A good end to 2008 when the February issue of DSLR User Magazine dropped through my door on New Year’s Eve; I was featured in the User Profile section of the magazine!

This is a small, regular section of the mag which spotlights two of the regular magazine website users. It basically gives some info about the member & gets them to select one of their favourite photos which is published with the article. I chose one of the shots taken in Cambridge a couple of years ago of the four phoneboxes in the market square.

It’s a shame they managed to spell my name two different ways within two lines though.

So that’s the third time in 2008 I’ve been published in that particular magazine. Not bad, eh? Maybe I should make my New Year’s Resolution something to do with getting some shots published in some of the other mags too.

Exactly two weeks ago I suffered a problem with my neck/shoulder. I described it as a trapped nerve which sent pain from my neck into my shoulder & down my arm. I’m not sure how I did it but it may have had something to do with sitting awkwardly for prolonged periods at a time.

Being a bloke, I didn’t do anything about it for a week hoping it would get better on its own. It didn’t. I’ve now been to the osteopath 3 times and forked out the best part of £100 and it’s no better than it was two weeks ago. Apparently, it’s called apophysitis & it may take some time to clear up. Yesterday I had some acupuncture-type treatment.

To top it all I started to develop a cold-type cough yesterday & every single bloody time I cough it sends a shock of pain down out the side of my neck, down my shoulder & into my arm. Thanks a bunch!

What’s this got to do with photography. Well I’ve not been able to pick the camera up, much less take any photos with it which is so annoying since I actually have time right now & for the next few weeks to do as much photography as I want.

Talk about Sod’s Law!

Welcome to anyone who is visiting my blog as a result of all the business cards & free pens which I gave out this week! (you know who you are, and so do I!)

The least you can do - in return for the pens & cakes - is to add a comment or two to some of my posts!!

Now that I have some more time on my hands, I’ll be checking!

There must be something about walking around in public with a decent camera & a large, expensive-looking lens. Whenever I go to an event with my gear I invariably get someone ask if I’m a professional & am I from the press. If only I was earning a living from this picture taking lark!

It happened again at the Remembrance Day service. I was approached by the Events Officer for Letchworth Garden City Council. She asked whether I might be able to supply some photos for the council’s website. I duly did & you can see them on the Town Council’s website.

And a quick update on my Remembrance Day video, it’s now been seen nearly 550 times on YouTube.

This post is a flashback to 2007.

In July 2007 I was taken out for the day by Digital Camera Magazine for a day’s photoshoot at Mallory Park racetrack in Leicestershire for some motor sport photography. The resulting article was published in the October 2007 issue.

I met up with two staff from DC Mag, Ben & Rachael. We had an ‘access all areas’ press pass for the day, which meant we got to take our shots trackside.

The published article was spread over 8 pages & included over 30 of my motorsport photos. This turned out to be just a small proportion as I took around 1,400 shots during the day. There were also several shots of my good self. You can see photos of the article here.

I should be at Duxford today for the Autumn Airshow. Unfortunately, not for the first time this year, the appalling weather has put paid to my plans. I got up at 8 and it was pouring with rain so rather than make the journey, pay £25 & stand in the rain all day hoping for some kind of show I decided to knock it on the head.

Military aviation is one of my favourite photographic subjects & it’s really disappointing that three of the shows I would normally attend have been unavailable; I couldn’t attend the summer Duxford show because it was on the same day as the Royal International Air Tattoo - which was also cancelled.

Still, there’s always next year.

My father-in-law Tom Sharp died on 9th September aged 92. He was cremated yesterday in Leicester.

For the funeral reception we wanted to display some photographs of him from his earlier life. Using window light, I put the old photos on the living room floor and, using a tripod, took photos of them.

I imported the photographs into Lightroom, made some adjustments & saved them out into Photoshop. I then tidied them up, removed hundreds of dust particles & sorted out some scratches & tears, converted them info black & white (originals were B&W but photographed in colour).

I printed them out on my Epson R220 & then mounted them onto boards for display at his service.

Tom was born in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun. As a result, he was named ‘Thomas Verdun Sharp’. As he grew up, ‘Verdun’ developed into the nickname ‘Vod’.

He married Gladys during the War, managing to get leave for the wedding but having to go back to the Navy the very next day. He was married to Gladys until her death in 2002.

The original wedding photo was color retouched, as was the tradition in those days before colour photography was widely available for everyone.

He served on 4 ships during his time in the Navy from 1940 to 1946. In the crew shot below, Tom is 2nd from the left in the back row.

Although Tom was 92 years old when he died, his death came suddenly & unexpectedly.

He was a loving father, father-in-law & grandad to three. He was a truly lovely man & will be sadly missed.

Rest in peace, Dad.

I’ve not done much photography in the last week or so. I’ve been working on a few websites which has taken most of my spare time.

This has also meant that I’ve not processed all the shots I took in the last few weeks. I’ve managed to do a few from each shoot but still have a few hundred to get through.

I’ll have to leave that all behind for now though because it’s holiday time, hurrah!

I’m off  to the Lake District and will be taking all my photography gear with me. The forecast isn’t too good but there should be some opportunities for plenty of landscapes with moody skies.

In the meantime, here’s a few shots from my last trip to the area, last summer.

If you’ve read much on this blog, you’ll know how interested I am in photographers’ rights. I’ve posted about this a few times.

The subject reached mainstream TV last night when BBC1’s The One Show discussed the problem of photographers being stopped taking pictures by police & security guards.

It’s good to see this subject reaching a wider public audience.

If you missed the programme you can catch it again on the BBC iPlayer, it’s the first item in the programme so you don’t need to wade through the whole show. You’ll have to be quick though as it will only be available to watch again for the next 6 days.

You can view the show >> here <<

I posted previously about the current campaign by MP Austin Mitchell to highlight the problems photographers are having from the police & other bodies preventing us taking photographs in public.

I’d written to my MP about the matter who question the Home Office & supplied details from them to me.

My MP said he was also writing to the local chief constable & would update me when he had a reply. I got that reply yesterday. In it my MP enclosed a copy of the letter he received from our local chief constable which included the following:

“I can confirm that there is no legislation prohibiting the taking of photographs in public places by private individuals or groups. There are no local restrictions enforced by us anywhere in the county. Of course, I cannot speak for individual schools or other organisations, which may have their own policies in relation to child protection or the like.“

So I now have a copy of this letter which I will keep with my photography gear in the (unlikely) event that someone tries to stop me taking photos in public.

So, on the whole a hats-off & thanks to my local MP who has taken my concerns & done something about  it.

You can see Austin Mitchell’s Early Day Motion >> here <<