Indexhibit

I've been playing around with Indexhibit for a few hours and have cobbled together the bare bones of a photography portfolio. It needs a lot more work but I'm pleased with the result so far, after such minimal effort.

I don't know why I didn't look into using Indexhibit sooner. Now maybe I'll never get round to making that new portfolio in Flash. Maybe there's no need?

Something That She Said

A few weeks ago I did a photoshoot with the band Star Chamber (some photos here).

They were a very nice bunch of chaps to work with and, as such, I'm writing this post to support, in some small way, the release of their new EP Something That She Said. It's not the sort of stuff I'd typically listen to, but I really like both tracks.

You can buy the EP (and support their bid to get into the charts) here from TuneTribe.com or here from iTunes.

Night shots from Victoria Peak

Hong Kong, originally uploaded by *ade.

Victoria Peak is a vantage point in the west of Hong Kong island. It's the most popular tourist destination in Hong Kong as the views of the city are spectacular.

Here are my efforts with the camera, taken on the evening of Monday 19th November: View slideshow »   View set »

Also, I've posted one of the photographs at its original high resolution. Depending on your browser, you may need to click on the image to turn off image scaling.

'Most interesting by'

This PHP utility by Isaías González pulls out the most interesting photos by any given Flickr user.

I’ve set up that link with my username, though what it has highlighted is that people seem to like my old photos the best. There are only three photos in that list from 2007 (at the time of writing this).

Now, obviously Flickr’s ‘interestingness’ isn't necessarily a good measure of quality – put something racy, newsworthy or controversial (or indeed a cute kitten) up there and it’s likely that the image will appear in the Explore section before long. But it does tell you whether or not people are looking at and commenting on the photographs.

I’m going to put it down to the fact that I used to spend far more time actually interacting with Flickr than I do now. And a lot of the stuff I’ve been photographing this year has been for some less creative and more commercial purpose.

But my mission is to overthrow every one of the images in that current list. I'm bored of them now!

Moblog

My new mobile photoblog, because I didn't have enough blogs already, right?

New Ventures

After seven years spent in full-time employment in the digital media industry, I'm going freelance again. I actually did a short stint working for myself in 2002 when I first moved to London, though at the time I had very few contacts, and in those days people were, understandably, being rather cautious when it came to investing money online.

But things are different now, and everyone seems to be busy. I certainly have been. So I'm going it alone again. Only this time I'm taking on photography work in addition to the Flash, video and web work. Within a year I aim to have developed the photography side of things to a level that I can get by on that alone. But for the time being I'll be frequenting the digital agencies of London for short-to-medium term project work.

I've still got a few weeks to go at Dare, where I've been since September 2005. It's a company of extremely talented, dedicated and busy people, and so it's no surprise that it's grown as much as it has in the last 18 months. So a big thanks must go to everyone at Dare. The standard excessive after-work drinking session will be arranged soon.

There's much to do in the meantime, starting with updating my CV and portfolio.

If you want to get in touch, you can find me here on LinkedIn or at my website.

News escalation on the web

I’m not going to comment on the story itself because that has been done to death, and the issue appears to have been resolved (at least with Flickr). But the series of events surrounding the alleged theft (and subsequent sale) of photographs from Flickr photographer Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir is a classic example of how the plight of one individual can end up on an international news site such as the BBC.

It started when Rebekka discovered that a company in the UK had been selling prints of her images without her knowledge or consent. In protest, she posted an image on her popular Flickr photostream and outlined her situation in the description.

There was an outpouring of support from the Flickr community who posted comments beneath the image. However, some apparently went to far with their use of language and threats were made toward the company at the centre of the row. Flickr staff subsequently deleted the photo as a result of the threatening comments.

To keep a long story short, suffice to say Rebekka was outraged at Flickr’s response. She posted this photo in protest, and the story was also picked up by blogger Thomas Hawk. This article was also submitted to Digg.com, one of several news sites where the more a story is read and given a ‘thumbs up’ by the reader, the higher up the news listings it moves. Within an hour or so it was on their homepage.

In addition to this, a thread was started on Flickr’s main forum, which again received hundreds of responses, and eventually there was an official response from Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield: “...we screwed up -- and for that I take full responsibility...”.

A couple of days ago I casually mentioned to a friend that this was the sort of thing that would end up on BBC News. This morning it has appeared in their technology section and I’d imagine it will be mentioned at some point on BBC News 24. Quite a lot of exposure starting with one photo on Flickr.

This sort of thing is happening all the time. Web 2.0 (I’m sick of that hearing name, but that’s the umbrella term) empowers the individual like never before. I think this means that companies and corporations need to be more careful with their dodgy dealings. Rather than just one disgruntled individual who is unable to afford a lawyer to deal with, the accused company, Only Dreemin, has been named on an international news website. That’s a whole lot of bad press.

This is a small company, and – I don’t know – they could be ruined by this. The question is, when it comes to larger corporations, do they really care about public opinion?

Cyprus Slideshow (large slides)

Khirokitia, originally uploaded by gridrunner.

View the slideshow »
Browse manually »
 

Agios Sozomenos

Deserted village in Cyprus. More photos »

Cyprus Snaps

Rachael and I went to Cyprus recently. We stayed with a friend of mine. As usual it's taking me forever to sort through the images (I fuss with them) but here's the holiday photos I've sorted out so far, if you're interested:

Condensed Set »
All photos so far »

There are no pissed-up-Brits-in-Ayia-Napa-style cameraphone arse shots, some will be sorry to hear.

New Flickr Features

At long last, Flickr have added the much-requested sets of sets feature. And they've called it Collections. They've also added the ability for members to customise their homepage - you get the choice of showing small or medium photos, and also sets, collections or neither.

I've quickly thrown together some collections to try it out. I'll swap a lot of it around once I've given it more thought.

I like this update especially because I use Flickr for casual cameraphone / pub / night out / holiday photos as well as for more serious photography, and this allows me to further separate and organise the two.

Good stuff!

I’m in ‘Le Cool’

Online magazine Le Cool stumbled across my photography work online and have featured me in their current issue. The cover image is one of mine and there’s a short interview which is linked to from the thumbnail at the bottom of the first page.

See the issue here or read the interview.

Photographers’ Rights

Apparently there are plans to impose restrictions on photography in public places. Simon Taylor has created an E-Petition on the Government's petitions website. To quote:

“There are a number of moves promoting the requirement of 'ID' cards to allow photographers to operate in a public place.

It is a fundamental right of a UK citizen to use a camera in a public place, indeed there is no right to privacy when in a public place.

These moves have developed from paranoia and only promote suspicion towards genuine people following their hobby or profession.”

I couldn't agree more. I'm often approached by ill-informed security people telling me I “can't take photographs here”. No thanks to the government there's a worsening climate of paranoia and, as is usually the case, our freedom is the first victim. Here is the petition:

petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography


*Edit*
Here is a clarification on Simon Taylor's website. Having read further, there is no proposed bill to petition against, though several bodies have proposed an ID card system.

Minutes

This is an idea I had a few weeks ago. I don't know how interesting it'll turn out to be but it costs nothing to have a go so what the heck.

Basically the idea is one minute photographs – shot as video with sound, but set up and framed as still photos. Sound is there to capture some of the ambiance along with each photo – the rain pattering on the window, distant police sirens, the muffled sound of the TV in the next room, whatever. And although the camera is fixed there will also be some movement in the image.

I'm not claiming this is an entirely original idea – directors and cinematographers have been doing this for decades – but I wanted to have a go myself. And to make each clip a standalone unit.

Technically, it's a bit lo-fi: just an off-the-shelf compact digital camera switched to video mode. And the video has been web-compressed. If it proves interesting I'd love to shoot some in a HD video format, and use a proper stereo microphone. But for now, see it as proof of concept.

I've made a blog to post them on: photominutes.blogspot.com. There are three on there at the moment, and I'll post new ones to that blog as they get completed.

Inspiring photos on Flickr

 
 
Photos by rebekka

Note: If you're a Flickr user you probably already know all of this. Though you might still want to check out the links at the bottom.

If you're interested in photography but haven't spent much time browsing Flickr I urge you to do so. Among all the fuzzy shots of people's nights at the pub are some really great photographs.

A good place to start is the Explore page. Each time you refresh that page you'll get a different selection of the most 'interesting' shots from the last seven days. If you find a photo you really like click on the user's name and explore their photo sets. Then see who they have as a contact and check out their photos too. Before long you're bound to find some fantastic photographers.

One of Flickr's best known photographers is Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir from Iceland. The four photos at the top of this post are from her portfolio.

Here are a few more of my favourite Flickr photographers:

wiseacre photo
helveticaneue
cymagen
sam.d
p@ranoid
razorbern

And here's a link to my favourite shots from various Flickr users.

new toy

new toy, originally uploaded by gridrunner.

I'm taking some press shots for a dance music producer on Saturday, which seemed the perfect excuse to get something I'd been thinking of buying for a while: a proper flash gun.

I've just spent a couple of hours going through the manual and trying a few things out. The conclusion: it's absolutely fantastic.

Canon make some very clever stuff.

Night Bus

another night bus photo, originally uploaded by gridrunner.

Robot

Kinder, originally uploaded by gridrunner.

From my Christmas Kinder Egg. Thanks Mum!

Bank

Bank, originally uploaded by gridrunner.

I was taking pictures like some kind of crazed fool that evening, after being reunited with my trusty old Ixus 50. I threw away 90% of the photos. This one survived.