To scan or not to scan that is the question?

About ten years ago, when I first moved to Nottingham, I estimated that my film archive amounted to between 750,000 and 1,000,000 images, transparency, C41, and monochrome. As I largely shot black and white until the early nineties, that would make the bulk of my archive in monochrome stock. Whilst it got a lot of exposure in the early days I rarely now even look at my film archives, and like many of my contemporaries concentrate on getting the most out of my current digital work.

So to access this stuff one needs a scanner. But which one?

One respected professional reckons that he can get suitable scans from a £175 flatbed scanner with 35mm attachments.

Another says that nothing less than a drum scan will do!

Should one utilise the offers from Indian companies to send valuable originals over to the sub-continent for drum scans?

How easy are scanners to use and really get a good quality result?

Well I plan to find out….

Trent Keegan One Year Later

Many of my colleagues go abroad on a regular basis, something I did myself when younger, but unlike many others I have never really found myself in a position where I have been on my own in a foreign country, worrying for my life.

But there are photojournalists who do this on a regular basis.


Back in October 2006, the then London based Italian Freelance Photographer Kash, went missing in Afghanistan. The story quickly unfolded and he was abducted at gunpoint, along with his guide/interpreter, by persons not clearly identified.


Held, often in isolation, often blindfolded and restrained one can only imagine such a situation. Eventually, after much campaigning here in the UK, and in Italy, and after approached had been made by friendly parties in Afghanistan and Pakistan Kash was eventually released, physically unharmed. Rumours that the Italian government made a donation to some cause or other remain unproven, and that there was a large amount of British army activity in Helmund Province at the time of his release is now part of history. For most of us the how, and why of his abduction and eventual release remain theory, it is probable that even Kash himself does not know the full story.


www.nujphoto.co.uk/gabriele_torsello


That another photographer that I had been in contact with should be found dead in a ditch came as a great shock to me personally. Although this terrible discovery was made a year ago, I still find myself mulling over the futility of such a terrible crime. Although I never met Trent Keegan, we had corresponded regularly over professional matters, indeed I had only just responded to a plea for help in seeking a journalist to work with him on a story that was rapidly unfolding around the New Zealander. Whether the story itself had anything to with his eventual death on 28th May 2008, one can only guess, but that his death was due to robbery may seem to many a little far fetched as his wallet with 3,848 shillings (about $62) remained with his body. All that seemed to have been taken was his mobile phone and laptop computer.


What is the most worrying thing from my point of view is that less than two weeks before his eventual murder, (I don’t see how Trent’s death can be seen as anything else as he was severely beaten on the back of his head and left for dead in a ditch a few yards from a main thoroughfare. Ironically, very close to a government building and in theory at least within the coverage of a CCTV camera mounted on a fence in the immediate area), Trent had e-mailed me, his message starting with the words,


“Keep this safe mate. In case something happens."


This was followed by.


"Police are here, possibly to arrest me."


Although he did send me another message a little while later to let me know he was (on that occasion) OK,


"Much abruptness from ourselves and they backed off a fair amount.
Meeting with the district commissioner today and vented at him...
police hanging about though."


He also then regaled a story that can do nothing but make the reader very concerned about things that were happening around Trent Keegan.


This is the blog entry I wrote a year ago,


www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/blogs/pete-jenkins-blog/Posts/88


PDN did a very good analysis of the Trent Keegan murder on June 27th 2008


www.pdnonline.com/pdn/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003822007



And another good follow up in July when it was revealed that the Nairobi Police had recovered both his laptop and some of his camera gear stolen at the time of the attack.



www.pdnonline.com/pdn/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003826497



Considering five suspects were held, and then two taken to court, (not the actual murderer we are told but simply two lookouts), but no convictions, that some 15 items stolen from his body were recovered, the observer reading about this case might conclude that, there is far more to this story than the robbery gone wrong that we keep getting told by the Kenyan Police.


What is going on in Kenya, that a photojournalist of excellent reputation can (we are told) be killed in a robbery gone wrong, yet no one steals his money?


That fifteen items of equipment stolen in the advised robbery gone wrong, can be recovered, five people can be held, accused of the murder, two even taken to court and tried for his murder, yet we end up with no convictions?


Trent writes and tells me that he is concerned about the subject matter of a story he is working on and that the company concerned is hounding him, yet the company concerned (based in the US) turns around and state in one statement that they have never heard of Trent, and in another that they were merely concerned for his well being? Do those in based in the US really know what is going on in Tanzania in the middle of Africa?


The one thing that we do know without any question of a doubt, is that a well liked, non-aggressive New Zealand Photojournalist, had his life taken away from him well before his time, in an unforgivably violent act.


We still do not know the true motives involved, although there are a great number of pointers, none of which suggest that this was a random act, but rather one of more sinister motives.



Pete Jenkins

www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.onlinepictureproof.com/petejenkins
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/

www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=842175


Member of: The National Union of Journalists

Photography Matters

http://www.photography-matters.com/

18^th May 2009, A conference for Editorial Photographers at the Institute of Education, University of London, Bedford Way, WC1, London.

Pics from the event can be seen here:

http://www.onlinepictureproof.com/manage/album_edit_sort.php?a=29405

When around 160 photographers register for an event, some of them travelling many hundreds of miles, you get the feeling that something interesting is going to happen. That’s exactly what I experienced on Monday 18^th May, at the Institute of Education in Bedford way, in Central London.

'Photography Matters', the second photographer’s conference organised by the National Union of Journalist’s Freelance Office staff along with the Photographers Sub Committee, is part of the Unions ongoing efforts to support its photographer members. The conference hosted many sessions aimed at the varied interests of attendees.

John Toner ,the Freelance Organiser, introduced the days events. John is known by many members for his work in not only individual cases where the union has been able to get involved, but also as the guy who represents the Union’s photographers at many of the sharp end negotiations whether it be the Intellectual Property Office, discussing the future of copyright, or the Association of Chief Police Officers, kicked the conference off talking about some of the challenges we face to day, both economic and some more ‘in your face’ issues, such as difficult policing.

I didn’t get a chance to see any of the ‘Business of Photography’ where ways of expanding ones business potential as a photographer were explored, as I was chairing my own session – video and the photojournalist, but I am told that Nick McGowan-Lowe gave a useful insight to using the web, David Hoffman provided some interesting insights into stock, and Paul Herrman some thoughts on expanding ones business outside of newspapers.

'Video and the Photojournalist' shared the experiences of George Chin who has directed (and also shot) his own short films for various musicians and bands, and Antonio Olmos, who has shot work for the Guardian and Observer. Both talked about the difficulties they faced, how they dealt with equipment choice, pricing and the differences between moving pictures and stills.

'Dangers of the Trade', with Penny Tweedie and Kevin Cooper was also popular, and we saw both an excellent presentation of work – truly showing why what we do is so important, as well as an insight into the experiences of a photographer working in the midst of the troubles experienced in Ireland.

'Copyright and Intellectual Property', was presented by a powerful female panel. Linda Royles gave a thoroughly entertaining and informative update of the current state of 'Orphan works', including where the US legislation started and finished and what has been proposed for the UK. We aren’t safe yet is the message, and we need to keep our eyes and ears open.

Whilst many attendees were eating, looking at the exhibition and chatting to the sponsors a hard core of twenty or so, attended the session with Neil Barstow and Mike Walker to talk about colour management. Too many professionals still only play lip service to proper colour Management, and doing it right is surely one of the most important things that separates quality imagery from the also-rans.

Jeff Moore and Paul Stewart, along with John Toner, were the key negotiators for photographers with the Met Police when the Guidelines were established, and their presentation shows that things have not gone particularly well for press photographers ever since. Good Cop, bad Cop, was excellent but it was the thoughts of Commander Bob Broadhurst, senior officer in charge of the policing of the G20 protests in London a few weeks ago, which casued the biggest stir. Several of the attendees had been allegedly assaulted by Police officers during the events in early April, including a documented shield in the face and a broken arm.

Commander Bob Broadhurst, Pic by Pete Jenkins

The bob Broadhurst tapes http://vimeo.com/4803273 (by Paula Geraghty)

That Bob Broadhurst thought that the UK Press card was called the NUJ card was interesting, and presumably reflects the large number of press cards that are issued by the union rather than by specific news organisations, but that he was so ignorant of how the press card is issued and on what criteria, I found hugely worrying.

This is one of the guys at the top of the police tree. This is one of the senior police officers involved in the negotiation of the Met Police guidelines, the very same guidelines that are supposed to have been rolled out to all the police forces in England and Wales.

"How do we know what their motives are?" he says when referring to holders of press cards, forgetting that the current Press card system was set up in conjunction with the Police, by the major news gathering organisations and the NUJ, CIOJ, BAJ etc.

What we learned from the presentation to the gathered photographers by Commander Broadhurst, and during the subsequent question and answer session, was that Commander Broadhurst has no faith that Press cards are only given to accredited journalists. If that is how their senior management think, then it is clear that the rank and file police officers will be working with this guidance.

Clearly the Press card authority has to have a meeting with the Association of Chief Police Officers, (ACPO), and get this deplorable situation dealt with immediately. But meetings may well be not enough. What can we do to get through to British Police Forces, (including senior and junior officers), that those holding the British Press card, regardless of the awarding organisation (NUJ, BBC, SKY etc) are bone-fide journalists, and should not be assaulted with guns, truncheons or shields, and that the behaviour of front-line police officers in these confrontation situations needs to be drastically revised?

Pete Jenkins

www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.onlinepictureproof.com/petejenkins
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/
www.petejenkinsphotothoughts.blogspot.com/
http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=842175

Member of: The National Union of Journalists

Why is it that so many professional photographers seem to be having such a difficult time at the moment?

Why is it that so many professional photographers seem to be having such a difficult time at the moment? It isn’t just the economic crisis that seems to have been triggered by the banks, as many editorial photographers at least have been under increasing financial pressure over the past ten years.

Many have blamed digital imaging, but that is not really true either, although without question the ‘digital revolution’ for want of a better expression has certainly been a trigger. There are many myths about digital photography, not least being how easy it makes taking good quality photographs, and how cheap it makes photography. The former is of course nonsense, as the skill required in taking a good picture has not changed since the day of Fox Talbot.

Even though we now have auto-focus, auto-exposure; the taking of a high quality photograph still lies in the hands of the camera-user (photographer), and no amount of automation can determine the exact moment to press the shutter or the framing of the image. (Even with the fastest of motor drives, and greatest of luck, the choice element is still with the photographer).

Many people think that good exposure and sharpness denotes good photography - which is of course nonsense. These are merely, (and there are exceptions), the most basic, taken-for-granted requirements. All good photographs should be well exposed and well-focussed, all digital imaging has done is remove the mystique of the darkroom, and replaced it with the joys of the computer. Because in this day and age, even our children are taught to use computers, the familiarity with PCs has given so many people the false illusion that comfort in using a keyboard is the same as actual knowledge and skill. How many times has ‘John’ in ‘I.T.’ been given the job of producing photographs based on nothing more than the misconception that proficiency with computers is the same as thirty years professional experience with a camera?

Despite so few of us being real masters of colour management (and I include myself in this), the entire population now truly believes that the mere ownership of a digital camera makes one a photographer, with the acquired skills of thirty years professional photographic experience.

Even those people who really should know better, the editors who so often are those most directly involved in selecting imagery have been sucked into this idea that it is all now so easy. Easy then becomes synonymous with cheap. Remember when the travelling editorial photographer had to use those Hassleblad drum scanners, and the horrendous price they cost. We were all (newspaper photographers) told that without them we would not get any work, only those who invested in the equipment. Hundreds of us, (thousands), spent (perhaps) £20,000 even then. The papers saved a lot of production time and effort, and yes we got 'wire fees' but probably not enough to quite balance the extra cost of the equipment, and the papers were 'quids in' as we say in the UK.

The next big step (1992?) was to ‘Macs’ and ‘Coolscans’. Thousands of us got sucked into this one. Something like £5,000 to buy an Apple-Macintosh laptop - mine was a 180c, a Nikon Coolscan and ‘Codex’ modem, plus the software to make everything work. No tuition, all skills acquired on the job. This equipment was the minimum required for the sole trader working on his/her own. We produced 4-megabyte files that would be laughed at now, but they did sell well for newspapers, and was the base of an income for many of us for maybe seven years. But this kit had to be upgraded, three times during the next few years and the increased costs were rarely fully recoverable, and within a couple of years, the newspaper clients that had insisted we buy all this still slashed the fees they were prepared to pay for all this extra digital work. The Sun started it and the rest of Fleet Street followed suit, and I am sure there was a similar progression in the US and other market places. The papers saved a huge amount in equipment costs, not to mention manpower, as the images were supplied already digitised, and in many cases practically ready to use bar perhaps a simple digital conversion.

Once so many of us were 'mobile' and able to produce and send imagery almost immediately the papers began to trim the numbers of photographers being commissioned to cover events. Why send your 'own staffer' on commission when you could get regular submissions from the local guy? As this progressed, it became why take stuff in from the 'local photographers', when you could get material in from the regional agency. Which today has become why use any agency when we can get the stuff on the PA feed, which we pay for on subscription?

From a situation where each paper (probably) directly or indirectly employed two or three hundred photographers, we now have papers directly employing five or six with maybe a similar number on contract and possibly using the occasional regional freelance for those 'special' stories too far to send their own guy/gal. Multiply this by the more than a dozen national daily and Sunday newspapers and one can see how our marketplace has changed. No doubt the scenario is repeated in the States, Europe and elsewhere.

These skilled photographers no longer getting work from the national press are doing what? Some (many) have left the industry altogether, but those who remain are working in ways that enable them to earn a crust. Many produce stock. It isn't all amateurs that the professional full-time stock producer is now competing with, but skilled professionals moving over from other parts of the industry.

As for the latter suggestion that digital photography is cheaper, well anyone who is caught in the trap of upgrading, whether it be cameras, computers or software knows that this to be a serious error. Back in 1980s, I had Canon A-1s and F1s that lasted what ten years? In fact they never needed actual replacement, but I chose to go down the EOS1 route in 1990. The EOS-1 was a wonderful camera, but cost more than three times that of either of its predecessors (£1500), just buying two was a huge investment. True these cameras also lasted me until I was market led into going digital thirteen years later, but the difference in price from a conventional body to an electronic one has set a trend which has not slowed down. Whilst in £s and pence terms the price of cameras may seem to have stabilised, market requirements (and the lack of longetivity of the bodies themselves) have meant that they need upgrading perhaps as often as biannually. Each body far more expensive than the F1s of yesteryear.

And then one has to take on board the cost of the computer kit that makes all the imagery work. That first 180c Macintosh laptop was £3,500, Photoshop, £500+. Whilst today's computers are no question cheaper, their operating life seems to be no more than two years. More cost in both machine and software.

In 1994 I worked out my operating costs including overheads, running a separate office and working on a 48 week working year, four day operating week, (one day in the office), and my running costs were £50 per day. This included replacement equipment, servicing, car, phone everything. I did the same exercise in 2006 and came up with a figure of £105. In the twelve years between the two calculations my overheads and operating costs had doubled, whilst the commission fees paid by newspaper clients had remained static. Worse than this the expenses paid by those clients had fallen dramatically.

I did the same exercise last year and my overheads have reduced slightly to £95. I now work from home, have an older vehicle, etc.

Whilst I am fortunate in that some of the excellent lenses I purchased back in 1990 are still serving me well, like every other professional I am forced to upgrade camera bodies, computers and software at least every three years. If I don't, I remain less competitive in a market where there is now more competition than ever before.

As a photographer I have had to reinvent my business many times, and in today’s difficult economic climate that is an absolute essential. I am continually examining the services I provide and the markets within which I provide it. I no longer supply to newspapers (95% of my work in 1994), but my main selling point remains personal service and quality.

If my Unique Selling Point (USP) were price, then there would always be someone prepared to take me on. Providing a better service, makes my clients loyal, and despite the difficult times helps provide a regular income.

I no longer do sport either, something which I was heavily involved in from the mid seventies until the end of the last century; that market has died for all but the persistent few who have made themselves an unassailable niche (it can still be done). Sheer quality will always win through, although due to the nonsense thinking in the current market place which places (in so many cases) price above quality, (‘Never mind the quality, feel the width’), one still has to work hard and be diligent, and not expect the earning power of even fifteen years ago.

The myth that digital, has made processing unnecessary is a difficult one as well, as many operators out there do none at all, and even more clients accept this, which is shocking. Gone are the days when film could be given to a specialist processor and a while later prints are produced which the client paid for (all the processing costs). Now, the photographer does that processing – what we need all that expensive hardware and software for. Even with my limited knowledge of colour management I spend between 100% and 400% longer digitally producing the files that my camera produces before I am prepared to give them to a client, than I do actually taking the photographs themselves, it is as much my diligence to processing and editing my images that makes me a quality photographer. This sort of thing is difficult for non-photographers to take on board. I have had many editors simply refuse to believe that this work is needed. What clients deem unnecessary they simply refuse to pay for. These are the clients who want to employ a photographer by the hour and receive a CD of JPEG images totally unedited after the job. Known as ‘Dump and Run’, there are many less professional photographers who simply see this as the way a photographic business is run. No wonder the marketplace thinks that photography is cheap, and why in so many cases the photographs we see in print are so poor quality. Since when did ‘Good enough’ become a marketing strategy for professional photographers?

The days when our collection of stock (our stock library) was for most of us seen as our pensions have gone, (this was a huge shock to me), but photography is not dead. There are more images used today than ever before. The marketplace has changed and we simply have to change with it. It doesn't mean that we have to lower our prices or our service, or quality, but rather that we have to adapt our rather unique services to fit in with client requirements. It also means we have to be evangelists, for quality, colour management and service.

With everyone else chasing prices down to the bottom, there comes a point in every market place when low price simply isn't enough, and clients start asking for something better - quality. The trick for most of us will be to survive until that pendulum swings our way. That means we have to keep our wits about us! :-)

Pete Jenkins

www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.onlinepictureproof.com/petejenkins
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/
http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=842175

Member of: The National Union of Journalists

Photography Matters

Hopefully, by now you will all be aware of the 2nd NUJ Photographers Conference taking place in London at the Institute of Education on 18th May.


As many of you know, I missed the first conference, despite being involved a bit in the organisation as I was unexpectedly carted off to hospital the week it was taking place. However, it was reported to me by the scores of people who contacted me afterwards as being the best conference the NUJ had ever had. Personally, I am looking forward to the 2009 conference being much of the same.


I know many of you will already have booked, but quite a few won't have, and are probably wondering why you should? What do I get for my £10 I hear you ask? Life is difficult enough as it is, with clients closing down, publications unilaterally deciding to cut rates - rates that haven't in most cases increased in 15 years, why should I spend all that time and effort to come to London. What's in it for me?


Well I kind of understand that too. Myself, I am a photographer and have been all my working life, it's all I really know, and the photographers who represent us in the Photographers sub-committee are very much the same too. So in conjunction with the Freelance Organisers John Toner and Pamela Morton we have tried to put together a programme of talks and discussions that will be of the greatest benefit to the greatest number of photographers.


This is a series of seminars and discussions aimed at helping as many members as possible improve their lot in today’s difficult financial climate.


So this is what I reckon you will get for your £10:


9.30am - Registration/Tea & Coffee
Time to have a chat, network, and perhaps recover from your journey. Also the chance perhaps to talk to some of the professional concerns attending the conference to see if there is any way they can help you with their particular professional services

10.00am - Welcome to the conference - John Toner, Freelance Organiser, NUJ
John is the organiser (along with Pamela Morton) who in most cases deal with photographer issues and represents us in a number of ways with the Police, at newspaper and publisher meets, the IPO etc. Just how many ways does the NUJ work on your behalf without you even realising it?

10.15am - 11.30am: Choice of:
• The Business of Photography including: Expanding your horizons; Photographers and their websites; Stock photography.

Paul Herrmann, Director of Redeye, Paul is known by many for his work in and around Manchester, working for a wide range of clients.

Nick McGowan-Lowe www.nml.uk.com/ is another well-known photographer and one who understands websites and their benefits to photographers; amongst his portfolio he is the web editor of EPUK. How can photographers use websites to further their marketing and better their businesses?

David Hoffman www.hoffmanphotos.com/ has specialised in social issues photography for more than 30 years. Resolutely independent, he primarily shoots stock for his own photo library, rather than working to commissions. Well known to many photographers for his no nonsense approach. Whilst a good stock library was seen at one time to be the photographer’s pension, this is clearly no longer the case, but in these difficult times how can we make the most of stock?

Jenny Lennox – chair (NUJ Assistant Organiser North of England)


• Video and the photojournalist. Video is seen by many publications as being the next step, and already many national and regional newspapers see video as a necessity.

Antonio Olmos. www.antonioolmos.com Former Miami Herald staffer and based in London since 1993, Antonio travels the world and is a regular for the Observer. Newspapers have grasped video with a passion so it seems, Antonio can tell us more.
George Chin. http://www.georgechin.com George is another veteran, and who has been working in the music industry for a long time. So just how does a stills photographer find himself doing online video?

Pete Jenkins www.petejenkins.co.uk – chair. A veteran photographer starting off with black and white dunk tanks in Fleet Street, now working in Nottingham. Pete is the Vice-chair of the NUJs Photographers Sub-Committee.

11.45am - 1.30pm: Choice of:
• Copyright and Intellectual Property including: Economic & moral rights; Orphan works, European dimension.

Kate Fox, the Thompsons copyright specialist is in a good position to help photographers understand their economic and moral rights. In a climate where publishers think they can ride roughshod over individuals how much can they actually get away with? Kate can help you know when to say NO.

Linda Royles, former Chief Executive at the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies puts Linda in a prime position to understand the Orphan rights issue. It may have gone quiet for a moment, but there is every chance that it could come back. How does it affect us, and what should we do about it?

Pamela Morinière is the authors' rights officer at International Federation of Journalists. Did you know that in Germany author’s rights always remain with the created work?

Pamela Morton – chair. Pamela is the NUJs Assistant Freelance Organiser


• The Dangers of the Trade Highlighting some of the problems photographers might well face when working, particularly abroad, and why it is so important that Photojournalists are able to continue working.

Penny Tweedie, www.pennytweedie.co.uk has worked in more than 70 different countries working for a wide range of clients covering subjects as disparate as child gunmen and women in sport

Guy Smallman, www.guysmallman.com is known for his work both at home and abroad and has had some harrowing experiences, some of them life threatening.
Julio Etchart www.julioetchart.com – Chair. After studying Documentary Photography at Newport Art College, Julio has travelled round the world for the international media.


1.30pm - 2.30pm: Lunch also a Q&A session on Colour Management with Neil Barstow, with Michael Walker

Neil Barstow http://www.colourmanagement.net is acknowledged by many as being the foremost colour expert in the UK, and is available to answer questions during a Q&A session.

Michael Walker is the digital editor of Photo Pro Magazine and is the author of numerous books.

Pete Jenkins - chair. A veteran photographer, beginning with black and white dunk tanks in Fleet Street, now working in Nottingham. Pete is the Vice-chair of the NUJs Photographers Sub-Committee.

Also possibly time to have a chat, network, and perhaps compare notes on the morning sessions. Perhaps the chance perhaps to talk again to some of the professional concerns attending the conference to see if there is any way they can help you with their particular professional services


2.30pm - 4.30pm: Photography in Public Spaces. What are the many problems facing photographers in the streets of Britain? Over zealous policing, confusion over privacy, and a general public that assumes so much?

Jeff Moore (chair of the BPPA) and Paul Stewart (National Association of Press Agencies) will open with a slide show illustrating many of the problems that photographers are facing in todays politically charged environment.

Rupert Grey a consultant with Swan Turton who specialises in libel and copyright law, in addition has been involved in many leading cases in the field of media law. He has wide experience of pre-publication advice to national and provincial papers as well as dealing with claims: his clients include educational and other national institutions, as well as well-known private individuals. He advises photographers and syndication agencies on all aspects of copyright law, and regularly lectures and gives seminars in the UK and overseas on aspects of media law.

There will be a solicitor to talk about PACE & the Terrorism legislation TBA

Commander Bob Broadhurst is known to many journalists, was appointed Commander of Public Order and Pan London Operational Support in July 2006.and is the policeperson in charge of operational planning for the 2012 Olympics. He has almost twenty years experience of commanding public order events, including the 2009 Gaza protests in London

Dave Rotchelle – Chair. Dave is well known to members of the London freelance branch of the NUJ, as he is the chair of LFB as well as the chair of the Photographers Sub Committee


4.30pm-5.00pm: Break, coffee

More time to have a chat and network. Yet another chance to talk to some of the professional concerns attending the conference to see if there is any way they can help you with their particular professional services
5pm-6pm: Photography Matters: Keynote address by Jeremy Dear, General Secretary, and Michelle Stanistreet, Deputy General Secretary, NUJ, and John Toner, Freelance Organiser.

Sponsors include Sigma, Thompsons Solicitors, TradeClips and Imaging Insurance

As well as learning more about some of the issues we have to deal with in todays 21st century, I am also looking forward to meeting many of the people which whom I correspond and deal with over the year. Meeting people face to face is important.


And don’t forget the tenner (for NUJ members’) gets you lunch as well!


For non-NUJ members I believe that the conference is also great value, after all £40 for a day (including lunch) of informative seminars and the opportunity to ask questions from a number of acknowledged experts is money well spent.


The conference (which includes lunch) will take place at the Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London, WC1, just off Russell Square.

It costs £10 for NUJ members and £40 for non-members.
For details of how to register go to:
http://www.photography-matters.com/


Or contact the NUJ Freelance Office on freelanceoffice@nuj.org.uk


Pete Jenkins
www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.onlinepictureproof.com/petejenkins
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/
www.petejenkinsphotothoughts.blogspot.com/

Member of: The National Union of Journalists

Regional Newspapers - Why?

House of Commons Lobby, 25th March 2009

http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1175

Since being based in Nottingham (it’s ten years since I moved up here) I haven’t spend much time in London just going down for the occasional meeting, seminar or suchlike, perhaps twice a month.

The last visit I made was to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) lobby of parliament in support of an early day motion http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37995&SESSION=899 requesting support of local journalism.

Parliament is very different from my last visit (last century), Police with guns, security fences and an anti-war protest camp right outside the front gates!

I was first to arrive, and was able to see the room reserved for us fill to capacity. It really was packed, literally standing room only by 2.30 (it started at 2.00pm), and I certainly got the feeling that the MPs present, there must have been nearly fifty, maybe more by the end, were taking the matter very seriously.

Hard though the NUJ is working on this, here is no guarantee that this work will help us, but it is good to see that others outside our industry are beginning to understand the ramifications of what is happening. This isn’t just a matter of jobs and redundancies, although of course for those who are working local papers, these are the very real issues.

Local journalism has changed from being the backbone of our communities to something that has twisted and changed, and simply become unrecognisable.

I have been a journalist, in my case a photojournalist, all my life; it is all I have ever really done. For much of my career I have been a supplier of material to the regional press - local newspapers, all over the UK. Indeed, like many, my first ‘proper’ photo sale was to a local newspaper, in my case the Advertiser and Gazette in Uxbridge, in the mid seventies and I received the, (to me at the time), princely sum of £5.

In those early days, local newspapers were often owned by local companies who actually provided a service to local communities. They employed a number of specialists who produced the publications, and supplied work to numerous freelances. The community was advised of what the local authority was doing, because council meetings were reported properly rather than just having the councils PR office churn out Press Releases used (often) verbatim. Local courts were actually properly reported, so that those in the community knew who was amongst them. Today many of our local papers report only the most ‘gory’ of cases, or those upon which a press release has been received. Gone are the days of the ‘court reporter’.

Ever since the Wapping dispute of 1986, there has been a gradual erosion of quality in local journalism, as newspapers are taken over by larger organisations whose aims and goals, are not servicing the community, despite what many papers proclaim on their mastheads, but simply to make good profit for their new owners. We have had a situation where fat has been trimmed, and trimmed again, until of course it is not fat being trimmed but simply the people who do specific work are dispensed with. Court reporting as already mentioned has become a thing of the past, as has many of the specialist positions once boasted by regional newspapers.

In my own field of photography, we have seen picture desks serviced by numbers of photographers and an equal or larger number of freelances squeezed, so that in many instances there are now one or two or even no photographers working where once there were a dozen, or a score or even more.

A recent example of this is the Manchester Evening News whose photographic output has been heralded for a hundred years and even today the paper proudly puts on exhibitions, yet in 2007 all their photographers were made redundant, in one fell swoop.

Post redundancy, the papers management, very generously offered to give these professionals all formerly on £27,000 + equipment + cars + pensions + expenses etc work at £120 per day all in – a drop in pay of more than £10,000 per annum (a photographers overheads are in the region of £90.00 per day). And the management are still scratching their heads and trying to work out why they cannot get these same guys back to work for the paper on a freelance basis!

The NUJ believes that more than 2,000 jobs have been lost in regional journalism in the past year, newspapers, radio and television, and the threat is for a lot more to go.

Here in the East Midlands, Northcliffe has announced another potential 50 jobs to go at the local Northcliffe titles and another 66 to go at the sister group Harmsworth Press. http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/090223subbing.shtml

I believe that it is clear now that Regional journalism in this country is undergoing a dramatic change, a change that started with the Wapping dispute, and has been accelerating ever since. Newspapers have become something that they never were, and were not particularly intended to be, and that is a profit-making machine, and in a climate where profit is king, content suffers, and when there is a recession, in order to keep up profit, people are dispensable. Once worker (journalists) are going, content suffers, as content suffers readership goes down and advertising follows, so more people are made redundant, and content suffers. Advertising is more difficult to get, so to keep up profit more jobs go, and it becomes an unbreakable chain of events.

In 2001 I predicted that there would be no full-time freelance photojournalists working solely in regional media by 2010. We have already reached this point.

It is clear that without a reversal of this cycle, newspapers are doomed, certainly in their current form, and local news at Radio, and TV stations will suffer as well. We have already seen jobs go at both the BBC and Carlton here in Nottingham, and more will surely follow.

Most likely the best that can be achieved is that better terms are obtained for those being made redundant. It is not going to be an easy ride and many more people will find themselves as out of work or redundant journalists before it gets better.

Already many local authorities are producing their own newspapers, at the moment to churn out their own propaganda, but it is possible that new publications will come from these somewhat narrow viewpoint ones. Will new publications and magazine programmes arise from the ashes like some kind of news phoenix? It is possible. The rise of the Internet which is still very much in its infancy has not yet established itself in a stable form, and as and when appropriate subscription and advertising models settle in place, we may well find that the new local news information sources will be found here.

Pete Jenkins
www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.onlinepictureproof.com/petejenkins
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/

Member of: The National Union of Journalists

Alamy and the subscription feed...

Alamy Contributor blog http://www.alamy.com/blog/contributor/default.aspx

UK newspaper revenue declining rapidly

http://www.alamy.com/Blog/contributor/archive/2009/03/18/4426.aspx

UK newspapers - message 2

http://www.alamy.com/Blog/contributor/archive/2009/03/19/4540.aspx

Clarification regarding RM images and UK newspapers

http://www.alamy.com/Blog/contributor/archive/2009/03/20/4611.aspx

The management of the Alamy portal have been busy this week again, and regrettably once again demonstrated that they are not as in touch with their contributing photographers s they would like to be.

James West the youthful and go getting CEO of the portal made an announcement at the end of the working day on the 18^th March telling his suppliers (the contributing photographers),

“We have seen some dramatic declines with some of our newspaper customers this quarter, ranging from 30% to 70% down year on year. I would like to share some thoughts with you on how we can reverse this trend.”

As it turns out (as one reads on) not so much sharing thoughts as advising that Alamy are now going to supply newspapers via a subscription feed:

“Broadly speaking any subscription offering needs to be priced at or below the total expenditure for the previous year for an unlimited number of downloads. Wherever possible we will allocate revenue to contributors based on usage, but in some cases we may have to divide up the revenue based on downloads. It is hard to judge in advance what impact this will have on the average price per image for this market. At one end of the scale prices will remain at or slightly below 2008 prices, whereas at the other end prices might fall by up to 50% or perhaps even more. My expectation is that we will see a mixture of both.”

As can be imagined the contributing photographers to the Alamy portal were less than impressed. What James did not make clear was that the subscription model is great for the newspaper – fixed costs and cheap imagery – a front page splash cost the same as a 1” square headshot on page 34, and the more they use the cheaper theses pics become. Alamy is doing this so James tells us:

“Alamy is the only large supplier of imagery not offering a subscription scheme to newspapers and we are being squeezed out of this market by offerings from our largest competitors.”

What James omits is the affect on photographer returns. Some of the larger agencies already run these feeds to newspapers, and the returns to photographers are as low as pence per use. These are the competitors that James wants Alamy to run against head to head, and match their pricing presumably.

Photographer Homer Sykes says on the Alamy Blog.

“At Getty when they were selling my work on subscription (without my permission) I was getting as little as $2.57 per image. I have now removed my images and or had them ring fenced in their so-called Premium Archive. Getty still sell images from those ring fenced premium archives to UK newspapers, and no longer am I receiving MicroPayments. UK newspapers will pay for quality. And if they don't, then just forget them. Its an insult to be paid so little for so much.”

Perhaps it would help if we looked at how we got here?

Alamy came out of nowhere at the turn of the century, and has filled a gap in the agency/photolibrary market which has proven very useful for the average editorial professional photographer.

The digital revolution has affected photography both professional and amateur in many ways – some good - some perhaps less so.

In the late 1990s it was clear to many photojournalists where the market was going. Digital imaging was here to stay and was rapidly becoming the new standard, and although there was a transition period when scanned negative material was superior to digital sourced work, cameras were gradually getting better and better.

Many professionals, myself included, were waiting for the affordable camera that would combine the apparent ease and convenience of digital working (the speed with which we could get single images to our newspaper clients was impressive), with the quality that we needed for our non-newspaper client. You can get away with a lot in a black and white 72 dpi image only taking up two or three columns that simply wouldn’t wash with a double page spread in a

glossy magazine.

The first camera that really showed the way was the Nikon D1 (2.7 mega-pixels – 7MB file size). Almost laughable by todays standards, but just about acceptable for most of us back then. By 2003 we were seeing cameras with 6 mega-pixels as standard - 18Mb file size, and these were perfectly capable of servicing the most demanding standard editorial requirements. 6 Mega-pixels was the same standard that the Kodak RFS 2035 film scanner had that cost something like £7,000 in the early 1990s. (I still have one – totally useless to me now of course.

Libraries were in a real quandary. The writing was on the wall. Some saw the future and started scanning their best images like crazy, to build up a quality digital library, others felt that the quality was not there (it wasn’t in 1999), so steadfastly refused to change or adapt, believing that the ultimate quality of transparency film stock would win out.

Well we now know who was right don’t we? Many great agency names of the past simply don’t exist. They either withered away and died, or were bought up by larger concerns, many of those in turn bought up by the giants – Corbis, Getty, Reuters and the Press Association (PA)

Many of the specialists have gone. When I was working as a sports photographer, running my own agency in the 80s and 90s my main competitors within my own speciality of rugby union were seen to be Allsport, Empics and to a lesser degree Action Images. All much bigger concerns than mine, but within my chosen niche our businesses were closer than overall

turnover and number of employees would have suggested. All these agencies have now gone, including my own. Getty bought Allsport, PA - Empics, and Reuters - Action Images. Smaller agencies all over the UK of which there were a great many have simply disappeared.

There are still a few specialists around, mostly dealing with niche subjects, and keen hardworking photographers are still supplying them. However, newspapers as clients have been on a downward spiral ever since the 1980s. As both employers of photographers and users of imagery they have been contracting. Newspapers that boasted 50 (some even more) staffers in 1985, as well as a similar number or more contract freelances, and probably double these

combined figures of allied freelances, now have work for less than 20 regulars, of whom, maybe five will be staff and slightly more on contract.

The work that these many photographers were supplying in the eighties is now, where images are still required, taken from the PA subscription feed, and to a lesser extent from Getty and Reuters feeds as well. These subscriptions feed are basically a fixed price service, where the paper takes whatever it needs from what is made available. Great for the newspaper – known and fixed relatively low price. Great for the Agency, as there is a guaranteed income. Flip side is those freelances caught in supplying the feeds get virtually nothing for images that before the feeds were paying minimums of £50 or £60 and much more for larger sizes and important subject matter.

As pagination decreases, quality declines, the advertising revenue falls away. With less advertising revenue, the cycle continues with pagination dropping, quality falling through the floor, more staff made redundant, fewer freelance contributions required, and lower prices paid, which leads to even lower quality products, which means less adverting…

It is in this climate that Alamy find their income from Newspapers under threat, and falling away, as James intimates monthly.

So what can Alamy do, what should photographers do?

Alamys knee-jerk reaction answer is to attempt to compete with the others already firmly entrenched in providing a subscription feed such as Getty. That is to say the newspaper client pays an agreed fee per period to the agency (Alamy) for a set number of downloads, even unlimited, depending on the agreement. The images are supposed to be taken for immediate use, shouldn’t be stored for any long period and will be available for use in the agreed products. The agreed fee is set, usually low, but means the publication gets cheap imagery for a known fee, and the agency at least knows that it has a guaranteed income. So what is wrong with subscriptions if two of the three parties involved get an acceptable deal?

As is often the case these days it is the original supplier, the creator, the photographer, who loses out. Unique material that may have taken a lot of time and effort to produce is sold for a pittance. A 100 square inch picture on a front cover sells for exactly the same as a one-column headshot on page 34.

Photographers supplying the agencies that Alamy is pitting itself against, who already get sales through the newspaper subscription feed, are reporting extremely poor rates, as little as 54 pence per use.

This is a sample of what one photographer showed me from a recent statement – all these are newspaper subscription payments:

What possible incentive is there for any photographer, who sees his or her work that should be selling for a £60.00 minimum, virtually given away? Many micro sites would pay better than this!

Alamy need to remember what their USP is.

James told us this week:

“most of our customers want us to succeed because they like the speed, simplicity, and choice on Alamy”

“Alamy has a better selection to offer than our competitors.”

“Alamy is already one of the leading suppliers of stock imagery to the UK newspaper market. Alamy’s share of overall usage will likely increase if we do some deals, but not by a huge amount.”

“Most newspapers are reducing the number of pages they print and are moderating their online ambitions due to budget constraints. I don’t envisage that picture usage volumes in UK newspapers will increase significantly over the next couple of years. If anything, they will reduce.”

Chasing reducing returns is plain daft, and does not make economic sense. If the market is reducing, to chase reducing revenues, revenues that you know are getting smaller, by reducing your price is clearly insane. Alamy need to hold its ground. Be the leading supplier. Emphasise and build on the speed, simplicity, and choice on Alamy. Foremost though don’t try and prop up businesses you know are failing. Look for new markets to replace the ones you know you have already lost.

On a positive note, with Alamy introducing a subscription feed, for those who choose to opt out of the scheme, (that will be everyone who understands the math), this could prove to be a boost in income. The newspapers already buy from Alamy because it has material they can’t get easily elsewhere, despite the fact that some agencies supply by subscription feed. So if a newspaper really wants an image they will not be able to get on the subscription feed, they will be forced to either purchase it properly from Alamy as they do now, or better still, have to source the image direct from the photographer and pay the proper rate, as set by the creator.

One sale at a realistic rate could well be worth more than a hundred sales at 54 pence!

(c) 2009 Pete Jenkins