the Photographer - Spring 2015

the PHOTOGRAPHER

The Magazine of the BIPP / Spring 2015

Spring 2015

The inside track

Stories from HMP Wandsworth, by Ian Flanders ABIPP TP-2015-SPG OFC.indd 1

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Spring 2015

Cover story / Ian Flanders 4 Shooting film with available light and light-touch direction, Ian’s Portraits from the Inside form a special perspective on a detatched world

Profile / Bradwell Media 14 What does it take to produce many thousands of images for some of the biggest retail brands in the business?

BIPP President / Eric Jenkins 24 We introduce the new President of the Institute – with a look at his extensive CV and some plans for the months ahead Unbroken / Julia Louise Hope 30 A highly personal and sometimes shocking account of expression and therapy through portraiture

Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Colour / Spaces 38 Why small isn’t so beautiful and hence bigger is really much better

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: Eric Jenkins Hon FBIPP Chief Executive: Chris Harper FBIPP Directors: Suzi Allen LBIPP, Russell Baston HonFBIPP, Bryn Griffiths FBIPP, Scott Johnson ABIPP, Bella West FBIPP

Image © Julia Louise Hope FBIPP

The Editor / Comment 2 What you shoot, how you shoot – it’s still your main priority

Dark beauty / Ewa Kepys 54 An all-round creative professional – from model, to model agent, to photographer. An open window to a fairytale world just beginning

BIPP News 46 Company partners, member benefits, regional events, national training and awards

The Business End / Tax 61 It’s a new financial year, so what better time to check you’re up with all the changes – for better and worse, richer and poorer

Membership Services Advisory Board Suzi Allen LBIPP (National) Russell Baston HonFBIPP (National) Saraya Cortaville FBIPP (National) Tony Freeman HonFBIPP (National) Bryn Griffiths FBIPP (Midlands) Dave Hunt ABIPP (Scotland) Scott Johnson ABIPP (South East) Fyzal Kirk ABIPP (North East) Richard Mayfield FBIPP (Yorkshire) Alan McEwan FBIPP (National)

John Miskelly LBIPP (Northern Ireland) James Russell LBIPP (North West) Bella West FBIPP (National) Stuart Wood FBIPP (National) Editor: Jonathan Briggs, editor@bipp.com Advertising: Tel 01296 642020 Email: jack@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 2015

Spring 2015 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 1

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The editor / Comment

Shooting style The simple acts of ‘doing’ social media and having a website get you new clients, don’t they? The internet… social media… Of course, I’d totally forgotten!

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here’s a government radio ad doing the rounds at the moment that encourages small businesses to ‘go digital’, so they can promote their services in the modern age, naturally.

It features a hair dresser who tells us that social media is really important – no, vital – for her to talk to customers she already has, and find new ones.

The rub of it sounds as though ‘doing’ social media and having a website form the new fundamentals of business.

Of course, I hadn’t thought about the Internet! As my mother would ask: ‘Can you get it out of the computer?’

In all honesty, I’m doing her a disservice – she is becoming iPad and Smartphone literate at an alarming rate – curiously, as she’s hit her 70s. The push points were finally realising the value of free access to 24-7 IT help (aka Yours Truly)

and latterly having her old mobile phone stolen by ‘robbers’.

But seriously, now wielding an iPad plus a Samsung smartphone (a cross-platform pensioner no less), she represents a whole load of (still) new consumers coming online, new markets opening up and you need to talk to them.

How? Is social media the simple and easy way? Is a website the be-all and end-all? It’s not unusual, of course, for any government push to be hopelessly behind the curve. Big organisations move very slowly and massive ones at a snail’s pace – although often for very decent and proper procedural reasons.

Take, for example, another government billboard ad out at the moment pushing the ‘super fast’ broadband roll-out. The imagery and branding could be 25 years old, being remarkably similar to that on a big travel case from the late 90s I used to have that sported ‘internet’ text in ‘digital’-style lettering complete with dots and swooshes et al. I used it for big foreign trips until quite recently my wife pointed out other travellers laughing at it. At least it was noticeable on the conveyor…

But back to the question: is digital marketing the answer, or the only thing we need to worry about? I’d say no.

The truth of the matter goes something more like this: if you don’t have a website in the current day and age you look pretty stupid. However, don’t think that any amount of optimisation will result in a sudden rush of interest and enquiries.

The immediate role of a website is as a place to send people to expand their initial idea of who you are and what you do. How they hear about you in the first place is very much likely to be down to good old-fashioned word of mouth, or alternatively the digital version of word of mouth otherwise known as blogging. Because humans are for the most part rather like sheep, we like to do what other people say they’ve done and had a jolly good time doing. For example, most brides to be start by looking at photographers who have already shot at the venue they’re using. They are able to find them only because they or someone else has talked about it online covering a multitude

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of different scenarios, times of day and weather conditions.

So note, a blog entry isn’t just pictures – it’s the text, the tags – they really build the picture… and can be searched. Then your website might get a visit and the picture of you filled out a little more. Now you might be on the short list. Wait for the real biggie… you’ll only get this far if you’re any good, and you’ve managed to communicate that quality in an online environment.

I’d say this is mostly to do with style… Have you got one?

Unless you’re able to express a shooting style then you’ll struggle in the longer run. On a secondary level it comes down to editing – are you thinking carefully about your style and how it might be read by someone coming to images cold when you put up those blog posts? Or are you just getting it done so you can concentrate on something far more important that day… such as arguing pointlessly with someone on a photo­ graphy forum? There’s often a major difference between what

you think a picture says about you and what it really does say about you.

So, other Social Media activity – it must work because everyone’s doing it yes? And no. The updates, status entries, checking in here and there, pictures, tags, shares… they don’t get you work – it’s all just window dressing for that moment when a potential client comes across you and takes that momentary view of you as a photographer. If you want new clients and the ability to keep and impress the ones you already have, ‘just’ keep taking fantastic pictures – with the caveat that it’d be a good idea to practise talking about them…

Jonathan Briggs, editor

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Ben Moffatt, 37 ‘I’ve been in and out of prison since I was 17. This sentence is two years for burglary but altogether I’ve done about 15 years inside. I’ve done some substance misuse programmes while inside because I used to take Es and stuff like that – puff, cannabis, coke and crack cocaine. But that just led me to doing burglaries and kept landing me back in prison so I don’t do that no more. When I was out I was doing really well, I wasn’t getting involved.The reason I was recalled to prison is because I failed three swab tests for A class drugs. But there’s no police intell [intelligence] of me committing other offences. I’ve got the hump with probation because I was doing really well, I weren’t reoffending or nothing. I just slipped up on a drugs test.

I’ve completed FA coaching Level 1 and I’m doing a Timpson Academy Level 1. It gives us chances for when we come out and if we’ve got a stable job we won’t go back to committing crime. I can say hand on heart I won’t be doing any reoffending to come back to prison – I’ve just had enough of prison life.’

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Inside lives There was only one way to properly tell the story behind Ian Flanders’ portraits of prisoners, and that was of course by using their very own words – not edited or stylised in any way. To some it’ll be a little shocking, to others a depressing reality check. Whatever your response, these images are as real as it gets

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ccompanying each image shown in Ian Flanders’ series ‘Portraits from the Inside’ is a detailed account of the person’s history and experience of – or response to – prison life and the strategies aiming to reduce reoffending by working with offenders to change their behaviour and address the issues that may lead them back to crime. The accounts are provided just as they were said – which is extremely apt as the pictures were produced very much exactly as the people are.

There’s an intensity to Ian’s work, pouring through the eyes and expressions. However, the sittings were certainly not ‘worked’ or set up – Ian specifically left it to his subjects to be photographed where they wanted to be – in their place, in their current world. All the work was taken at HMP Wandsworth and Ian explains his primary objectives: ‘My main purpose was to allow offenders a visual voice through the medium of photography and so create a greater awareness amongst the public at large, victims and potential victims. I hope it could highlight the possibility of other interventions which can help motivate and engage offenders and become a learning resource to benefit other offenders, members of the Criminal Justice Group, the National Offender Management Service, the Ministry for Justice, the probation and prison services and outside organisations.

‘The project aims to show the continued commitment to reducing re­offending as outlined by “Punishment and Reform” Offender Management Strategy (2008). It is hoped that it shows how offenders pay their debt to society and are given the chance to change.’

Ian works for the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service – the question therefore arose of how the project could be objective?

That’s the main reason for the interview excerpts being left in un-edited form.

Ian asked each of his 25 interviewees whether they’d been supported in relation to the seven pathways (which form the basis of offender rehabilitation).

He says: ‘I photographed them on their own wings and quite simply how they wanted to be. It’s all shot on film, which seemed to be the most natural choice of medium – not so much for the atmosphere, but for the whole process.

I used 120 film on my Bronica SQA with available light. With film you are compelled to take your time and understand the subject – the true excitement is still there. My approach didn’t change at all through the project – I wanted authenticity most of all and I gave them hardly any direction. All I wanted was to take a portrait in a fairly traditional way. My brief was to show them as they are and as people, human beings, to get a little bit of their character to come through.’ It’s clear that the light-touch direction has done the trick. tP

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

“Bruo” Phil Oyelade, 30 ‘I’m serving six years for robbery and another two years consecutive for ABH, totalling eight years. I’ve been in prison five or six times for robbery, GBH and ABH. I’ve done some offender behaviour programmes on my previous sentence like Anger Management, Social Skills and Relating to Others. I’ve also taken part in Shame Violence Intervention which is a good course that helps people express their issues and get things off their chest. In a way, prison does work because it makes you reflect on what you done and why you done it. You’re away from the people you love and there are some days when it’s just the small things you miss… like sitting down with your kids and watching TV with them or helping them with their homework. Some days I could just do with a hug – just a hug would do me and you can’t get it. But there are some people in here that are still carrying on as if they were on the outside. I wanna do as many courses as I can so I can go to college and get a job at the end of it. It will be something like carpentry, painting and decorating... something where I can be my own boss.’

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Frankie Smylie, 32 ‘I’m serving eight years with eight years extended for common assault, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and robbery. I’ve been in prison at least 15 times for things like burglaries, theft, GBH and robberies. I’ve taken cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and alcohol. When I first came in here I got into drugs again but then I got onto the RAPt programme because I knew it was going too far. I think now I’ve been clean for four months. At the end of the day there’s a shortage of staff and courses. There are people on wings selling drugs every day. We come in here to get off drugs but we’re thrown into the fire again because the officers can’t stop it. I think prison does work but there are a lot more things they could do with people like me such as giving people more community based rehab projects. Every other time I’ve come out of prison they’ve slung me into bail hostels. I’m a recovering user, I’m trying to sort my life out and they put me in these places full of users. If you’re being slung into a hostel where everybody is using drugs and everybody’s committing crime, it’s hard to beat that.’

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Billy Chambers, 25 ‘I’m serving two years eight months for burglary. I’ve been in prison once before – four months for street robbery. I got no support during that sentence and when I came out I went back to live at my mum’s house. I got bullied at school and played truant a lot. I’m a long way behind with my education and have problems with reading and writing. I’ve put my name down on the waiting list for the Enhanced Thinking Skills course and I’m waiting to hear if I fit the criteria.’

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Leon “Fats” McKenzie ‘Prison is what you make it. I’ve been inside twice before for robbery and this sentence is seven years for conspiracy to rob.

I did 33 courses during my last sentence and I’m currently working as a Violence Reduction rep on my wing. I’ve done quite well – the percentage of bullying and violence has gone down about 50% since I’ve been on A wing. There are guys here who don’t even come out of their cells and they’re not willing to better themselves. There are people who have come here 20 times and will be coming here another 20 times. I use the time to gain qualifications and new skills. So it’s down to the individual how you do your sentence.

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Grzegorz Juziuk, 36 ‘I was sentenced to four years for GBH – my first and only time in prison. I’ve finished my sentence but I have IPP [Indeterminate Public Protection – means the tariff is set by the parole board] and Probation Officer say I need to finish courses. I can’t finish courses because I don’t speak much English – I’m Polish. Nobody never ask me what I need or what help they can give me. I ask many times for a translator but nobody never help me. I think I stay in prison for rest of my life.

Probation officer not help me. She just said if I no finish course I will stay here forever, and she don’t want to give me translator.’

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Ben Chambers, 27 ‘I’ve been to prison about 12 times and have had more than 50 convictions since before my teens. I got a six-year sentence when I was 12 for stabbing a security guard and I’ve served time for burglary, robbery, armed robbery, wounding with intent… this current sentence is seven years for armed robbery. I never went to school except for a few weeks and all the qualifications I’ve got were while I was in Juvenile Estates and Young Offender Institutes. I’ve used all sorts of drugs – cocaine, cannabis, alcohol... cocaine destroyed my life. I’m still using cannabis – I smoke more in here than I did outside. Before, I always denied that I’d taken drugs but in prison I’ve done some substance misuse programmes and I’m also doing the Shame/Violence intervention course. I’m gonna be nearly 26 when I get released and I hope to have found my way by then.

I’ve got a child and my partner visits regularly but I feel the pain she’s struggling with and I can’t help her while I’m in here.

I’m gonna try and get on a degree course maybe in history… that’s my plan.

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Image © Ian Flanders ABIPP

Thomas Puhlhofer, 22 ‘I’ve been in prison five times since the age of 15. The first two times were for burglary and I’ve also been in for dealing drugs, shooting, assault and this time I’ve got five years and six months for firearms charges. I didn’t get a good start at school – I was expelled from primary school for fighting with the head teacher – and I never went to college. But I’m determined to get as many qualifications as I can while I’m in here so when I’m released I can go straight into a job and live my life the way it should be lived, with no crime involved. I’ve had quite a bit of contact with the mental health nurses and I’m waiting to do counselling and group session therapy. The most helpful thing for me in prison so far has been education and the Enhanced Thinking Skills programme which has made me realise I need to be positive. I think Wandsworth has all the help a prisoner needs – you just have to be man enough to ask for it.’

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Building our world

Some in today’s industry would have us believe that no one bothers about quality these days – that everything’s about on-line deliverables and a third-world pack shot will do. They should pay a visit to Bradwell Media to discover that top-end product work is essential to supply rich-media content and place brands firmly in the right lifestyle niche

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by now. It’s the scale that’s most immediately startling. There are of course many studios capable of putting together the corner of a room and shining some ‘daylight’ through a ‘window’ with a country scene behind, but this is different. Across seven units there’s around 30 full-size rooms and suites of rooms working at any time, many with proper door entry and the ability to shoot 360 degrees, windows, backgrounds and all, plus interchangeable flooring systems. That’s the special bit here – the capacity to spin right around a set, and hence there’s possibilities with stills and video there wouldn’t be elsewhere.

There’s a full-time team of set builders making doors, windows, walls, and a similar group of stylists busy creating the perfect home from home. Rugs are being fluffed, walls smoothed and painted, beds and bedding perfected, full kitchens with cook wear, appliances, furniture… You name it, it’s here.

So for what, for who? Bradwell Media is the production arm of the Home Retail Group (HRG), the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer, bringing together some

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Image © Bradwell Media

ituated amongst the perfectly normal, nondescript industrial units somewhere in the logical grid system that is Milton Keynes, can be found the vast studios of Bradwell Media. It’s true that, in this day and age, there aren’t as many really large studio spaces as there were once upon a time – and for very good reason, CGI being just one of them. All the same, if you wanted an image of something really big like a truck standing in a huge pool of water, for example, there are now better approaches perhaps than doing it for real. However at Bradwell Media it’s actually the kind of thing you could do. It’s that big.

Here in the service roads around the back are the very first hints of what is going on. Vans and trucks come and go with loads of wood in the main, or deliver packages from the very large to the very small. You’d almost think someone was moving house, such is the variety of items, and that it must be a really big house at that! There’s an efficient buzz about the place – and no sign of the usual armies of people on cigarette breaks that populate most industrial areas. Everyone seems to have a place to be and a job to do, and high-vis jackets abound.

From inside comes the regular crash, bang, wallop of stuff being made… but what? Fork lifts trundle sheets of plaster board – there’s clearly a lot of carpentry going on – and the answer is of course: room sets, as you know

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of the UK’s most recognisable retail brands including Argos, Homebase and Habitat. In total, it comprises 1,057 stores; 47,000 staff; more than 80,000 products; over 180m customer transactions; all amounting to £5.7bn-worth of sales. The group has a great deal of history to look back on too, from the opening of the first Habitat store back in 1964, through Argos starting to appear on the high street in the early 70s and Homebase beginning to get under our skin in the 1980s. Via a complex series of takeovers and demergers, we come to the present group of brands and a quantity of product photography you’d almost not want to think about. Be honest, who would want to be responsible for 900 different room sets a year, plus all the individual product shots, processing and postproduction? It’s a big ask – oh and did we mention that there’s high-end video going on here too?

Now we know what and why, next up is how: the place is literally teaming with digital Hasselblad systems, Broncolor packs and the associated computing power required. Everywhere you turn there’s a Mac Pro tethered to a ’blad system with multiple Broncolor packs lighting the way. Quality, there is no doubt, is right up there – and for good reason. When it comes to room sets, almost every shot has to be available for every possible use, from web all the way to billboard. Add into this mix the fact that these retail brands are effectively channel distributers g

Image © Bradwell Media

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for some high-end manufacturers themselves, and you realise that this space is producing to the highest possible production values to allow complete trickle down from full page in a Sunday supplement, to 500 pixels across on a website.

The facility is staffed by no less than 15 photographers – and that doesn’t really seem like many to cover off more than 45,000 images a year. There’s a definite impression that abilities amongst the staff are high and people seem to be enjoying their jobs too. The photographers are generally working from art directors’ sketchups and brand directors’ look-and-feel guidelines for the coming season. But as we all know, such things don’t always match up with reality – so there’s a fair bit of creative licence and input to get the best out of a product line or season’s style sheet. Indeed, how a product or range is sold these days has moved on no end.

Gone is any kind of hard-sell approach – everything is about real life, allowing the purchaser to see a product as a part of their own world in a softer, natural way.

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scenario is video – playing an ever-increasing part of product communication, especially for a high street catalogue retailer like Argos.

So, bringing the catalogue to life is the primary objective but also more helpful and tactile add-ons are produced in the form of ‘how to’ short clips for example – such things are very much ‘in’ these days. Undoubtedly it’s all about connecting the consumer with the brand and the retailer, which then provides some glue to keep them coming back, whether online or in store. The theory is then applied in differing ways to each brand in the group. At the time of our visit,

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the catalogues – in a six to eight-week period, 4,500 images are shot. This peak occurs twice a year and then the place is full of freelancers too. Many naysayers in the industry would almost have us all believe that operations on this scale and at this level of quality don’t exist anymore, that the world is entirely driven by £1 pack shots from Asia. But it’s all going on here in Milton Keynes with perfectly organised rhythm and purpose.

More than that though, staff development is big here: eight hours a month are given over to personal skills development and there’s additional innovation weeks where staff can test and experiment with new ideas and approaches. Creatively, then, it’s all very forward-looking, and whilst the pace of work is high and logistically mind-boggling, there’s a kind of relaxed notion of everyone pulling together and being capable in their own job roles; that this enormous operation is entirely under control. As a part of the staff development programmes, 12 photographers and ten videographers have become qualified members of the BIPP – so setting a firm skills and creative benchmark, and forming a structure for future career progression and development. It’s clear that there’s a well-rounded notion that continuing professional development across a group equals improved commercial and corporate performance. As a result, new offerings are being added to the service portfolio at Bradwell, such as high-speed video – bringing previously expensive projects in-house, and so making the future of the organisation brighter and more dynamic on all fronts.

Although it’s a properly cut-and-thrust commercial environment, BIPP training and qualification has been fully embraced at the highest level and is very much part of a positive working vibe on the studio floor. On one

Image © Bradwell Media

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wall is a notice board where all the staff post up their aims and objectives, so everything from testing and experimentation to organisation and best practice is public and open – it fosters inspiration, initiative and good communication.

Geoffrey Pickles, now a FBIPP, has been with the company since 2002 and previously worked for Freemans back in the 1980s and 90s. He has a career behind him spanning 30 years, from analogue to digital, in stills and CGI. ‘This place started life as a cut-out studio oddly enough,’ says Geoffrey, ‘but thanks to a great deal of insistance (partly from myself ) we started undertaking more and more work of the group. Back then we were using four-shot Imacon backs and doing multi-shot work on wooden floors, so the whole place used to have to stand still when the shout went up! There have been some serious upgrade decisions to be made over the years, just like any major studio has had to do – going for the Hasselblad systems was a big investment but the capability of the software as well as the given capture quality and support was what tipped the balance. It’s been a very interesting digital journey, all undertaken whilst working on the front line. I think we’ve got excellent capacity and creative skills here – there’s not much that can’t be done.’ tP Spring 2015 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 23

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BIPP welcomes its new President, Eric Jenkins Hon FBIPP

Image © Llewellyn Robins Hon FBIPP

B

ringing a wealth of specialist commercial photographic experience, Eric Jenkins takes up the position of BIPP President at a point where the Institute is witnessing new growth in commercial and industrial sectors. These have always been right at the heart of the BIPP – hence he will be a great ambassador for technical skills and progression along the professional qualifications pathway. Here we take a look at Eric’s background working in the atomic energy industry and signpost a few areas to watch out for over the coming months.

Since 1947, when the site changed from a war time airfield in the Oxfordshire countryside to The Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell has been the centre of nuclear and other spin-off research programmes. Throughout its history, safety and environmental impact have been right at the top of the agenda.

All work including support services such as photography are required to be undertaken within a comprehensive safety culture – which includes method statements and risk assessments. Harwell, as a licensed nuclear site, undertakes the monitoring of personnel and working areas to ensure a safe working environment. This safety culture often impacts quite rightly on the accessibility, and available viewpoints, for photography.

Eric comments: ‘One of the main challenges has always been to convince a scientist or engineer that your ideas as a professional image maker will often be different to theirs… Over the years, I have managed to build respect for my work, interpreting their projects with interesting and creative imagery. Using some of my images to win a few awards over the years certainly helped.

My work has been to offer a professional creative image g

Left: This image was part of my coverage for the decommissioning of the Gleep reactor, showing the removal of the graphite core. I produced a timelapse sequence of the graphite removal, condensing months of work down to just a couple of minutes.

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service to some of the country’s very finest scientists and engineers within a carefully controlled safety culture.’

Eric is currently Image Consultant to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and has a staggering 55 years’ experience working within a scientific research environment. He started in 1959 as a laboratory trainee, moving through roles as assistant, photographer, senior and principal photographer to become chief photo­ grapher as photographic services manager for the UK Atomic Energy Authority in 1991. Following the privatisation of the Authority in 1996, Eric fulfilled the role of Account Manager for the Imaging Centre, with special responsibilities for photography. In 2000 he was invited by UKAEA to create and manage the newly formed Image Resources, with responsibility to develop a comprehensive photo archive. This major collection of nuclear and scientific material numbering in excess of one million images plus hundreds of miles

Left: This experiment was situated in the main seven-storey chemical engineering building. I was requested to photograph the rig from each floor, and this I did. However, I managed to convince them that the real picture was from the top of the building looking down through all the floors – the problems were not technical but logistical, gaining access to the top being the main one… of moving image is now recognised by the National Archives as a place of deposit and by the NDA as a unique and important facility. The collection was named the Eric Jenkins Collection in recognition of his work.

Eric is a member of the BIPP Contin­ uing Professional Development Advisory

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Image © Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

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Image © Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

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Board which advises on Qualifications, Education and Training. He has served on the BIPP Industrial Committee, having been chairman for ten years and is a past BIPP council member and Admissions and Qualifications Group Chair. His role with the BIPP has included mentoring and encouragement to ensure members progress to their maximum potential within

Left: This process was undertaken within an enclosed tank only viewed through a small viewing port – the beam barely visible with the naked eye.

However the scientist assured me that it must be present! Based on previous experience, an exposure of three minutes proved him right!

the BIPP’s qualifications system. Eric has won numerous awards over the course of his long career including three BIPP national print awards in Scientific/Applied photo­ graphy and is a past winner of the Institute of Physics ‘Beauty of Physics’ photographic competition. His work has been exhibited on many occasions at prestigious venues, including at the Science Museum. He’s also been a judge on the Daily Telegraph/ Novartis Photo Science Photographic Competition and Police Photographer of the Year, amongst many others.

Developments going forward here at the BIPP include the return of the Infot Conference that will look at current trends and challenges in industrial and commercial photography, including use of drones, copyright issues and moving image capture, and an opportunity to work with forensic physicians as they look to digitise recording practices. Across the broad range of disciplines in photography, the BIPP is focusing on promotion to buyers of imagery – raising the status and awareness of its role in the sector and promoting adherence to high-level photographic and professional standards. There’s also a pilot initiative in place to work with young people linking up with youth groups and secondary schools. Continuing this theme, the BIPP Student and College Awards information is also to be found in this issue, with an entry closing date of 29 May.

The BIPP would finally like to extend its sincere thanks to outgoing President Roy Meiklejon for an outstanding contribution to the Institute. tP

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WHAT THE HEART

R E A L LY

FEELS ‘Mental illness isn’t wrong or self-centred any more than a broken leg or the flu is.

Depression is not selfish. Anxiety is not rude.

Schizophrenia is not wrong.’ Julia Louise Hope explains: ‘Each of these Unbroken images are a form of self-portrait of myself’

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Image © Julia Louise Hope FBIPP

‘I

t it is an odd paradox that as a society we can now speak openly about topics that were once unspeakable, yet conversation still remains largely silent when it comes to mental illness,’ says photographer Julia Louise Hope in the introduction to her book Unbroken – reducing the stigma surrounding mental health. The words and pictures here are adapted from her work.

Julia continues: ‘On the rare occasion that a conversation does begin about mental illness, an uncharacteristic awkwardness takes over – often we say nothing, and so marginalise the people who need our acceptance the most. As a society, we ought to understand that many people with mental illness, when given the right treatment, can be full participants in society.

This is often why mental illness is known as an “invisible illness”. What we cannot see, we do not believe, or want to understand. The unknown becomes something to be feared.’

Julia’s photographic career harks all the way back to making a pinhole camera whilst studying GCSE 30 the PHOTOGRAPHER / Spring 2015

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Image © Julia Louise Hope FBIPP

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photography and developing images in the school darkroom. She went on to study A level photography and quickly found herself photographing a wedding at just 19 years of age – with surprisingly good results, she admits. Fast forward to 1996 and Garden of England Photography was born, set up with a close school friend, and specialising in Victorian-style portraiture using Ilford black and white film developed onto colour paper to provide an ‘old’ Sepia effect. The business gathered an expansive collection of costumes and rode a wave of interest in Victoriana and period clothes. They opened a studio located in the roundel of a Kentish oasthouse on a popular children’s farm and over 500 clients had their children photographed by Garden of England. The business also provided wedding and other social photography and at that time only 5% of professional photographers were women – they fought hard to earn respect in the industry. But with another social shift taking place – the change to couples largely paying for their own weddings – Garden of England’s two female photographers found themselves very much in demand. They undertook copious research through friends and family to find out what was good and bad about other people’s experiences with professional photographers – it was a successful business that took advantage of styles popular at the time and traded with a unique competitive advantage. In 1998, Julia married and started a family.

Unfortunately, not all of Julia’s experiences in life have been so positive. It would be right to say that she has experienced more than her fair share of trauma. The day before her first birthday, Julia’s mother abandoned her – for the last time – and she was placed with a permanent foster family. Up to that point her first year had been spent on the streets, in rented accommodation or in temporary foster care. But when her foster family adopted her, she became part of a large and ever-changing family: six brothers and five sisters plus a steady stream of babies and children needing emergency foster care. She feels that family experience has provided her with a unique understanding of people, which attaches itself well to the role of the photographer.

Julia spent a great deal of time in later life searching for her biological mother on the streets of London.

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She says: ‘My friend and I came across some extremely disturbing scenes – we saw a young woman prostituting herself in the middle of the day; we saw a little girl of about four years old walking totally alone in her bare feet; we saw children playing by the edge of a busy road and at dusk we helped an elderly lady find cardboard for her “bed”. We had a gun pulled on us by a man who had served 22 years in prison for armed robbery and murder. We were chased down streets and separated people who were willing to kill – for something to quench their thirst. I have seen every type of drug-induced psychosis; witnessed the use of most types of drug and drink that seems to be the only release from the reality of their existence on the streets. We passed a young woman, whose eyes were glazed over as she walked in her slippers and only a long cardigan, which was open enough to reveal that she wore nothing underneath.

This is not a story, not some made-up tale. This is reality and it happens every day – it is life for many people.’

Julia explains that for many who survive a life on the streets, there will be the onset of a mental illness. On the other hand, such an existence can be as a result of mental illness and the lack of understanding surrounding their previous lives. There are once successful business men and women, there are fathers and mothers, sisters and daughters, sons, uncles, aunties and grandparents living like this today. ‘Once upon a time they were just like you, and just like me.’

Statistically speaking, mental illness will affect one in three people close to us all.

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Image © Julia Louise Hope FBIPP

Julia continues: ‘Watching people has always been fascinating to me.

I couldn’t help but notice that the photographs I took seemed to communicate a strong theme of ordinary life – that people looked unhappy, thoughtful, sad, reflective, stressed… but not often happy. This was not at all what I was used to in my weddings and portrait business. I had observed over the years how my clients would want to look their best, whether that was by how they dressed, or by their expressions.

Happiness seemed to be what every client wanted me to photograph. As photo­graphers, we can create that opportunity for that elusive and rarely

felt emotion, we can set the scene and help our clients to laugh. I firmly believe that when I look into a person’s eyes it is possible to see what their heart really feels.’

‘Each of these Unbroken images are a form of selfportrait of myself,’ explains Julia, ‘what I have seen, felt and experienced in my life. Each portrait is a part of me and my understanding of what life is really about.’

Throughout her life, Julia has experienced varying degrees and many types of abuse, including being violently raped by a male nurse whilst in hospital in 2007. Since that shocking experience, she has had many admissions to psychiatric hospitals in order to deal with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and treatment for the side effects of this illness. ‘This project has been both therapeutic and painful in equal measure.

To be able to project my life through portraiture has been a work from my heart, and so reveals a lot of my

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Image © Julia Louise Hope FBIPP

g own vulnerability. We all want to be happy, and many

hours are spent in seeking the elusive goal of happiness.

However, we are all on a journey and happiness is a little part of our journey – it is not a destination. My aim is to express through my photography what can happen to each and every one of us. I am no different to the next person, and hope that you will find something that speaks to you personally. My pictures are not supposed to cause upset or pain – however I do hope that you will find something there, that you will feel something.

In the words of Oswald Chambers: “If we were never depressed, we would not be alive – only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation.”

Throughout my life, I have already had enough traumatic experiences to know first hand how it feels to

suffer from a mental illness. Many times, I have been misunderstood, invalidated and pained by the ignorance of others – yet it provided me with a deep insight.

Like many reading this, I was afraid of people suffering from a mental illness.

My “normal” life and those close to me was to be turned inside out. My understanding of mental health hospitals is now very different to what it was – I realised that 99% of people in these places are the nicest people you could ever wish to meet and with the right help and support go on to live a fulfilling life. I am at the stage in my recovery where I want to help reduce the stigmas surrounding mental health. tP

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Colour / Spaces

Bigger spaces = better G

oing back quite a few years, I was engaged in an extremely public argument with a certain camera manufacturer staffer about colour spaces. Picture the scene: I’d been hired to run a processing booth at an exhibition, my job being to pick up literally hundreds of files being shot on demo sets and transmitted wirelessly, pick out some decent-ish ones (few and far between) to do an edit on and prepare for print, and then fire files down the line to a bank of waiting large-format printers. All of my admittedly highspeed actions were delivered to an amused or bemused crowd of onlookers via a couple of enormous screens.

‘I hope you got well paid for that!’

I hear you cry… hmmmm.

Me being me, and knowing the boys on the printers pretty well, things were being done properly and so in the array of short cuts and actions that had been prepared earlier was the imposition of Adobe RGB 1998 as the colour space of the edited files exported from the incoming camera RAW files.

Printers like Adobe RGB 1998.

Excuse me for personifying a piece of metal and plastic, but I know they do. The argument started because the member of staff spotted this happening on the big screens and didn’t like it one bit – my practice was a deviation from official policy on colour spaces. I figure it was a bit daft of me to stick to my guns, but hey that’s one advantage

No matter why, your working history, or what your ‘mates’ say on forums, your working choice of RGB colour space is important – not something to be ignored. Here we explain why small is not beautiful, in this instance of being independent in this world! So why oh why is it such a big issue that I’d practically ensure I’d get no further work after our ‘clash’ over something as ‘silly’ as sRGB? The trouble Part of the problem is about lowest common denominators. sRGB could be called standard LCD-RGB – in other words the potential colour values in any file with sRGB assigned are really very limited. The reasons for this are to enable an OK display of the image on the largest number of screens and devices possible, whilst their actual capabilities are unknown. Indeed, use of sRGB is essential for half-decent display of images on the web. Different browsers handle colour data that isn’t defined by a #code differently. Some like Safari make an OK job of reading larger gamut colour spaces; others like iE spit it out in a mashed up mess. But nonetheless, the right and proper place to use sRGB is for web output – it’s a small colour space as can be seen in the illustrations accompanying this piece and that’s a good thing only in the context of its proper use, on unknown screens, on the web.

Print and paper still exists But – thankfully – the world is still out there on paper and in print, and this is the realm where sRGB should never play a part. Print devices such as inkjet printers have over recent years been developed to the point where their effective output colour spaces are now

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Colour / Spaces

very large. The aggregation of all those inks results in the ability to reproduce maybe 50% more colours than five years back.

It’s all really good news for photo­graphers because it means that print output on certain papers can be far, far closer to the original camera file. If you’re starting to drift off a bit, it’s time to wake up again. There are way more different values of colour in the files you shoot on your camera than can be contained in

sRGB. Now, as you all should confidently know by now, when you shoot RAW there is no colour space attached – it’s only applied when you export a RAW file out to a resolution-dependent file (jpeg, tif, psd). Note that if you print ‘directly’ from a RAW file the software

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Not to be ignored: the inner coloured area illustrates sRGB whilst the white hatched area shows Adobe RGB 1998.

The difference by volume is actually more like 30%

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Colour / Spaces

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you’re using is making that choice for you, so be sure you know what it is. If you then choose to apply a small colour space (sRGB) then you are literally throwing away a lot of detail and highlight data from your files. This means there’s less information in the shadows and highlights and faster transitions between colour changes across the pixels.

All of this is bad. Why bother having a decent camera when you’re throwing away much of its finer capabilities just through a simple mis-understanding?

So the answer is to stop using sRGB as the default export colour space for your RAW data. Adobe RGB 1998 is a far better choice. It’s a wide-gamut colour space and it has a much closer relationship to commonly available print spaces on today’s inkjet printers. So to recap: using Adobe RGB 1998 will give a printer more data to educate its output of dots on to paper. This is, in the round, giving you or the printer the potential to produce a better print.

CMYK Another of my hats in the tangle of the photographic industry is as image editor for a few different magazines.

Part of that job is to prepare CMYK files ready for print, taking into account such things as the paper the publication is being printed on, the screen and resolution the litho printer is actually capable of, as well as some mysterious factors such as predicting dot gain, paper tone and optical brightness. Fun, fun, fun… But when you’re providing files that will be converted to CMYK, it’s essential that you provide the greatest possible amount of colour data in the file.

This is because the CMYK conversion process takes your RGB info and literally translates to what I like to call ‘a different set of paints’. The more information people like myself and the software have to play with, and educate the translation, the better, the finer, the more detailed and accurate the end result in the magazine.

Why oh why?

So why oh why do 80% of photo­graphers seem to insist on supplying sRGB files for publication? You’d think that over time the situation might improve as people get more savvy, but if anything the reverse is true.

Providing sRGB files for CMYK conversion is literally

Here’s the industry standard CMYK colour space for coated paper (coloured area) compared to sRGB (white area).

The fact that the CMYK space is sticking out is important – there’s not enough data to populate the CMYK conversion

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Colour / Spaces

encouraging filled in shadows and overall flatness, and sadly not many magazines these days have a dedicated person controlling the image conversion process and tweaking this and that to get a great result on paper.

Many photographers say daft stuff like ‘I’ve been doing it this way for years and it’s always been fine’ – only of course because the differential hasn’t been

recognised. If we return to the notion of lowest common denominator, because the colour values in sRGB are limited then there’s less that might or might not happen when the data is dumped into a print process. Use Adobe RGB 1998 and yes I’m asking you or the print user

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Again the industry standard CMYK colour space for coated paper now compared to Adobe RGB 1998 (white area). The CMYK space is entirely encompassed by the RGB space

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to understand the nature of the image and the capabilities of the print device and the materials shoved through it. Matt, semi-gloss or gloss? Available resolution?

What’s the bias of the image – towards shadows? Or is it largely mid-tones based? All of this stuff becomes decisions to be made on an informed basis – simply because you’re putting more in there’s by definition more to control.

Professional approach But what are we if not professionals? And part of that name tag must surely be to delve in and understand the finer points of information relating to the craft. It’s come home to me very clearly recently that the only way to command better fees is to do exactly that – be a person who knows about stuff that other people just don’t or find really quite hard to grasp. There has to be a deliverable on the end of course, and a visible one at that, but it’s really just the same as any service. The hand-made print created with loving care and expertise has a USP that one thrown through a system devoid of human interaction does not. Similarly, one of the magazines I mentioned above runs a higher screen than normal on the litho printing press. This means that there’s value in putting images in at 400ppi rather than the default 300ppi (at last, some point to having a massive sensor in the camera!). We’ve built and extensively tested custom CMYK profiles for colour and black and white images so that they appear just the way that God intended and don’t pick up any unwanted colour casts through the print run. Put the resulting magazine next

to one straight off of the news stand from a ‘big’ publisher and the difference is significant. It sells for double the standard consumer magazine cover price; people keep them in collectors boxes rather than throwing them in the recycling; early copies change hands for hundreds of pounds on ebay; and the advertising yield would make mainstream publishers weep.

I mentioned black and white too.

The bigger the RGB colour space you use to contain a black and white file, the deeper more lusterous the blacks, the finer the highlights, the more ‘feel’ in the result. And that can all be converted to a CMYK profile for black and whites in litho print, with particular care taken to shift the data primarily to the K channel so that the blacks remain neutral.

It’s true that not every sector can support specialists in this way, but it’s just an example and hopefully an indicator that continuous learning and growing of skills and expertise is possibly a much better approach to business development than going off to the next big photography show and buying more kit. All of which is a great big fat reason to realise why sRGB has a time and a place, but no place as your default. tP A specialist CMYK colour space for black and white images – it’s sharp angles show how it’s created to avoid colour pick-up on press

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Fuji / Crystal Archive Paper

C-type prints from your Instagram images? Certainly, sir…

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

‘Fujifilm Crystal Archive is our most popular product line. Photographers love it’ – Steve Macleod, creative director, Metro Imaging

T

his is the most photographed age ever. Did you know that Justin Bieber has over twenty million followers on Instagram, the online photo-sharing service?

Twenty million. Kim Kardashian (she’s billed as an American social media personality) languishes in the Canadian singer’s slipstream with a mere 18 million. But despite the myriads of images now captured every minute of every day worldwide, some say the digital photo industry picture isn’t so rosy. A growing band of imaging pundits lament that photography itself is losing/ has lost, some of its allure. It’s perhaps not quite so special anymore?

A while back even Adobe ran a discussion group asking the question: Is digital all tech and no talent? So, is a knowledge of aperture, exposure and light settings still an art form to be cherished – or are auto-settings, quick fixes and ‘total Photoshop’ the only future? Time for a rewind?

There’s a recently launched app called Zencam – described by its makers as a ‘mindful disposable camera’.

It features digital rolls of film. Pictures captured on this ‘film’, on which users have just 20 ‘exposure’ opportunities, can’t be seen until they’re developed – you know, just like the good old days. The idea is to get photographers – who these days are so used to capturing limitless numbers of shots digitally – to slow down and think a lot more about what they are taking. But whether digital or analogue at the point of capture, the imaging industry is still proving that evolution can be a hybrid model.

Back in the glory days of film, prolabs like East Londonbased Metro Imaging were processing 8,000-10,000 rolls every 24 hours –- and needed a 300-strong staff to cope.

Today a workforce of just 30 experts – highly-trained operators and printers, enable this highly innovative and adaptive 35-year-old imaging ship to cruise comfortably in the merged waters of both digital and analogue.

And today Metro is a truly global brand. Says Metro Imaging creative director Steve Macleod: ‘Just over a decade ago, when everyone went wholesale digital, businesses like

ours had to adjust. There seemed to be less need for a photographic lab because fewer prints were being made.

The bottom just dropped out of the commercial, advertising and editorial market – but we have evolved and adapted.

We have ended up with a smaller business but it’s much more global. Our staff understands technology in terms of file transfers, email, social media – all imperative elements of our business today. The majority were formerly analogue printers but now they are Photoshop printers. They have exactly the same sensibility and mindset but now collaboration is the default position. Now we work more in conjunction

with photographers as a service-based enterprise. It’s very much a two-way sharing of ideas.

‘We used to be so London-centric. You’d drop off a bag of film, get your clip test, hang around to pick up your film, get your contacts done – then off you skipped to your picture editor. Labs then were very physical entities.

These days we are just as likely to be installing a photo-exhibition in Beijing or New York. We work with many international photo­graphers who need high-quality prints for UK shows and galleries – but most of them will never even come to the lab front door. Our blossoming MetroPrint online option means our customers can access all the services available under the Metro Imaging prolab banner – but facilitated wherever you happen to be in the world. So you could have a 10ft by 6ft Lightjet print by going online with MetroPrint

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He adds: ‘But we are seeing a huge willingness for people to make print and explore new avenues. Fujifilm Crystal Archive is our most popular product line. Photographers love it. The matte version is our No 1 standard stock paper – from Instagram to exhibition printing you will find Fujifilm silver halide papers on our Lambda or Lightjet printers on any given day. And we are one of very few outlets who do real photographic prints from Instagram – we have our own app.

Recently we had a gang of Instagrammers in to discuss how they could best convert their images to print as C-Types.

‘These people just shoot on iPhone or Android – but they might have hundreds of thousands of followers. They might be dentists or architects or entrepreneurs – they just love shooting on their smartphones and printing on quality photographic paper.’ Metro research shows that their photog-

Image © Dan Holdsworth

– at exactly the same quality levels as if you walked through our front door with a file. It’s Metro Imaging – but from your own office – and available 24/7 across the globe.’

Metro has a long history of working with A-List shooters – but now the demographic has widened. Steve explains: ‘We don’t believe knowledge should be exclusive, we are advisors and mentors – we’ve been running our own mentoring programme for the past nine years. We inform people about scanning and film processing and the different types of print media – and we demonstrate what the effect will be of mounting something in a particular way. And we do this for professionals and amateurs alike.’

Analogue versus digital – a ‘do or die’ scenario? Says Steve: ‘I believe there is continuing room for both. I don’t think one will kill the other – it’s now a marriage of convenience between the two. We are working now with a demographic that is much less formal photography based. Photography is seen differently and not restricted by what you see through a camera – thanks to digital. Today we are just as likely to be working with a sculptor who uses photography, as we are with a fine art shooter. This is why we embrace direct media now – using slate, wood, glass etc to present photography in new ways – and of course 3D printing is already here.’

For more information on the Fujifilm professional paper range or to request a sample print call Peter Wigington on 01234 572138, or email: photoimaging@fuji.co.uk

rapher customers love Fujifilm Crystal Archive because it has a legacy. It has continuity. Notes Steve: ‘They simply depend on it – and they know there will never be any deviation in quality from batch to batch. Additionally, its amazing archival quality is very important. Many of our clients are printing exhibition quality works that target museums, exhibitions, and private and public collections – so they need guaranteed consistency and stability. Crystal Archive is the backstop – it has the industry name and weight behind it.’

London-based photographer Dan Holdsworth exhibits his work internationally and is world-acclaimed for his stunning ‘otherworldly’ imagery – exploiting eerie lighting effects, as in Hyperborea 06 (featured on this page) a C-Type 152 x 122cm showing The Northern Lights, shot in Iceland. Says Dan: ‘Fujifilm C-Type papers render very beautifully a powerful material sense of light and colour and as such are a component that I choose to make integral to my image production.’ Silver halide papers are big business at Metro – but the lab is more concerned about supply than demand. Says Steve, who has a Master’s degree in photography and chemistry theory: ‘Of course we have concerns about future supply – the global cost of the commodities involved, silver and gelatin. Whenever you make a commodity of a base material it will fluctuate with the markets – but we are delighted that Fujifilm are still backing silver halide papers 100%. It was great to see them at photokina coming forward and announcing plans for new silver halide solutions. It’s a process that has been in the darkroom since the Year Dot and what we have done as a business is bring it out of the darkroom and merge it into the digital age. These are papers photographers can relate to. There will come a point where dry technologies will become cheaper than silver halide but we are not there yet. We are taking this provenance material and using it for contemporary methods of working. As long as it remains so will we.’ www.metroimaging.co.uk www.danholdsworth.com Spring 2015 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 45

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BIPP / Company partners

Epson’s Large Format Printer range is the preferred choice of professional photography and fine art reproduction users. The Micro Piezo TFP print head features up to 360 micro-fine nozzles per colour, delivering incredibly sharp, grain-free images at high speed, ensuring that outstanding photographs and fine art images are created every time. Epson’s family of pigment based UltraChrome inks offer a number of benefits including superior colour reproduction with exceptionally wide gamut, excellent black and white reproduction, consistency, stability, lightfastness and flexibility. The ultimate quality is reproduced on a wide range of media including gloss, matte, fine art and canvas finishes in cut-sheet and roll format. www.epson.co.uk

the imagefile provides web sites and e-commerce sales and marketing solutions through one of the leading web applications for photographers.

Sell and manage your images and power your business with the sales and marketing features. Have your invoices written and orders automatically forwarded anywhere, including to our partner pro labs, who can then fill them and ship under your branding, directly to your customers. BIPP Members receive a £5.00 discount on ‘theimagefile’ professional subscription fee. www.theimagefile.com

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BIPP / Member benefits

Amberflare is an Aylesbury-based design company specialising in creative design for a wide range of clients. Whatever your requirements and budget, Amberflare can get your project up and running in no time.

With over 20 years’ experience in print, web, exhibition and interior design there is no job too big or too small. Be it a simple business card and branding set-up to a large-scale roll out covering multiple media formats, every project is executed with precision, attention to detail and professionalism.

BIPP Members receive a discount of up to 40% off the basic rebranding package.

Please call and speak to Lee on 07534 919101 or email lee@amberflare.co.uk

For full details including the discount codes, please login to the members area at www.bipp.com

HMCA are delighted to offer BIPP members and their families a range of medical health cover and related products.

Hospital and Medical Care Association are specialists in offering voluntary benefits exclusively to members of professional and trades associations and membership groups. They have over 30 years experience dealing with over 700 Associations in delivering first class service at highly competitive rates. They do not deal with the general public and do not advertise nationally.

Once members subscribe to any of the plans they will automatically qualify for further discounts from the range of Loyalty Benefits. These include leisure, hotels and magazine subscriptions. Details will be given upon joining and enclosed in Welcome Packs.

If you are already a member of a health plan HMCA offer a unique Transfer Facility which does not involve an examination and will cover you for any pre-existing condition from the original date of you joining your existing plan. On average, they have been proven to save up to 50% savings on similar plans. The transition is seamless with no break in medical cover or moratoriums.

You can visit their website for further details www.hmca.co.uk/bipp.htm or call 01423 866985 Spring 2015 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 47

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BIPP / Awards

BIPP STUDENT AWARDS 2015 Call for Entries: NOW OPEN Deadline: 29 May 2015 Open to BIPP Student Members FREE entry for BIPP Student Members.

Non-BIPP Students If you’re on a photography course of BTEC Level 3 or above and are NOT a BIPP member, you can enter at a cost of £10 inc vat per portfolio.

Prizes £500 to the BIPP Student of the Year, coverage in the Photographer magazine.

Winner, Student Open – a year’s membership as a Friend of the BIPP plus editorial coverage.

Thanks to Paul Dyer FBIPP for again sponsoring the 2015 BIPP Student Awards.

after the first round of judging. An image may only be used once within the competition. The judges’ decision is final and they have the right not to award a prize if they believe the work does not merit it. Full terms and conditions for BIPP Awards may be found at www.bipp. com/awards under the Student & College Awards tab.

Winning Images In each of the categories the judges will search through the portfolios for a shortlist to go forward for two titles: BIPP Student of the Year 2015 Winner, BIPP Student Open 2015 Post your entries to: BIPP Student Awards 2015 The Coach House, The Firs, High Street, Whitchurch Buckinghamshire HP22 4SJ to arrive by 29 May 2015

2014 BIPP Student Of The Year Winner – © Kinga Kocimska, Edinburgh College

Categories • Wedding & Portrait • Commercial • Science & Technology • Visual Arts How to enter You can enter any category as many times as you like.

Each entry should consist of a portfolio of 5 images.

So if you’d like to enter twice in the Wedding & Portrait category, you’d need to send in two portfolios of 5 images.

The work should be fresh and creative and each set of 5 images must sit together as a portfolio. Entries must be 10x8” or A4 prints, numbered 1-5. A completed entry form (www.bipp.com/awards) must be included with each portfolio. An image can bleed to the edge of the paper or have a thin keyline around, with a white or black border.

No other mounting or overlay is required. Any shortlisted photographers will be asked for a high-res digital file 48 the PHOTOGRAPHER / Spring 2015

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BIPP / Awards

BIPP COLLEGE AWARD 2015 Call for Entries: NOW OPEN Deadline: 29 May 2015 Open to Final year students on BIPP Approved or Accredited Courses in the UK Prizes £500 to the winning student, coverage in the Photographer magazine.

Thanks to Paul Dyer FBIPP for again sponsoring the 2015 BIPP Student Awards.

How to enter If your course is approved or accredited by BIPP, speak to your Course Leader who has the ability to nominate ONE student from the course to go forward for the 2015 BIPP College Award.

The tutor recommends the person who they feel has excelled during the course and shows the highest standard of work within their portfolio.

2014 BIPP College Award Winner – © Sandra Vijandi LBIPP, Edinburgh College

The tutor submits 12 prints from the nominee’s printed portfolio, plus a disc of the 12 digital files, along with the name of the college and the student’s contact details.

They should post it to: BIPP College Award 2015 The Coach House, The Firs, High Street, Whitchurch Buckinghamshire HP22 4SJ to arrive by 29 May 2015

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BIPP / Regions

Midland Paul Witney ABIPP linkingrings@hotmail.com

North East Kevin Weatherly LBIPP kevinweatherly@mac.com

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

EVENTS & DATES COMING UP

MIDLANDS

SOUTH EAST

Stu Williamson Tuesday, 30 June 2015 We are delighted to have re-scheduled this evening with legendary portrait photographer Stu Williamson.

Stu has recently returned from a period in Dubai and promises an entertaining and interesting evening.

Rediscovering Social Photography with Chris Harper FBIPP & David Wheeler FBIPP Thursday 28 May 2015 Take this opportunity to work with David and Chris on producing simple, but effective shots that would delight your clients. Indulge yourself in a day which will re-invigorate your passion for weddings and provide lots of ideas for your next portrait session.

An Evening at Alan’s Tuesday 28 July 2015 Our long-standing member Alan Thompson is hosting a practical evening at his Studio in Beeston, near Nottingham. Alan has booked a model and will be demonstrating his extensive knowledge in classical lighting. Bring your own camera if you wish to try out his techniques.

New Faces – BIPP’s Brightest Rising Stars!

Thursday 25 June 2015 The BIPP continues to evolve and this is a great opportunity to find out how! In short, informal presentations, newly qualified BIPP members will tell you of their journey through photography, how and why they qualified with BIPP, what they have learned through the process and how they have built up their businesses to become successful, and busy, photographers.

NORTH WEST Wedding & Portrait Photography with Kevin Wilson Hon FBIPP & Chris Harper FBIPP Wednesday 12 August 2015 When you invest in training, it’s vital that you choose the best way of maximising that investment. If you want to learn from the best, here it is. A fast-paced day of knowledge, honesty and, of course, photo­ graphy! This day is about passion, enjoying what you do and doing it for the right reasons. Discover your potential while working with two of the best mentors in the business.

For further information and details on booking visit www.bipp.com/events

Wildlife Photography with Amy Lacey ABIPP Wednesday 16 September 2015 Join Amy for a relaxed afternoon discovering the joys of wildlife photography. She will talk you through her work, her love of wildlife and why it’s so important to record and capture these creatures in their own habitat.

Bryn Griffiths FBIPP - Hasselblad Master & Commercial Photographer Wednesday 10 June 2015 Bryn is a Hasselblad Master, having been the winner in the Product category of the 2014 Hasselblad Masters competition, and is commissioned by major brands and global corporations to create product, automotive and people images for advertising.

Creating images for his clients demands stringent production values, a mastery of lighting, and an eye for form.

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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 Hon FBIPP stuartclarkphotos@ talktalk.net

EVENTS & DATES COMING UP

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS, PORTFOLIO BUILDER DAYS & QUALIFICATION ASSESSMENTS Portfolio Reviews Portfolio Reviews offer professional photographers the opportunity to receive face-to-face advice on their work from one of BIPP’s Approved Assessors.

Our Assessors fully understand the requirements for qualification and are highly experienced photographers with a wealth of industry knowledge.

We recommend candidates seek guidance on preparing for qualification at a portfolio review before booking a qualification date.

The following Portfolio Reviews are available: Tuesday 11 August 2015 – Manchester Tuesday 15 Spetember 2015 – London • All Portfolio Review sessions run for 45-50 minutes.

• Please bring approximately 40 low-res images (no more than 5MB per image) on a laptop or tablet.

• If you are a non-member interested in applying for Provisional membership please bring copies of your insurance.

• Please note portfolio reviews are non-refundable and non-transferable.

• Portfolio Reviews cost £35.00 for Members, £63.00 for Friends, and £70.00 for Non Members (plus VAT).

For further information and details on booking visit www.bipp.com/events

Portfolio Builder Days 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: • 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 The following Builder Days are available to book: Tuesday 14 July 2015 (BIPP Head Office, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) Tuesday 29 September 2015 (Leeds) Qualification Assessment Dates The following Qualification Assessment Dates are open for bookings: Tuesday 2 June 2015 (BIPP Head Office, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) (Submission deadline - 5 May 2015) Tuesday 8 September 2015 (BIPP Head Office, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) (Submission deadline - 11 August 2015) Tuesday 24 November 2015 (BIPP Head Office, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) (Submission deadline - 27 October 2015) For further information on Reviews, Builders and Assessments, please visit www.bipp.com/qualify Spring 2015 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 51

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BIPP / National Training

BIPP Summer Training School Wednesday 15 – Saturday 18 July 2015 BIPP Head Office, Aylesbury The BIPP Summer School 2015 will feature four days of intensive training aimed at you, the photographer.

Day 1 will focus on portraiture photography, day 2 will be geared towards weddings, day 3 will be all about fine art and day 4 will evolve around the principles of commercial photography. With four tutors, four varying genres and four days of, hopefully, summer weather, the BIPP Summer School is guaranteed to further your knowledge and expertise as a photographer.

Each day will aim for 9.30am coffee & arrivals and a 10am start. There will be refreshments and lunch provided on each of the days and they will end around 4 -4.30pm.

Book all 4 days and receive a 15% discount!

If you’re interested in booking on to the whole four days of the BIPP Summer School, do so now whilst places last and receive an exclusive 15% discount.

Experience working with four different tutors focusing on four very different genres and come away full of inspiration and new ideas that you can take with you for years to come and apply to your own work...

Visit www.bipp.com /events for more details on the Summer School

Day 1 – Mastering Portraiture with Simon John FBIPP Join the BIPP Photographer of the Year 2015, Simon John, for this unique opportunity for a one-day intensive training day at our training facility in Whitchurch, Bucks.

Focusing on portraiture, you will spend the day working alongside Simon, following his lead and learning from his expertise.

Day 2 – Timeless Weddings with David Stanbury FBIPP The second day of the Summer School will be led by none other than David Stanbury. David will challenge your creativity with wedding photography on this one-day intensive training course where you’ll learn how to obtain the best from your subject, whilst focusing on light and location to create thought-provoking images.

Day 3 – Discovering Fine Art Portraiture with Bella West FBIPP Due to the sell-out success of her day at the BIPP Spring School, Bella West is back for another intensive one-day training course that will cover the major principles of fine art portraiture. The day will be constructed around a practical shoot, various talks and tutorials, and you will also have the opportunity to work closely with Bella, discussing some of her work, and different ways of experimenting with the uses of natural light in portrait photography.

Day 4 – The Principles of Commercial Photography with Bryn Griffiths FBIPP Following the success of last year’s Practical Weekend Workshop, don’t miss this opportunity to work with the winner of the 2014 Peter Grugeon Award for the Best Fellowship, Bryn Griffiths. Discover some of the tips and tricks used in commercial product photography on day 4 of the BIPP Summer School.

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BIPP / National Training

BIPP Spring School Review Recently the BIPP Spring Training School took place at the BIPP Offices in Whitchurch, Bucks. The school featured three full days of training with three very different genres of photography.

Day one saw Bella West FBIPP lead a day of Fine Art Portraiture, with two practical shoots featuring two 2-year-old models! Day two was led by David Wheeler FBIPP with the focus on Creative Weddings. The day included a two-hour practical shoot at two different locations adding a nice mix to the day. The third and final day of the Spring School was led by Jonathan Beer FBIPP. This was a unique opportunity to work with Jonathan as he took the delegates through a comprehensive lighting setup and shoot.

The BIPP Spring School was a huge success. The three days featured a real variety of photography and we send our thanks to both the tutors and delegates for making the school one to remember!

‘Thanks to everyone involved in the hard work putting together the fabulous 3-day spring school. The tutors the staff and the 3-day programme were exceptionally good. Congratulations & Thank you.’ Seamus Bryans ‘Thanks for the great spring training course. So inspired, I went back to the studio on Saturday and did this...’ David Miller

BIPP’s profile and raising awareness Raising awareness of BIPP and the need to use qualified photographers is an ongoing mission. BIPP qualifications benefit the photographer, but also the client – they can be assured of a professional standard of work by a photographer who is fully insured.

In the last few months the downloadable BIPP Wedding Guide has been promoted to wedding venues, registrars, planners and blogs. We’ve been at wedding fairs in the North West, the North East and the South East and will be at the Bath & West Showground early in 2016. Other dates are planned. The fairs have proven to be really successful.

An A5 card is also available, which points people to the online guide (if you’d like a supply of the cards, email jack@bipp.com).

We’ll also be at the FFLM Annual Conference in May. The Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine is part of the Royal College of Physicians and we’ll be speaking with delegates

about the vital role that forensic photography plays in the areas of vulnerability and risk.

Our pilot project – the BIPP Youth Awards – has been running for a few months now. It’s proving to be a hugely rewarding way of raising the profile of individual members, while giving something back to their local communities.

At the same time, it allows us to introduce young people to professional standards, at an early stage in their lives.

Raising the profile of BIPP and our members is a constant, which we can all be involved in. There are logos for all members, window stickers and acrylic blocks (a sell-out success, with new stock being delivered). Have you added a footer to your email signature? The office can support you with local press releases too, so if you have a story, please get in touch and we can talk through how we can help to raise awareness of your business and the BIPP as a whole.

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Her dark materials E

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Image © Ewa Kępys

wa Kępys is a model turned photographer who hesitates to even give herself the tag quite yet.

When she’s producing pictures such as these, you just have to love that fact. Continuing our tradition of showing you work that you’d quite possibly not see anywhere else, Ewa really gives us something a little bit

special to feast our eyes on. In truth, I’d love you all to be able to see the high-res files. Delivered to my desk in beautiful ProPhoto RGB (see the short tech article on colour spaces also in this issue), they are of a quality, depth and feel that is quite simply breathtaking – all 35mm Nikon digital – the kind of thing that if this magazine was four times the physical size you’d be able to properly appreciate. Enough of my gushing.

Let’s see what Ewa has to say.

She describes her view of photography: ‘Rather than having specific goals, photo­ graphy is more like a challenge, a rush even.

I studied at theatre school, but when exam time came around in the Spring instead of

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reading books I was running around with my camera through the undergrowth with a model wearing a gothic dress. This told me that I didn’t want to be a theatre actress, at least… and helped me get a sense of what made me tick. And whilst I model and will continue to do so, I am actually quite clumsy when it comes to wearing fancy clothes – I have been wearing jeans and Vans all my life!’

However she’s not intending to head off into commercial photography work just yet: ‘Most of my photography is personal or collaborative – these are not commercial shoots. I cannot and do not feel comfortable doing general advertising photography.

My last client was a Polish record label, but they hired me for my style and approach – not wanting to prescribe how I did things – so that was really comfortable for me.’ Is she aware of the quality level she’s working at?

‘I’m aware in some way that my photo­ graphy has started, let’s say, “to get better”.

I met the fashion designer Malgorzata Chara who was working on “dark” creations. We clicked and loved working together – her designs feature in some of these images. The landscape is important for me, and you might say that the figures are almost swallowed up by their context in some instances, but those landscapes are not everything to the picture. It is a figure, even a small outline that makes an image in my kind of photography. I love using wide angles – when I think about a shoot, the location is primary and then I “paste” in the rest and work out how the two will g

Image © Ewa Kępys

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synchronise.’ What triggered the shift to being behind the lens? ‘The change was about being someone else’s “vision marionette” no longer being fun. I wanted to create. Really, now I model so I can “afford” to make the photographs I want to, and not have the creativity imposed on me by somebody else. That freedom is very important to me. The fashion and costume designer Waleria Tokarzewska for me is a genius. We grew up in the same neighbourhood, and her house is a kingdom of inspiration.’ Her designs are worn on the first spread of this feature, and in the last image. ‘We have set up a creative and artistic group with Luke Garstka – a recent graduate from Edinburgh College and we’re currently looking for a talented make-up artist to join the team and offer fairy tale photo­graphy for women.’

This is just one project in the works – Ewa still looks after her ‘baby’, the model management business Como that she cofounded – and is off to Paris in the Summer on modelling assignments. ‘What is next?

Time will tell – I don’t like to rush it. Life is treating me well and working out in surprising ways, bringing beauty and inspiration.

I will be observing and waiting to see where it takes me next.’ tP www.facebook.com/ewakepysphotography www.facebook.com/ELWphoto www.comomodel.com www.facebook.com/ewakepys

Image © Ewa Kępys

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Business / Tax matters

The ups and downs T

ax collectors have had a pretty bad press over the ages. Often that’s been for good reason, but every once in a while you come across something which makes you stop and think, well they may not be all bad…

One such effort was put out by HMRC just before Christmas 2014, in the form of its publication Supporting Small Business: Making tax easier, quicker and simpler (http://bit.ly/12R0rBN). One notable absence from that list of improvements of course was ‘cheaper’, but you can’t have everything, can you?

But what about their claim – can HMRC actually make tax easier, simpler or quicker? Much to the surprise of many small business owners, the answer to all three questions can actually be ‘yes’ – and hidden away in the HMRC report there are even links to services to help you make more profit in the first place (on which more tax will, naturally, be due).

So here then is detail on what HMRC can do to actually help business. Once you’ve saved 20 minutes using one of the services below, re-invest that in reading over the full paper though – you never know what else might leap out at you, especially if your circumstances are a little more specialised; we can only look at the mainstream items here.

A new financial year is upon us and there are lots of tweaks and changes to know about and take advantage of. Then there’s the thorny issue of VAT treatment of digital supplies to consider, too

Record keeping and expenses – VAT Flat Rate Scheme For many small businesses, the admin burden of VAT can be a major concern, but you may be able to cut some of that out by operating the flat rate scheme. Instead of having to match up every receipt and invoice for VAT, you simply pay over a (reduced) rate of VAT on your income – which for photo­ graphy is 11%. You can’t then reclaim any VAT on your costs (apart from some major capital investments) but the reduced rate should take that into account. Obviously, it won’t work for every business but there’s a link from the HMRC page to help you find an accountant who can advise on whether it’s worth doing or not. http://bit.ly/1FGCrOK Simplified expenses If you’re below the VAT threshold then you might want to consider the cash basis for your tax accounting. Instead of having to prepare full scale accruals-based accounts, you simply pay tax based on what you’ve actually spent or received.

(In practice, this is probably what a lot of the tiniest businesses have always done, but now there’s an official box to tick on the tax return for it.) There are a number of conditions attached, mostly around which businesses aren’t allowed to use it (such as those that have already taken advantage of other tax allowances, or those that need to keep other specialised accounts, like underwriters in the Lloyds of London insurance market).

But if you are the sort of small simple business that would benefit from the reduced admin, you’ll probably qualify.

Alternatively, there is a ‘halfway house’ of simplified expenses for vehicle and premises costs that can save the burden of maintaining all the detailed records; you simply claim a flat

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Business / Tax matters

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amount for business miles, or the number of hours you work at home (or number of people who live at your business premises). None of these simplified expenses are available if you have a limited liability company though; they’re only for sole traders or traditional partnerships. If you want limited liability, there’s a trade-off that you’ll need to prepare full accounts. http://bit.ly/1A0berI

Employment Allowance Once you’ve got an employee, you’ll need to pay Class 1 NICs on their salary… or not, if the NICs is less than £2,000 – and the first £2,000 is offset for pretty much all employers, however big or small. http://bit.ly/1nglNy2

Record keeping software HMRC has pulled together a handy list of software apps for your record keeping. Already using one? Great. If not, why not? Unless you have the very simplest of businesses, using a mobile phone to photograph your invoices and receipts and have a system do the rest of the filing for you, software is almost certain to save you time and heartache when it comes to filling out your tax return at year-end. It also tends to be the case that businesses which keep on top of the numbers are the ones which make more money too. http://bit.ly/1dkOsOP

Business matters Business growth Having some support from an experienced guide can be a great way to help your business grow, or just maintain its performance in difficult times. Often your accountant can help – after all they’re likely to be a small business like you and to have faced the same problems with cash flow, rules and regulations and the like, so they’ll understand where you’re coming from. If you’re using a properly qualified accountant, they’ll link that experience to a guaranteed level of knowledge and ethical behaviour (or be subject to investigation by their regulatory body if they don’t). But if you need something more specialised, or a more independent voice who might have more ‘off-the-wall’ ideas, then a business mentor can be worth considering. There’s a huge network around the country, and if you’re interested in running your business properly, they’ll be thinking like you and keen to help. http://bit. ly/1mZrg9V

HMRC calculators and tools As with any tool, you need to be careful how you use them, but from the first (basic PAYE tools) to the last (Where’s my reply? tool) there’s value to be had. It’s a long list of tools, and some of them are pretty specialised (the TARIC Translator [sic] sounds like something from Blakes Seven) but things like the Pension Annual Allowance Checker, or PAYE Tax Calculator can help give peace of mind. http://bit.ly/14sUOuU Annual Investment Allowance Not so much an HMRC initiative as a feature of the tax system, but it’s worth remembering that if you invest in plant or equipment for your business then the first £500,000 will qualify for a 100% tax deduction in year one – so for many new businesses, you’ll never need to keep tax records of your assets at all (though there are good reasons for keeping accounting records of assets). http://bit.ly/1yEaOHB Employees – taking on your first employee It’s about the biggest step you can ever take in a business in terms of changing how you have to operate. There’s a checklist available through the link here which will help you to ensure that you’ve at least considered all the angles. http://bit.ly/1oHcSbC

Exporting outside the UK In the 2014 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a package of measures to help first time and SME exporters sell their products and services overseas, including £20m to pay for an increase in the number of international

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trade advisors to help exporters, tailored support to help 5,000 companies per year access new markets through the internet, and funding to double the attendance at international exhibitions by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

If you’re in a position to export, the government wants to try to help, and it supports initiatives like the ‘OpenToExport’ website, which is a free forum for exporters to share questions and answers about everything from shipping waste rubber to China to whether you should translate price lists for overseas trade shows. http://bit. ly/1mgVZ77 Dealing with HMRC Can’t pay your tax bill?

Things don’t always go as planned, and you might find that you can’t settle a tax bill that’s due or expected. HMRC does acknowledge that putting an otherwise viable business under just for the sake of a single tax bill makes no sense, and they’d rather have you paying off a little bit each month while you get back on your feet than put you out of business.

So if you see trouble ahead (or realise that you’ve missed a liability altogether and can’t settle it) then call the Business Payment Support Service as soon as possible. To be fair, they may not always be able to arrange instalments or deferral – but one thing you can be sure of is that if you just ignore HMRC and hope they’ll go away then they’ll have to treat you as if you’re deliberately not paying tax. Out of fairness to everyone who does pay their taxes, or rely on the services paid for by them, HMRC tends to take a tough line with

people who try to avoid their obligations. As a small business you probably won’t be in a position to argue with them, so it makes sense to get in touch with them as soon as possible and reassure them that you’re not deliberately shirking your obligations. http://bit.ly/1xIYmEY Disagreeing with HMRC One of the biggest issues accountants find with HMRC disputes is that taxpayers can end up simply being worn down – HMRC can seem to have limitless time and resources to dig its heels in and wait for the other side to give in during a dispute.

Traditionally, the only way out of an impasse is appeal to the Tribunal, but that can be a daunting and expensive (or totally uneconomic) prospect. However, now if you think HMRC is being unreasonable you can in some cases apply for alternative dispute resolution. Your case will be passed on to an independent mediator who will try to break the logjam and move things on to a resolution without the need for expensive court action.

They won’t give you an answer, but they will try to focus on where the problems are, and get you and HMRC talking again to reach an acceptable answer – and even if you can’t ultimately agree, the process of discussing all the issues is likely to make preparing for a Tribunal hearing quicker and cheaper in the long run. http://bit.ly/1zW8S8I Going online HMRC is trying to move things online generally, and if you can take advantage then you should. They run a number of schemes to send you email reminders of important deadlines, and if you think you’ll have time to read them you can sign up for a wide range of newsletters as well. They’re also working hard on trying to improve the information that you, and your accountant, can see online about your tax affairs.

One notable feature of the current wave of HMRC software development is that they’re rolling it out a bit at a time, and responding to what they’re told are the most pressing issues. So on the agent services front, they’ve prioritised PAYE records to help employers handle issues arising out of RTI. They’re also converting all their forms to ‘iForms’, which are interactive PDF forms that you can use to submit your claims or elections for tax. Again, they’ve started with the forms that people found most troublesome on paper, and they’re designed to be responsive so that where bits of the form are optional

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they remain hidden until you answer a question that triggers the need for them. There’s also a vast number of webinars, videos and other materials on the HMRC/Gov.uk websites, but it’s probably worth making sure you focus on the specific support and guidance materials that will help your business.

If you provide digital supplies Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. If you make supplies of digital services (which includes things like video-on-demand, downloaded applications (apps), music downloads, gaming, e-books and software) then from 1 January 2015 the official EU VAT rules have required you to register for VAT in every territory you sell your products to, and account for the VAT properly there – regardless of whether you are registered for VAT in the UK or not. (See http://bit.ly/144XVbK) HMRC has put in place something called the VAT MOSS, which stands for Mini One Stop Shop, which ought to make some aspects of the registration easier, but the fact remains that if you sell digital services you need to be able to prove that the possible VAT implications have been dealt with – that is to say, the you’ve either registered for VAT as required, or can prove that you didn’t need to.

The only ways you can prove you didn’t need to register are either by getting enough information about every one of your customers to be certain they’re in the UK, or by providing your services through a third party agent who does all the checking for you. (You can’t simply refuse to sell outside the UK, as that’s discrimination under EU law.)

The information gathering is a double headache – because even if you can face gathering all the details, what you’ve collected will constitute ‘personal information’, storage of which involves registration with the Information Commissioner – and you have to store it, securely, for years. On the other hand, selling through a third party is unlikely to be terribly attractive, because they will (ironically) almost certainly be one of the huge online multinationals that the rules were changed to deal with. At the very least they’ll charge you, and there’s nothing to stop them imposing other conditions as well.

Clearly there are a great number of business owners upset with the imposition of VAT MOSS to the point that a petition on change.org (http://chn.ge/1GSMfIN) was created to seek to pressure the government to stop the regime. The original text called for the business secretary, Vince Cable,

‘to intervene and uphold the existing VAT Exemption Threshold for businesses supplying digital products’.

Cable responded in December by saying ‘the changes to VAT on digital products is not new or sudden – the change was agreed in 2008 and we’ve done a lot to communicate it to businesses. Regardless, the majority of UK micro-businesses will not be affected.’

The group behind the petition has now said that discussions with HM Treasury / HMRC ‘have led us to realise that the kind of meaningful changes to the legislation that we are asking for need to come from Brussels – so we have started an EU-wide petition calling on Pierre Moscovici (EU financial commissioner) to implement a unilateral suspension of the new EU VAT laws for all micro businesses and sole traders.’

The problem, however, is that the rule changes have been in the offing since 2008, and the EU is unsurprisingly not minded to change them.

However, they acknowledge that the lack of publicity at national levels (this has been an issue across the whole of Europe) has caused difficulties for micro businesses, and local ‘fixes’ are likely to be viewed sympathetically.

What the UK fix may be is still unclear at time of writing, but unfortunately this is definitely one area where everything in the tax garden definitely isn’t rosy for microbusinesses.

Jason Piper is technical manager for Tax and Business Law at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

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