Transmitters, Speedway, and a Day in Manchester

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, not least because my laptop is away for repair so all of my photo editing has had to be done on my computer at work. That's not the end of the world, granted, but it does make you appreciate your saved settings in Photoshop a lot more! Anyway, to business...

You know how you have ideas for shoots floating around in your head, but you never quite get around to them?  On a rare sunny Saturday in Stoke a couple of weeks ago, I found myself with a spare hour, so I decided to go and shoot a location that I'd been wanting to shoot for a long time, but never got around to.  The idea was to shoot something that you wouldn't normally consider to be a photogenic location, something that some people may even consider to be a bit of an eyesore, but something that I feel has a strange kind of beauty to it.  The location itself is less than a mile from my house; the Fenton Transmitter.

The Fenton Transmitter is the local signal relay station for television and radio, and in recent years the two masts that stand out on the landscape have been joined by various communication dish arrays.  The compound itself is secured, but there's access to the outside of the compound, and a tallish photographer like myself can peek over the perimeter fence!

For me, the shoot is about seeing the beauty in what we see every day, something functional that has an unconventional beauty to it.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes!

The set of photos from the Fenton Transmitter can be seen on Flick here: Fenton Transmitter photo set.

The day after shooting the Fenton Transmitter, I took the opportunity to do another shoot that I'd been thinking about for some time but never got around to doing:  covering a speedway event.  I travelled along to Loomer Road to photograph the race meet between Stoke Potters and Scunthorpe Saints, and with the 'relaxed' approach to photography at Loomer Road I pretty much had the run of the place when it came to choosing shooting positions.  The only place I didn't venture into was the pit area, which was out of bounds to everyone except the racers and their crews.

For a first attempt at shooting a motorsport, I was fairly happy with how the shots turned out.  Shooting at a higher ISO meant that I was able to use a faster shutter speed but this did give me a noise issue (especially with the laptop being away for repair!)  However, for some races we were graced by the presence of the sun, so a lower ISO was possible for some shots.

Shooting a sporting event is always a challenge, especially when you try to get the extra elements which make the shoot more 'human' - shots of the characters and people that take part in the event.  When your subjects are all wearing crash helmets it can be hard to get shots which have that little bit of personality in them, so sometimes you have to look away from the action to get the shots that you want:

The full set of shots from the race can be seen on Flickr here: Stoke Potters v Scunthorpe Saints Speedway photo set

This past Sunday saw the Great Manchester Run and the Great City Games both taking place in the heart of Manchester.  I was taking part in the Run, but as my group wasn't scheduled to go until lunchtime I was able to get out on the streets and get some photos of the earlier athletes getting ready to run.

The atmosphere of the Run was excellent, and for my own part, I finished the 10k course in 57 minutes and 16 seconds!  Yol took this shot back at the hotel afterwards:

The full set from the Great Manchester Run can be seen on Flickr here: Great Manchester Run 2012

After the Run, I went back out onto the streets to photograph the Great Manchester Games, an international athletics event that takes part on Deansgate and in Albert Square.  Deansgate was the staging point for the race events, with a custom built four lane running track set up for the day:

The crowds were pretty full, so finding a vantage point to shoot from was very tricky.  Shooting over people's heads is always risky, as people tend to move!  But I was still able to get a few shots from the earlier and later events:

In between the earlier and later events, I'd decided that I'd try my luck round in Albert Square for the pole vault competition, and found myself definitely in luck with a great vantage point!  I was able to get myself onto the end of a bench, a mere few metres away from the landing mat, and was able to shoot the action from fairly close up.  Some of the best shots came from the vault-off between Great Britain's Holly Bleasdale and Germany's Lisa Ryzih, with Ryzih claiming the gold.

The full set from the Great City Games can be seen on Flickr here:  Great City Games 2012 photo set

At the moment I'm working on three photo shoot ideas that are being devised and developed, and I'm very excited at the prospect of working with one of my favourite photo buddies, Lauren Freeman.  Watch this space!

Cheers all!

Photography Showreel

For years now, I've been involved in film-making, either in education or as a freelancer. So it's only natural that I'd have a crack at creating a showreel for my photography! Today I put the finishing touches to it (although I'll probably still tinker with it - a wise man once said "a film is never finished, merely abandoned") then uploaded it to my profile on film-sharing website Vimeo. So without further ado, I am pleased to present Photography Showreel 1:

The Showreel can also be viewed in HD on the Vimeo site itself - a direct link to the Vimeo page can be found here: Photography Showreel 1

Thanks for reading, and thanks for watching!

A rant about copyright

Yesterday I posted about the Belfast Giants ice hockey club issuing a press release with one of my photos in it, without asking for permission or giving any credit. After getting in touch with the club, the situation was resolved amicably. Last year I had a similar encounter with Basingstoke Bison using one of my shots of Dave Simms to promote an event that their Supporters Club was hosting, and earlier this year I had a 'discussion' with the Manchester Phoenix's own Supporters Club about using my images without permission.

The bottom line is that the copyright of an image rests with the photographer, unless that copyright has specifically been passed on to another party with the full agreement of the photographer. That's how it's always been, that's how it always should be.

This morning I've encountered another example of how little regard some organisations have for copyright. Luckily this time it's nothing to do with any of my shots, but since it does involve someone's work being taken and used without permission, I've been in touch with the photographer to let them know about it. A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to a news story on the Digital Spy website, about a motorbike rider in the US who is suing BMW after suffering a permanent priaprism (i.e. unfailing erection) following a long ride on one of their bikes. The article itself can be seen on the Digital Spy website here. Here's a quick screengrab:

The story is accompanied by a photograph, and it's this photograph that caught my eye. Underneath it, the caption simply says '© flickr'.

As a Flickr user, I know that Flickr don't hold the copyright to the photos that they host. The copyright remains with the photographers themselves, and each picture page also includes a copyright notice.

In the comments on the article, someone's pointed out that the photo isn't actually of a BMW bike, it's of a Suzuki Bandit, and so a very quick Flickr search later, I'd found this picture by 'chilloutandsmile', aka Frank, from Bochum in Germany. Click the link and you'll see for yourself, it's the same picture as used in the Digital Spy article.

A quick look at the copyright notice on Frank's page shows that this shot is 'all rights reserved'. Which means that permission has to be obtained before using it. So I've posted a comment on the article asking about their use of copyrighted material, and I've posted a comment on Frank's page with a link to the article, asking him if he's aware of his shot being used. Place your bets now as to whether or not Digital Spy bothered to ask him for permission...

Copyright is one of those things that is harder and harder to enforce in a digital age. But the underlying truth of it all is simple: Nobody has the right to simply take someone else's work and repost it for commercial gain in any way, be it to accompany a news article, a press release, an advert, an event promo, anything. Organisations such as Getty Images and Associated Press exist to handle the licencing of images. Photographic Copyright is a very real concern, and yet too many times we are seeing journalists, writers, advertisers, promoters, and web content developers taking the easy route and stealing someone else's work in the hope that nobody really notices. Sticking a '© flickr' notice under a photograph really doesn't cut it!

It is hard enough for photographers to make a living in a world where everyone has access to a digital camera, whether it's a DSRL, a compact, or a phone! The market for images is saturated, Google searches for images are returning multiples of millions of results in many cases. But this saturation is no reason for complacency when it comes to respecting the rights of photographers. Professionalism should be something that all strive to achieve, and the first step to that achievement comes from respect.

UPDATE: Digital Spy have now changed the photo to one supplied by the Rex Features agency:

It's just a pity that they didn't do that in the first place.

Naughty Belfast! But All's Well Now!

This morning, the Belfast Giants announced the signing of former Guildford Flames player Matt Towe, in this press release. Here's a screengrab of it:

The slight wrinkle, as far as I'm concerned, is that the photo they've used looks awfully familiar... Yep, it's one of mine, and I've not been asked for permission to use it.

So I've sent a polite but firm e-mail to the Belfast Giants office asking for either a photo credit or a removal of the picture, and I await their reply...

UPDATE: I've had a very prompt reply from James Glover, Belfast's Design and Marketing Manager, offering an apology and a photo credit, which they've already put in place:

I'm happy with that, all's well that ends well!

Zombie Netball

This past Wednesday was the annual Staff/Student Netball tournament, and we have a tradition that stems back through the ages. Well, a couple of years, anyway! The Staff team like to make a bit of an effort when it comes to sorting out a memorable outfit for the tournament, and this year Liz had chosen the theme of 'zombies'. So, with that in mind, Liz got busy with the face paint, and I got busy with the camera!

The tournament gives the staff and the students the chance to collectively let their hair down and share in an evening of good natured physical violence disguised as sport, and appearance is everything! Liz's handiwork proved to be excellent as usual, with an impressive array of zombies taking to the hardwood for the staff team!

The evening ended with an admirable draw between the staff team and the Level 6 team, with only a small number of injuries and only one hospitalisation (a new record!) More photos can be seen on Flickr here: Zombie Netball

Play-Offs 2012

After the end of the regular hockey season, the EPL closes proceedings with the Play-Offs. The top eight teams in the league are paired up in position order (1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th etc) for the Quarter Finals, a straight home-and-away aggregate competition, with the winning four teams progressing to the Semi Finals. As the Manchester Phoenix finished second, we were drawn against Swindon Wildcats for the Quarter Finals, and as usual I was covering the home game which happened to be the second leg of the tie.

The game ended in a resounding win for the Phoenix, and with the other fixtures going the way they went, the Phoenix found themselves heading to the Semi Finals to face local rivals, the Sheffield Steeldogs... The Semi Finals and Finals take place at the EPL Play-Off Weekend, a two-day bash that takes place in Coventry at the Skydome. It's an experience that I look forward to every year, it's a chance to let your hair down and party with hockey fans from all over the country. Hockey fans traditionally get on well, no matter which team they support, which makes it a fairly unique sport. Sure there's banter between fans during games, but the rivalries play out on the ice and not in the seats! As I wasn't there in an 'official' capacity, I was shooting the games from my seat, with my view partially obscured by the netting. As a result, many of my shots feature a rather fetching diamond pattern on them! But at least they don't detract too much! The first Semi-Final was played between hot favourites, the league winning Guildford Flames, and fourth placers Slough Jets:

Slough came from behind to go against form and book their place in the final. Next up it was the match we'd been waiting for, Manchester Phoenix v Sheffield Steeldogs, and it didn't disappoint! A game with plenty of goals and plenty of aggression, the Phoenix sealed the win on the penalty shootout, with the game having ended with a tied 5-5 scoreline. What a game!

With the final two teams decided, everyone was on the edge of their seats for what promised to be a cracking match. Alas, the Phoenix had very little left in the tank, and the Jets were able to power their way to a Play-Off title. It was a heart-breaking game, but there was still plenty of pride left in the Phoenix blocks.

But aside from the hockey, Play-Off Weekend is about the people. The supporters, the fans, the behind the scenes people, they're the ones who make Play-Off Weekend as enjoyable as it is! I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in the Phoenix Podcast live broadcasts again this year, and I was able to shoot the participants:

Even when you're taking part in a fun weekend, and letting your hair down, mixing with friends and encountering many wonderful characters, the opportunity for shooting a portrait or two is never far away!

The full set of off-ice shots can be seen on Flickr here: Play-Offs 2012 Here's to a productive off-season, and to the start of the 2012-2013 hockey season - woohoo!