the homes of the 80 families. The residents had based their defence on the fact that, prior to them moving onto the land, it had been a scrap yard and a Police car pound, not protected land. They argued that the eviction was simply based on a bias against the travelling community.
Whichever was correct, the law came down on the side of Basildon council, and I found myself driving east before dawn on the first day that an eviction attempt could take place. Having visited the site once before for a press conference following an earlier reprieve, it was clear that this really was looking like the end this time. Police and bailiffs had sectioned off large areas around the camp, with secure media parking, staff canteens and toilet facilities, as they prepared for the long week ahead. While I’d been allowed inside on my previous visit, the camp was now very much on lock-down, with only a handful of journalists and photographers who’d invested more time on covering the story allowed inside.
The day cruised by with very little to focus on as the fortified defences were strengthened around the site, and warnings and murals were painted onto the main entrance. By 4pm, it was clear that nothing was going to happen, so I volunteered to return the next day and headed home.
Arriving at 6.15 the next morning, the vibe was very different and it was clear that today was the day. Hundreds of police officers in full riot gear were gathered in the fields and car parks around the site, and the media parking was near-capacity when I pulled up. Thankfully, there were two of us from AFP on shift that day, as I was joined by this year’s “News Photographer of the Year” Carl Court so we had the chance to spread out and cover more angles. With Carl on the front door, I went cross-country and found a different way into the camp. By the time I arrived at the main entrance, the police had already got through the defences and had claimed an area around the scaffold entrance. Tensions were running high as residents argued with police and activists and supporters clashed with riot teams. Bottles and bricks were soon flying through the air. Thankfully, predicting the way it would go, I’d brought my helmet with me so was spared the constant fear of looking to the air for incoming missiles.
With police breaking through the defences at two points, it became harder to locate where the action was, but this was soon cleared up when a small puff of smoke went up. Activists had dragged an empty caravan into the middle of one of the roads and set it alight. While everyone dashed towards the smoke, it quickly became a rather embarrassing situation with photographers and camera crews stacked on top of each other to get the shot. When a woman brought out a crucifix to hold as she stood in front of the blaze, we quickly realised how set up the shot was becoming. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations that members of the media have to face sometimes. While you’re sadly aware of how you’re being led into a picture, you have to shoot it. Those that are unhappy with shooting any staged event during a live news situation will often sadly miss out as the papers want the “big shot” of the day, even it does feel contrived at the time of capture. As an interesting side note, Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori recently released a fascinating but somewhat embarrassing film highlighting how photographers can often “create” the event without having to actually physically set anything up.
With two caravans now simply piles of smouldering plastic and metal, the focus returned to those activists that had built the structure around the main gate. While they were in their “crows nest” above the main gate, police and bailiffs were unable to gain access to remove the military truck and debris that was blocking the access road. After clearing most of the ground around it, the police sent in trained climbers to test the structure. I’m well aware that I may get some criticism for this controversial statement here, but I’m constantly impressed with the police force that we have in this country. While some of the more aggressive activists hurled abuse and rocks at them, they calmly worked out how to get the protesters in the structure down to the ground, without any injury or loss of life. There are so many countries elsewhere in the world where, faced with this problem, the police would have gone in there with an armoured vehicle and just brought the whole thing down. It baffles me how people can scream at these guys, accusing them of brutality when they so clearly are one of the most considered and ordered police forces in the world.
I guess I may have had different feelings if it was my house being threatened, but I like to think that I’d still be able to direct any anger I had at the people responsible. Having said that, the police did use a Taser during the very first stages of entry into the camp which may have been a little over the top, but I guess when you’re faced with signs warning of imminent death, you may end up over-reacting a little.
Once the structure was cleared, the bailiffs entered the site, for the first time, to erect fencing around the newly secured area, and seeing that this would take some time to clear what they now controlled, I spent the rest of the day looking around the site.
With sunlight fading, the bailiffs were called off-site and the police erected security lights. With the light gone, it was my turn to call it a day.
Now that the police had near-total control over the site, Thursday was always going to be less explosive than the previous day. With the gate now secured, it was simply a case of clearing a path and getting on with addressing each of the blockades that had been built. To ease tensions, police teams came onto the site to visit the houses that had been highlighted as legal, by residents, and got the chance to explain that the bailiffs would not be coming roaring onto the site to destroy the buildings today. By now, the residents were clearly just waiting to go and most had packed up their belongings and were passing the time until they could drive away from the site.
Once the police teams had cleared the protesters from under a former Soviet army truck, they moved on to two people who had attached their hands together through a barrel. Sensing that the end of the protest was near, other activists came to say goodbye to them as they left the site, resulting in emotional scenes.
With the “Industrial muncher” (as Sky News called it) tearing the final parts of the defences down, it was time for the residents to finally say goodbye to their home of the last decade. Whatever you think of the travelling community, it must be so hard to see your community split apart like this. It’s a real shame that this could not have been resolved amicably between residents and Basildon Council.
I hope their next site brings them more luck and hopefully, stability.
Oct 24, 2011 | Categories: The working day | Tags: activists, anarchists, basildon, caravan, crays hill, dale farm, eviction, gypsy, homeless, illegal, journalism, law, legal, leon neal, media, news, photo-journalist, photographer, photography, protest, riot police, shields, taser, tazer, tony ball, traveller | 9 Comments »
In my ongoing mission to mix it all up a bit whenever I can, I thought I’d actually do a proper photoblog for once so without further ado, here is a selection of my favourite shots from the recent “Forever Michael” concert in Cardiff, Wales. Celebrating the life of US musician Michael Jackson, the evening saw family members and musical acts from both sides of the Atlantic performing songs from his back-catalogue.
After legal wranglings from family members, the show was initially threatened but on October 8, 2011, the tribute concert went ahead, albeit without the Jackson name in the title. Dancers and musicians came to the Millennium Stadium to perform covers of some of his most famous songs with US actor and singer Jamie Foxx playing host for most of the evening.
With the Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson pulling out at very late notice, and Beyoncé sending a recorded performance to be played on the stadium screens, we were all assuming that Christina Aguilera would provide the American sparkle to the show but she managed to cause quite a stir in a rather different way due to her latest looks. Not quite the Christina we all remember!
The other moment of the evening that was likely to make the next day’s papers was an appearance by Michael’s children Prince, Blanket and Paris. Having been the picture that proved to be the most important from Michael’s funeral, this rare appearance was the moment that we were all waiting for. When the moment came, they appeared on-stage to announce Beyoncé’s video, with the youngest child Blanket appearing particularly uncomfortable. As the children left the stage, I switched over to my 500mm lens and managed to catch a single tear.
As I touched on above, certain members of the Jackson family weren’t keen on the event taking place, so only a limited number of photographs were allowed to be used during the show, but the one thing that really puzzled me was a lack of “Thriller”. Surely, the catalogue is all owned by one company/person so if you can do some of it, you should be able to do any. I was really looking forward to a bit of ghoul dancing!
One of the big surprises of the evening was Texan gospel singer Yolanda Adams. When she was announced a small ripple of applause went around the stadium as many people, like myself, knew the name but not the voice. She went on to steal the show, outperforming every other act with a skilled and powerful voice. Backed by a gospel choir, she sang “Earth Song” and really did blow everyone away. It’s fantastic when someone surprises you in this way.
Oct 16, 2011 | Categories: The working day | Tags: 3t, alexandra burke, alien ant farm, blanket, cardiff, christina aguilera, concert, death, forever michael, gig, gladys knight, jackson 5, jackson five, jls, latoya, leona lewis, Michael Jackson, millennium stadium, paris, pixie lott, smokey robinson, tito, tribute, wales, yolanda adams | 1 Comment »
Regular readers may remember the first parts of the “London Knowledge” that I posted a while ago. Having managed the previous “tips”, I squeezed out a further batch to make the century so here’s the final and complete collection. Read and learn (or at least nod with recognition…)
- You can tell a long-term Billingham bag user by the fact they look as though they’re carrying one particularly heavy shopping bag, even when their hands are empty.
- When filing a zoom-burst, the automatic punishment is to text your colleagues to alert them to your heinous photocrime. The allowable amount that you can file varies from once a year, to once in your whole career, depending on the employer.
- It is important that news photographers stay in town until 6pm in case of the ever-present threat of the 5.59pm atrocity. The 6:01pm atrocity is unheard of and could never happen.
- Despite it possibly being the future for us all, not many people aspire to shoot film like their favourite cameraman. Photography will always be cooler.
- Being a professional photographer means that it will be assumed you know all about the latest point and shoot Sony cameras when your friends and relatives need a new camera for their holidays.
- All accreditation, particularly festival wristbands, should be removed when leaving the site for the final time, due to a distinct danger of looking like a cock if wearing it on the bus three months later.
- The length of time that you’ve been shooting professionally is directly proportional to the size of one of your photos in the paper that actually please you.
- The chamois leather is an often-overlooked essential for every jobbing photographer.
- Every photographer has an early project in their archives along the theme of “rusty locks and old painted doors”.
- When a client asks for all your raw images from the shoot, ask them if they ask for all the spare ingredients after enjoying a delicious meal. If they don’t take your point from this subtle refusal, a monopod makes a great blunt instrument.
- You can tell a photographer who’s covered Downing Street jobs for a decent length of time by his comfortable use of the word “counterpart” in captions.
- Press photography grants you seats that others would kill for, to events that you’d sometimes rather be a million miles away from.
- That external drive on your desk is just an insecure archive until it’s duplicated at least once. A backup isn’t a backup if it’s the only one.
- If you get the only frame and everyone uses it, it’s a great picture. This even applies if you only got it by accidentally dropping your camera as you ate your Big Mac, firing a frame of the subject by accident as they passed behind you.
- If you’re accused of getting a shot out of focus, set the critic straight by explaining that you were merely “bracketing your focus”.
- Union Jack umbrellas were originally designed to keep desperate news photographers happy.
- Once you’ve gone RAW, you’ll never need more.
- Street photography is more than just photos of people walking past the camera, converted into a heavy black and white. Using a retro-style digital camera or even film doesn’t gain any extra points either.
- Save the selective colour for your Grandma. Any self-respecting picture editor will be dabbing the tears of laughter from their eyes if you put one in your portfolio.
- What IS the very best way to respond to someone who calls you a pap on the street? SURELY there must be an intelligent retort other than the previously mentioned blunt instrument?
- There is no real need to take a camera, especially your Leica, to Focus.
- When cleaning your lens with a cloth, it will invariably be the final wipe when the cloth slips and you smear a Dorito-grease covered finger across the front element.
- The World Press Awards must be something to do with the Corby Trouser Press as the pictures that win every year rarely have anything to do with the images that we see in the daily newspapers.
- Both of the major camera manufacturers’ products are pretty much the same in terms of quality, features and price so no, I can’t tell you “which one is best.”
- When photographers are gathered together, conversation soon turns to their loved ones and, in particular, whether or not the new firmware has improved performance.
- The fastest way to make money from your cameras is to sell them. (unknown origin)
- The photojournalism festival in Perpignan does a great line in depressing monochrome care home pictures, angry people with machetes and dead soldiers in desolate locations, but really falls short when it comes to shots of kittens dressed as cowboys.
- For those of you wanting to get into the industry, consider the fact that careercast.com listed photojournalist as being below “sheet metal worker” in a list of 200 careers in 2009 in relation to salary, working conditions, serious risk of injury or death, and poor employment prospects in the future. Nice.
- Nothing ruins the line of a good suit more than a belt-pack and camera bag.
- When working on the same job as paps, there is no point in thinking that common sense, reason or the need to actually get a good photograph is on the agenda. They will inevitably rush in as close as possible with their pre-f8-welded wide angles, ruining everyone else’s shot.
- Taking hot weather pictures was probably a lot easier in the days before pointing a camera at anyone under eighteen automatically made you a child-hungry paedophile.
- If you drop a lens while in the company of other photographers and the inevitable “Ooooh” is heard from all around, you will invariably scoop it up quickly and put it straight into your bag as if it escaped perfectly unharmed, even if you’re left standing in a small pile of finely powdered optical glass.
- Photographers who choose to become known only by one name deserve all the flak that they get. (See Zoriah and his “intimate” $4000 Haiti-based earthquake masterclasses.)
- News photographers keep the British stepladder industry alive through a combination of forgetfulness and desperation.
- For some reason, Canon and Nikon both give away huge bulky camera bags at events rather than something really useful like laptop shades or monopods. I know you shouldn’t look a gift-horse in the mouth but surely there won’t be that many photographers who travel to the venue with all of their gear in carrier bags on the off-chance that their gamble might pay off.
- Having said that, ebay will always manage to find someone who wants to pay rather a lot of money for team sheets, programmes, press passes and, yes, camera bags.
- Heart surgeons are nothing compared to the photographer who decides to clean the sensor in his/her brand new £4,500 camera for the first time.
- Jolyan Turrall‘s law of “Subject Gravity” means that all photographers will end up 6 inches from the subject matter, even if the shoot started with everyone 20 feet away.
- As soon as your local Council starts accepting a “photo credit” as a valid form of payment for your council tax, you can start giving away your pictures to all those people who enquire about using them without payment.
- When using a busy urinal during the working day, turn off your cameras before squeezing in between the other users. This particularly applies if your camera has a fast motordrive and a delicate trigger action.
- If you actually prepare for the bad weather for once and get fully waterproofed up, by the time you arrive at the tube station in central London, you’ll emerge to blistering sunshine. The same also applies in reverse.
- You will see the politician that you waited 10 hours outside the House of Commons for on a daily basis as soon as the story that involved him/her has passed.
- A celebrity on the red carpet that points at an individual camera is incredibly irritating to forty six photographers and very pleasing to one.
- The kid who got the blurry picture of the burning building on his 4mm ultra-wide angle camera phone never quite understands that the image isn’t worth a grand.
- The first casualties of press photography are your lens caps.
- A standard “Grip and Grin” photo inside Downing Street lasts around 10 seconds. When the press officer tells you “this will be a quick one”, be concerned.
- The Met Police do actually have rules to follow, regarding the working relationship with photographers.
- There are only so many times that you can manage to genuinely laugh when a passer-by “amusingly” offers to swap their Praktica sure-shot for your full-frame DSLR with 300mm f2.8 lens.
- Nobody wears photographer vests (See also “Wanker jackets”).
- Your friends and family don’t care about the 15-month project that you’re doing on inner city deprivation but will want to hear all about the 8 seconds that you spent photographing David Beckham at the launch of his new branded Thermos flask.
- Try to lead by example and make sure you wear deodorant when shooting London Fashion Week.
- No matter how many times they’ve been shot, the Politico Top Trumps cards given away during party conference season are always a must.
- Mentioning the name “Paul Delmar” is the press photographers equivalent to the masonic handshake.
- When you’re slapping your laptop for only connecting at 7kb/s when wiring a job in the countryside, remember that it was only a few years ago when you’d have been high-fiving anyone close to you for getting such blistering speeds.
- Nothing redresses the balance with PRs better than a full photographer walk-out.
- The free photo recovery software that you get with your memory cards is no good to you uninstalled, sitting at the bottom of your desk drawer at home when things go wrong.
- When shooting boxing, don’t assume that you’ll have the first round to get your settings adjusted.
- When trying to board a plane with a very large camera kit as hand luggage, they may weigh your peli-case, but they won’t weigh your extra-pocketed jacket (but always consider “the wanker jacket”).
- Nail your tight, bright and shite before you paint with light.
- A photograph taken using Hipstamatic is not necessarily a great photograph. It is more than likely a very average picture of an old car, slathered in faux retro image filters. (See also “fashions and trends”)
- It’s good practice to get on with all the photographers you come across as it’s guaranteed that you’ll end up stuck on a doorstep for three days with the one you told to piss off.
- Stand next to the loudest shouter at film premieres. (See “Ian West”)
- Even if the object that we’ve been sent to shoot is stationary and there’s an hour available for pictures, photographers will instinctively end up scrambling into the room and monstering it.
- If Nikon or Canon brought out a single pocket-sized camera that did everything, we’d still be inclined to carry the whole stockroom of Jacobs camera store on our backs most of the time.
- Playing the age old game of “Where a photographer can and can’t take pictures” with the private security that work in office blocks and company headquarters is the modern equivalent of bear-baiting. As a vague hint, if you’re on the public pavement and you’re on the outside edge of any studded boundary markers on the ground, snap away. This may not apply if you’re doing a project on “The security systems of the MI5 building”.
- Cameras may have been around since 1814 but every year, manufacturers manage to create exciting new ways to make photographers spend their wages.
- Don’t expect to get eye-contact from the baked bean.
- There’s only so much you can do with an old painting, a pair of white gloves and an auction house assistant. See also “For Sale” signs, burning gas hobs, petrol pumps and credit cards.
- Fashions and trends are just as common in the world of photography as anywhere else. Lens babies, old film cameras, tilt & shifts and all-prime lens kits anyone?
- Some photographers are just always in the right place. These people are known as gits.
- Freebies make the dullest job a little better. The only exception being the 128mb USB stick. I mean, come on…
- Remember to take advantage of the incredible access that the job gives you. If you’re somewhere cool, get a picture for yourself. If you’re shooting someone you like, get a picture with them. You’ll only regret it if you don’t.
- The general public has no idea. If you’re stood with a 5d over your shoulder with a 50mm lens on, you will be asked which television channel you’re filming for.
- The most anticipated jobs are often the biggest let-down for quality images and vice-versa.
- Never think that you’re a better photographer than anyone else as someone with a sure-shot will come along and spank you (photographically speaking).
- There’s no point in being a photographer if your camera isn’t ready.
- Photographers that smoke can make any overdue event happen by simply putting their camera down and lighting a cigarette.
- Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is the best stadium. This has nothing to do with any team preference and everything to do with the free wifi, three course meal before the match, personal editing areas with power points and free mini portions of fish and chips after the game. If only I didn’t have to shoot football to get in.
- Legendary stories can be found in the bar during Party conference season, listening to incredible stories of Fleet Street photographer history from one of the old guard.
- The moment you stop shooting to entertain and satisfy yourself, you might as well go and work in an office.
- Not much can compare to feeling the first hot rays from the sun as you leave Downing Street on a Summer’s day after an 8 hour stakeout.
- No matter how sure you are of the job, the longer you wait for it to happen, the more likely you are to feel the need to frantically change your lens at the last moment.
- The occurrences of Photoshop locking up and causing a system reboot is directly related to how urgently the pictures are needed by your picture desk. See also Laptop battery-life.
- The habit of saving all of your newspaper cuttings grows less important as you realise that your house is beginning to resemble something from “Life of Grime“.
- Working London photographers are walking encyclopaedias of where the nearest free toilets, wi-fi or shelter can be found at any time.
- First three songs, no flash.
- Every camera is designed to randomly refocus at the moment that the subject looks directly at you for the first time during the critical press conference.
- Jacobs, not Jessops.
- If you’re covering a story in a dodgy area of town, the first thing that the ever-so-friendly youth who comes over to chat will ask you is “how much is your gear worth?” The answer is always “..about £300. It’s all years old and knackered. Your phones probably got a better camera”, even if you’re actually holding both of your D5 bodies with a 400mm f2 lens on each.
- The silhouette is the last bastion of the charlatan. (Edward Mulholland 2004)
- Anyone accepting a job on any picture desk automatically has their sense of time/distance awareness removed.
- The photographer’s life is one constant rollercoaster of going from having the photographic Midas touch to feeling like an Amateur Photographer also-ran. This is rarely a reflection on your actual abilities. Dem’s da breaks.
- There’s a very good reason that PR photography pays so well.
- 250th/sec, f8, 1/4 power, manually focused to a metre and 45 degrees to the glass.
- If you decide to pad out your filed images from a job with a few of lesser quality, they’re the ones that’ll be all over the papers the next day with your name in a larger than normal font.
- Opposite number 10, Downing Street and the road outside the Old Bailey are the coldest places on Earth.
- However long you’ve been doing it, there’s nothing like seeing a stranger really studying one of your published pictures in the paper.
- “Only fools rush in” could have been written about digital camera purchasers. When firmware version 1.2 comes out, they might have finally managed to get rid of the “freak-out during operation” glitch.
- No matter how distinctive the person you’re all waiting for is, the collective of photographers will get more and more random with their choices of “possibles” to hose down as time goes on.
- If all else fails, just whack it on f1.4 and make art.
Oct 03, 2011 | Categories: Thoughts | Tags: advice, camera, canon, funny, humour, journalist, leon neal, leonneal, media, news, nikon, pap, photographer, photographic, photography, photos, press photography, snapper, snaps, tips | 14 Comments »
With my self-preservation system in full effect, I was assigned to covering the events and features of Tripoli and after weeks of extensive coverage by my colleagues, it was getting harder to find new angles to cover. Still, while ever I wasn’t being shot at, I could always look on the positive side!
One of the things that’s interested me since my arrival here is the youth culture in Libya. Coming from the UK where bars, pubs and nightclubs can be found everywhere, it’s surprisingly shocking to spend time in a culture that has nothing along these lines for the young people. While the lack of drinking venues is due to the ban on alcohol, my interest was in the lack of social opportunities for people. Aside from privately organised parties, the young people simply cruise the streets of gather outside coffee shops. Having spent the majority of my teens in practise rooms and venues, I wanted to look into music and thanks to some assistance from a local fixer, found Ausman.
When the revolution started, Ausman spent time fighting with the anti-Kadhafi forces before returning to Tripoli. During the last weeks of Kadhafi’s control, he spent his evenings writing and recording anti-regime music in his bedroom with his friend Aimen. An added complication came from the Government offices directly opposite his house. With the building in such close proximity, the songs had to be rehearsed and recorded in hushed tones before being released anonymously on YouTube. With the NTC now in power, they can finally share their music openly. The fact that he had a huge collection of Iron Maiden served only to make him even cooler in my opinion.
The next day was another feel-good story as the fighter pilots that had defected to Malta after refusing to fire on unarmed protestors received the heroes welcome that they deserved. As was the way with nearly every official event that I covered in Libya, no-one really knew what was going on and after monstering the people getting off a completely unrelated jet, the media found the right target. With soldiers and police holding everyone back, I managed to slip the cordon and get a few personal moments before the rest of the crowds broke through.
Having opted to keep away from the front lines, the evening provided a little reminder of where I was as I made a phone call on the hotel balcony. Halfway through my conversation, I heard the now-familiar “zyip” of a bullet passing close by. Cue comical slow sinking from view and sharp exit from the balcony. Speaking to an NTC fighter later on, I was told of the continuing problem of snipers within the capital. While most of the day to day life seems to be a million miles away from the fighting, the continued presence of NTC roadblocks and threat of random sniper fire shows the work remaining for the new Government.
Continuing with the feature ideas, I visited a former Kadhafi weapons store underneath a building site in central Tripoli. Now burnt-out, it was clear from the hundreds of AK-47 clips and remains of packing crates that it had previously held some SERIOUS firepower. With a bullets now cheaper than cartons of milk at 1 Libyan Dinar each, it can only lead to further trouble in years to come.
Next on the list of possible stories was a visit to the notorious Abu Salim prison. Human Rights Watch believe that over 1200 prisoners were killed in 1996 and many political prisoners were held there for lengthy terms under the previous government. Now, like the former stronghold Bab Al-Azizir, the prison has become a tourist attraction but, more than that, a chance for those who were previously held here to show others what they endured. I bumped into one such man during my visit who was visiting the site with his son. Thanks to hearing his story, I could begin to appreciate what the previous inmates went through. Cells that I’d initially thought cramped for one were actually for three and hearing of the forty+ rats that they caught one day in the communal area was quite an eye-opener. Throughout the brutal conditions, the inside of the some of the cell doors had been decorated with pictures torn from magazines of tropical islands and even commercial passenger planes in flight. The prisoner that I talked to told me that he would never have believed that he would be visiting as a free man today.
That night, I received bad news. Following my previous comments on the dangers of Libyan roads and a very near-miss that we encountered on the roads to the East of Tripoli, I received a call that our Sirte team had been involved in a serious car crash while driving from Sirte back to Misrata. With the roads changing from smooth new tarmac to foot-deep holes and ruuble with no warning, I feared that this would have been the cause but instead it was simply stupidity on another driver’s part. While they were overtaking at speed, the other car decided to turn in front of them. With injuries including a fractured pelvis, dislocated shoulder and deep cuts, it truly is a miracle that they survived. Having been rescued from the wreckage, they were transported back to the medical centre that they’d only just evacuated due to increasing amounts of incoming shell-fire. As one of those involved told me afterwards, luck was on their side in so many ways that day. My thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery to all of those involved.
While normality slowly returned to life in some areas of the city, the examples of wartime chaos continued to stand out with children playing on the beach next to a sandcastle sculpture built around an explosive missile and empty shell cases littering the floor wherever you walk.
Every day, those who are cover the frontline fighting are returning with shocking stories that would sound comical if they weren’t so tragic. While one guy accidentally set his AK-47 to automatic, spraying bullets everywhere at a checkpoint without knowing how to stop it (but thankfully killing no-one), others weren’t so lucky. A photographer witnessed a truck carrying three fighters explode into pieces after one fighter accidentally fired his RPG into his own vehicle, immediately killing two of his comrades. Combining the total lack of weapons training on some in the NTC side with the highly-skilled techniques of those former soldiers and mercenaries fighting on the pro-Kadhafi side results in the frontline being a very dangerous place to work.
After covering the re-opening of the US Embassy in central Tripoli (complete with a live performance of the American National anthem that had that subtle dischordant touch, worthy of a Terry Gilliam film), I headed to Zawiya to shoot a feature on the re-opening of the oil and gas production facilities. With oil production making up 96% of the country’s income (and most of the final 4% coming from gas), getting the output up to speed again was of huge importance. While even last week, I’d have been able to drive straight into the facility, the red tape monster has begun to weave it’s official nastiness through society again so I had a long wait as we worked our way through office after office of people claiming to be in charge but invariably unable to permit entry. By now, I’d got a handful of shots but was too deep to escape so when the permission was granted, my driver and I had to endure a thorough and totally unecessary tour of the site, complete with “v for victory” gestures and uncomfortable poses from everyone we passed. Sheesh…
Saturday arrived and it was time to fly home to Blighty. After already covering the story of the re-introduction of flights to Turkey from Tripoli, I booked tickets on Turkish Airlines to fly me back to London via Istanbul. I should have known really. A few days before, I’d gone down to Matiga then Tripoli International airports to record the first planes arriving only to find that they were cancelled. Despite enjoying the last moments of bureaucratic freedom that saw us given permission to wander around freely on an active international runway, there was no sign of any commercial flights. Heavy with hope and assurances from Turkish Airlines that they were now flying, I headed to Matiga to begin the long trip home. Nope. They were still selling tickets and confident assurances to those wanting to fly out of Tripoli, despite them still not having flown or landed a single international flight in Tripoli since their grand announcement. What a complete waste of time and money.
So that looks like that’s it. I write this from the hotel with one extra day to cover before beginning the very long journey home via Tunisia. It’s certainly been a hell of an experience of both the good and bad flavour. If Libya plays it’s card right, the future could be very bright indeed. Aside from it’s huge oil reserves, cashing in on the tourist dollar is a real possibility. While to some in the West, Libya has previously been seen as a secretive country filled with people running around in bomb vests, it’s been a real pleasure to to see this proved so wrong and to witness the early days of a whole new country. With this much optimism in the air, my fingers are well and truly crossed for you all.
Parts one and two of the assignment can be found here;
http://www.leonneal.com/blog/2011/09/17/life-in-libya-september-2011/
http://www.leonneal.com/blog/2011/09/19/fear-and-reloading-in-libya/
Sep 24, 2011 | Categories: Global positions | Tags: arms, conflict, danger, death, fighting, gadaffi, gaddafi, kadhafi, libya, libyan, media, music, news, ntc, overthrow, photo-journalism, photography, revolt, revolution, risk, soldiers, tripoli, war, weapons | 9 Comments »
