Vision 2005-10 November, 10.00 – 17.00, The Bridge, London

My only 'claim to fame' as far as photography goes is that several years ago I was the featured artist on the BJP website! If you live in the UK and have the chance be sure to visit Vision 2005. Details below:

Vision 2005-10 November, 10.00 – 17.00, The Bridge, London

Latest Vision 2005 update… Come and learn direct from professional image-makers at the UK’s only event dedicated to aspiring photographers. This year Vision brings you the cutting-edge in contemporary photography, featuring two of Europe’s most exciting new talents, alongside established favourites such as our popular portfolio review and our live fashion shoot. Exclusive: Antoine d’Agata A unique opportunity to meet Antoine d’Agata — the new hero of French photography. The Magnum photographer will present his raw, confrontational images in person for the first time in the UK. A contemporary of Nan Goldin and Larry Clark at ICP in New York, d’Agata’s dark, semi-biographical pictures were first published in his 1998 book, Mala Noche, which quickly sold out. Four further books followed, establishing him as one of Europe’s leading new talents. See him first at Vision 2005. Stephen Gill in conversation with Jon Ronson The conceptual approach Gill brings to his serialised documentary images has quickly established him as one of the UK’s most recognised photographers. In the 18 months since publishing his first, award-winning book, Field Studies, he has exhibited his work across Europe and brought out two further publications. Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and broadcaster, best known for his acclaimed documentary series, Secret Rulers of the World and The Double Life of Jonathan King. Win a Nikon D2X pro digital SLR Don’t forget to bring your entry to Venture Portrait’s exclusive Vision 2005 competition. Tell someone’s story with a portrait and 300 words and you could win a Nikon D2X pro digital SLR along with hundreds of pounds worth of kit. Portfolio clinic Show your portfolio to a member of our review clinic, made up of photographers, editors, image buyers and gallerists and get real-world advice from imaging professionals. Places cost £2 – book early to avoid disappointment as places sell out fast. TIM DALY Photoshop Tips & Tricks Tim Daly's hands-on Photoshop sessions are always popular with visitors to Vision. Once again he will be bringing along the Digital Media Workshop, to provide informal, practical advice on what is still the industry standard program for image editing. He will host a series of workshops throughout the day, providing visitors through atasks, providing plenty of tips & tricks to take home. JIM MARKS Studio photography demonstration Fashion & celebrity portrait photographer Jim Marks will be shooting live throughout the day, demonstrating his own digtal studio set-up using Flash Centre lighting. Marks began assisting Bob Carlos Clarke & Lord Lichfield before branching out on his own, specialising in portraiture. TERRY STEELEY Adobe Photoshop CS2 explored Whether you create images professionally or simply just want professional results, the all-new Adobe Photoshop CS2 delivers the next generation of digital-imaging tools direct to your desktop. To learn more... come and see what Photoshop CS2 can offer you. Unleash the power of the Wacom Intuos 3 In this fast-paced session you will have the opportunity to explore endless creative freedom, experience increased efficiency and learn the many secrets of using the most precise Wacom pen tablet ever. Don't take our word for it... come and see for yourself! WIN £2000 CASH On the ICI Imagedata stand, “ OLMEC student digital photographer of the year 2005 ” Capture the theme images for life using one of the categories below and you can win that cash prize! PEOPLE, PLACES or STILL LIFE Overall winner; £2000 cash, Category winners; £250 cash, Winning University or College; Selection of Olmec products. If you have the creativity and technical skills to create an innovative digital image – captured or edited digitally – you could become Student Digital Photographer of the Year. Open to anyone studying photography as part of a college or university course, the competition theme is based on ICI Imagedata's corporate identity “Images for life” MAKE sure you visit ICI Imagedata's stand!!

Click here to register your place now

Confirmed exhibitors for Vision 2005 are: Olympus Nikon Johnson's Photopia Croydon College Kentmere Photographic London College of Communication M.P.D Laboratories Papermill Direct Direct Lighting B.I.P.P B.F.P Linhof Fuji Film Kodak Wacom Spectrum Hi-Touch Imaging (HiTi) photofusion Field In Focus London College of Fashion The Arts Inst. Of Bournemouth The Association of Photographers Hewlett Packard ICI Imagedata E-Digital (in association with Adobe)

iPhoto for the PC

Anyone who is a Mac user will be familiar with iPhoto (unless they are a die-hard OS 9 user and have yet to taste the delights of OS X). Its a fantastic program and I love just playing around in it... a great way to while away an idle moment. Its great for showing fancy slideshows with music and Ken Burns effects to family and friends, especially on my 17" iMac (G4) screen.... beats the old photo album any day! If I could afford one I'd upgrade to the new iMac with its Front Row, it justs gets better.

Well, if you haven't yet switched from the pc to a Mac and you doubt you ever will, perhaps Steve Jobs has something in store for you. I'm talking about iPhoto (indeed the whole shooting match of iLife apps... yes GarageBand too). I'm thinking that he has something up his sleeve to go with the switch to Intel chips in Macs come summer 2006 (if not before). I see no reason why Apple hasn't secretly been developing iLife for the PC. After all, they've been getting ready for Intel ever since OS X came out and technically (all you tech heads correct me if I'm wrong) I see no major hurdles to making it so. Indeed, I reckon he's keeping it close to his chest but I believe Apple will switch to more of a software company in the near future (2007 by the latest) and make its OS available on hardware other than its own..... not all hardware mind you. I reckon it will start off with making Intel motherboards certified to run OS X, some 12 months or so after the switch to Intel in regular Macs.

Why do I believe all this, you might well ask. Well, for one thing it makes sense to me. If Apple is going to be in bed with Intel, I reckon it will be in a big way and what better way to boost both Apple and Intel's revenue streams than certified motherboards that will run OS X and if you so choose, Windows and Linux. Also, Jobs is a lateral thinker and Apple would be dead in the water if it wasn't for his radical ideas. Jobs wants to rule the world, at least as far as technology goes. He's got 75% of the MP3 player market, who seriously believes he doesn't want 75% of the desktop and enterprise market. The latter is becoming ever more important for Apple with XSan etc.

Just remember, you heard it first here!

In the beginning.....

'In the beginning' seems somewhat pretentious I know but I wasn't feeling very creative!

What on earth will I write about then; I guess we will have to see how things develop. Which brings me to digital photography (the very idea of digital being to get away from all that messy, expensive, slow and downright hazardous developing with chemicals.... I definately don't miss those long hours in the darkroom going blind and half-crazy with the fumes!). Photography has been one of my true loves (perhaps my very first since I got beyond that stage of childhood where everything in the universe is part of you) from a very early age.

I had my first camera around the age of 7, I know this as it was on a family holiday and I was 8 when my mum gave my dad the royal order of the boot.... ergo, it must have been some time before. We were on a holiday camp and I won the camera from a sort of slot machine. It was made of plastic, a fore-runner of our modern disposable cameras, but it took real photographs and I had them developed. Sadly they no longer exist to my knowledge and I have no recollection of what they were of.

That was the beginning of a life-long love affair and since then I have owned a long list of various cameras. My current one is a Fuji 602Z digital which has proved to be a good buy for most purposes. Like many early digital cameras it is slow to start up and takes a while to write to the memory card. One day I will upgrade my bog standard 64MB CF card to a pro version of higher capacity now that prices have dropped like a brick from a great height and speeds have increased.

Well, if you are interested in viewing any of my images I will be posting them to my .mac account. I have coughed up the £70 or so that Apple now charge and decided to give it a go for a year and see if its worth the money. I will be posting the url soon. Til then, take care and if photography is also your love, happy 'snapping'. You can also visit my existing site at the link on the right.