I recently received a copy of Derelict London by Paul Talling and I’ve been captivated by the various fantastically neglected places he has photographed. As someone who loves all things decayed, in disrepair and yes, derelict, this book got me rather excited about some potential places to photograph. Talling has some great photos along with some interesting tidbits about each place, and he’s inspired me to try to see some of these places myself. Here are a few places that caught my eye:

• Ferrier Estate, Kidbrooke SE3
• Smithfield Market, Farringdon EC1
• Millennium Mills, Royal Docks E16
• Battersea Power Station, Battersea SW11 (I have this on my other list of places to go where we need permission)
• Chisendale Works, Bow E3
• Marshall Street Baths, Soho W1
• T-34 Tank, Bermondsey SE1 (an old Russian tank)
• Royal Garrison Church of St George, Woolwich SE18

And these are just a few of the spots (of course some of these may already be redeveloped into apartments that most people can’t afford). Talling does a great job of giving the reader a real glimpse into the “other side” of London.

See more at his website: DerelictLondon.com (I do wish the website were better though, or at least easier to reference certain shots).

Anyone interested in maybe checking out a derelict spot or two as a future meet up?

Location - Cambridge
Time - 9.00am at Kings Cross Station or 10.15 at Cambridge station.
Date - 16th or 17th or 18th May

A day in Cambridge! General itinerary will be to shoot a few colleges / street life, pub for lunch then more shooting afterwards.

If you are interested, please leave a comment so we can gage whether to go ahead with organising this.

I’d like to purchase a good laser colour printer so I can print out some shots for friends and family as the need arises. Typically nothing larger than 8×10, and probably more like 5×7 prints. Anyone have any suggestions on a good, fairly affordable colour printer? I’m foreseeing spending about £200.00 - £250.00 or so, but perhaps my estimate is way off. Thoughts?

This is such a great idea and would be really interesting to see.

“A circular photo gallery on London’s Southbank is capturing images every five seconds for three days. “

It seems a little fine-tuning is still required, but this could be really fun to check out. A little more here.

I’ve just had this article from the BBC pop up.

Frankly, this sort of despicable behaviour from security personnel is on the increase and will soon lead to real problems for urban photographers. It follows this campaign blogged by Lor and pretty much highlights the paranoia creeping into this society.

I know several people, including Billy, who have been questioned and/or stopped from photographing public buildings in the capital and it’s getting to the point where one feels pretty conspicuous carrying a big old Crumpler around town.

I don’t think many of us here ever get fed up hauling around our camera, but I suppose that changes when you have to take an 8kg Linhof full-frame camera with you. But what do you do about it? Well, New York photographer Kipp Wettstein decided to build his own.

Using aerospace-grade aluminium and carbon fiber he created a light-weight and very mobile camera. He designed it in such a way that the lens and camera shape work together to create optimal sharpness and colour contrast.
It’s no surprise that this doesn’t come cheap: Kipp can be commissioned to build you one, but that will set you back between $5000 and $9000.

I’m sure you are all aware of what is going on in Zimbabwe right now, and if not, I suggest you head over to This is Zimbabwe or hit the Beeb for more. It is heartbreaking and infuriating and it just can not go on any more. April 17th - 19th there will be protests outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London.

It will be a very worthy protest, a good photo op and a way to spread the word about what is going on in Zim.

Andy (Shotage) and myself are organising a studio day on Sunday 27th April in Egham, Surrey (where I work). We will be recruiting a couple of models and a make-up artist for the day and will guide you through a few lighting set-ups before letting everyone have a go taking some shots. We will have several studio flashes and a colorama backdrop or two to play with.

Numbers have to be limited, so we are looking for 5 people who can commit to that date. As we will be getting experienced models and a MUA in, we would like to give them some money for their time, so we are asking that everyone that signs up pays £20 towards that. We will provide snacks and drink.

One requirement is that your camera will be able to fire the flashes. I have radio triggers, so as long as your camera has a working hotshoe, we should be fine.

If you are interested, please leave a comment and I will get back to you to confirm and give you further details.

Photographer and photoblogger Liz Kuball has interviewed Michael David Murphy; famous for his street photography and his photoblog ‘2point8’ a site I like to read now and then.
The interview also includes a video podcast of Joel Meyerowitz in action on the streets of San Francisco.

“Street photography is sport. Not like duck hunting or archery, more like soccer, or basketball, or even boxing. At its root for me, it’s a physical exploration. I may not run all over the place bobbing and weaving, but the success of street photographs has everything to do with getting your body in the right place at the right time ……” who said street photography is not good for you? And I would also say a good justification for a Starbucks at the end of a meet-up.

Enjoy!

Today Adobe announced the release of a free public beta version of Photoshop Lightroom 2.0. You can download a free version from AdobeLabs.com. Admittedly I am having an issue creating a profile to download it, but it could just be me.