London Photographers' Branch

At last months branch meeting we heard from film editor Simon Ruben and photographer Edmond Terakopian who talked about how photographers could adapt their workflows to include video and audio. As well as some of the pitfalls that photographers moving to video can fall into.

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Last month the branch held a one day Emergency Life Support Training course tailored to the needs of street photographers. With the time kindly donated by tutor Elliot Rogers from White Star Medical assisted by Clive Wilson.

The certified course covered:

• CPR (pictured)
• Choking
• Recovery Position
• Shock
• Bleeding
• Burns
• Head Injuries
• Managing Medical Emergencies

One photographer said, “An excellent course, covering more than one would hope to deal with in a lifetime” another that it was “invaluable to street photographers”.

The branch plans to run future courses, if you have requests please contact branch Learning Representative Phillip Wolmuth at training@londonphotographers.org

A working group of branch members are to meet tomorrow at 2pm upstairs in the Lucas Arms pub (just across the road from Headland House) to discuss a set of ethics guidelines for the branch to adopt and to pass on to the NUJ Ethics Council.

Members have been looking at two existing sets of guidelines as the basis of discussion so far; The National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics and Reuters Guide to Standards, Photoshop and Captions.

The working group is open to all branch members and will report it’s findings to the branch as it continues.

Saturday 19 June 2010 was the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) welfare training day hosted by the NUJ Extra charity.

Chair Chris Wheal and administrator Lena Calvert led the afternoon’s discussion on what welfare officers can and should be doing to assist branch members.
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Last months branch meeting featured a panel discussion with Guardian staff photographer Graeme Robertson and freelance photographer Stephen Simpson talking about how they covered the election.

They talked about how the parties handled the media at different stages throughout the campaign and how they were sometimes manipulated to only photograph the stage managed appearances of the politicians.

Part of the discussion was also about the pool system for political events and how it’s lack of transparency made it open to abuse. You can listen to the full audio of the discussion below:

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On the Campaign Trial

Next weeks branch meeting will feature a panel of branch photographers who covered the election discussing how the media were manipulated, working without accreditation and paying for access.

Photographers Stephen Simpson and Graeme Robertson will be talking about their experiences.

We will be running a slideshow of election coverage so send your best pictures from the campaign trail as JPEGs, 1024px on the longest side in the sRGB colour space to editor@londonphotographers.org. Any motions to the branch should be sent to the branch secretary prior to the meeting.

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At last nights branch meeting there was a panel discussion on the Future of Copyright. Branch Membership Secretary Guy Smallman spoke about his experience using union lawyers to recover money from copyright infringers. Freelance organiser John Toner spoke about other members the union had helped reclaim money from copyright infringers. He also spoke about the setting up of a new small claims court for copyright infringement that the union has lobbied for. Andrew Wiard discussed the future of copyright law and what changes the union should lobby a new government for. You can listen to the full audio from the discussion here.

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Hostile Reconnaissance rally on Civil Liberties, Terror Laws & Press Freedom in Friends Meeting House. Image © Rude Cech 2010

Last night saw the fantastic Hostile Reconnaissance rally take place as 200 people filled the Large Meeting House of Friends Meeting House in Euston.

The rally heard from across the spectrum of journalists and photographers with accounts of journalists being harassed by police whilst working, being forced to erase images under the threat of arrest, detention on trumped up charges of ‘a breach of the peace’ and forced removal from covering protests using public order legislation.

The panel, chaired by London Photographers’ Branch chair Jess Hurd, included lawyer Chez Cotton, photojournalist and PHNAT organiser Marc Vallee, civil liberties columnist Henry Porter, photographer Pennie Quinton, NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear and law academic Keith Ewing.

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The London Photographers’ Branch is proud to announce a pre-election rally on Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom at 7pm on the 13th of April at Friends Meeting House in Euston.

The rally will be chaired by photographer Jess Hurd and we’ve got a top lineup of speakers who have dealt with the raft of terror laws that we face today:

• Jeremy Dear, General Secretary National Union of Journalists
• Paul Lewis, Guardian journalist & British Press Awards Reporter of the Year 2010
• Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London & author of Bonfire of the Liberties
• Henry Porter, Observer columnist, author & British editor of Vanity Fair
• Chez Cotton, Head of Action Against the Police at Bindmans Solicitors & a co-ordinator of the Police Action Lawyers Group
• Marc Vallée, Photojournalist, investigative journalist and one of the organisers of the I’m A Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign group.
• Pennie Quinton, Filmmaker who won the ECHR case that ruled s44 is unlawful.

Supporting the rally are the National Union of Journalists, NUJ London Central Branch, London Freelance Branch and the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign group.

This is a free event, open to the public.

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Stuart Freedman talks to the NUJ London Photographers Branch. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010

At last nights branch meeting photographer Stuart Freedman gave an excellent talk on ethics & photojournalism. You can read the text that formed the basis for the talk below and the audio from the discussion after the talk is available as well. Read the rest of this article »