Flickr's finest, Rebekka Guoleifsdóttir

Rebekka Guoleifsdóttir is one, if not the, outstanding photographer on flickr.com, the photo community website.

The Icelandic photographer, known as _rebekka on the site, is both an example of how the internet can make you famous and how it can bite your bum.

Rebekka's stunning landscapes, with a smattering of sexy and humorous self-portraits, have fuelled a fanatical following for the 29-year-old. She's been featured in news and magazine articles around the world, been commissioned for major advertising campaigns, held exhibitions and does a tidy line in print sales.

And all because of the profile her photographs on flickr gave her. Rebekka's camera skills were honed as she uploaded her pictures to flickr. Her exceptional photography would eventually have reached a wider audience on its own, but there is no doubt her web presence accelerated the process.

Success for her, success for flickr, success for the internet. Jolly good.

Now the bad bit. So desirable are Rebekka's photographs that people want them. And they want to sell them. Without telling Rebekka. A British website which sells photographs printed on canvas were the first to steal her prints from flickr, upscaling the relatively small jpegs before selling them on eBay and through their website only-dreemin.com (later changing to canvasrepublic.co.uk when their scam was exposed).

It was a sorry tale, not least because of the way flickr (owned by Yahoo) handled the episode after they were inundated with complaints from Rebekka's online fans. Dismissive, unsympathetic and aggressive before someone realised they had a PR disaster on their hands unless they started to practice the feel-good community spirit they preach.

The episode left a sour taste in the mouth of the photographer herself, who told me in an interview for Photography Monthly magazine: "

So you can imagine her horror when in February 2008 she found a contributor to stock photography outfit iStockphoto.com selling her photographs, again stolen from flickr. Twenty-five of the seller's 31 photographs were Rebekka's.

iStockphoto moved quickly to remedy the problem, but it was still a shocking incident which was reported around the world.

In both instances Rebekka, though obviously peeved, kept her cool. behaving in a considered and impeccable manner. I'd be spitting feathers, demanding action and calling for the return of capital punishment.

While she had been watermarking her images on flickr and reducing the downloadable image size, some of her older images were still rife for stealing. It's almost impossible, time-wise, to re-upload images.

And the moral of the story? Lurking in the shadows, behind the undoubted power of the internet, is the power to steal. Rebekka is a high-profile victim, but I could be a victim too - so could you.

Many of my images on flickr were uploaded before I started embedding my name and copyright notices in them (though these would not deter a thief anyway). The internet is an amazing place, especially for photography.

But just as you would be wary walking down a dark alley with a bag full of expensive camera equipment, don't assume your belongings are safe online. The pixelated jungle is just as unsafe as its urban counterpart.

Rebekka's website: www.rebekkagudleifs.com
Rebekka on flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rebba/

NOTE: I've not asked Rebekka permission to use any of her photo's to illustrate this article, so I haven't used any. Infact, I've not even told her about this article - the flickr community will do that.

Kiev conquered

Lunch in Kiev, dinner in Riga, supper in Hemel Hemsptead. If that isn’t a perfect day, then a perfect day doesn’t exist.

Far off the beaten track, it’s one of those destinations few in Britain have been lucky enough to reach. But if you put in the effort, Hemel Hempstead is worth it.

But let’s deal with Kiev. It’s the most difficult city I’ve been to in terms of getting around and communicating. But once you’ve found a map, got your bearings and conquered the metro the fear disappears and the beauty of this place unveils itself.

Kiev has more churches than the Vatican, more street boozing than Manchester on UEFA Cup Final night, more beautiful women than a Paris fashion show.

The churches are part of its Christian history, the boozing on Independence Square at night is what they do and the beautiful girls are just a happy coincidence.

And with no direct flights to Kiev from Britain, you feel like you’re visiting an unspoilt wonderland that the west has been unable to bastardise through stag do’s and budget flights.

It’s like seeing communism firsthand without the communism actually being there any more. Get yourself to Kiev (but don’t tell anybody in case they ruin it).

NOTE: My trip to Kiev was for my book Outsiders. I interviewed and photographed Sean Carr and Mick Lake from the band Death Valley Screamers, two guys from Leeds who now live in Kiev, the city where they relaunched their band with life-changing success.

I flew from Stansted via Riga. I spent two hours in Riga on my way back. The Latvian girls just aren't as pretty.

Image over substance

What’s the difference between the Burma Cyclone and the Boxing Day Tsunami?

And the answer is not a joke.

The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, which killed 230,000 people across South East Asia, shocked people across the world into donating £3.5billion (USD 7 million).

The recent Burma Cyclone had a far more immediately devastating effect and the final death total is expected to exceed 500,000 – more than twice that of the Tsunami.

So why are our TV stations and newspapers not full of wall-to-wall pleas for donations like they were after the Tsunami?

The difference is, with virtually no photographic images and TV footage of the devastation, the media has not had the raw ingredients to produce stories which pull at the heartstrings.

The Burmese government, who have refused access to their country of both the press and aid agencies, have to take their share of the blame for that, especially as their needless stubbornness undoubtedly caused the needless death of thousands more of its people.

But the situation has highlighted how important images – be they still or moving – and journalists are in the world today. No press, no exposure, no public sympathy, no financial support.

Just because we can’t see rotting corpses and starving children after a disaster does not mean that disaster is any less tragic and worthy of aid. But because we can’t see so many images of it does mean that it will get less attention and less aid.

It’s a basic principle, but one that works. It’s why there are advertisements, it’s why journalists like me get invited on trips abroad for free. Attention is everything, even the suffering need it to help stop the suffering. Not very funny but it’s true.

O my God (Hates America)

The Westboro Baptist Church, better known as godhatesfags.com or Those Awful People Who Picket The Funerals of Dead Soldiers, are a strange set indeed.

Out of all the interviews I’ve ever done, this lot have generated the most interest. And, let me tell you, I’ve interviewed Jim Bowen. People can’t wait to ask what they are really like.

I was fortunate enough to spend the day with Shirley Phelps, the motormouth unofficial leader of the gang, and her oldest daughter Megan. The rest of the kids – Bekah, Libby, Luke, Noah, Jonah, Zach, Isaiah, Gabriel and Grace drifted in and out during the day. And that’s not even all of them.

And what did I think of them? Well, like a thesis on the molecular deconstruction of photoreceptors which sprout anomalous neurites that reach the inner plexiform and ganglion cell layers, it’s difficult to explain.


I stayed in Topeka with one of the nicest (and largest) families I have ever met. I can’t rate Shirley (pictured) highly enough. I have some great photographs of this remarkable woman with her kids. I’ll have to send her some copies. But what I learned is you can’t separate this family from their burning religious beliefs. Their religion is their existence.

Some of the things they said to me were hideous, unpalatable and uncomfortable. They are acutely aware of this, but have total belief in the reasons they have for saying it.

Fred said ‘taking it up the rump’ so many times I nearly laughed. I don’t think Shirley noticed.

Whether condemning the paedophiles, America or me, they always did it with warmth, generosity and with a smile on their face. And that’s the most important thing. It’s the American way. I say: God bless America (even though God hates America).

Be shocked, appalled or join them at www.godhatesfags.com and www.godhatesamerica.com

The cost of photography and mobile phones

So, you spend weeks planning your trip, saving money wherever you can, sleeping in people's couch's for free and sharing hotel rooms with French students. Your plane tickets are the cheapest in the world, your car hire in America is a bargain and your hotel room in Tobago is free.

Then you get home and two weeks later a 99GBP mobile phone bill drops through your letterbox. Two minute call = 5GBP. Bloody Nora!

You can't budget for everything. Cheap calls through the brilliant Vyke Pro program (vyke.com) just didn't work in Tobago. Ditto 18185 - the pre-call system which is supposed to cost you 1p a minute.

Cheap flights have revolutionised consumer travel but it seems when it comes to our must-have-can't-do-without cell phones, the companies are still able to take the p***. Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone: be ashamed.

BY THE WAY: This photograph is of Manhattan Island, New York. It was not taken with my mobile cell phone.

Great Uncle Ernie

Sometimes all you have to do to take a great photograph is point the camera and press the button. Rest in peace.

The Hands of God

The first batch of interviews have been completed for my remarkable book, Outsiders.

While I am keeping the identity of most of the subjects close to my chest, I can reveal that my latest interview took me to the land of America.

I spent some time with a man who is the leader of a church, commands respect, has incredible knowledge of the scriptures and who works tirelessly to spread the word of God around the world.

Sadly, Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Catholic church, turned down my offer to be interviewed and photographed.

But Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church, and his family did invite me round for the day to their home in Topeka, Kansas.

And I have to say that I've never had a day quite like it. As an all-American family they tick all the boxes. Loving, generous, warm, friendly, respectful. Their family life is as perfect as you can get. They are amazing.

The bit about everyone going to Hell for either being homosexual or being accepting of the practice is a bit hard to swallow. As is their policy of picketing funerals of pretty much anyone, no matter how tragic the death was because (they say) tragic death is God's way of punishing fag lovers. But, apart from that, they were terrific.

The family are notorious for their picketing of funerals of dead American soldiers. You can discover their fairly forceful beliefs at godhatesamerica.com and godhatesfags.com

I have several hours of taped interviews, plus a photographic documentary of their routine daily life of laughter, love and pickets in Topeka. I met them again in New York.

Interesting fact: Fred Phelps used to run marathons.

Odd photography

Odd, I mean, in the terms of a photographer doing something odd, not odd as in a photograph of something odd. Do you get me, or is this all starting to sound a bit odd? Oddly enough, I agree - something odd is happening.

As if photographers, professional or not, are not under the cosh enough already. They're scared of being abused in public, scared of having their camera ripped out of their hands, scared of being arrested and scared of being accused of being a paedophile.

They're not scared for no reason - these things are happening. I've not had the paedo label hurled at me, but I have been abused (see blog of angry man at Gateshead Shopping Centre below).

Now those infinitely wisdomatic people at the Metropolitan Police in London have started a campaign to report odd looking photographers to police because they are probably terrorists.

You can read the poster for yourself. Thousands Of People Take Photos Everyday. What If One Of Them Seems Odd?

Odd? You take a photo down any highstreet in Britain and people think you're odd. It's one of the perks of the job. Now they're trying to take that away.

Being odd was once a privilege, now it's the quickest route to Guantanamo Bay.

The next time I take a photograph of a smoker outside the back door of a pub, rather than behaving oddly I'm going to blend perfectly into the background by behaving normally: I'll slur my words, ask a blonde bird for a spit roast and then vomit in the gutter. Nothing odd about that.

Focus on Imaging

Two week's ago I went to Slide, the ski, skate and snowboarding trade fair at Manchester Central. It was a well-organised show, but not too busy.

On Monday I went to Focus on Imaging at Birmingham's NEC. It was packed. You couldn't move. There were some dazzling stands, much merchandise being premiered and some unusual gadgets.



I particularly liked the fitted waterproof camera covers by Kat (bogenimaging.co.uk at £50) and the Eizo ColourEdge CG211 monitor (£800 but not in production yet).

As a writer and occasional contributor to several photography magazines, I was particularly interested in the publishers stands - but they were little more than unglorified newsagents.

While retailers like Jacobs could take cash off punters fast enough, the most impressive stands were the printer manufacturers - especially Epson's centre-piece stand. The quality of prints these days is as staggering as the size of some of the machines.

Of course, the difficulty in choosing the right printer is as mind-boggling complicated as ever. I liked the Epson Stylus 1400 for its A3+ prints, then I liked the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 for it’s A3+ and B&W capabilities, then I liked the Epson Stylus Photo Pro 3800 with it’s A2 ability, then I liked the Epson Stylus Photo R1900 for its new colour processing technology, then I realised I don't really know what I’m on about.
I came home empty-handed.

Flashes to Ashes by Garry Cook - buy the book now

It’s taken a while but at long last my book Flashes to Ashes is available to buy.

Described as having ‘larger-than-life characters presented in loud, vivid colour’ this photo essay shows the impact of the smoking ban had when it was introduced in England on July 1, 2007.

Shot across several towns and cities, including Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Preston, Flashes to Ashes goes into pubs, bingo halls, working men’s clubs and nightclubs to document smokers as they light-up indoors for the last time.


The smokers are then followed as they go outside, laughing, defiant, drunk and aggressive.

This 80-page full colour book is exclusively available to buy through this blog for just £13 (email for foreign currency conversions).

It’ll make you laugh - or your money back.

Email Flashestoashes@hotmail.co.uk to order your copy