the Photographer - Autumn 2013

the PHOTOGRAPHER

Working man

Gavin Jowitt’s quality corporate perspectives

In the moment The Magazine of the BIPP / Autumn 2013

Genuine emotion is what David Wheeler’s after

Autumn 2013

Chasing shadows Jo Scott listens to voices from the past

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Autumn 2013

The Editor / Comment 2 Embrace the unexpected Cover story / Jo Scott 4 Jo set herself a tough challenge to translate the echoes of the past at Manchester’s Victoria Baths.

The results got her an FBIPP

BIPP / News from the Institute 26 Company partners, Summer School report, benefits, talks and lots of events coming up across the UK

and downs, highs and lows being new to the professional life

Editorial / Pete Goding 34 Pete’s brand new cycling book Mountain Higher brings us stunning landscape photography from the hidden corners of Europe Rising star / Dawn Marie Jones 50 Only just graduated but definitely one to watch. Dawn’s already caught the eye of Perou and here are some of the reasons why

Corporate / Gavin Jowitt 14 Understanding the language of business is key for Gavin out in Australia. And a bit of maturity is an advantage too the Photographer is published four times a year by the British Institute of Professional Photography, The Coach House, The Firs, High Street, Whitchurch, Aylesbury HP22 4SJ. T: 01296 642020 E: info@bipp.com W: www.bipp.com President: Roy Meiklejon FBIPP Chief Executive: Chris Harper FBIPP Directors: Russell Baston FBIPP, Kevin Pengelly FBIPP, Graham Rutherford FBIPP, Malcolm Sales ABIPP, Frank Tomlinson FBIPP

Weddings / David Wheeler 42 Celebrating his first anniversary as a full-time wedding photographer, David gives us a glimpse of the ups Membership Services Advisory Board Suzi Allen LBIPP (South West) Russell Baston FBIPP (National seat) Tony Freeman Hon FBIPP (National seat) Richard Mayfield FBIPP (Yorkshire) Alan McEwan FBIPP (Scotland) Ian Pedlow LBIPP (Northern Ireland) Kevin Pengelly FBIPP (South East) James Russell LBIPP (North West) Graham Rutherford FBIPP (National seat) Malcolm Sales ABIPP (Midlands)

Basic guide / disaster recovery 58 Are you backed up? Here’s a rundown of one photography solution Business / Insurance 63 Employers’ Liability and Public Liability insurance Frank Tomlinson FBIPP (National seat) Kevin Weatherly LBIPP (North East) Bella West FBIPP (National seat) Stuart Wood FBIPP (National seat) Editor: Jonathan Briggs, editor@bipp.com Advertising: Tel 01296 642020 Email: nicola@bipp.com UK Subscribers £20, EU £40, Rest of the World £50 ISSN: 0031-8698 Printed and bound by Magazine Printing Company, Enfield

Neither the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) nor any of its employees, members, contractors or agents accepts any responsibility whatsoever for loss of or damage to photographs, illustrations or manuscripts or any other material submitted, howsoever caused. The views expressed in this magazine are the views of individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the BIPP. All advertisements are accepted and all editorial matter published in good faith. The Publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, that any particular product or service is available at the time of publication or at any given price. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or stored in a retrieval system, or broadcast, published or exhibited without the prior permission of the publisher. This magazine is the copyright of the BIPP without prejudice to the right of contributors and photographers as defined in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Registered at Stationers’ Hall, Ref B6546, No. 24577. © BIPP 2013

Autumn 2013 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 1

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The editor / Comment

The unexpected A

bout a year ago I hated running. Not just a little bit, but a lot – second only to the spirit-crushing delights of spending precious minutes of your life on a rowing machine in a gym. True enough, road cycling I liked a great deal – the speed, scenery, focus, escapism… all formed part of an experience that I was really into. The fact that I could head out just a few miles from the town where I live and ride a 25-mile route meeting few cars and sometimes being rewarded by the company of amazing wildlife was never lost on me. But running – oh God – pounding the pavements, all high-impact and miserable, and it seemed that everyone I saw out for a run looked like they were having a really bad time.

Now I appreciate that some folk out there might not actually believe everything I go on about. Mad, I know, but to accompany this missive I give you proof: a couple of pictures in which I look like I’m having a pretty bad time…

What’s the story? The unexpected.

That I went from a run-hating cyclist to a running and riding ‘duathlete’ has shocked me as much as anyone around me.

Much of the stuff I write about in this front piece here in the magazine I like to think has as much to do with the human condition as photography – even though the two are linked in a sometimes terrifying way. Work takes

Wondering what cycling and running might have to do with photography?

The unexpected… our quiet theme for the issue on a multitude of different forms for different people but generally speaking being a photographer or a ‘creative’ is quite a bit different than being, for example, an office-bound pusher of paper, manipulator of spreadsheets, or perpetual presenter of Powerpoint. It’s a different mindset and not everyone at the dinner party will understand much of what you say. It can be lonely – similar to the lone runner or cyclist, there’s only yourself to drive it forwards. So we move to talk of motivation and believe me I’m a big-time planner and ponderer of the future, but I’m coming to the understanding – slightly late, perhaps – that quite often life, the universe and everything takes a turn you wouldn’t expect. You end up doing stuff that wasn’t in the plan and wind up realising that much of life heads our way from beyond our sphere of influence.

Back to the pictures. It’s me taking part in the London Duathlon in mid-September. The ‘Classic’ version was made up of a 10km run followed by a 44km bike and then another 5km run. It was staged at Richmond Park and to those who haven’t been, it’s quite hilly. Then there was the wind – it was strong – all of which made for a difficult day. I had set a target time of three hours, and came in five precious minutes under – evidenced by my slightly over-dramatic celebrations. My overall placing was 477th out of 903 finishers and truly my heart went out to the poor souls who didn’t make it – such as the guy who pulled up, hamstring gone, just a couple of kilometres in. But there were more… The ride included a nasty little climb and we had to do it four times. People literally fell away up there.

Back to the story. Remember I hated running? My change of heart started in the gym, finding out what I could do.

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Then I went out and followed the very pleasant river path near here that made just on a 2.75-mile route. I started to like it.

I started to wonder what was possible. Cut to last Christmas morning in the rain and I was out there doing my thing.

This was not normal.

This running thing kind of crept up on me. Five kilometres increased to ten kilometres and I found I could do it in reasonable times. Then I discovered the Park Runs – timed Saturday morning events at parks in many towns and cities around the UK, all put on by volunteers. I began pushing my 5k time down until ‘balls out’ as they appear to say I could do it in 21 mins. No ‘Mo’ but not bad. One morning I ran around for some of it with Eddie Izzard, no less. He was fun and a friendly bloke. Strange things they do happen. The unexpected.

Experiences then, all of which 12 months prior I wouldn’t have said would have happened. Some way through this I saw an advert for the London Duathlon in the Evening Standard and after looking at the results from 2012 and realising I had an OK chance of not coming last, I entered. You see I’m a really rubbish swimmer, so a run-bike-run event is great.

I began training and friends knew about it and so on. One day, my good mate and sometimes contributor to this magazine Robert D Phillips mentioned my endeavour to his cousin Giles over in Toronto, Canada, who’d recently done an Ironman 70.3 event – a form of utter madness that involves a 2km swim, 90km bike and then you run a half marathon. Before I knew it, I had a six-week training schedule and a pre-event pep talk lined up on Skype two days before my paltry little effort was due. My precious five-minutes under target time was entirely down to Giles’s instructions.

In the gradual process that is the production of this edition of the Photographer I spent quite a long time in Skype conversation with Gavin Jowitt all the way over in Australia.

You can read about him further on in this issue but one thing he said was oh so very Australian – the concept of giving something a Fair Go. If it doesn’t go quite right no-one’s going to judge you or look down their noses because you stood up and had a try. Apply it to work, running, a personal goal, anything new – or something you’ve been meaning to do for absolutely ages. Then there’s every chance that you’ll find yourself doing something positive that you really were not expecting… and someone might make you a banner…

Jonathan Briggs, editor Autumn 2013 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 3

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Silent whispers Photographers seem to have an odd interest in the empty and forgotten. Jo Scott set out to record a feeling, and rediscover an atmosphere, in the passage ways and Victorian grandeur of Manchester’s Victoria Baths. Her Fellowship was the result

If only tonight we could fall, in a deathless spell.

If only tonight we could slide, into deep black water.

And breathe. And breathe.

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alking about photography is often aided by using phrases that have gone before, in poetry or song – as above – because a visual response is not about the addition of objective, empirical variables.

This problem – how you go about relating how a picture makes you feel – encompasses all photography and is ultimately why everyone goes around exclaiming ‘I don’t know why that one got in’ and so on. The individual response can be accidental, sub-conscious even, and certainly not always as predicted by the creator of the image.

So, where are we when the photographer gets hit by a particular atmosphere in a building and takes it upon themselves to get it across. How can we judge the success or otherwise of the project? It’s easy to appreciate the technical, craft-based elements of a set of pictures if you know what you’re looking for, but when the real Joie de vivre of a picture is a ‘sense’, where are we then?

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Victoria Baths on Hathersage Road, Manchester, opened in 1906 and was described as ‘the most splendid municipal bathing institution in the country – a water palace of which every citizen of Manchester can be proud’. The civic pride was not just city spiel either – the building provided capacious facilities for swimming, bathing and leisure, and was built with the highest quality materials and boasted many decorative features including stained glass, terracotta, and mosaic floors.

Victoria Baths served the people of Manchester for 87 years, and whilst the amazing central pool is perhaps the most obvious showpiece, there was also a Turkish baths suite, containing three hot-rooms, a shampooing room, a douche (shower), Russian bath (steam room) and a Rest room. In other words this wasn’t necessarily a place to come and swim – you literally came here for a bath… to get clean…

It’s history encapsulates that of many leading swimmers of the early 20th century including Rob Derbyshire whose father was the superintendent and who competed in four Olympic Games. The baths also witnessed the acceptance of mixed bathing postWW1 and by the 1920s sessions at Victoria Baths were held every Sunday morning enabling families to swim together for the first time.

Therefore, with such a cacophony of echoes in its walls, photographer Jo Scott really needs no further justification for her time spent here. She says: ‘As soon as I stepped inside I could hear the noise of the bathers shouting and splashing; I could smell the warm, damp atmosphere; I could even see

Image © Jo Scott

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the masses piling though the clicking turnstiles… yet the building had been closed to public swimming for 20 years.’ On her first visit, Jo had a very strong reaction to the place: ‘It was emotional – the silent echoes of the corridors rang loudly to me, its cold spaces sent shivers down my spine, especially as its crumbling empty cubicles stood open as if the occupants had just left.’ The energy of the place, it seems, made Jo realise that a single image could wield a great deal of power and impact – and together would form a strong body of work. ‘My vision was to create a set of work that collectively spoke of the building and how behind both the Art Nouveau opulence and the slow, steady decay you can really sense that Victoria Baths was a well-used place – the feeling was strong and the challenge to convey a feeling of life but I suppose sorrow and emptiness all at the same time through a lens.’

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Jo continues: ‘For me the cubicles had a real sense of abandonment and dereliction. I wanted to focus on the peeling paint, but portray the sense of endless haunting cubicles along the length of the pool.’ Indeed, the pictures will speak in very different ways depending on the viewer’s personal experience. To today’s middle aged and upwards, swimming baths with cubicles lining the sides were commonplace in childhood, perhaps even striking terror into the hearts and minds of many facing an old-fashioned style of swimming lesson. Whatever the result, the fact is the images are evocative – whether haunting or romantic comes back down to the viewer.

Coming to capture the many scenes of Victoria Baths was a bit of a curve ball for Jo. With an established portraiture business in play, what was she up to creating architectural-style images… with feeling?

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Images © Jo Scott

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‘I actually went on a creative writing course and the idea came about to make images where you could sense and “see”people who had gone before through the portrayal of a building. A project on old and ancient buildings gathered pace – but originally it was to cover lots of different places. In my research I was in contact with the Victorian Society and discovered Victoria Baths. Perhaps then the self-doubt set in. It wasn’t the technical aspects that I was worried about but whether the images could be strong enough to convey everything I wanted them to. I knew that I was effectively asking the pictures to do a lot of work. So that, in turn, made me do a lot of work and rise to the challenge.

‘I didn’t really have any notion of what – if anything – the project would do for me as a professional. I just knew it was challenging me photographically, obviously very different to photographing people. When you undertake to work in a new way, and with this it was all about the thought process of deciding what to photograph; how to get the place across in pictures, it’s not going to be all centred on changing the way you work on a day-to-day basis. I feel it has improved and enhanced the way I now work. I want to go out and pursue other fine art projects and hope that long-term they will generate commercial interest in what I can do.

It’s been a joy, teasing these pictures out of the building.’

It could be said that this project was actually about photographing people, it’s just that (other than right) they’re not quite there – but boy can you hear them. tP See Jo’s work at www. joscottimages.co.uk 12 the PHOTOGRAPHER / Autumn 2013

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Angles on the action

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Image © Gavin Jowitt

Gavin Jowitt’s made his mark as a corporate, industrial and lifestyle photographer based in Sydney, Australia thanks to a great eye for scale, shape and the patterns of industry – but also by talking the client’s language

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avin’s on the road again, heading down to South Australia working for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He’s photographing the patients, survivors, operations, and support groups. He says: ‘I’ve been photographing in every day situations – the job is to show real Australians rather than using stock shots. It’s a massive difference to be able to show real people all across the country.’

This is a classic – so to speak – corporate, commercial (call it what you will) commission. It may not be particularly glamorous but it is real photography and real life and of course the job at hand is to make it special. Gavin says: ‘Any client wants to find that bit extra in the work you produce, and gets a massive hit out of you producing images that they didn’t expect in terms of quality and thought. This job came about just through my on-line presence – I get a fair amount of my business straight through the

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Gavin Jowitt / Corporate

website. I’d say my background has had an impact on how I now get hold of and retain new clients and business.’

Gavin grew up in Sussex in the UK and has had a keen interest in photography since childhood. At secondary school he admits he didn’t have a clue about careers but discovered a leaflet talking about subjects that included photography… so studied graphic design at Hastings College and Epson School of Art and design as it then

Image © Gavin Jowitt

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was. He explains: ‘Throughout college my interest was in photography and I always “engineered” my projects to be photographic solutions. I knew I could have a career as a photographer but from a friend’s experience I also knew that I didn’t want to be working loads for no money as an assistant.’

This was the 1990s, and there was money to be made as a young designer.

Gavin worked for a small design agency in London doing annual reports for Middle Eastern banks, and so was involved in commissioning and art directing photography with the likes of Ben Rice. Then all out of nowhere Gavin went to Australia. ‘I’d been working crazy hours and had never done the Europe travelling thing and worried I was getting old before my time… so off I went to Sydney. Still doing design agency work and commissioning a lot of corporate photography I knew there were big annual report budgets out there – we were sending photographers off around the world on month-long shoots. So next I had my own agency. I’d learnt how photographers worked by being the client and seeing how things were done. It wasn’t then my idea to be a full-time photographer but more and more it dawned on me that I didn’t want to manage staff and I’d rather do my own thing.’

What this tells us about corporate work is crucial: Gavin had spent a long time talking to financial services and industrial clients about corporate communication. He came into photography from the client side, with the inside track on what they like and what they don’t.

He says: ‘I think it gives me a perspective others lack – I know what I liked about g

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Gavin Jowitt / Corporate

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lationships and be mates with the agency guys. Now it’s corporate communication managers who are buying photography.

And they’re buying to service e-news, web and social media content demands.

It’s a different kind of relationship that needs to be built with a communications manager than there was with a design agency – they speak a different language.’

The required set of social skills is not saying ‘hey design agency dudes, I’m a cool funky photographer. Gavin expands: ‘There’s an advantage to being mature, a little older, you talk properly about their business and show that you understand their requirements. They want to trust you but you must discuss

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Image © Gavin Jowitt

amazingly badly organised. When you’re the commissioning agency that can be very stressful and difficult. After all it’s the client’s money you’re spending, have advised on and it’s your reputation at stake too. I also understand marketing and communications and can market myself well compared to some other photographers. There’s those who are getting better at it but traditionally corporate and advertising photographers have never been particularly good at marketing themselves.’

He might have the insider line of how marketing and communications works but the very significant factor now is that more and more corporate and commercial clients are commissioning their photography direct – all across the world. Many companies are managing their own content and so they are missing out the agency. The net effect is many photographers are competing for a slice of a diminishing agency-based market. Gavin comments: ‘You used to have re-

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Gavin Jowitt / Corporate

the work in the right way to build that confidence effectively.’

Gavin’s developed the skills to work with business people and to take great pictures of business people too: ‘There’s a wider skill when it comes to photographing people who are not used to being photographed. I had a client who I was doing bread-and-butter corporate portraits for and they explained that they looked at three different photographers’ work and mine stood out. I thought, it’s not the kit… you need the ability to help people relax and show a bit of character. It’s your skill as a human being. Similarly you need to get together with whoever it is you’re photographing – say you’re out to do shots of guys felling trees. They all work for a global company but they’re just guys swinging chain saws around. You have to talk and find out what they like and don’t like and then they’ll want to participate in what you want them to do and you’re not just some guy

sent out by head office to stick a camera in their faces.’

These are the keys to success right now, but it’s an ever-changing market.

Gavin ponders the life: ‘When I hit my mid-50s and the kids are off my hands I’m thinking we might live in Europe and I might switch to another genre of work to make that happen. I guess there’s an Australian attitude where you give it a go whereas the English view might be “I should stick with what I know”. Everyone in Australia gets a “Fair Go” and I wouldn’t have been able to set up and do my own thing in the same way back in Britain.’

See Gavin’s work at www.gavinjowitt.com

Image © Gavin Jowitt

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Images © Gavin Jowitt

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BIPP / Company Partners

At the heart of photography, Nikon has many global websites offering a range of information and services. Their digital SLRs are some of the best in the world and with their speedlights and lenses, they provide a complete package of camera equipment for the professional photographer.

Known not only for the kit but also for the work they do with students, Nikon invest in the future of the industry. www.nikon.co.uk

Direct Photographic is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading rental facility, dedicated to delivering the very best equipment rental and consumables to photographers worldwide. With offices in London, Paris and Cape Town, this is a facility that meticulously blends a reliable, personal and friendly approach with cutting edge technology across a network of international locations. With an enhanced range of products, including the latest in HD camera technology, the latest in LED lighting technology plus increased investment throughout every aspect of its business, Direct Photographic is the perfect choice for every photographic project. www.directphotographic.co.uk

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BIPP / Summer school

Portrait and wedding summer school a big success Monday 12 August saw the first day of the BIPP Summer School 2013 – four days of intensive workshops centred around the world of portraiture and wedding photography.

Day 1 saw ‘Pure Weddings’ with Kevin Pengelly FBIPP. An excellent day was had by all and the clouds thankfully stayed away to allow for an afternoon of practical sessions using a model and the nearby church to allow delegates to put into practice all they had learned so far. Day 2 was a definite change with ‘Portraits of Youth’ with Bella West FBIPP, exploring the art of photographing children. Some great locations and two practical sessions with a precocious and cheeky five year old made for an intensive learning experience and lots of fun too…

have come back home with a buzz and a raging desire to crack on and practise the knowledge and skills learnt from this week. A truly inspirational four days which has given me a personal uplift in my own working practice.

All tutors were extremely helpful and brilliant in their own right and I feel privileged that they passed on their skills and expertise.’

Thanks go to our tutors, models and delegates who worked so hard throughout the week. Watch this space for 2014 dates.

David Linford LBIPP was one of the attendees and it certainly went down well. He enthused: ‘The BIPP Summer School is so mind-blowingly superb. Looking forward to more tomorrow...’ And Richard Danter said: ‘Thank you for organising the summer school. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.’

Day 3 was spent learning from the master, Kevin Wilson Hon FBIPP with his workshop ‘What Makes a Good Photographer Great’. A bridal shoot took place at the local church, with two beautiful young models, giving the delegates some top ideas to incorporate into their work.

The final day saw a dynamic and fast-paced session concentrating on male and female portraiture, with Chris Harper FBIPP and Russell Baston FBIPP. Sally Hitt LBIPP said: ‘Thank you again for the Summer School. I’ve attended many, many courses and the whole four-day experience proved to be the best development programme I’ve participated in to date. Backed up by David Linford LBIPP who commented: ‘I have to say I Autumn 2013 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 27

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BIPP / Benefits

BIPP / AGM NOTICE CURRENT BIPP MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS INCLUDE:

Camera and optical equipment repairs Visit www.advancedcameraservices.co.uk or call 01953 889324 for details of camera and optical equipment repairs. 10% discount to BIPP members on repairs and infra red conversions.

The BIPP AGM will be held at 12.30pm on Wednesday 4 December 2013 at: Hartwell House, Oxford Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP17 8NR

Lawcare – change of code Camera Handbags Kelly Moore camera bags offer a splash of colour to your camera equipment! Camera Handbags are offering BIPP members a 5% discount off all purchases. To see the full range please visit www.camerahandbags.co.uk. When ordering please enter BIPP5 in the discount code box and then click ‘update cart’.

There is a new code to quote when contacting Lawcare. This code is now active and available by logging into the members’ area of www.bipp.com and clicking on Benefits & Discounts. Alternatively please call Head Office on 01296 642020.

Commercial Lawcare is a FREE 24-hour legal advice line available to help you on any legal issues or queries you may have – this is not limited to photography-related queries.

STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE BIPP The BIPP website http://www.bipp.com The BIPP Blog http://thebipp.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter http://twitter.com/thebipp Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/46615645089/ Linked in http://www.linkedin.com

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BIPP / Talks

Still time to catch Tim Flach’s Autumn talks Image © Linda MacPhearson

We are half way through Tim Flach’s BIPP Tour of the UK and it is proving a huge success. The first event took place in August at Tim’s own studio in Central London and the second at Edinburgh College in September. Both events have been very well attended with Edinburgh drawing over 120 delegates.

Tim has spoken of his career, how he started out and what brought him to his particular type of photography.

Along with an inspiring AV presentation and interesting Q&A Sessions these events have been aa huge success.

With decades of experience undertaking commissions for clients including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times, Stern Magazine, Gore Tex and Hermès, Tim Flach’s technical expertise and uniquely innovative approach to photographing animals has positioned him at the forefront of his field, helping to define this arena of photography as we know it.

If you have missed out on the first two events don’t forget Tim will be speaking at Wiltshire College, Salisbury on 24 October and at the University of Derby on 27 November.

Visit www.bipp.com/events for more information or to book online, or call Head Office on 01296 642020.

Image © Tim Flach FBIPP

Tickets are £30+ VAT for members, £36+VAT for Friends and £40+VAT for non-members.

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BIPP / Regions

Midland Malcolm Sales ABIPP malcolm@buttercross photography.co.uk

North East Kevin Weatherly LBIPP kevinweatherly@mac.com

North West James Russell LBIPP james@jamesrussell photography.co.uk

MIDLANDS

NORTH WEST

Unleash the video potential in your D-SLR! Paul Witney ABIPP and David Taylor FBIPP Tuesday, 29 October 2013, 7.30pm Lea Marston Hotel, Haunch Lane, Lea Marston, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, B76 0BY

Jo Rutherford ABIPP Wednesday, 9 October 2013, Statham Lodge Country House Hotel, Warrington Road, Statham, Lymm, WA13 9BP

This will be a great practical evening (not death by PowerPoint) covering all aspects of producing a video using your D-SLR from scripting to final editing. Come and get some tips that could save you time and also increase the potential to earn your business some extra money, breaking into the corporate/promotional/web video market. Feel what it’s like to ‘do a piece to camera’. We will cover many topics from audio to B roll to time-lapse to Zebras, yes Zebras! There will also be a handout with plenty of the information from the evening given out free, including a video greyscale, focus card, white balance card and some ‘sure fire’ interview questions.

Jo Rutherford is our current Photographer of the Year and will be talking about how she goes about getting ideas and creating her stunning lifestyle images.

She will tell us about the team of people she puts together to get her storybook images and will share lots of behind-the-scenes pictures too. This promises to be a fascinating evening and we can get an insight in what it takes to produce portrait images at the very highest level.

Members: £5 (on the door) Non-Members: £10 (on the door)

An Afternoon with Tim Flach FBIPP Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 2-4pm University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GB

Photographers’ Rights and the law Wednesday 13 November 2013, Statham Lodge Country House Hotel, Warrington Road, Statham, Lymm, WA13 9BP

Visit www.bipp.com/events

Stefan Jarmolowicz is the Senior Press Office for Greater Manchester Police and trains officers in the laws governing what photographers may and may not photograph in public places. We have all run into difficulties at some time or another and understanding our rights and what we can and cannot do will be invaluable. You’re bound to have lots of questions, so come along and join in, share your experiences and contribute to what is sure to be a lively debate.

Image © Tim Flach FBIPP

Members: £10 on the door.

© Jo Rutherford ABIPP

EVENTS & DATES COMING UP

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Northern Ireland John Miskelly LBIPP john@johnmiskelly photography.co.uk

Scotland Mike Brookes-Roper FBIPP mike@brookes-roper.co.uk

South East Chris Harper FBIPP chris@bipp.com

South West Suzi Allen LBIPP info@suziallen.com

Yorkshire Stuart Clark ABIPP stuartclarkphotos@ talktalk.net

EVENTS & DATES COMING UP

SCOTLAND Northern Photographic Weekend in Borgie Forest with Mike Brookes Roper FBIPP Friday 11 to Monday 14 October 2013

© Jo Rutherford ABIPP

Five-star accommodation with silk sheets and king-size double bed, en-suite and a Jacuzzi in every room, 24-hour room service, seven-course meals prepared by a Michelin 3-star Chef, a masseuse to relieve those aching muscles and a valet on hand 24 hours a day to cater for your every need. None of these you will get on our Northern Photographic Weekend…

What you will get is access to some of the most beautiful unspoilt landscapes in Scotland with a guide to show you the hidden gems. Accommodation in a spacious log cabin set in hundreds of acres of forest with rivers and glens to explore. We will come and go as we please – no neighbours to upset. If the weather is bad (quite unlikely ) we can set up lights in the cabin and shoot indoors. In the evenings we can look at the images shot that day or watch a film or just sit by the open fire putting the world to rights.

The weekend is a non-profit making exercise (we may even get a small subsidy from the Scottish Region) so the more that attend the cheaper it will be – all I can say at the moment is the cost will be below £100. A final figure will be given when we know the numbers. The cabin is in Borgie Forest and is about a two-hour drive north from Inverness.

Contact David Bewsey FBIPP at secretary@bippscotland.com for full details if you think you might be interested. Numbers limited for accommodation.

© Mike Brooks Roper FBIPP

There is no set itinery. Some may want to rise at the crack of dawn to capture the magical early morning

light whilst others may prefer to wander the forest at midnight with camera and lights at the ready.

Whatever you would like to do – that’s OK. Now the bad news. The cabin has a small room with four very comfortable bunks complete with bedding. The rest of us will have to sleep bunkhouse style in the upper part of the cabin. Bring your own bedding and mattress. If you prefer there is ample room for motorhomes, caravans or tents. If you really can’t stand the thought of sleeping near someone who snores and breaks wind all night then there is a very good hotel not far away (not included in the price).

The room with bunks will be reserved initially for female registrants, if not filled then the first four to book will get preference. All food will be provided – expect a hearty breakfast with stews or similar in the evenings with packed lunches for the daytime.

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BIPP / Regions

EVENTS & DATES COMING UP

SCOTLAND

An Afternoon with Tim Flach FBIPP Thursday, 24 October 2013, 2-4pm Wiltshire College, Salisbury, Southampton Road, Wiltshire SP1 2LW Visit www.bipp.com/events

Scottish region Christmas Meeting & Steve Howdle FBIPP Sunday, 1 December, 2013 Huntingtower Hotel, Perth

Life in the Fast Lane – Advertising & Commercial Photography with Bryn Griffiths FBIPP QEP Friday, 25 October, 2013, 2-5pm BIPP Head Office, Buckinghamshire

Steve Howdle FBIPP will be demonstrating his flash techniques both indoor and, weather permitting, outdoors too. This will be a region sponsored event at minimal cost. There will also be a dinner in the evening for those who want to socialise. To book and get further information contact David Bewsey FBIPP at secretary@bippscotland.com

Hear more about Bryn’s work, including advice on building a successful business, the top five lessons he has learnt in his career to date, using studio space effectively, and hints and tips on keeping clients happy and managing work productivity.

SOUTH EAST Improve Your Portfolio Wednesday, 16 October, 2013 BIPP Head Office, Bucks

Bryn has been an Advertising and Commercial photographer for more than 25 years, shooting everything from fast cars to diamonds rings. Commissioned by major brands and global corporations, Bryn’s work can be seen in magazines, brochures, and on bill boards across the world.

• •

•

• • •

the make up of a successful submission how to be self-critical in your selection of the right images the differences between Licentiate, Associate and Fellowship what is supporting documentation? ways of improving your chances of success and what happens on the day of the assessment

We’ll also cover the contents of the ‘Guide to Qualifying’ and there’ll be opportunities to go through your work with an approved BIPP Assessor. Only ten places available. £60+VAT (members) £67.50+VAT (friends) £75+VAT (non-members).

© Bryn Griffiths FBIPP

Spend the day reviewing your work and discovering how to build a successful portfolio for qualification.

Assessors will guide you through everything you need to know about professional photography qualifications:

Bryn’s approach to photography ensures his images stand out above the competitive crowd and his skills have enabled him to build a powerful portfolio of work and a very successful business. Receiving his BIPP Fellowship in early 2012, Bryn also has a number of awards and achievements to his name, including past BIPP National Advertising Gold Winner, International Loupe Award Winner, PX3 Winner, twice FEP Advertising Finalist, and twice Hasselblad Masters Finalist. £30+VAT (members), £36+VAT (friends), £40+VAT (non-members). Book online at www.bipp.com/events

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Image © Pete Goding

Roads less travelled

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Pete Goding’s second book Mountain Higher takes the reader on an exciting exploration of road cycling’s best and little-known climbs. It’s both any cycling nut’s dream and a photographic feast Stalheimskleiva, Norway, average gradient 11.4%, maximum 30% 1km in, photographed in early May 2013. It’s an epic in miniature for riders, but a scene to behold for landscape photographers too. Just one of 50 climbs documented, described and beautifully photographed by Pete Goding and writer Daniel Friebe in Mountain Higher – a new book that seeks out the hidden gems of landscape that by happy coincidence form fantastic road climbs all at the same time.

The book is set apart perhaps by the complete lack of cyclists on their bikes, riding up mountains and is all the better for it, keeping the aspirational-inspirational experience of reading all the purer. Pete says: ‘Style wise we had it in our heads that we didn’t want to have a cyclist in the shot. You’re not looking at the people on the road – you’re looking at the vistas you want to enjoy on a personal level. The experience of riding is about you and how it feels to be there. I like to sometimes put a figure on the horizon to give perspective, but the road was always the priority, the man-made element was always important.’

Pete used to work as a staff photographer at Pro Cycling magazine but set out to literally broaden his horizons.: ‘I became more travel and general sports-based and that enlivened my sports

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Images © Pete Goding

work – giving a different angle to the subject matter. With the book I was very involved with the design and layout right from the inception.

When I’m shooting vistas I’m trying to create some space in the frame, using wide, low angles, allowing a slice of a mountainside to create interest but thinking about how the text will get involved too. It’s something a lot of photographers forget about, always seeking to fill the frame with details and content.’

Here we’re in Scotland, the book’s only visit to UK shores. Bealach na Bà is sometimes referred to as ‘the holy grail’ of British road climbs. To others, as Mountain Higher tells, ‘it is simply the hardest and most beautiful stretch of uphill road anywhere in the British Isles. The Cairnwell Pass and the Lecht in the Scottish Highlands are both taller, but no climb in Britain can match the Bealach for elevation gain from bottom to top.

More than that, on both sides, but particularly from Tornapress in the east, this is a summit that can hold its head high in the rarefied company of Europe’s toughest and most spectacular cycle climbs.’ Pete adds: ‘I took two days to shoot Bealach na Bà, done in late May. I had only a few left to do by that point. To be fair I shot it

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Images © Pete Goding

all in the evening of the first day. It’s spectacular, perhaps my favourite image. At one point it was uncertain whether it was going to happen as the deadline for completing the book was coming fast, and I’m so pleased it made it as the colours were incredible – I was genuinely in awe of the scene.’

Visiting 50 beautiful locations around Europe sounds like a dream, but of course one of the key challenges was to keep each shot fresh. How did they work on that? Pete comments: ‘Our biggest worry was that pictures might be “samey”, the text too. How do you explain the mountain without “just” another summit shot or another hairpin.

However, we realised that each location had its own character and as the work came together we could see that each place had pace and interest.

Also the contrasts between countries had a lot to do with the success of the pictures and I used different lights and times of day.’

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Col du Noyer zigzags high above the Champsaur valley – the most deceptively difficult stretch anywhere on the mountain. France, 1,664m, 7.5km

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Images © Pete Goding

Pete’s travelled thousands and thousands of miles over the course of this work, and it sure is no vacation: ‘At one point I went to 20 locations in a row and I locked myself out of the car at the top of a peak after sunset and the only option was to smash a window… You get tired, stay in some awful places, spend the night with bed bugs and wonder why you’re doing it.’ Now Pete says he needs a year off: ‘I wasn’t all that popular with my wife and my one-year-old doing this and covering all the races and Grand Tours too. Ultimately it’s what I do and I love to take great pictures.

The adrenalin rush you get when you know it’s right is totally addictive.’

Mountain Higher, Europe’s extreme, undiscovered and unforgettable cycle climbs

by Daniel Friebe and Pete Goding is published by Quercus.

The Eiger, as sharp, thin and sheer as a saw’s blade from this vantage point high on the Grosse Scheidegg, Switzerland, 1,962m, 9.95km.

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One moment in time

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Image © David Wheeler

Wedding photography can be a bit like directing traffic – everyone takes instruction in a slightly different way!

But, says David Wheeler, that’s part of the beauty of depicting the moment, the subject and the atmosphere of the setting ‘I wanted to encompass the wedding party within the portrait. This also works as an individual portrait of each person when designed within their album. I do remember narrowly missing a large sand pit whilst I was running backwards down the beach to get the shot… now that would have made them smile!’

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Image © David Wheeler

ontinuing our issue ‘theme’ of the unexpected, pretty much a year ago to the day of our conversation David Wheeler walked into a pub and met, by chance, Kevin Wilson. The following weekend, David assisted Kevin on a wedding and from there on the working relationship developed with Kevin helping David along in a mentoring role. David comments: ‘Photography’s been ongoing for quite a long time, studying at college and travelling whilst at university. But then I became a town planner. My weddings work was on top of that, until it got on top of me and I found myself shooting 30 weddings a year as well as holding down a full-time job. That was when I met Kevin, and he helped me make the jump.’

What has David’s first year as a fully fledged wedding photographer taught him? ‘One of the things that happens more and more is guests coming with the same cameras as you – or better! Uncle Fred can get the “same shot” as me – you can’t stop it and just have to manage the situation, embrace it even. It’s not something I worry about. There are some very, very good part-time wedding photographers out

there, but people charging £500 are not what I’m focusing on. You have to be confident that your images set you apart, and so have confidence that you are worth your fee.’

So style is everything it seems: ‘My background is first in landscape and travel photography and I believe this is also reflected in my weddings style – making the most of venues and locations to provide couples with the kind of images that they want to put on the wall.

Throughout my travels I photographed developing countries across Asia. People in these regions do not generally approve of having their photo taken so I had to be clever with how I captured what I saw.

I think this has also helped develop my style for weddings. It’s a special occasion and it’s not yours… g

‘This image is taken in Poole, Dorset on a cold winter day last year. This brother and sister had been playing throughout the grounds all day and had hardly seemed to stop. I wanted to portray a moment of reflection on a day that can sometimes seem to fly by for bride and groom.’

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This opportunity was taken between speeches as the sunset was very colourful and providing lovely lighting to a field nearby to the reception venue.

My lens choice was a 70-200mm to maximise the couple within the scene using a shallow depth of field giving full focus on the couple.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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‘I constantly hear that couples barely remember me being there for parts of the day and whilst I wouldn’t call myself a reportage-style photographer, being unnoticed is exactly how it should be – then you have a shot at representing true emotion. At the majority of weddings I work on my own – I’ll try and take the couple away at times but I like going off on my own too. You can tell when the guests are getting a bit wary of where you are and that means you’re forcing it – you have to be aware of the atmosphere. I want the couple to look back and think “Oh, how did he do that, when was it in the day?” That gets me excited – it’s the best feeling.’

How does David work with couples who aren’t very keen to be in front of the camera? ‘In the past I’ve had a lot of people who don’t want their photo taken. I kind of know what they’re feeling when we meet – and it is in these circumstances that you must do a pre-wedding shoot. That way you can prove to them it’ll be OK, that you can boost their

confidence both for the day and in you and so they’re thinking that you know what you’re doing. It’s positive, and that mind-set translates on to the day. I see it as a real investment of time that pays dividends at the end. Then much of the job comes down to predicting who’s going to be laughing (or crying) and reading the flow of the wedding. It helps to work out who the “characters” are and keep one eye on what they’re up to.’

In a genre crowded with photographers, David’s working hard then to stand apart: ‘I hope my pictures are always going to be genuine and stylish – there’s a lot of skill that goes into capturing the best shots you can.’ www.davidwheelerphotography.co.uk

Image © David Wheeler

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Rising star / Dawn Marie Jones

Graduating from Edinburgh College this Summer and now working in tandem with Stan Stoyanov, Dawn Marie Jones has not been sitting around waiting for work to come to her. The partnership has been actively developing throughout the student years, and she’s been published extensively already – in Edinburghbased i-on and the Pulse magazines. There’s a full-blown commission coming up for Scottish Weddings and Dawn’s on the trail of previously un-used locations to make it all a bit special. She met ‘celebrity’ photographer Perou at the graduate exhibition in June – he was particularly drawn to Dawn’s jungle-style shot (turn a few pages) and he invited her down to Bow Bunker to do a bit of assisting on a Dazed & Confused shoot. For those paying attention to this issue’s reoccurring theme, how unexpected was that? You’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say… and Dawn certainly is and was. Look out fashion world…

Image © Dawn Marie Jones

Set to be climbing up the ranks and a photographer name to watch out for in the next few years is Dawn Marie Jones, working under the banner Stoyanov & Jones Photography. It’s good to give a few print spreads over to a talent that extends to numerous different styles – as this gallery of images illustrates

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Image © Dawn Marie Jones

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Image © Dawn Marie Jones

Rising star / Dawn Marie Jones

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Image © Dawn Marie Jones

Rising star / Dawn Marie Jones

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Image © Dawn Marie Jones

Rising star / Dawn Marie Jones

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Basic guide / Disaster recovery

Do you have a back-up policy?

If a file doesn’t exist in at least two places at once, then it doesn’t exist at all – that’s one way of looking at the importance of having a considered back-up policy in place. If your computer’s local drive goes bang or an external drive dies do you have a decent solution ready?

W

e all know one thing for sure – the files we create in our photography are bigger (and hopefully, better) than ever before. And that makes the storage headache bigger too, which in turn makes the recovery plan a bigger deal also. The solutions, however, need not be complicated at all and the latest PC and Mac operating systems lend a hand also.

a policy in place. The idea is simple: duplicate the data as soon as you can by copying to another device. This is the role of a portable battery rechargeable hard drive that accepts CF cards and can make a verified copy of your data there and then without the need to drag around a laptop and external hard drive. One such example is the Nexto Extreme ND2730 500GB and it takes Compact Flash, SD, SDHC and SDXC Cards and boasts a very fast 70Mb/s copy speed.

It’s not about remembering…

The first aspect is to take on board that this should definitely not be about you remembering to run a back-up.

Oh no. Why? Because when you need it you will find that you forgot and that’s that. Second, we really want to avoid having to head to a data recovery specialist to retrieve lost data. It takes time and costs money and there should, if you follow some simple steps, be absolutely no need for it at all.

Camera files – the weakest link You shoot lots and lots of RAW files on your camera and that’s really the weak point in the system. At the point of capture to a compact flash card you’re faced with the scenario of your precious data being only in one place. That means it’s at risk in a big way and that’s a problem. It’s true that careful use of CF cards – always re-formatting the card in the camera for one – can limit the chances of data loss, but it’s better to have 58 the PHOTOGRAPHER / Autumn 2013

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Now you’re continuing shooting confident in the knowledge that everything you’ve done so far is safe and sound. What makes it even neater is that it’s incredibly easy to move data onwards from the Nexto to your computer. Just plug in a USB2 or even eSATA cable. You can then take the whole day’s shooting into Lightroom in one hit from a strong, verified source – so avoiding the need to be loading up multiple cards one by one.

It’s also important to note whilst we’re still at the camera stage, that the worst thing you can do is copy files direct from your camera – ie connecting your camera to your computer. In that instance you’re asking the camera to read the card that’s in it and then transfer onwards – it’s the most risky approach. So at the very least buy yourself a decent-quality and fast card reader and always remove the card from the camera and load files to your computer via the card reader.

Importing to your RAW software Lightroom gives you an incredibly easy option to copy files to two different locations at the point of import. In the File Handling tab when importing just tick the ‘Make a second copy to’ box and click the file path below it to select the destination – the idea is you then have an exact copy of the files in their captured state on an external hard drive. This step is important because the Nexto or similar device (left) is a temporary backup location – eventually that data will be replaced with new data perhaps in a few shoots’ time when you clear it off.

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Lightroom also has its own back-up system for the catalogue itself which can be scheduled to varying regularity (see above). However, far more important is that the catalogue back-up location must be different to that of the catalogue itself. Hence if you make your catalogue location an external hard drive then the catalogue back-up can remain on your local internal hard drive. It is not obvious how to change the default back-up location in Lightoom. By default the backups are kept in /Pictures/Lightroom\Backups (Mac) or \My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Backups on a PC.

You cannot change this location directly via a Preference or Options setting.

You have to do it via the Scheduled Backup dialog box which will pop up when it is time for your next backup.

To force it to open sooner and make the location change do the following. Open Lightroom and select Catalog Settings from the Lightroom drop-down menu.

Select Every time Lightroom starts from the back-up section. Restart Lightroom.

When the Back Up Catalog box opens you can then set a new location for the back-up folder. This allows you to backup to any external drive, or even a USB stick. The point is that your destination for the Lightroom catalogue back-up must be different than the location of the catalogue itself. Think carefully about it.

With the measures so far in place we are in a situation where safety during capture is taken care of, your original untouched RAW files are safely sitting on an external drive where they

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What’s the set-up?

You can easily achieve this by simply using ‘Just a bunch of disks’. This means a set-up where you have your internal hard drive on your computer just running the operating system and perhaps storing your admin and family photos and music and all that stuff, plus of course it’s running all your software. All the important stuff is living externally to that local drive on two or three external hard drives. A basic and indeed extremely effective way of working this is to have two or three external hard drives ‘daisy chained’ by Firewire 800 connections. This means you have a Firewire 800 cable running from your computer to external hard drive number 1, and then FW800 cables going from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3. This gives you three external hard drives in your system plus of course the local drive inside your computer to play with.

It’s easy then to us them as follows. External drive Number 1 is your ‘working files’ and it could be the location of your Lightroom catalogue and the location of your second originals copy on import. Number 2 is your ‘back-up’ which will be run by an automatic scheduler (see over). You will want to have decent sizes of drive in use here – at least a couple of terabytes each will do the job for a while and when deciding which to buy check the speed at which the disk spins too.

So what’s the third drive for? Well there’s still all the data, software, admin, family pics and music living on your local internal hard drive that’s currently at risk since it only exists in one place. On a Mac a really good solution is to designate this third drive as your Time Machine disk. This means you are able to have a track-back through multiple points in each day to the exact state of your local hard drive and system, including all your software, all the bits you’ve saved on your desktop, all your email – absolutely everything. Even if your Mac goes bang it is possible to restore a new computer to a Time Machine back-up, software, email and all – which is invaluable. You can very simply go back in time and restore an individual file that you deleted by mistake. Note, of course, that this does NOT work with your BIPP Qtr Pg Ad drives 94x130 – 150313_Layout 1 15/03/2013 16:12 Page 1 external hard we have to work that separately.

went on import and the Lightroom catalogue – which will include the RAW files and all the changes and process updates you make to them is backed up too. So for images this is pretty bullet proof.

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Visit www.clikpic.com for a FREE 14 day trial Autumn 2013 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 61

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On a Mac, Time Machine lets you select a point in history from the pink menu on the right and see your local drive in exactly that state, then restore to the present day any files you like.

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These days with Windows 8 on a PC there is the equivalent of Time Machine called File History. File History isn’t quite as intelligent as Apple’s Time Machine, as Time Machine will allow you to restore anything from a single file to your entire operating system. Windows 8 still splits those two tasks rather awkwardly between File History and System Restore but it works in a similar fashion.

Obviously, your photography world does not just contain RAW files living in a Lightroom catalogue, the back-up of that or the originals from point of capture – that’s what we’ve dealt with so far – as well as your system and local files via Time Machine or Windows File History. You also have the storage and back-up of all those working PSDs, Tifs and client Jpegs that you create when working in Photoshop, and of course anything else besides. How do we deal with those?

Within our simple set-up as so far described, all of this stuff is going to be stored on your ‘working’ external hard drive too, but of course this is not on its own enough. We need a system that copies all these working files to your backup external drive without you needing to get involved. Again

we need to look at Mac and PC options separately. On a Mac one such solution that works nicely is SuperDuper. The key element here is that once the first mirroring of two drives is complete, SuperDuper just looks for differences between the two drives and updates them. In the screenshot below you can see that there’s a scheduled daily backup that updates the back-up drive from the working drive. You can get much more detailed and specific than this, telling it to ignore certain folders and so on or changing the regularity.

PC equivalents include Macrium Reflect or Acronis.

With all of this in place, you will have a quick solution to any drive failure, and if it hasn’t happened to you yet, it’s only a matter of time! tP The information provided in this article is just one – intentionally simple – approach to setting up a system that provides protection against hard drive failure.

No responsibility is in any way accepted for any action whatsoever undertaken as a result of the information provided. Users should carefully understand their circumstance before taking action.

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Business / Insurance

Employer’s obligations N

o one likes bills, even less so for something that is intangible. But bills for insurance shouldn’t be dodged; insurance is far less expensive than not being insured in the event of a loss. The bigger problems though, are that too few are switched on to the art of making savings and often the wrong or no insurance is held – clearly only a problem if a claim is made.

While many photographers operate on their own, some employ staff full time and some use others on a more casual basis. Either way, understanding the rules surrounding employees and insurance is key to staying out of the courts and out of financial trouble.

Employer’s legal obligations Employers are legally responsible for the health and safety of their employees whilst they are at work (whether working on or off site). According to Mark Stevens, an employment lawyer at Veale Wasbrough Vizards: ‘Employees who have been injured at work or who become ill as a result of their work for an employer can claim compensation from their employer if they consider their employer responsible.’ He says that employers are legally required to have in place a minimum level of insurance cover against any such claims should they arise. This insurance, known as Employers’ Liability Insurance, enables an employer to meet the cost of compensation for their employee’s injuries

Any small business needs to be sure that it’s properly covered with regard to Employers’ Liability Insurance and Public Liability insurance.

Here’s a brief guide to what you need and where you could get it or illness. It’s necessary to have cover for all staff whether full or part time.

It might be obvious to say that the two most common ways of buying insurance are either online or via a broker and that depending on who you ask you’ll get a different preference. However, experience does show that brokers can offer more individual quotes, especially for the more ‘interesting’ – read problematic – situations. It’s important to buy from an authorised insurer, that is individuals or companies working under the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) maintains a register of authorised insurers – www.fsa.gov.uk will confirm whether a particular insurer is authorised.

As for how much employee liability cover is required, Stevens says that employers must be insured for at least £5m: ‘Depending on the nature of the work performed, and any particular risks or concerns, it would be sensible to have insurance cover of at least £10m in place.’ Employers can use more than one insurance policy to provide employer’s liability insurance, but the total value of cover must be at least £5m.

Common knowledge Having insurance is one thing, but ensuring that others know about it is another, so when taking out or renewing a policy, the insurer must provide a certificate of employers’ liability insurance stating the minimum level of cover provided and the name of the employer. Stevens says that ‘this certificate must be displayed where it can easily be read by employees.

Employers can meet this obligation by displaying the

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certificate electronically, although they should ensure their employees know how and where to find it.’ He goes on to say that there is no legal obligation to keep old certificates, but the advice is that employers should always keep a complete historical record of certificates.

The obligation to obtain employee liability cover The obligation to seek employee liability insurance is not universal. Almost all private sector employers need it but some employers are exempt, but these are mainly public organisations such as local authorities, health service boards and government departments. But Stevens advises that exceptions also apply to family businesses, which are defined as businesses where all of the employees are closely related (husband and wife, father and son and so on) although this exception to the rule doesn’t apply to a family business that is incorporated as a limited company. Similarly, companies employing only their owner (someone with a shareholding of more than 50% of the shares) do not have to be covered.

But of courses the waters can become a little muddied. A business is only required by law to have employers’ liability insurance for people employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

Says Stevens: ‘Whether or not someone is employed under a contract of service will depend on a number of different factors – what matters is the nature of the relationship between employer and the individual.’ Invariably though, you will need employers’ liability insurance if the individual is subject to national insurance and income tax; controlled by the employer in terms of where and when

they work; not responsible for supplying their own work materials and equipment; paid a fixed salary; and required to perform the work themselves rather than engage a substitute.

But just because pay isn’t involved does not exempt a photographer from the need to take out insurance as work experience students or volunteers may be found to be employees requiring employer’s liability insurance to be in place. It may be sensible to err on the side of caution in these circumstances.

And if the correct insurance cover isn’t in place it can lead to sticky problems with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who can check to see that the employer’s liability cover in place. HSE can fine an employer up to £2,500 per day if the correct insurance is not in place. Remember: the HSE now has powers under a new programme called Fee for Intervention which in essence is a cost recovery scheme from those ‘requiring’ its services.

Also consider…

Where members of the public visit the business premises or use its services, Stevens suggests that Public Liability Insurance may also be required. Some clients may require businesses to have this cover in place before they will enter into contracts and it covers the insured for anything that they may do or cause to a third party. Many small businesses don’t cover themselves for this, but in the event of a claim, out-of-pocket costs for a legal defence or settlement can far exceed premium costs. In some cases, the costs of a claim could be enough to shut down the business.

So why buy from a broker Laura Marsh, partner in insurance specialist, PPS GI, says it’s worth investing in personalised service and she believes that firms shouldn’t purchase their policy online ‘due to the nature of their business and the specialisms required in many forms of insurance’. Being ‘caught out’ when buying a policy should not be an issue when using a reputable broker or agent with whom a face-to-face meeting has taken place and who has taken the time to explain and clarify all the T&Cs, as well as, perhaps more importantly, confirm what is not covered.

Marsh says the value of a good broker will become apparent when a claim is made: ‘It is crucial to have access to support staff who are experienced and who will understand the nature of the claim and can provide the relevant information immediately.’

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