Sometimes when it looks as if someone hasn’t tried, it’s because they haven’t tried.
“Pick a bad photo, apply a vintage effect and write something in helvetica”
See what the Hero of Switzerland means here: heroofswitzerland.blogspot.com/2011/02/graphics-101.html
Thanks to the online photographer for highlighting the PM’s response to an e-petition on photography laws. Currently the law states:
Section 58A makes it an offence to publish, communicate, elicit or attempt to elicit information about any of such persons which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
Which has been mis-used by many police officers to ban members of the public from taking innocent pictures (which I’ve talked about before here: Photography presents a unique problem for law enforcement because it is not illegal).
The response is as useful as the law:
An officer making an arrest under section 58A must reasonably suspect that the information is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
While also stating that:
It is a statutory defence for a person to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for eliciting, publishing or communicating the relevant information.
I’m so glad that’s all cleared up.
For a team away day we’re all given the following task:
bring a screen shot of 3 sites that inspire you for a warm up discussion: 1 information giving site, 1 income generation site, 1 other
Which is something I thought would be worth sharing here. So here are my three:
Information giving
For infomration giving I’ve picked google reader. I refer to it many times a day, have a reader on my phone and use it as my main tool for keeping up to date with the web world and beyond. At last count I subscribe to over 200 feeds and I could never track all those sites without a robust feed reader
Income generation
I shop a lot online, as much as possible. One site I am happy to recommend for their online and offline service is photobox. Their service is quick. Very quick. Place an order in the morning and chances are they’ll be delivered the next day in a hard backed envelope. You can share photos with other people and let other people order copies of your photos, even changing the price so you can make a profit in what is sold. The site has a clean and clear design and is simple to use all that an online shop should be.
Other
For this I picked a section of the London 2012 website. I’ve covered this in an earlier post and my thoughts havn’t changed. It’s still a great example of location based media content. And the time slider gives a great historical view of information too. Winner.
I read a story in September that was quite unbelievable. Mike Mitchell, who writes for the Online Photographer was sent a package from China by a fan of his. But the details involved of how, why, and what are quite remarkable. It gives you a hope for the little things in life, and help you remember that not everyone in the world is an arsehole.
This is a post I started writing a month ago but things have been busy recently. Better late than never…
There’s been quite a few sites and features which have caught my eye over the last few days, so here’s a little summary of what’s stood out for me:
Shiny Shiny’s website of the week combines two of my geeky interests – maps and photography. They’ve uncovered the Map of Strange which collates the unusual findings people make while browsing the aerial photos of Google Earth or Google Maps (or you online satellite imagery site of choice). (more…)
I often read lists of top ten things to do, books to read, films to see. A London focused list of Top Ten Summer Outings on TheOldWorld made me think that my most reliable favorite outing is walking around the city with my camera and photographing whatever takes my interest.
So here’s my Ten places to wonder about, taking photos. I couldn’t put them in an order. (more…)
I like taking pictures and I’m not fussy about what I take pictures of. But I hear more and more about people who are very fussy and claim that it’s against the law. There’s been a few cases recently – The Register have just published a piece on the problems photographers face – having film removed from cameras, memory cards taken, threats to confiscate equipment – which paints a worrying picture. They also follow it up with some useful advice on what the law actually says about taking pictures (So, what can you photograph?).
This issue was raised earlier in the year by The Online Photographer who shows a great clip about restrictions on film and photography, including a film maker being stopped at Oxford Circus by two community support officers and questioned aggressively with no reason what so ever.
And it’s not just in the UK. DCist and The Online photographer both picked up a comical story of the Head of Cumminications of Union Station being stopped from conducting a TV interview. An interview where he was trying to report that there was nothing wrong with filming or taking pictures in the station.
