Commander Broadhurst sticks his foot in it

The second NUJ photographer’s conference in London, May 18th 2009, my 50th birthday (incidentally), was a very interesting event, and attracted a couple of hundred photographers to the Institute of London. Accompanying it, there was a nice exhibition of NUJ members’ photography, where both Ed Alcock and Nigel Dickinson, from Paris branch, were featured. There were several stands with sponsors offering advice on everything from lenses to software, and an appetizing lunch, with of course lots of triangular sandwiches (what are we missing living over here).

The morning kicked off with a brief introduction and welcome by John Toner, NUJ Freelance organizer, who whilst bemoaning the declining industry and the problems photographers are facing, suggested there are creative alternatives to be investigated.

In the Business of Photography seminar, Paul Herman from Redeye talked about what is a good photograph, Nick McGowan Lowe focussed on the importance of how to create your own website. One interesting allusion was to the 5 second rule; if you haven’t got the viewer’s undivided attention in 5 seconds, you’ve lost your client. David Hoffman talked about changes in stock photography, whilst it is a declining market, where images are selling for much less than before, it is still an useful vehicle to sell your work. It is important that one puts the right type of images with the correct agency, for instance banal but generic images can sell well with such as Alamy.

Many photographers are turning to shooting video these days, either with video cameras, or with digital SLR cameras fitted with video. Both alternatives were investigated by members George Chin who had fallen into shooting music videos for a music group he’d worked with and Antonio Olmos who was shooting bespoke video reportage for the Guardian newspaper’s website. Whilst traditional video cameras are seen as superior, the flexibility of having both video and stills in the same camera can be an advantage, especially for photojournalists wanting to travel lighter. In either case, it was highly recommended for videographers to work with a skilled video editor, when putting together the final work. They are complimentary but different disciplines, working with photography and video at the same time is not recommended.

The Dangers of the Trade seminar saw an enlightening slideshow byPenny Tweedie about her long career and the breadth of her work for magazines and ngos, in changing times since the ’60s. It was inspiring to see that she, like many others, has taken lots of chances and much of her work was never published. She as, everyone else, admits it is getting very difficult these days. Kevin Cooper warned about the serious risks involved in covering public order events, from his vast experience in Northern Ireland during the ’troubles’. His talk was a mix of serious warnings and funny anecdotes, from an experienced shooter. He has a useful handout ’Advice for photographers covering demonstrations’ which hopefully one can download somewhere, if not and you need one, I have a copy chez moi.

Following this, Photography in Public Spaces, which was obviously geared to British law brought out the most interesting and fiery exchanges. Two solicitors outlined interesting points of law and where one has the right to photograph, when they can and cannot be used, and the police rights to intervene or confiscate or stop photographers doing their work, and there was an informative short film by Paul Stewart and Jeff Moore. But by far the most interesting was the unbelievable ignorance of Commander Robert Broadhurst, responsible for the policing of the G20 protests, especially his comments regarding the validity of the British Press Card. It seems neither he nor the ranks beneath him have any idea how the Press Card is administered, and who can hold one, and what it means to be a UK Press Card holder. He was attacked vehemently and intelligently from the floor, where points were fairly well drilled into him by various photojournalists, aghast at his ignorance, and more than annoyed at the continual harassment of photographers working in public order situations. Hopefully he’s got the message now. The video’s of this are well worth a look - you can find on the links below.

The day was nicely rounded off by Jeremy Dear, who unsurprisingly urged members to attend branch meetings, and by John Toner, who should be congratulated for organizing a very stimulating and successful conference.

 Video of Commander Bob Broadhurst on Vimeo:
 NUJ website:
 Conor Cahill (Brussel branch):
 Photographs from the event by Peter Marshall:
 A blog and photos (even a picture of yours truly with Julio Etchart and Penny Tweedie)
 Marc Vallee on Bob Broadhurst
 The NUJ conference website