Enjoy.

But also speaking of links, here are a few from iTunes which I recently discovered:

Amanpour. – CNN podcast, ‘hosted by CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, taking on the most pressing news and issues.’  Videos produced in 25 minute segments.

BBC Documentaries. – From the BBC world service, offering a wide range of documentaries and factual programmes. (Note, I’m not sure if these BBC documentaries are restricted to UK citizens only).

BBC Global News. – ‘Interviews and on the spot reporting from around the world including highlights from Newshour…’ (Again from the BBC so might be restricted).

The Economist. – Audio content from The Economist magazine, including interviews with journalists and experts on world politics, business, finance, economics, science, technology, culture and the arts.

Martin Parr, a photojournalist who was threatened with arrest after he took pictures of revellers in Liverpool city centre, said: “Unless we do something to stop this trend it will become virtually impossible to take photographs on a British street.”

The British Journal of Photography says it has received a steadily increasing number of complaints this year. Olivier Laurent, the magazine’s news editor, said: “The person will normally be taking a photograph of something perfectly mundane and a police officer will approach them and either claim that they can’t take photos in that particular place or they will ask the photographer to explain what they are up to and record their details.

“Those who refuse to co-operate have been threatened with arrest for either breaching the peace or impeding the public highway. We find that a lot of the time police officers are not even aware of the rules governing photography in a public place.”

Reading the whole article I wonder how long it takes for our Police Officers to be “retrained,” as this has been going on for a while now when Officers abuse the power granted to them by Section 44.  My guess is there is no immediate reason for the time being on “retraining” officers.

I also shot with a polaroid camera.

The images can be found here:

“I will be raising it with the commissioner. I have already written to him about the police taking away cameras and stopping people taking photographs and made the point that if it was not for people taking photos, we would not know about the death of Ian Tomlinson or the woman who was hit by a police officer.”

I wouldn’t put this forward as a good argument from trying to dissuade police officers either.  I’m sure the police don’t want these incidents being recorded either.  What needs to happen is the removal of that particular law, otherwise officers are going to keep abusing it.

Please note, that under UK law, a police officer will need a court order that would legally enable them to delete a person’s images from their camera, it is classed as assault otherwise.  In any case if it is seen as incriminating evidence in the first place, then it shouldn’t be deleted should it?

An article from the Telegraph, the police using stop and search powers against Train spotters. 

A collection of pdf’s informing those in the UK of their rights.  I have also updated the main page regarding photographers rights.

Embedded video from CNN Video

I’m aware I’m just perpetuating this ‘event’ by posting it here for others to view but I think I have to in order to make my point.  Showing you properly how pointless it is and while there might be a loose metaphorical reason by CNN, I still think there are other issues that require more interest.

Source: BAGnewsNotes.

Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything terribly wrong with Olympus, when I bought my E420 with 25mm Leica lens + 12-60mm, I came out on top because the gear was cheaper than the Canon alternatives.  But now the Olympus gear is going on ebay.

Having got to use the Olympus system I found that the size of the system was a bonus and I enjoyed that, though sometimes the E420 was too light when attached to a heavy lens and had a flash mounted on the top (hence the grip).  The speed and menu layout of Olympus’s cameras are great and intuitive as well, the only downside was the lack of DOF, poor iso performance (I never used the E420 past iso 200) and the inability of lenses offered by Olympus to go higher than F2.8 (yes the Leica was f1.4 but in 35mm terms it was equal to f2.8).

One thing I really liked about the Olympus is the wireless flash, it works so well, much better to me than the 5D with the 580 mk2. I’ve been having issues with it in open spaces which wouldn’t faze the FL-36. Shame pity I can’t carry that over with me! I’ve put my gear on ebay for those interested. The links are here for the E420 and the 12-60mm Zuiko.

I was going to keep the 12-60mm because it is a really good piece of glass, I bought it for the 12mm focal length and once I get my hands on the canon 24mm f1.4 L, I won’t ever use it which is a shame.

Not having bought into Olympus I wouldn’t have learned this and I have made some great photos while using it and I have no regrets.  As I said, the E420 with grip, FL-36 and 12-60mm will be on ebay later at some point.