Policeman just having a word

This image was judged by Bob Turner FRPS in the projected image competition held at Malden Camera Club on the 24th of November.  I used my new compact camera an Olympus XZ-1 to video the Judges comments and posted  the video on Youtube

RSPCA's Young Photographer of the year award

The 10 finalists in the RSPCA's Young Photographer of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on December 16
Gallery of images

Photography exhibitions worth seeing in London

I highly recommend making a visit to London  to see these exhibitions


 "Take a View: Landscape Photographer of the Year 2011"   


5  December – 28 January at the National Theater on the South Bank
This popular annual award, now in its fifth year, culminates in a stunning exhibition of over 100 photographs that show the dramatic beauty and variety of our country, reminding us to safeguard this precious legacy.A full colour book will be available from the NT Bookshop.

This year’s Awards are held in association with Network Rail and Natural England, with the exhibition sponsored by Epson UK.

Charlie Waite, Awards founder, will be giving guided tours of this year’s exhibition on 13 & 14 December and 23 & 24 January at 2.30pm and 3.30pm. Please note that numbers are limited and early booking is advisable.  Tickets are priced at £8.

Seeing Landscapes:  Charlie Waite will also be giving talks on his approach to landscape photography on 13 & 14 December and 23 and 24 January at 7.45pm in the NT Bookshop.  Tickets are priced at £5.

Exhibition opening times:

Monday - Saturday from 9.30am - 11pm
and Sunday 11 Dec and 1 Jan from 12pm - 5.30pm

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Competition National Portrait Gallery

10 November - 12 February 


The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 offers a unique opportunity to see sixty works by some of the most exciting contemporary portrait photographers from around the world.


Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits of public figures to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.


This year the competition attracted over 6,000 submissions from 2,506 photographers ranging from gifted amateurs and talented young students to established professionals. The selected works for the exhibition, many of which are on display for the first time, include the five prize-winners and the winner of the ELLE commission

Kodak may face cash crisis if patent sales fail

Eastman Kodak has warned it must raise new funds to survive the next year.

The 131-year old photography firm said it may raise the cash through patent sales or by taking on additional debt.

The US firm revealed that its cash balance at the end of September totalled $862m (£537m) after it ran up a $222m operating loss over the preceding three month

Experts said Kodak took too long to move from its traditional film business into digital cameras.

The firm does stress that its inkjet printer and inks unit is performing well. Third quarter sales were 44% higher than the previous year.

But Kodak warned it may need to slow investment in the printing business "if liquidity needs require".

Patents

The firm announced in July that it was exploring selling or licensing around 1,100 of its digital imaging patents - around 10% of its library.

The company said it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy, but some experts believe its fate depends on a sale of its innovation rights.

"Kodak's at a point where one of two things have to happen," said Shannon Cross of Cross Research.

"Either they have to raise more money or they have to complete the sale. Otherwise, they're not going to be able to continue."

However Kodak's chief executive, Antonio Perez, said investors should not read too much into the company's cash balance warning, which it had been required to file under US law.

"These requirement statements should not be misunderstood in any way as dampening the optimism our ability to complete the sale of our digital imaging patent portfolio, which is very high," he said.

Missed chance

However, one former executive called for a more radical restructure.

"I think you are going to see Kodak getting broken up and the various parts of the company will go to where they add the most value and therefore Kodak captures the most value for creditors and stock holders," the firm's former vice president Don Strickland told the BBC.

Mr Strickland left the company in 1993 after he failed to get permission to release a digital camera. He claimed the firm's current problems could have been avoided.

"We developed the world's first consumer digital camera and Kodak could have launched it in 1992.

"We could not get approval to launch or sell it because of fear of the cannibalisation of film... a huge opportunity missed."

England riots: One photographer's baptism of fire

BBC Reports 
"When photographer Lewis Whyld of the Press Association arrived on Tottenham High Street on 6 August, the first and fiercest night of this summer's riots, he soon saw three other photographers being attacked. For the next hour he was forced to shoot on his mobile phone, and only pulled out his cameras once it was dark.

Shooting by the light of the police helicopter searchlight, Whyld captured these images that went right round the world. Here Whyld reveals how he documented a night of unrest in north London."

Video

Stand your ground

An interesting video from the recent London street photography festival about photographers rights to take photographs in public places. The first part of the video is a slide show

Victoria Albert Museum new Photographs Gallery

The Photographs Gallery will draw upon the  V&A’s internationally renowned collection of photographs, and will chronicle the history of photography from 1839 up to the 1960s. In 1858, the V&A became the first museum to exhibit photographs, and the new Photographs Gallery is able to showcase some of the most technically brilliant and artistically accomplished photographs in its collection. Temporary displays, primarily showcasing contemporary photography, will be shown in the V&A’s existing photographs gallery.

On 24 October 2011, the V&A’s new Photographs Gallery will open to the public. The gallery will have an inaugural  display of works by key figures of photographic history including Victorian portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron and significant works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Afred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus and Irving Penn.