Care for a biscuit?
This is just an off shot from one of the scenes I photographed for my FMP today.
It’s amazing what a simple face wipe does. Looks like my typewriter hasn’t been cleaned since it was made in 1962 :/ (Taken with instagram)
This page in my journal will take FOREVER to fill up because nobody sends me mail anymore. Proper mail I mean, its all bank letters, bills, junk mail etc so its all franked and not real stamps.
I do however have loads of foreign stamps I picked up the other day - would that be cheating? :/
Scotland plans to ban photography in Glasgow’s subways (and other subway shooting laws)
Sigh. This obviously concerns all photographers, regardless of whether we shoot film or digital. It’s also part of a growing (and unsettling) photography-banning trend - of which I am not a big fan.
Apparently, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is looking at a set of bylaws which would make it illegal for any person riding the subway to take photographs, make visual recordings or make audio recordings in any part of the subway in Glasgow. Plan on sending an MMS to your best friends of the guy snoring next to you during your morning commute? Not so fast my Scottish friends, not so fast.
Glasgow seems to be following London, which has made photographing in the Underground without a permit illegal for quite some time. Apparently, visitors and residents alike are confused on this issue. Some say flash photography is not allowed, but no flash is okay. It turns out that actually NO PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALLOWED on the London Underground - unless you get a permit. Why? Because the London Underground stations are technically private property. Student and non-professional permits cost £50 a piece, and commercial permits will run you around £500. Ouch. Want one anyway? The Transports for London website (which, by the way, looks like it was designed in a web-hosting site builder app circa 2004) makes it very easy to give them your money online in exchange for a shooting permit at the Permit Applications page.
This no-subway-shooting-ridiculousness is technically already the case in here Paris, and has been since a law was put into place in 1968… but honestly no one pays attention to it. I know that in Paris, the idea is to prevent terrorists from plotting to blow up the metro… However, you can ask for permission to shoot in the metro and - good news - they give permission a lot. For those of you who speak French, Droit et Photographie is a fantastic blog that explains all about laws on photographing in various French cities. For those of you who don’t, feel free to have a look at my previous post on laws for street photography in France.
Before moving to the land of wine and cheese, I used to live in New York…. and the die-hard American within me has zero memory of being forbidden to photograph on the NYC Subway. So, I looked it up and alas am totally right. For anyone who wants to shoot on the subway in New York, here is a direct quote from section 1050.9 of the MTA’s Rules of Conduct:
Photography, filming or video recording in any facility or conveyance is permitted except that ancillary equipment such as lights, reflectors or tripods may not be used. Members of the press holding valid identification issued by the New York City Police Department are hereby authorized to use necessary ancillary equipment. All photographic activity must be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Part.
What does this mean? In means you can shoot away all by your lonesome, but don’t be trying to set up a commercial shoot on the 4 train without permission. Logical.
Now let’s move on to discuss my hometown, Washington D.C. You would think that the birthplace of the Department of Homeland Security would have a stick up its ass about photographing on the Metro… but you would be wrong. Fellow Washingtonians, Marylanders, Virginians and tourists, feel free to bust out your camera on the D.C. Metro - but please leave your tripods at home. Here is a direct quote from a statement by Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn:
People are permitted to take photos in our rail system. We do not “own” Union Station. That’s Amtrak.
We see our rail system as a tourist destination, and I’ve seen some beautiful photos of our stations, especially the ceilings.
The main restriction we have on photographers is that they are not permitted to use tripods. Why? It’s a tripping hazard. Someone else may not realize they are standing so close to your tripod and we can’t have people tripping–especially in a station environment where there is a lot of danger with trains and high voltage electricity.
We have no intention to regulate photography other than by restricting tripod use.
Hear that, y’all? Your tripods are tripping hazards. But otherwise shoot away!
(Scotland photography ban news via Amateur Photographer)
Playing through a box of old vinyls with my boyfriend and his dad.
I had the weirdest dream ever last night.
I was back at home and it was night time. I was upstairs and I think it was around 10.30/11pm, as this is when my mum and dad go to bed but I stay up. So I was saying goodnight to my mum and talking about what we’ll do tomorrow and I looked outside her bedroom window (don’t know why) and this was very similar to what I saw (picture above). There was all sorts of ghostly looking moons and planets outside in the night sky. I could even name some of the moons. It was really freaky!
I think the idea for this dream came from seeing the Super Moon the other night back in Mansfield. I was HUGE and orangey looking. Something to do with it being the closest to the earth for this year or something.
Talk about laughing my ass off.
A little bit of light entertainment on a bank holiday Sunday :)
