The alternative London “Knowledge” v4.0
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 [...]
Kill Bill
Following a strong grassroots campaign to raise awareness among photographers of the potential threat to their livelihood, I’ve just followed the advice given at stop43.org.uk and written to my MP on the subject. For those of you either unaware of the Digital Economy Bill or unsure of what it’s about, head over to the stop43 [...]
The “s” stands for “sodding hell, it’s even better!”
The other day, the lovely people at AFP Paris sent me through my new toy, the Nikon D3s. To those who aren’t as obsessed with keeping up to date with all things new, the D3s is essentially a D3 with the small amount of concerns that photographers had ironed out plus a few very attractive [...]
Maximum Merriment Message
Just a super quick post to wish anyone who follows this stream of waffle a very happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010. Next year’s going to be a belter, especially for you. May your f. stops never stop, your public exposure not get you arrested and your shutter never fail.. Enjoy!
Don’t tell my D3, but I’m having an affair…
As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis may know, I generally tend to avoid doing reviews of cameras and equipment partly due to lack of time but mainly due to the abundance of websites available such as dpreview that offer incredibly in-depth, fast and dependable advice on which route to take when [...]
The alternative London “Knowledge” v3.0
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 [...]
The alternative London “Knowledge” v2.0
It’s good practise 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 also “Ian West“) Even if the object that we’ve been [...]
The alternative London “Knowledge” v1.0
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 [...]
Influence/Influenza
Working within the shining golden towers that is “the media”, it’s quite easy to forget how much influence (or rather ironically “influenza” in Italian) it has over how people feel on a day to day basis. I see my self as quite toughened to the scaremongering of certain news outlets and can usually laugh it [...]
What was that noise?
Ah, nothing to worry about. It was just the final dying gasp of decency in tabloid journalism.. In what is apparently a world first, a British D-list celebrity magazine has just hit the shops with it’s special memorial issue celebrating the life and death of former “Big Brother” contestant Jade Goody. The cover talks of [...]
Going through the change
After months of speculation among the head bods, AFP London moved to the dark side, or more particularly, the black and gold side. Now armed with Nikon D3 bodies and various lenses, I’ve wandered the streets of London zooming left rather than right and pushing the exposure the wrong way. I mean, who in their [...]
Photography & motivation
I try not to just post links to other people’s work but this one is a very impressive piece of video. Please watch the whole thing as it’s not what you expect. www.zarias.com Bravo, that man.
Big Bother
Monday 16th February 2009 is the enforcement date for Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. As the British Journal of Photography (BJP) wrote last month: “The relationship between photographers and police could worsen next month when new laws are introduced that allow for the arrest – and imprisonment – of anyone who takes pictures [...]
God bless us, one and all!
So as Christmas grinds ever closer and everyone begins to slip into holiday gear, I thought it would be a good time to wish all and sundry a very happy Christmas/festive season/holiday and here’s to a fantastic 2009. Cheers for taking the time to read this ramble over the last few months and, to those [...]
When White is oh so wrong
One of the things that photographers learn very early in their careers is that, on a worryingly regular basis, when you file your pictures from a job, if you included an image that you weren’t that keen on but sent it in on a whim, that’ll be the one that gets used. Not only that, [...]
Stop the Press!
I KNEW there was something I was going to write about but with such a complete lack of coverage on the news, it consistently slips my mind. Anyway, before I forget again, I thought I’d let any Americans reading this that apparently there’s an election coming up soon in your country. It’s slipped under the [...]
The Canon 5Dmk2
SO.. Earlier this evening I was pleased to be invited to Canon’s showroom in London for a preview of their latest offerings. While I had a look at the new 24mm f1.4 mkII lens and the Canon G10 powershot (much improved over my aging G7), the star of the evening was the new Canon 5D [...]
Canon’s return to form?
Having only just returned from my holiday in Cuba with my girlfriend and a hurricane, I’m mid-picture edit but thought I should post about this morning’s announcement of the new 5dmk2. Having totally changed the field of digital photojournalism on it’s initial release, the 5d’s successor has been the subject of miles of online debate, [...]
Misdirected diatribe v2.0
Following the breaking news of yesterday’s air-crash, I headed up to Coventry to cover the story. As it’s currently the quiet or “silly” season for news where events just stop happening resulting in stories about penguins getting knighted and maize fields trampled to look like James Bond making the front page, this is the kind [...]
Richard Mills
On the 16th of July, word began to get through of the death of former Times colleague and friend Richard Mills. He died on the 14th of July 2008 while on assignment in Zimbabwe. Due to the delicate situation involved with getting Richard out of the country, news of his death was held until this [...]
The Colour of Magic? Erm.. Mauve?
I’m not sure how obvious it is with some of my dodgy colour post-production but I was born with the decided photographic hindrance of being colour-blind. My parents first realised when we were on a family holiday in France and when they pointed to the beautiful poppy field out of the right window of the [...]
The war continues..
I’ve just returned from Glastonbury festival (of which I’ll be scribbling something down soon), filled with the joys of love and spiritual freedom to be faced with my first ever collective of virtual burning pitchfork wielders. Yup, it seems that after a quiet few months that I hoped had seen the end of the campaign [...]
Weighing responsibility
This morning I received an email from a person who had seen my site and the image of a girl who has scarred herself through self-harm. Not receiving mail on this image very often, I was interested to hear what the person had to say but found that I was being involved in part of [...]
Doing it in public.. *guffaw*
Wotcha all.. A break from my usual drivel to bring you a public information message. Anyone who’s been badgered by the hobbybobbies (Community Support Officers) when taking a picture should view this film. It gives an example of how ridiculous they can be and what your rights are. I particularly like his “Shut up”. Pure [...]
