Friday 11 January 2013

Police on my back.


Not really, but you can't beat a ripping off a song title. 

The fuss over Police treatment of professional and amateur photographers has died down, but it's never too late to enter the fray.

A couple of seasons ago, I covered Hartlepool v Sheffield Wednesday for When Saturday Comes, the half decent football magazine. As I was getting some shots of people milling around outside the Victoria Ground, a Policeman came up and explained that his boss was 'Getting twitchy' and wanted to know who I was, what I was doing, and for why.

It may be that the Darlington/Hartlepool rivalry has flared up again. For all I know there could be an Al Queda cell in Hartlepool. If I wanted images of the Victoria Ground to pass onto unnamed forces of darkness, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to take photographs on a matchday with dozens of police in attendance.

Around that time I took some shots of Listers Mill in Bradford, one of the many wonderful Victorian buildings in the city. Manningham Police Station is over the road from Listers Mill, it wasn’t long before the long arm of the law had a short stroll to enquire who I was, etc etc.

Not to labour the point, but if you have evil intentions, would you photograph outside a police station in broad daylight?

Actually yes, if you have a camera phone. You can photograph anything without anyone bothering you.

The other question is, why bother? Google will show you photographs of almost anything.

Of course, I didn’t raise these points at the time.

I didn’t fight the law, and the law won.







Paul Thompson.

Sunday 12 February 2012

Welcome to the West Yorkshire Images blog.


WYI is a new image library, with a wide range of conceptual and abstract pictures, as well as geographically specific photographs of the West Yorkshire area.

A quick internet search on the future of stock photography reveals dozens of articles, many predicting the end of stock as we know it; as economic recession, and market saturation force prices down.

Launching a picture library in the current climate sometimes feels like being the last person to board The Titanic, if not parachuting aboard as the iceberg appears on the horizon.

However, there are reasons for optimism.
When literacy was the preserve of a minority, anyone who could write had a sought after, and therefore lucrative skill. Universal literacy hasn’t killed writing as a profession. Similarly, it was feared that desktop publishing software would make graphic designers redundant. Market saturation is forcing prices down, but I believe that at least in the foreseeable future, there will still be a market for professional stock photography.

Please feel free to comment.

http://www.westyorkshireimages.co.uk

Paul Thompson.