Absolute Ramblings

...

2008-11-29T16:24:00.001Z

..., originally uploaded by sam_samantha.

2008-09-26T00:46:00.001+01:00

Keep me caged..., originally uploaded by gtvone.

every now and then, the beast comes out.

elinchrom rangers, a dark park and a crazy mate and this is what happens.

What makes YOU a "Pro photographer"

2008-09-24T12:08:00.008+01:00

I've been into photography for a few years now and can take an "OK" shot... I'm right into dark portraits now and that's not everyones cup of tea, but hey... Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I've seen some "photographers" that make me cringe, displaying work thet "only a mother could love" and calling themselves "professional photographers"... I answered this question a little while back on DPS and I think I've changed my opinion now...

"Back then" I thought that it was fair to say that anyone that was using a camera and producing photos was a photographer, but now I think I'd change my opinion to "Anyone that produces photos of a quality relevant to the job they're doing"... What the hell do I mean? Well, If you're shooting a wedding, you're shooting one of the more important days of the couples life, so, it needs to be "as good as they can get"... They've hired you to capture that day - to "immortalise it in image" if you will... So, if you can't do that, don't say you can - don't charge a grand and deliver shots that my unborn child could take... (that kid will have a camera as soon as it can hold one) That's just dissapointing for the couple, demeaning for you and just horrible.

"How do you know when you're ready?" Well, what?...Rerady to go out and take photos as a "professional" ...Only you can know, you have to be totally comfortable with your camera, you have to know how to use your lights / flash units and you have to have a good level of "understanding what the client wants" ... Some wedding photographer websites that I have visited in thinking about this blog have been tragic... Seven partial sets of photos from different weddings, different people and the same photos all the way through... Nothing taking into account the different personalities of the couples, just "yes, would you stand here and do this" please... "Reading from a script wedding photography"... Sure, it's right for some people, but ugh...

"So, what makes you a professional?" Charging? Do you charge for your work? Have you done a set of portraits for someone and been paid for it? How much did you charge? Do you have business cards? A website?... See, I don't think it's down to much of this... If you're A photographer with a certain level of proficiency and that you're employed in some form or other to produce pleasing results for someone, or for yourself as an artist, using the photographic format then I'd almost certainly say you could call yourself a professional.

But really, does it matter?... What's your opinion? Are you a PRO?... Are you an amateur?

Sime

Canon 5D Mk II - Video, Gimmick?...

2008-09-23T08:19:00.004+01:00

I don't think there is anything to say other than "I don't think so"

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

This video was shot with a pre-production Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR. The files used to create this video were not manipulated in any way, only re-compressed for ¼ resolution display on our website. To view Vincent Laforet’s comments and behind-the-scenes video on the making of REVERIE, please visit his blog: blog.vincentlaforet.com

EF Lenses used in the making of REVERIE:
FD 7.5mm f/5.6 (converted to EF mount)
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
EF 135mm f/2L USM
EF 200mm f/1.8L USM
EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
TS-E 24mm f/3.5L
TS-E 45mm f/2.8

http://www.vincentlaforet.com/

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 Review

2008-09-22T15:29:00.004+01:00

Real World review...

Yep, the new Samsung Omnia, It has all the bells and whistles one could want! Quad Band, Auto Focus, FIVE MEGAPIXELS!... All of that and HSDPA (Fast Internet where available)

It is a "trying hard to look like an iPhone" shaped / looking device, a bit thinner and a lot cheaper looking... I don't have an iPhone and I'll more than likely not get one, but this ain't even close.

Windows mobile 6.WHATEVER.O ... Office mobile, Push email, Web browsing with tabs, An alarm clock (that failed to wake me up twice!)

Samsung tout it as the "Truly all in one" device... "A truly all in one phone" That's what it says on the box. It has a touch screen, Wi-Fi, FM Radio...

With 8gb internal memory out of the box, you can load some songs on, some videos even - And it plays them well. It sounds good through headphones...

It works fine as a phone, despite the fact that when I transferred all of my contacts across it wouldn't dial anything with a "+" in front of the number for some reason...

Well, all of these "draw cards" you would think that it'd be a no brainer! - Go out and get one kind of review... not so!

I HATE IT... Windows devices just don't get it... You can have ALL the bells and whistles you like, but if the interface of the phone is such that anyone with fingers even slightly thicker than the provided "pointer wand" can't press any of the on screen buttons, then what's the point.

Seriously, despite its shiny case and glimmering screen, I nearly chucked it out of the car window... And, add to that battery performance... My blackberry will last a full day (7am to 7pm) using the GPS / Google maps / GPRS all day... The Omnia lasted about 5 hours until it turned itself off and refused to come back on (saw me lost in the middle of country england!)

Get an iPhone, Get a Blackberry Bold (oh yes! - review coming soon) ....Just don't get a Samsung Omnia... "A truly useless phone"

Sime

Henry Rollins

2008-09-19T18:15:00.001+01:00

Henry Rollins at Indigo, London, originally uploaded by gtvone.

I never realised that Henry was in "Forgets name of movie"

"Never get involved with something that you can't walk away from in thirty seconds flat"

Henry Rollins at Indigo @ o2

Got a couple of quesions this morning...

2008-09-19T08:54:00.002+01:00

Today I want to run three simple questions by you, I'd like three answers - simple answers.

Where do you see your photography a year from now?
What would you mostly like to improve?
If you had to choose one style of photography and not do anything other than that, for the remains of your professional life, what style would it be?

Three simple questions... Give me your answers - in depth, short, whatever... post them in your comments.

Sime

BlogWorld Expo, Planes and Terminal Five

2008-09-18T17:09:00.003+01:00

Blogworld Expo, I'm not sure what they do there, those special folk that take blogging so very very seriously! But Seriously ...as Phil once said... The statistics on the webpage for the event are quite hard to argue with...

* Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog. * More than 147 million Americans use the Internet. * Over 57 million Americns read blogs. * 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog. * 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years. * 9% of internet users say they have created blogs . * 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog . * Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs . * over 120 thousand blogs are created every day . * There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day . * 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs . * 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 . * 51% of blog readers shop online . * Blog readers average 23 hours online each week .

http://www.b5media.com/ Are a sponsor of this years event, of which my bro inlaw is a part - you can find more about him here http://www.problogger.net/ his name's Darren Rowse.. He's one of those folks that takes blogging seriously, and well he should - it's his job!..

Scotland, Glasgow to be precise... or, to be more precise, here....

Canon EOS 5D Mark II: 21MP and 1080p Video

2008-09-17T07:59:00.012+01:00

Pre-Photokina 2008: After a week of teaser ads Canon has finally revealed the successor to the lovely EOS 5D, the world's first 'compact' full frame digital SLR. The EOS 5D Mark II boasts a new 21MP CMOS sensor, an expanded ISO range of 50-25,600 and a shed load of improvements and new features including full 1080p HD movie recording, live view, 3.0" 920k dot LCD, DIGIC IV processor, increased battery capacity and sensor dust reduction.

PRE-ORDER YOURS AT WAREHOUSE EXPRESS TODAY

OK, SO, you can record 1080p video, and take stills at the same time!?... That really is wild...

Anyone up for a trip to the states?... (see prices below!)

UPDATE: Body-only prices: US: $ 2,699, EU: € 2,499, UK: £ 2,299

Other improvements to the Mark II include a sharp jump from 12.8 to 22 megapixels, plus the inclusion of a Digic 4 processor that allows captures of 3.9 images per second at the highest resolution. To complement its video capture, the camera will have a built in microphone for mono audio recording but will have an audio input to attach microphones. The DSLR will have an HDMI out as simple digital connection for playing back pictures and video on HDTV

So, It's finally happened... Canon have only gone and done it!...

Sample Images from Canon Japan
Sample Movies from Canon Japan

Press Release

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 17 September 2008: Canon announces the full frame, 21.1 Megapixel EOS 5D Mark II: the first EOS with full High Definition video capability.

Compact, lightweight with environmental protection, EOS 5D successor boasts a newly designed Canon CMOS sensor, with ISO sensitivity up to 25,600 for shooting in near dark conditions. The new DIGIC 4 processor combines with the improved CMOS sensor to deliver medium format territory image quality at 3.9 frames per second, for up to 310 frames.

Triggered from Live View Mode, HD video capture allows users to shoot uninterrupted at full 1080 resolution at 30fps – for amazing quality footage with outstanding levels of detail and realism.

The integration of HD movie capability into a high-end 21.1 Megapixel camera opens a multitude of new possibilities for photojournalists and news photographers. With its full frame CMOS sensor and outstanding ISO performance, the EOS 5D Mark II will appeal to any photographer in search of the finest camera equipment available – from studio and wedding to nature and travel photographers.
Other improvements to the EOS 5D include

Addition of Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System, with a new Fluorine coating on the low-pass filter
Larger 3.0” Clear View LCD with VGA resolution, a 170° angle of view and anti-reflective coatings
Improved menu system including Quick Control Screen for more direct access to common settings
Automatic peripheral illumination correction, utilising detailed EF lens information to optimise JPEG images straight out of the camera
Magnesium alloy construction with additional environmental protection
UDMA memory card compatibility.

“Professional photojournalists and wedding photographers already choose the EOS 5D for its discrete size and outstanding image quality,” said Mogens Jensen, head of Canon Consumer Imaging. “The addition of HD movie recording opens a new chapter for EOS. It creates new possibilities for EOS photographers to capture and share their stories and to stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

Key Specifications:

New 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with improved EOS Integrated Cleaning System (E.I.C.S.)
New Full HD 1080 resolution movie recording
3.9 frames per second continuous shooting
High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality
Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card
3.0” VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD
ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)
9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

Additional information

New CMOS sensor
The EOS 5D Mark II’s newly designed full frame 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor features ISO sensitivity from 100-6400, expandable to 50, 12,800 and 25,600. Large 6.4µm2 pixels have been redesigned to capture more light and yield a better signal to noise ratio to ensure lower noise images throughout the ISO range. The full frame sensor has the same dimensions as a frame of 35mm film. This means that wide-angle lenses stay wide, without the change in angle of view associated with smaller sensor cameras. As well as benefiting from finer control over depth of field, photographers moving up to the EOS 5D Mark II’s full frame format will find the newly designed wide, bright 98% coverage viewfinder on a joy to work with.

New DIGIC 4 processor
A new DIGIC 4 processor combined with 14-bit analogue to digital conversion provides smooth gradations in mono-tonal areas such as skies, and highly accurate colour rendition. As well as HD movie shooting, DIGIC 4’s high speed provides for long uninterrupted continuous bursts of large JPEGs, near-instant start-up times and immediate and fast review after shooting. DIGIC 4 also provides for improved noise reduction algorithms, complementing the already low noise images from the EOS 5D Mark II’s CMOS sensor.

HD video capture
The EOS 5D Mark II is Canon’s first D-SLR to incorporate full HD 1920x1080 video capture. Once filming is started from Live View mode, photographers can fire off either single of continuous stills, with video capture continuing after the final frame is captured.

See everything
A new 3.0” VGA resolution LCD provides a wide 170º angle-of-view, providing plenty of clarity for accurate focus checks in playback. The screen brightness can automatically adjust to suit viewing conditions, extending battery life in low light and improving viewing in bright conditions. A new dedicated Live View button switches modes to display a real-time image on the LCD. This allows EOS 5D Mark II photographers to enjoy simplified shooting from awkward angles. Simple connection to a PC provides easy remote shooting.

Precision focus and metering
A 9-point auto focus system is supported by 6 additional invisible Assist AF points, located inside the spot-metering circle to optimise subject tracking performance in AI SERVO AF mode. For accurate exposure readings in tricky lighting conditions, the spot metering circle covers just 3.5% of the frame.

Control
The EOS 5D Mark II’s redesigned menu system includes a new Quick Control screen, for instant access to the most commonly changed settings. A new Creative Auto mode allows photographers to cede control of key settings to the camera, while retaining control over creative variables such background blur, drive mode and image brightness. Custom user settings allow photographers to switch between two completely different camera setups. This is ideal for changing quickly between two different environments, such as switching from working inside a church without flash to outdoors with fill-flash at a wedding.

Accessories
Shooting flexibility is enhanced with a range of new accessories. Shooting capacity can be extended with either the high capacity 1800mAh lithium-ion Battery Pack LP-E6, or Battery Grip BG-E6.

A new optional Wireless File Transmitter –
the WFT-E4 – offers external HDD and GPS compatibility along with ability to transmit images direct to computer or FTP server, or operate the camera wirelessly. Both the BG-E6 and WFT-E4 feature a vertical orientation shutter release and other key controls for comfortable portraiture work, with a substantial grip to help balance the camera when used with long lenses.

Lexar release updated Platinum II range...

2008-09-16T15:39:00.002+01:00

16gb of pure goodness from Lexar...

The press release is below, I like the bit about capturing 6hrs of HD video, what are you saying Lexar? That all the new release DSLR's will have HD Video functions!?.. hmmm...

Increased Capacity of Lexar Platinum II Memory Cards Enhances Experience for Value-Conscious Video and Photo Enthusiasts

New 16GB Secure Digital High Capacity and CompactFlash Memory Cards Enhance Video- and Photo-Capturing Capabilities of Flash-Based Digital Cameras, Camcorders and Digital SLRs

Fremont, CA, September 16, 2008 -- Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, announced today that the company has further increased the capacity of its widely popular Platinum II flash memory card line by introducing a Platinum II 60x 16GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) card and Platinum II 80x 16GB CompactFlash® (CF) card. The new, high-capacity cards give value-conscious video and photo enthusiasts the ability to shoot longer and faster, while taking advantage of new higher-resolution and high-definition digital camcorders, digital SLRs and point-and-shoot cameras. When used with many of today's popular flash-based digital camcorders, the Platinum II 16GB memory cards allow up to six hours of 1080 high-definition video recording. The Platinum II SDHC memory card is speed-rated at 60x, capable of a minimum sustained write speed of 9MB per second, while the Platinum II CF memory card is speed-rated at 80x, which represents a minimum sustained write speed of 12MB per second. The high-speed cards provide faster transfers of high-resolution video and photos, as well as large audio and digital multimedia files.

"With the rapid increase in camera resolutions now exceeding 10 megapixels resulting in larger image file sizes from newer digital cameras, flash-enabled digital camcorders, and digital SLRs, consumers need a higher-speed, higher-capacity memory card to ensure optimal performance while shooting," said Manisha Sharma, director of product marketing, Lexar. "The new Lexar Platinum II 16GB cards provide the quality and dependability that customers expect from Lexar, with the increased capacity required to record and shoot longer."

The new Lexar Platinum II SDHC and CF cards include a limited lifetime warranty and valuable image-related software—the full version of Lexar Image Rescue™ 3, Lexar's award-winning image recovery software, and a six-month trial of Corel® Painter™ Essentials 4. The Lexar Platinum II 16GB SDHC and CF memory cards will be available in September.

Lexar will be displaying the Platinum II SDHC and CF cards at Photokina 2008 at stand F022 E023 in hall 04.1

Photokina 2008

2008-09-16T12:54:00.004+01:00

Photokina, the show at which manufacturers have released some very exciting things going back thirty years now... (Since May 1950) is back on this September the 23rd to the 28th and we hope to see some pretty cool things being announced! The last show in 2006 had about 170k people through the doors, this one should be no different! I'd love to go actually... infact, why don't I?...

Well, I could save myself a couple of hundred pounds and stay home and watch it on the web.. Great idea!!... The more I save, the more chance I have of getting hold of the new Canon 5xxx series camera. Great!...

So, what do we expect from Photokina this year?... I guess more about the all large sensor mirrorless that a couple of companies have been going on about... (this from dpreview)

Olympus and Panasonic have announced a new, mirrorless format / lens mount based on (and compatible with) Four Thirds. The Micro Four Thirds system uses the same sensor size (18 x 13.5 mm) ....more

You can jump on the RSS train for the new products announced in the run up to, or during Photokina here

That's QUITE enough about Photokina....

So, I've been reading about my flashes and trying to learn more about using them... I have found lots of good lighting resources and am looking at buying a book reccomended to me by Sybren called The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally

Has anyone else got this book / read it?... It seems like a good one from the little video review I saw...

So, after Disco~Stu mentioned yesterday "No, dude... Wireless"... I think I'm about to order some of the wireless guys from Alien Bee... CyberSync units... You can check 'em out here I've emailed for a price to ship me some to London... innit!

Watch this space.

Meanwhile, Have an Apple

Photography Monthly | Oct 2008

2008-09-15T17:29:00.007+01:00

My monthly round-up of the Photography Monthly for October 2006.

10 Techniques for shooting buildings in 28 locations around the UK
Sub £400 DSLRS from Olympus, Nikon and Sony
How to capture "magic" shots of mushrooms... erm?
Using photoshop to master MONO

and..

Create a website in minutes (I'll be reading that!!)
So, that's the front cover, let's have a look inside and see what they've got!...

Featured Photographers this month include;
Domenico Gargarella
Adam Duckworth
Matt Stansfield
Elizabeth May - What an outstanding young photographer! Wins my "You rock!" award! for this month. (Photo Above! Website here )

The Canon EOS 50D and the Nikon D90 Break cover.... Incidentally, Nikon also released their range topping P6000 at a hefty £430, but, it does have GPS built in... erm...

Tamron have kicked the MegaZoom Tamron 18-270mm zoom out of their doors, ready for sale... 15x zoom, should be interesting for those of you that like Tamron stuff.

LaCie, err.. yeah, personally, I will not touch LaCie, but some people like it... Nothing like over priced, underspecced drives to screw your day... But, anyway... They've released a new little big disk with a 1tb capacity... Go buy one, ruin your life...

The "Shooting Structural Splendor" section of the mag is pretty darn good with some great tips on making your shots of dodgy old buildings look a hell of a lot better. check that out, it's great.

There's a good little piece on "Cloning out rubbish" and another daft tutorial on HD flipping R... I'm so over HDR, sorry...

The next piece I really enjoyed, it's about shooting people in public by Simon Armstrong... So many of these types of pieces are all about "Oh, don't shoot kids, don't do this, don't do that"..His just says, yeah - shoot what you like, be setup and prepared to shoot (he gives you his basic setup for some street shooting) and don't be a weirdo basically... really cool piece

The next story was about football (Sorry Alex) I flipped straight past it... football, ugh....!!

Wills piece on conversion from Colour to B+W is a great little write up, well worth a read. I use B+W conversions a whole lot, but after reading this piece may start to approach them differently... It does very much rest on how I'm feeling as to what I'll do with a photo once I've taken it.. dark, light, b+w.... yeah, well... good piece Will

Then it's on to the testing.... Kicking it off is the Fujifilm S100FS ...this little piece has a camera prize attached to it, if you can answer one simple question...

q: In 35mm terms, how far does the S100FS' zoom lens extend? (400mm folks) You can text your answers to 83426 Start your text with "FUJI" followed by your answer, full name and address...(it'll cost you £1 plus the text...)

Then we head into some images submitted via the forums, you can sign up to the forums by heading over to www.photographymonthly.com and clicking on the forums link... I'm a member, I should spend more time there, but, you all know where my heart is... (can you say DPS)

The current "photographers guide" is workflow, you can read about "creating a slideshow" or indeed setting up a website... very handy!

Reviews:
Cameras
Nikons , Sony and Olympus all have cameras on review this week - check them out.

Will tests some lenses, the Tokina AT-X Pro DX 16-50mm f2.8, the Tamron SP AF 70-200mm f2.8 (Di LD - IF - Macro) (Does that have enough letters in its name for ya?!) As well as a Sigma 150-500mm APO DG OS f5.6-6.3 and then there are ome tripods to choose from... The Giotto MTL 8351B the Slik Pro 713EZ... a Manfrotto 190CXPRO4 and the Velbon Sherpa Pro CF-537...A sturdy lot, I'm sure you'll agree!

There's a buyers guide to Photobooks.... with no real "yeah, we'd suggest this one" and then pages of advertising, as ever... Some q+a tucked in the back and then an add for www.clikpic.com which I'm off to have a look at now...

Hope this wrap up was helpful! go buy the magazine, it's a ripper!

Sime

ManFlu, life and the universe...

2008-09-15T14:48:00.003+01:00

CHECK OUT MY REVIEW ON DPS OF PHOTONOSE

I've just spent £16 on a packet of Day+Night nurse, two boxes of Nurofen+ and a coffee... I went to meet some friends on Saturday for a quick coffee, his wife had flu and has had it for a week, I think I caught it... all in that short space of time and no, I didn't kiss her!... So, I've never had flu where I'm kept awake all night because my throat is so sore, bit odd really.

In other news, my xray came back (of my back) and I'm fine, that's good...

DPS is my main squeeze right now, that and the remainder of my threesixtyfive, I've decided to stick most of my efforts in at work and get on with that - so that's a load off.

DPS, it's about 22000 people all wanting to either learn, impart or make up knowledge based around photography, which as you'll all know is my "hobby" I don't know that you could call it a hobby anymore, but, well... that's really what it is until I actually make any money from it.

I have a few loose ideas about making money from Photography, but they're all so very low yeild... we shall see I guess.

I'm after a stand, a brolly and some bits and pieces for my flash setup... I'm thinking of getting the following - unless someone would suggest otherwise....

CalumetPhoto - London

1 x Calumet umbrella adapter with hot shoe
1 x Calumet HotShoe to Pc adapter
1 x Calumet 10' Light Stand
1 x Calumet 45" umbrella silver / white with removeable black cover
1 x 5mtr PC sync extension cable - Lydia at Calumet is calling me back...

So, I think this will work, for now... It all adds up to about £100... that will work for now... I guess...

Means I can get both speedlights off camera, using one for subject and one for background etc.. Should be fun!... Now I just need a background... Black sheet? Thoughts?

Need to rest, laters...

Sime

Would you like fries with that? : Nikon D90 video

2008-09-14T19:14:00.001+01:00

COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM DPS

So, Video on a REAL* camera! Who would have thought? I heard it and was horrified, the thought of our PURIST stills cameras having video introduced to them, sure, I have an Ixus 960 and it has a fun video mode that means I can take it to the snow for example and film myself jumping out of trees on skis... But, for my dSLR to have video... unheard of!.. Soon the Hasseblad will be shooting HD movies!.. So, anyway... I wanted to know more and have since seen a couple of examples of the movies that you could take with, say, a Nikon D90....

What Nikon Say:
[B]D-Movie Mode[/B][B]—Cinematic 24fps HD with sound:[/B] Record cinematic-quality movie clips at up to 720p HD (1280 x 720 pixels) in Motion JPEG format, enhanced by NIKKOR interchangeable lens quality and versatility..

What Canon say:
Well, nothing, but the rumours are starting to fall into line around a 1020p video mode (amongst other awesome specs) with the new 5X series...

So, what do you all think of VIDEO on a dSLR?... (I've dropped a link to the D90 video below)

Keep these cameras on the down low...

2008-09-14T13:59:00.002+01:00

Chase and his crew of merry men, and women, test the new Nikon D90... I first heard "Video on a DSLR" and though, no, that's just silly... But being able to control Aperture and shoot in 720P through a real lens... that is bloody cool, If I may be so bold as to say....

http://www.chasejarvis.com/

Sunday Afternoons...

2008-09-14T12:30:00.002+01:00

Made it out of the house, not feeling tops, caught Jodi's cold I think?...

I am in "my" seat in my local starbucks... I have a Venti Latte and a piece of blueberry cheesecake.

Mostly when sitting in *bucks I people watch and write stuff... Like now...

So, we have, to my left... two guys, one wearing a shirt four sizes too small, a huge stomach and a missing hairbrush (like I can talk!) his mate, wearing leather, I suspect partners meeting on the sly. Then there's green man, wearing his lovely green jumper, listening to music (or the news?) and eating a pannini... (spelling police?) Pimlico plumbers take up two seats, those lads i'd hazard a guess have been in building sorting out just why there is no hot water... I looked up again and they're gone!... (ghosts?) There's an attractive'ish brunette sitting in the window who has just been joined by bald man... he's a nice loking bloke though... bald or not... mr. blue t-shirt ran out the door and yelled bye!.. nearly knocked over the midget in denim that was walking in... she's now leaning against the counter... she really doesn't look like she needs to order food... Hey, I'm just saying it as I see it... There are a spanish couple standing dangerously close to one another... A hot blonde has just entered, the place turns to watch her - ok, well, the men turn to watch her. She's wearing a floral number, has a black bag and a newspaper... cute.. she looks like she runs - her legs are huge, like.. too huge... The midget has come to stand near me, I'm trapped in my corner.. the midget and then the try-hard spy, waiting for their coffee. The blonde hands over money and speaks french to the attendant... the attendant who is Polish, loks at her quizzically. She's now standing near me waiting... they all come over here.

She's gone, along with the midget, the fat man in the small shirt and the leatherman...

Ten, the Pearljam album from 1991? - How good is it... I mean, I listen to it now and it still rocks my frickin world.... Jeremy spoke in class today.... oow oow oow oow oow ow ow...try to forget this, try to erase this... from the blackboard....

The man in the small shirt had a bling watch on... it was horrible

ANyboDy like motorX?

2008-09-14T11:58:00.000+01:00

Sunday Mornings....

2008-09-14T10:09:00.003+01:00

I HAVE TWO FOLLOWERS! - We could start a ...hmm.. I don't know? A club!... no, ok...

one sec, coffee required.

Milk stocks depleted... I'm in a quandary... The blocks hot water has gone bye byes... The milk can be obtained at a shop, downstairs, but, I need a shower and don't feel like facing the world without coffee or a shower. Maybe I could find the number for the store and lower a basket out the window?

Maybe not...

Canon continue to reveal more and more about the "next generation" of digital cameras... come on 5DxMark2SLASH7D_or_3DxII... yeah, got all that?....

I'm going to have a cold shower... I've been using the shower in a lot of photos recently. Not in a WHOA MAN, THERE'S YOUR BITS... kind of way, just.... using water and light... and stuff...

I reviewed some software the other day, Photonose it's called... You can read the review on DPS (soon) or, if you can't wait, on reviews of everything...

Really need that coffee... It's like a fight with myself, sit here and write down some thoughts or go sort out a coffee...

Well, I don't call this "ramblings" for nothing...

Shower (COLD) taken... Threesixtyfive (340!) Done

Must be starbucks o'clock...

threehundredandthirtyeight

2008-09-13T01:47:00.001+01:00

threehundredandthirtyeight, originally uploaded by gtvone.

you can't wash stuff away... it just has to go away... you can stand under a shower for ages, it doesn't help.

especially if you've stood in oil based paint, right?...

but that's not what I mean, is it...

*poke*

Teasing me... CANON FIVE SERIES 5Dx

2008-09-09T12:29:00.001+01:00

I posted, Canon listened... THE NEW CANON 5 SERIES COMETH?

HERE and HERE

Fibre broadband could cost £24.5bn

2008-09-09T10:23:00.001+01:00

The cost of supplying super-fast broadband across the nation by installing fibre to the home could total at least £24.5bn, according to industry body the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG).

The latest estimates for a national fibre network are much higher than previous unofficial BT figures, which put the price as low as £15bn....[cont]

I think Australia still has "can and string" communication....

Connelly...

2008-09-09T00:26:00.002+01:00

Look, I don't really even know Connelly, but that's the best bit... He's an amazing bloke. You need to hear his stuff....

Battleships rocks my world... You gotta hear this live...more powerful than...

lots of stuff...

BLOG

MYSPACE

YOUTUBE

Don't care how... just listen to him... see him live... really...

Sink all your battleships, to keep me from drownin'.... you...

Down where I cannot follow...

2008-09-08T10:47:00.004+01:00

Monday again, doesn't Monday come around with such speed these days?

So, as I understand it, there are two giants - one Scottish, One Irish... They say that they can beat the other in a fight (for world giant domination?) and agree to build a bridge between Nth Ireland and Scotland... The bridge built, they start walking out to meet each other (12miles) ...as the Irish giant spies the Scottish giant and noting just how much bigger he is, The Irish giant runs back to his wife who builds him a big bassinet (What the!) puts him in it in big babies clothes etc. The Scottish giant rolls up and seeing how big the baby is, immediately thinks - wow, the father must be huge and legs it back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he goes... This causeway is the Irish end

Post causeway, we're en route to some castle named Dunluce, The Macdonalds once inhabited it... Then one night during a storm, the kitchen fell off the cliff with cooks and dinner still in it... the woman owner moved into town to be closer to the shops... (The little black spot is actually a plane!)

Yeah, so, well... Northern Ireland was ace, we stayed in a basic but comfortable b+b in Glenariff with a great host! Did a 12.9k trek on day two, that was OK... (I have physio at 0830 tomorrow!) through / around / up the valley, more commonly known as a Dell??... Urm, isn't that a comp...yeah, you know what I mean...

Anyway...

The ideal photo library : Does it exist?

2008-09-03T16:28:00.002+01:00

So, I'm primarily a MAC user at home, a PC user at work - which doesn't matter now as Lightroom is both pc and mac... But, I have a partner who is PC, which is fine, but, she wants access to my full photo library from the last seven years - no problem, over a hundred thousand images, but that's fine - plenty of disk.

The problems start when I decide I don't want her accessing my main library (The working copy) as A: most of it is in "RAW" format, and B: I don't want any edits deleted etc (Library damage by a ...non user, if you know what I mean) ...SO, I need a solution

I have my MacBook Pro that I cart around everywhere, I use this to ingest my files straight from my CF cards, through lightroom, onto my G-Raid Mini 1tb... I have a 1.5tb G-Raid that I use to backup both my MacBook and my G-Raid Mini - so, that's all fine... BUT... I've purchased a 500gb Western Digital My Book 500GB drive for Michelle, but, somehow I have to get the library to replicate onto her drive so that she sees the same photos and the same Lightroom library without her touching mine...

That said, I don't have a "network" as such but, could do I guess...

Thoughts?...

Canon releases the 5DXs*

2008-09-02T19:00:00.003+01:00

21mp
Dual digic4
Full Sensor
CF or SD
7Fps for 70 Raw images
HDMI out
1020p HD Video capture
£1599.00

Available from October 2008 at a store nowhere* near you!

The Canon 5D rumours

2008-09-02T00:54:00.002+01:00

There's been so many rumours about the entry level full size sensored Canon 5D that hell, it might actually come out with a guitar amp (Marshall JCM1000) and a 40 band EQ built in..There have also been sightings of aliens testing the new unit, Canon say this is purely speculation...

Canon, look... It's time already... I'm starting to look worryingly at Nikons newest offerings, of which there have been many, Canon... many!... SO, what are you lot doing?... Sitting back and waiting, well, we all know that's not like you, Canon... You want to stay at the front of Digital camera manufacturing - well, pull your collective fingers out, for crying out loud and release the beast already!!!...

I need a new camera... Actually, I don't need a new camera, but, I'd like a full sensor, so, I need to get a new camera and, if you guys don't release the 5Dx (or whatever the hell you're going to call it) this September, then.. I'll be forced to lok else where... We all know you're holding off because of all the nice people that have bought the 1Ds MKIII's since their release and that you guys don't want to upset them by releasing a 5Dx that has pretty much the same spec, oh, except with the mark Four digic set... So, what ya gunna do, Canon?

Ditch cameras all together - make a new printer? One that takes photos too... Canon PIXMA 5Dx5800!... (With HD video capabilities!) .... A Stills camera with HD vid spec, have you guys lost it?... (Yes, Nikon... that goes for you lot too!)

STILLS... that's non moving to anyone that doesn't get it... it's the "Video for Flickr" of the camera world... grrrr... back in your collective boxes!.. NO video on semi / pro spec DSLR's thanks... I have a Sony Z1 for that... (Or a Canon XL1 if you're old skool!)

Now, Canon... some answers...

1. When?
2. Where?
3. RRP?
4. Spec...

No ifs... No Buts.. Cough up with the darn answers already!!.. THERE WILL BE A MUTINY**

come on..

**well, there won't, but hell, it sounds good eh!

Mid Sized Hotties....

2008-09-01T17:53:00.000+01:00

(this just in from the B&H newsletter)

Canon's newest entry into the fall season Olympics is the EOS 50D, which sports an impressive 15.1-megapixel APS-C format CMOS sensor that takes full advantage of Canon's new DIGIC 4 image processor.

The EOS 50D can knock out up to 90 Large/Fine JPEGS or 16 RAW images at burst-rates of up to 6.3 f/p/s. If you often find yourself shooting under low-light conditions, the new camera can be set for ISO ratings up to 12800, which means you can not only photograph people standing in near darkness, you can also photograph what they're thinking about. (Just joking folks… don't get alarmed)

To keep noise under control and maintain optimum image quality at higher ISO ratings the EOS 50D allows you to choose from four levels of noise reduction – Standard, Weak, Strong, and None. The camera's DIGIC 4 image processor also features in-camera peripheral illumination correction, which can automatically smooth-over uneven blue skies and other large areas within an image that can benefit from smoother tonality. This feature, along with other image enhancing tools such as Auto Lighting Optimizer can also be performed post-exposure using Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DDP) software, which is included with every camera.

Image viewing has also been improved via a greatly enhanced 3" LCD that employs 920,000 pixels for breathtaking clarity. Canon also tweaked the Live View function by incorporating a 'Quick Mode AF', 'Live Mode AF', and 'Face Detection Live Mode AF' that can detect up to 35 individual faces within the camera's frame.

Other features of the Canon EOS 50D include an Integrated Cleaning System for preventing dust and other forms of airborne schmutz from gathering on the sensor's low-pass filter and a choice of two smaller RAW formats (sRAW1 and sRAW2) in addition to the 50D's standard RAW mode.

The Canon EOS 50D will be available in October as a body only, or in kit form with a Canon EF 28-135/3.5~5.6 IS USM zoom lens, which covers the field of view of a 44.8-216mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera...

That time again...

2008-08-22T11:36:00.007+01:00

Today, Matthew... I will be mostly arguing the point with "Easyjet" staff that my camera bag really does only weight ten kilos and that the scales they've used to weight it are VERY broken!.. Lets think about that name for a second - "Easyjet" ... Sorry, can anyone spot the irony?...

Easy : not hard, to make not difficult, to assist, to make...easy!
Jet: ...uh, a plane

Maybe, just maybe, they should have considered calling the company "Bloody stupid rules Jet" or.. "We really couldn't give a toss, just give us your money and yes, we're going to fly from the most remote parts of England to random places...Jet" ... Quite frankly, I'd pay an extra £100 just to fly from Heathrow and catch "normal hours" type flights...

rant over

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize
Dear Simon
Reference Number: 1805 E
Thank you for entering your work into the above competition. The judges have now made their final decision and I am sorry to inform you that your work was not selected for exhibition. This year, there were over 6,700 entries with only 60 selected for exhibition so competition was extremely strong.

Any surprises? Not really.. err, no...

ALIEN BEE!(Yup, that cute light up there)
Alien Bee make some wicked lights... from all reports, though, I've not used them myself... AND I can't get any here in the UK to try out / See in action.. Does anyone have any thoughts? I want two B800's Or, do I want two 1600's?... Here are the full specs Does anyone have any experience with these lights, or, can I organise to get a pair to test here in the UK?

I might try get in touch and get some over this side of the pond to give a thourough going over...

Perhaps.

Just had lunch with a good friend of mine and said goodbye to my other family (The Distillers) for a week..

see you guys tomorrow! (the internet is everywhere as Joey would say..)

I'll leave you with a little friend of mine, Robyn..

Ramblings....

2008-08-21T16:48:00.005+01:00

Press Photographer of the year has been announced, you can see the results HERE or go straight to a slideshow HERE

I was walking home lastnight and dropped in to see my friends at the pub across the road. I walked a friend of mine to the tube, on the way to the tube we walked by a bus stop where a few of the homeless people from around the Hammersmith area tend to congregate. I called out "Howdy fellas" to the two of them that were sat there, very old, dirty men who have been living on the streets for what I assume has been some time... The recognise me and acknowledge me, the girl I'm walking with immediately says "don't talk to them!" ... I asked her why, she said because they're rude to her.. well, I have a feeling that the reason they're rude is that she totally ignored them the first time they glanced / spoke to her / whatever... I feel sorry for them, but I feel sorry for her more you know...

Digital Photography School is coming along in leaps and bounds... We have

Threads: 26,564, Posts: 250,950, Members: 21,061

Welcome to our newest member, KateElizabethPhotography

You really should join and learn how to use your camera, I joined a while back and have learned loads of stuff... Click Here To Join today!

Ricoh GR II.... Is it to cool for school, or is it really as good as they say it is?... I'll ask my mate "Susan & Her 5D" who mainly uses a Canon 5D (Who also has a Ricoh GR II),,,Here's what she had to say...

[17:40:46] Sime says: hey
[17:41:15] Sime says: Just how good is the Ricoh GR II?....
[17:41:22] Sime says: (In fifty words or less!)

[17:43:26] Louise Turner says: Well as a little compact I find it really good mainly cos I can totally set everything up manually. I think lens is better quality cos fixed. It has a filmy type grain. It shoots really well in some lighting scenarios - not in others. Out of the camera you'd probably get better lookng results out of the Canon G9 but you don't have much easy-to use manual adjustability on the canon which is why i didn't go for it.

[17:43:39] Louise Turner says: it's basically a really nice niche market camera for geeks like us

[17:43:50] Louise Turner says: I've taken some shots I'm dead pleased with on it

[17:44:05] Sime says: :) Thanks Lou... Can I put this answer on my blog and MAKE YOU FAMOUS!

[17:44:28] Louise Turner says: why?!

[17:44:36] Sime says: no, you mean "why not!"

And, with that ends today's posting.... (for now!)

Geek Alert! : Intel bust free of wires!...

2008-08-21T10:12:00.002+01:00

Intel moves to free gadgets of their recharging cords

SAN FRANCISCO: Intel has made progress in a technology that could lead to the wireless recharging of gadgets and the end of the power-cord spaghetti behind electronic devices.

It says it has increased the efficiency of a technique for wirelessly powering consumer gadgets and computers, a development that could allow a person to simply place a device on a desktop countertop to power it. It could bring the consumer electronics industry a step closer to a world without wires....[contd!...]

Who wouldn't miss this....

2008-08-18T23:07:00.001+01:00

sharpen my vision, originally uploaded by gtvone.

You know I'll always be watching you, right?

Platform for (jokes?) Art

2008-08-17T14:24:00.002+01:00

I put a pitch together for a great display that would have been in full swing right now... A photographic exhibition that would have been UK wide, maybe even world wide if there ere entries from people that were travelling to the UK... But, no... rejected "We have exhibitions that are ready for display all the way up to 2010..." OK, so why the hell do you still have the same horrific "what the hell is that" exhibition up on the Gloucester rd tube platform?... If you didn't like my idea, fine, but don't insult my intelligence by lying to me when quite clearly you have nothing to replace your current tripe. /rant

Tonight by Martin Grech, I wanted to do a version, so I did...

Here it is.... CLICK

Seven days is over, what now?... No idea...

Maybe I could do a series on stalking people on the internet?... Stalkbook 101?..

Went to Battersea yesterday... Smiley happy flowers everywhere...

cya... and welcome back, hope your trip was nice x

Seven Days : Day Seven

2008-08-14T15:49:00.007+01:00

So, It's all over... "Seven Days on accreditation" In the seven days I've spoken to paper editors, photo desk people, organisations, promoters, governing bodies and professional photographers about accreditation and the UK Press photographers card and have come up with some pretty useful information...

The Facts!

Accreditation and the UK press card are VERY different things.
Not just anyone can get a UK Press card, and rightly so.
Accreditation to shoot a concert is generally obtained from PR agencies.
Mainly, it's about who you know. (sad but true!)
Three minutes isn't long when you have an artist to shoot!
I've totally loved every minute of it, thank you.

So, Tuesday night thanks to Emma and Tom at AEG live / Indigo / The O2, saw me with three minutes to snap a capture of Henry Rollins at Indigo I had to use a longer lens (400mm) and, as my Canon 30D just does not like me pushing ISO was set on 200, could have gone to 400 to bring the shutter speed up, but am a loser and failed under pressure - at least I know what I did wrong, right?.. So, yeah, ten shots from the left, ten shots from the right and about five from the middle... Absolutely loved it (A photo below)

I was able to get accreditation for the RedBull air race as you've seen in previous posts, that was through work (Thanks Kev) and was a real highlight of my "photog career" thus far... Shooting along side some really amazing photographers (Thanks Marcus!) and watching them work was, quite frankly, bonza!

Well, that concludes "Seven Days to accreditation"... I'd just like to thank some folk...

Phil and Joanne Turner at The British Press Photographers' Association
Emma and Tom at indigo / AEG live / Outside Org
Rita at Fishmouth for letting me shoot any gig I liked

Thanks all of you very much. Hope to see some of you soon!

Till next time!!

Sime

Day 6.5?

2008-08-11T22:13:00.002+01:00

Yeah - Seven days is taking an awful long while, I know... I'm dragging it out as tomorrow night I'm shooting Henry Rollins at Indigo (With a camera) and am scared, nervous and excited... I want to do that before I post my wrap up on this seven days series... Now with that out of the way...

In a strange vote of "no confidence" from myself, I've quit threessixtyfive, my project where I took a self portrait every day for a year... With thirtyfive days to go, I decided it was time to ditch it... I may complete my personal set of photos, but not post them to the group...

I had a strange weekend, a melancholy, happy, confusing, lovely, final kind of weekend... Don't read into it, this is just how I am... Nothing life changing? maybe...

Martin Grech... Tonight...

Meanwhile, I shot this kid... Yusuf, Check him out on myspace

Seven Days : Day Six

2008-08-07T18:55:00.004+01:00

Yep, failed on the podcast front - sorry guys! - Day seven might be a wrap up podcast... Friday, yes, tomorrow night I'll do one...

The UK press card is a really valuable tool, It will allow you into most outdoor "press scrums" It might get you into a concert if you're lucky and you know somebody... I applied for a UK press card via one of the "Gatekeepers" I was disallowed!... The system works, hell, I'm no news gatherer!!...

So, I shot Red Bull air race and met a few people in the industry, posted a few photos online... That's all good, I got a page on the 2008 RedBull Air Race highlights dvd, maybe... We shall see - TV is a fickle friend...

I managed to get accreditation for the gig at Indigo and have constant access to all Fishmouth gigs... So, I'm getting my name out there and I'm getting more and more involved with Fishmouth and other bands from that, but the one thing I'm not doing is charging anyone anything - this is bad, no?

No UK Press card. Various accreditations. Go ask people, all they can do is say no, or yes... Now it's down to how the gigs go, I guess? I get one shot at Henry Rollins and from that I have to make it work and get those images out for people to see and get myself into more gigs and then, from that, paying gigs... this is the idea anyway.

At the end of the day, we all need to pay the rent and this whole accreditation thing is very important to me because I don't want to fix printers for the rest of my life, I want to shoot bands and, well, anything else... except weddings!!!... (Well, maybe one or two)

I showed my Redbull shots to the general manager at work today, he liked them, that's nice.

I don't have a load to say or a lot of knowledge to impart today, I mean I am well on my way to where I want to be but just have to get over that one last hurdle.

Well, I have a website or two to update and a friend from HK to go see and a few other things to sort out... Life, when did it get so busy!..

I have some listening for you to do!

www.lukeritchie.co.uk - I heard Luke again on Tuesday night at Fishmouth : Brilliant!

and, when you're done there - go check out fishmouth, Rita Kvist is the imagineer of Fishmouth - well worth a look!!! (That's her above!!) www.myspace.com/fishmouthlive

Seven Days : Day Five

2008-08-04T12:44:00.002+01:00

Well, look at me... stop!... Actually, things got crazy!!... I managed to get accreditation for the RedBull Air Race in London over the weekend, through my work... So, that was wild, my back hurts, I have 1500 photos to sort through... I have a couple up on my flickr (link on your right) So, I shall continue where I left off. Day five...

Day five I was all about contacting newspapers and got all... putt off? because not one of them replied, but when you're out with the actual photographers on the ground, you realise just how many people there are out there shooting!... I thought I'd use my time at the Air Race twofold... To get the shots that work wanted, and, to ask other photographers who they work for, and how the came to be where they are today. You know, funnily enough, the most pro looking guy with two Canon 1Ds MK3's and all the big lenses (400 f2.8 and a 600 f4) had only been working "pro" for two years... but, they all had the same message - It's all about how you get along with people -

So, how you get along with people really does matter, well, he was shooting for the washington post yesterday because of someone he knows... I was watching him and, as we had direct access to the pilots, he was making a point of getting a good portrait / photo of the various pilots and approaching them directly to give them that shot... I didn't ask if he was charging them for the shot, but all the same...

So, enough on that - Work got me accreditation to the RedBull Air Race, thank you work.

I contacted Indigo at o2 Arena and SOMEONE REPLIED... infact, as of this morning, two people have replied... Emma who was the first person to reply gave me the information I was loking for - ie: yes, they use a PR company mostly for all photographer access to gigs at Indigo, but, that they also have a "staff photographer" that takes some photos for them. Well, I asked how they chose that person, to which she replied - are there an gigs on our website that you'd like to shoot?... Hell, would I!... So, Henry Rollins is going to be the first through my lens, very exciting... And then, with some luck, Brand New Heavies are going to get a good shooting too. How very exciting.... So, Indigo usually use a company called "Ouside Org" Who are the promoter of a lot of concerts, and the promoters for the o2. I have been in touch with a fellow named Tom at Outside Org who is organising my accreditation. Very Exciting...

So, The promoters are the people to speak to if you're looking to shoot "gigs that require accreditation" whereas, if you're after a UK press card, you're going to be climbing a longer, much steeper hill...

Well then, A UK press card... Should I? I'm a news gatherer....

Podcast to follow later today! Might have music and everything!!... ha...

Sime

Seven Days : Day four

2008-08-01T07:19:00.004+01:00

Contacting newspapers is a tough game! Not one of the ten or so that I contacted yesterday has even bothered to reply - Maybe their email servers have me blocked! darn it all.. I shall try and try again...

Why am I trying to get in touch with a newspaper? well, I want to find out what it takes to become a "news gatherer" for my local rag, that way, I can apply for a UK press card, no? We found out yesterday that it actually takes a hell of a lot to be granted a UK Press card and that I'll probably miss out on getting one anyways.. That's OK, at least I will have tried.

Phil emailed me once more with a small piece that a colleague of his pointed out...

"Whilst chatting with a colleague about your project he pointed out that many music events have a cap on the number of photographers. It’s often an arbitrary number and is sometimes dictated by the headline act’s management as part of their deal with the venue. The PR that control the access will always try to get the most publicity they can and will have a pecking order of photographers and agencies. Many PR people like preview instead of review pieces. Once the band has been to your town on tour, there is little need for the pictures when you can’t control the review. These days it’s all about control – information and image"

So, today I'll continue to attempt getting in touch with venues that I like - I quite like o2's Indigo - A great venue for live music, if a bit stark... I was there recently for a Chick Corea gig, I took along my Ixus and managed to take a couple of shots...

I did see a young woman wandering around with an SLR, I also saw a guy being ushered out for using a video camera - right up at the stage (What did he think would happen, honestly!) ... So, today I'll get in touch with indigo and maybe Brixton academy - another cracking venue, and see what they say about obtaining accreditation at a gig...

I found a brilliant list of local newspapers here I will choose a couple and use them to "test the water" ... Maybe I also need to contact a bands management to see what they say about "getting into the fray" at a concert... How the hell does one get in touch with a band manager?!... (Actually, I have a cunning plan)

Well, Lets keep day four short and sweet!!... Oh, I **may** have accreditation to shoot on the runway at the Redbull AirRace live, from London tomorrow!... Now that would be outstanding!! - Maybe I should take a recorder to get some feedback from other official photographers... Maybe?...

Peace Out...

Sime

Seven Days : Day three

2008-07-31T12:44:00.003+01:00

Well, Today is going to be slightly void of podcast (I arrived home at ridiculous o'clock and Shell would have had me killed if I started recording) Instead, you get to read about my ventures on day three of seven days.

I emailed The BPPA as I said I would, and, I actually received a reply from none other than Neil Turner, the BPPA's vice chairman and a full time photographer. Neil took some time out from editing photos to talk to me on the phone yesterday afternoon, He wanted to make sure I understood the difference between being accredited for a shoot and having a UK press card.

Accreditation is usually granted by a PR agency that is promoting a gig / game / function - So for example, if you wanted to shoot a concert, you'd most likely need to be on the "list" of people that the PR agency uses to shoot such events. Shooting concerts seems like a lot of fun, but then you only usually get to shoot the first three songs and then you're ushered out of the building, which I guess is OK if you have a deadline to meet. You shoot, then go edit and upload to your magazine / paper. I will try to get in touch with a PR agency and ask what criteria they use to choose the people that they hire.

I am quoting Neil here on accreditation...
"Accreditation for media events is very often done on an event by event basis. Different organisations have different rules by which they accredit individual photographers or agencies to cover their events. Some have very tight policies – such as The Premier League, Party Political Conferences and most major rock music venues who want to see covering letters from commissioning editors and/or evidence of where and how your work has been previously published before they will issue you with accreditation for their event/venue. Other events will accept the United Kingdom Press Card as proof that you are a legitimate press photographer but these are relatively few and far between. Some small events are just happy to see people who look like they might be Press but they are usually so small that the images are of little value anyway"

Alternatively, a Press Card, which you acquire through "The Gatekeepers" now, as I mentioned yesterday - you need to be a news gatherer to be considered for such a pass, A news gatherer is defined by the following...

"An Eligible Newsgatherer is anyone working in the UK whose employment or self-employment is wholly or significantly concerned with the gathering, transport or processing of information or images for publication in broadcast electronic or written media including TV, radio, internet-based services, newspapers and periodicals; and who needs in the course of those duties to identify themselves in public or other to official services"

A UK press card is much more tightly moderated, in that a holder could gain access to say, Downing street with the card... So, there you have why it is so important for these "gatekeepers" to strictly control the flow of issued cards. Neil mentioned that they have about a 95% "turn away" rate on the applicants that apply for a press card... (I don't guess I'll get one then!)

This is Neils piece on press cards...
"The BPPA is a member of the UK Press Card Authority and is what is know as a “Gatekeeper”. Our Chairman, Jeff Moore sits on the board of the UKPCA. We have the authority to approve the issue of Press Cards to members and other qualifying freelancers as long as the applicants fulfil the UKPCA criteria set out above. Membership of the BPPA is entirely at the discretion of The Association. Our basic test for membership is that you should be a full time photographer working for the British news media. We will almost always ask for references from applicants and we always check those references. Membership of the BPPA does not guarantee that a UK Press Card will be issued"

I really want to thank The BPPA, specifically Neil Turner, for taking the time to email me and let me call him (Don't worry mate, I won't publish your number!!) as most people, these days, don't even bother with a reply...

Please take some time to check out the amazing images on the BPPA website - Here is a link to Neils profile page on the BPPA site

Also pop across and check out Neils website from which this little gem comes... (sorry, it's the geek in me)
"I have been a professional photographer since 1986 and had two years as a photography student and five years as an enthusiastic amateur before that. I have been through many camera bags. I have used Domke bags since 1989 and currently favour their J1 model, although I also have the choice between the Lowe Pro Stealth 650AW and a Crumpler Shrinkle rucksack for times when I need to carry camera gear and a laptop in one bag.

In September 2002 I replaced my 1998 DCS520s with a pair of the Canon EOS1D bodies. It was an interesting transition and it took over a year to get over the loss of the Kodak software."

Have a nice day now y'all...

Sime

Seven Days : Day two

2008-07-29T23:44:00.004+01:00

Day two of seven in Seven Days to Accreditation... I had a good old read on a few websites relating to myself here in the UK, and this is what I found...

PODCAST TWO

Or, you can subscribe via iTunes : just add this link into your "subscribe" in the advanced menu in your iTunes... http://www.gtvone.com/podcaster/seven.xml

Website links are as follows...

UK Press Card Authority

The BPPA

BECTU

CioJ

That's a nice tasty list, isn't it... I wanted to thank a couple of the guys at DPS for their ideas on accreditation yesterday on the forums... So, thanks guys!..

q: who's singing the song at the end of my podtwo?...

Seven Days : Day one

2008-07-28T17:31:00.003+01:00

So, anoher seven days series! This is day one of seven towards getting yourself "press accredited" The last seven days series saw me trying to get "published" I achieved it, and was quite happy with the result!... Well, this one, htis new amazing (hu hum) podcast series is going to be all about getting yourself some form of press accreditation and being the one on the "other side of the barrier" for a change... rather than longing to be in with the other kids with their big lenses!...

PODCAST ONE

Or, you can subscribe via iTunes : just add this link into your "subscribe" in the advanced menu in your iTunes... http://www.gtvone.com/podcaster/seven.xml

Well - hope you get something out of it... (along with my amazing broadcasting style and..err... mind blanks)

This week the detail is backed by Red Alert Basement Jaxx, Remedy and a little bit of Endorphin ... So, at least, chill out!!...

Thanks for listening, reading...

Sime

Sometimes, I need to come down...

2008-07-19T12:38:00.001+01:00

This is one of the amazing pieces of classical guitar I listen to. Thanks Peo.

peace.

Si Connelly | Quality Muso

2008-07-17T08:10:00.002+01:00

http://www.myspace.com/connellyofficial

Hard to kill

2008-07-17T00:16:00.002+01:00

Hard to kill, originally uploaded by gtvone.

So, I emailed Blendtec to see if they'd let me send the blackberry over and have them blend it up... I have just received a reply, here it is...

"Simon,
Thank you for you inquiry. I'm not sure I am totally clear about what
you are asking, but we don't recommend anyone blends anything in a
blender other than food. Whatever you want to do for your website is
your choice, not ours, so I wouldn't really want to advise you what you
should do.

The only advice I will offer is keep your wife happy, no matter what.

Jeff Robe
Director of Marketing
BLENDTEC
Blendtec.com
WillItBlend.com -For extreme blending"

That is a top nothc reply right there - Jeff, thanks...

Well folks, looks like we're going to have to find another way to destroy old faithful!...

Sime

Ana-mazing!

2008-07-11T07:37:00.002+01:00

Was over checking out Zachs blog, and found this....

Stop, Police!....

2008-07-10T19:23:00.003+01:00

That's what someone should have yelled at the policewoman that was inspecting (?) the road for (?) skid marks just out the front of the cafe i'm sat in... There was a minor traffic accident... Anyway, yeah - she's in the middle of the road, doing those little "yes, I'm measuring something" steps... She finishes and turns around and walks straight back across the road... She was JUST missed by a high speed cyclist and then stepped into the path of cyclist number two who veered into traffic, had a car have been motoring down along side her / him, he would have been toast...

There is no point reporting this sort of thing, the "watch where you're going, idiot" would never make it to her...

Anyway, I thought it was funny...

WORK DAY CHALLENGE is off to a cracking start... We have 179 members and a decent bit of participation each day... pop over, join in, post away... Todays theme was "Terrific Telephones"

How do I type around the picture?... Can anyone tell me?

Skinny Jean crushed a Kenyan roast bean...

Keep with me, Keep with me...

2008-07-08T10:51:00.002+01:00

Only a lyric from the Editors... But, all the same - try keep up.

I measured the kitchen lastnight, I am crap at measuring, for someone that loved "graphic drawing" at high school... Maybe I'm crap at it cause I didn't have a big slide ruler and some 3B pencils... My faves...

Anyway, yeah... We're going to meet up for coffee, just coffee. no snacks, no chocolate... Just coffee.

Got a message on Flickr lastnight as a result of my Ixus pictures from wireless festival, A guy that promotes fansites for festivals... Anyways, he's asked if I'd go to festivals for him, if he gets me the tickets, to shoot. Would I what!!... Errr, yeah.. I don't get cash, but, I get good music and I get more photos for my portfolio!.. Ideal really.. Portfolio, lets mull that over for a minute - Is it just a collection of stuff I shoot?.. Is it my best work?.. I dont know what my best work is cause it's all subjective, right?... Like, right now, I like (amongst other things) dark and dimly lit stuff, I like high contrast, I like crazy lighting, I like blown out highlights!... Hell, call me an amateur, but hey... that's what I like.

Like this... "Black and White Hands"

So, yeah.. interesting, I wonder if anything will come of it?

I don't think I need a new camera... I might get another 30D body though, maybe... Or, a 40D body for my primary and keep the 30D as a backup... Not sure... I was chatting to a relative who, as it happens, has had multiple magazine covers over the last few years (I saw them all) he shoots with an ancient Pentax filmy.. It's a classic old camera and the results he pulled out of it were amazing. He showed me some macro shots - I was blown away. See, it ain't always the gear, infact, I'd say it was the person, not the gear in most cases... Depends on what you're shooting, right?.. Well, anyway... no point beating a dead horse.... I like dots today!

Random Fact: did you know that my kitchen is longer by three centimetres on the left side?

Orange U Cute

2008-07-08T10:04:00.001+01:00

Orange U Cute, originally uploaded by maintrainonline.

I had to share this, I found this person comment on on of paskies shots, and had to have a look through. Absolute quality. Thank you for brightening my dull grey London morning!...

Sime

Friday's another day...

2008-07-04T09:18:00.005+01:00

***If you're going to leave pointed comments on my posts, have the balls to use your own name / a name***

I still can not stand "oblivious walkers" I came out of hammersmith tube this morning, everyone was in zombie mode... Managed to get off the tube after having to literally push passed a guy that had plenty of room to move.. Went for the steps, with seventy zillion others.. Was literally shoulder blocked by some guy that turned around and SHRUGGED... Made it up the stairs without tackling and head butting afore mentioned shoulder blocker!.. There is a "funnel" of about forty feet between the top of the shoulder block staircase and the barriers of death, no... I'm serious!!... If you get stuck in those things, you're buggered.

Anyway, the funnel, you have to make it through the funnel before you get to the B.O.D - this is where everyone is "on a mission"... They get that steely look in their eye, head towards the barrier at full tilt, but, not in an even line... See, there are about eight barriers, but people only go for one of them - they don't realise that there are eight, or, they MUST go to the first one, so I try and swim across the stream of oblivion to the outside gate, but it's weird.. You just get a load of blank stares, dirty looks and "you right mate" from the obligatory australians... Then they follow you with their gaze and realise what you're doing is actually smart! So - If you're not destroyed by the barriers of death and you actually make it across the concorse and out of the station, you're met by a million people all taking a "shortcut" through the shopping mecca that is Hammersmith (or, GlammerSmith to the locals) ...most of these people i swear have NEVER ever noticed that there are other people walking along at the same time, on the same footpath with them. So, you need to navigate around these folk, Women with prams, Business men furiously typing into their blackberries, Kids with absolutely no respect (Can you say knife crime?) etc etc et-flamin-cetera!.. Yeah, and then...AND THEN... There are the two lines that ALWAYS amaze me, use your daft, tiny pea styled brains morons... QUEUE UP ENGLAND, but please, do it along the frigging wall, not out, all the way across the path.. It's like a game of seven a side trying to get through these people - all they want is their bagel with a free and VERY rubbish coffee... Or, the people at the Tesco Smokes window... Does it get anymore chav than having a window for smokes?.. Yeah, so.. That's my morning... How was yours?!...

Me, In color... Don't mind a change from time to time.

You can lead a horse to water...

2008-07-02T22:59:00.002+01:00

...But you can't make it enjoy the view.

Emotion... isn't it a bitch... You can't control what you feel, you feel it - that's life.

This is my mate, Nathan.

The curse, stops here.

Jem Cooke in the studio...

2008-07-02T11:12:00.002+01:00

One of my fave local musicians is Jem Cooke. I have seen Jem play a few times now, each time, blowing me away with her stunning vocals and cracking songwriting. Dave, her guitarist and dad sent me an email today with links to her recent recordings, Thanks Dave. You can find these on Youtube, with links below.

Jem Cooke-The Studio sessions

Miss you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJLckFkOhyc

Disco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9znfjRN5Vc

Let Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA5irRHhtcU

Fallen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gexf2m1gxM

Live at the Bedford

Tarrantino http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIqNTCjK0kA

Don’t write a song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7kIMwiRcGM

CANON! Release the 5D MK II ALREADY!!!

2008-07-01T14:09:00.002+01:00

Today, Nikon announces its new professional DSLR, the D700. And Calumet has this exciting new camera available for pre-order now.

Augmenting Nikon's already exceptional series of DSLRs, the D700 fills the gap between the D300 and the D3. The D700 has many top-of-the-line features, including an FX-Format CMOS-Sensor. With its 36 x 24 mm size, this sensor eliminates the lens magnification factor present in most DSLRs on the market. In other words, your 50mm lens shoots like a 50mm lens—not an 80mm.

At 12.1 megapixels and with 14-bit A/D conversion, the D700 captures images with superb resolution and tonal subtlety. ISO sensitivity up to 6400 (expandable to 25600), 51 autofocus points and 3D Color Matrix Metering all ensure ease and efficiency in capture. The camera also features Live View on its 3", 920,000 pixel LCD screen.

For the action photographer, the D700 shoots as fast as 5 frames-per-second on its own. A battery grip can be added to max the speed at a blazing 8fps.

Pre-order now and be one of the first to receive this incredible new camera when stock is received.

http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/item/355-801A/

Naughty eBay!

2008-07-01T06:47:00.002+01:00

Actually, I don't like eBay all that much anymore anyway... Not enough "real" people selling stuff, lots of shops and WAY to many frauds... I have asked eBay MANY times if I can come work on their fraud team, I can spot a scam a mile away... Never received a reply though, funny that.

eBay were fined £30Million for failing to stop counterfeiter luxury goods being sold on their site. The Auction site was penalized after investigators found that nine out of ten luxury hand bags were fake... Ah, duh!... The threat was enough to trim two percent of the US share price... Cop that eBay!.. Pay a bit more attention to your customers getting ripped off.

Don't even start me on the ABSOLUTE CRIMINALS that are PayPal... what a crock of crap... I'm sorry, but PayPal, you've done your dash with me and mine.

CANON RULES THE ROOST?
Just looking at the front page of todays Metro (You know, the paper with ink that comes off on your hands...) And noticed that a photo by fotosports of Andy Murray and some photogs, the brand ratio is Nikon 2 : Canon 4... what does this tell us?.. Actually, nothing. I'd have either I think...

Can you say G-Raid! 500gb of Pure Pleasure

2008-06-30T14:30:00.004+01:00

www.g-technology.com

Well, As you all know, I like my photography, and, as such have the inherent problem of "Disk Space" ....People want larger prints, people want uncompressed tiffs, people want!.. So, space is a big issue these days, for me. I carry around my current photo library on my MacBook Pro but that's a little dangerous, I mean... One false move and someone is running off down the road with your £1500 laptop - and, more importantly, to me, my photo library!.. So, I have backups, I have backups of those backups, But what about on the road? How secure are your photos?

Well, I've decided that what I need is a solidly built disk, with a fan that takes power from your fire wire bus and is nice and small. I've found just that in the G-Tech G-Raid Mini 500gb external drive. The little guy certainly packs quite a punch! With Firewire 400 and 800 as well as USB2, there will be no connection issues, though, you will only get away with using it "bus powered" with the Firewire 800 port. It does come with a little power supply if you need to use it, but I have FW800 on the mac, so, that's sorted that. It is, as the name suggests, a raid (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) device, though, in this case is raid 0 (zero) which is striped. Raid Zero only really offers increased performance, rather than redundancy, as if one disk dies, you lose the lot.

The drive has a fan in the base of it and I can report that it does a fine job!.. I copied my current 2008 Adobe Lightroom database and raw photo library across (All 300gb of it) and it didn't even raise a sweat.. Didn't even start blowing warm air! I was most impressed, as i guess you all know - heat kills drives.

The drive comes with all the cables you could want, a driver CD and a leather case for toting it around.

It looks sexy and it works really well...

Have a look at some images direct form the G-Tech website HERE

Highly recommended.

Football just doesn't do it for me...

2008-06-29T20:02:00.002+01:00

...But, for some reason, I still have it on. Germay v's Spain EURO 2008...

17:29 and nobody has scored, but, the roast lamb M is cooking smells OUT STANDING!

Today I fixed the big old lamp stand that was left here when the old lady sold us the flat and moved to Portugal, oh, free kick to Germany... Germany's 13th major final, sixth euro championship final... (random info alert) ... Yeah, so I fixed the lamp.

Decided I want a stationwagon (or, an estateas you English mob call them...) and a kid or two... so, cop that... Which will mean moving back to Australia... I'd certainly prefer to get the wagon here though, so, anyone from CUSTOMS, please get in touch and tell me EXACTLY how much it would cost to take a 30grand wagon back to aus... THIRTY GRAND I hear you screech!... Yeah, thats what it costs for a 1996 Audi RS4... A lot like this one actually -> CLICK

Yeah, so... that'll never happen!

I just noticed that one of the guys on the sideline with a rather large canon lens strapped to the front of his 1Ds had a little wireless trigger mounted on his hotshoe... I've been thinking about triggers and it would seem that the only ones worth a look are the Pocket Wizard

Spain - 33minutes... Torres scores...

So, yeah, pocket wizards, thoughts?.. Anyone?.. Another cool little lighting add on I've been looking at are the Alien Bee Flash units... VERY cool lookin' little things... Anyone use them / Seen them / Played with them?.. I have "obtained" a video lighting kit... It's broken and has seen beter days, but hey - I like "constant light" so I'll give it a run...

GERMAN 0 - 1 SPAIN

Yeah, ok, so do I want to continue to try be a music photographer?... I am currently looking for a lighting course, I'll be booking into one in the next seven days - not quite sure which one yet, but we shall see.

Right, gotta go sort DPS and FLICKR.... later Yalllll

Oh, and to all the people that replied on my last post - thank you, didn't realise that you were watching... Don't know who a couple of you are - but hey, that makes it more fun. Right?

PPS: You're essentially the first people that I've told that I've decided that "Kids" will be ok... So, there you go...

Thoughts.

2008-06-29T19:43:00.001+01:00

Thoughts., originally uploaded by Little Miss Chloe..

This is my friend, Chloe. Chloe is an artist who takes brilliant photos - this is one, of her, a selfy... I just wanted to pop it on my blog for the world to see cause I reckon it's brilliant.

I'm sure you'll agree.

Nice one, Chlo!

Time may change me : The Rushes

2008-06-28T13:47:00.001+01:00

Industry guys...

2008-06-25T20:53:00.002+01:00

So, err... I am sat in my "office" and was inspired to blog... here goes!

Rocket man used to be one of my fave songs, not a track I'd put on and "rock out" to, but a track that reminded me of a certain time in my life.... [And, at this point, as I was writing on my notepad, I decided to swap to my laptop, cause I have it with me...] ...It was around the time that Justin and I were driving around in his car a lot, travelling out to see Sharon, Wandering around.. You know, I think that might have even been around the time I was going out with a young lass named "Jodi" ...She's married to Nathan now

So, when I say the "office" I mean my "local" The Distillers pub in Hammersmith, Why am I here?... Michelle is out tonight and it's a quiet night, I'm sat, having some chips [The best chips in London] and a quiet coke... Bill is sat by the window, Bill is about 65... He's been coming here for the last 25 years, he's a sweet bloke, but I think quite the lad in his day. The music [on the stereo] is bad tonight, I've popped my iPod in, I'm listening to Ray Lamontagne...

Why do people read blogs?.. Why are you reading this?... I mean, what a boring story?... A fat, middle aged man, sat thinking about life, the universe and photography, in a Hammersmith Pub.... I have my camera with me, I could take some photos... I guess... I might do my threesixtyfive here tonight... just maybe

A bloke, thin as a stick, thicker than a plank, whiter than white, wearing a singlet and trackies just walked by... The police have just rushed past, I wonder if these two things are related.

I'm coming to you [part] live from this Vodafone HSDPA 3G card... I can't get onto flickr, that's a right pain in the whatsit!... I called them, they have no record of my threegee card! ACE!...

Hey, Stu!.. I wanted to say hi, you're about the only bloke that reads this - so, G'Day!... Stu is a mate of mine, I met him via flickr, and we email and stuff... I tried to help name his Guinea Pig... He didn't like "Gary Glitter" ...gah! So, well, Stu and I, if I had to hazard a guess, i'd say we'll be mates for a good while... While we're on the subject - ! - Guinea Pigs... they're not from Guinea and they're not ...realllly... pigs... so, urm... yeah... that's my point.

(Chlo!... you're not a bloke!!)

Chloe is going to try some "different" self portraits... Maybe? Chloe doesn't sleep enough.

********************************************************************
That was lastnight, now it's today which is tomorrow if you're still thinking it's yesterday. It's not. Today, what a great day - not. Servers really do just do what they like, eh. I'm sat in Starbucks now - yes, I know, evil, whatever. Sat in starbucks on someone else' wireless [Thank you netgear, I've been using you for two years...] I got a new drive today, a G-Raid Mini It's a fw800 / 400 / usb2 external drive... it's small and darn cute, it's bus powered [no power packs folks] and has fan cooling... I copied my 300gb portable photo library to it today - didn't even start blowing warm air!!... amazing...

Yeah - so, go buy one..

This blog is getting to me... signing off

thirteen | podcast randomness

2008-06-23T21:11:00.003+01:00

I have become bored and annoyed with iTunes... Well, iTunes store!.. I usually update my podcast xml and stick my podcast on iTunes, but now every podcast I stick up there they let me submit, people can download it and then, after about a month, they reject it... Random!

Anyway, I'll host it myself and, if you like, you can click this link and listen, or download it and play it in iTunes... now, this one is large cause there is a track at the end that I really like at the moment. It's a Karine Polwart song named Behind our Eyes... So, errr, it's at 192 instead of the regular 60... [so about 18mb] thank goodness for fast internet, right?

thirteen

So, there you have it, thirteen... Anyways, yes, updated my stalkbook status to read "Can I shoot your wedding" tonight and actually got a message from a friend that has some friends getting hitched... So, now I'm in touch with them and hopefully something will come of it...

Here is a photo I took and edited, of the London eye... It's a bit far removed from the shiny, happy colorful London eye you know and love, but I quite like this version... Thoughts?

listen to the podcast | book a photo shoot | get famous... err, ok, I lied about that last bit?

Ask me tomorrow...

2008-06-22T11:51:00.002+01:00

"Today, I won't be doing a year two... It's been good and the people aspect has been very cool... met some amazing people [Spent yesterday in London with Sybren and Marit] People I'll keep in touch with, people that have had some effect on my life in some random way. Problem is, I started this to see me in front of the camera a bit and to try get a bit more smile happening. Sybren asked me yesterday "Well, have you smiled"... I have, there are photos with some form of "smile" in them... but, have I really achieved my goal? No...

What I've come to realise is that despite the fact that I take these photos and post them on the internet for anyone to see, getting various comments from people... that, although these comments and this process is warming... It's not what I need to help me. Now, doesn't that sound deep?..

I think maybe I'll try a different project when i'm done here... something to do with strangers - Stu and I were talking about 100STRANGERS, but I'm going to have a long hard think and see what I come up with.

I love taking photos and I've loved my time with this group - make no mistake. But I think it's time for something else...

Will I finish? Who can say... more than likely...

Today, this is how I feel...

Ask me tomorrow"

This was my recent post at threesixtyfive....

I don't really know how I feel right now, I don't really have to much time to think... I spend so much time trying to help other people out that my life is slipping by in front of me... It's got to be "me" time soon enough...

Tonight... tonight tooonight....

2008-06-21T10:36:00.002+01:00

[name that song!]

Going to meet Marit and Sybren! - Running late!... Must get coffee!!... Burnt roof of mouth and throat with worlds biggest chip! [below]... Hurts!... Will be back later

So what if it is...

2008-06-14T07:31:00.004+01:00

It's cold as you face into the wind.... Remy Zero, Fair : Todays favourite track.

I am headed to the "trouping of the colors" today at Buckingham palace, I'm going to see the queen... I don't know what the whole deal is, but I'll go along and check it out. I intend on taking my 400mm with me and wandering around taking reactionary / crowd shots and maybe even snapping a photo of the queen. One thing I fully expect to happen is for a PCSO [pretend police person] to come up to me and ask what I'm doing, to which the obvious reply is "Err.. Taking photos?" From there the conversation will be me taking the mick, having a laugh - I can only hope that there will be someone with me that will calm me down.... I have heard so many stories recently of people that have been stopped for taking photos... Stopped by people that have NO clue of what the law surrounding street photography actually is... Today will be the day that a PCSO gets some education on that point.

It's too late to apologize... I'm still listening to this track, it's in my "on the go" play list... The guy has an OK voice... not bad...

Tomorrow is going to be a good day, and, weather take note, a dry day!... I am shooting at the Marylebone festival for a friend, Rita Kvist... Rita manages a band called Fishmouth, amongst other things... Tomorrow there are about eleven bands playing the acoustic stage in Londons Marylebone festival... I'll be there shooting them, So if you're about, pop down and say hello.

There has been a song that "gets me every time" for a few years now... It's performed by a guy that used to be in a well known band, he's not singing with them anymore... He's a great solo artist... He was in an american tv show, house... "And if I lived, till I was a hundred and two, I just don't think i'll ever get over you" ... People are strange hey!... Is it a viable option? Of course not, Is it something you'd like? Absolutely... Will it ever happen? Not to smart people. The heart rules the head.

I "moderate" one of the webs larger, more active photography forums, DPS... I was asked this morning....

"I feel secure when rules are clear, and when consequences can be evenly and dependably applied to those avoiding or abusing the rules. Even children respond better when they know "I do this, that happens."

...Well, i'll tell you what I think, based on what I thought the gentleman in question was referring to... [Yes, it's DOT o'clock!....]

We have rules on the forum, rules for posters in the different sections to keep the forum running in an orderly fashion... We have 17,795 members as of this morning at 8am and sure, it needs to be looked after and controlled to a certain extent, but, this email annoyed me a bit and thu, I'm getting it off my chest here - I posted in the critique section, right after a new user posted his photo without following the rules to the letter... I just posted and said, Hey, Wlcome - you might want to read the rules before one of the Moderators gets you [See, I'm one of two administrators... so, I just keep an eye on things but am an active forum member...] The guy replied and said that he would read the rules and sorry... Job done... I believe in ruling with a less "hitler" approach and making forum members feel welcome, rather than jumping right in with "Hey, you screwed up, I'm deleting your post" ... It's photography, not bloody brain surgery. This is meant to be fun.

OK, the stuff above still stands... But, I found what the guy that emailed me was talking about... I totally respect his opinion, but need him to chill out some

8:16am, I've been at th cafe since seven... Couldn't sleep... too many thoughts...

Go buy Karine Polwart, This earthly spell and listen to "Behind our eyes" Then you'll know what mood I was in this morning... amazing...

Don't take life that seriously, hell, it doesn't take you that seriously.

On a lighter, more artistic note... This is Discos Friday... what a great shot!

Down where I can not follow...

2008-06-12T18:38:00.003+01:00

Karine Polwart - What an amazing artist! I'm not much of a one for "folk" type music, but this woman has a captivating, mesmerising voice. Right, enough of that! - Just buy it, there's a link above... Buy it, chill out, say thank you [and you will] later...

One Republic They've sang / performed with every man and dog... Do you like them? "It's to late to apologize, to late" ...Yeah, them. I saw the final performance of that American Idol kid - With O.R - Not bad at all, each to thier own, you know...

The video follow up review is down below this post, the follow up is the Lowepro CompuRover Now, I just want to clarify - it's a great bag [No, no pressure from the distributor - this is what I think] it really is - I love mine, but, there are a raft of changes that could be made - is there room in the camera accessories industry for a gtvone bag? A bag made by a photographer [and his mates] and sold for a reasonable price... I reckon there might be, we shall see... I have a shoot on Sunday, 9am till 5pm... 11 bands!!... I'm going to take the Lowpro FlipSide 300 this one and see how it performs... I'd really like a 200mm f2.8 for the day, I'll just have to roll with the 100-400L and maybe bump the iso as the day moves on.

Met these lads in Mill Hill last sunday, out there shooting with Pasky... Him for cash, me for portfolio expansion... Though, I don't shoot the stuff he shoots - he's a gun, I'm more a waterpistol - it's great though, being able to go out on a job with a pro and watch him work.

I have a review to do for DPS tonight. The item in question is a Dymo Diskpainter, a crazy little guy thats about the same size as ... well, the footprint is about two cd cases, and its a couple of matchboxes high [on their side] and paints cd's in a very cool way - tonight ill pop it through it's paces and see if it really does what it says on the tin!!...

Well, that's my current two days or so... That and some other very interesting developments involving an old friend.

Peace!

Lowepro CompuRover AW | Follow Up

2008-06-11T07:49:00.006+01:00

BIG thanks to Kev at Root6 for re-encoding this clip with Content Agent

iPhone : The new Blackberry

2008-06-09T19:46:00.003+01:00

The new iPhone 3G will be rolling July 2008... 3G, GPS, two HUNDRED bucks cheaper, an amazing SDK.... A piece of kit that really does compete with the blackberry - easily.

Full M$ support.... full iWork document support...

What an amazing piece of kit!!...

Yes folks, due for release July 11, 22 countries... and that's just a start!!

WWDC 2008 - what a great way to start!!!

A quick saturday shout...

2008-06-07T13:02:00.002+01:00

Before I start, can I say that based on the first four listens to Coldplay Viva la Vida that I, at this stage, will not bother seeing them in concert this time around... I really think they've killed the coldplay sound. The ever present "Chris Martin vocal" is still there but everything else seems to have been "coll'ised" ...like they've tried to make everything sound so different that, for me, they've screwed it. I'll chat tonight and listen to it again with a mate of mine and old Coldplay fanatic - Thomas Greenwood - But for now, i'm swapping tracks on the old iPlod...

www.gtvone.com is finally live! - Apologies for the major delays, I ended up having it rebuilt by a mate of mine, Nathan reed. Nathan hasn't been developing flash for all that long, but, from what I can tell is moving along in leaps and bounds - check out my site, for a photography site - I think it's a great job. You can get in touch with Nathan via www.mediaofmulti.com for a site of your own - he's not charging amazing amounts yet as he is still "up and coming" get in quick folks - he'll be big.

I'm blogging to you from my Dell XPS M1330... It started life in bad way... Within two weeks of purchasing it, It'd had the screen replaced three times and had a new motherboard... Thanksfully I don't rely on it - I rely on my 17" MacBook Pro... She's the daddy, so to speak.

I was never a mac user, but then with a couple of small changes I'd started supporting a few customers with Macs and then a dept' at work ended up with 20 or so macs - the rest is history.

The new threegee iPhone is rumoured to be anounced this coming Monday... there are already loads of rumours AND a couple of photos over HERE Dunno if they're true or not...

Get my name out there...

2008-06-05T14:33:00.002+01:00

The question was asked today, over at DPS "How do I get my name out there"

Well, How does one get his or her name out there?... Obviously aside from taking a large block of ice, carving your name in it and firing it from a cannon... No, really... Getting your name out there isn't all that hard.

Keywords, Old school keywords and tags. They are a great idea! I have keywords in my various websites... Meta keywords that describe my content, names for pages and basic words that are associated with my stuff - like "photography" "canon" ...all that kind of stuff, you know. Of course, this is only from an Internet point of view...

From the old conventional "Hi, I'm a photographer, please hire me" point of view, I am sure that the best way is just to do your best with your photos and share them around from time to time... Get some MOO cards printed up, hand them to people. Get yourself on Flickr and then it's easy to print your moos straight from flickr... Maybe try and get one or two of your photos up in a shop near where you live?... Do some Charity work?... Get a photo published in a newspaper, it's not as hard as you might think...

Well - these are a few ways which spring to mind... What others can you think of?

Sime.

Thank You...

2008-06-04T22:21:00.004+01:00

So, As it is international "Thank You" week, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank some people...

I'm going to thank ten people...

M... thanks! For putting up with me.
NP... thanks, for everything - more than most.
Mother... You had a hell of a time bringing [dragging] me up - thank you, especially.
Dad [Bruiser] What a great Dad, thank you... [For not running over me with the tractor]
Dad [Stu] Another great Dad, caring for me when you didn't have to - thank you.
Brothers [Matt, Shauno and Dave] Thank you guys, best brothers a guy could have.
Lou... You're tops and a pure bundle of inspiration! thank you.
Peebs... Cracking mate, Seen me at my worst, Thank you.
Jodi... You say the right things at the right time, sweet and brilliant... Thank you
Threesixtyfivers! - You lot are a driving force and a great bunch of people, so, despite the fact that I don't really "know" any of you - THANK YOU ALL...

Peebs - I will find a photo of you, I know just the one... Dad [Stu] I also have a shot of you looking very studious... **coming soon**

Meanwhile - you guys, thank you.

really.

sime.

amazing people | amazing planet

2008-06-04T07:48:00.003+01:00

Peru | From the air

What an amazing planet we live on... That said, how long before it "goes back to where it came from?" Peak Oil, Nuclear, pollution, Hate and Crime... It's all having an impact!.. Well, doom and gloom...

Must start my day - here, watch the news!!...

She was more like a beauty queen...

2008-06-03T17:29:00.004+01:00

Still listening to Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean... Such an amazing track [Thanks, Michael Jackson] ... You can see it here.

So, I'd like to [as this "seven day challenge" ] work out a way to frame and auction one of my photos and donate the proceeds to some charity... Not Oxfam this time, they've taken some of my money, This time I've chosen WWF.ORG.UK as my charity.

£1 buys a seedling to help replant the forests of Tanzania; £25 pays a Rhino Protection Unit ranger's salary for 10 days; £100 pays for 5 days' training in cork oak forest management for a local worker; £200 buys a camera trap to film tigers and other wildlife in Huai Kha Khaeng, Thailand... So, well, why not?... Gotta try right?

That Lowepro Compurover AW... Well, I took it on holidays - Peru, and gave it a good solid flogging for two weeks, Inca trail, Pisac Ruins, Culca Canyon, Amazon basin forest... Did it stand up to the test?.. Well, in some aspects - OH YES - great bag, and in others... I wanted to tear it apart and feed it to the 3 meter Cayman that was swimming gently towards our boat... well, later this week i'll do a "video wrap up" and give you the down and outs of this bag... Lowepro, be afraid...

So, what to do after threesixtyfive is over?... I'm into the last hundred days Disco just mentioned to me that he'll be trying his ever so capable hand at 100STRANGERS afterwards... I think i'll do the same... A stranger a day for 100 days... perfect really!... Have a look at the 100strangers group from flickr HERE What a cool idea... will i be scared? Will I "bottle it?"

Who knows?...

Over and Out!...

Sime

Secrets...

2008-06-02T12:00:00.004+01:00

...For Blogging your way to a six-figure income, That's what I'm reading right now - I came back from Peru to find it on my desk. I think maybe that the only six figures I'll get will be "b.u.g.g.e.r" ...well, anyway, i'll read it and see where I get to. [Thanks Darren] - You can find the book at amazon Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income

****OXFAM****
Transaction 1856243371 GBP 20.00 completed.
Thank you – your payment was successful!
Your generosity will shortly be turning the world in the right direction.

I managed [despite the fact that my widget said otherwise] raise a whole $10usd for oxfam, Thanks Steve, So, I changed the denomination to gbp and matched it - £20... hell, it won't kill me and someone somewhere will [hopefully] put it to good use?!... Oxfam?

****BANNED!****
I just officially banned M from going ANY where near my speakers!... Attempting to vacuum the titanium cone in my B&W 703's.... [next time, she dies*] *not really

****PERU****
Yep, Peru was amazing, lots of photos - loading up slowly - you can see them here

More on Peru later...

****LOWEPRO****
Coming in the next day or two, a follow up video-blog-review-thing on the lowepro compurover AW... Not as hard as it made out to be... Multiple faults, all will be revealed in a few days time.

...look, i'm off to bed!!

x

Seeing as this will be my last shower....

2008-05-23T03:02:00.002+01:00

...for four days! [Yeah, stand WELL back]

But seriously, went for a short 8km hike up a montana today - sure, it stuffed me, but I made it!

I don't have mucha to say, except, if you are in Cusco, go have dinner at Gronje Heidi - It's owned by a Germán guy - muchos atención to detalla, great service, awesome food... Can't recomendó it enough.

Here's me - Chilling out, hill top, post 4km walk [another 4 back down]

spell check brought to you by...well... someone spanish!...

Adios!

D Day

2008-05-22T15:29:00.002+01:00

Tommorow is the start of Machu Pichu... EEEEK!...

Cusco (or Cuzco) is a total tourist trap!... Totally... There are those "I'm WAY cooler than you" travellers that have forgotten where they live and have bought a dog and are staying here, they also have dreadlocks and are trying to dress like a nomadic Peruvian type person... Myself, I bought the MOST uncool rimmed hat that says "MachuPichu - Cusco" on the front... yep, i'm the ICON of cool...

We're off to the hidden valley today, should be good...

Will post a photo later...

Cuzco welcomes you...

2008-05-21T16:29:00.002+01:00

You know, the internet is an amazing thing. I'm in Cuzco, Peru and have just checked in to the Hostal, there is an open wireless access point [thus this post!] ...quite amazing really, Imagine this concept ten years ago!?...

So, two days from now and laptop will be packed away with almost everything else I have with me, and we'll be getting on a bus to head out to the start of the Machu Pichu trail.. To be completely honest, i'm not looking forward to it... I'm the most unfit person I know.. so, well, we shall see... If you hear of a search and rescue for a lost Australian tourist, chances are it's me.

Thus far I have embraced Peruvian culture, taking time out to feast on roast guinea pig and Alpacca steaks amongst other stuff that I couldn't identify.. There are ninety something various types of potato in Peru, so, as i'm a lover of that particular veggie, i'm loving it... sort of

I have had my morning Coca Tea and a nurofen+ and still have a residual headache... Altitude is getting the better of me. I think Cusco is actually higher than Machu Pichu but parts of the trek [Dead Womans Pass] are considerably higher.. I have some energy bars and a good old waterflask, should be right, right?

Anyways, time to go and wander around Cusco... here's a photo I took yesterday [Above] Cute kid, eh...

Blogger?

2008-05-20T01:52:00.000+01:00

)Eah, can I send these from here?

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Blackberry | Not just a tasty snack

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Last Post...

2008-05-17T13:00:00.002+01:00

...Not Likely!

This message comes to you from Starbucks, Madrid! - I'd like to thank my sponsors...

Colin Farrell just wandered by, I was four feet from him, he was looking at me, looking at him - he came from the "Business Lounge" of Iberia Airlines... I wanted to say "G'day Collin" but, knowing his wildman status, thought he might pop my coffee, upside down in my new Dell XPS M1330... A Very lovely little piece of kit that i'll use on my Peru Trek to backup photos and try to do a daily post [internet dependant] ...infact, my threesixtyfive for today [below] was taken, and then the SD card [Canon ixus 960 is, today...] pops right into the front of the little laptop... Quite sweet!

So, the music over here is urm... well, i've heard Tina Turner and now i'm listening to "Rush" by whoever the hell it was by... I'm sorta rocking out, gently, in an eighties kind of way... And now, ladies and gentlemans... "Sarah, By Starship!!"....

Brilliant, well - I'll check in, web permitting, from Lima in about half a days time!!...

Day Seven : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-15T14:19:00.004+01:00

Well, Seven days is all, she wrote...

Except, without the ultimatum note! I have managed to become a published photographer within seven days. And, I'll just mention now, that I received another email asking for use of one of my photos on a website here

So, it is possible, as an amateur photographer, to be published in seven days... Can you keep it up?.. Well, I'd like to find out - but I'll be away from this Saturday, and will more than likely not have Internet. I will continue this on my return to the mother ship.

What is crucial in becoming published? Persistence! ...send send send! and then send some more, get your name out and about, do gigs for free, work for a charity? - or, pay the BIG BUCK and do a big old course and get hired by someone?... Yep, that's an option if you can muster up the cash and the time. In this case though, I was looking at it from a "how the hell do I get into thew industry as a beginner with drive" point of view.. And, I did...

I don't think I could make a living from it, I was told along the way that I'd need 5000-10000 images on a site like Alamy or something similar, I was not replied to, I was treated like a complete beginner, and, as such - that's what i was.

So, dear reader - do NOT lose faith, If I can do it - you can!... Work on your photo quality in terms of your framing and your technical ability [you don't need to do all that much to make a photo better straight out of the camera] Websites like Digital Photography School help with this stuff, you can sign up here

So, my little experiment was looking like a flop at the start, but, came home strong!.. Thanks for following, I will post a follow up shortly.

Sime

An amusing aside

2008-05-15T12:12:00.002+01:00

...An excerpt of a letter my good woman, M, wrote to a friend that has recently moved back home...

"What's been happening here then? Well Ken was kicked out and we now have a new mayor, Boris Johnson. Labour were slaughtered in the local elections and are facing their lowest rating for something like forty years. The Lib Dems are on 24% popularity and Labour are on 25% whilst the Tories were on something like 45%. Gordy and his mates have made some big mistakes. They have increased taxes and scrapped the 10p tax rate without really explaining the compensation low income workers would receive through tax credits. The base rate has been kept on hold at 5% but there is talk of a housing crash, which, combined with the crappy GBPAUD exchange rate, is not good news for us in the short term and means we may have to put off our return home until things improve. Who wants to sell at the bottom of the market?? Kids continue to get stabbed and die. A 16 year old was stabbed outside a bakery on the weekend and yesterday or the day before a guy was stabbed and then his throat was slit on Oxford st in the middle of the rush hour. Well that's all a bit grim isn't it! (Oh and Pete Doherty went to jail but is out now and Amy Winehouse continues to be in the news too). On the bright side, this May is looking to be the hottest on record. It has been superb! Dad arrived over a week ago and the day after he arrived the weather picked up and was great the whole time pretty much. Banksy had an exhibition in a tunnel near Waterloo which was good, we did the Tower Bridge Exhibition, went to Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich, Warwick castle, Portobello Road and Dad did some other stuff on his own. He left on Sunday. I'm putting together an eclectic tea set and I bought a gorgeous Victorian cup, saucer and plate and a milk jug and I got some silver forks. Before Dad arrived, we had a top temp of 21 and we went for a ride to Richmond Park. Boy did I trash myself. Sime had a horse whisperer moment when we noticed a horseless rider trotting toward the main bike/walking/driving path and he went after the horse and managed to gently approach it with a few comforting noises and grab its reins. The poor rider it had thrown off was in tears and Sime finally reunited her with the horse"

I dunno, but it made me laugh quite a bit... she has a "way" with words... or something!

Day Six : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-14T11:41:00.001+01:00

Day Six!!... Well, I'm writing these in hindsight, as I have been SO busy fulfilling requests by AMAZING publishers to submit my photos... oh, NOT!...

Well, actually, I've BEEN PUBLISHED!... Well, I sort of knew about it, but, all the same - published!... The photo I took of a local artist made it into a local paper

So, aside from this has anything else happened? Well, there have been a couple of interesting little things.

I had an email from the National Museums Liverpool popular music exhibition asking if I would allow them to use an old photo I took of a tape deck at work one day...

This photo :

Does this count? Certainly... Getting your photos used on websites is all part of the process, right? - exposure, and slowly starting to build your name up around the traps. If you're good and people see your work - you will get more and more work... This is the goal, anyway...

So, day six and I'm "sort of" published.

Day Five : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-14T10:06:00.000+01:00

Day five was a big pit of depression, actually. You know - You think that if you send out about fifty emails to different types of publisher folk that you'd maybe get a response? Any response?... Just a "Yes, we've received your email, but we can't use your work at the moment" - No, not one... Not a word...

So, Starting to lose hope!

Should you lose hope? No, of course not... Hell No! I read a small article by a photo editor recently, he mentioned that he might receive one hundred emails a day asking him to "publish their work" A lot of the time it's just a lucky strike, if you will... He sits with a coffee and opens your email, he likes it - you're published. So, why lose hope - you could have an email under his mouse sometime soon!... Or not?

Well, yeah... I was standing about with a big crew of photographers the other night and they were mostly "freelance" So, you have these guys that are "pro" freelance type fellas, they're going to know how to get right to those magazines / newspapers.. So, that's something you will come to learn I guess? As you progress with your photography and your approach to the people that you want to have your photos.

So, a down day, day five - but hey, everyone has them, right?

Day Four : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-08T19:52:00.001+01:00

Still no solid concrete "you're published" emails or calls... not ONE email back from a publisher of sorts... not ONE...

I thought of a different angle last night! ....I give you "paparazzi"

Though, I'm not fond of aggressive paparazzi, I understand that they have a job to do. You must realise that the only reason they exist is because of our need to "know what's going on with everything" and so, they can make a living from taking photos of all sorts of odd things, not least of all - famous and royal type folk like our Prince harry, pictured here sorting out the Royal Jewels.

Day four... Should I lose hope?

Hell No!...

NY Wedding Photographer License proposal

2008-05-08T19:14:00.002+01:00

[From Adorama]

Hearing today on NY Wedding Photographer License proposal

We've just been informed by an alert from Carolyn E. Wright's Photo Attorney web site that New York City's City Council is holding a hearing this morning on a proposed law that would require wedding photographers to be licensed and submit a $5,000 bond. If you are a wedding photographer in New York and can make it to City Hall to voice your concerns, the meeting will take place in the Council Chambers at 10:00 AM.

The council's proposed law also requires bridal shops to be licensed, and the photography license also includes videographers. The law states in part: "It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the business of owning or operating a bridal shop or wedding photography without first having obtained a license..." The law will require licensing fees, extensive additional paperwork, and fines of $1,000 to $5,000 for each violation.

[Read the entire proposed law here]

Not that it will effect us, but, thoughts??

Day Three : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-07T13:24:00.003+01:00

***We may have a break-through folks*** There is a chance that after chatting at length to the newsdesk of a local paper yesterday that they are going to put a small piece and two of my photos in the paper. Now, I wasn't even going to consider using this as ***A breakthrough*** but, now that it's two newspapers that are possibly picking up the "local" story, I may... remains to be seen!

"Let's get out tonight, let's get noticed"

Nobody is going to just happen upon your flickr account and email you with high dollar offers on one of your photos, right? (Well, unless you're my friend Susan!!) So, you have to get out there and get yourself noticed...

"Are they listening to me?"

Honestly, Probably not. Though, I did get an email back from Will Cheung, Editor of Photography Monthly, this morning [thanks, Will] That partly restored my faith in human kind!.. You need to contact and contact again. Photo editors are very busy people and I guess that a lot of the time unless you have fiftysevenmillion photos on Alamy or some such service you will get overlooked.. Very possibly, so, try and try again...

So, Day three... I've still not heard back from anyone that I contacted on day one or two, so, I will follow up my emails, and, I have a couple more irons to pop into the fire... Taking photos for a target audience, A photo that I think could be used by Thames Water, so, I shoot it, edit it and send it to them... A photo I think could be used by a small flower shop, same again.. etc - All possibilities.

Palermo Touristico?

Destyn.Via | Check it, Wear it.

2008-05-07T11:40:00.006+01:00

Destyn.Via | OuterWear

Burma cyclone: The aid challenge

2008-05-06T20:38:00.003+01:00

A friend said to me earlier today; "What can we do to help?" Well, I had a think about it and really, what can I do?....

I decided that starting a couple of groups would be the first bit of my plan, so I popped onto FACEBOOK and then onto BLOC and started two groups, to raise awareness...

Next, I'm going to gather together from some favourite photographers of mine and hold an ONLINE charity auction... I have NO idea how, but i'm going to try...

I have started a CHIPIN group that I will promote using facebook and bloc and my blog [you're reading about it now, right?] ChipIn - all you need to do is to MAKE one of your coffees today, and not buy it, and take the currency amount of that coffee and donate it, via chipin to this Burma appeal.

I have contacted Oxfam about how I can take this donated money and make sure it goes to the right people / place. I have also been in touch with Oxfam to see who we email to get better "flow through" for aid and donations...

WATCH THIS SPACE!

[...and for the amazing person who put this idea in my head, thank you!]

Day Two : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-06T15:41:00.001+01:00

Day Two!... What'd I do? I stayed in bed and felt sorry for myself again... I spoke to my Doc this morning on the phone, he said take Nurofen+ and call him in the morning if pain persists! [yes, really]

So, Today I decided that I'd continue thinking about places to approach, and I came up with a random! Earls Court Exhibition Centre! - There must be a million things about that place that are not "photographed" so I thought, it's an icon of my area, it's been around since 1st of September 1937, there's a swimming pool under the floor of Earls Court One that takes a week to fill! - Why not approach them and ask if I can shoot it for a small local exhibition? Then, I approach Barry, Our local member of parliament and ask where I should exhibit some "Local Work" - Barry is all about that sort of thing, so, watch THAT space...

In other news, I heard from a TINY newspaper that I contacted about some shots I took LAST week at an Oxjam [Oxfams musical brother] gig... The paper wanted a shot or two for their story on the "local gig for oxfam" so, I sent them a link to my flickr and they want one - maybe, maybe this one:

They also want a crowd shot, but, I'm not sure I have one from the night!... Well, that's a "maybe"

I didn't hear from any of the people that I contacted yesterday, but time will tell - though, they better hurry! Don't they know I only have FIVE DAYS LEFT!...

Lowepro Flipside 300 | Photos

2008-05-05T19:34:00.002+01:00

So, my review of the CompuRover AW has been put up on the DPS BLOG
and is my primary "travel" photog bag. I wanted something else though, as i'm a bag lover... So, I picked up one of the new FlipSide 300 bags by Lowepro...

Here is a link to the photo set that describes why it's called the flipside

I give you the "Small, but bloody lovely Lowepro Flipside 300"

building blocks...

2008-05-05T18:09:00.002+01:00

Building Blocks by student photographer, Maria! She's in third grade and has eight other siblings in her family. You can see her photos here

My Friend, Samantha has started something really good! | L.O.V.E

PLEASE chipin and help out with this brilliant cause. So far, L.O.V.E has raised $1,210 of the required $5000 - you can click here to help out

You can see photos from the children participating HERE they are truly inspiring!

Vision:
To transform the lives of marginalized children through creativity and to impact the attitude, beliefs and actions of others by providing a window into another world.

Mission:
To inspire marginalized children to envision and transform their lives through development of their own creative voice and body of work. Through sharing the children’s vision, our mission is also to inspire viewers to take actions to support the children in achieving their goals.

Our Program:
To provide digital photography workshops to non-profit organizations that work with marginalized children. Through intensive instruction and hands on participation, the workshops provide an opportunity for participants to complete a body of work that is meaningful by empowering participants with the ability to voice their vision of the world and share it with the rest of the world. LOVE’s goal is to give a voice to the children so that their stories can be told through their photography.

Partnership for Change:
LOVE partners with non-profit organizations who represents children whose voices need to be heard. We come to them with the necessary materials to lead photography workshops. Students meet with an instructor/mentor who provides comprehensive training on the basics of photography to begin their creative journeys. The experience culminates the student’s body of work being publicized through online galleries and art exhibitions. Proceeds from the sales of the student’s work are used to further their education and realization of their dreams.

Lowepro CompuRover AW Review 9/10!

2008-05-05T15:21:00.002+01:00

I have two red sore bits where my hips should be… Not super bad, but red and a touch on the “ouch” side. That’s where the waist strap of my new Lowepro CompuRover AW Camera Bag has been sitting all day… I have had this before with my hiking pack when I didn’t do it up correctly. So, I don’t blame the bag for this, the waist strap is great - very padded, I blame me… I started my day at about 9am, right after breakfast and walked around Palermo until about 6pm so in fairness - the bag did exceptionally well.... [..cont]

Day One : Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-05T14:07:00.003+01:00

So, day one - I need to sit [...or stand, freaks!] and work out who my target audience is : I guess generically you would have "your market" so, if you were a sports photog, you would go after a newspaper or a sports magazine, if you were a travel photog, a travel magazine / website - etc. Well, for this exercise, I'm after "anything I can get" ...So, I started over on the Reuters news website - wouldn't THAT be awesome! Anyone can submit a "news worthy" photo to Reuters via email to : pics@reuters.com : So, well, that's great but doesn't satisfy my "Immediate need" - I will follow that up though. So, I did a Google search for some travel magazines, I decided upon two...

www.thetravelmagazine.net
www.wanderlust.co.uk

I emailed them with a couple of photos from recent trips, and a small blurb about me.

This is a bad time to be doing this, it would be SO much better to send them a link to my website - but - it's currently being re-developed!... Soon my precious, sooon...

I also decided upon two music magazines to contact... Aiming high, NME! and the music section of Time Out is quite good, so I emailed them a little "hello" as well...

So, day one - some feelers out there, Day Two will be the same... I am going to have a bit more of a research tonight and see what else I can come up with.

Another thing that shouldn't be afraid to do is see if any of your contacts have contacts - this is called, wait for it!... NETWORKING!... so, yeah, I'm going to speak to a few and see if they have any directions for me / contacts : you never know until you ask.

Maybe I could contact a skiing magazine?

Today I bought two books...

2008-05-04T22:19:00.002+01:00

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income
by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett

Synopsis
Blogging has become a popular and fascinating pastime for many, but more and more bloggers are finding it can also be an excellent source of direct or indirect income. Although the barriers to starting a blog are low, without expert guidance it is easy to get frustrated when success doesn't match expectations. Written by the creator of the world's number 1 resource for making money with blogs, "ProBlogger" takes the reader from absolute beginner to earning money from or as a result of blogging.Through step by step practical lessons the reader will choose a blog topic, analyze the market, set up a blog, promote it and earn revenue. Unlike other books that are big on potential and theory, "ProBlogger" provides results based on the authors own experience of what really works through practical, tried and tested advice. Inside readers will learn: how Bloggers make money; direct income earning vs. indirect income earning methods; why niches are important' using 20 critical blogging tools; 20 ingredients for a successful blog post; optimizing advertising; which advertising platforms work best; and expert analysis of Technocrat's Top Blogs - why they work and so much more.

I'll Be Watching You: Inside the "Police" 1980-83
by Andy Summers.

Synopsis
In the early 1980s, The Police went on tour accompanied by a photographer who documented the band behind the scenes in a series of candid and striking black and white photos. This talented photographer also happened to be the band's guitarist, Andy Summers. Yes, it's true - the man responsible for the guitar lick from "Every Breath You Take" was not only the backbone of one of the most popular bands of all time, he also possessed a visual gift for composition and mood that allowed him to capture the spirit of The Police better than anyone else could have. This book, somewhere between photojournalism and an illustrated diary, follows The Police around the globe between 1980 and 1983. From the American West to Australia to Japan, Summers recorded not only the band members rehearsing and partying - the proverbial sex, drugs, and rock and roll - he also photographed fans, landscapes, still lifes, and passersby in a reportage style reminiscent of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. Containing over 600 photos and filled with diary-style entries, "I'll Be Watching You" is a sumptuous volume beating with musical energy, nostalgia, and atmospheric beauty.

It is a must for photo buffs and Police fans alike. It contains over 600 photographs personally selected from the photographer's archive of over 25,000 thousand negatives (1980-83). Most photos are previously unpublished, and many of them have never even been printed prior to this project. Highlights include: rehearsals and recording sessions with band-mates; Sting and Stewart Copeland; exclusive back-stage and on-stage footage from concerts including Plaza de Toros (Barcelona, 1980), Budokan (Tokyo, 1981), Wembley Stadium (London, 1981), and Shea Stadium (New York, 1983); inside the tour busses, limousines, helicopters, private planes, parties, and hotel rooms; behind the scenes on music video shoots, at press conferences, and in-store appearances; life on the road with other bands including The Go-Go's, XTC, and The B-52's; and rain-soaked train windows, trashed hotel rooms, island retreats, over-capacity stadiums, and thousands of screaming, singing, sobbing, fans.

Project Published : Seven Days

2008-05-04T15:27:00.002+01:00

Morning!

I have decided to try and find out what it takes to get one of my photos in print with a news paper / magazine or website and i've decided to allow myself seven days from tomorrow morning at 9am to do it!

I am not a published photographer as yet [aside of a couple of little brochures etc for a bakery / cafe here and there] and have no qualifications, just a passion and some photography gear [non professional]

Maybe it could be something to do with "The Cans Festival" that I took a few photos at yesterday? Or just another protest that you see in the streets almost every other day...

My first approach will be to "The Metro" a free newspaper read by lots and lots of people in London, i'd love to get one photo in the paper - I have not really got a clue what it will take, I have an email address that I found on their website and I have "passion and drive" so, i'll take that one from there in the morning.

I don't want to place all of my chickens in one proverbial basket, I want to diversify a little bit, as I read in a good book that my friend Louise gave me Image makers, Image takers by Alle-Celine Jaeger. "branch out, ask everyone, pester photo editors - don't get yourself black listed!" ...So, I guess there is a fine line and I don't want to cross it.

So, what other publications could I approach? I thought about photography magazines at first, but they are photography magazines and as such have THOUSANDS of contributors... so, that's off the list. What about travel magazines? I travel a bit and have hundreds [read: thousands] of photos from places i've been... So, that will be number two on my list - travel companies!

A third? Well, let's see... What about a venue? I like shooting bands and am getting beter at that, what about I shoot a band [a free entry type band] for a local venue and try and get the photos and a brief write up in a local paper? Or, on the venues website? Do websites count? of course they do!

So, A newspaper, A travel magazine, A local publication, A website... Lots of options and I have SEVEN days to get a photo in one of them! Wish me luck...

Sime

Humanity : out of the woodwork...

2008-05-02T10:51:00.004+01:00

A metallic gray Porsche pulled into the end of the street, towards me as I was standing in the middle of the road. At first I thought the driver was going to motion for me to "get out of the way" He rolled down the window on the metallic beast and leaned his head out... "Do you need a Doctor, Mate?" ...I was fine and I had things under control, I told him no and thanked him for his kind offer. As the Porsche's tail lights disappeared into the distance, the howling sound of an ambulance wail filled my ears... "Not long now, mate" The stricken rider looked up up me with an appreciative, yet pained look "Thanks, friend" he said...

This is not fiction, this was last night! I was standing in my lounge when I heard a large bang from outside the window on Old Brompton Road. I looked out and had dialed 911 before I had a full grasp of the situation. There were people running from all directions towards the fallen rider - when I say fallen, there was a car with its front smashed in and its horn stuck on sitting in the middle of the intersection. The rider, from where I was standing [One floor up and almost directly above him] was moving his limbs and his head - no spinal injuries one would hope. The phone came alive and the emergency services were on the other end "What service do you require" "...Ambulance" I replied, they too, were on the phone within seconds... we went through the scenario, me answering every question as if I were a CSI detective!... She thanked me and hung up the phone. Not more than 3 seconds later the phone, my mobile, was ringing... "Hi, This is the Paramedic Dispatcher, would you be my eyes on the ground?"... I had my shoes on and had run out and taken control of the scene, quite literally, within twenty second! I am not sure what came over me, but I had the road blocked off, the guy stable and not moving and people looking after getting details of the car involved.

He was ok, the bike was trashed... He'd run a red light [the motorbike] and a car had turned right, into his path... ***BOOM***

The paramedic asked me if I was a medic myself, I said no and asked him why... he said "you sound like one, son..."

Amusing [on my part] Nice to see people help [someone other than themselves] Crazy Times[Indeed]

Lowepro Flipside 300 | A gritty review

2008-05-02T02:43:00.005+01:00

BUY THE FLIPSIDE IN THE UK ON AMAZON FOR £55.94!

BUY THE FLIPSIDE IN THE USA ON AMAZON FOR $74.95!

Go Buy an Icecream and turn your computer off!

The Crumpler bag I didn't buy.... out take

2008-05-01T20:52:00.003+01:00

I found this clip whilst wandering through some of my video footage today, it's a little amusing...

battle of the bags | the results

2008-05-01T13:30:00.005+01:00

Flipside 300 - Chekc it out here on Amazon

You might recall a couple of days back I was on the path to find a new [yet again!] camera bag. Well, I found me one, it doesn't hold a laptop and it ain't big - but it is really well designed [pre test, just from looking at it here at work!] and CUTE!.. People, meet the Lowepro Flipside 300!

video blog | first

2008-05-01T11:37:00.003+01:00

Oxjam, Photography and the Sandwich Man

2008-04-30T10:32:00.003+01:00

"Let's not prepare the BBQ while the Rabbit is still in the forest"

We have this guy that comes around every morning about.... now, and brings sandwiches and stuff - his trolley is laden with Spicy Chicken pasta, Vegetable Samosa, Crisps and drinks - stuff like that... He's a nice guy, though, I'm sure his English vocab is limited to "Good Morning, SandwichMan" - Incidentally, a friend of mine at lunch said "He freaks me out" ...he's the "Sandwichman" I'm already working on a script for the new film... "The Sandwich Man"

Photography, Right... well - I'm getting better at it, and it is pretty much ALL I do outside of work these days [and sometimes during work, too!] So, I don't know if I want to make more of it - but - you never know if you never try, right? [obviously the shot above is NOT one of my finer moments! but you have to be cunning to capture "The Sandwich man" So, sorry - off the track there... So, yeah, I'm starting to do more stuff for other people - admittedly, I'm not being paid for it yet which is OK for now, but as I progress I'll run into a problem. I HATE CHARGING - probably not a smart thing to say out loud, in a public forum that potential clients may see!

PLATFORM FOR [no] ART?

So, I heard back [in the preliminary] from TFL / Platform for Art, They tell me the following... "the space is currently planned for the forthcoming 18 months - 2 years and as part of the Art on the Underground programme is used as an opportunity for a mid/late career career artist to develop an ambitious new project." - Sorry, how's the new person to the industry get noticed? What's wrong with some NEW BLOOD? Has anyone seen the "Display" on the Gloucester Road platform four so far? - Quality wouldn't be a word i'd use...

Lastnight at Distillers - OxJam
FOUR BANDS | A RAFFLE | GOOD PEOPLE

www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam/

www.theregalroom.com

www.myspace.com/jemcooke
www.myspace.com/therushes
www.myspace.com/neilthomasmusic
www.myspace.com/jmariecooper

All confused like...

2008-04-29T15:33:00.003+01:00

So - hangon, we have the Lowepro Slingshot and the LowePro FlipSide

Has anyone had first hand experience with the FlipSide?

Here they are - side by side!

MOO!

2008-04-29T11:11:00.002+01:00

Sooo, my sweet little batch of moo cards turned up and they'd been certainly popped through the wringer!... We had a couple of dogears and the edges looked like they'd been cut with a house brick.

One quick email to moo customer service and I had another batch on the way!

So, Moo... Thank You!

Everyone - go buy moo cards, now!

Word of the...

2008-04-29T09:52:00.002+01:00

Nerveless!
(Adjective) Lacking strength or energy, Spiritless, Weak.
(Synonyms) Feeble
(Usage) He was a weak, nerveless fool, devoid of energy and promptitude.