Halloween party

Kids enjoy Halloween at Bashall Barn near Clitheroe.

Lest we forget: Remembrance Sunday

Today was Remembrance Sunday, where the British public and the BBC comes out in force to show their respect for those who fought and died for this country.

This photograph was taken in November, 2007.

Business with Business Link

A dozen or so years ago I went to see a Business Link advisor in the hope of expanding the boundaries of my work.

It was a right waste of time. I listened to a few wishy-washy statements, was handed a few leaflets and never heard from them again.

The persistence of Gemma from Creative Lancashire led to me agreeing to meet up with a Yusuf Musa, Business Link’s Digital & Creative advisor.

The only downside was that it was arranged at the coffee shop of Borders book shop in Deepdale Retail Park. It was half-term week.

Anyway, this Business Link fella was brilliant. His knowledge of the photography industry and digital media was spot on.

He made several suggestions on how I could better market myself as a photographer, some I had heard of, others that I was totally unaware of. He was an excellent communicator and talked neither in business jargon or digital riddles. This was appreciated immensely.

He offered hope, guidance and support. How this support will develop I don’t know. But I quite like the new face of Business Link.

Sadly for you lot my camera was left at home so you’ll have to wait for my next appointment to for a photograph of Mr Business Link.

A profile of Yusuf on Lancashire & Cumbria ICT Clusters says he previously worked in publishing and had his own IT business.

And I can exclusively confirm that this is not the same Yusuf Musa you will find in a google search who sends out thousands of spam messages which begin like this:

DEAR FRIEND,
I KNOW THAT THIS MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE. I AM THE BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER IN BANK OF AFRICA (BOA), OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO…

At least I hope he is not this Yusuf Musa. He already has my email address.

More problems with Lulu uploads

A new, if slightly boring blog, on how to publish books with Lulu.com. The first blog posted in January 2008 was for problems with my Flashes to Ashes book. It was a Crown Quarto Full Bleed book.

This one, a promotional copy of Outsiders, is a 44-page saddle-stitched A4. Book sizes below 68 pages cannot be perfect-bound with Lulu.

The key phrase here is ‘saddle-stitched’. The covers for saddle-stitched books require no spine, though it is almost impossible to verify this on the Lulu website.

It took me five hours to find these words (only revealed when you try the online one-piece cover upload):

One-piece cover requirements:

Your file must be a PDF

Spine width: 0 Postscript points wide (0.000cm)

Spine begins 604 Postscript points (21.31cm) from the left.

Total cover width: 1208 X 860 Postscript points (42.61cm x 30.34cm)

Basically, this means the length of your InDesign document should be 42.61cm x 30.34cm.

If your pdf cover includes imported text or graphics against a similar coloured background they can often come out in a different tone – even though it looks perfect on your screen.

Best thing to do is open the pdf in photoshop which will flatten which will rasterize (whatever that means) the file in to a single layer after asking for a DPI (choose 300) and colour palette (choose RGB).

Converting to a pdf (from an InDesign file)

Follow the Lulu pdf guidelines here, which include downloading a Lulu pdf preset, then selecting it during the Adobe pdf preset process.

Also you must still embed the fonts. The same Lulu guidelines page has this information. You may have to download Lulu’s Adobe Job Options too.

And the last problem concerns ftp transfer, which you will need to do because your pdf will undoubtedly be over the 300mb limit

FTP file transfer

With ftp software FileZilla you need to fill in three login boxes (connect to, username, password).

You connect to Lulu with this address: ftpupload.lulu.com

Lulu tells you that username and password is the same as your Lulu login details – but you actually need to type your full email address in the username box for the ftp logon to work.

NOTE: This blog may be amended as further problems arise. Goodbye.

Martin's Parr'd

Martin Parr opened his Parrworld and Luxury exhibitions at the brilliant Baltic in Gateshead in October 2009.

If photographer's are famous then Parr is undoubtedly the most famous in Britain and one the most well-known in the whole wide world. Not bad for someone who lives in his own little world of irony, wryness and kitsch.

Parrworld is an exhibition of Parr's own memorabilia collection, from ultra-rare photography books and prints to tea trays and Osama Bin Laden watches.

I was at the opening night. This was the second talk of Parr's I have attended.

Like the first at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2007, Parr came across as luke-warm understated speaker who is not really one for engaging with his audience during the Q&A's.

Even when I asked him to sign a copy of his new book I could only get a couple of sentences out of him (I mentioned Middlesborugh photographer Ian Macdonald whose work is in Parrword, Parr agreed that Macdonald was talented).

But it is fascinating to get an insight into what makes his photography work. He has ideas, often about ordinary subjects, but he puts the effort in to produce the results.

And he admitted he quite likes controversy surrounding his work. He's had a fair bit in his time. It hasn't done him any harm.

The Luxury photographs are fantastic, but if you're after a lesson in the history of photography there is no better place to start than through Parr's own collection. Worth the entry fee alone to see the 911 rugs.

Parrworld runs until January 17 2010 at The Baltic. And entry is free, by the way.

Sunderland Host City bid

Here's a link to a story about Sunderland's 2018 Host City Bid which features one of my photographs.

That is all.

John Simpson, quad biker

John Simpson is 77. He’s a farmer in Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. He drives a quad bike.

Anna asked if our kids could have a ride in his trailer. Along with his dog Nell, we all climbed in his trailer and barged across two boggy fields.

It was brilliant fun. John Simpson was incredibly kind to us. He was every bit as respectful as you would expect from a man his age. It was a pleasure to take his photograph.

Take better indoor photographs with a digital camera

Or an idiot's guide to using flash indoors (you don't actually have to be an idiot to use this guide).

This brief guide is for users of a Canon 450D, though it applies to all digital slr cameras*, plus others which allow a degree of manual use.

Aim: To take photo of people indoors with background lighting visible.
Things you need to do: Change ISO, change to slower shutter speed (Tv).

ISO goes from 100 (for bright conditions) to 1600 (for really dark conditions).
To change ISO: Hold down <iso>button and move main dial (ISO will change on main screen)
Try 400 indoors, change to 500 if background is still too dark in your photograph.
Anything from 800 and above and photo will get too grainy - you would only use these speeds if NOT using flash.

Set to <tv>on mode dial.
Move main dial for faster/slower shutter speed.
1/125th sec is standard flash speed.
Anything faster than 1/200th second is too fast for the flash to work.
Anything slower than 1/60th second means image could be blurred if you are not really steady with your hands.
Tip: to keep extra steady at 1/30th second, breathe out as you press button to take photo.

Try: 1/80th second and ISO 400.

Alternative quick technique (if you have not got time to think):

Set to
(for Program)
Set ISO to 400
Press the <flash symbol="">

*NOTE: Slr means single lens reflex. It's kind of a proper camera where you can (usually) remove the lens.

Paradise lost

LEGG UP: Blackpool Council's Head of Enterprise & Employment Peter Legg tells it like it is.

Spent the evening in Blackpool at a kind of social event for creative types last week. It was in the Paradise Room of the Pleasure Beach – parking £5 for up to 12 hours.

Creative Lancashire (other regional organisations available) is, to put it briefly, is a Lancashire County Council-funded group which assists creative companies in the region in their business dealings.

As a photographer, that means I can be part of the process. It’s still a bit fuzzy in my head as to how this organisation works or how it quantifies its success but Gemma could not have been more helpful to me and persuaded me to take part in two upcoming events.

This was the first. I am slightly skeptical of these organisations (an appointment with Business Link in my early freelance journalism days was largely useless) but the theme Chasing The Public Pound looked interesting so along I trotted.

There were several photographers at the Sizzle event, validating my own appearance, and it was eye-opening.

My journalistic and photographic background has been largely editorial, so to see such a network of support for small businesses on a regional level was impressive. I had no idea these networks existed.

I’m not really one for PR networking and schmoozing – in fact I hate using the word schmoozing, it’s offensive to me – but being able to meet people from similar and complementary industries was rewarding.

As I aim to market my photography in a more focused fashion over the coming months, I will be taking in a whole range of events, courses and seminars – and includes an appointment with Yusuf from Business Link. Can’t wait.

IN TRIPLICATE: North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium's Mike Haslin, Think Say Do's Iain Leslie and 2am's Peter Stubbs at Sizzle Blackpool

Ta Dar

Just got back from a press trip to Tunisia.

Quite a nice country, actually. Food, especially the fish, was outstanding. The boutique hotels we were shown were stunning.

And the markets, very much in the style of those within the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, were superb.

Gifts of scarf, dish and camel-shaped plates went down a treat. But I particularly enjoyed watching the man who sold me two brass plates, as he hammered the shape of a camel and the country of Tunisia into two plates, for Teddy and his mate Seamus. Their names are on the there too.

And they only cost £5 each (this price included minimum haggling).