Getting That Buzz!

When I tell people that I'm a photographer, I get asked what kind, and I explain that I'm freelance and don't have a set area that I work in. Living in a city gives me availability to photograph streets, buildings, people and events, but I also get out into the countryside which opens up into a whole new world of things to photograph.

There are plenty of interesting buildings and anchient ruins to photograph as well as beautiful landscapes and rivers to follow. You also have the different times of the day and weather conditions that can change a view to something new and interesting that maybe you've not photographed before. This could be said of the different seasons, which can change a city view but not as much the countryside.

I have this thing of looking at Google maps and choosing an area to go an explore by car, I would. Love to be able to ramble across fields and woods, but my chair and muscles just can't cope with that side of photographing in the countryside. But I don't let that stop me from exploring in my own and in my own unique way.

When I've found an area of interest, then I drive around in circles at times and choose a lane that takes my fancy and then drive to the end of it to see what lies at the end. Not always but sometimes I can travel a few miles with the lane getting more and more narrow and then, just when I think there's nothing to be found, it opens up to a gold mine of natural beauty. This is the buzz that I'm sure others that walk for miles get when they find something that maybe know one else has seen before.

I look at the English countryside as a place not just of beauty but enchantment and I feel fortunate to have access to it. Yes, I see photographs from around the world that I think I would love to cover myself, but the chances of that happening is slim, but I'm happy with my lot in that I can find beauty and anusual images that surround me and I don't have to travel hundreds of miles to find it.

At the weekend I went over the Severn Bridge to Chepstow, after doing some images down by the river Wye, it got me thinking that this is a long river and there must be some amazing views along the river that just maybe I might be able to find.

I'm dependent on my chair, but just as much on my car as it allows me to be independent from my family that support me in my love for photography, to go out like a kid going hunting for Easter eggs by driving around to find something interesting.

So I started driving up a winding main road and was watching the sat nav and found a turning that looked interesting.

I must of drove for 20 minutes with the lane getting close to a wooded cliff and pot holes all over the road. Then near the end, I came out of the woods to an open space where the land levelled out. There was a farmhouse at the end of the lane, but I could see that there was an amazing view by their farm, so after tooting my horn and speaking the owner I had the afternoon to explore the views. What I hadn't notice was they had a field filled with beautiful Highland cattle with some that were black and the others brown, they were amazing and did me a favour by coming near to the gate for me to photograph them. It was just a jem of a find that I forgot what I was there for, which was the view looking down at the river Wye.

Its fair to say I had a good afternoon photographing in a 10 mile radius of the landscape and the river and some animals as an unexpected find that I didn't think I would see locally to the area.

Photographing in the countryside needs time to take in the view, but to look beyond that. It's also helped me to think about my photography of the city that I live in, and to spend more time looking round corners just to see what's there as it could be a scene or an object that makes that interesting image that maybe others may enjoy as much as I do.

Thanks for reading, AndyD  

Copyright - Right or Wrong?

Firstly read the article below...

Dorset Police have to handover Paedophiles Laptop intact. 

The pedophile’s laptop contains images of the girl he abused

Dorset Police officers have said it would be "unlawful" to delete intimate photos of a young abuse victim from a pedophile’s laptop.

The man was jailed in 2013 for nine years after admitting a string of sex offences, including assaulting a child under the age of 13.

He has now formally requested a laptop and a mobile telephone are handed back.

Liberty, which represents the victim's family, said photos of her in swimwear and leotards are still on his computer.

Dorset Police said they couldn’t delete them, as they are not legally classified as indecent or prohibited.

As a result, the sex offender, who is in his 50s but cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, will have access to a large number of personal photos of the girl when he is released from jail.

The victim's mother says: "I am appalled that the man who abused my child can ask the police to hand over our family photos for him to keep for the rest of his life. My daughters struggles every day with the devastating consequences of his abuse and this will only make them feel more humiliated and degraded. Why should we continue to be traumatised further?"

'Violation of dignity'

Liberty argues the return of the computer and mobile would breach articles three and eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect against inhuman treatment and invasion of privacy respectively.

In a letter to Dorset Police, Liberty said the prospect of having the photos returned to the abuser is "causing the girls a significant amount of distress" and would be "an enormous violation of their dignity and personal integrity".

The abuse has caused the victim to suffer "enormous psychological harm" and she eats very little, self-harms frequently and is at risk of suicide, Liberty said.

Rosie Brighouse, legal officer at organisation, said: "We urge the police to protect these victims' dignity. It's surely common sense that these vulnerable girls aren't degraded further?"

In a reply, Dorset Police said "present options" are limited as the legislation used to seize the phone and computer requires officers to return the property.

The force added: "Furthermore it would be unlawful for police officers to alter the computer and phone's memories by removing the disputed photographs before returning them."

British law at times can be an ass, and that's putting it mildly. In a circumstances like this, you have to ask why should these items be returned as they probably would have been used as evidence in the case against this bloke.

If there was a case for copyright to be overturned, this would be in the top five, but surely cases like this should be taken by the police to high court, with a strong case for not allowing this guy to have his items back, or if not then for the hard drives to be reformatted so the images were no longer available. 

I really feel for the family as they know that he will have images their daughter, that he can view at his leisure as a reminder of what he did. 

Things like this, that are simple to resolve, make me sick to the stomach. He must be laughing his head knowing that he's had the last laugh and at the expense of child that he's already scarred for life. 

Stories like this should be talked about on social networks to show the family the support of many against what has been allowed, not by the police as they seem to have their hands tied and I'm sure those involved in the case must feel as I and many do, which is angry at the law that should be there to protect the venerable and young.

If your feelings are as mine, then please share this story with others to show support to the parents of this young child.

AndyD

Sony A99 First Play

Sony A99 Camera

For most of my friends know that I started with the Sony A65 half-frame camera, and its done me proud in the images that helped me to capture. But there is a time I think when you get into Photography in a more professional level that you can out run a camera and the features that it offers.

The A65 is a great camera, the only downside is the flash fitting that we all know they changed from the universal fitting to a four pin shoe, this limited you to what flash you used and remote triggers, but putting that all to one side, its still a great camera in my view.

When I started looking at what to get to upgrade to a more professional camera, I didn't and couldn't afford to start from scratch in buying a whole new load of lenses. I have about ten lenses in my bag and they all do a certain job, from two telephoto lenses, one ultra wide and the prime lenses.

I know that the all the manufactures are going for the retro look, which is fine for that just walking around work, but for more industry style images you have to revert back to the normal andconventional  cameras.

So the A99 was my choice after much reading on reviews and talking to people that actually own one, and the great thing is that my lenses fit this body, but they've stuck stuck to the conventional flash shoe, but for the fix for those like me that bought the HVL-F58AM flash, they supplied free of charge ahot shoe adaptor, which works fine, so no need to go out and get a new flash or remote trigger system etc.

While I was about it, I also got the battery grip but was slightly annoyed that for £300, they didn't include some batteries! The battery grip though is more that just a battery pack as when you do portrait images you have a shutter button on the grip and a few other buttons to tweak that image. The grip is so comfortable and when attached to the main body, with a lens and flash, its half the weight of say a Nikon. Everything is within easy reach, button wise and the LCD screen is far better set than on the A65, you can even do a selfy if you wanted to as it goes is all directions for great viewing.

I could go through all the different setting but you can see other blogs for that, this is just a personal view on the camera and how it feels and looks. But the the images have great colour and when looking closer at the colour aberration, there is very little magenta in the images, the ISO doesn't start to deteriorate till about 16,000 so great for low light shooting. The bracketing is great for that HDR work we do with Photomatix etc and does come with a HDR image if you wanted it.

The camera is full of great features, but like many have said, it is power hungry, so the battery grip is a good option to get.

The price of £2,350 or there about's is hefty, and I decided to go down the road of leasing the camera by using Culmanet which is a professional photography company and have underwriters that is just for the purpose. So no big loan with interest rates to worry about and a set monthly outlay and paid off in three years. Leasing photographic equipment gives photgraphers that are starting out to get the best with ease,I couldn't of afforded that kind of money straight out, but if I want to take professional looking images that then hopefully goes towards paying for the camera, then that's got to be a good thing and there is know reason not to pay off earlier.

I love the camera and starting to play and I think that because I've had one of Sony's A series cameras beforehand, does give that little heads up as most of the camera has the same layout of buttons with just a few new ones to learn about, but you can adjust while looking through the viewfinder with ease and none of this having to look where you have to place you thumb to click on a setting for those changes, its much lighter than other makes of camera which is a real benefit for me as I struggle with heavy gear. Yes the camera does look bulky, but once its in your hand then it moulds to you, so there is know struggling when it comes to taking an image even quickly.

Thanks for reading, AndyD