Are you concerned about the rights of photographers in the UK? It seems you can’t open a copy of Amateur Photographer without another story about an innocent photographer being stopped by the police, having his camera chucked in a skip, photos deleted & hauled off for a 20-year stint in the pokey.

OK that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it seems these days photographers are often looked on with suspicion & told they are not welcome to pursue a quite lawful hobby.

MP Austin Mitchell agrees. He’s also an amateur photographer & has created an Early Day Motion asking Parliament to support the rights of photographers. This will have almost zero chance of going through the House but I think should be supported.

You can find details of the proposal here, where you can also see a list of all the MPs who are backing it.

If your MP isn’t on the lits of supporters, why not contact them, & ask them to sign it. I have (he hasn’t bothered to sign it yet or reply to me, but it was worth a try. You can email your own MP by selecting them from the this website.

One of my best photo opportunities was the time I went up in the microlight.

I hadn’t seen the pilot since the flight last August. I’d texted a couple of times to say the pics were ready & I could drop them off to him, but I never received a reply.

I heard from him out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. He was after a copy of the shots as his church were doing a new website. I ran off a DVD & took it round to him this week & he offered me some more flying opportunities when the weaher turns better. I can’t wait to get up there again, especially if I can take the camera.

I had entered 3 of the shots in a local competition run by the Letchworth Heritage Foundation. They wanted scenes in & around the town. I didn’t win but yesterday I got a letter from them saying they would like to use one of my shots for the 2009 calendar for the town. 

I don’t think they’ll pay for the use of the shot, other than a free copy of the calendar, but it will be nice to see another of my shots published. 

For the last three years we’ve hired a trailer four our annual summer holiday. We found a guy in Baldock who had excellent hire rates. Last summer I went to pick up the trailer & we got talking about the forthcoming weather for our holiday. Troy said he had a special interest in weather as he flies a microlight. I said I was interested in flying too as it was one of my main photographic interests. He asked if I had a good camera & explained he was looking for someone to take some aerial shots of his church. A deal was done.

When we got back from holiday I arranged to meet Troy in a farmer’s field in Baldock. He has his microlight aircraft all set up & ready to go. I had two cameras, one had the Sigma 18-50mm & the other had the Canon 100-400.

Troy flies a Sky Ranger twin-seat fixed wing microlight which is basically the same shape as a small plane but made of aluminium tubes & a fabric (dacron) skin. It is a little cramped for a strapping 6’3er such as myself but I was soon strapped in. I had to make sure that the camera straps didn’t foul the control wires which run along the centre console & also had to be careful not to fiddle with the dual control foot pedals. I had taken the precaution of using an extra strap on the camera so that it was attached to my belt, just in case I managed to drop if while hanging out the window taking pics.

We were soon rumbling along the runway, which is basically a thin strip of grass right down the middle of a ploughed field. We managed to take off before we hit the A1M at the bottom of the field. It was probably perfectly fine but I was sure we just missed clipping the top of the hedge which runs alongside the motorway. Troy said something about really noticing the extra weight on board.

We took off into the skies of North Herts & spent some time climbing with me getting used to the feeling of flying again. Apart from one trip to Scotland on Ryanair a few years ago, the last time I flew was on my honeymoon, 20 years ago! I loved it. I’m sure my face looked like a Cheshire cat.

The main purpose of the flight was for me to take some photos of the building Troy’s church meets so we did some passes adjacent to London Road in Baldock. Troy explained that he was not allowed to fly a microlight over habited areas so we had to do it just on the outskirts of the town, looking in. I was glad of the 100-400 zoom although I had to make sure I kept the shutter speed up to minimise camera shake. The best way to take the shots was to open the side window. This gave a clear shot but it was bloody windy. The Sky Ranger has a cruising speed of about 80 miles per hour, so sticking a camera out into the air & you sure notice it. It’s even worse with the big zoom lens. It’s a wonder I got any shots the amount of buffeting the camera suffered.

We got the shots of Troys church, plus the local Tescos, then we headed down the A1M towards junction 9 at Letchworth, from there I took some longer distance shots of the Lister Hospital at Stevenage. I was amazed to be able to see quite a few tower blocks of London in the distance. We then took some shots of Letchworth. I was amazed how different the town looks from above. It was often difficult to work out where we were. I wanted to get a shot or two of my house but had some trouble finding it. When I did find it, the angle we were at meant that the large Hornbeam trees at the bottom of the garden completely obscured the house. I could see my neighbours’ houses though.

At some point Troy asked me of I’d had enough and it was an emphatic "No" from me. So he flew around the other side of Letchworth & I managed to get some shots of the girls’ schools, all three of them. I got some shots of St Nicholas Church at Norton which has always held a special place in my heart since that’s where Jane & I married.

I took some shots of Troys house before we landed and the trip was over. It was one of the best things I’d done for a long time. Troy said I could go with him again anytime I wanted, which is great news.

I spoke with Troy last week & he tells me he will be starting to fly again around April & I’m welcome to join him. With a bit of luck he’ll let me take the camera up again.

…if so, British Transport Police would like to hear from you.

This thug is wanted for a violent assault on an amateur photographer who was taking photos on the London Underground. The assault took place on the escalators leading to the main concourse of waterloo Station. An un-named photographer was taking photos when he snapped the above male. He took exception to being photographed & approached the photographer demanding the photo be deleted. The photographer could not do so as he was using a film camera, so the thug attempted to grab the camera & punched the photographer in the face.

The assailant is described as white, 34-38 years old and about 5ft 9in tall. He was wearing a dark jacket and carrying a dark rucksack.

Anyone who can help is urged to call British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or the Witness Appeal Line on 0207 391 5275 quoting reference ‘B5 of 15/02/08′.
 

Well, it’s almost a week since I started this blog & I’m really enjoying it. Even if I say so myself I think it looks really great; the design is one of thousands of free WordPress designs available from WordPress.org.

Interestingly, when I got home from the Knebworth trip on Sunday & started processing the shots from the CF card, the first think I wanted to do was stick a few up on the blog, rather than showing a few on the Photography Forum or even on my own photo website.

I’ve added a link to one photography blog so far, which happens to belong to a guy from the DSLR User Forums.

If you have a photography blog, perhaps we can swap links, just let me know.

I went to Knebworth Park today to a country show with my wife and two of the girls. We all took cameras although  think only me & Sarah ended up taking pics. Laura really needs to be in the right mood to use her camera & she was more interested on going on the stalls, buying sweets & chips than taking pics.

As we walked into the show ground I saw a group of photographers around the falconry arena. I instantly recognised a guy called Mark who has bright ginger hair & matching beard, he goes by the name of mtiller on the DSLR User Forums. He was standing with Daisy (Carol) & Debbie from the same forum so I went up & said hello. I arranged to see them a bit later & went off with the family for a look round.

This was the biggest falconry display I’d seen. I’ve been to various shows before which usually have a falconer & associated birds but Knebworth had 5 or 6 who all had big tents containing many varieties of bird of prey. The star of the show had to be a Golden Eagle. We listened to a talk by the guy who owns/flies her including lots of graphic detail about how they imprint on their owners & how the owners get to breed them.

We then saw a display by a working-dog trainer before moving up towards the main arena and some handy chips.

Throughout the day I kept wandering back to the falconry arena for either the regular talks or displays. At one stage all of the falconers brought a Harris Hawk each into the main arena. Unfortunately, even with the 100mm – 400mm Canon, they were a little too far away from the crowd line for decent shots.

I met up again with the DSLR User crew & arranged for Mark to give me a lift home so the family could leave me to it. I don’t mind walking round these places too much but after 10 minutes or sho my trigger finger is itching to take more photos, which isn’t always possible with a wife & 3 kids in tow.

Most of the shots of the birds were taken under canvas & lighting was pretty poor outside let along in the tents. This meant upping the ISO pretty drastically which just adds loads of noise to the shots. I tried to keep it down as much as possible but sometimes it was hard not to stay below ISO 1600 or even 3200 hand-holding the 100-400. I definitely need a faster lens.

We listened to a talk by a professional wildlife photographer – a Nikon user – who let me have a play with his D2X, 500mm prime on a Wimberely gimbal – some serious cash involved in that. It just reminded me of the Canon primes I got to play with at Focus on Imaging a couple of weeks back and made me realise how much I need this lens!

After the last flying display we had a chat with one of the falconers. Mark had previously mentioned speaking to him about us going down to Shropshire to photograph him at work with some real falconry. He suggested June for some nice photo opportunities or after October for some good hunting-type shots. I hope we manage to bring that meet to fruition. I wonder if I’ll have my 600mm by then…

A few weeks ago my wife said we were going out for the afternoon, I was to bring my camera, I wouldn’t need walking shoes and I’d find out where we were going when we got there. It was the school holidays and on a day off from work I was ordered to do something with the family.

We ended up at the Stondon Transport Museum in Bedfordshire. I’ve lived a few miles away (North Herts) for about 25 years & I never knew this place existed. It’s a fantastic little museum which is absolutely jam packed with cars, all under cover. As well as cars it has several other types of vehicle including motor cycles, HGVs a couple of fire engines & some military vehicles. It even has a monster from the original Dr Who in the 60s. The Museum boasts over 400 exhibits which includes a full-size replica of Captain Cooks HMS Endeavour, which has taken over 12 years to build.

Although it was a school holiday, there were few visitors. I counted less than a dozen other people that we saw in the couple of hours we were there. As we paid the chap taking the money, who I assumed was the owner saw the canon hanging off my shoulder & said "Take as many photos as you want." which is always nice to hear! So I did.

The vehicles are packed fairly tightly together so you’re not going to get any shots of individual vehicles without others encroaching into the shot. I tended to home in on specific detail for most of the photos I took. The other thing to be aware of is that the roof is opaque perspex but does have some multi-coloured panels which can create havoc with white balance., but it also gives scope for some nice abstracts.

We had our own personal guided tour of the ship, (which is outside) by the museum owner and his young grandson who was dressed as a cabin boy. A very interesting exhibit but not yet entirely fitted out inside – it’s a work in progress.

My favourite motorcycle, the Honda Goldwing is represented in the collection but unfortunately I couldn’t get up close to it as it was across one of the showrooms to which we didn’t have access.

The Museum sells classic vehicles as well as hires them out for the day. This sounds like an ideal opportunity to take a classic out for the afternoon for a photoshoot in a suitable picturesque location. I’ll definitely be paying another visit. Next time I’ll probably take the tripod too.

The museum is open 7 days a week all year – except Christmas week – from 10.00am until 5.00pm & costs £6 for adults, £3 for kids or £16 for a family. 

I saw on the DSLR User Forums that one of the members, TammyLynn, was organising a meeting at Gloucester for Sunday March 2nd. I was off that weekend so decided to tag along leaving my wife to take my mother out for Mother’s Day!

I arrived in Gloucester around 10.45 after a journey of two & a quarter hours & parked near the Historic Docks. I spent a while wandering round the docks & getting a few snaps before heading off for the cathedral to meet the others at 1pm.

There were 6 members from the forum who turned up plus 2 wives. It’s always interesting meeting people you’ve never met before & have just conversed online with.

We wandered around the cathedral for a couple of hours. I took quite a few HDR shots – the interior of churches is bread & butter for High Dynamic Range photos because of the huge differences in light levels in different parts of the building. All of the HDR shots were taken over a 5-stop range, all tripod mounted.

After the main part of the cathedral we went into the cloisters for a few shots. i recognised this section of the cathedral as the cloisters in the Harry Potter movies. Occasionaly choristers wandered back & forth making for some nice shots in their red cassocks.

After the cathedral we went into the town centre & found a coffee house for some well-earned refreshments before walking back down to the docks. I had the canon 100-400mm on the camera at this stage, having taken a few shots of seagulls flying near the cathedral. I was able to grab a few more shots around the docks with the 100-400 before the light faded too much.

I managed to get lost on the way out & 10 minutes after leaving the car park I recognised it as I drove past in the opposite direction. I eventually got home around 8pm.

A long day but very worthwhile even if it did take me 2 days to process the shots. Always great to meet some fellow ‘togs.

Focus on Imaging, what a place. Everything for the discerning photographer & I do mean everything, all under one roof at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre.

I went on the Tuesday, 3 days into the event, which apparently left it long enough not to be too crowded. I managed to arrive around 9.10am after a 90 minute drive & found myself first in the queue.

Doors opened at 10.00 & I headed straight to the Canon stand. They had just about the whole range on display, cameras & lenses, at least I think they did, I only actually looked at the 1D Mk IIIs, a whole battery of them each one with a different lens attached to play with. After getting a feel of my future camera I went up some steps to the ‘shooting gallery’ full of top of the range prime telephotos. I had a play with the 400mm, 500mm & 600mm (all fixed to 1DS Mk IIIs!). Wow, are those lenses fast! As they were attached to the stand I couldn’t get a feel for their weight, but the 500m & 600mm look very enticing.

I then caught one of the many seminars throughout the day on OnOne’s Photoshop plugins. I already have a couple of them & having seen how to use them I’ll make more use of them from now on.

I hadn’t intended to spend any money at the show so wasn’t really there for anything specific. I perused a few stands until being grabbed by a lady on the SWPP who thrust a magazine into my hand & pointed me in the direction of their list of seminars. I noted one in particular on ‘Event Photography’ which gave me about 1/2 an hour to wander further. As I did I bumped into an old colleague from work who retired a couple of years ago & moved up to Cleethorpes. He’s now making a living out of photography & thoroughyl recommended retirement. We exchanged business cards & I had to leave to go back to the seminar.

Entitled "How to print £10 notes" I listened for 45 minutes to a talk on how one photographer makes hard cash from attending functions with a camera & a dye-sub printer. It was extremely interesting & worthy of some further investigation.

At 12.30 I made my way to the DSLR User stand where I met Charlie, one of the editorial team who signed me up for a magazine subscription. This is the mag whose forums I’ve been using since Autumn 2007. I arranged to return at 2pm to see if any other members were about knowing that quite a few had met at the same time the day before. As it turned out I met only one other member, an Irish fellar called Martin who could talk to Olympic standards! He had a funny story for every situation. We wandered off for a drink before I left him to go & watch a studio flash demonstration with a particularly gorgeous blond model.

I checked out a talk on the Pocket Wizard remote flash triggers & almost bought one but in the end settled for a mount board cutter. They’d run out of stock but agreed to put one in the post to me at no charge.

I must have walked a few miles & still didn’t see most of the stands there. The show simply made me realise how much money I don’t have.

Roll on next year!

My first meeting with some ‘togs from the DSLR User forums was one I organised to St Albans on the 2nd February. Having seen one or two other meetings taking place on that website I decided I was missing out due to always being working when they were organised. I realised that the only way to guarantee being able to go on one was to organise one for myself.

In the end four of us from the forum turned up, I met members Debbie, Daisy & Saladin, who traveled all the way from Wiltshire.

We spent the first hour or so around the park at Verulam shooting the ducks, geese, swans & herons. The weather was sunny & fresh. It was pretty cold and some of the ducks looked hilarious struggling across the ice of the smaller lake.

We then took a break at the nearby Waffle House for some well-earned refreshment before wandering back through the park & up to the Cathedral.

I’m currently into HDR shots at the moment so this was an ideal opportunity to try some shots for the HDR portfolio. I’d contacted the Cathedral during the week to make sure it was OK to use tripods inside, so I set the tripod up for the multiple-exposures required for HDR. Most of the shots were done in aperture priority & consisted of 5 separate shots ranging from minus 2 stops to plus 2 stops. (later combined using Photomatix software).

I mainly used the new Sigma 10-20mm lens which is rapidly becoming a favourite. The Sigma 18-50mm was stuck on my daughter’s Canon 300D & did get a few shots also.

There shooting was pretty uneventful although daisy & Saladin were "told off" by the organist for photographing the choirboys during their practice – apparently it’s not allowed.

We ended the evening with a nice meal at the Fighting Cocks public house which is just down the hill from the cathedral (I keep saying ‘cathedral‘ although technically it’s not a cathedral but an abbey).

The others then left while I walked back to the cathedral for some night shots. On the way back to the car park I got a phone call from Saladin whose battery had died, so I assisted with a jump-start before heading off home to process the shots.

A writeup of the photoshoot appeared in the News section of DSLR User Magazine’s April issue.