Robert Golden, an internationally renowned filmmaker and photographer, has put together a collection of photographs showing the lives of working people throughout the last century, focusing particularly on the old ways of farming and food production. Much of the food photography highlights the advances in technology, changing the production of food from a family business into a streamlined commercial enterprise.

Being held between 11th August and 24th August, the exhibition is called the Spirit of Bridport and the aim is to preserve the history of some of the traditional crafts of the area. The picturesque town of Bridport in is an old fishing port and famous for ropemaking over many centuries and was voted one of the top ten places to live in the UK in 2006.

The Spirit of Bridport group is hoping that the exhibition and workshops, which will be running throughout the festival, will encourage members of the community to become more involved in local matters and will leave its own memory of the Jubilee and Olympic celebrations.

The organiser, Robert Golden, is hoping that many of the visitors will be inspired by the food photography on display and may feel tempted to experiment in the workshops, which will be run by experienced photographers from different areas of the industry, including food photographers.

Will Nicholls, a 16 year old from Haydon Bridge, took out the top prize in the 16-18 year old category for his photo of a rare red woodland squirrel in Kiedler Forest.

Nicholls said:

“Initially I wasn’t too impressed with the photo, but looking at it now I can see why it’s special.

“It was completely unexpected to get anywhere, never mind win the overall competition, I didn’t expect it. I’m shell-shocked.”

The teenager is a photography enthusiast and has aspirations to become a documentary maker.

“It’s something I’ve always been interested in, I want to get into natural history documentaries when I’m older… I want to be the next David Attenborough.”

Nicholls was awarded some camera equipment as well as a wildlife photography break with leading wildlife and commercial photographer Danny Green. Green was one of the competition judges and said of the winning shot:

“The way the light is shining on the squirrel in this picture makes you feel as if it is you, the viewer, who has happened across it. It is very personal, giving you the impression that you are actually there.”

The RSPCA Young Photographer of the Year competition encourages young people to appreciate the environment and wildlife around them through photography. It receives entries each year from budding commercial photographers from Leeds to Loughborough.

The former British-born CEO Michael Woodford, the whistle-blower who exposed the accounting scandal, admitted last month that the consumer electronics market is doing it tough and thinks there are too many players in the camera manufacturing industry.

Referring to the Pen E-P3 micro four thirds DSLR camera, which is a top selling product in Asia including Japan, Singapore and Korea, Woodford said:

‘But to me the product is everything. We’ve seen that with the Pen… to get back to 24, 25% [market share] in Japan – the home of Canon and Nikon is quite remarkable.’

‘You would be a romantic and a fantasist if you felt this [camera division] was going to be really profitable… But it could be a profitable business and it can utilise the infrastructure of, for example in the UK, KeyMed which is a brilliant company. “KeyMed manufacturers medical products.

‘It [KeyMed] is essentially one of the jewels in the crown of the Olympus empire, it always has been… the infrastructure is already there.’

Whatever the future holds for Olympus, amateur and commercial photographers alike from Yorkshire to Yokohama would certainly not want to see this camera company disappear.

oard members Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and Hisashi Mori along with Hideo Yamada – company auditor, all resigned following the financial scandal which Woodford blew the whistle on. There is a current investigation underway.

An official statement from Olympus said:

‘The company has decided to accept their resignations since the three of them have been cooperating with the authorities’ investigation sincerely… as well as mentioning to keep providing full cooperation going forward.’

Olympus CEO and president Shuichi Takayama released a separate statement to staff and stakeholders which said:

‘We, the members of the incumbent management team at Olympus Corporation, will be ready to stand aside once Olympus is on track for recovery,’

‘Some parties have recommended that the incumbent management team should be replaced immediately. Currently, the company is on the verge of being delisted from the TSE [Tokyo Stock Exchange] and maintains the trust [of] customers, business partners, shareholders and bank institutes.’ Takayama added.

Olympus has been given a 14 December deadline to submit its financial results to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Australian designer Collette Dinnigan was said to be absolutely delighted when she heard that the Duchess wore one of her dresses to a friend’s wedding last week. The influence of Kate Middleton’s fashion choices can do wonders for designers and retailers, and as such Dinnigan issued a press release announcing the Duchess had worn one of her designs. However, photo agency Ikon was unimpressed to see the pictures taken of the Duchess by their photographers had been used to accompany the press release.

“As a royal photographer I do not take lightly when a third party infringes my copyright,” Ikon Director Niraj Tanna said. ”The amount of effort that goes into photographing The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at various events is very costly and time consuming.”

Tanna confirmed they will be taking legal action against Dinnigan for copyright infringement.

However Dinnigan’s PR agency hit back saying there was no law suit with Ikon. A statement read:

”The press release issued by Ms Dinnigan’s company was for the purpose of reporting on a news event that was current at the time, namely that the Duchess of Cambridge was wearing a Collette Dinnigan dress. This is appropriate use of the photo in question and Ikon was at all times acknowledged as the author of the photograph.”

This is a prime example of the hazards faced by commercial photographers in Yorkshire and across the UK.

The portable camera will take instant photos and adjust the focus after the picture has been taken. According to Lytro’s website;

“Unlike conventional cameras, the Lytro light field camera captures all the rays of light in a scene, providing new capabilities never before possible, such as the ability to focus a picture after it’s taken
“To record the light field inside the camera, digital light field photography uses a microlens array in front of the photosensor,

“Each microlens covers a small array of photosensor pixels.

“The microlens separates the light that strikes it into a tiny image on this array, forming a miniature picture of the incident lighting. This samples the light field inside the camera in single photographic exposure.”

The technology was first developed 15 years ago and required the use of a super computer plus several cameras for it to work. Lytro has compressed the technology down to a handheld size of 41mm x 41mm x 112 mm.

However, enthusiastic amateur commercial photographers from Leeds and across the UK will need to head to the US in early 2012 if they want to be one of the first to get their hands on the Lytro Light Field Camera.

Michael C. Woodford was appointed to the position of president of the Japanese camera manufacturer following his successful integration of Olympus’ European businesses. In appointing him as president, Olympus’ director and chairman, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa said he was impressed with Woodford’s ability to:

“forward reforms in business structure and processes, always with a global perspective. I firmly believe that his experience and knowledge, as well as his strong leadership, will be vital for our corporation in advancing to the next stage of globalization.”

However, it was reported in the New York Times, Woodford’s leadership style did not fit with the organisation’s culture and structure with Kikukawa saying:

“he was unable to understand that we need to reflect a management style we have built up in our 92 years as a company, as well as Japanese culture.”

Kikukawa went on:

“Woodford ignored our organisational structure and made decisions entirely on his own judgment. I told him repeatedly he couldn’t do that, but he didn’t listen.”

However, Woodford denied this was the reason he was fired, but rather for his questioning of Olympus’ decision to acquire four Japanese firms that he felt was ‘grossly overpriced’.

His dismissal comes after the camera division of Olympus lost ¥15 billion for its last financial year ending in March.

Olympus is one of the world’s largest camera manufacturers and its products are used by amateur and commercial photographers from Yorkshire to Yokohama.

“Life of the photographer 1990-2005,” charts much of Lebovitz’s work at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, featuring portraits of celebrities including; Nicole Kidman, Al Pacino and Kate Moss, as well as deeply personal pictures such as the births of her three daughters. Lebovitz said of the exhibition;

“I really felt the personal work is everyone’s story, it’s not just my story,”

This is not the first Russian project Lebovitz has been involved in having previously photographed ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev.

Lebovitz mused on this topic;

“Russia is a great country for art and film and dance. It is where great art is born”

Annie Lebovitz is one of the world’s most recognisable and famous commercial photographers. She particularly made her mark in the sixties when she photographed icons such as John Lennon and Mick Jagger.

Lebovitz has recently progressed away from her renowned conceptual style:

“In the beginning I took very conceptual photographs, more like short films, for example, the photograph of Whoopy Goldberg in a bathtub full of milk. Later I felt the imperative to say, to do something more real. But at some point you get tired of this too. And you say to yourself: ’Stop being that realistic! More craziness!’ When you’re a photographer, you can afford all these extremes.”

Leibovitz’s style is one that many the adventurous amateur and commercial photographers from Leeds to Moscow will no doubt try to emulate.

Pentax was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary by optical firm Hoya. This move was further explained in an official statement by Ricoh released in July when the announcement was made:

“Ricoh takes it as an indispensable initiative to obtain the small and lightweight interchangeable lens camera technology, lens technology and sales channels held by the Pentax Imaging Systems Division to pave the way for further advancement and innovations in the digital camera market.”

The takeover was welcomed by Pentax with Jonathan Martin, general manager of Pentax Imaging Systems UK saying:

“Ricoh is globally renowned within the digital camera industry, having successfully brought a range of products to market since its inception in 1939. With Ricoh’s involvement we can continue to grow the Pentax business in the UK and ensure we maintain our commitment to provide our customers with innovative, cutting edge, high quality products to suit all camera users.”

Pentax offers two camera ranges – K system of digital SLRs and a recently added 645D, a digital medium format camera. It also plans to release a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera similar to the recently launched versions of Nikon and Sony.

Commentators will be monitoring this takeover closely to see how this union will fair especially with its bigger name competitors offering similar mirrorless technology. Amateur and commercial photographers, whether from Yorkshire or Yokohoma, will ultimately be the judge of that.

For starters, commercial photographers and videographers use professional equipment, know exactly where they should stand to get the best shot, and make sure the happy couple, and the guests are looking their best.

The photographer will generally be working through most of the event, so if you had your friends doing it instead, they would have to be taking shots the whole time – instead of relaxing and enjoying the wedding like rest of the guests.

Capturing crucial moments in the wedding such as signing the register, cutting the cake or having that first dance as husband and wife could also go wrong if the photographer is not ready and in the right place. Or worse still – if your designated photographer friend is actually too busy being a wedding guest and not taking any photos.

Commercial photographers understand all this – because this is what they are trained to do. Using the services of a professional wedding photographer or videographer is certainly well worth every penny. Do your research or ask for recommendations from others when looking for commercial photographers in Yorkshire, and don’t risk your wedding photos being sub-quality, all because you wanted to save some money.