g7uk » professional

What is a ‘professional’ camera?

GS — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:27:21 +0000

It makes me laugh to see articles on photo websites and in magazines that say a particular camera is for professionals and some other camera is just for enthusiasts or amateurs.

Photo mags are all about selling you expensive equipment. The sad thing is that people are led to believe they can’t be creative unless they have some costly piece of kit. The fact is, you can make wonderful photographs with any camera.

Photographer loses image library in fire — how safe is your audio and visual data?

GS — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:59:53 +0000

As a photographer myself, I broke out into a cold sweat reading how this poor man lost most of his image library in the Lever Street fire. Equipment can be replaced but unique transparencies, negatives and digital images can’t be.

Data collection by United Utilities’ foreign call centres

GS — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:19:14 +0000

Recently I mentioned how I called United Utilities and was asked for my date of birth for ‘data protection’ reasons. I refused to give it and they wouldn’t discuss my water bill.

Update on the eye test/spectacles drama with Boots Opticians. But good service from Glasses Direct

GS — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:11:07 +0000

This is an update on this entry. Very pleased with the spectacles from Glasses Direct. I ordered a semi-rimless pair for distance (£25) and a pair for reading (£15). I placed my order by telephone on Wednesday 28 March and they arrived just over seven days later on the Thursday.

I’m going to order a second pair for distance and maybe some to use as sunglasses in summer. The prices mean you’re not stuck with only having one or at most two pairs of glasses — which has always been my situation in the past.

The problems have been with Boots Opticans, Market Street Manchester branch, whom I paid to
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Guardian, Lonely Planet, Hewlett Packard ‘photographic opportunity’

GS — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:40:09 +0000

Fifteen years ago, when I earned part of my living as a freelance photographer, the going rate for a cover shot on one of the small magazines that I worked for was £200. The magazine sold 12,000 copies each month and that payment gave the publisher the right to publish the image one time only.

My photo/video blog kit

GS — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:17:50 +0000

I thought I’d write a bit about the kit I use for making videos and blog entries.

Video-making on a budget

GS — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:48:43 +0000

Film-making can be an expensive hobby. Especially if you start to buy professional lights, backgrounds and other accessories.

Bargain Hunters: Big Brother Special

GS — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:44:56 +0000

This episode has a Big Brother theme (Channel 4 not Tony Blair via George Orwell).

We filmed it on 1st June. Hilariously, considering the theme, during the making of this we were told that filming in Piccadilly Station is no longer allowed as it’s a ‘terror threat’.

How submitting your video content to the BBC could cost you money

GS — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:57:42 +0000

Quality content and creativity are valuable things. If you need proof, just look at the millions of pounds that businesses earn from back catalogues of music, films, TV shows and news footage.

The BBC, public participation and ‘user generated’ content

GS — Wed, 03 May 2006 21:21:00 +0000

How serious is the BBC about public participation and user-generated content? Not very serious, I would say…

The BBC has always looked on the public as material to be used in its programmes and now it looks on photographs and videos that come from that public as material to be used in its programmes. So not much change…

The old joke is that the official BBC tie has small checks (cheques). But, for many people these days, the BBC means no cheques…

My experience, as a former magazine writer/photographer and now web developer, is that the Corporation is always on the look out for free content. I’m tired of producers and researchers asking to use my photographs for free. There’s never any money. With a remit to encourage creativity and promote culture in Britain, the BBC is the last organisation that should be doing this.

Then there’s the raw deal that independent TV production companies have experienced over the years… If this is the BBC’s attitude to fellow professionals, then pardon me for being just a little bit cynical about the Beeb’s enthusiasm for material from the public.

READ THE SMALL PRINT

Before you supply any photos or videos, as a member of the public, read the terms. You’re giving the BBC:

‘a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide. This may include the transmission of the material by our overseas partners’

In the case of video, it says they may not even be able to credit you. Wonderful — no payment and not even a name-check either. Isn’t there some European law that entitles everyone to be identified as the author of his or her work?

I hope the public will wake up to this soon. I believe that the companies that deal unfairly now will pay later once people get over the novelty of seeing their video on screen and realise that they have been ‘used’.

It really pays to keep people happy these days. The video blogger or photographer who has a good experience of providing footage to a company, may continue to do so for years to come. But leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth and there will be no more material from that source in the future.

Guess which of these is the best business model?

UPDATE: LoadedPun has the story of a video blogger who helped CNN make a report for TV but then was told he would have to pay $1000 if he wanted to include the final video on his blog. In fact, so far, he hasn’t even been able to see the report!

Maybe this guy will think twice before getting involved with CNN again? Piss off enough videobloggers, who then tell everyone else, and soon no one will want to work with CNN. It seems that yet another big media company hasn’t quite woken up to the way things are changing?