As requested by our members, we have increased the image submission to five images per person and a maximum video rush of 25 seconds. Images should be at least 1400 pixels on the longest side. The video can be more than one scene and all material should be from 2010 to the present time. The theme is still about selecting your own personal favourites.

All images should be sent to the branch secretary. Video can be sent via a file share site. The next branch members slideshow is pencilled in for the February branch meeting, 22 February, 6pm at Headland House. Look forward to seeing you all there.

Last week video journalist and branch committee member Jason Parkinson spoke to the branch about his trip to the Gulf of Mexico to document the environmental disaster following the leak from the Deepwater Horizon oil well. He showed a draft version of the film he has been putting together and also some of the manipulated images that BP published showing their operations after the leak.

Jason also talked about how he had already sold video clips from the story and how he was making a longer film to pitch to media organisations.

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6pm, Tuesday 28th September at Headland House.

Branch member and video journalist Jason Parkinson will show a short, yet-to-be published film documenting the devastating effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on the local fishing communities and lead a discussion on how to pitch video stories, especially when the story is off the radar.

Any motions to the branch should be sent to the branch secretary prior to the meeting.

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Photographer threatened with arrest and forced to delete images

Branch member Carmen Valino had images deleted from her camera by police and was threatened with arrest whilst photographing the scene of a shooting in Hackney, East London.

Children in Architectural Photography

Comment piece by Grant Smith: Marcus Fairs of Dezeen Magazine recently commented on his twitter that “architectural photographers manage to make children look lonely, even in photos of a kindergarten.” Marcus’ point is timely and recognizes an underlying problem with images of children, as taking photographs with children as a secondary subject is being made more difficult.

We shouldn’t be fatalistic about the decline of stock photography

Comment piece by John Harris: Jim Pickerell tends to present economic processes and technological change as wholly determinate, immutable manifestations of “natural” capitalist forces that admit no contravention. “The Market” and those who, prior to the crash, were seen as “Masters of the Universe”, are thus mythologised as Joseph Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction” is invoked.

Missing from the Record: what has happened to workplace photography?

Comment piece by Phillip Wolmuth: The call to action from the TUC in Manchester this week brings to mind campaigns against public spending cuts imposed by previous governments, and the part that photography has played in them.

Defending Press Freedom

Report by Marc Vallée: The February meeting of the London Photographers’ Branch agreed to create the position of Legal Rep. It was agreed that the person elected to this position would support Branch members who have had a ‘negative encounter’ with the police and to coordinate the Branch’s relationship with the police.

Minutes

Branch members who are registered on the site can login and view the draft minutes of meetings:

Draft July Branch Minutes

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Press Freedom: Hostile Reconnaissance highlights the continuing police surveillance of journalists documenting political dissent in the UK and follows the rise of the I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist! campaign.

The film follows on from the 2008 film Press Freedom: Collateral Damage that exposed the extent of police surveillance on street journalists. The film includes interviews with photojournalists Marc Vallee and Jess Hurd, NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear and Hickman and Rose partner Anna Mazzola. They are a few among many who continue to campaign to expose and fight the increasing erosion of civil liberties and press freedom.