On Press Gazette: this is of serious concern in the wake that photojournalists have had to deal with lately with police FIT teams, but also throws a huge spanner in the works for the documentary photographer too. How are we meant to approach people living in society, record social issues with this sort of draconian crap hanging over our heads

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Police terror notes grab could endanger journalist

21 May 2008

By Patrick Smith, PA Mediapoint

Police attempts to seize a journalist’s notes under the Terrorism Act could have “a serious chilling effect” on British journalism, the High Court heard today.

And it was alleged that the unprecedented bid to seize journalistic material could even put a reporter’s life in danger.

A two-day judicial review hearing began today in the case of journalist Shiv Malik who is seeking to overturn a production order made by Greater Manchester Police in March seeking notes of interviews he held with terrorist suspect Hassan Butt.

Representing Malik, James Eady QC said the order may be incompatible with Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, freedom of expression, and Article Six, the right not to self incriminate.

He said: “In short for Mr Malik there are significant problems: all the time and work that went into the book may be at risk. Sources do not make distinctions over whether the court has made an order or not, the perception would be that he has become a witness for the state.”

Eady added that Malik feared for his safety and the safety of his sources, many of whom would be revealed to police through the disclosure of his notes to them.

He said: “There is a very high value to be attached to press freedom especially where confidential sources are involved and particularly in this investigation.

“Because the order is so wide ranging…it would have a serious chilling effect.”

Press Gazette - Police terror notes grab could endanger journalist

Well here is an interesting way of comparing camera performance, not by using or setting them up to be the same, but by using the best settings for the subject matter, surprisingly (or not) the image quality of the G9 stood up very well and all this without fine tuning the image in post processing which would correct some of the obvious lens flaws like barreling and fringing

Click to read more>>
Canon Powershot G9 and Canon 5D Comparison | The Cleverest

Well here is a novel use for your G9 by www.maineaerialphotography.net and before you rush out buying a remote controlled helicopter, as the latest G9 accessory, be warned they cost thousands of dollars.

Read the full article >>
Miniature choppers offer bird’s-eye view - Fosters

The longtime electrician and helicopter enthusiast has spent thousands of dollars tweaking and outfitting RC choppers and his most recent venture, Maine Aerial Photography Services, has him mounting a Canon G9 camera to the bottom of the helicopter to take photos of everything from homes and businesses to the work at the middle school in Laconia.
Ramsdell has been tinkering with RC planes since 1977 and in recent years has focused on helicopters that run thousands of dollars by the time you get the engine, blades, components and remote control.
And the helicopter he uses to take pictures is highly modified to assure it takes the best shots possible from a distance of 400 feet and below, which he noted is the range “small, unmanned aerial systems” can fly under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules.

Alan Ramsdell, owner of Maine Aerial Photography Service, uses a radio-controlled helicopter with a Canon G-9 camera mounted to it to take photographs of residential and commercial buildings as well as aerial landscapes of the region.
(DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO)

Miniature choppers offer bird’s-eye view - Fosters

www.maineaerialphotography.net

OK, sometimes it can be really useful to be able to record a conversation without other people knowing you are doing it, especially when you are being hassled by the police or jobs worth for taking pictures when you are in the right doing so and the situation looks like going from bad to worse. On the other hand you might have a set of photos and need to do a write up of all the details or interview a person in the pictures and you can use the audio feature on the Canon G9.

You could of course use the video feature, but when the lens extends out it might arouse suspicion, but there is a neat way to switch on the audio without opening up the lens and is a quicker way than going through the menu.

From the camera being switched off press the Play/review > button right of the optical viewfinder, press and hold the Microphone button * top right of the LCD (you should see the recorder display come up on the LCD) press Func/Set  in the middle of the command dial to record.

That’s it 3 buttons to press and you are recording… a short press of the Mic.* button brings up the audio recorder for tagging the image on display (normally the last photograph you took) when you press the Func/Set

Another little trick of the Mic.* button is if you have the camera sounds on (beep for focus, shutter sounds etc.) pressing this while turning the camera on mutes all the sounds from the Canon G9 and is ideal if you want to do some candid shooting, but remember when you play back video or audio you won’t hear it, as you have muted the sounds so you need go into the menu, go to the settings (hammer and spanner) tab and set the MUTE to off

Editorial Photographers UK (EPUK) A pro based discussion group are so concerned over infringement of photographers rights they have launched www.photorights.org to keep track of access denial incidents and try and provide some basic information about what photographers may legally do.

This service is not just for the seasoned pro, but for anyone who wants to legally take photos in public places

So far, these incidents are getting recorded piecemeal, if at all, at dozens of different locations, where everybody grumbles for a bit and then gives up.

Photorights is open to pro’s and amateurs as both groups are encountering problems, and wants to become *the* UK access monitoring site, so we can amass evidence for effective use, press reporting of the issue, and public debate.

So if you have problems with police, private security, members of the public or jobsworths please report it in the forums.

So if you use a Canon G9 or any other camera; go and bookmark this site now, you never know when you might need it!

www.photorights.org

Just found this on the BBC website if you are into photography you can go and sign the petition but asking for the PM to clarify the laws is not a good idea in my opinion. It is open invitation to put laws into place when they are not needed.

Its paranoia that if you have a camera you are a terrorist or up to no good and a culture of fear has been built up deliberately. There is no law saying you are allowed to take pictures in a public place, there is no law saying you can’t either; its considered a right

Misplaced fears about terror, privacy and child protection are preventing amateur photographers from enjoying their hobby, say campaigners.

Phil Smith thought ex-EastEnder Letitia Dean turning on the Christmas lights in Ipswich would make a good snap for his collection.

The 49-year-old started by firing off a few shots of the warm-up act on stage. But before the main attraction showed up, Mr Smith was challenged by a police officer who asked if he had a licence for the camera.

Read more>>

BBC NEWS | Technology | Innocent photographer or terrorist?

There is a great post on Strobist for the Canon G9 users on how to get the most out of your G9 using flash and  how they used a G9 shooting for an assignment.
It is no wonder that many PJ’s are now using the G9 as it is a pocket size  DSLR. Heck you can even use Nikon speedlights with this baby so why wouldn’t you buy a G9

Still not convinced?
Magnum Photographer Alex Majoli also used Olympus point and shoots in 2005  and shot many assignments using an Olympus C-8080 in remote and dangerous places and won awards

Now back in 2005 that is considered very old technology for a digital camera compared to today’s G9 era, so when you here some one complain of shutter lag tell them to read this article
It’s the photographer, not the camera that is the important piece of the kit in the equation.

Rob Galbraith: Alex Majoli points and shoots >>

Strobist: On Assignment, Par for the Course >>

You heard me right!

Just launched today, free version of the Adobe Photoshop, well online version anyway. So now if you wondered what your Canon G9 images would look like processed in Photoshop you can find out.

You can have your own gallery, browse other peoples work and share photos too . Further the Photoshop Express version works from any browser and operating system so it might be useful to some pros working in the remote back yard.

Photoshop Express is currently a basic version in beta testing….I am going to break of now for some testing

On the Web: http://www.photoshop.com/express

The people over at Luminous Landscapes have a review on the Ricoh GX100 another RAW shooting compact (which shoots in Adobes Digital Negative, .dng) There are some comparisons to the G9 in the article as well but as the GX100 takes 5 seconds to write the RAW file it’s not one for me

Go to article >>>

Three weeks ago I reported that Photographers were under attack and more recently found a video of a film maker getting grief in London and the NUJ calling for ‘Press Freedom Protest’

Well at least the Met look like they are going to reverse there stance over people photographing in London. Maybe they realise photography is quite a natural lifestyle thing to do and we may not be terrorist’s after all.

However if the Met Police are going to play this as “we weren’t aware of the issues of photographers” frankly they can get stuffed, the NUJ have been complaining to the Met for more years than I can remember over abuse to press photographers and reminding them of photographers rights. (see the ‘Resources for the Photographer’ box on the sidebar for downloadable photographer rights guides)

I have to say I have grave concerns over policing in this country when I got stopped and searched at the end of last year for “subject in possession of long lens Nikon camera” (it was in fact only a 24-120 mm zoom and in fact my G9 has a greater focal length range) even when I have a UK press Card. My concern is that an amateur photographer, unaware of their rights may not have faired so well, and could have even ended up being arrested!

I appreciate and understand the police and government  have fears over terrorism, but who is actually calling the shots here? It’s clearly not a government initiative and terrorism, which is a concern to us all has to be kept in perspective like the BBC has pointed out here it is not a new threat to the UK and during the troubles with the IRA we had far more attacks and loss of life than 7/7. Cameras were around then too, and probably used for surveillance by the IRA but it wasn’t deemed necessary to accuse the citizens of being terrorists. It makes little sense to me to restrict the law abiding citizens to a point they are the prisoners and there rights taken way from them.

Well that enough of my rant, Amateur Photographer has a piece on them with links to the MP’s Launching a petition in the House of Commons and more…

British police force vows to act on photographers’ anti-terror fears news - Amateur Photographer

Police pledge to act on photography fears

 

Thursday 20th March 2008

Chris Cheesman

 

Police have vowed to act on concerns expressed by photographers who fear officers will unfairly target them when taking pictures in public following recent anti-terrorism publicity.
The Metropolitan Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards has promised to raise photographers’ concerns with all officers on the ground within the force.
The Met’s pledge came in response to a written complaint from photography enthusiast Andy Barton about the latest anti-terror adverts which are designed to alert members of the public to people with cameras behaving suspiciously.
The police launched the nationwide campaign in newspapers, on the internet and on radio last month.
Barton, a keen photographer from Cheshire who visits London regularly, is worried that everyone who takes photos in public will become terror suspects.
In an official emailed reply to Barton, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lawrence said he will ‘encourage officers at ground level to adopt a more sensible approach when considering whether to stop photographers and other Londoners who are in the vicinity of transport networks’.
Lawrence also promised that he would pass on Barton’s complaint to the Counter Terrorism Command unit, which is in charge of the current publicity project.
He added: ‘We have to balance a genuine terrorist threat, which concentrates on attacking transport networks, but at the same time take account of the human rights of individuals who want to take photographs or enjoy an innocuous hobby.’
The DCI’s email has since been verified to us by Scotland Yard following the force’s initial reluctance for us to publish the contents.
The Met’s press office conceded that Lawrence’s comments had been made in his professional capacity to a member of the public.
The news follows an apparent rise in the number of photographers complaining that they have been unfairly stopped prior to the latest police campaign.
A House of Commons petition on the matter was launched last week by Labour MP Austin Mitchell.
The Early Day Motion has so far gained support from 62 fellow MPs.
• See next week’s issue of Amateur Photographer for a Special Report on the issues facing photographers in today’s anti-terror climate. The magazine goes on sale on Tuesday 25 March and is available to subscribers before this date

Picture (above): Police launched a new anti-terror campaign last month
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