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.

Read the rest of this article »

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

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.
Read the rest of this article »

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:

Read the rest of this article »

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.

Read the rest of this article »

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.

Read the rest of this article »

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 »

You can listen to last nights panel discussion on The Future for Photography below. The panel began by giving a brief summary of where they thought the future of each sector – Staff, Freelance & Agency – lay, before the discussion was opened to the floor.

Whilst some were quite bleak about the future of press photography others said there was still a market for quality in editorial photography. The idea was raised that in order to continue making a living from press photography, photographers would have to charge a proper rate for online usage and that this might only happen when newspapers started charging users for content online.

Guardian staff photographer Martin Argles talked about the strong union activity in the Guardian chapel that had preserved good terms for the staff and freelance photographers. Report Digital owner John Harris said that his agency continued to hold NUJ rates for editorial photography, even online. And freelancer Kelvin Bruce said that while it was becoming harder to sell non-exclusive images, he was still able to make a living by covering niche subjects.

A contribution from the floor raised the idea of ‘Sub-Prime photographers’ whose consistent under-cutting picture rates meant they would never be successful longterm and that there should be collective action to combat bad rates. Another contribution from the floor said that the only way to earn a living was to make yourself indispensable, by finding a niche and charging the proper rate for your work.

Read the rest of this article »