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.

Improve Your Craft & Vision – Inexpensive (but Excellent) Photography eBooks

How much would you expect to pay for a great book that teaches you and provides tips, tools and technical advice whilst inspiring you at the same time? $30? $20? $10? If you’d like all this for just $5 then I’ve got a great post for you today. (Plus read through to the end for some time-limited codes to get these books even cheaper!)

David duChemin is a well known photographer, best-selling author and teacher. You can find his personal blog over at pixelatedimage.com. About a year ago he self-published an eBook “TEN” which covered (unsurprisingly) ten ways to improve your craft without buying gear. This was a big success and followed by “TEN More”. We’re not talking about a few pages in PDF here. Both books were about 35 pages and nicely laid out with David’s own work illustrating the principles he was talking about (in his usual amusing, but applicable tone). Both were offered for just $5. Outstanding value in my opinion.

Following the success of these two eBooks the concept expanded with the creation of a dedicated site for these publications and Craft & Vision was born. There are now a dozen or so eBooks available on the site (I own about half of these), written by both David duChemin and a selection of other hand-picked authors, all available for just $5. Below is further information on some of the ones I own.

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