Practical Photography

At the beginning of June a new photography exhibition opened at the Tate Modern called Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera. Controversy surrounded this exhibition as it featured images made without the explicit permission of the subject. This is what the general public are constantly exposed to; a surveillance society where one never knows whether or not they are being watched. Ironically, surrounding the photography exhibition is the Tate Modern’s very own surveillance system which monitors and records the movements of all the visitors, clearly the Tate has accepted and embraced the fact that we are constantly living under the gaze of Bentham’s Panopticon. This exhibition conveys the history of spying with a lens in over 250 photographs.

It seems that a Google technician made a bit of a slip up while out and about recording photographs for the Google Maps application/website.

While out taking pictures for the Google Maps Street View feature using a special vehicle-mounted 360 degree camera, the picture below cropped up. The picture appears to depict a giant pair of pliers flying through the sky over West Bromwich.

Apparently the tool was accidentally left on the camera after the Google tech person had been performing some maintenance on the camera. The image was then inadvertently uploaded to the Google Maps server.

Unfortunately, Google have since wised up to the mistake and swiftly removed the troublesome photograph. Nice bit of free publicity for the search engine giant though, eh?

Ex Take That pop group member and pop sensation in his own right, Robbie Williams is to back COOLPIX in a series of adverts that are due to run over the Easter break.

The advertisements are an attempt by COOLPIX to show how their Nikon COOLPIX range of digital cameras can be used for photography by real people in real situations, regardless of being a novice or an expert.

The Nikon COOLPIX cameras are all based on a point-and-shoot concept, which makes them ideal for beginners. However the range also includes feature-rich digital cameras and so, is likely to appeal to experienced photographers too.

With Christmas approaching very quickly I had the horrible realisation that I haven’t done nearly enough present buying yet! I still have a million and one presents to buy and by now I usually have at least decided what everyone is getting!! But racking my brains I thought this year I would buy my Mum a calendar. Every year she buys me one by a photographer that I just love. So I thought I would return the favour this year. She is a photography nut and has now become a professional and I think would not only love a calendar but would be inspired by the photographs in her own work. I personally believe that calendars can be great presents. There are so many available, funny ones are my favourites but you can buy celebrity ones, charity ones, very serious black and white ones and by far the corniest ones are the puppy and kitten ones.
Ok so some of the calendars available can be a bit dodgy but I think they are always a good stocking filler especially for that one awkward person in your family who never wants anything.
Well good luck to you all for your Christmas shopping – hope yours is going better than mine!!!

The ghostly pictures keep coming - i told you once i get the bit between my teeth i have to find more

These next couple really do look very really - i wouldn’t have a clue about how you fact them.. my only question is why you would take a picture of a road  or a grave yard…..???????

There is a strange tale abourt teh crossing in San Antonio, Texas. The story goes there was a tragic accident in which several school-aged children were killed at teh cross roads. Her ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill.

The owner said of te picture taken “It was really freaky. It appears to be a little girl carrying a teddy bear.”

The next one was taken in 1963 by Reverend K. F. Lord at Newby Church in North Yorkshire. There has been much said about this and rumours biut more because it is sooo good. The scary face and because it stares into the camera looks too perfect but i think ir just a clever double exposure.

I have always been fascinated with pictures people claim to have ghost of them. I always think a) they have had a few to many or b) i am sure if you look at them long enough you can see anything you want!
Well here are some of my favourite!

In this photo taken by the ladies husband of the woman took the picture on with ordinary print film. They had just moved to Chicago, Illinois and the picture was taken in the houses back garden. In the window to the left it shows an older woman and a bulldog to her… guess what there was no one in the house!

This next one serioulsy does give me chilly willys. This picture was taken with ctv camera at Hampton Court Palace in London. Jane Seymour, Henry the 8th third wife, died there giving birth to a son, and her ghost is said to walk the courtyards carrying a candle.

When I was little I loved that idea of the fairies living in the garden and was fascinated about Frances and the Fairies and all the way back to 1917. I so wanted this to be true but the think was it was so believable and when you look back now an act of sheer brilliance.
The two sisters always claimed they could not photograph the fairies when anyone else was watching. No one else could photograph the fairies.

Photo boffins at the time said that none of the negatives had been fiddled with and fairies in photo that were moving and slightly blurry could no way be faked , no one seemed to even entertain at all that they were paper cut-outs fastened on the bush, jiggling slightly in the breeze.
Todat it is quite teh reverse and what with modern advancements hardly anyone can look at these photos today and accept them as anything but fakes.

I just really wanted to believe it was true

How annoying is it when you take photo and you get red eye. Your lovely piccies are spoilt by you looking like the devil
So what to do and what do you need
• Anti-red-eye Pen
• Image-editing Software
1. Buy a red-eye pen from a photography shop. Draw over the red-eye
2. Or scan into your home computer and use image-editing software to adjust. You may get side tracked as you can have so much fun making alterations…. Ten years younger springs to mind
To Preventing red-eye
Try to put space between lens and flash to reduce the effect down. Hold the flash at arm’s length from the camera, so the flash does not flood the subject’s eyes.

I thought I would write about quick tick list to review for a Fun in the Sun camera, just a few points to consider when deciding what camera to match your holiday

What are you using it for?

• Are you going to be going diving or just a kick about in the surf? If diving or snorkeling make sure you check the camera’s maximum depth rating.
• Are the kids going to get their mits on it? If yes think size, easy to use, cost and shutter speed – how tough it is when dropped!!!
• Crushability and impact resistance. Cameras get a bashing on holiday despite how careful you are with them.
• Is it sun or snow – match the camera to your adventures. Only a few models are freeze-proof or even cold resistant. Also you will need something different fro a sun packed week than safari

My brother got married at the beginning of May and have just received the DVD of the day.  Now normally I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of the watching someone elses wedding day but as it was my big brother i thought I better had.

So I sat myself down and prepared to see it all.  The worst thing is hearing myself  - do I really sound like that?  I did a reading which I cried through the last few lines of - but this didn’t sound quite as bad as I first thought!

Anyway, I think I could waffle on about this all dday but what I got, which I’m sure my brother and his new wife did too - was the fact that there was so much that I missed that even the photos (as beautiful as they were) couldn’t and didn’t capture.

My advice is to try and have a video man at your wedding - and actually I couldn’t even remember him there so that shows just good he was to get what he captured!