New Craft & Vision eBook – Chasing Reflections

A friend of mine travelled to Japan a few years ago. However upon their return they complained that while they were in Tokyo the weather was wet and dark and they couldn’t get any good photos. I was amazed as somewhere with all that neon and artificial light would be a great place to shoot reflections in the wet streets. So its interesting to see the subject of the latest Craft & Vision Print and Process eBook – Chasing Reflections.

Within Chasing Reflections, Eli Reinholdtsen shows us a unique and skilled approach to reflections. The clever juxtapositions between the real and the reflected force you to look deeper at the image that you might normally and create unforgettable photographs. In this latest Print and Process book Reinholdtsen shares a selection of her recent shots and ways to scout, setup, and shoot complex reflections yourself. As with the other two Print and Process books, the first half is pure portfolio. The second part of the book includes descriptions on the techniques required to capture movement, timing, and contrast while dealing with the challenging constraints necessary for reflections to occur in the first place.

If you like inspirational portfolios and fancy photographing reflections then this is well worth the $5 price tag. As usual, if you order Chasing Reflections before the end of this month you can use the promotional codes REFLECT4 to get it for just $4, or REFLECT20 to get 20% off when you order 5 or more Craft & Vision books (check out my previous article for suggestions!). These codes will expire at 11:59pm PST August 1, 2010 (check your timezone here).

Finally, the Craft & Vision site has recent had a facelift and if you have an iPad you can also now download the publications as iPhone/iPad apps.

What is Travel Photography?

Not that long ago, before digital photography took off, and when cameras and photography equipment cost more than they do today, Travel Photography was the preserve of a few brave souls. They would travel to some exotic and far flung location in order to bring back a collection of images showing places and cultures we could not hope to otherwise see. As an example, think of some of the older National Geographic collections, or even earlier, the work of Francis Frith and photographers employed by Albert Kahn.

As travel became easier and tourism to these same places took off Travel Photography changed from being a glimpse of the exotic and strange to providing enticing and aspirational images for brochures and travel guides. However until relatively recently it was still the work of a few professional photographers who would head out to locations at the request of tour companies and travel guide publishers.

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Medieval Artisans at Rievaulx Abbey

There was an exhibition of medieval arts and crafts at Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire this weekend.

It was interesting to see the artisans keeping these techniques alive and talking to them it was obvious they were passionate, and knowledgeable, about what they were doing.

This mother and son were preparing the lunch (which was cooked traditionally). The wooden boxes are a couple of mice/rat traps. The young boy explained how they worked, but despite setting them last night, he didn’t manage to catch anything (probably much to the relief of his mum!).

Police Harassment of UK Photographers to Finally Stop?

Back in January this year, following a test case, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Section 44 stop-and-search anti-terrorism powers were illegal. As reported on this blog and many others, there was a huge amount of criticism of the powers, especially by photographers who suddenly found themselves being treated as terrorists for simply having a large camera and being conspicuous.

The European Court of Human Rights had ruled that police powers to stop and search had ‘not been curbed by adequate legal safeguards so as to offer the individual adequate protection against arbitrary interference’. Or in other words, it allowed the police to pick on whoever they fancied without having to explain their reasons.

Following the ruling by the ECHR, the UK Government disagreed and asked for an appeal to the Grand Chamber of the Court but as of yesterday this has now been refused, making the January judgement final. So can photographers in the UK finally expect to be treated with respect? Unfortunately maybe not!

Amateur Photographer reports that a Home Office spokesman told them: ‘The Government has already committed to reviewing counter-terrorism legislation which will include the operation of the Section 44 stop-and-search provisions.’ In theory this means that police may continue to conduct Section 44 stops for the foreseeable future. Despite the ruling.

That said, the “I’m a photographer not a terrorist” team are holding a flashmob outside New Scotland Yard this coming Saturday. So if you’re in London and fancy joining them to celebrate this victory (and perhaps see if section 44 harassment is indeed a thing of the past) then check out the details here.

Dragon Boat Races

It was the Leeds charity Dragon Boat races today. Perfect weather for it and loads of teams having great fun. I managed to blag my way onto part of the marina (thanks Richard!) so managed to get some nice low shots of the teams as they rowed frantically for the finish line.