Tomorrow (26th March 2019) MEPs will vote on a controversial EU directive to copyright work used on the web. It sets terms and conditions for others to reuse content (posted by people like us) commercially. The battle has been between the tech giants, whose business model is all about reusing other’s intellectual property without license or renumeration, and us ‘the creative community’. Scares have included that
Alamy – a follow-up
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
Members Stories: Boris goes for a run…
In the first post of what will be a regular feature of BPPA Members telling the story behind a photo, BPPA Member Peter Macdiarmid, photographer London News Pictures, talks about …. Boris goes for a run …. It’s not often that a press photograph leads the news agenda, but it does happen now and again. I have been working as a press photographer for 31 years starting out
Some 'whining' at Carnival
Pete Maclaine has photographed the Notting Hill Carnival many times. Here he describes one particular aspect of his quest: Winston Churchill said, “If you find a job you love, you’ll never work again.” For me, the combination of press photography and the Notting Hill Carnival bring this quote to life. A love of photography coupled with the vibrant imagery created by the artists and performers, along with
What's going on at DACS? Part 2
In this second part of his assessment of what is happening with DACS, Andrew Wiard explains why the current situation is not something that photographers should accept. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Insisting on ALL secondary rights – does it really matter? Is it such a big deal? Yes it
The one on the left is a snapper…
On the left we have a Snapper, it’s a type of fish, on the right we have a photographer – please learn the difference. Would you like to demean everything I have achieved in my career with one word? Great! Then just call me a snapper – you won’t be the first or the last person to do it. With few exceptions, the term snapper is
The BPPA's second submission to the Leveson Inquiry
When the Leveson Inquiry first opened we had little or no idea that press photographers would come in for so much criticism and abuse from the witnesses. At the association’s AGM in November we formed a plan to do what we could to counter this and put our side of the story. Shortly afterwards we sent an initial submission in the form of an open letter
The Social Media Photo Conundrum
So, fellow professionals… answer me this… why should The BPPA be faced with a blank screen when visitors try to look at the photos on our Facebook page? The answer is, sadly, that there don’t seem to be any services out there who treat images with respect. If they aren’t stripping the metadata, they are selling your work. If they aren’t asking you to hand over your copyright