I have just read a great article on the BBC’s website regarding F1, its future and how it will affect the car you drive.

The article talks about possible 2013 engine regulations and how that may look at using smaller turbo charged engines similar to the power plans used in cars like the ‘Smart’ range of vehicles and how they could reduce fuel consumption by more than 50%. It’s not only the fuel economy of F1 cars that is interesting here, its the fact that they are trying to champion this kind of technology and make it much more acceptable for use in road cars.

Grab yourself a coffee and head over to the BBC’s website to find out whats in store for your next car.

UPDATE

Today I received news that our government have backed down on clause 43 of the digital rights bill.

Many thousands of photographers have campaigned against this clause that could have seen our livelihoods threatened. Congratulations to us all and many thanks to the people who helped.

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I have been aware for around a year that the government intended to rewrite a large proportion of the UK copyright laws surrounding the digital online use of photographs, in fact, I wrote about in this blog article. I was also made aware a few months ago on how the government planned to give non-commercial websites free reign on any image they so desire in an attempt to “curb copyright infringement” and to “make getting clearance to use an image easier” these statements are not only laughable but they are totally ludicrous. Its similar to saying we are removing all national speed limits in an attempt to reduce speeding offences. There has been a petition set up on the 10 Downing street website and I urge all of you to sign up here.

The government has now gone one step further by trying to force through the Digital economy bill. This bill basically states, among other things, that if the copyright owner of a photograph can not be found after a reasonable search, commercial publications can use said work after paying a small fee to a collecting body. The bill calls these photographs “orphaned works” and as the copyright owner of an image used in this way you are able to apply to receive whats left of this tiny fee after both the collecting authority and the government have had their share, thats assuming you notice your image is being used in the first place.

To compound the problems the bill makes no definition of what a reasonable search is and makes no attempt to ensure orphaned works are avoided in the first place. In virtually all occasions that a photographer is either commissioned by a publication, or a publication legally licences an image, they state that no copyright information can be placed on the image and in many cases that are not obliged to print a by line stating who took the image and both of these two actions will lead to orphaned works. Once a professional photographer loses their right to control where their images are reproduced they also lose the right to this revenue stream which will push prices up to cover this missing revenue. It also removes a photographers right to decide where and for what purpose their photographs are used for, for instance, I may decline the use of my images for uses that I find either distasteful or morally objectionable, once this bill is passed all of my wishes and the wishes of my clients will be ignored after a “reasonable search”.

If your reading this as either a customer or as someone with an interest of photography please do not assume this only applies to professional photographers, in fact it may apply more to you that it does to me. I am fairly easy to find, a search for Martyn Greswolde on google.co.uk shows that any of the links from the first page will get to my contact information. I also embed code (called IPTC data) into every single photograph I take with my contact details, web address and copyright information. How many casual photographers are this easy to find? to compound the issue many casual photographers post images on sites such as Flickr using nicknames that would be almost impossible to trace back to an individual, so your images are more at risk than mine.

You may think that it would be cool and flattering if your images were used and if you could receive a couple of pounds for the privilege everything is great but what if your image is used to advertise an embarrassing product or worse for something you find questionable? You would have no recourse to have the image removed but you would still receive the few pounds if you could prove you took the image. There are several petitions on the 10 Downing street website relating to this bill and they can be found here, I would urge everyone of you to read these petitions and sign up for them.

Once again the UK government have proven they can not be trusted with individuals rights and are not concerned by public or small businesses concerns or opinions.

There are a lot of web resources available on these topics, a few I have found useful are here-
Long but very detailed – http://www.copyrightaction.com/forum/uk-gov-nationalises-orphans-and-bans-non-consensual-photography-in-public?page=1
or a more concise post – http://www.wirefresh.com/uk-photographers-stop-government-plans-to-strip-you-of-your-copyright/

I have just been informed the post that contained my review of 2009 has disappeared from my site. It was posted during the server change which is maybe where my post has got too!

Anyway, here is the reposted review of 2009 in movie form

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This is a short video of some of my favourite shots of the year.

This list is by no means exhaustive, I had to keep editing the list down so I could bring the video in under six minutes. I think it is a true reflection of my work this year though and I’m very proud of it.

This post is much later than I had planned so my apologies.

While I was working over in Italy this August I had my camera glued to my hand. This was my first trip to Italy and I had the pleasure of going to Malcesine on Lake Garda, just south of the Dolomites.

The town of Malcesine was very small but very beautiful with its tight winding cobbled streets, small boutique shops and all this was dominated by “Castello Scageri” The castle was incredibly picturesque and was where the wedding took place that brought me to Italy in the first place (pictures here).

I drove around the whole lake and each village looked as though it had come from a Disney film, the brightly colours buildings set against mountains in the background and a shimmering lake in the foreground.

I can highly recommend a stay in this part of the world if you haven’t already and if you have, maybe make another visit soon. Here are a few images from my travels.

I had chance to take a few days off and help my good friend and second photographer Bryn to move house. The house move didn’t go so well but as ever we had chance to wander around Plymouth with our cameras.

We walked around the town centre, the Hoe and the Barbican and here are a few of the images I took.

It has been a while since I was able to get out and shoot some personal work, so Saturdays trip to the Severn Valley railway was a good opportunity to take my camera. The privately owned steam engines and track run from Kidderminster, through Bewdley, Arley, Highley, Hampton Loade and terminates in Bridgnorth. The tracks also pass right along side the West Midlands Safari Park.

The old trains are majestic and it takes you back to the 30′s and 40′s thundering down the tracks with the smoke billowing from the engine. I was also aware of a strange compulsion to stick my head out of the window!

The weather couldn’t have been better, bright blue sky, a smattering of clouds and the temperature well into the 20′s

I have been watching formula 1 since i was 8ish and I can’t remember missing a race for many many years. This years championship has been riveting. It’s had colossal highs and jaw-dropping lows but it has been one of the seasons to go down in history!

I’m sure you are all aware of yesterdays result. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton, the youngest ever F1 Champion, its about time as the UK has not had a champion for 11 years now! Funny when you think more F1 teams reside here than any other country.

To help celebrate I have posted a few photographs I took at the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone this year.

You may or may not know I really enjoy Halloween, I’m not sure why, I just do. I think the part I enjoy the most is carving my “jack-o’-lantern”. This year I have gone for my most ambitious design yet, let me know what you think. The pumpkin took around 3.5 hours to cut and as of yet I have had no trick-or-treaters! …….. not one!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I have been incredibly busy the last few months (I cant believe it’s been 3 months since I wrote here!) I have been changing lots of things with the business and I should now be back on track with more regular updates.

With the main wedding season finished now I can honestly say I have never been so busy!

If you own your own company it is very important to spend time working on your business as well as working for your business (credit to Jeff Ascough) This is something I have just not had time to implement but October will see this change.

The winter season is where we have to get ready for next year! preparing all our advertisements, talking to suppliers and planning where the business will be next year (surely I can get a week off somewhere???)

My apologies for neglecting the blog, more updates and new pics coming soon…..

I took a few days out at the beginning of this month and visited a friend at his home in Plymouth. We took our cameras and had some fun.
Here are just a few of the images.