Off The Beaten Track

Today, I got away from my usual haunts. Not too far and certainly not to anywhere I haven't been before, but far enough away from my well worn track to notice new things. I took the shot above today because I was drawn to it the unusual roof line and the interesting sky.

Maybe your own shooting could benefit from a change of routine. Perhaps you could take a different route to work. Leaving the car behind and cycling or walking can really give a different view of the world. Just change something and it may well shake up the way you look at the world and it could well result in some interesting pictures. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Close Enough?

Back to what this blog is all about - pictures.

Shape and form is very important in my photography, especially texture. When you get in really close to an object you can often reveal features that are not apparent from a longer shot. The great war photographer Robert Capa said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." I am sure that this is true in most areas of photography. Photography has the power to make you look at the world anew.

The shot in this post shows the petals of a rose flowering in my garden. It is Rosa "English Garden" if you are interested, and I would recommend it. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  New UK Photo Restrictions Another post without a picture. I really am sorry. And another political post too. When I first started this blog I did not think that I would be making any posts about photography and politics. This will be the third post in recent months about exactly that. This is not what I want to talk about but it is too important to ignore.

According to an article in the British Journal of Photography, the Home Secretary has given the green light to the police to ban photography in public places wherever they like and whenever they like - but only if it is reasonable. You can read the original article here. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Orphan Works I'm sorry to say that this is my second post in a row without a photo - I will make it up I promise.

You may or may not have come across the Ophan Works Bill that could become law in the USA, This Bill threatens to take away copyright protection from any work that is not registered with a commercial registry in the States. This beggars belief.

I urge all readers of this blog to sign this petition to oppose the Bill.

If you want to find out more about this unbelievable rights grab, have a look at this video on YouTube. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Alamy and Novel Use Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I contribute images to Alamy, the stock agency. The first phase of their Novel Use scheme has just been released. They are going to sell images for educational use and for bloggers from 60p. As they say, they currently do not get sales from this market. They are opening up a new market catering for them.

On the face of it, this scheme does have some merit. It would lead to new income but it also opens up a new threat of image misuse. The target audience have little or no knowledge of image licencing and intellectual property rights. Selling images to this audience is an invitation to image abuse, not necessarily through design, more likely due to ignorance of the law. Also, other users could easily pose as students, for example, and get their images on the cheap for uses that are not covered by the terms of the licence.

As I have already said, the target audience are not up to speed with image licencing. This is especially important with the unbelievable Orphan Works legislation that is being put in place in the USA. The target audience are very likely to create orphan works. If the proposed legislation makes it, I certainly do not want my orphan images to be out in the wild.

I have no doubt that I could earn a few extra pounds by signing up for this but the potential risks are not worth it. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Spider Nursery

Earlier today I saw something unusual on the box bush in my garden. To start with I though it could be a flower, but I have never seen the box flower. Then I thought it was an infection, but it wasn't. When I looked closely it turned out to be a colony of newly hatched spiders. A fresh bunch of bug hunters for the garden. Great! 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Water in Photoworld - Update

Back in January I posted that I had an illustrated article about photographing water published in Photoworld. Well, that issue of Photoworld is now available online. So you can read my article here!

Happy reading. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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