Amateur Photographer – 13 July 2019

subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 13 July 2019 13

to ask for a licence, prove
that I am a professional, or
is it so long as you are not
in people’s faces (to put
it bluntly)?
Ryan Ward

There is no law in the UK
against photographing
people in public places
as long as they aren’t
‘indecent’. But there are
some caveats to bear in
mind. First, what may
seem like a public place
to you may not be.
Shopping centres, for
example, are private
property, and even
‘public’ squares and
rights of way may be
private. Second, you
can publish the pictures
editorially but can’t
defame them or use
them to promote a
product/political opinion
that they may not
subscribe to. Third, even
though there may be no
law against it, there’s
still such a thing as good
manners, so bear this in
mind with regard to
being ‘in people’s faces’.
And be especially
mindful of the sensitivity
around photographing
children, especially if
they are identifi able

Nigel Atherton, editor

The clincher
I have just read Tim
Clinch’s Final Analysis

(AP 15 June) and felt compelled to email in to say just how much I enjoyed it. By drawing attention to particular visual elements in Edward Thompson’s image and placing it in a broader, richer context, he has signifi cantly enhanced my appreciation of the picture. I also agree with his comments regarding the type of serious, grim image which seems to have become so popular with the judges of major competitions in recent times. However, I nearly spilled tea on my tablet as I laughed at his description of a photo involving guinea pigs on a wet Wednesday in Wigan! I think the late Roger Hicks would have approved, and I look forward to reading more from Tim Clinch in the future. Keith Walker

Selfi sh photographers In his Viewpoint (AP 22 June), Michael Topham describes a selfi sh act

by a photographer and wonders how often such events occur. I am still spitting feathers from a similar encounter a couple of months ago. I was walking very slowly and quietly beside the river below Youlgreave in Derbyshire looking for dippers, when I suddenly realised that a kingfi sher was perched in a tree close by, clearly focused on a fi sh. I inched forward, slowly lining up my camera and trying to get a clear view through the branches without frightening the bird. Suddenly a man rushed up, put a tripod down in front of me and called to his partner to hurry up. Needless to say the kingfi sher was off like a bullet, soon to be pursued by this boorish idiot who apparently imagined he could catch up with it. Perhaps he did not know that kingfi shers are easily disturbed, but he made no apology in spite of knowing he had come and stood right in front of me. I have experienced quite similar behaviour during organised shoots, but at least then everyone is aware that other photographers are around and we have all paid the same fee. I had found a rare and diffi cult subject that had been missed by other people walking past. I cannot help suspecting that photo competitions lead some people to feel that they are allowed to ignore basic decency. But then we get on to discussions like who gets in the last parking space or the best deal in the sale... Steve Wood

Keith enjoyed reading Tim Clinch’s Final Analysis column

Back in the day

A wander through the AP archive. This week we go back to July 1982

Burk Uzzle shot some ‘great chunks of life’ in the USA

This eye-catching cover evokes Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh, although that classic cut didn’t come out until

We’re guessing the shot refers to a test on
colour fi lm, which was still a big investment in the early
’80s. Other highlights of this issue include a Vivitar lens
test and a feature on a photo contest for under 16s.
We’re also intrigued by the retrospective piece on Burk
Uzzle. He was quite a big deal in this period, having
become LIFE’s youngest-ever staff photographer in
1962 and then a member of the prestigious Magnum
Photos agency. The well-known photography writer,
Bryn Campbell, also rated him. Burk’s work deserves
to be better known – his images are certainly
intriguing. As the feature attests: ‘Like the street
photographer school identifi ed in the pictures of Klein
and Garry Winogrand, he shoots great chunks of life

but with great compassion and wit.’ Burk also
reckoned the visual soul of America comprised a
hamburger, a highway and a dime store, so even
in the Trump era not that much has changed.

1982

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to ask for a licence, prove (AP 15 June) and felt

by a photographer and wonders how often such events occur. I amstill spitting feathers froma similar encounter a couple of months ago. I was walking very slowly and quietly beside the river below Youlgreave in Derbyshire looking for dippers, when I suddenly realised that a kingfisher was perched in a tree close by, clearly focused on a fish. I inched forward, slowly lining up my camera and trying to get a clear view through the branches without frightening the bird. Suddenly a man rushed up, put a tripod down in front of me and

Keith enjoyed reading Tim Clinch Final Analysis Tim Clinch considers... ‘Wayne, New Romney, Kent’, 2019, by Edward Thompson

Photo Critique

T

his is the first time I am writinga Final Analysis and when I was discussing it with the commissioning editor, she asked me if I would like to choose the picture under discussion or whether it should be chosen for me. As I feel that getting out of our comfort zone is very important when thinking about our photography, I chose the latter option, and this picture sums up why I feel I made the right decision.I love this portrait. The simple framing, the colours and the diffident look in the subject’s eyes. I grew up in South East England and know the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway. In fact, when I was a kid, my parents used to take me there as a treat. This picture perfectly captures my memories, without in any way falling into any of the ‘faux-vintage’ post-production techniques that are so prevalent these days. It encapsulates the eccentricity of the English. Those obsessed, slightly bonkers (in a GOOD way!) gentlemen who dedicate all their spare time to the running of funny little steam railways like the RH&D and the nearby Bluebell Railway. OverlookedHowever, much as I love and admire this photograph, I have a slight problem withthe rest of the series and, had the picture^ not been chosen for me I probably wouldhave overlooked it.^ easier to take a depressing photographI have always believed that it is much^ than a happy one, and so many of the ‘important’ photographic competitions these days bear this out. The Sony WorldPhotography Awards and the Taylor^ Wessing Portrait Awards (surely soon tobe renamed ‘Taylor Depressing’) have^ spawned series after series of very predictable images. We all know them. The ginger-haired freckly kid holding a guinea pig staring sullenly at the camera in a desaturated and thoroughly glum urban landscape on a wet Wednesday in Wigan.The series that this image comes from,^ ‘ E gland’ d

overexposed colour negative film? Maybe it is the subject matter itself (I myself have not lived in the UK for many years),or maybe it is what I perceive to be the^ slight predictability of photographic awards these days? The picture of the engine driver looks alac the oth

beautifully composed, to my slightly jaundiced eye, correctly exposed, and very evocative.Edward Thompson is a very good, very accomplished and very interesting photographer whose work can make me beam with pleasure (his ‘Royalists’ series, for instance), but there seems to be a predictability about the judging of major and important photographic awards that is breeding a ‘look’ without whichyour work will simply not register.^ 3 di theProfessional

‘I love this portrait. The simple framing, the colours and the diffident look in the subject’s eyes’

Amateur Photographer – 13 July 2019

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