We would like to reassure those expressing concerns about the representation of women in our industry that we are very aware of the issues and are currently working on projects to support and help current and future female members of the organisation. We were disappointed that these concerns were not directed to The BPPA in the first instance as we welcome all constructive criticism. It is one of our core values to work transparently with all parties in any matter related to photography.
The issue of gender imbalance is a complex one, not just related to photography but to wider society.
The association is proactively working to improve such imbalances. As an example The BPPA elected me as Vice Chair and Julie Edwards as our Social Media and Website Editor at last year’s AGM. We are both long-standing professional photographers who have first hand experience of gender related issues within our industry. Julie and I are bringing our experiences, energy and ideas to The Board and welcome further positive constructive comments which could help address this wider topic.
In relation to the exhibition (it is not a competition) we would like to reassure those concerned that images were curated by highly regarded members of the profession who were deliberately not given any information about the name or gender of the photographers in order to make the selection process ‘about the images’ as far as is humanly possible.
We are extremely proud of Assignments – an exhibition designed to promote and highlight the amazing work that is being produced by our members.
The Board of The BPPA welcomes constructive input from anyone who wants to help to promote and inspire great photography. If you have ideas on what more can be done on the issues raised then please get in contact with me or any of the other members of our Board.
Lynne Cameron
Vice Chair, The BPPA
Statistics:
1. The BPPA has 321 paid-up members of whom 40 are women – which is approximately 12.46%.
2. 16 photographers joined or rejoined in order to take part in Assignments 2019 of whom 25% were women.
3. 161 photographers entered photographs for Assignments 2019 of whom 18 were women – 11.2%
4. 1,351 photographs were entered of which 148 were entered by women – 10.95%
5. 110 photographs were selected for exhibition of which 10 were by women – 9.3%
Photo by : Brian Harris
We are pleased to announce the first of the Curators for Assignments – Tom Stoddart!
Now established as one of the worlds most respected photojournalists Tom Stoddart began his photographic career on a local newspaper in his native North-East of England, before moving to London to work for a variety of papers on Fleet Street.
During a long and varied career he has witnessed such international events as the war in Lebanon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the election of President Nelson Mandela, the bloody siege of Sarajevo and the wars against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
We are thrilled that Tom has agreed to join our panel of curators this year.
If you want to take part you had better hurry – you only have until friday to submit your entry.. Visit the assignments website for details.
We were passed details of this free event which our members might find interesting: Wex Inspired: Legacy of War with Giles Duley Monday 11th February, 5pm – 7pm FREE
Giles will be discussing his career to date and the stories he has told, using his photography.
What happens to countries and their people once a war is over? It’s a question that has been on Giles Duley’s mind since he started photographing humanitarian and conflict issues more than a decade ago.
Legacy of War is a photographic project created by Giles, exploring the long-term effects of conflict globally. More specifically, Legacy of War documents the lasting impact of war on individuals and communities told through the stories of those living in its aftermath. More information here….
We offering members and non-members the chance to take part in a series of keenly priced half day workshops which will be focused on making the most of Camera Bits software to select , caption and send your images out to the picture desks in a fast and efficient way using Photo Mechanic. BPPA Secretary Neil Turner has a long history and experience writing about and teaching photography as well as working as a photo editor on very large sports events with world class teams of photographers.
Take the chance to learn from his years of experience as a photo editor how to make the most of the complex and powerful Photo Mechanic. Take control of variables, code replacements and autocomplete texts.
Attendees are welcome to bring laptop’s to follow the tuition in real time if they wish. If not, just listen, take notes and ask questions.
Even the experienced are bound to learn something new.
You can register on this keenly priced workshop here…
The UK Press Gazette quoted The BPPA’s open letter to Alamy’s CEO in their piece about his video signalling his intention to reduce the photographers percentage of royalties to 40%. This morning the UKPG asked us to provide a response to James West’s latest video where he offers to keep the 50% split for exclusive content. We provided the following text:
“Alamy’s move to alter their commission structure has brought a large number of other issues to the surface such as the low prices they sell pictures for, their broken promise that when they reduced the photographers cut to 50% they wouldn’t go further and their somewhat grudging acceptance that it is the commitment and buy-in from thousands of photographers that has got them to the positive position in which they now find themselves.
The BPPA welcomes Alamy’s decision to reconsider their reduction in the percentage paid to photographers but in making this only for exclusive content they are still going to anger many of our members. One of them has said “exclusivity is appropriate to a delicatessen, not a Walmart” and this sums up how most feel.
Should they push ahead with this plan the details of how they manage this will be complex. Will photographers have to make some sort of declaration for every single picture retrospectively? Will the burden for proving exclusivity rest with the photographers? Our opinion is that Alamy are still not listening and are still cutting the income of all those photographers who for very good reasons do not wish to, or cannot, surrender exclusivity.”
Rohingya refugees are reflected in rain water along an embankment next to paddy fields after fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh November 2, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay TO FIND ALL PICTURES SEARCH REUTERS PULITZER – RC18DA7E6630
On Tuesday 13th November a large group of predominantly female professionals from the world of Photojournalism gathered in London for the very well attended “Women In focus”, hosted by Reutersand International Center of Photography at The Ned.
The event was focused on Photojournalism but for the sake of this piece I will refer throughout to Photography or “the Industry”.
During the opening introduction by Sir Harold Evans (Editor at Large, Reuters), to a backdrop of the above image (produced by Pulitzer Winning Reuters Photographer Hannah McKay, we were told this was biggest event focused on women in journalistic photography.
The opening remarks gave way to Session 1 where Daniella Zalcman of Women Photograph presented a number of statistics on the industry. She backed up the oft cited figure that 85% of photographers are male. She suggested that the Industry could not be telling a balanced story if 85% of the view presented is male, it is clear that women and men do see stories differently therefore unless there are more women, how can the presented view of the world be balanced.
Following a short presentation by Erin Barnett, Director of Exhibitions & Collections, International Center of Photography, we moved on to the first panel discussion of the day Gaining Access and Building Trust featuring photographer, filmmaker and writer Yumna Al-Arashi, Magnum Photographer and Fishbar co-founder Olivia Arthur, National Geographic photographer Jodi Cobb and documentary photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind, moderated by Jo Webster, Managing Editor for Strategy & Operations, EMEA, Reuters.
One of the overriding threads of this discussion was not only access and trust, but also funding (its quite clear that only with funding can a photographer hope to access the area/people that they wish to focus on) and unless the images “fitted the mould” of possible funders, money would not be forthcoming. Anastasia commented that she saw ours as an elitist profession. With so many journalists being from Oxford or Cambridge her issue was not only were we required to navigate the gender divide but also the class divide. When it came to the points of gender and the slow reduction of “overt sexism” in the industry there were thoughts such as “why do we need the term Women Photographer?” is this term sexist in itself? and “Are you proud of being a women photographer?” which was answered by Jodi with “whats our alternative?”.
The session closed for a tea break with the sobering message: “If we don’t change diversity behind the camera , photojournalism will die, it has to reflect the diversity of the audience.”
After tea, Session 2 started with Susan Meiselas presenting her project A room of their own. This followed on well from the previous session on gaining trust. Susan showed how she collaborated with the subjects, pasting the works on the wall as the project grew, demonstrating how the story might build on the published page, building trust and confidence with the (possibly fragile) subjects.
We then moved on to the next panel: Photography and social change. Jane Barrett, Global Head of Multimedia, Editorial, Reuters, moderated photographer and researcher, Magnum Photos, Sim Chi Yin, photographic artist, Diana Matar and Pulitzer-Prize-Winning photographer, Reuters (and BPPA Member), Hannah McKay.
During the session Hannah spoke about her first international assignment in Bangladesh and how she saw her camera as a symbol of hope to her subjects. Sim Chi Yin made us think about the unintended consequences that may occur on the subjects if a body of work goes viral whilst Diane showed/performed her project of work showing how the combination of spoken words with the still image can be very powerful.
During Diane’s “performance”, it was clear the huge amount of work that needs to go into collecting the information to create such a project. The words spoken did not only include the names of the victims (the images were of locations of police shootings) but also important statistics, making the story very personal and hard-hitting. “Reach is not the same as impact” said Sim Chi Yin as the discussion evolved on to the always difficult position of when to be a human and when to be a photographer . Sim Chi Yin did intervene to help a family by raising money to help prolong a subjects life, which is considered a strong taboo in journalism. Consensus said – “surely we are humans first and photographers second” (and my thoughts: is it not our humanity that drives us as photojournalists). The dividing line however, is extremely challenging at times.
During lunch we were about to browse beautifully printed images created by many of the guest speakers.
The afternoon started with Pulitzer-Prize-Winning photojournalist and author Lynsey Addarioin conversation withAlessandra Galloni. Speaking on her birthday, Lynsey talked about her stories of Afghanistan, she gave a heart wrenching story of maternal death in childbirth in Sierra Leone, (at this point the atmosphere in the room could be cut with a knife). She also told the harrowing story of her abduction (and expectation of death) from the front line in Libya. Before the floor was opened to questions, Lynsey discussed the idea of making a beautiful image in difficult/war situations. Our job as photographers is to bring the reader/viewer into the story. Difficult blood-stained images will not always achieve this. As she concluded “If you want to do this job, you have to give everything to it”.
Unusually and very usefully the event also included a panel of photo-editors offering a differing view on the issues of diversity. Moderated by John Pullman, Global Head of Video and Pictures, Reuters, the panel on Photo Editors and Mass Perception included multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Bell, Editor, North America Pictures, Reuters Corinne Perkins and Head of Photography, The Guardian Fiona Shields.
Alex creates works of art by turning existing front pages layouts of well known media (such as the New York Times) on its head with alternative page layouts to hi-light the prominence of how page layout affects the meaning, importance and slant of the days news. (An important lesson to us all here). Fiona talked about how The Guardian use wire services & contractors to try and even out their gender balance, driven by statistics including womenphotograph.comtwitter feed. (I discussed this with her privately later as I am personally concerned that statistic use does not end up in tokenism).
The discussion made it clear that agencies and newspapers have a role in ensuring gender balance features well as race and religion in the balanced reporting of news.
Following a short tea break we returned to the final session of the day, kicked off by Research Curator of Photography, Imperial War Museums, Hilary Roberts. Focusing on the WW1, Hilary talked about some of the pioneering Women Photographers, hi-lighting that evening in WW1, women produced many important documents. She quoted a phrase used by one of these photographers that I am sure many of us have used a great many times “I’m working this out as I’m going along” (although my poor note taking means I cannot tell you who she was quoting).
We then moved on to the final panel of the day: Documenting Violence. The returning Lynsey Addario was joined by photographer Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi and Chief Photographer for Northwest Africa, Reuters, Zohra Bensemra. the panel was moderated by the BBC’s Special Correspondent, Razia Iqbal.
Again, humanity was the key ingredient to the discussion. In the British Industry we often discuss the rights of the photographer to take images in public when and where we want but here were war photographers talking about respecting the subjects and always asking permission even in the most stressful of situations such as death (of course, permission does not always need to be sought vocally). Emotion and feeling emotion when covering violence was also key point.
The day finished with a summation by Alessandra how more want to get into the industry and mention on the Reuters Scholarship for Visual Journalism with ICP’s Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Program.
I will finish with the thought that “We are also human – not just photojournalists”and a quote from Zohra “The day I don’t feel anything is the day I stop taking pictures” Julie Edwards for The BPPA.
The British Press Photographers’ Association is pleased to announce that ASSIGNMENTS 2017 is now accepting entries.
There are a few things different from last year so please do read the new rules and how to enter – we are realists though – we know you will probably skip to the “how do I enter” bit without going through the rest of it.
So here is a very brief rundown..
1, You have to be a member of the BPPA – if you aren’t you can join now.
2, It will cost £2 per picture to submit images, up to a maximum of 5 images. Those selected will be asked to pay a fee of £50 per picture towards the cost of framing (capped at £100 max). A Paypal request for payment will be sent to the email address you submit your pictures from once we have received the files (Sorry – we have to do this to pay for the exhibition – we aren’t making a profit or being paid to do this.)
3, The curators can’t enter so there is no risk of fixing.
4, No trying to nobble the curators – they are independent.
5, No doctoring pictures
6, Its your copyright – but we need to be able to use the images for the exhibition to work.
7, If you don’t want us to use your pictures on social media thats cool – just say so when you enter.
8, Read the tech specs and entry procedure bit
9, Deadline is midnight on 31th of August 2017
After the phenomenal success of last year’s ‘Assignments’ exhibition the British Press Photographers’ Association are pleased announce that IT’S BACK!!!
Not only is it back – but it’s bigger and better this year!
Assignments 2017 will go on display from 12th – 16th of October 2017 as part of PHOTOBLOCKContinue reading
By now all in the DACS Payback scheme should have received their email prompting, expecting you to vote Yes for the CLA’s ECL.
For What? CLA = Copyright Licensing Agency, ECL = Extended Collective Licensing.
So, again, What? Today the CLA issues collective licences for ( amongst other things ) photocopying, DACS gets a cut from them, we then get our cut from DACS.
But what does this new “Extended” mean? Answer – that the CLA would then be able to exercise the rights of all photographers, for evermore, even if they have not agreed to give the CLA these powers.
This would be a dramatic, permanent and in effect irrevocable change to our sole right to license our own pictures.
So, exactly what rights would the CLA and DACS remove from our control?
They are not telling. Nowhere in this email or even in their FAQ’s do they give a straight answer to this question.
All you get before scrolling down to the point where you are expected to vote Yes is this thoroughly disingenuous, bald, don’t you bother your little heads about this statement:
“ The CLA operating an ECL will not have any direct impact on how DACS currently operates Payback”.
Currently? What about the future? This is not the annual deal you sign with DACS. This is forever. So, what exactly is this deal?
You’d better read it carefully before you sign a blank cheque. They’ve buried the small print very deep, but it can be found, and here it is. You grant them ‘secondary’ uses as follows:
“ Secondary uses include the uses currently licensed by the CLA for the photocopying, scanning, printing and digital re-use and communication of works that are part of composite works, like books and magazines, and also licences governing document delivery services; the uses made under the educational recording licences currently operated by ERA and uses made under cable retransmission; but also international uses of works remunerated through levy systems etc.”
What kind of contract is this? ‘Include’ ? What else do they/will they have in mind? These are not unintelligent people. They are capable of writing a clear English sentence. This vagueness is quite deliberate. Of course we all understand and accept, welcome, collective licensing of photocopying. For most of us that is what DACS is for, has always done, because it is quite impractical for us to deal with this directly, or at all. But look what’s next…
“digital re-use and communication of works that are part of composite works, like books and magazines”
Let me paraphrase. Digital re-use and communication of pictures in books and magazines. I hope that has woken you up. This is frightening.
We are now clearly talking about Primary, not just Secondary rights here.
The principle should be clear. They should only collect collectively what we cannot collect individually. That is what this deal should say. But it doesn’t. So I’m voting NO.
Which reminds me of an extraordinary statement at a British Library conference on Mass Digitisation I attended in July last year. DACS representatives let slip they had been discussing with libraries/museums about the possibility of issuing them blanket licences to put all their pictures online!
I have already had discussions with institutions about putting some of my pictures online. Identifiable pictures, identifiable and contactable author – these were not discussions about secondary licensing. These were discussions about my primary rights.
If this deal goes through they may not even need to pick up the phone.
We are not supposed to worry because if the CLA gets their ECL we have the right to opt out.
Really? How? Again, nowhere are we told. Do we just give our names? Are we expected to notify the CLA individually about hundreds of thousands of pictures? Topped up every week? And how would the CLA tell those to whom they issue licences that our pictures are excluded?
If they have answers to these questions they should have been there on the page before the prompt to vote. And if they don’t – this scheme should not go ahead at all, and we should not be voting on it.
As I said, I will be voting No. A clear majority is all they need, so if you feel the same, please do not abstain but vote too. And do check if your agency is voting/ has already voted on your behalf.
