Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » Photography

Photographers speak out on protest coverage rights

Damien Gayle — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:42:30 +0000

Photographers feel they have come under attack ‘from all sides’ when covering demonstrations and public order situations, warned photojournalist and investigative reporter Marc Vallée last weekend.

Vallée, a spokesman for campaign group I’m a Photographer not a Terrorist, suggested that photographers have been affected by the police’s attempts to create a hostile environment for terrorists in such situations.

At the same time photographers also feel that they have been unjustly targeted by protestors, who misunderstand their role.

Photojournalists on the ground are workers, said Vallée, adding that it’s a common law right for photographers to take photographs. Protestors do not have to co-operate with this and can turn away if necessary, he said.

Vallée made his comments during a panel discussion held as part of ‘Signs of Revolt’, an exhibition at the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massive protests against the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle.

But Vallée saved most of his condemnation for the police, suggesting that there were a number of reasons police officials would not want photographers at protests.

The Met and the Home Office issued new guidelines, but these have not filtered down to other groups, such as the TSG [Territorial Support Group], he said.

Damien Gayle is a postgraduate journalism student at City University, London.

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A new blog: ‘Angry people in local newspapers’

Judith Townend — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:11:21 +0000

Brought to our attention by FleetStreetBlues, this site’s title needs little explanation.

Its author (Scaryduck aka Alistair Coleman / @duckorange) introduces ‘Angry people in local newspapers’ thus:

“I feel sorry for local news photographers. They are hugely skilled and poorly paid, and sent out to photograph miserable people pointing at dog turds. Here, we celebrate their work.”

Journalism.co.uk recommends its first post ‘Dog Poop’ on October 22, to give a flavour of the whole blog.

Angry people in local newspapers at this link…

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EPUK: Photographer wins copyright infringement case against Mirror Group Newspapers

Judith Townend — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:44:54 +0000

Photography site EPUK publishes a report by law firm Swan Turton on a celebrity photographer’s copyright victory over Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

“In a judgment issued on October 16 which has potentially important ramifications for the photography industry, the High Court held that Daily Mirror publisher MGN Ltd had infringed copyright in photographs included in back copies of newspapers it was making available online to paid subscribers.”

Full post at this link…

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A short film on photo assignments

Laura Oliver — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:20:48 +0000

Funny (sweary, you have been warned) stuff from animation site xtranormal and user trott57 on ‘how to conduct yourself when offered a photo assignment’:

Just for fun – though I may be able to rustle up a prize from my desktop – if you can top this for comedy and accuracy on a journalism theme, send it our way.

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World Press Photo launches competition archive

Laura Oliver — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:06:45 +0000

Photojournalism body World Press Photo has launched an online archive of more than 10,000 images from 50 years of its annual photography competition.

The archive can be searched by categories, year or alphabetical list of prize winners.

“It includes photos that have become icons, by some of the leading names in the profession. World Press Photo has put them online with the aim of sharing our knowledge, resources and experience with the widest possible network,” says the site.

A great resource and way to see how trends in photojournalism have changed over the last half-century.

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Next Photolegal podcast to focus on photojournalism

Laura Oliver — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:33:50 +0000

Photolegal, the UK podcast about photography and the law, will focus on changes is photojournalism for tonight’s podcast.

Kicking off at 8:30pm (BST), the podcast will be hosted by new Telegraph.co.uk communities editor and photography blogger Kate Day.

Worth a listen at this link – http://www.photolegal.com/.

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Charles Apple: Newsweek photo-cropping row

Judith Townend — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:32:23 +0000

Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist David Hume Kennerly is not at all happy with the way Newsweek magazine cropped his photo of former vice-president Dick Cheney at home with his family, Charles Apple notes on his blog. The original photograph shows Cheney leaned over a chopping board, with his family in the background. The cropped version shows the vice-president only, to illustrate quotes that he made about C.I.A. interrogators.

“This incident is another example of why many people don’t believe what they see or read. And America clearly notices these shifts in journalism,” wrote Kennerly in a piece for the New York Times site. Newsweek has defended its use of the photo.

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BJP: Derbyshire – the best place to live as a photographer?

Laura Oliver — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:51:20 +0000

Olivier Laurent’s extensive report into the use of the terrorism act against photographers suggests that many British police forces have been permitted use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to stop and search individuals, including photographers – with Derbyshire’s force, so far, being the only exception.

The British Journal of Photography (BJP) filed 46 Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to chief constables in Britain to determine whether they had requested permission to use the section of the Act in their regions.

A number of forces declined the information requests, according to BJP.

“[C]ounties including Cumbria, Essex, Hertfordshire, Merseyside, and Surrey all declined to answer, claiming that although there is a public interest in the transparency of policing operations, release of any details regarding the use of S44 could threaten the health and safety of the public and the police force itself,” reports Laurent.

Full report at this link…

There’s also a breakdown of how the police forces responded to the FoI requests by county.

Follow this link for more coverage of photography and the UK’s Terrorism Act.

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Jonathan Warren: Climate Camp, the Guardian and cit-j photos

Laura Oliver — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:57:44 +0000

Interesting post by photographer Jonathan Warren reacting to the Guardian’s setting up of a Flickr group asking attendees of this week’s Climate Camp in London to submit photos from the event.

Warren raises a few concerns, firstly:

“If they want protesters to send them pictures for free they aren’t going to want to be too critical about the camp or actions that people from the camp might be doing. To say nothing of the veracity of the pictures that might be sent in by those opposed to its aims as well as by supporters.

“It is no longer news gathering when the subject of a story provides their own content – it is propaganda. Would you trust the Guardian if it took content supplied by the police in the same way?”

He also argues that there is some good from this as it challenges the restrictions being placed on professional photographers wanting to photograph the event.

But the Flickr group also comes at a time when freelance photographers are petitioning against a supposed ‘rights grab’ by the paper, he says.

Full post at this link…

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Fifth International Photography Award open for entries

Nora McKeogh — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:25:59 +0000

The British Journal of Photography in partnership with the Association of Photographers is calling for entries for its fifth annual award.

There are two award categories this year: one recognising a single outstanding image; the other an exceptional body of work.

Anyone of any country can enter and there is no theme. Photographs can be captured in any format, film or digital, and can be of any style or genre.

The prize fund is worth more than £13,000 with the winner of the single image category receiving a SIGMA DP2 professional compact camera and the winner of the body of work category receiving a LEAF CAMERA (the exact model TBC).

The winning work of both categories will be given a solo show at a leading London photography gallery, printed by one of Europe’s top fine art laboratories. Both winners will also feature in the British Journal of Photography.

Entry is £25 for the series category, and £5 per single image. Photographers are welcome to enter both competitions, and to enter more than one body or work or image.

The deadline is September 11 2009. Full details of how to enter and the criteria are available at this link.

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