There wasn’t any money to buy proper photographic equipment when I was growing up. So it wasn’t until I got a part-time job after school that I was able to fund my interest, which was primarily in film-making by then rather than still photography. (more…)

I’m a huge fan of the Manchester Libraries Local Image Collection which puts 80,000 archive photographs at our fingertips online.

A week I ago I discovered some changes had been made which meant the hundreds of links that I have from my website to theirs didn’t work anymore. But I’m glad to say that after I alerted them to the problem they fixed it.

The Image Collection has been integrated with the site’s shopping cart system, making it easier to buy a high-quality print. An 10″x8″ print costs £7.

Last night the government was forced to drop clause 43 of the Digital Economy Bill. This badly-thought-out legislation would have given publishers the freedom to use ‘orphan works’. In other words, any photograph belonging to a photographer who the publisher claimed could not be traced. (more…)

Watching the G20 protests on TV it seemed that every other person had a camera. Yet only two video clips of the Ian Tomlinson incident have come to light so far. One was shot by a member of the public, the other by a broadcast news team and despite professional cameras being outnumbered by ‘activist’ cameras to the tune of hundreds to one.

A fluke? I suggest not. (more…)