Coming To A Screen Near You

I've decided to set up a YouTube channel to showcase more of my work. It will show everything from portraiture to cityscapes.

Writing blogs and putting photos on Flickr is great, but you can only do so much, so I think that a YouTube channel will add an extra dimension and will allow me to showcase more of my work.

Here's the first video:

I'll be adding more soon, as I've got some more food photography and game photographs to put into a video although not together obviously!

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Buy My Work!

I've decided to sell my non-hockey shots, I can't sell the hockey shots due to an agreement with the club which is fair enough.

Anyway, my lovely boyfriend pointed out a website where people could make personalised cards and wall art. The website allowed people to upload their own photos or art work to be used for these cards or pictures. It turned out that you could go on there, set-up a portfolio and sell your work. So that's what I'm doing, right now there aren't any hockey shots on there but I have a few none Phoenix ones that I can put up there.

So if you're looking for the perfect picture for you kitchen or a card for someone and you can't quite find the right photograph, try here:

http://www.mydoodle.com/u/R%C3%A4i

Speaking of my other half, he completed his charity walk from Altrincham to Coventry last Friday and they're still looking for donations. The money they raise goes towards the Manchester Phoenix Community Sports Foundation and Stick 'n' Step.

The MPCSF helps introduce and bring sport to underprivileged and disable children through out the North-West of England. While Stick 'n' Step provides free education and support to children with Cerebral Palsy and their families and carers.

You don't have to donate a lot, because as they say...a little goes a long way.

If you'd like to donate, please follow the link below:

http://www.everyclick.com/charitywalk


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Hockey On A Sledge

The Phoenix club this season have set up both a women's team, and a sledge team, and I was asked a couple of weeks ago to photograph both teams during training for the MPCSF website. 

The sledge hockey training is no problem, but when it comes to the woman's team...well, it would be kind of hard to photograph and train at the same time. I could have photographed the woman's team earlier in the month when I was out for a week after getting a head hit and a virus, but I was banned from training by the coach!

The sledge team is made up of both able and disabled. The Phoenix team have a few GB team members on the squad too.

Players sit in a sledge and use their stick to move themselves along the ice. Sledge hockey is also full body checking too, and sometimes it can get really rough out there!

The head coach of both teams, Pete, and one of the sledge players, Steve, are doing a 100-mile walk from Altrincham ice rink to Coventry ice rink. This is all in aid of the MPCSF and a charity called Stick n' Step. They're doing it over a week.

The Manchester Phoenix Community Sports Foundation helps introduce sport to disabled and underprivileged children in the North West. While Stick n' Step provide free education and support to children with cerebral palsy, along with their families and careers.
If you would like to donate, it doesn't have to be a lot...as they say, a little goes a long way, you can donate here:
www.everyclick.com/charitywalk 

If you could share it, that would be great too.

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Second Instalment

The second instalment of the project started back in 2012 is here!

The recipe book for Cooking With The Phoenix is now out and available to buy.

The book took some putting together! We had to get the whole team to tell us two things that they like eat. It could have been something their mum made, they make themselves or something that they always order when eating out.

The only problem we had was that quite a few of the team liked steak, and they liked to eat steak with some form of sweet potato, so a number of steak suggestions dropped into my inbox. Obviously we told them they had to pick something else otherwise it would turn out to be a book about how to cook steak in many different ways.

As well as researching the recipes that the team had sent in, I photographed finished meals and individual ingredients. This was a new challenge, I'd never really photographed food before and I was having to think about how to light it to make it more interesting.

The most challenging food to photograph was chocolate pudding with thick chocolate sauce. I had to try and light it so that the sauce didn't look fake or have too many hot spots. I managed to do it, just! The results of which can be seen in book.

The recipe book is packed with sweet and savoury recipes.from white chocolate cheesecake to traditional Czech dishes like Pečená kachna. It is jam packed and well worth a look! I've made a handful of recipes from the book so far, and all of them have been delicious!!
So pop on down to the White Magic Shop and buy your copy today for only £8 and cook like your favourite Phoenix players!

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Three Things

Thing One

At the end of January I had to fly solo for a game, as Richard and Yolanda were attending a close friend's birthday party.

Being a lone photographer for a team is nothing new to me. I was solo all last season with a different team, so I knew the crack and what to expect. I wouldn't be able to cover everything that happened in the game, I'd just have to hope I'd get lucky and the goals and other action would happen where I was.

I did forget that there is a certain pressure to being the only photographer. If you get it wrong, you can't fall back on the other members of the team. There's just you. You and what you have on your memory card. So I did worry my camera would through a wobbler and I'd end up with hardly anything, or nothing at all!

Luckily, I stood in the right places at the right time. Normally in the third I'm in the home end, but that game I went to the away end and was right to do so. Two fights happened. The first to drop the gloves was Andy, the second was Ondrej.

Another thing to come out of that game was the photo of Andy got printed in the M.E.N, which is my first published photograph (that I've seen for myself!).

Thing Two

I made my first trip to an away game at the beginning of the month, which didn't go unnoticed by one of the players who commented, "This is your first away game this season, what has taken you so long?"
It is a good point. The team I photographed for last year was 80+ miles away and sometimes I was there 3 times in a week, so I'm just done with long journeys. Done! But I made this one because it was the first leg of the semi-final of the Challenge Cup.

Thing Three

Last year, I wrote about the new team calendar and how it was a two part project.



Well, the second part of this project is on its way! I'm not sure when or what day it is due out, but I can tell you the second part is a recipe book.
I got sent the food ideas from the boys and researched them, and then did a bit of food photography. I'm not a natural when it comes to food photography but I gave it my best shot and I hope everyone likes it.

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Smoke And Ice

A couple of games ago, my photo buddy Richard Allan wrangled us onto the ice pre-puck drop. We were going to photograph the guys charging onto the ice as their names were shouted out after the intro video.

The only problem I have with this is that my camera doesn't like low light and shooting through the smoke. My camera is slowly crapping out on me, like the last one which isn't fun. So, I decided to give another camera a whirl.

The other camera, which belongs to my dad, is a Lumix G3. It is a mirror-less DSLR, which I'm not really a fan of. The camera is too small and I don't like what I see through the view finder, but I'll pass that aside for the fact that it can shoot in low light just great! So along with that I was using a fixed focal lens of 45mm which stopped down to F/1.8.

Before we hit the ice, I gave it a try:

It seemed okay, but when they turned the lights out and the lad on the smoke machine got going....how good was it going to be? Well, there was only one way I was going to find out.

The lights went out, the music played and then the boy on the smoke machine got a bit trigger happy. It looks nice, don't get me wrong, but it is like photographing through fog. It is annoying during the first period, you end up with hardly anything!

ANYWAY.....back to shooting.

It was a bit hit and miss, as the boys move so fast when leaping out onto the ice and it is so dark...and you have the smoke to contend with. So with all these factors, your camera has a pretty mean job of focusing and shooting fast to get the images you want.

I missed a couple of the guys coming through the smoke out onto the ice because every now and then the camera struggled to focus, which is no worry as long as you get some of the other boys stepping out.

Some of the photos I had on the memory card were just the empty door, no players. There's a skill to it, you have to know your camera, what it does and how the settings you choose will affect the final image. Your basic settings, aperture, ISO and shutter speed are all interrelated. So how you set one will affect the others.

I am pleased with images I captured. The first of Luke Boothroyd being the best out of them all...I would like to try again without a fixed focal lens, so I could zoom in that little bit closer. However, I wouldn't be able to use my own camera due to the reasons stated above.

Although, having said that, these shots give me an idea for a photo shoot.



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Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

So the weather has gone a bit crazy. The back end of last week it started to snow, it never snows over here but when the east coast of America gets snow....we get it 5-7 days later.

Of course, over here when it snows everything stops. People act like it is the apocalypse, and all act surprised that it is snowing in winter. To think! Snow in January, who would have thought it?

I don't get what the big deal is. Be prepared! Be careful, don't drive like a loon box and dress properly. I never see or hear Canada or Norway making this much fuss. It is snow, try to enjoy it!

I took the dog for a walk in the snow and diverted to the back trail which cuts through the forest and took my camera along. I'm no landscape photographer, far from it. But when it snows, it makes the place look so pretty, so much better!
So I thought I'd have a crack at some 'snow-scape' photography.

After padding through the forest we took a detour into the local nature reserve. Back in the 1930s through the 40s it was used to test bombs for the war, which was convenient seeing as across the road were the bunkers where the bombs were stored.
There are a few ponds in the reserve, we stumbled upon one that was frozen over. It was very nice. Although I couldn't help but wonder if the pond was created because there was hole too big to fill which was left by a bomb.

I don't think the pond would have been much good for hockey though! It was too small, and the ice was probably not thick enough either.





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Test Shoot, Photographing a Photographer and Jessops

Test Shoot

So! Last week I went down to sunny Staffordshire to meet up with my photo buddy, Richard Allan. We were going to do a test shoot for a photo session that I'll eventually end up doing with the team.

While writing an essay at university, I was researching a photographer and their work, and I saw a couple of photographs that I thought the fans would like.....and the hopefully, the boys would like too! These photos will be different from anything either set have seen before, and its technically the most difficult shoot we'll probably ever do.

Having been taught like a Canadian, I deconstructed the images and came up with a plan of how I thought the photographs had been taken. So, Richard and I set about putting my theory into practise. After about an hour and a half, maybe two, we'd tried two different methods of capturing similar images. We came to the conclusion that there was a very large possibility that the final image was a photo shop job, as we couldn't quite get it like in the original image. I mean, I don't think you'll ever take a photo and get it 100% bob on, you can get very very close though.
The important thing was, we had the test shots in the bag. We'd taken the original images and made them our own.

We should be getting underway taking them later this month....hopefully.

Photographing a Photographer

After completing the test shoot, I photographed Richard in his hockey gear. Richard plays for the Blackburn Buccaneers, a recreational hockey team. We set-up the lights and the backdrop and away we went!

It is always nice photographing some you know, someone you're friends with. I find you have more to talk about, and it's more relaxed. That's something we don't when photographing the players. It's normally an hour (or maybe less) before warm-up, and the rink is full of the general public and the 'DJ' is playing some god awful music way too loud....so even if we wanted to talk to the boys we were photographing they couldn't hear us anyway!

When shooting someone you know, you can play around a bit more with the kind of images you want to capture. If something goes wrong you can take the time to figure out what and why, instead of doing a quick fix so the boys can be on their way pronto.

I thought Richard was an excellent model, even if I did have to stand on a chair for some of the shoot!

Jessops

As I type this, it has just been announced that photography chain store Jessops has gone into administration.

Yes, it is sad because of all the staff could potentially lose their jobs. But this is what happens when stores fail to diversify quick enough, and what happens when large supermarkets like Tesco and Asda start their own photo services.

Jessops have had to diversify into photo gifts because Tesco and Asda sell photo gifts. But those supermarkets are cheaper than Jessops and more convenient, you put your photos in for an hour and then go and do your shopping and pick them up on your way out. You can also go on about online retailers too, they're pretty convenient too and probably a lot cheaper.

While I don't use Jessops, I buy anything photography related online from other retailers, it would be sad to see it go. Not just because when you start out in photography, its a first call. But because, once Jessops, a shop dedicated to photography, where else can you go to see what you're thinking of buying? Places like Asda, Tesco and PC World only carried a limited stock of cameras and photography equipment, they aren't specialised retailers at all.


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Orphan Works: How Will This Effect Your Copyright?

According to the Copyright office orphan works are where the owner of a copyrighted work can't be traced or identified.

Both America and the UK are looking at revising copyright laws that involve these so called orphan works, that will allow them to be freely copied and merchandised providing a diligent good faith search has been made.

However, it is very easy to remove the extif information from digital images lifted from the internet. the extif data is the digital tag that can be placed on a photograph to identify you as the owner and contains your copyright statement.
It was reported in the magazine "Photo Pro" that advertisers and publishers are increasingly obtaining images from non-traditional sources, such as Flickr.

The Berne Convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic works was signed in 1886 by the then leading industrial countries. This convention is now applied across most countries of the world. But the United States and the UK are looking at the legislation covering orphan works which could cause confusion and a reduction in protection should the changes become law.

Currently the responsibility is placed on the prospective user of an image to preform a diligent good faith search to trace the copyright owner before using that image. Even if a search has been made and have documentary evidence of the search preformed, you could still be subject to legal action if the copyright owner makes themselves known.

To make things more complicated, America has made a modification to their copyright laws that got rid of the need to use the copyright symbol or copyright notice for all works published after 1st March 1998. This change made users assume that all works marked or unmarked are unprotected by copyright law. The US Congress also changed the Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended copyright protection for a large amount of works that were soon to enter the public domain. When images are classed as within the public domain they can be used without copyright permission.

The proposed changes in the US still requires a diligent search but it has greatly reduced the amount of damages awarded for infringement of copyright. The infringer still has to pay a reasonable sum of money to compensate the copyright owner of the image. This has opened loop-holes proving what reasonable compensation would be.
The proposed legislation gives immunity to non-profit organisations like museums, libraries, public broadcasting companies and schools. Providing those organisations stop using the image after receiving notice from the copyright owner no action can be taken against them.

Within the proposed law it is up to the copyright owner to register their copyrights to prevent their work being declared orphaned. This is not to gain a copyright but to prevent the work from being deemed orphaned.

The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 was voted in by the American Senate, Senate bill 2913. This act has since gone onto The House of Representatives, House bill 5889, named "The Orphaned Works Acts of 2008". The difference between the Senate and House version of this act is that it requires anyone who is trying to avoid copyright infringement must file a Notice of Use on a work they deem to be orphaned. This notice must be filed with the copyright office before use.

In the UK the government's treasury department conducted a review into intellectual property law and included two recommendations for orphaned works:

1. The intellectual property office in the UK should publish guide lines to highlight what and in-depth search is.
2. The UK IPO should make a voluntary register for copyright.

These recommendations were made in 2006 and so far nothing has happened. According to the Intellectual Property Office work to identify what action constitutes a good faith search has been undertaken in Europe under the 2010 European Digital Libraries. On the 4th June 2008, a set of due diligence guidelines were published by the European Commission.

Scale Of The Problem

Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont and Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah requested a report on Orphaned Works from the US Copyright Office. The report which was released in January 2006 concluded that there is a need to address the issue of Orphaned Work but could not provide evidence of how often the situation involving Orphaned Works occurred. The report gathered evidence from a number of universities. Sara Thomas, university librarian for the University of Cornell, said that they had a collection of 350,000 unpublished photographs that they would like to make available but only 1% have any indication as to who owns the copyright to those photos. Brian E.C. Shottlaender, university librarian for the University of California, San Diego, has more than 100,000 photographs in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography archives, of which only 4000 are available online because they are unable to find the copyright owners. The Oceanography archive is the only one of eleven libraries accessible over the internet.
So it is understandable where the immunity clause in the proposed bill came from.

Potential Solution

The Canadians have their own solution to the use of orphaned works. The Canadian Copyright Board examines the search made by users to ensure it has been diligent and been carried out in good faith. If satisfied the Board issues a none exclusive copyright license, including a licensing fee. The fee is held by the Canadian Copyright licensing agency. If the copyright has not been traced within five years of the license being issued, the collecting agency is permitted to use the fee for the benefit of its general membership. However, the arrangement only operates in Canada for Canadian copyright holders.

This solution to orphaned works does not breech the fundamental rules of copyright ownership stated in the Berne rules. In particular the part of the Berne rules that state copyright ownership must be automatic and must not, therefore, involve registration.

Registration is the biggest core difference between the Canadian model and the proposed recommended changes in the US and the UK copyright law. If artists are required to register their work to prevent them from being deemed orphaned, it would create a great administrative burden. Not only would artists have to register every image there would no doubt be a charge or registration fee. Photographers, illustrators, graphic artists, designers and print makers can produce large amounts of work in a short period of time. So to register each piece of work would take up large amounts of time and to pay for each piece of work would be too costly.

Taking steps to identify your images and the public domain

Identifying your images can be accomplished by using the metadata in your image file and / or adding a branded frame or watermark to your images. This metadata us embedded within the image file, the data can contain not only your name but your contact details.

Even though an image is viewable by the public on the internet it is still not in the public domain in the copyright sense. Public domain defined by copyright means that the copyright has expired on the image or the image was never eligible for copyright in the first place.

Conclusion

As the bill regarding orphaned works is still under review in the House of Representatives in the United States of America and still under review in the United Kingdom, it is hard to know what the final legislation will be concerning on this matter. Whatever the final outcome, photographers and those in the graphic / visual arts, will need to be aware this legislation as it will impact on the way copyrights are enforced.

Probably, the most sensible way to deal with the problem of orphaned works is to adopt a similar system to the Canadians. This is because they only issue a license to the user once they are satisfied that a due diligent search has taken place. This would prevent users from declaring works as orphaned prematurely and without carrying out a diligent search. They also charge a fee for the granting of that license and this will be held in trust for the copyright holder for five years.


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Patience In Game

Patience is a virtue, especially in photography.

Every photographer has a list of shots they want to get, and they'll try every game to get that shot. You can try all game and never get it....you can try all month to get that perfect shot and never get it, you can try all seasons for that one perfect picture. Sometimes on a rare occasion you can get it exactly the way you want it, they way you see it in your head, other times you have to settle for what is on your memory card. You can't control the game, the passes, the plays, the goals or the fights. You have to take what comes your way.

The shots I try to get every game are goal photos. The team can be knocking them in like there's no tomorrow and I don't get one. Last night I missed the first four and a good slice of the rest too. But the ones I got turned out:

A lot of other photographers really like to get the fights. I'm not really fussed about a fight, its not on the top of my list but if it happens I'll take it. They don't necessarily make the best images, especially when a fight is more like a love-in. A large slice of the fights I've seen have so far this season have been more of a hugging session than fists flying. If you have an image in mind these fights mean you have to wait a bit long for that photo you want. However, get a "real" fight and you have to contend with other players and the officials getting in the way and spoiling the images you get.

But the Holy Grail of all hockey photography, that you have to be most patient for, is the team you photograph for lifting meaningful sliver wear. You might have to wait all season and you might not be rewarded, but if you're team is the team you take as much as you can.....line-up those shots you have in mind and snap away.

It doesn't matter what league or country you're in, or what language you speak. Take your colours off and you're list of "most wanted shots" will be very similar. They'll no doubt tell you the same thing: patience is a virtue, wait long enough and you'll be rewarded.


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Out now!

Out now, available to buy from the White Magic Shop is a calendar containing all of my photography.

Well, when I say all......I mean some of the photography I've done for the "Cooking with the Phoenix" project, and the poster / studio shots of the players.

The calendar is the first part of a two part project. The second part, a recipe book, is due to be released in the new year.

The front cover of the calendar was actually a test shot!

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To Photograph or Not To Photograph...

It doesn't matter what sport you photograph, and sometimes it doesn't matter what genre of photography you're taking part in either, but there might come a time when you will stop and ask yourself: "Should I photograph this?"

Take this as an example: about a month ago, one of the team who plays on the D was taken out from behind. He hit the ice and lay there for some time. He was down and he was hurt. I didn't photograph it. Would you?

Or how about what happened to Richard Zednik? Back in 2008 he had his carotid artery cut open. They were down in the corner grinding it out when his team mate, Olli Jokinen, was up ended and Jokinen's skate blade made contact with Zednik's neck. He bled profusely. The carotid artery is a major artery in your neck; it takes blood to the brain. It could have killed him if not for the quick actions of the medical staff. Would you photograph that?

There is no right answer on whether you should or should not photograph a player or an athlete in pain or having had a serious accident. It is all down to your own personal ethics and morals. What you might photograph, another photographer may not. If you're working freelance then that's fine, but when you're working for a newspaper or a stock library you'll have to follow their ethical code of conduct whether you like it or not. Getty Images clearly state that:

                                    "No staff member shall let their personal opinions influence the coverage of stories or events" (Getty Images, 2012)

Newspapers and stock libraries work on a utilitarianism approach to photography. This means that they would, and did, print photographs of what happened to Richard Zednik. Just like they printed photographs of the crashes that killed Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. Basically, utilitarianism is the belief that everyone has a right to know and that it is for the greater good of humanity.

These photographs can often be printed and published at the expense of those involved and their at the expense of their families, causing more grief and pain.

Yes, people have a right to know about what happens in the world, whether it be sport, war or crime. But should they really be viewing images of other people bleeding and in pain? Or images that depict the last few seconds or minutes of someone else's life? Surely these should be private moments, or as private as they can be.

Back in the 1980s a newspaper on the east coast of the USA printed a photograph of a dead boy in the arms of a man. The boy had drowned. While there where around 30,000 complaints about the image being printed in the paper, death by drowning saw a sharp drop in the three months that followed.

While a lot of people don't like viewing images of others in pain etc. they still look at them because it’s morbid introspection. This is an interest of all things morbid. A good example of this is when there has been a crash on the opposite side of the motorway. People slowdown in order to get a better look at what has happened. It’s a basic instinct, to look at what has befallen others, a kind of "if I look at it, it can't happen to me".

We all do it, not slowing down on a motorway to see the carnage of a crash, but watching TV or looking at photographs and exclaiming, "Oh! I can't look, it’s awful!” But you don't look away; you carry on looking, because you're curious.....because if you look it won't happen to you. Everyone takes part in morbid introspection whether they admit it or not.

The other side of utilitarianism is absolutism. Absolutists believe that everyone has a right to privacy and you shouldn't take or publish images of people in pain, dying or dead. They believe it is immoral.

Some photographers fall back onto what they call the 'golden rule'. The golden rule is basically 'treat others how you yourself would want to be treated'.

One of the lecturers at university said another way of deciding whether you should take an image or not is to ask yourself if you would do it in front of your mother. If the answer is no, then don't do it!

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to a subject like this. It’s a bit of a grey area. It’s down to you and what you believe.  Everybody has different ethics, everybody believes something different.

So where do I stand? Well, I believe it’s wrong to photograph players that are in pain or that are bleeding, regardless of what team they play for.

Going back to the d-man who was taken out from behind, I stood on the stairs and watched him on the ice in obvious pain. I then watched fans get up and walk to the plexi so they could get a better look at him. It really annoyed me, they saw the poor lad go down and seeing that wasn't good enough for them. They needed to see the aftermath. While it annoyed me greatly, I knew that it was morbid introspection. The player who committed the offence didn't get sent off, or even receive a penalty which I found rather disgusting.

If I have images on my memory card of a players getting hurt, I look carefully at each image while I decide whether to keep them or not. I'll generally keep the images that lead up to the incident happening and then delete the ones that show the accident and what happened after.

Some players quite like having photographs of themselves getting hurt; they like to see what happened for themselves and not go on an account from team mates. Unfortunately for them, they won't be seeing anything like that from me.

Twitter: @RaiPekkanen
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Related Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20616635

Bibliography

Getty Images (2012) Editorial Policy [Online] Available from <http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/corporate/editorialpolicy.aspx> [30 November 2012]

Pop!

So I took a photo during the game of Czech defence man, Ondrej Pozivil, and I looked at it and thought: "Ooo - not very good, but lets see what black and white does."

So I tried turning it black and white. It looked good, I liked it. But I thought there was something more I could do with it. So, I popped some colour!

Here's the finished picture, which I happen to really quite like:

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What's in a name?

Evey hockey team has one. Some teams have more than one guy on their roster that can be classed as one.

Sometimes it appears, that some fans, have forgotten what these men are used for.

So what exactly am I talking about? I'm talking about the Sean Averys, the Dave Semenkos and the Steve MacIntryes of a team. The enforcers, aggressors, instigators, agitators, and my least favourite word of them all, goons.

Most likely hitting the 6 foot something mark, and more often than not built like a brick shit house, these guys have two things in mind when it comes to playing the game. Firstly, to play the game and hopefully win, and secondly, to protect his team. Sometimes, they have other things on their agenda like generally getting under the skin of the opposition.

These guys aren't meant to be all fluffy and cuddly. No. Cross the line and they'll smack that smile clean off your face with one easy swipe of their giant bear paw.

Hockey fans everywhere have, at one time or another, bad mouthed the other team's tough guy. While I too am guilty of this, I like many hockey fans out there understand why these big, strong, powerful guys play like they do.

But what exactly do these adjectives actually mean? Well, lets take a look....

Enforcer:
1) To impose obedience as by force
2) One whose job it is to execute unpleasant tasks for a superior

Aggressor:
1) A confident assertive person who acts as an instigator
2) Someone who attacks

Instigator:
1) To urge onto some drastic or inadvisable action
2) Someone who deliberately foments trouble

Agitator:
1) One who agitates
2) To excite, disturb, or trouble a person, the mind or feelings

So, the next time these guys drop n' sock you can sit there and think, "Yep, it's all in the name."

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Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en! 

Copyright FYI

It seems like a large slice of people either don't know about copyright in terms of photography, or they simply just don't care. Perhaps in some cases it's a bit of both.
But in case you fall into the category of "don't know", here are a few things you need to know:

• Copyright is the exclusive right given to a photographer for an original piece of work.
• When a photographer takes a photo, copyright is automatic. Photographers don't have to register for copyright but it does help when trying to prove the images are indeed theirs.
• The photographer has the legal right to decided how their images are distributed, reproduced and copied.
• In the UK, photographs are protected abroad by the fact that the UK are a member of several international conventions.
• If you use a photographer's work without their permission first, they could seek legal advice. Criminal charges won't be brought against you as copyright infringement is not a criminal offence but is a civil offence.
• It seems odd, but even storing photographs on your computer amounts to copyright infringement. Even if you're just going to use it as your wallpaper on the desktop, it is still infringing copyright. 
• Copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the photographer.

So now you know the basics, what about editing photos that aren't yours? Are there rules about that? Well....

• Only the photographer, or those who own the copyright to the image or images, can edit or manipulate them.
• If you edit or manipulate a photograph and say it is your work, you've still infringed copyright law.
• You must get permission from the legal copyright owner of the photograph before making any changes to it.

There you have it. A basic run down of copyright law. So next time you save a photo to your hard drive and think about distributing it or manipulating it.....just think about this blog.





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Food Glorious Food

There are only two things in this world that I'm half decent at: Photography and cooking.

While every week I have a camera in my hand for hours on end, I don't very often have a whisk or other such cooking implement in my hand. Cooking, or baking, is something that only happens every now and then.

This week after a conversation about food, I ended up making two different types of cookies that actually turned out to be more cake like biscuits. They were cranberry and white chocolate and apple and oatmeal. They seemed to go down very well at the rink on Sunday when I took them in, so the fact that they went a bit wrong doesn't really matter. I went out with nearly 30 and back with just 3.

I do like a bit of cooking. I enjoy making things that are not of this country. So when I do cook, I make things like Moroccan fish and chips, Swedish potato gratin, Aardsppeltaart (Belgian potato tart) or Italian pea and herb risotto. I once made Oravska pochutka, which is a Slovakian style sausage and potato casserole which mainly seemed to be made up of sauerkraut.

Obviously, I like making sweet things too. Cheesecake is what I really to make, not the type that you leave to set in the fridge, but the baked kind. The last one I made was New York style, I'm not sure what made it American. Another American dessert I've made in the past has been Grasshopper Pie, called so because of the green food colour added to it.
I've made various other things too like Boterkoek (Dutch butter cake), Appelkoek (Dutch apple cake) and Koggetjes (Amsterdam caramel cookies).

I tend not to make cakes, not even for birthdays. Instead I make other sweet treats. This year I made a Scandinavian tea ring for my mum, and a Tarte aux pommes a la Normande (Normandy apple tart) for my dad.

What I really love to make is bread. I could make a new loaf of bread every week! So far I've made:

• Rugbrød, Scandinavian rye bread
• Jarlsberg vri brød, Jarlsberg twist bread. Jarlsberg is a Norwegian cheese.
• Pan rustico, rustic Spanish bread. When making this you have to leave the yeast to ferment for 24 hours.
• Kartoffelbrot, German potato bread

There are a few other breads that I really want to make. One of which is 'slow bread', this is a bread that is left to rise for 48 hours in a cool place.

No doubt when I make any more sweet things or breads I'll break my camera out and have another go at food photography.

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Photo Fright

Before I do a photo shoot of any kind, especially an important one, I get "photo fright". I guess you could call it the photography equivalent of stage fright. Today was no exception to this.

I was photographing something rather important and that lots of people will see. I started to get nervous and worked up over it last night. I didn't have the back up of one of the other photographers. It would be just me. On my own. Photographing something important. Oh dear.

I started to feel all nervous and a bit sick. I fear that something will go wrong and I won't be able to rectify it there and then, and quickly, or I'll take the photo and it'll be awful! It'll be out of focus and soft, or just wrong. Basically, I'll be made out to be a bit of a fraud!

Today while I was waiting for the boys to get ready, I sat and worked out my settings. I sat with the lens open so that the 'live' image was on my LCD screen. I took a few test shots. They weren't of anything in particular, just whatever my camera was in front of. I knew that the settings would differ a little out on the ice, but if I could get it there or thereabouts then I'd be good to go.

I tried a few different combinations before settling on the ISO, F stop and exposure I thought would be right. Problem was, the shutter was a bit slow, but not to worry, I'd brought and mounted my camera on a tripod and brought along my USB remote. Although the guys would have to stand near stock still when were taking the photos (they did).

Turns out, I'm pretty pleased with the final images I captured. If anything I'm a little proud of myself for taking them. I just hope everyone else likes them too!

How To Photograph A Foreign Player

I've photographed many hockey players in the last four years, and a good slice of them have been foreign. So I've had to come up with ways of getting around the fact that my first language, might be their second or third. There could also be the possibility that they might not speak your language at all, or if they do, they only speak the basics.

The main thing to remember is that they may not be natural linguists, they're not stupid, not by any means. They just don't grasp a language as well as one of their team mates do. It isn't a big deal. It's just a language barrier, that's all, so no shouting at them. It really annoys me when I see or hear people yelling loudly and slowly at players....or foreigners in general. Stop it.

These are the main rules I stick to, and if I'm honest, it's plain common sense:

1) Always have a small sketch or drawing on hand.

This is even helpful with players who speak perfectly fluently. Sometimes I find it hard to articulate what I want, the image I see in my mind, so a sketch get my point across perfectly.

2) If you're doing something a bit repetitive like head shots, showing them the previous image will get across what you want.

3) This is a habit I picked up at the last team I was with. When I was taking photos for the MVP at the end of the game, I found it easier to give the player a thumbs up when I'd finished taking the picture. This didn't just help with the guys who couldn't speak the lingo, but with the guys who could too. It's an easy way of saying "all done, you can go".

4) Don't give them too many instructions or directions. The more directions you give, the more likely they are going to misunderstand what you want them to do. You need to make sure you don't use any jargon or complex words or language either. Above all, the best way to give instructions or directions is to give an example of what you want them to do.

This next one isn't on my list, but if you can, you should try to build a rapport with the players. Sometimes this can be difficult as you may only get to photograph games or official events. But a rapport can sometimes do wonders. Players can be more forthcoming during shoots, suggesting ideas of their own. They might also be more receptive to different photographic ideas too. Most of all, remember their names. It sounds completely obvious but it helps create a good rapport.

All of these rules or guidelines are probably blinding obvious, and are plain common sense. However, when you first start out photographing people one-on-one, even those who's native language is your own, you can find yourself spending ages explaining what you want, and sometimes going over it again and again. By bearing all of this in mind it will give you confidence and your photo shoots are more likely to run smoothly.

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Camera Snobbery

I dip in and out of photographing ice hockey. I've been a photographer for two different teams in three years.

Anyway, the other weekend I at the rink and the opposing team had brought their photographer along. That's no big deal, it happens every now and then, not a lot but it happens.
After warm-up we're stood under the stairwell and my buddy, who also photographs for the team, says to the guy, "We were admiring your camera before." The guy then goes on about how much his camera set him back, about  €1,885, because it's a Nikon and Nikon are the greatest thing since slice bread. He then asks what cameras we use, my friend says he uses a Nikon too, which gets the response: "Good man!". When he asked me I said I use an Olympus and the guy booed me, he actually booed me. He'd of wet his pants if I'd have said I used a Leica or a Hasselblad.

Now, I'm not saying Nikon are bad cameras. They're not, they're very good. But I don't see what the big deal is. It's a bit like Canon too. People get a bit worked up about them too. It seems that they're the only brand of camera worth having. Don't have one? Poor you, you must feel so bad.

Its camera snobbery and it needs to stop! Don't judge me or anyone else on the brand of camera used, but on the photographs taken. Judge the photographer and the photographs.

I use an Olympus because I was given one as an 18th birthday present, and it came with two lenses. When I chose to buy a new D-SLR body, I bought another Olympus because I didn't want to buy new lenses to go with it.

Olympus is just fine. Their cameras take photographs just like every other brand. And didn't David Bailey used to endorse or promote Olympus back in the 80's/90's, which coined the catchphrase "Who do you think you are, David Bailey?".

Enough of the camera snobbery. It doesn't matter if you can with Canon, you are a Nikon or shoot with something else. What matters, and what counts, are the photographs you take. You can have the greatest kit in the world, but if you don't take great photos, then it doesn't really count for much does it?