London Calling

So I go off to London, laptop in tow, forever thinking I will be using it for this or that…. Nope, never found the time. I had a great time in the Capital seeing prisons, operating theatres, movie museums, the Ireland/Wales match – gotta be done, we won – and generally just enjoying their beer and food. I so enjoy knowing that I can have a beer at lunchtime without worrying about when I will be driving.

Went on a free tour – yes FREE – whereby your guide does the tour and you give tips at the end, so if it is crap you walk away. This is the second one I have done – did Dublin – and must say this is the best idea I have come across in a long time. It makes the guide work harder at making the tour enjoyable and informative.

Check them out here :- http://www.neweuropetours.eu/

Another thing I did while over there was browse a few markets, Camden Town – Covent Gardens – Spittlefield, and while browsing through some of the photographic stuff they were selling I came across an image which just set off a tangent in my head because it is something being discussed on a constant basis in the photographic circles in which I involve myself.

Copyright/Watermarking/Ownership

Two main things came together to start this tangent:

A guy was made to feel stupid for watermarking a great shot of Custom House in Dublin – “do you think someone is going to steal it?”

I found a photo of the Ha’Penny Bridge – Dublin – in the photo stall in London.

Now what do you think the chances are that the stall owner took the photo seen as they were willing to pass it off as been in the U.K. It only said Ha’Penny Bridge on it and as pointed out to me by my S.O. all the photos – 100+ – were taken in different ways, signalling different photographers. I believe that this sort of photo, 6×8, is being sourced online and printed by people who have no morals about stealing what is a photographer’s property. Therefore I feel that the guy with the shot of Custom House should watermark his photos and that I should continue to be protective of my own photos. They may not be the best photos but they are made by me, and therefore are my property and should be paid for their use.

This is the problem I was having with my website initially – how to stop people robbing my photos without putting in an intrusive watermark, ruining the photo – but I was creative and nearly had it down – was not able to work out flash player BTW – but now my site – www.foreverfaithless.com – is up and running with flash and is hopefully protecting my photos from those that steal.

New Idea

Came back from England with an artistic idea that might see me creating a new job for myself and slowly get me off this Dole, so it’s trial and error for the next short while to see if it can be done and whether it will provide enough money for me.

St. Patrick’s Day

Well I hope you all had a good St. Patrick’s Day, also known as St. Paddy’s Day but never St. Patty’s Day. I say this because I am sure I can find half the American population that will say “Happy St. Patty’s Day”. Patrick – also known as Padraic – was a very common name in Ireland and so when guys emigrated to England and the likes, and used the shortened name of Paddy, soon we all became Paddy’s. This was used in a derogatory fashion by other nationalities. So it is St. Patrick/St. Paddy but never St. Patty.

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