The Long Lens blog. Photography with added snaps.

The Photographers Gallery in London sets date to re-open

2012-01-31T18:48:00.001Z

After more delays than a Sunday train trip on the East Coast Main Line, The Photographers' Gallery in London has set an opening date: May 19, 2012.

Images were last able to be gawped at in September 2010. The building is on Ramillies Street which is accessible through a narrow walkway from Oxford Street.

The visionary new building was designed by Irish architects O'Donnell + Tuomey. I'm not sure if you've got them to thank or blame for the delay. It was supposed to re-open in 2011.

Perhaps not always showing the best exhibitions in London, The Photographers' Gallery at least always had the best book shop in the British Isles. The re-opening is worth it for that alone.

But, of course, the big question concerns a more pressing issue: Will the new building house a souped-up, improved and enticing new coffee shop?

The previous cafe in the Ramillies Street building was not a patch on the coffee house at its the old venue on Great Newport Street.

I have spoke previously about the need for photography galleries to sell tea and coffee to attract visitors.

Photography fans in Britain await May 19 with parched tongues.

Midland Hotel in Morecambe Lancashire, a retrospective

2012-01-17T18:38:00.001Z

The Midland Hotel in Morecambe is a Grade II listed building which has captured public fascination in recent years. It's the Art Deco style which has made it so loved.
Restored in 2008 by Urban Splash, it had been on its way to ruin after closing down several years earlier.
The Midland, designed by architect Oliver hill and sculptured by Eric Gill, was built in 1933 - though there has been a hotel on the site since 1848.
An episode of the TV show Poirot was filmed there in 1989.
These images were taken in the late 1990s (and possibly the year 2000). Do Not Use Without Permission.

Blackpool's Comedy Carpet

2011-11-29T21:15:00.001Z

Created by artist Godron Young, Blackpool's Comedy Carpet is the town's latest public art project aimed at improving the promenade and changing people's perception of the town.

It features jokes, catchphrases and one-liners from over 1,000 comedy legends, from W.C Fields to Vic Reeves, and including Peter Cook, Dame Edna and any comedian you ever forgot.

Young was helped by Blackpool's comedy expert Barry Band, historian and writer Graham McCann, and on the typography and layout by graphic designer Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates. It was installed by Andrew Sawyer and Russ Coleman.

The carpet is a great effort from Blackpool Council (ReBlackpool), easily the best thing they've done since the giant mirrorball which was unveiled in 2002.

And finally for you technical lovers, hard facts about the carpet: Five years in the making. Each of the 160,000+ letters has been individually cut from 30mm solid granite or cobalt blue concrete. They've been arranged into over 300 slabs and then cast into white concrete panels.

The complicated world of self-publishing an ephotobook

2011-11-14T09:17:00.001Z

Self-publishing took a turn for the better almost a decade ago.

Digital printing presses enabled shorter than short print runs – you could now print and order a single copy of your own book for little more than the price of a paperback in Waterstones.*

The first of these new innovators were Lulu, which came to life in 2004. Two years later Blurb emerged. In my experience these two have been by far the cheapest self-publishers, Lulu giving greater versatility, Blurb slightly better quality (certainly in these early days).

I first used the services of both in 2007. From experience I can tell you that converting files to pdfs for printing was not an easy process. In some ways it still is not but the process has improved.

My first and soon to be republished book, Flashes to Ashes, was designed on Microsoft Publisher (a program never used again) and led to many hours of headaches before I finally cracked the pdf-making process. This included a couple of frantic nights were the converted pdf size was out-putting at 150gb when 150gb hard-drives were like gold dust.

I have to say the quality of printing and cut for full-bleed Lulu books was hugely variable in those days. I was not impressed on numerous occasions and had to have orders reprinted on several occassions.

But soon the printed self-published photo book will be superceded by the digital ephotobook – once the ability to produce digital editions is cracked.

And here we come to the big problem: photo books do not convert digitally anywhere near as easily as novels. The iPad, iPhone, Kindle and eReaders are crying out for photo books.

It was at the beginning of 2010 that Amazon’s digital book sales outstripped its paper versions for the first time. But photo books are conspicuous by their absence in the digital world.

Getting a photo book out there as a digital ephoto book for iPad’s iBook, Kindle (which has a colour Kindle Fire on its way) and Barnes & Noble’s absurdly-named NOOK is, to use my best English accent, a bloody nightmare darling.

So here is my what you can and can’t do digitally with photo books now (November 2011)

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BLURB

Blurb (since October 2011) allow you to produce epub photo books for the iPad and iPhone. This can be done ONLY through their Bookify or BookSmart software

As yet, Blurb can’t convert a pdf into an epub book.

And Blurb do NOT have the facility to sell the book for you on iTunes (although there are plans for

this).

When they sort out these two issues, they will be THE place to convert photobooks.

LULU

Lulu are one of several official aggregators for iTunes, meaning you can convert an epub book with them and sell it on iTunes – but this service is not designed for photobooks. Books must be converted from Microsoft Word. Pdfs do not convert.

Other iTunes aggregators are: Ingram, inscribe Digital, LibreDigital and Smashwords. Bookwire is the only Europe-based official aggregator but those of us based in Europe do not have to use them. Which is a good job as their website is written in German.

Lulu supply an ISBN number

DO IT YOUR SELF

You can create your own iPad book but it’s very complicated. And if you don’t have a MAC you can’t create the epub file or (if you don’t have an iPad) test it properly).

There is a great guide here from Blurb.

You must buy and supply your own ISBN number.

CREATESPACE

Amazon’s own self-publishing house allows you to sell directly to their website (the world’s greatest book seller) and around the world through it’s Expanded Distribution Channel.

Their book sizes are really designed for novels only. This means no real choice of paper and they don’t have many book sizes to chose from. If you opt for one of non-industry standard sizes, these books can’t be sold around the world in their Expanded Distribution Channel.

And as an aside, the profit margins for hard copy books sold through their EDC is poor.

CreateSpace supply an ISBN number.

LIGHTNING SOURCE

Perhaps the most non-user friendly application process which involves printing out several pdfs signing them and posting them to the office closest to you (yes, there is one in the UK). Yes, sending applications in the post does still happen. On the plus side, you do get friendly emails sent by real people.

You must buy and supply your own ISBN number.

iTUNES CONNECT

You can submit your own books to iTunes Connect BUT you must pass a stupendous application process.

Just for starters you must have an American IRS tax number. iTunes support and advice in how to do this is appalling.

If you are not resident in the US this means sending a form (I think it’s a W-7 but their website and iTunes own advice is contradictory in places) by post. This process takes two months and includes getting copies of your ID (i.e. passport) signed by US notified officials. You may have to visit your local US Embassy to do this.

You cannot email the IRS or your US Embassy.

Once you’ve got your IRS number you submit to iTunes Connect. Success is at their discretion and also can only be done on an AppleMac running OS X 10.5.8 or later. I have to admit I find this stipulation very wrong and feel Apple should be forced to drop it by the Monopolies Commission, Competition Commission or any such similarly silly-named organisations in the free world.

You must buy and supply your own ISBN number.

THE END

*Waterstones is book shop a bit like the Barnes and Noble book store.

NOTE: You can buy my digital book, 6x9, for iPad from Blurb here: http://bit.ly/6x9iPad

It is available in hard copy format from both Blurb and CreateSpace – or from Amazon in the US.

Oi ya bstrds you've stolen my pug picture

2011-11-09T17:39:00.001Z

At the time of writing, this photo has had 992 comments on Facebook, 1,730 likes and been shared 210 times. It’s on the Facebook page of the ASPCA, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The ASPCA did not seek or gain permission to use the image.
Using TinEye, the reverse image search engine, I found four other websites have published the image. There are probably more out there.
For any creative, copyright is crucial. It protects their work and helps ensure they earn money from it. If a photographer (whatever their level of ability or professionalism) lets any organisation use any image for free they are an idiot photographer.
They are allowing flattery – or vanity – to cloud their judgement and they devalue the commodity of the photograph for the entire industry. If anyone would like a more in-depth discussion on this then please get in touch.

That’s not to say I am draconian about my images. I have, on occasion, allowed free use of my images for what I deem worthy causes. Indeed I have allowed this image to be used by a dog blog website in Ottawa, Canada.
What I have never done is allowed commercial businesses or similar organisations to use my images for free and, believe me, I’ve had many requests.
I allowed the dog blog to use it because they asked nicely. And the important thing is that they do ask. Nicely.
The ASPCA, along with 5minute5.com, untoldenterainment.com, yazarkafe.hurriyet.com (don’t ask) and electricgrandmother.com never asked for permission to use the image. If they found it on google, they may have had difficulty discovering the author as the embedded IPTC information has been stripped out.
But that is no excuse for a failure to reply to emails when contacted about the use of unauthorised images. I emailed all four websites, asking them to contact me about publishing this image without permission. Only 5minute5.com replied, offering an apologetic email and the offer to remove the image or credit it.
I’m particularly annoyed that the ASPCA, a reputable organisation, has not replied to my email. Too busy searching for other images to steal?
I have reported them to Facebook and have yet to see the outcome of that. Don't fail me Facebook.
I took this photo several years ago at my parent’s house in Newcastle. The pug is called Arthur. The french fries are called chips.

Palm trees in the Czech Republic

2011-10-25T17:59:00.001+01:00

Looking up at some palm trees in Luxor, Egypt. I took this photo in 2005.
Sitting on the banks of the Nile, shielding under the trees from the hot midday sun. The image represents some sort of paradise.
The reality is slightly different. I was lying on my back on carefully cultivated grass in the hotel grounds of Sofitel Luxor. If you look closely, you can see a hotel speaker nailed to one of the trees.
A few months after I took the photo I did the decent thing and uploaded it to flickr, the amazingly friendly, hugely addictive photo-sharing website.
Six years later and it has enjoyed a modest 1,166 views. But in the last few months it has regularly been my most viewed picture of the day. I have 1,511 images on flickr.
Why is a photo, uploaded in September 2005, still being viewed half a dozen times a day? No idea. It’s an example of the brilliance and quirkiness of flickr.
What I do know is that a media website in the Czech Republic – tn.cz - stole the image from flickr to use as the cover image for an advert slideshow above a story which has something to do with palm trees.
You can see my stolen image on the screengrab (below).
Anyone who can read Czech who would like to do a translation or contact these thieving sh!ts and demand compensation, drop me a line.

NOTE: How did I find out about the use of my images by tn.cz? I used the fantastic reverse image search called TinEye.
A free online search tool, you can submit one of your images and TinEye will search for it and modified versions on millions of websites around the world.
It was the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. It's very clever.

The Curious Action of the Vernacular Hand or can academia come to the aid of photo books?

2011-10-23T21:17:00.001+01:00

Subversive
Super imposed typography
Visual narrative
Equivoque
Visual sharing
Appropriating photographs
Domestic landscapes
Vernacular architecture
Detritus
Re-purposing
Deskilling
Continuum
Literary photograph
Eschewing
Visual singulana
Oscillation
Sub-text
Ephemerality
Prosaic in content
Visual lexicon
Printed page as an empty signifier

These are some of my favourite words and phrases used during the Photography and Artists’ Book Symposium in Manchester (October 21, 2011).
But do they offer any help to the working photographer?
The Photographic Essay, Photographic Novel and other Narrative Form
The Symposium, at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Special Collections and run jointly by the University of Salford and the MMU, examined the role of the photo book in photography. Or something like that.
The Symposium, held in a hot-house auditorium revealed some fascinating practices from some of the artists who presented their work. It was well run and included some fascinating points.
German Elisabeth Neudorfl from Folkwang University in Essen, presented a well-thought out book of photographs taken on a road in Manilla. David Penney from MMU presented a very personal work, hand-bound and too precious to him to actually be sold.
Each presentation by the nine speakers raised more questions for me than answers – and mainly in the area of sustainability, marketing and saleability (saleability might not be an actual word).
Can these artists’ books be produced with a view to making money?
The long answer includes observations that the photo book as an industry is almost unsustainable, hardly any photo books actually make a profit and photo books are do not have profit as their primary function. I won’t go into this for now.
But it became apparent very quickly at the Symposium that the books by the academics were books for academics, and perhaps more specifically books for the academics who made them.
The speakers at the Symposium fell into to categories: those whose artists’ books supported academic theory and those who produced items for public consumption.
This latter group – whose publications had public consumption in mind – consisted of only two speakers, Ian Beesley and the double act of Adam Murray and Diane Smyth.
Beesley presented his excellent book on Yorkshire miners called The Drift. It is professionally published and available for £15. Interestingly, several of his other books were published with the aid of grants.
Murray, the pioneer behind Preston Is My Paris publishing, and the British Journal of Photography writer Smyth talked about various Preston Is My Paris publications.
Despite being an admirer of Murray’s work and his desire to promote photography to a wider audience, I disagree with him strongly over his ideology in how to do this.
Murray believes in giving his work away for free and scorns those who either aim to make profit or gain self-promotion from zines or short-run publications in, say, news print.
All but one speaker at the symposium (Logan Sisley from Dublin Art Gallery) are funded by Universities. None – except perhaps the most accomplished photographer on show (Beesley) had produced their work entirely independently.
I don't think any of the other books on show would exist without an academic salary.
This is not a poor business model, it is a non-existent one. Murray’s insistence that his work should be given away for free could be seen as commendable but in reality it devalues the work of other photographers whose sole incomes come from editorial work, or magazine and zine production.
Editorial photography in all its forms has been hacked away at from all angles in recent years. The photo book in a self-published form has offered a glimmer of hope that long-term projects can become sustainable in the future. The coming of the ephotobook further enhances this prospect. But that reality is still a long way off for most photographers.
But to give work away for free – and essentially in publications paid for (or at least backed-up) by the university day job – is not how I would like to see academia helping my profession.
If all academia can offer the photo book genre, and photography as a whole, is naval gazing and cross-university back-slapping then it is failing to fulfill its wider role in society. Photo books, promoted so well by sites like Self Publish, Be Happy, face an uncertain future. How do they survive is the crucial question.
The next symposium should be The Photographic Essay, Photographic Novel and other Narrative Forms as a Sustainable Business Model for Professional Photographers Financing Long-Term Projects in Socio-Economic Structures Without False Aid from Academic Sources. Or something equally snappy.
NOTE: The Curious Action of the Vernacular Hand was my favourite phrase from the symposium. I believe it was spoken by Tim Daly of the University of Chester.

An interview with Garry Cook

2011-10-17T18:46:00.001+01:00

NOTE: These questions were asked by Blog Preston who never got round to publishing the interview. It is published here in full.

Why do you choose the people that you choose to work with as subjects?
Often I photograph people by chance. If I am working on a project at a specific place I will photograph people uninvited, as I find them, and hope they don’t mind.
But for other projects I contact specific people and arrange a meeting. For a project such as Outsiders I am looking at how we judge others through our own prejudices and to do that I photographed and interviewed several people with extreme views or extremist hobbies, for want of a better word. This kind of photography is socially motivated and aims to inform and put forward an alternative way of thinking about subjects such as racism, sexism or disability.

What do you want to achieve with your photography?
My main aim with photography is to document people in everyday situations. I try to produce the kind of images which, in time, will be viewed as cultural documents. By this I mean the kind of images that make the viewer think ‘did people really do that?’ or ‘I can’t believe people looked like that.’
There are huge gaps in society where photographs are not commonly taken and these are the areas I am trying to expose. Mobile phone cameras have helped document our lives in some of these areas, such as in nightclubs where people are continually taking images – even if they are bad ones. But other areas, such as funerals or the more mundane aspects of people’s lives – waiting to see a doctor, standing in a post office queue or doing the weekly shopping – are not photographed and these are subjects I would like to tackle and document.
Of course it is not all just doom and gloom and serious subjects. Some of my best work has been in social situations like bingo halls and working men’s clubs. And next year I will publish a book on smoking, with images taken five-years ago of smokers before the ban came in. Those images, in pubs and clubs, are already nostalgic and historical. I look at them now and think, ‘did I really put up with people smoking, standing next to me in a bar, for that long?’. The concept seems so alien now.

You interviewed four paedophiles in Holland - what drew you to that and how did you find it?
Paedophilia is a very difficult subject and because of that it is hardly ever discussed. The media has a role to play in this area and, in this country, it has failed to contribute to managing the problem. How many people know if paedophilia is a disease, is hereditary or just a choice by one person?
We need to know more about the subject because the present system of dealing with it – which is led by the media, particularly the printed press – is to condemn the perpetrator, expose them and hound them out of their homes.
But these people have to live somewhere and surely it is far better to try and manage them in society rather than force them underground where the situation can, and often does, worsen. In Holland there are politicians and individuals willing to speak about these issues and the media reports on some of this with some intelligence. It is a hugely different way of thinking to here in Britain.

You've done a photo project of Hebden Bridge, a quiet and picturesque town in West Yorkshire which is quite at odds with some of your more gritty work - why did you choose it as a project?
Because part of my work aims to attract more people to photography as art, projects like my Hebden Bridge images are important. It is a simple set of images documenting a town, its people and their way of life.
I am applying the same principles to this kind of project – to document and record, but am including less people and more landscape imagery. This traditional subject-matter is more accessible to people who don’t live and breathe photography and these are the people photography as in industry needs to attract if it is to survive as a profession.
At the moment photography – and I’m talking of documentary, editorial, street photography and social issues photography – is struggling because there are so few avenues for it to be seen and to be sold. The Hebden Bridge project is part of the Love Town series and will soon be published in issue three of the Love Town zine.

How did you get involved with Control and how have you found it collaborating with others?
The two exhibitions we have put on this year, in Liverpool ad London, have been superb. In Liverpool we got ourselves a very rundown warehouse and put on a show without electricity but with free running water – down the walls. It was a spectacular success, even hosting one of the big corporate events during the Look2011 International Photography Festival we were part of.

In London we have Oxford House, a quiet stunning venue in Bethnal Green. I don’t think we would have got the venue or been part of Photomonth, the East London Photography Festival if it wasn’t for one or two members of our group, particularly Pablo Allison and Ann-Marie Conlon who new the venue and had contacts within the festival. It’s these kinds of things which makes collaborating a joy.
But collaborating with others is not always easy. I put on a show in Blackpool this summer in less than two weeks, working with just the curator, Tom Ireland. It was fast and easy. With Control we give ourselves six months build-up to each show we do and at times it can be confusing to keep track of what has been decided and slow to agree to a proposal.
Somehow we ended up launching the show several days before the preview night which means two trips to London inside a week. I couldn’t tell you why this happened but it’s one of those group problems where the majority rule sometimes over-rides common sense.
There are usually nine or ten of us involved in Control. We have been lucky in that we are a placid lot but when people don’t reply to your emails – and often you feel you don’t need to reply because you agree with what’s been proposed so don’t feel the need to comment – it can be frustrating. I’ve been on both sides of this scenario and no-one is really in the wrong but it can make you wonder why are you putting in the effort but are getting nowhere.
Of course, come showtime everyone is delighted and these problems are distant memories. We keep up-to-date via an email group but so much information can get lost very quickly. The problem is we haven’t found a better way of communicating. Someone suggested Blackberry messaging but there was nearly a riot.
Control is a fantastic exhibition, examining the theme of Control in people’s lives through some hugely diverse styles of photography and subject matter. For my strand, Women and Alcohol, you get to see images of women getting drunk. It’s one of the more light-hearted projects in the exhibition.

Anything else you'd like to add?
I’m really keen to put on an exhibition in Preston during the Guild 2012 celebrations. I’m looking at documenting Preston’s diversity. For this I’m hoping to work with community figures to help me reach out and find inspirational and people to photograph, and also want to involve local business to help finance the project.

Control: www.thephotogroup.co.uk
More photographs at www.gazcook.com
The Love Town zine is available to by at www.lovetown.eu
The love Town podcast is available to download for free on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lovetownpodcast

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Or Alcohol and Women at Control at Oxford Hosue Bethnal Green

2011-10-11T21:53:00.001+01:00

Oh look, it's me and my pictures - the one's from Liverpool - at Oxford House in Bethnal Green.

The exhibition, part of Control by nine of us photographers, is wrapped up with the East London Photography Festival, otherwise known as Photomonth.

You can see and read more about it here.

Preston Bus Station versus the Nazca lines, a short essay in history

2011-10-10T21:48:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite historical sites, Preston Bus Station and Car Park, has been listed as one of the world’s most threatened cultural heritage sites.
Which of these two sentences are correct?

The answer, of course, is both.

The mysterious Nazca lines have for a long time held a great fascination for me. However, I see a lot more of Preston Bus Station.

The 1960s brutalist masterpiece is the city's most iconic buildings. For years it has been on the list of buildings to be demolished as part of an unfinanced plan to redevelop one of Britain’s wettest cities.

But the non-profit World Monuments Fund have included it in a list of 67 treasured structures in 41 countries that are in danger, either through erosion, tourism or, in this case, a huge steel ball swinging from a large crane.

It’s fair to say that Preston Bus Station and Car Park – it is the latter which forms the most striking part of the building’s design – is as equally despised as it is revered.

For me, this concrete concourse with complimentary car park is now a beacon of 1960s design. It was built in 1967 by Keith Ingham for Building Design Partnership, with Ove Arup and Partners taking care of the weight-bearing structural curves on the upper levels.

As with all fashions, the building was hailed as revolutionary when it was built, then despaired of when tastes changed and now is revered as a design classic - by some people anyway.

Like Gateshead Car Park and, to a lesser extent, the now demolished section of Blackburn Shopping Centre, it has become an iconic building, its uniqueness battling with its ugliness for public acceptance.

The Secretary of State turned down an application to make it a Grade II listed building several years ago when a development company called Grovesnor applied to pull it down. Their plan has subsequently stalled.

euston train station

2011-10-07T10:16:00.001+01:00

euston train station (mp3)

queue to get in the British Library

2011-10-07T09:53:00.001+01:00

queue to get in the British Library (mp3)

Picadilly train station, Manchester

2011-10-06T11:24:00.001+01:00

Picadilly train station, Manchester (mp3)

travelling to London for the special preview opening of control

2011-10-06T10:44:00.001+01:00

travelling to London for the special preview opening of control (mp3)

Journalists and photographers witnessing atrocities and world events. Or why you never hear the world photojournalism anymore.

2011-10-05T20:39:00.001+01:00

Sky News are running a great set of ads on their channel at the moment. They feature their own journalists whoa re based in various parts of the world, such as Holly Williams, speaking of their dedication to storytelling and responsibility to tell the world the events they have witnessed.

Then there’s this talented photographer called Yuri Kozyrev. Born in Moscow, he now works for Dutch agency Noor, covering major conflicts around the world.

In the last nine months he’s been in Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya. He said of the 2011 uprising in Yemen ‘it was important to be there and witness what was happening’.

He produced some amazing images which were on display at this year’s Visa pour l’Image. They won the Visa d’Or News award.

What Zozyrev and the Sky reports have in common is a huge desire to tell the stories they witness. They often risk their lives to do so, as photographers Tim Hetherinton and Chris Hondros proved when they were killed in Misrata, Libya, earlier this year.

But it’s not enough. Not enough impact. Not enough to risk your life for. Modern-day life hardly allows for any consideration of other people’s lives. Too many people show too little interest in what’s happening in their own country, nevermind in Yemen.

For example there has hardly been any public outcry over the atrocities currently taking place in Syria. In Libya, the revolution has hardly been the subject of office debate. Not in my office anyway.

Yet these journalists and photographers are passionate and dedicated to their jobs.

We just don’t see it. We don’t see it in their three-minute news reports on Sky. We don’t see it in the images of photographers like Kozyrev – mainly because these image-makers struggle to get their work seen at all.

Should these people be writing down their experiences? Would the written word make a difference? If Kozyrev thinks it is so important to witness important world events, why doesn’t he write about them also? Doing so would increase the impact of his work. He would immediately be doubling the possible media outlets for the vents he has covered.

But more important than that his words would serve as written evidence when events are digested at a later time. They will become historical evidence, ultimately enhancing his imagery.

There is little doubt that people like Williams and Kozyrev and their equals are witnessing world events or covering important stories. But, with a Sky News report, blink and you’ll miss them. With a set of images you’ll be lucky to get the chance to see them. There are way too few outlets for documentary photography.

This is a major problem. And with all the new outlets for photography and video: websites, blogs, iPads, tablets and mobile phones, there is still one major problem.

And that is no-one, absolutely no-one, has found a way to make these outlets pay.

Adding text to images or a diary to a news report infinitely enhances the importance and impact of a piece of work. But there will be no financial pay off in doing this – just a moral duty to document what has been witnessed for all to see.

Is that why photographers and news-makers don’t write down what they see? Is this why you never hear the term photojournalist anymore?

NOTE: Hetherington tried this diversification technique with his documentary film Restrepo. It ended up being nominated for an Oscar. It possibly made more impact than any of his photos.

Photography book: Garry Cook's 6x9

2011-10-05T16:35:00.001+01:00

photography book (mp3)

Istanbul. Pretty decent city actually

2011-10-05T16:12:00.001+01:00

Istanbul. Massive city. Massive. Thriving, exhilarating, welcoming.
What it is not, is dusty, dirty, dangerous and daunting.
So pack away your pre-conceptions and send them to Cairo while you head for the delights of the city that straddles two continents.*
Having just spent a few days in Turkey’s biggest city of Istanbul, courtesy of Swissotel, I had my own preconceptions blown away.
I expected a sprawling city of busy streets clogged up with sand where tourists are treated like victims, to be parted with their cash by fair means or foul.
In reality, there were clogged-up roads. There is so much traffic in this city it seemed like the entire 12.5million population were trying to get to the same restaurant as me.
But the negative points stop there. Tourists are treated with respect. No areas are no-go to tourists and the history, culture, shopping and leisure trades were fantastic. That’s not to mention the tremendous food.
From the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia to a Bosphorus boat trip and the Istanbul Modern, this place is fantastic destination.
It’s like experiencing the grand scale Cairo without fear for your safety and without pestering from locals.
And here are the pictures:

The Love Town podcast from Istanbul coming soon at www.lovetown.eu A full slideshow will appear at www.gazcook.com shortly which will feature images from the 2011 Istanbul Biennial.
Swissotel The Bosphorus can be seen here.
*Those two continents in full: Europe and Asia.

The Love Town zine – an experiment in the promotion of photography

2011-09-21T18:20:00.001+01:00

Photography books are a wonderful thing. They present images in bold and physical way, bringing photography as close as possible to the viewer.
Zines – hand-printed or limited run magazines – are an affordable and colelctable way to produce photo books or present themed work and projects.
If you ever get the chance to go to a book fair, and there are quite a few of them around the country including the 6th Manchester Artists' Book Fair organised by Hot Bed Press on October 21, 2011you will see an amazing assortment of zines made by artists from many disciplines. The fair is part of a Symposium being held on the same day and includes talks by Preston is My Paris's Adam Murray, the British Journal of Photography's Diane Smyth and Yorkshire photography Ian Beesley (probably the best lecture-giver I have witnessed and believe me I've seen a few).
Of course, Long Lens is interested only in photography which is why, through Love Town, it has recently launched the Love Town zine.
The second issue, featured below, focuses on Liverpool nightlife. This full-colour 12-page A4 publication, printed entirely independently on my eBay-acquired hugely-heavy Epson printer, is designed to be as collectable as it is eye-catching.
The documentary images have been collected by one photographer – me – over many lonely nights. Hours have been spent on the deign of the zine, not to mention the selection of the images. And all you have to do is look at it.
As with all Love Town strands, the aim is introduce new people to photography by producing photography that is accessible to those who enjoy their images without huge dollops of theory.
If you've ever stopped to look at a photograph in a newspaper or a magazine and went, 'Whoooah, that's great', then a copy of Love Town could be for you. It could open up a brave new world of images, books and prints.

And Issue One of Love Town is still available:

Racists – it's the conference you've been waiting for: Populist Racism in Britain in Europe

2011-09-18T17:50:00.001+01:00

PopulistRacism in Britain in Europe since 1945 – it’s a two-day conference being held on September 22 and 23.

It’s one of the subjects close to my heart – racism. I’m as perplexedthat people in fairly well-developed societies are racist as I am that Facebookrepeatedly fails to delete the accounts of those making racist comments which Ireport.

When the University of Northampton releases their comprehensive reporton the English Defence League – The EDL:Britain's 'New Far-Right' Social Movement

– images taken at an EDL march in Preston lastNovember (2010). And, yes, I did take them.

My interest in racism comes through photography, including an interview I did with BNP leader Nick Griffin in 2008, where I have tried to highlightdifferent forms of prejudice and the reasons behind this slightly disturbingaspect of human behaviour.

This latest report examines the EDL’s influence on far-right terrorismand extremists such as Anders Breivik the lone killer who killed almost 93people, mostly teenagers, in Norway on July 22, 2011.

DrMatthew Feldman, Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History and Director ofthe Radicalism and New Media Research Group at The University of Northampton,says of the report: “The EDL, perhaps the best representative of a newfar-right dynamic this century, uses new media to organise support and protestson the one hand, while on the other, act as a social movement rather than atraditional political party.

“Thesefeatures, along with the demonisation of Muslims, are very different than thefar-right parties of the past, especially those of fascism's heyday between thewars. But for all the smoke and mirrors, the EDL may still be considered afar-right movement – and just like the past, is ultimately one that incitesviolence, prejudice and division in our communities.

“Forthese reasons, our report is intended not only for policy-makers and officials,but also for the wider public - so affected by the disorder brought to townsand cities across Britain as a result of EDL 'protests'.”

Very handily, the report will be available to download for free from www.radicalism-new-media.org The conference will also beavailable as podcast.

Dr PaulJackson also launches his book Far-right.com (Searchlight’magazine’s GerryGable is co-editor) at the conference.

The bookis looks at how British far-right groups use the internet to develop extremistpolicies.

NOTE: Not all the images shown here are included in the report.

London Design Festival at the V&A featuring Bespoke and Garry Cook's images

2011-09-18T17:05:00.001+01:00

The London Design Festival takes place over nine days between September 17 to September 25.
As far as brilliant design goes, it’s a very important festival. There are 280 events and exhibitions in the programme. There were 350,000 visitors to the LDF in 2010.

One of its major venues is the V&A (that’s the Victoria and Albert Museum for you lesser-educated souls) which hosts 13 specially commissioned installations and includes some of 2011's most important landmark projects.
Amongst all this is the Bespoke Project, a two-year ‘multi-partner collaboration between a community in Preston and journalism, social science and design researchers – will explore how a new method of 'Insight Journalism' can be used for social innovation and engagement’.
That quote was taken from the Bespoke website where you can also read the full press release. My own interpretation of Bespoke is that a few universities got together and tried to introduce technology as a way of engendering better communication and social cohesion on a rough estate in Preston, Lancashire.
The BESPOKE project was been funded by the Research Councils UK as part of the Digital Economy Programme and is a collaborative project between five UK research institutions with Paul Egglestone (University of Central Lancaster), David Frohlich (The Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey), Justin Marshall (Autonomatic, University College Falmouth), Patrick Olivier (Culture Lab, Newcastle University) and Jon Rogers (University of Dundee).

I got to know the area quite well over the past two years as I photographed a lot of the work Bespoke did. Some of these images are included in the display at the V&A
The Digital Buskers, Wayfinder and Viewpoint were three of the designs which were realised around Callon and Fishwick.
These designs are at the V&A during the London Design Festival, including a special talk by the designers on Tuesday September 20 at around 4.15pm work at the Hockhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre.
Two of the Universities involved have their say:
Justin Marshall, Associate Professor of Digital Craft at University College Falmouth, said: “For me this project has opened up an exciting new space.
“A space where the digital capabilities for creating individualised products and services have been re-orientated away from the burgeoning market for unique personalised goods, towards crafting responses to wider, and I would argue, more important community focused issues.”

Jon Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Product Design at the University of Dundee, said: "All of these design prototypes act as demonstrators for how a future could look if we engaged with our communities better.
“It is the first test and the first showcase of how Insight Journalism, a radically new method of community engagement, has been researched, implemented and tested.
“While we present a method that has led to a collection of community design responses, we think this has potential for any responsive way of working with people.”

I have to confess I did not take this photograph of the digital buskers - though I did take the image from which the digital buskers cut-out was made. If you follow me.

Converting your photo book to a pdf for CreateSpace (it's very, very hard)

2011-09-13T21:25:00.001+01:00

Another in a long-running, helpful, popular and largely uninteresting series of Print On Demand self publishing advice, this time with Amazon affiliate CreateSpace. If you don't want the advice, look away now.

Converting a photo book document into a print-ready pdf is not as easy as it should be. As with lulu and Blurb, CreateSpace's own guide on how to do this lacks detail and is difficult to find on its website.

So to help them – and you – out, this is my easy to follow guide on creating the photobook pdf. Hopefully this will mean that for your book and cover, you won't have to convert your file 100-odd times like I did.

The first thing you've got to do is get your document sizes right. CreateSpace offer advice on this.

Next the conversion. First you need to do a general pdf conversion (I did my book 6x9 in InDesign).

Then open the pdf in Adobe Acrobat 9. Select PRINt and then follow these instructions. There are a lot of them but are straight-forward to follow.

1.    Open your document
2.    Go to “File,” and then “Print”
3.    Choose “Adobe PDF” as the printer in the drop-down menu
4.    Click “Properties”
5.    Go to the “Default Settings” drop-down menu, and click “Edit”
6.    Go to the General tab
7.    Choose “Acrobat 5.0” under “Compatibility”
8.    Choose “Off,” under “Object Level Compression”
9.    Choose “Off,” under “Auto-Rotate Pages”
10.    Go to the Images tab
11.    Change the resolution of Color Images to Bicubic Downsample to “305” pixels per inch for images above “320” pixels per inch, also change the compression to “JPEG” and image quality to “Maximum”
12.    Change the resolution of Grayscale Images to Bicubic Downsample “305” pixels per inch for images above “320” pixels per inch, also change the compression to “JPEG” and Image quality to “Maximum”
13.    Go to the Fonts tab
14.    Deselect the “Subset embedded fonts” option
15.    Select all of the fonts under “Font Source,” and add them to “Always Embed”
16.    Go to the Color tab
17.    Select “Leave Color Unchanged,” under Color Management Policies”
18.    Click “Save As,” name the job option “CreateSpace,” and click “Save”
19.    Click “OK” and ensure “Adobe PDF Security” is set to “None”
20.    Select the appropriate page size for your document or create a new size if needed. You have to work this out on your own.
21.    Deselect “Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts,” then click “OK”
22.    Click “OK,” you will be prompted to name and save your file
23.    Upload your file through your CreateSpace Member Account

For other versions of Acrobat follow the instructions on this link. If you've got Acrobat 6.0 or below, you will have to use Adobe Distiller as well and this is not a good thing.

Next, go back to your design program and load the saved Adobe Acrobat setting from above (you need to know where you saved it).

You can then press convert to pdf in your design program - but before you hit the convert button, you need to make these changes:

Option 2: Export as PDF

With the native document open in the application you used to create your work, select "File>Export" You may need to select "PDF" if other file formats are available for export in the application.
Provide a name and location for the PDF file you are exporting (may default to the current name and location of the native document) and click "Save" or "OK" in the print dialog box.
1. Fonts and images are embedded.
2. Bookmarks, annotations, and comments are disabled.
3. Document security (any type) is not used.
4. PDF/X format is used. PDF/X is preferred, but if you are submitting non-PDF/X files (for example, PDF/A), any comments, forms, or other non-printing objects could be removed during our review process.
5. Transparent objects are flattened.
6. Spreads and printer's marks are disabled.
7. Downsampling, or decreasing resolution, of images is disabled.
8. Bleeds are enabled (if applicable).
Click "Export" or "OK" in the export dialog box.
Once created, make sure to open the PDF file to see that it appears as you intended. Otherwise, make the necessary adjustments in the native document and re-create the PDF file.

This link gives you alternative conversion instructions.

If yu're using the above link thereis a bit of confusion in the gudiea concerning the PDF/X-1a type pdf conversion. I think you can ignore this bit of advice as your should now using the settings you created in Acrobat.

Create your pdf which should now be perfect. If you missed any of the changes, particularly in the Acrobat part of this guide, images in your photobook could be outputted in a lower resolution than is need. Be careful you get it right.

Next, upload your book and cover to CreateSpace and wait for their report to see if it's okay to get a proof copy.

Women and Alcohol goes to London Photomonth

2011-09-04T17:05:00.001+01:00

Women and Alcohol is a study of the effect of drink on females.

Shot entirely in Liverpool, it shows female Scousers enjoying a beverage.

Entering boss including bars Alma de Cuba, the Blob, Globe and Walkabout, the project was first shown in Liverpool as part of the Look2011 festival.

It goes to London’s Photomonth Festival October. The venue is Oxford House in Bethnal Green.

The show – Control – is being put on by (almost) the same nine photographers who took over the Baltic Warehouse in Liverpool earlier this year. This is the Control website.

The special preview show is Thursday, October 6, from 6pm. You're very welcome to come along. The show runs for approximately one month.

And you can read more about Women and Alcohol – and see more images – over at gazcook.com

Former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on trial and in jail

2011-08-17T18:26:00.001+01:00

Yevgenia Carr is the beautifuldaughter of former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko, part of the countries2004 Orange Revolution, now forms the opposition to current leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Former prime minister Tymoshenko,who amassed a personal fortune from the oil business during the 1990s, wasjailed last month for contempt of court – a move which has caused majorcontroversy in Ukraine.

She had been arrested on chargesof "abuse of power", referring to a gas deal she signed in 2009 with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

The prosecutor does notaccuse Tymoshenko – famous for her hair style – of corruption or embezzlementof funds.

The European Union and theUnited States have called her arrest “political persecution of oppositionleader.”

Now, apart from Ukraineholding the European Football Championships (with Poland) in 2012, events inUkraine have little interest to my own country, Britain.

However, by a strange twistof fate there is a link between us Brits and the former prime minister ofUkraine. It comes in the shape of Sean Carr a Leeds-born market trader whomarried Tymoshenko’s daughter in 2005.

Carr is also the lead singerin a traditional rock band called Death Valley Screamers which has enjoyed somesuccess in Ukraine.

It’s a bizarre tale,ultimately thrusting Carr and his wife Yevgeniato a level of celebrity something akin to the Posh and Becks of Ukraine (thoughhe is neither posh or Becks).

It’s almost a modern socialstatement how facts like these lead to our awareness of political issues. Myadmiration for the city of Kiev is huge but corruption and injustice is still amajor problem in Ukraine.

It’s only through these spuriouslinks that people in Britain or the Western world are aware of issues ofcorruption and social injustice. Tymoshenko’s imprisonment is just the tip ofthe iceberg when it comes to the problems in Ukraine.

Hopefully Tymoshenko will bereleased soon. Thanks to her family connections, many people in Britain are onher side.

I went to Kiev in 2008 tophotograph Carr and his band. I also photographed Yevgenia Carr.

Brilliant Blackpool exhibition

2011-08-16T14:18:00.001+01:00

Brilliant Blackpool exhibition (mp3)

Preview show at FYCreatives

2011-08-12T22:42:00.001+01:00

Image by Andy Ford.
Preview show was amazing at FYCreatives (Aug 12). Teddy Cook was outstanding, Anna Byrom's delicious cakes were consumed at more than one per person.
And thanks to everyone who came, and especially Tom Ireland of Supercollider for his support and hard work in putting on the show.

Brilliant Blackpool opens today

2011-08-12T10:58:00.001+01:00

Brilliant Blackpool opens today at FYCreatives in Backpool
And don't forget you can buy the Brilliant Blackpool 'zine at the show - or online. The 'zine, a full colour A4 publication, contains extra unseen images not included in the show.

As before, not all of these three images are in the show.
The zine for sale:

Setting up Brilliant Blackpool at FYCreatives

2011-08-11T21:41:00.001+01:00

Just to make sure you know: It's 6pm this Friday (Aug 12) at FYCreatives on Church Street in Blackpool. Postcode is FY1 3PS.The show runs until Wednesday, August 31. It's open Mon-Fri 10am until 5pm.

Thanks to Tom Ireland (pictured) for his leadership in putting up the images.

One day to go until Brilliant Blackpool opens

2011-08-11T10:55:00.001+01:00

Only one of these images has made it into the show. If you want to come along for the opening night get in touch. If you just turn up I'll probably let you in anyway. The plan is to have wine and sweets.
And you can also buy the zine from the show:

What do you know? Two days to go. Brilliant Blackpool

2011-08-10T10:49:00.001+01:00

I've been working so hard on this exhibition that's it's getting to the point now where I'm not sure which images are in the exhibition and which are not.
The final selection will not be made until hanging day tomorrow. But this one will definitely be in.
Find out how to get to FYCreatives here.
I've been helped in putting on this exhibition by Tom Ireland who runs the wonderful Supercolloider in Blackpool.

FYCreatives exhibition three days to go

2011-08-09T10:47:00.001+01:00

Another image from this Friday's Brilliant Blackpool exhibition.

Don't forget the zine:

Four days to go Brilliant Blackpool at FYCreatives

2011-08-08T10:43:00.001+01:00

One image in the show - the couple drinking tea in a cafe. Plus another image that didn't quite make it onto the walls.

This image was taken at the Syndicate nightclub in 2010.

Five days to go until Brilliant Blackpool at FYC in Blackpool

2011-08-07T10:40:00.001+01:00

Another image from my forthcoming Brilliant Blackpool exhibition at FYCreatives.

Blackpool - where bums love to party.
Also at the exhibition you can buy the Brilliant Blackpool 'zine at the show - or online. The 'zine, a full colour A4 publication, contains extra unseen images not included in the show.
Buy it now:

Brilliant Blackpool at FYC in Blackpool

2011-08-06T10:28:00.001+01:00

Images from my Brilliant Blackpool are to be exhibited in Blackpool this month.
From Friday August 12 until Wednesday Aug 31.
Eighteen images will be on show at FYCreatives (just up the road from the Syndicate nightclub for you clubbers).
Brilliant Blackpool coincides with Mass Photograpphy at the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool, an amazing show which features a who's who of photographers Ian Berry, Alfred Gregory, Peter Marlow, Martin Parr, Tony Ray-Jones, Humphrey Spender, Chris Steele-Perkins and Homer Sykes.
While they all share the venue, the Brilliant Blackpool exhibition is exclusive to Garry Cook.

And the countdown starts here with some of the images from the show appearing on this blog between now and the opening.
Buy the zine:

Preston coffin parade in Bamber Bridge selection

2011-08-06T00:24:00.001+01:00

The Bamber Bridge coffin parade is the bizarre relegation ritual to mark Preston Northe End's departure from the Football League Chmapionship.
See the complete set of images at gazcook.com

Preston North End coffin parade in Bamber Bridge

2011-07-28T23:54:00.001+01:00

First look at the Preston North End coffin parade held in Bamber Bridge this week.

More glorious images from this decades-old event coming soon.

And don't forget to take a look at the webite gazcook.com for images and story from the last coffin parade in this town, over a decade ago, to celebrate the promotion of Blackburn Rovers.

Catholics, Protestants, Orange Order marches, India, Pakistan and tourism

2011-07-12T18:17:00.001+01:00

Catholic and Protestant. Israeli and Palestinian. Indian and Pakistani. Sunderland and Newcastle. What’s the difference?

Well, apart from one of the above, none of these are able to get along harmoniously at any time whatsoever.

And which is the odd one out? Yes, you’ve guessed it, the Indians and Pakistanis are the unlikely couple who are able to produce a theatrical masterclass out of their religious differences.

Sadly, the Catholics and Protestants have been failing miserably to demonstrate similar traits during the marching season in Belfast.

What could be a spectacle of pomp and ceremony, colour and noise, ideal for tourist consumption is instead a call to arms for gangs of young men and teenagers to hurl bricks at police and set fire to any vehicle in their path.

Watching the uniformed gangs – in tracksuits, trainers and scarves over their faces – unhappy about the Orange Order marches, I was reminded of the Border Ceremony between India and Pakistan at Wagah.

Everyday both nations’ armies together perform a ritual that attracts thousands of partisan spectators who shriek and cheer as soldiers mock each other.

It’s a riot of fun and excitement that is all the more impressive as these two countries have a long history of problems, politics, dislike and hatred.

How can Northern Ireland, which has so much to offer for visitors, ever hope to achieve a high standing in the tourism industry when its inhabitants burn and riot in parts of Belfast because the other lot are going on a walk?

This is why India and Pakistan can teach us Westerners a lesson in sense and civility.

All images © Copyright Garry Cook. Do not dare use without permission.

Andrew Allington's a lucky bloke: Vicar marries model 20 years younger

2011-07-12T12:27:00.001+01:00

Flicking through the Daily Mirror I thought I recognised his face.

He was the vicar I interviewed for my Outsiders project examining ourselves and how we judge others.

Andrew Allington had come to my attention through a news report of him being attacked in his own home by a local youth in Stainforth, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Yesterday he was in the paper for the simple reason of getting married... To an ex-model called Hazel Trudgen twenty years younger than him. It’s the perfect tabloid story.

But behind the headlines is a vicar who has done some amazing things in what is a struggling mining community. He lets local kids come round his house for tea, he even launched a community cinema.

If all local vicars put invested a similar amount of energy and creativity into their community, Britain would be a distinctly more pleasant place to live.

This is a story about Andrew and Hazel in the Daily Mail.

Here is my direct-quotes interview.

And here is Andrew photographed in his home:

Travel: Mountain biking in La Plagne

2011-06-30T12:26:00.001+01:00

Some images from a mountain biking travel feature in La Plagne, France.

Read the full travel feature here.

NBC iVillage, two pugs and a photograph

2011-06-26T16:59:00.001+01:00

This photograph has had 1,600 views on flickr. I posted it in 2005.

This week I had an editorial request to use it. I get many of these through my photos on flickr. Whether they come from Swiss airline magazines, British online map companies or football magazines they always have one common theme - 'we can't pay you but...'
You know the rest. The request to use this image was from iVillage, which is now owned by NBC the American TV network.
Ignoring the fact that I was addressed to as Lauren, here is the email I received from iVillage's Michelle Menner (who I shall refer to as Steve):
Hi Lauren,
I'm with NBC's iVillage and am working on a feature about people who love their pets. Came across the photo of your adorable pugs in bug costumes and would love to use it as a part of a photo slideshow on the iVillage website.

Here's a link to the specific photo:www.flickr.com/photos/gazcook/50226996/
If you're interested, please send the photo, photo description (pet's name, what's happening), and credit information (photographer name, city, state) to michelle.menner@nbcuni.com by Friday, June 24.
The feature will run in the next few weeks.
Thank you.
Michelle Menner
iVillage | Pregnancy + Parenting
michelle.menner@nbcuni.com
I have refused every request to use my photography in an editorial publication unless payment has been offered. Only once has a fee subsequently been agreed.
At this point I can't stress strongly enough that you should never allow free use of your images, particularly for a profit-making agency or publication. If they get paid for their work, you should get paid for your work*.
Even if you are flattered, have never had a photo published before or are new to photography and looking to gain experience - never ever offer to work for free or allow your work to be used for free. It's idiotic and undermines the entire industry to the point where you can't complain about not being able to get aid for work later in your career because some other novice is offering work without payment.
For this request of the two pugs, to be included in a slideshow which I deemed was more of a promotional platform for my work, I decided I would allow the photograph to be used - but only after clarifying copyright and usage terms. So I emailed Steve back.
I received no reply.
It seems that organisations like NBC not only want images for free - they also can't be bothered to agree not to sell on your image for profit or promise that they won't grab the copyright off you.
*The only exception to this rule is if the publication is actually publicising your work or project.

Photographer John Stoddart National Photography Symposium 2011

2011-06-26T15:32:00.000+01:00

It was a frantic 30 minutes when John Stoddart presented his own mini-retrospective in his hometown of Liverpool.

From Thatcher-hating socialist Liverpool to the excesses of celebrity in London, this Scouser in a suit was like a whirlwind in an otherwise plodding and overtly-serious National Photography Symposium.

Though still emitting Scouse tones, Stoddart’s eccentric poise is far from typical Merseyside. He’s more a slightly-camp head waiter than working-class scally.

These days, however, he serves the rich and famous. Photographing them for all the top publications. His ironic glitzy website is as good as I’ve seen in a long time.

He was a teenager in his 70s, photographing bands like Echo and the Bunnymen. Stoddart opened a studio (it didn’t last long). He tried the same thing in London. This time it worked. Magazines, record companies all commissioned him. Five shoots a week, he said. Now it’s fewer magaine shoots – ‘they don’t commission anymore' but plenty of eroticism and art-porn (my description).

Stoddart admits to being a notoriously fast photographer. I can well believe it. Twenty-five years of photography crammed into a 30-minute slideshow. I blinked and I almost missed it.

Best camera mobile phone for photographers

2011-06-01T20:51:00.001+01:00

You’ve got a Blackberry. But you, over there, have an iPhone. And what’s that I see, someone with a Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot – oh, that’s me.

But just what is the best camera on a mobile phone?

For a few years now I’ve used the Sony Ericsson K810i because its Cyeber-shot camera is very good. It’s xenon flash is terrific for use indoors and at night. But the K810i is pretty hopeless when it comes to surfing the internet and is a no-go for apps.

As a photographer and journalist the benefit of being able to upload photographs and audio to my blog or apps, such as Audioboo (iPhone or Android only) is immeasurable. A mobile phone with a top-rated camera and a decent internet capability is a must.

But which is best?

In order to facilitate which phone I’m about to buy I’ve carried out my own forums reading and research to come up with two phones that get great reviews from some respected organisations.

And the leaders are the Nokia N8 and the huge Android-running HTC Desire HD.

On the HTC Desire Which? Says: This comes with a range of different camera modes, such as distortion and sepia, but probably of more use is the dual LED flash, which helps in low-light conditions. Picture quality is above average and photos look fantastic on the large, sharp display. However we did note that the camera has a very tight focus, so you have to stand some distance away to fit in wide shots.\

Tech radar says of the Nokia H8: Its massive image sensor (the biggest of any smartphone currently on the market), f/2.8 aperture and 5.9mm focal length produce photos that are almost film-worthy. Unfortunately, there's no optical zoom, just a disappointing 2x digital option - but the good quality optics, Xenon flash and manual controls for everything from the white balance to ISO settings make it an excellent choice for the photography-conscious.

Websites visited include Which?, androidforums.com and techradar.com

Why every photography gallery needs coffee

2011-05-22T20:04:00.001+01:00

Buy me a coffee and I’ll come to a photography exhibition.
For anyone who likes photography it’s an offer you can’t refuse. For anyone who doesn’t like photography it should also be the offer you can’t refuse.

The problem is, the people who run photography galleries don’t have a clue about business and marketing.
If they did, the front entrances to their buildings would be full of tables and chairs with a big sign in the window saying ‘coffee.’ These galleries would also be full of people, something that photography galleries try to avoid at all costs.
This is my idea to make photography galleries popular. It is simple so I will reiterate: bring people in by selling tea and coffee.
Imagine two city centre buildings right next to each other. One is a beautifully kept, white-walled photography gallery hosting an exhibition by Sabastiao Salgado. The other is a Starbucks.
From 8am until 6pm one building is packed full of people, the other welcomes just two students and an elderly lady all day. Do you nee me to tell you which is photography gallery?
I’ll give you a clue: the old lady was looking for the coffee shop but walked through the wrong door.
This topic was talked about the other day (May 2011) by important people at the National Photography Symposium in Liverpool.

The Photographers’ Gallery in London is a case to illustrate my point. When it was housed in two adjacent buildings in Great Newport Street, London, (for 27 years until 2008) it had a marvellous coffee shop.
Despite being fairly narrow it was busy, with images on display around the room. I loved it.
Clare Grafik, The Photographers’ Galley’s current head of exhibitions, mentioned at NPS’s ‘Imagining the photography centre of the future’ panel discussion how she liked this almost accidental coffee shop.
“We tricked them into seeing art – got them in to buy a coffee and see an exhibition for free,” she remarked.
It’s so bloody obvious. The fact that The Photographers’ Galllery coffee shop is hidden on the first floor at its new premises on Ramillies Street, Soho, is a step backwards. But at least they have one.
Impressions in Bradford. No coffee shop. Few visitors. Several café’s round the corner are packed all the time. Liverpool’s new Open Eye Gallery does not have a coffee shop, tea bar or drinks machine.
I remember visiting the old Open Eye Gallery on Wood Street. I had to walk past about fifteen bustling coffee shops to get there. The exhibition was by an Eastern European photographer whose name I can’t recall. But I do remember being the only person in the building, apart from the staff.
When you’re the lone person visiting an exhibition and are out-numbered by the staff you sort of feel you’re intruding. I never went back.
Now, I’m not saying that venue was ideal for selling tea, coffee and carrot cake – but their brand new building could’ve been. They’ve missed a trick. You have to go to the Museum of Liverpool next door for a hot drink.
Open Eye didn’t even have anything for sale. At least Newcastle’s Side Gallery were selling a few books the last time I visited. Selling books – that’s another story (something I have to say The Photographers’ Gallery does well).
The National Media Museum in Bradford has a canteen-cum-coffee shop. It’s always far busier than the exhibitions. When will the penny drop?
What are the people running photography institutions actually doing to attract new people to photography?
The answer is: Not enough.

This is me drinking coffee in Rome.

MAS Museum Antwerp, Belgium

2011-05-16T13:40:00.001+01:00

Listen!

And you can see more photos of Antwerp and this amazing building on the travel section over at gazcook.com

Fetish for used tights, scally and gay interest clothing? Worn photography from ebay

2011-05-04T19:21:00.001+01:00

This is one not to be missed. For those of you interested in worn tights, second-hand underpants and dirty scally socks, you about to see the slideshow you have previously only dreamed of.
For the rest of you, non-fetishists and nosey parkers, the slideshow offers a glimpse of people's homes and how they live their lives through a serious examination of how photography is being used to sell to a niche market on ebay.

These images are fascinating on so many levels. Fetishism, voyeurism, nosiness,mild titilation, shock, amusement. You pays your money and you takes your pic.

But the interest here should not be the items for sale but the opportunity to see into people's lives, their homes and decor. Ebay has given a mass audience the opportunity to view the lives of strangers. Without this home selling website and the demand for these worn items this photography would not exist.

Collected over a few days in April 2011 on ebay the images are form listings that target those seeking out worn, dirty or soiled clothing.

You have two choices here: marvel at what other people's homes look like or laugh and gasp at what some are willing to buy. The slideshow:

Here are a few examples of how the items for sale, most commonly tights but also socks and underpants, are described:

Easter Disco Worn Tights Pantyhose, Mine Sister&Pals
These tights were worn for our school easter disco
I am on the left in the glossy naturals my wee sister in the middle in 60denier opaques and our pal on the right is wearing a 40denier opaque black pair

scally gay int black sox 48 hr lads
pair un worn black socks
clean to ebay standards
item shown my own

My Worn Super Super sexy Black Bra Sexy PRIVATE
HI GUYS AND THANKS FOR LOOKING AT MY SEXY BRA  ITS A 32C, VERY COMFY AND SEXY TO WEAR  IT HAS BEEN WORN BY ME  AND IT NOW NEEDS A NEW HOME  EMAIL ME FOR MORE PICTURES OF MORE INFO

2pairs worn/used cabin crew tights genuine flyer xxx
hey boys, selling my used tights again what ive worn to and from work, and in work up in the air!
grab yourself a treat ,will be at ebay standards, all my pics are of me and showing how these are worn!
no adult nature in this listing xxxx

Worn Used Glossy Cappuccino Tights Pantyhose PRIVATE
Hi I love these very glossy chocolate colour tights so I wear them as much as I can and will continue to do so until you want them

SEXY fishnet BODYSTOCKING USED WORN 8-14 PRIVATE X
YOU ARE BIDDING ON MY SEXY LACEY BODYSTOCKING
fishnet DETAIL
THIS HAS BEEN WELL WORN AND FEELS SEXY WHEN ON
IT IS IN GOOD CONDITION DISPITE ALL THE WEAR

Simon Norfolk versus John Davies versus Garry Cook. Similar

2011-05-02T19:48:00.001+01:00

I happened across this image by John Davies the other day:

It was taken in Blackpool. I knew this without reading the caption as I have also taken a photograph of this rock shop. And here it is:

Seeing Davies' photo made me think about another two images I had taken and then seen similar shots in magazines. Like this one by Simon Roberts:

It's a bit like this one (below) which I took. We both stood on a bridge which is no longer there.

And finally there is this one of a seagull. I took this. Sometime ago I remember seeing a very similar shot in a magazine. It may have been in the British Journal of Photography. I can't remember. If you've got any idea, do let me know.

Royal Wedding street party in Whalley, Lancashire

2011-05-01T16:01:00.001+01:00

April 29, 2011 - the Royal Wedding. It was a Bank Holiday across Britain. We had street parties to celebrate. Thes two featured here where held in the Ribble Valley town of Whalley.

BANNED: Big cameras at the London 2012 Olympics

2011-04-13T18:50:00.001+01:00

Now there’s something to get the stadium security guards in a tiz.

The general rule: You are not allowed to photograph at major sporting events. So what’s going to happen at the London Olympics when thousands of people will be trying to capture a memento of their once-in-a-lifetime experience at the Olympic Stadium?

Well, this week London 2012 bosses U-turned on their wholesale photography ban to a ‘sorry, there is no ban on photography’ – as long as you’ve got a crap camera.

Instead they want a ban on big lenses. The message is clear: You can capture your big day as a photo but only if the image you produce is not actually any good.

Honestly, what is the problem with taking pictures? If rights organisers (the people who basically take money of organisations who take press pictures) want to protect those rights then just have a ‘no commercial useage clause’ on every ticket.

As an aside, I disagree with the notion that an amateur is allowed to take a photograph but is not granted permission to sell it. Why not? It’s a privilege you should be granted when you purchase your ticket. The reality is that an amateur will very rarely contemplate selling their images – but they should not actively barred from doing so.

Organisers have clearly considered an outright ban on photography at all Olympic venues and are looking at what extra clauses they can add to a semi-ban.

Remember, this a country that prides itself on free speech but not, it seems, free photography.

So where does that leave me? I’m heading to the Olympics with my huge camera and big lens (which does not capture anything distant, like Jessica Ennis in the long jump). I’ll have my camera with me, as I always do, when I’m in London because I take pictures. I’m a tourist.

My camera is heavy but do I also have to carry an extra crap camera to take inferior images inside the stadium, plus a bag to put my big camera in just to prove that I’m not using it? I just know that when the security guard asks to look in my bag and sees my Tokina 18-50mm lens there will be a lot of stern-faced walkie-talkie conversations.

Big cameras do not mix well with sports stadiums, or any big enclosed public gathering for that matter.

Sometimes there are strict rules, as in the Premier League who only allow licenced photographers (they issue the licences) to photograph at football matches. All other photography is banned inside the ground.

Of course the days when you were an odd photographer in a football stadium (i.e. the only person in the crowd with a camera) are long gone. A crowd of 75,000 inside a Premier League match means around 75,000 cameras will also be in the ground. Everyone has a camera in their mobile phone these days.

Hundreds of images and videos appear online during all major sporting events. The point is this: You can’t enforce a ban on photography at public events.

If they asked everyone to put their mobile phone in a box on their way in, the queue on the way out to pick them up would cause more mayhem than student kettling.

I’ve always found this rule distasteful, especially if you’re a tourist going to a match with a camera and having to face the prospect of not getting in because you’re carrying a fairly chunky SLR. It’s not like you can go and hide it in a hedge and then retrieve it after the match.

And so we come to the Olympics. This is what they said: “The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games's policy is that SLR cameras will be allowed into venues. We have no intention at all of restricting compact high-zoom cameras.

'We have yet to finalise all our spectator filming and photography guidelines. Like many other large sporting events and previous Games, one possibility is that there may be restrictions around spectators using large (in size) lenses and tripods, simply because of the impact this can have on the viewing experience for other spectators sitting close by. This is all work in progress, and guidelines are under discussion.”

At Wimbledon (where Olympic tennis will be played) there is a long-standing rule that any lens longer than one foot is not allowed. A similar restriction ‘if it’s longer than a foot you’re not coming in’ is likely to apply next summer for the entire Olympics.

Make sure you know the rules, so when they try to stop you taking photos you can say, “Excuse me, mister, you’re bloody wrong.”

Cheap printing image file-size guide

2011-04-11T17:07:00.001+01:00

If you don't send your images off to be printed very often, you won't know what size to save them.

What you need is a guide for file size and pixel length. Then you'll be able to prepare your snapshots quickly before either uploading or taking them down to your local photo processing store*.

And, as luck would have it, here is the guide you need (supplied courtesy of Bonusprint).

In a recent Which? Magazine survey Bonusprint were rated as having the best print service but several services performed well.

*NOTE: Photo processing store in Britain means Boots, Jessops or Asda, or something similar.

No photos of people getting off buses, please?

2011-04-05T17:46:00.001+01:00

YOU CAN'T TAKE PHOTOS OF PEOPLE GETTING OFF A BUS!

He shouted. At me. Because I was taking photos of some people getting off a bus.

He also told me to stop. He was quite angry. He didn't like it when I said I was doing nothing wrong.

WARNING: You should never continue take photos of people in public if they make their unhappiness obvious. Part of being a professional photographer is keeping calm, being courteous, diffusing difficult situations - but also knowing your rights. END OF WARNING

If the person offended gets overtly angry or threatening the issue belongs at their feet. Knee-jerk aggression is not justified by having your photograph taken.

You are allowed to take photographs in public of anything or anyone. Security guards may tell you otherwise, police may question you about your motives but you should not accept the accusation of having done something wrong. You haven't.

I've been stopped three times this year - by city security guards who followed me while I was taking photos of shop signs, by a policeman as I was taking images of a petrol station and by a Ryanair employee while I filmed the queue to get on one of their flights.

Each time the person quizzing me was polite, and so was I – even if I disagreed with their reasons for asking me what I was doing. They were all on the look-out for terrorists. But how many terrorists have you seen carrying a huge Nikon D2Xs? And also, if a terrorist decided to take photos but used their mobile phones would they go unchallenged?

It is obviously the size of my camera which grabs the attention of those watching on CCTV while those standing near me with their iPhone carry on photographing regardless.

And, for those of you who are interested, here is the photo I took of people at a bus stop in Liverpool today. No prizes for spotting the angry one.

Adobe Dreamwever flv Clear Skin 2 DO NOT USE

2011-03-30T20:54:00.001+01:00

WARNING: This brief note is of little interest for the casual reader. If you'd like to see pretty Russian women, click here instead.

A quick word of warning for all those flash flv fans out there who are trying to add videos with this file type onto their websites via Adobe Dreamweaver. This file type allows you to add your own play/sound/fast forward buttons through Dreamweaver.

However, the video will NOT work if you chose the Clear Skin 2 style of buttons. No reason for this. Clear Skin 1 and Clear Skin 3 work fine. I use Dreamweaver CS4.

You may find you don not have this problem – but if you do and can’t work out why the video won’t play, now you know.

Donald Weber v Martin Parr. Things that make you go Hmmmm

2011-03-21T19:54:00.001Z

Is it great minds thinking alike or just an attention-seeking, stoat-wearing, cigar-smoking Russian millionaire with a passion for pleasing documentary photographers?
Come to your own conclusions on that one. But I get a warm glow when I think of British photographer Martin Parr shooting his Luxury project and Canadian Donald Weber, working on In Moscow, elbowing each other out of the way as they attempt to get the defining shot at Moscow's Millionaire Fair.
And as these images show, the best documentary photography still embraces traditional journalism values - it's not the representative that gets reported it's the exceptionally unusual.
NOTE: Martin Parr's attention-seeking, stoat-wearing, cigar-smoking Russian millionaire is the top picture. Donald Weber's attention-seeking, stoat-wearing, cigar-smoking Russian millionaire is below.
NOTE TWO: And the attention-seeking, stoat-wearing, cigar-smoking Russian millionaire may be wearing an animal other than a stoat.

Humanity and hotel reviews

2011-03-16T18:46:00.001Z

"We went to Italy for a week. We had a great time until our last night we stayed at this hotel because we were flying out of Rome the next morning. There was no air conditioning and we begged the manager to turn it on, at least in my mom's room. It was VERY hot in the hotel. He never did and she died at 4:30 a.m. on 10/4/10 in her sleep. She died of a heart attack brought on by excessive breathing difficulty due to lack of air conditioning. DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!"

If you are searching for a good hotel the best place to go is undoubtedly the tripadvisor website.

It is comprehensive, easily searchable and its independent rating system gives the best guidance on if a hotel, hostel or B&B is any good. I've unearthed some brilliant places to stay in London, Berlin, New York and Jerusalem.

Every once in a while you see a review whch stands out, that makes you wonder. This is one of those.

It's a review of the Grand Hotel Fleming in Rome. The reviewer, from Texas, goes on to give the hotel ratings for cleanliness, service and sleep quality. The ratings are not good. Nor are they good from other guests.

Obviously a catastrophic event, the review adds a new tragic element to the way the internet is used to pass on information and how we consume it. Would you stop in this hotel? It would not be my first choice but - at the right price - I might consider it. Don't think I would take mother with me though.

Having an eye test for photography

2011-03-16T16:47:00.001Z

Having good eyesight is pretty much the most basic of basic demands for a photographer.
So you can imagine my unhappiness when I woke up with blurred vision in my right eye on Sunday morning.

A day out with the family at the Wild Boar Park in Lancashire was more frustrating than fun, such was my irritation at not being able to see properly. Looking through the viewfinder of my Nikon was an incredibly dissatisfying experience.

I've had similar blurriness previously, but only for an hour or so. Not for this length of time and not where trying to read from a computer screen was excruciating.

Three days later I was sitting in Boots having my first adult eye test. You can imagine my delight when they said, for £10, they would take photographs of my eyes. I only agreed when they promised to print me a copy. And here they are.

After a series of tests carried out by soothe talking graduate opthalmologist Olivia Ng it was discovered that my eyes are in fine working order. The opthalmologist said it would be pointless me getting glasses.

Apparently I had been suffering from something called an oscular migraine, a painless affliction related to changes in blood flow in the brain. They are common, harmless and I'd prefer not to have another one again soon.
Thanks and goodeye

Ryanair guarantee is guaranteed* (*guaranteed not to be a great travel experience)

2011-03-13T22:37:00.001Z

Below are the edited highlights from Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary’s column in his in-flight Ryanair Magazine (16 February – 15 march 2011):

WELCOME ABOARD RYANAIR, The World’s Favourite Airline

…record breaking start… guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges… Europe’s lowest fares… 1,200 exciting routes… guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel charges… 1,200 routes…guaranteed… great fares… unbeatable prices… record breaking start… unbeatable fares… guarantee… guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel charges.

Ryanair - Edinburgh Airport to Rome from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

As you can tell O’Leary is big on boasts and repetition. While he could engage in a reasonable argument about his airline being cheap, his claim that Ryanair is the World’s Favourite Airline beggar’s belief.

I have flown with Jet2, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Sky Europe, Thomson Holidays, Continental Airlines, EgyptAir, MyTravel, Delta, Northwest Airlines, KLM, Thomas Cook, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, airBaltic and possibly others. And I can honestly say that Ryanair is my least favourite airline.

Why? Because the airline offers a thoroughly miserable experience from flight booking, with surcharges and extra fees hitting you from all angles, to the unseemingly scrum to get on its flights.

You can even argue that Ryanair is not even the cheapest airline around. The £9 flights – or 99p as they used to be – are incredibly hard to pin down. The reality of Ryanair is that your getting a great deal if the total cost of your booking is under £100 per person.

Anybody who uses Ryanair does so not because they are the cheapest but because they are flying to the destination you want to visit. I can guarantee that if Ryanair and one of it’s competitors ran flights to the same airport from the same destination that most people would go with the other one. Though I wouldn’t put it past O’Leary to offer mega cheap deals on that route until the competitor went out of business before hiking the prices back up the afternoon of the oppositions demise.

What can Ryanair do to make it’s travel experience more bearable? This question requires the depth of a PhD but to start they could offer seat numbers to stop the on-board scramble.

They could also stop ripping off customers with extra charges for booking with credit cards, booking on-line, or linking to bus services to take you into your destination city from the airport that are up to four times the actual cost from the bus company.

Ryanair could make a huge effort in stop trying to mislead their customers over prices (they have been fined and disciplined several times by the Advertising Standards Authority) and generally make travelers feel like they are offering a service and a helping hand towards an enjoyable break, rather than exacerbating the feeling that they are attempting to catch out their clients with a series of penalty charges.

NOTE: Ryanair Magazine is actually one of the best in-flight magazines around. It’s published by Ink Publishing.

ryanair_edinburgh.wmv Watch on Posterous

Roaming round Roman Rome

2011-03-09T16:22:00.001Z

Three beautiful images that capture the essence of a travel trip to Rome.

These pictures were taken (from top to bottom) outside the St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, inside the Vatican and at Piazza Navona.
Slideshow and video coming to the www.gazcook.com website soon.

Very boring blog on problems with Adobe Dreamweaver, FileZilla, Soundslides, Autoviewer

2011-02-27T20:23:00.001Z

Please DO NOT read this unless you have searched for solutions to problems in building your own website. This blog is too long and boring for the casual reader.
Building a Dreamweaver website from scratch
Part 1 – General list you need to follow
1 Create folder
2 Add four folders: css, images, html, working
3 Dreamweaver: SITE > New Site > Connect > Connect to your new folder
4 Create new html template.html
5 Create CSS: File >new > blank page > css
6 link html and css page: be on template page > click on link symbol (CSS Styles Panel) and find styles.css
7 Create css * style: NEW CSS Rule > [COMPOUND] [*]
8 create wrapper (typically 960 wide or 650 wide): LAYOUT > insert div tag >
Add after start of tag #wrapper // add after end of tag #mainbox etc
Now there is obviously much more to Dreamweaver than the above – but this is not a how to article. This guide aims to simplify the problems I cam up against when creating, adding flash and uploading my website.
Some of the problems were complicated, some were simple – but, at the time, all were incredibly frustrating.
Part 2 – Adding a Soundslides show
Soundslides is a paid-for program written by a photojournalist I use to add music or audio to a set of images.
To add a Soundslides show onto Dreamweaver do not use the Insert > media >SWF button. It does not work.
You don’t need to convert your Soundslides show into an avi movie.
Set the size of show you require within the Soundslides program (and remove titles/captions to your preference).
Simply create it as usual, then copy the folder (which includes _notes/custom/full_screen folders and all other files into a Soundslides file in your Dreamweaver web page directory.
Then drag the Soundslides shockwave flash file onto the page where you want your slideshow to appear.
The slideshow should now work.
On your Dreamweaver page, set the height and width of your box to ensure the Soundslides show will fit inside it.
If, on testing it, the Soundslides show buffers quickly (and by that I mean it does not run smoothly) then something has gone wrong. Create the show again. This has happened on a few of my shows but I’m not sure why – possibly I exported before Soundslides had finished saving any new changes I had just made.
Part 3 – Adding an AutoViewer slideshow to Dreamweaver (these notes should be applicable to similar sister slideshows like SimpleViewer). AutoViewer is free, or paid-for with increased flexibility.
Make sure you have Adobe Flash
Download AutoViewer script into Adobe Photoshop.
Warning: The newest version – Photoshop CS4/CS5 - for of this did not work on my Photoshop CS4 system.
I had to download the earlier CS3 version. There is no apparent reason for the CS4/CS5 script not to work.
Use the script (FILE > scripts > autoviewer)
Set source folder (where your images are) and destination folder (where you would like the converted files to appear). I created a new folder for this.
Copy converted image files to Pages>images folder in your Dreamweaver website folder. They must be in a folder called images inside the pages folder for the slideshow to work.
NOTE: Never copy the index.html file – it will copy over your own index.html homepage.
Rename the gallery file as gallery_XXXX (XXX denotes whatever you want to name your new AutoViewer show). Copy this renamed file into the pages folder.
Copy the following html text into web page where you want AutoViewer show to appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>
<div id="flashcontent">
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>
<div id="flashcontent">AutoViewer requires JavaScript and the Flash Player.
Get Flash.</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var fo = new SWFObject("autoviewer.swf", "viewer", "100%", "532", "8", "#FFFFFF");
fo.addVariable("xmlURL", "gallery_XXXX.xml");
fo.write("flashcontent");
</script>
NOTE: To make the AutoViewer go the full width of the webpage, I have changed the value in the var fo = line to “100%”
Change the gallery.html line to gallery_XXXX.html (the name of your new gallery file which you have copied into the pages folder) – this will link it to the right images.
NOTE: The source code you can get from the AutoViewer website does not include the extra line I’ve added here before the f0.write This line you have to get from elsewhere on the site (or you can cut and paste the whole of the script I have provided here).
To change the following:
removing PLAY button or ARROW buttons
changing background colours,
brightness of images either side of central images in the slideshow:
These changes will affect every slideshow on the website as each AutoViewer slideshow uses the same swf source file.
NOTE: If you change the width/height of the slideshow in this code, it will only affect this one slideshow on this particular page.
In your AutoViewer folder (which you have downloaded) go to source > \source\com\airtightinteractive\apps\viewers\autoviewer\Options.
Save and then republish the SWF file – by opening source/autoviewer.fla in Adobe flash and FILE > Publish.
Copy this new autoviewer.swf file (which you will find in the AutoViewer web folder into the pages folder of your Dreamweaver site.
Part 4 – Uploading to your completed website to Dreamwaver
I used FileZilla.
Biggest problem here was the all the page files need to go directly into the wwwroot directory (if they are in a folder on the wwwroot directory your website will not work).
Once uploaded, you must manually, in FileZilla or Dreamweaver, move everything in the pages into the wwwroot folder. But you will also have to move the images in the pages > Images folder into the images folder (as these images have to be in the fodler directly next to the html pages themselves.
Another note of caution: If you then upload new or amended pages through Dreamweaver they may go directly into the pages folder. You will then have to drag them out of there and into the wwwroot folder.
I have been dragging any updated html files in FileZilla – but this does not work unless you delete the html file you are replacing first (FileZilla offer the option to replace existing file for you, but this does not seem to work and updated pages are not visible when you check online).
If you add any images/logos to a page, don’t forget to copy them into the images folder in the wwwroot directory.
And finally...
Part 5 - Linking your uploaded files to your server
Nightmare this was.
It is going to change from server to server, where the name of their folders and files are not exactly the same as those in Dreamweaver.
In Dreamweaver:: SITE > mange site > select your project in the pop-up box > EDIT
Click on Testing Server (CS4):
Server model: [none]
Access: [FTP]
FTP host: [your host website login]
Host directory [/wwwroot – though this may differ for other website host companies]
Login: [your host website login]
Password: [your host website login]
URL prefix: [something like this: ftp://XXXXXX@XXXXXX/wwwroot/]
Then click on TEST
Hopefully this will now connect with your webhost.
NOTE: Getting the URL prefix was not easy. I emailed my webhosting company several times – they were no help. To be honest, I’m not sure where I actually got for the prefix from in the end – possibly SITES > Manage > unnamed server > edit. Comments here welcome.
The End.
Thanks for sticking with me. This guide is far from comprehensive - but it may just save your sanity.

England this England or the EDL march through Preston

2011-02-27T20:11:00.003Z

The English Defence League bring their own brand of entertainment to Preston.

Standing outside the Jazz Bar in Preston city centre at midday was like being outside a pub on the way to a football match. Noisy, loads of booze and not pleasant smelling.

The EDL are a group formed to oppose Sharia Law and Muslim extremism. I think it's fair to summarise their cuase as being against jihadism and not muslims in general. I have to say too often I heard the term 'muslim' used in a way that did not make me enthusiastic about their cause.

If you look at members of thr EDL you immediately think: racist football holligan. This may be wrong but in an era where image is everything, this perception is unlikely to change unless the groups fashion does.

United Against Fascism held a demonstration at the same time as the EDL march just a few hundred metres away across the city. The two groups definitely do not shop in the same department store.

The plus points were that the march seemed to take place without any trouble. I saw no violence. The police, out in force, did an excellent job.

But I did witness a change of mood in the build-up to the short march. Friendly chat and smiles were replaced why what I can best describe as hysteria, fuelled by firework bangers and smoke bombs.

Most ironic moment of the day was meeting someone who used to live in the city, a self-confessed racist, who had travelled down from Carlisle to see the march – but was refusing to take part in it as he did not want to be negatively associated with the EDL. A racist worried about his public image? Where does that leave us?

A blogger called Banjaxer came up from Manchester to experiecne the demonstartion and he makes soem excellent points.

He said: "Sadly all I witnessed today was a mob, and mob is the correct word, of mostly young men with an obvious lack of understanding of where they live. The country they all claim so loudly to love is not the country they think it is.

"In their small world England is under threat from what they mostly referred to as ‘muslim c*nts’ or ‘paki b*st*rds’ who want to make us all follow ‘sharia laws’ and ‘blow us up to f*ck’.

"If any of them really think they have the support of anyone apart from a few poorly educated rejects from the Jeremy Kyle show with anger management issues, they are very much mistaken.

"All their best efforts at reasoned debate on the internet and elsewhere all fall apart when they get together and descend into a ranting, racist chanting, hoard of hate filled hooligans.

"They need to educate themselves a bit more about the facts of immigration and assimilation; the history of the working class in Britain and our place in the world; the failings of fascism, national socialism and oppression of minorities in European history."

His full blog can be read here http://tinyurl.com/3xe57kz

This is Preston, this is the EDL:

EDL Preston November 27, 2010 from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

Buy prints, buy books, support photography

2011-02-27T20:11:00.001Z

Some early designs for a campaign to encourage non-believes to by into photography.

I say this in a quite literal sense.

Photography in Britain desperately needs to be promoted in a slicker, visible and artitsic way. In this country the genre is far more unseen, unloved and under-valued than in more visual-thinking countries.

From the Japanese to the Yanks, the Germans and, of course, the culturally advanced Dutch, most other nations consume, enjoy and understand photography kore than us.

When is comes to culture, and possibly this is not confined to just photography in the British Isles, us lot are a bit behind the clock.

Buying prints or buying photography books just isn't on the radar of the vast majority of our citizens.

Whether it's for yourself or for others, the industry needs an inirtiative whichinspires people to buy photography - and does not preach only to itself.

There is a growing interet in the consumer part of photograpy

For my part, all my family will be the proud recipients of photo books this year. I hope the images within them will take their breath away and inspire them to look at photography more closely.

gazcook.com is online now

2011-02-18T16:33:00.001Z

I'm very pleased to say that version one of gazcook.com is online.
It's taken me a month but, Designed by Garry Cook (me) and using Adobe Dreamweaver, I can confirm that building your own website is every bit as frustrating as you might have imagined.
Dreamweaver is Adobe's misnamed web design program. At times it is a nightmare.
I always knew it would happen. Design a page, find a problem, not be able to fix it. Try several remedies. Fail. Delete the page bit by bit. Hope the same error does not recur.
To be fair to Adobe, building a website is a complicated process and no program can make it pain free. Plus, some of the brick walls I hit were not of Adobe’s building.
Inserting flash slideshows (AutoViewer and Soundslides) is sadly not as easy as clicking on insert > flash. The processing involved in getting your images to a point where they are ready to be embedded into Dreamweaver and then actually doing the embedding correctly is horrendous.
I spent many, many hours attempting to overcome seemingly unfixable hurdles before finally finding a workflow that worked. Guides to inserting AutoViewer and Soundslides into Dreamweaver are coming soon.
There are mistakes in it, some links might not work. Let me know if you spot any errors.

Liverpool Look2011 International Photography Festival

2011-02-01T21:04:00.001Z

Look2011 is Liverpool’s International Photography Festival
While areas of Merseyside remain as rundown and neglected as their popular stereotypification, the city centre has undergone a remarkable transformation.

If you visited Liverpool a decade ago you probably would not recognise much of the city today. Part of its rejuvenation has come through the installation of a long-running cultural programme.

The highlight of this initiative was the European City of Culture year in 2008 – but that was just one strand of arts events that have taken place in the city.

And Look2011 is part of this aim to keep Liverpool at the forefront of the art and culture in Britain. Certainly in the northwest, think arts, think Liverpool. To that end the aim has succeeded, where Liverpool is streets ahead of traditional rivals Manchester.

As a member of Lightbox, a Redeye group of photographers formed in 2010, my work will form part of a group exhibition exploring the festival’s themes of A Call To Action and Is Seeing Believing?
Meeting monthly in a fairly luxurious pub, the group is headed by publisher world-renowned publisher Dewi Lewis and includes photographers whose past work include stolen shots of people sunbathing and images of found abandoned vehicles. It’s a diverse mix and one which we hope will produce an eye-catching end result.

For my own project I hope to follow some locals for a few days, documenting their lives from work and home to weekend partying – the lifestyles for which Scouse women are famous for.

First, of course, I need to find three or four women willing to be photographed as they enjoy themselves in the city of culture.

Look 2011 runs from May 13 to June 26, though many of the major exhibitions run for longer.

Mozilla firefox browser jpeg image white-washed (too bright) problem

2011-01-25T21:03:00.001Z

I solved a frustrating and long-running image problem today.

For a while now I’ve been stumped over why some of my jpeg images are severely over bright when viewed on this blog using some versions of the Mozilla Firefox browser, but look normal on other browsers such as Opera, Safari and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

As Firefox is pretty much the best browser you can use – it’s repeatedly recommended to me by course tutors, computer experts and forum advisors – its reproduction of my images in such a washed-out state has deterred me from recommending this website viewing program.

Today, through some trial and error and some desperate settings adjusting, I got to the root of the problem.

And though I may not have totally eliminated this problem during my image workflow, this is one way the fault has occurred.

I work with RAW files, converting them to either TIFF or jpeg in Phase One Capture Pro. For web use, I often further process images in Adobe Photoshop, either as a batch or individually.

And it’s while altering the images individually that the problem has reared its ugly white-wash head.

In the save options screen (when an image is being resized or renamed) the images which are causing a problem have the colour > ICC Profile box ticked. This profile will be your own camera’s (i.e Nikon D3 or Canon 5d etc).

To get rid of the problem, simply untick this box. Problem solved.

This is a fairly long explanation to a simple problem. I apologise for that.

The gazcook.com website fiasco

2011-01-24T21:08:00.001Z

Around 12 months ago I was awarded a £3,000 innovation voucher from the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The idea of the voucher is to help creative businesses develop by spending their voucher with organisations and institutions signed up to the program.

My voucher was awarded for the design and development of an online image management system. Or, as I understood it, a website where I could sell images and deliver images securely to clients.

I chose a Manchester-based company to carry out the work. Several months and a dozen appalling templates later, I put in a complaint against them and the website never got completed. I lost the chance to spend the voucher.

There were several areas where I felt they had fallen short. Here are some of the designs they came up with:

Having had only a shell of a website online for over two years I have decided to rebuild and finish off my website myself.

Earlier this month I did a one-week training course on Adobe Dreamweaver with Academy Class (Ian Gilbert did the teaching and was excellent) and partially funded by Vision+Media.

I’m halfway through the design of the all new gazcook.com

The website retains the same front page, though I have rebuilt it from scratch, with every other page brand new, including the projects page I have invested extra attention to. It's coming soon.

Blog to pdf to book with BookFabrik (FeedFabrik)

2011-01-03T20:15:00.001Z

BookFabrik turns blogs into books, which you can then buy either old-style printed or as a pdf.

It would be quite easy to produce my own pdf from my blog. The main problem I envisage is the time – cutting and pasting all the entries would, quite frankly, take yonks.

And I dread to think what extra tweaks I’d need for the many photos on www.longlens.blogspot.com

Eventually, I might produce a great pdf but this is where Feedfabrik beats me, hands down. I would have to put in hours, if not days of work to turn my blog into a ready-to-print pdf.

With BookFabrik, an electronic pdf only cost 2.99 euros and the process of compliling it actually takes less than 30 seconds. Quite stunning really.

As soon as you allow FeedFabrik access to your blog it produced an online book, which you can instantly flick through.

One last thing: It may be obvious to state, but video and slideshows do not make it into the pdf book.

Facts about this blog as a FeedFabrik publication:
I started this blog in 2007. The hundreds of posts transform themselves into 312 pages, plus the cover. Printing it costs 23.71 euros, an electronic pdf is 2.99 euros.

You can get a print proof download for free which I have attached for you to download here.

NOTE: The joys of twitter brought this unusual site to my attention.

Christmas and New Year sales

2011-01-03T18:19:00.001Z

Anybody been sale shopping over the past few days?

NOTE: This photo, taken a year ago, has been posted by embedding the HTML code into this blog. The photo can currently be seen over at my gazcook flickr account. Usually I upload photos directly to this blog. The embedding process is simple (I do it for all my videos and slideshows), let's see if it works here.

Phonar open University

2011-01-03T00:06:00.001Z

It’s education with a difference.

The third-year degree course, held at Coventry University in the United Kingdom, has eleven students in its class.

But it’s the Photography and Narrative module which is groundbreaking. Known as #phonar on twitter, this course is accessed by over 100,000 users online.

#phonar is is free and open to anyone around the world.

Now this is where it gets difficult to take in.

I’m well-versed in theories of freeconomics and, specific to photography, how distributing images for free can contribute to viable business plan (it’s a bit like Prince giving away his album for free in the Daily Mail and then charging £100 for a concert ticket for one of his 21 consecutive gigs at the 02 Arena).

But this ten-week course, which explores the practicalities of how story-telling photographers can survive financially*, involves contributions from users around the world (latest stats for six days in mid-December 2010: 1,853 different people from 434 cities over six continents). The website has only been online for two months. Blimey.

What I can’t get my head around is how a small undergraduate course finds itself reaching such a staggering number of people. But as lecturers investigating new business models in photography, I guess I should not be surprised that they know how to market their project.

Photographer Matt Johnston masterminded what he calls the ‘strategies for social media leverage’. He was reluctant to reveal his strategy but said: “We have worked hard to ensure we create something that people not only want to read, but want to be a part of, and can see the value in sharing and engaging with."

If there’s one recurring complaint I have about photography and journalism degree courses it’s that they don’t examine closely enough what skills will actually make you money.

A course like #phonar is therefore worth it’s weight in gold – and the fact that it’s free and open to all is brilliant.

* This is my description. Worth describes the course in more academic speak, looking at the ‘development of a sustainable practice.”

By using their extensive network, #phonar has also produced a list of inspiring photography blogs.

New Year's Eve party slideshow with audio

2011-01-02T23:38:00.001Z

A New Year's Eve Party in east Lancashire.

A New Year's Eve party from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

Seasonal message from Teddy Cook (with image on audioboo)

2011-01-01T10:08:00.001Z

Listen!

via AudioBoo

Some kind of miracle, talking in tongues near the Room of the Last Supper, Jerusalem

2010-12-23T22:09:00.001Z

This is almost a miracle - and it is almost Christmas.

In September 2008 I witnessed American tourists as they began making strange noises with their mouths - I think this is more commonly called talking in tongues.

The tourists were one by one becoming possessed by spirits. And one by one they fell to the floor.

We aere all in a room outside of the Room of the Last Supper, which is at King David's Tomb in Jerusalem. My guidebook does state that the Room of the Last Supper is not actually the room where Jesus and his disciples actually had the Last Supper - but this did not deter these tourists.

I thank them for allowing me to photograph a minor miracle.

Outside the Room of the Last Supper from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

A more substantial documentary essay, covering several of the world's most religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, will be produced in 2011.

Merry Christmas photographs

2010-12-22T16:48:00.001Z

This is a lovely documentary essay on what we British do at Christmas.

This is Christmas from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

Zoom H2 audio recorder or equipment every journalist must have

2010-12-14T18:26:00.001Z

My continuing quest to find the best equipment for journalists and photographers.

If you’re a serious journalist – or a photographer adding a soundtrack to your work – you need a recording device.

In fifteen years doing interviews I’ve worn out a Tandy dictaphone and three Olympus Pearl Corders (all analogue) and an Olympus DS-2300 (digital) recorder.

They all did their jobs but have two main drawbacks. Firstly, the quality of audio is so poor that it can’t be broadcast in any form and, secondly, the background noise make it very difficult to pick out words – often requiring time-consuming multiple playbacks.

The Zoom H2 is a revelation. Retailing between £110 and £150 it offers broadcast quality recording. It is used by BBC radio journalists. It was recommended to me by a man who advises and works with BBC staff.

Musicians, particularly bands, have also had great success in recording demos with the Zoom H2, utilising its multi-directional microphone system.

The quality of audio is outstanding. Unlike traditional dictaphone recorders, it does not pick up heavy background noise. Three recording levels also allow distant sounds such as crowd chanting.

Also, you have a choice of recording formats, making the machine much more versatile than the Olympus which uses its own file formats and must be converted with separate software.

The only downside to the H2 is the controls on the menu screen which are fiddly. The screen is not the easiest to navigate.

In the age of multi-platform journalism, to have the option to broadcast your audio recordings is crucial. This Zoom H2 is ideal.

NOTE: As with previous recommendations, these opinions are totally independent.

NOTE TWO: Zoom H4 is also available but costs a whole lot more.

Merry Christmas! cards Prezi presentation

2010-12-12T19:12:00.001Z

Merry Christmas! cards Prezi presentationThis a presentation I did about my marvellous Merry Christmas! cards.
It was done with the presentation system Prezi.

Merry Christmas! cards on Prezi

Or the direct link is here.

Preston students protest and sing-song

2010-12-10T14:35:00.001Z

On Wednesday December 8, the students of Preston marched into the city to protest about the impending rise in tuition fees. This is what happened.

Preston students tuition fees protest from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

GC in AG Magazine

2010-12-09T18:16:00.001Z

This is the current issue of Chris Dickie's AG magazine.
It's one of the best photography magazines in the world. It's quite expensive, too. £12.50. That's British pounds. But it is good.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

And this is a little piece about my lovely Merry Christmas! cards.

Merry Christmas! cards in the Lancashire Evening Post

2010-12-07T19:14:00.001Z

Monday, December 6, 2010, was a special day - my first appearance on Page 3.

Sadly it was not the Daily Star and I had all my clothes on.

And here is the page:

Don't forget to buy your Christmas cards - available from this blog (see below).

You can follow the writer, Melanie Wallwork on twitter @melwallwork

Received from Russia again

2010-12-07T18:07:00.001Z

As well as receiving more images from Russian girls (who I do not believe are spies) several new girls have contacted me searching for friendship and a way out of Russia.

Irina's images (Irina Timerkhanowa) are clearly stolen images and can be found elsewhere on the internet.

But it's the images of the other girls which interest me more, clearly not professionally taken and some of which show glimses of the lives behind the emails.

That said, the style of English used in the accompanying emails from these girls - and the similarity of what they say - suggests some sort of organised project which these girls are part of.

Is there a super-hub where 100 beautiful Russian women sit at desks hammering out replies to emails from Western men who are beginning to think their dreams have come true?

This is the real story. To the photos. Evgenia, Ksaniya, Marina, Mary Yana and, of course, Masha.

Ksanyia (above) Evgenia (two photos, above) Mary (three photos, above) Marina (above) Yana (three photos, above)

And then these are Masha (below)

Duke of Lancaster Regiment - Blackburn Homecoming

2010-12-06T18:24:00.001Z

This was a march with a difference. Freezing cold, snow, delayed for an hour. But there were still thousands of people lining the streets to see the Duke of Lancaster Regiment's Homecoming parade.

I was staggered at how many people turned up. The town was rammed. The parade was delayed by over an hour because the regiment was delayed by the poor road conditions. Many people took had taken up their positions two hours before the parade started.

There was an atmosphere of pride and euphoria. It was far removed from the EDl march I witnessed in Preston a few days earlier (though EDL supporters and flags were here).

But anti-Taliban chants apart, this was not about muslims, racism or perceived racism - it was a celebration of the work of British soldiers and a thank-you for the sacrifices some have made for their country.

Seeing community gatherings like this, gathering to pay respect to others, is one of the more uplifting aspects of modern society. Makes you believe community still exists in some form in this country where too frequently people come together only for reasons of hate and exclusion.

Blackburn Homecoming - Duke of Lancaster Regiment from Garry Cook on Vimeo.
Wednesday December 2010 in Blackburn, Lancashire. The Duke of Lancaster regiment attended a service at Blackburn Cathedral before marching through the town.

Buy prints, buy books, support photography

2010-11-29T19:11:00.001Z

Some early designs for a campaign to encourage non-believes to buy into photography.

I say this in a quite literal sense.

Photography in Britain desperately needs to be promoted in a slicker, visible and artistic way.

In this country the genre is far more unseen, unloved and under-valued than in more visual-thinking countries.

From the Japanese to the Yanks, the Germans and, of course, the culturally advanced Dutch, most other nations consume, enjoy and understand photography more than us.

When is comes to culture, and possibly this is not confined to just photography in the British Isles, us lot are a bit behind the clock.

Buying prints or buying photography books just isn't on the radar of the vast majority of our citizens.

Whether it's for yourself or for others, the industry needs an initiative which inspires people to buy photography - and does not preach only to itself.

There is an increasing interest in the consumer part of photography who are using sites like Snapfish, Pixum and Photobox to print mini-books of family images. I think this is an area which needs to be exploited, perhaps with online book retailers linking up with these sites so consumers can find photobooks more easily.

On-line publishing sites like Blurb and Lulu are almost unknown to photographically-challenged consumers (that is those who do not actively enjoy photography as art) and the bookshop areas of these sites are fairly appalling.

There are some great photobooks for sale on Blurb and Lulu's website but quite frankly it's too much of a challenge to find them.

For my part, all my family will be the proud recipients of photo books this year. I hope the images within them will take their breath away and inspire them to look at photography more closely.

England this England or the EDL march through Preston

2010-11-28T17:29:00.001Z

The English Defence League bring their own brand of entertainment to Preston.

Standing outside the Jazz Bar in Preston city centre at midday was like being outside a pub on the way to a football match. Noisy, loads of booze and not pleasant smelling.

The EDL are a group formed to oppose Sharia Law and Muslim extremism. I think it's fair to summarise their cause as being against jihadism and not Muslims in general. I have to say too often I heard the term 'Muslim' used in a way that did not make me enthusiastic about their cause.

If you look at members of the EDL you immediately think: racist football hooligan. This may be wrong but in an era where image is everything, this perception is unlikely to change unless the group's fashion does.

United Against Fascism held a demonstration at the same time as the EDL march just a few hundred metres away across the city. The two groups definitely do not shop in the same department store.

The plus points were that the march seemed to take place without any trouble. I saw nothing. The police, out in force, did an excellent job.

But I did witness a change of mood in the build-up to the short march. Friendly chat and smiles were replaced why what I can best describe as hysteria, fuelled by firework bangers and smoke bombs.

Most ironic moment of the day for me was meeting someone who used to live in the city, a self-confessed racist, who had travelled down from Carlisle to see the march - but was refusing to take part in it as he did not want to be negatively associated with the EDL. A racist worried about his public image? Where does that leave us?

A blogger called Banjaxer came up from Manchester to experience the demonstration and he makes some excellent points.

He said: "Sadly all I witnessed today was a mob, and mob is the correct word, of mostly young men with an obvious lack of understanding of where they live. The country they all claim so loudly to love is not the country they think it is.

"In their small world England is under threat from what they mostly referred to as ‘Muslim c*nts’ or ‘paki b*st*rds’ who want to make us all follow ‘sharia laws’ and ‘blow us up to f*ck’.

"If any of them really think they have the support of anyone apart from a few poorly educated rejects from the Jeremy Kyle show with anger management issues, they are very much mistaken.

"All their best efforts at reasoned debate on the internet and elsewhere all fall apart when they get together and descend into a ranting, racist chanting, hoard of hate filled hooligans.

"They need to educate themselves a bit more about the facts of immigration and assimilation; the history of the working class in Britain and our place in the world; the failings of fascism, national socialism and oppression of minorities in European history."

His full blog can be read here http://tinyurl.com/3xe57kz

This is Preston, this is the EDL:

EDL Preston November 27, 2010 from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

Hebden Bridge

2010-11-26T17:44:00.001Z

In 2009 I travelled to Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire to do a photo essay and some interviews for a pilot magazine called Love Town.
These are the photographs I took that day.
The music is by the pseudo rock band One English Pound.

Hebden Bridge from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

Received photography - the video

2010-11-25T10:50:00.001Z

I have been inundated with emails containing sexy images of young Russian women looking for love with me.
So, I've done the decent thing and made a video. And here it is:

From Russia With Love from Garry Cook on Vimeo.

And I also got this from Irina Timerkhanowa:

She also asked for $990 - despie not knowing anything about me. Where I live. What I look like. Or even my full name. She says she still wants to share her life with me though.

Christmas lights switch-on in Manchester

2010-11-24T16:48:00.001Z

Manchester's Christmas lights were switched on as early as Friday, November 12, 2010. Can you believe it?

Love Is Dead by Midnight Mafia

2010-11-22T17:18:00.001Z

Video for the song Love Is Dead by Midnight Mafia.
I took the photographs.

More Received photography

2010-11-20T18:19:00.001Z

More Received photographs this week, this time from a delightful-looking lass named Irina.

The tone and sentiment in the email is very similar to those from Mash, Yuila and Becky (she has no kids, never been married and does not have regular access to a mobile phone or the internet).

The question I'm asking myself about the Russian scam mafia is: who is the girl in these images? Does she know her image is being used in some sort of email scam?

The worrying bit is she says she's going to book her flight from Moscow now - or at least as soon as I tell her the name of my nearest airport. Crikey, she is keen.

However, a quick search on the excellent Tin Eye reveals that a number of these images are available on several peculiar websites around the world.

What does this mean? It certainly makes me feel a little less guilty about posting these images. They are clearly not a genuine appeal for love (not that I'm looking for love like).

I have received three emails from Irina. Read this one (below) and then tell me if I'm having my emotions manipulated or if I should take a bunch of flowers to Leeds/Bradford Airport.

At first I think I have to say that I am new in cyber space and I have only good intentions. you should know that I am not very good writer in english,please be patient to read my messages and see many mistakes.to be fair I don't know what you want to know about me, in principle.

First of all I wish to ask your full name, mine Irina Timerkhanowa. I am usual girl. I think I should tell you about me, my interests,tastes and hobbies.I think I will tell you about things I want to know about you and you will know my future questions. I am 25 years old, my birthday is 18 August 1985.

I so much don't want to get older ,when I can see old women I am getting crazy to think that it is my future .I do all the best to keep my youth and I keep my body well. In spite of all difficultes here I am trying to be in good condition and I do a lot of exercises to be in good shape!

I am about 172 cm tall (5.6) and my weight is about 56 kg. I've been told I look well enough, and I think that all women have own beaty. I have never been married and don't have kids but I love them and they love me!

I have one youngest sister and it is great problem for us because we have only two rooms flat.you can't imagine what does it mean to be born in small town in Russia,there are not any chances to live well,to get a good job.All young people leave towns to search great luck in big cities but nobody waits for them there. I want to leave Russia,I know it sounds ugly but I know that I will be lost here like many young girls before me.

It is not place to grow children and have stable future.

I want to meet my right man. I think in future I can work as fitness trainer I have a certificate. My mother is my great problem too,she has a great dream to see me married and she wants to make me happy but I think it is only my business I am not a little child. She tells me every day that I should get married very soon.

To be fair I am not sure I am able to explain all in first message I want to say so much! I just want you to know that I am not afraid to work, I am fairly goal oriented and I am sure you will be not disappoined to meet me in real life.I am going to spend three months abroad to work in any good place,agency promises to help me because it is only the way I can leave Russia. I will have all documents to travel in a few days and i will travel to Moscow then,from Moscow I will travel to you and they ask me about name of the city i am going to work, if you don't mind to meet me please tell me the name of your city and nearest international airport! I will book my flight from Moscow!

I think it would be so great to meet my love and stay there forever. I know that it is not so easy like I think but I think it is possible that I meat my real love. I want to love and to be loved I want to build our own happiness, only me and my man there.

I don't smoke,I tried to smoke when I was younger.I may have a glass of red dry vine,sometimes it helps to relax. I try to take care of my body and face. I know it is all I have. My soul may have any itnterst for you later, I thinkso.I am not a little girl and I know that at first almost all men look at body ,legs and face.God created males such persons. Well,I think I am lost in my letter,I am not sure you understand my goals,please feel free to ask.

I live in Russia! Region Sibiria, Irkutsk Oblast' (Area) in a small town Angarsk. My adress:

town Angarsk

Factory street 17, flat 42..

My city is really far from center of our country.Moscow and St Petersburg are located far from my place.

I would like to write if we understand interests of each other. If you understand my soul,my interests. If it is difficult read so long letters please let me know. I will write then shorter one.

I write from another city now. Name of this city is Irkutsk. The reason is we don't have internet cafe in my town. It is mean that it take me 1 hour to get in this city by bus. Please don't worry if i will answer you not so fast. I hope that you will understand me that it is difficult be in another city fast. I don't have private mobile phone.In our small town only 3 digital phones.This phones can use only for call inside Russia. If we have to call

inside the country we have to order call through the operator. It's impossible to call abroad.

Russia really is very difficult country!!! Please write me about yourself. I have to know everything. Your interests,hobby and so on. The last one. I have several very important questions to you.

Do you like alcohol drinks? Do you drink it often? Have you been rude with women?

Well,I have to stop or I will write without ending. Kiss you !see you later. In my next e-mail I will write you more things about myself and more details about my trip and work.

Yours Irina

P.S. I should go in the Internet of cafe in other city,

therefore following time I shall write to you in a day, or two.

NOTE: To avoid any confusion, this woman is a scammer. See this page here.

NOTE TWO: Irina is also know as: Ekaterina Solovyeva, Karamelka, Irina Komelina, Diana, Ekaterina Razgonova, Elena Kashkova, Svetlana Kiselyova, Inna Lihachova, Irina Komelina, Marina Krestyaninova, Natalia Jurtikova, Natalia Yrtikov, Elena Sharina, Tatyana Kiseleva, Vnisy, Svetlana Startseva, Elena Ushakova, Irina Russkih, Tatyana Krestyaninova, Natalia Loskotova, Ekaterina Samaeva, Olga Bondareva, Daria Iskrinka, Daria Kleschevnikova, Daria Lebedeva, Natalia Andrianova, Irina Astah, Anna Kurshakova, Oksana Tkach, Elena Kiseleva, Natalia Orehova, Irina Shalagina, Maria Talanova, Elena Griaznova, Olga Vohmyakova, Lubov Kuznetsova, Ksenia Chercazianouva, Galina Scherstobitowa, Tatyana Gorbunowa, Valentina Semenchugowa, Valentina Simenchugouva, Elena Tyulkina, Julia, Natalia Denisowa, Irina Vdovichenko, Natalia Loskutova, Anastasia Belostotskaya, Elena Okuneva, Ludmila, Tatyana Shihmatova, Alina Sabitova, Marina Goloubinova, Marina Sirotina, Olga Zikova, Elena Voronina, Evgenia, Anna Wotintseva, Natalia Kalyonova, Elizaveta Onjanowa, Daria Sapichewa, Elena Prozorova, Anastasia Bambourina, Ekaterina Tsaregorodtseva.

Do you believe in Christmas? In Blackburn? In November?

2010-11-18T22:54:00.001Z

FESTIVE ADVERTORIAL: Merry Christmas! by Garry Cook, a documentary photography project now in its second year. END OF FESTIVE ADVERTORIAL (thanks for your time).

Believe it not - and believe me - Christmas is here.

These four images were taken on November 18 in Blackburn in the build-up to their Christmas lights switch-on. It's actually the second Christmas event I have attended this year.

Both events, this and at Albert Square in Manchester last Friday, felt sadly un-festive. Thousands turned up for both events (well, nearly a thousand in Blackburn) but the lack of festive food stalls and family sideshow activities gave both openings a rather limp feeling. We've still got a long way behind Europe when it comes to putting the fun into festivals. Ho, Ho, No.

Still, Whalley, Garstang and Rawtenstall can still show them how it's done with their upcoming Chritsmas festivals.

NOTE: One of these images (contains white balloons) was taken by four-and-a-half-year-old Teddy Cook (his first image on this blog).

The Long Lens blog. Photography with added snaps.

The Photographers Gallery in London sets date to re-open

Midland Hotel in Morecambe Lancashire, a retrospective

Blackpool's Comedy Carpet

The complicated world of self-publishing an ephotobook

Oi ya b*st*rds you've stolen my pug picture

Palm trees in the Czech Republic

The Curious Action of the Vernacular Hand or can academia come to the aid of photo books?

An interview with Garry Cook

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Or Alcohol and Women at Control at Oxford Hosue Bethnal Green

Preston Bus Station versus the Nazca lines, a short essay in history

euston train station

queue to get in the British Library

Picadilly train station, Manchester

travelling to London for the special preview opening of control

Journalists and photographers witnessing atrocities and world events. Or why you never hear the world photojournalism anymore.

Photography book: Garry Cook's 6x9

Istanbul. Pretty decent city actually

The Love Town zine – an experiment in the promotion of photography

Racists – it's the conference you've been waiting for: Populist Racism in Britain in Europe

London Design Festival at the V&A featuring Bespoke and Garry Cook's images

Converting your photo book to a pdf for CreateSpace (it's very, very hard)

Women and Alcohol goes to London Photomonth

Former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on trial and in jail

Brilliant Blackpool exhibition

Preview show at FYCreatives

Brilliant Blackpool opens today

Setting up Brilliant Blackpool at FYCreatives

One day to go until Brilliant Blackpool opens

What do you know? Two days to go. Brilliant Blackpool

FYCreatives exhibition three days to go

Four days to go Brilliant Blackpool at FYCreatives

Five days to go until Brilliant Blackpool at FYC in Blackpool

Brilliant Blackpool at FYC in Blackpool

Preston coffin parade in Bamber Bridge selection

Preston North End coffin parade in Bamber Bridge

Catholics, Protestants, Orange Order marches, India, Pakistan and tourism

Andrew Allington's a lucky bloke: Vicar marries model 20 years younger

Travel: Mountain biking in La Plagne

NBC iVillage, two pugs and a photograph

Photographer John Stoddart National Photography Symposium 2011

Best camera mobile phone for photographers

Why every photography gallery needs coffee

MAS Museum Antwerp, Belgium

Fetish for used tights, scally and gay interest clothing? Worn photography from ebay

Simon Norfolk versus John Davies versus Garry Cook. Similar

Royal Wedding street party in Whalley, Lancashire

BANNED: Big cameras at the London 2012 Olympics

Cheap printing image file-size guide

No photos of people getting off buses, please?

Adobe Dreamwever flv Clear Skin 2 DO NOT USE

Donald Weber v Martin Parr. Things that make you go Hmmmm

Humanity and hotel reviews

Having an eye test for photography

Ryanair guarantee is guaranteed* (*guaranteed not to be a great travel experience)

Roaming round Roman Rome

Very boring blog on problems with Adobe Dreamweaver, FileZilla, Soundslides, Autoviewer

England this England or the EDL march through Preston

Buy prints, buy books, support photography

gazcook.com is online now

Liverpool Look2011 International Photography Festival

Mozilla firefox browser jpeg image white-washed (too bright) problem

The gazcook.com website fiasco

Blog to pdf to book with BookFabrik (FeedFabrik)

Christmas and New Year sales

Phonar open University

New Year's Eve party slideshow with audio

Seasonal message from Teddy Cook (with image on audioboo)

Some kind of miracle, talking in tongues near the Room of the Last Supper, Jerusalem

Merry Christmas photographs

Zoom H2 audio recorder or equipment every journalist must have

Merry Christmas! cards Prezi presentation

Preston students protest and sing-song

GC in AG Magazine

Merry Christmas! cards in the Lancashire Evening Post

Received from Russia again

Duke of Lancaster Regiment - Blackburn Homecoming

Buy prints, buy books, support photography

England this England or the EDL march through Preston

Hebden Bridge

Oi ya bstrds you've stolen my pug picture