Newspapers
First containers cleared from Carrbridge train derailment
Thu Jan 7th - 8:52pm
Today I had the great dis-pleasure of working under the rule of Network Rail, who are now controlling the scene at Carrbridge train station where a freight train derailed on Monday evening.
Every press photographer knows the procedure for working at police-controlled zones: You turn up, you wait, the police take you to a designated area, you get your photos and you go away. Nobody causes any hassle, everybody gets their job done, and there's no unpleasantness.
But the police aren't controlling Carrbridge train station anymore. And the site controller for Network Rail has decided to enforce a complete ban on all media access to the site. It was an over-the-top and unnecessary step, but not surprising as this particular person was openly disruptive and critical of photos and video being taken now that work is underway.
The end result is that photographers and video cameramen have to either walk along a main road without pavements, settle for lousy shots from behind trees, or hike through a forest to get a vantage point further along the track.
Unfortunately the anti-media attitude wasn't limited to this one person. I called the Network Rail press office to ask if there was anything they could do to help, as I felt the outright ban on media was an over-reaction. The press office suggested that we walk along the main road — and then hung up! I called back and asked if it would be possible for a designated media area to be set-up, far away from where the work was being carried out. I was told "it isn't a media circus" and then the helpful chap hung up again. An outrageously aggressive attitude from a press office.
So, did I give up? Did I settle for lousy shots? Did I hell.
The papers that had booked me for the job had their photos delivered shortly after 6pm. I had warned the papers in advance that the photos had to be taken from a less-than-ideal angle, but I think they turned out okay.
I've added some photos to the end of the train derailment gallery:
Click here to view the gallery
Pedestrians Hit By Council Snow Plough
Wed Jan 6th - 7:57pm
Last week I had my first story in the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald, about the dangerous access ramp at a Co-op store, and this week I had my first front page story, about a shocking incident in which a pedestrian was hit by a snow plough — because the driver didn't want to stop in case he lost traction! Yes, it has been said before, but truth is often stranger than fiction.
It can be interesting to see how stories are edited, shortened and improved as they progress through the editorial process.
For example, here is my original version of this story. Now, the paper saying that it happened on New Year's Day instead of New Year's Eve was my fault, as I rewrote the first paragraph at the last minute and put the wrong day. But apart from that, you may be interested to see how the editor changed the opening paragraphs, and tightened-up the closing section.
Paying attention to all of these little details can stack up to help you improve the quality of your writing, and the likelihood of your story getting published.
Gallery of Carrbridge train derailment photos
Tue Jan 5th - 7:43pm
Here is a gallery of photos from the scene of the train derailment in Carrbridge last night. The first photos are from last night, shortly after the derailment occurred, and the rest are from this morning.
Carrbridge train derailment
Mon Jan 4th - 8:53pm
There might be a few of my photos in the national papers tomorrow. Scene of a freight train derailment at Carrbridge train station:
Christmas dog treats at Shandwick beach
Sun Jan 3rd - 5:59pm
This was cute. On Christmas day, someone left gift bags of dog treats on a picnic bench near a popular dog-walking spot at Shandwick beach, in the Seaboard Villages near Tain. I took a few 'snaps' on my iPhone and I'm told that one of them is in this week's Ross-shire Journal. (That's half my iPhone tariff paid!)
Dangerous access ramp at Kingussie Co-op
Tue Dec 29th - 4:43pm
Anyone who shops at the Co-op in Kingussie knows that the tiled ramp at the entrance is an accident waiting to happen due to how slippery it gets.
Last week, as Winter set in, a member of staff expressed their concerns to me about the store's policy to leave the ramp untreated — a policy that has allegedly been introduced in the misguided belief that this would absolve the company of responsibility for anyone slipping on the ramp.
As a public safety issue, this was a great story, so I spent an afternoon on the phone to various people at the council, environmental health officers, and the Co-op press office, as well as hanging around outside the store interviewing customers.
Read my article on the Press & Journal web site and a slightly longer version on the Strathspey Herald web site.
Amazingly, the Co-op still insists that their policy is correct, and they will do nothing to treat the access ramp. Last night, going in to the store to pick up a copy of the paper, it was like trying to walk on an ice rink.
The annual “kids in snow” photos
Tue Dec 29th - 4:04pm
When snow arrives, every news photographer will at some point find themselves taking photos of kids doing something snow-related, usually playing on sledges or throwing snowballs. Technically these photos are fairly easy to do, but the challenge is finding the kids!
It may help you if I explain my approach, but first, a few photos. The first one was the front page photo for last week's Christmas edition of the Strathy.
When I lived in Ross-shire I had a few parents on call who could lend me their kids for photos like these. But, being new to the Cairngorms, I needed to go out and find them "in the wild", so to speak. My first tactic was simply to drive around the village and find the first parent with a child, and ask them if they were available for a photo shoot, and could they bring along a few friends. I got very lucky as the first mother I asked told me about a group of kids that she knew were playing on sledges on a big hill at the other side of the village, so I headed over there.
There were three kids at the hill, but unfortunately no parents or other adults in sight. I left my camera in the car and went over to the nearest couple of kids, staying a good distance away from them, and called over to get their attention. I explained that I wanted to take photos of them for a newspaper but I needed to get permission from their parents, and one of them gave me his mum's phone number. When I called her, she said she didn't want me to take photos of her son without her being there, but then she said his dad would come along. Perfect. Whenever you're taking photos of kids it is a good idea to have another adult present.
Tip: When you call a child's parent to ask for permission to take photos of him/her, the first thing you should say is something like "don't worry, there's nothing wrong". You don't want them thinking it's the police or a teacher calling to say that their child has been hurt.
I quickly got permission to take photos of the other kids, and another one arrived with her mother so that was four, plenty for the pictures I had in mind. During the shoot another two arrived, which was more than I wanted, but I didn't want to exclude them so I contacted their parents too and, in the end, the big shot of all six kids worked really well, I thought.
So… is permission a big deal?
In a word, yes. Absolutely definitely positively always get permission from the parents of any child that you photograph outside of a school environment.
Yes it can be time-consuming, and yes it can mean that sometimes you can't do the shoot, but the reason it's so important is for the safety of the child.
As professional photographers, we know that we aren't taking the photos for any dodgy reason. But if kids get used to us taking photos of them without their parents knowing then we're making it easier for the local weirdo to take photos of them without permission too.
If every professional photographer makes it clear to children that people should never take photos of them without permission from their parents, then we aren't just protecting ourselves, we're protecting the children too. So do it!
HexWar’s Field of Glory computer game in Press & Journal, Daily Mail and PC Format magazine
Mon Dec 28th - 5:47pm
Long before I got in to photography I used to write for magazines and web sites, mostly about the computer games business. I've been getting back in to writing this year, firstly with my music reviews for the Press & Journal, but nowadays more towards the news side of things.
After writing nothing about computer games in around 10 years, over the last month I've covered the same story for three publications — the Press & Journal, the Daily Mail, and the computer magazine PC Format — doing photographs and words tailored to each publication's style and readership.
The story was about HexWar, a small games company in Fortrose, north of Inverness, that is punching above its weight with Field of Glory, a large-scale project that has only been possible due to the industrious help of the developers' friends, family members, and local school children.
This was the photo used in the Press & Journal:
You can read the P&J article here. All I know about the Daily Mail article is that it was going in the paper sometime over Christmas, but I never saw it so I don't know if it has been in yet. And the PC Format article, which is longer and more in-depth, will be in next month's issue. I'll post more about that once the magazine is out.
Here are another few photos that I did for the various publications:
The pictures with the dark backgrounds and the spotlight effect were done with an off-camera flash held slightly up and to the side of the camera, pointed straight at the subjects to minimise spill. Fast shutter speed to get rid of the ambient light.
Hello to all Strathy readers!
Tue Dec 22nd - 5:42pm
Welcome to everyone who saw the link to my web site in this week's issue of the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald. If you'd like to have a look around the site you'll find lots of local photos (such as the Kingussie High School seniors portraits and the Kingussie Christmas concert) and there are many more to come as I update often. But right now you're here to see the other photos of Mercedes the polar bear at the Highland Wildlife Park, so let's get straight down to business…
Click here to view the gallery!
Mercedes the polar bear in deep snow
Sun Dec 20th - 1:18pm
Mercedes the polar bear at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig experiences deep snow for the first time since leaving Canada 26 years ago. Before moving to the Highland Wildlife Park in October 2009 she stayed in Edinburgh Zoo.
I've been waiting a few weeks to do these pictures, checking the weather forecast every day, up early every morning to see if it had snowed during the night. Last night my girlfriend Katie and I were back up in Ross-shire for a Christmas party, and we had the option to stay up there overnight, but it was obvious that the Mercedes pics would happen today so at 12:30am we headed back down to Kingussie, a journey that took 3.5 hours due to icy roads.
Fortunately the morning's weather didn't disappoint, so after 4 hours' sleep it was off to the Wildlife Park. Mercedes didn't disappoint either…
This robin landed near Mercedes and wandered around for a few seconds before hopping up on to her paw. She wasn't having any of that and lashed out…
That's one big bear bum…
And here's the big girl having a good old roll in the white chilly stuff. One of the other shots from this sequence was used to illustrate a weather item on the BBC News web site. It was the BBC that originally asked for snowy pics of Mercedes, although lots of newspapers have since got interested in them too.
