Ben Hill Photography

Warning: Do not take this picture (Independent Newspaper Article)Police warned over misuse of terror laws to stop innocent photographers By Mark Hugh

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 03:31:00 -0800

A favourite topic on photography forums for some time now, here is the UK's Independent Newspapers slant on overly keen police stopping photographers
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/warning-do-not-take-this-picture-1833127.html

Police warned over misuse of terror laws to stop innocent photographers
By Mark Hughes and Jerome Taylor
Thursday, 3 December 2009

Police have been accused of misusing powers granted under anti-terror legislation after a series of incidents, ranging from the innocuous to the bizarre, in which photographers were questioned by officers for taking innocent pictures of tourist destinations, landmarks and even a fish and chip shop.
Police are allowed to stop and search anyone in a designated "Section 44 authorisation" zone without having to give a reason. But amateur and professional photographers have complained that they are frequently being stopped and treated as potential terrorists on a reconnaissance mission. Last night the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism laws warned police forces to carefully examine how they use the controversial legislation.
Speaking to The Independent, Lord Carlile of Berriew said: "The police have to be very careful about stopping people who are taking what I would call leisure photographs, and indeed professional photographers. The fact that someone is taking photographs is not prima facie a good reason for stop and search and is very far from raising suspicion. It is a matter of concern and the police will know that they have to look at this very carefully," he added.
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Lord Carlile's comments come just days after a BBC journalist was stopped and searched by two police community support officers as he took photographs of St Paul's Cathedral. Days earlier Andrew White, 33, was stopped and asked to give his name and address after taking photographs of Christmas lights on his way to work in Brighton.
And in July Alex Turner, an amateur photographer from Kent, was arrested after he took pictures of Mick's Plaice, a fish and chip shop in Chatham.
Most of those stopped are told they are being questioned under Section 44, a controversial power which allows senior officers to designate entire areas of their police force regions as stop-and-search zones. The areas are chosen based on their likelihood of being a terrorism target.
More than 100 exist in London alone, covering areas such as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and other landmarks. Every train station in the UK is covered by a Section 44 order. In the first quarter of this financial year 96 per cent of all Section 44 searches were carried out by the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police. Every area of the UK which has a Section 44 in place is known to the Home Office. But, due to the fear that the information could be used by terrorists to plan attacks, most of the the exact locations covered by Section 44 authorisations are kept secret, meaning members of the public have no idea if they are in one or not.
Martin Parr, a photojournalist who was threatened with arrest after he took pictures of revellers in Liverpool city centre, said: "Unless we do something to stop this trend it will become virtually impossible to take photographs on a British street."
The British Journal of Photography says it has received a steadily increasing number of complaints this year. Olivier Laurent, the magazine's news editor, said: "The person will normally be taking a photograph of something perfectly mundane and a police officer will approach them and either claim that they can't take photos in that particular place or they will ask the photographer to explain what they are up to and record their details.
"Those who refuse to co-operate have been threatened with arrest for either breaching the peace or impeding the public highway. We find that a lot of the time police officers are not even aware of the rules governing photography in a public place."
Marc Vallee, a photojournalist who specialises in documenting protests, has become so exasperated at how often photographers are questioned or searched by officers that he has co-founded a campaign group to keep tabs on how public photography is being policed. The "I'm a photographer, not a terrorist" campaign group now has more than 4,000 supporters and has held a number of protests, including outside Scotland Yard, to highlight what they believe is the growing harassment of amateur and professional photographers by police and over-zealous council officials.
"Why is the act of taking a picture deemed by the state to be so potentially threatening? Photography is not a crime but it is being routinely criminalised," he said. "Anti-terrorism legislation talks about creating a hostile environment for terrorists to operate but the reality is that it is creating a hostile environment for public photography. That has an incredibly detrimental effect on freedom of speech."
Craig Mackey, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on stop-and-search legislation, said he does have sympathy for photographers, but said that part of the problem was that some officers were not aware how best to use the "complex" legislation. He said: "It goes back to the issue of briefing and training of staff and making sure they are clear around the legislation we are asking them to use. There is no power under Section 44 to stop people taking photographs and we are very clear about getting that message out to forces.
"In the past there has been a build-up around photographers and policing. That said, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where someone taking pictures of Christmas lights would be something we should be dealing with."

Honey Salvadori

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:55:00 -0700

Met an interesting photographer today http://www.honeysalvadori.com

She shares most photographers view that stock photography is no longer the cash cow it once was, although she does still publish to http://www.alamy.com/

Auctioning art

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:32:00 -0700

How to transform from an artist selling postcards at the local craft market to one who sells art for thousands is the question on most artists minds.

Assuming that an artist has merit and such prerequisites the rest is surely branding and marketing. The more sought after an artist becomes the more value the art has. Price is after all what the purchaser is willing to pay.

To this end we are going to be using auction houses to sell some of our art. The disadvantages are obvious, no personal touch, crippling commission charges amongst the many. The more subtle advantages are that the name of the artist then starts to become 'tracked' through the various and so important art databases. Hopefully this adds to the snowball of publicity.

Tasmin shoot

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 -0800

A new day and a new model, Tasmin had never modelled before and was very (very) nervous. I decided to shoot on location at her flat, partly because the location was so nice, a big open plan flat, very modern, no clutter, and partly because I felt she would be most at ease here.

Of course that meant hauling all the kit off to her place but hey I don't mind.

The shoot took a long time to settle down, she laughs a lot and was uncomfortable relaxing and 'letting go', but in the end we got there and produced some reasonable results. Predictably on reflection she decided that maybe it wasn't so bad and wants to do it again. This to me is a success, I know that the next shoot will be a big improvement and I'm really looking forward to it.

Boxing Day Shoot - Burnham Beach

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 04:04:00 -0800

Some people like playing sport, some like swimming on Boxing Day, I like doing a shoot.

As I was down visiting my sister in Somerset I decided to take the chance of an early morning shoot on the beach. 9 miles of sand is a good reason and I know of a lovely old wooden shipwreck. Just the rotting hulk now but it's still a pretty good, if done to death location.

Everything went well, the light was pretty good, I just underestimated the chilly breeze. By the time the shoot finished I had pretty much lost all the feeling in my fingers and it had stopped being quite so much fun!

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:29:00 -0800

Friday was a shoot with Lisa and Natascha at Lowford Studio in Southampton (Burseldon). Despite the fact that I've known the studio for nearly 2 years, I used to know the previous owner, I've never had a chance to shoot there.

Lisa and Natascha are both law students at Solent University, although I actually know them through Lisa's husband Dragi. I've had a shoot with Lisa before and she's great. Dancing was always her passion so she's pretty used to performing. Natascha on the other hand is a complete beginner, although you wouldn't know it. Obvious talent I only hope that she continues to pose.

Ramazzoti art colony

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:05:00 -0800

Ramazzoti art colony was the residency that Maja and I stayed at over the summer. I have finally got around to editing Wikipedia to reflect both the colony as well as East European colonies in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_colony

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Ramazzoti

Raven Studio Shoot

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:30:00 -0800

Following on from freezing poor Raven on Salisbury Plain I decided to let her warm up with a studio shoot. I was trying to capture a mixture of voyeur shots, body parts to emphasise her body (quite thin) and some shots of pain/discomfort/dispair, not that she's not happy, just I think she can pull that scene off well. The results will go to FlickR as always in the Ben Hill area

Harbour Lights Exhibition

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 10:28:00 -0800

Maja has yet another exhibition of her paintings, her 3rd this year! It starts today at Ocean Village in Southampton and features all new work not previously exhibited in this country. Obviously it's all for sale if you're looking to fill that gap on the wall.

Raven Shoot

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 12:25:00 -0800

No not shooting small black birds, photography with a 'new model' who goes by the title Raven, although friends get to call her Sarah. Raven is a size 6, not anorexic, just very thin. Lots of tatoos, lots and lots and an amazing range of wigs. It was a quick autumnal shoot out on the Salisbury Plain and I'll upload the results to FlickR as usual.

Maja at the Royal Society of Portrait Artists

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 12:20:00 -0800

Maja spent the day in London today at the Royal Society doing 'painting stuff'. The day included a competitive 3 hour 'paint off' where all the assembled artists worked on a portrait of one of 3 different models. Maja won 3rd place and is understandably very very happy! I just wish I had been there but some of us have to do proper work.

IB Studios Bournemouth

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:02:00 -0800

Life has been pretty busy with the academic year starting again and all that brings. Maja has 2 exhibitions before Christmas with everything to do for that and one of those is a joint exhibition with me so I'm pretty flat out as well.

With all this going on it's a wonder that there's any time to still be doing photo shoots, but none the less I've managed 2 different group shoots at the fabulous IB studios in Bournemouth. The first shoot was a group shoot through TFP Models a nice little resource for photographers, the second was an in-house shoot run by the studio. It's not the biggest studio or the best equipment wise, but they have a fantastic range of props and a very friendly and helpful owner. I would recommend them to anyone in the Bournemouth area who needs a studio for shooting.

I'll put the results up on http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_hill/ as I get the chance.

Jenni - Seductress

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 12:41:00 -0700

Jenni is a great model, she was supposed to do a shoot with me, but somehow got kidnapped by the wife, Maja into posing for her. Finally I have had a chance to do one quick shoot with her. A bit of a strange shoot "fetish gran", no don't ask! We were wondering what we could do with an interesting old dress, a wig and some impossible shoes, the resulting character is "fetish gran", copyright us two! http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_hill/ for the results as ever.

Update on Ben Hill links

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:09:00 -0700

Life gets spread around on the Internet, here are some of the updated places you are likely to find me.

Facebook
FlickR
Net-Model
Pure Storm
TFP Models
MySpace
LinkedIn

Update on Maja Dzartovska-Hill links

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:59:00 -0700

Maja has a lot of stuff on the web, most of it fairly boring stuff. Finding her can be a little confusing as she has no had 3 different surnames! Dzartovska, Dzartovska-Hill and Hill. This is just a list of some of the more relevant stuff:

Maja's Web Site
Maja's Blog
Maja's Teaching (distance learning)
Maja at the National Gallery
Maja's Wikipedia entry

Totton College

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Wed, 1 Oct 2008 04:18:00 -0700

This year sees me teaching at Totton College (again) on the adult education side. I always love the people, I always hate the unsocial hours! This year it's on a Monday night, which is a bit of a pain as that then overlaps withthe Southampton Camera Club and this year I am only covering the AS level not the GCSE as well, which is a pity. Next year they get to have an exhibition in Hanger Farm again so I'm really looking forward to that, I wish them all luck.

Summer Group Exhibitions

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:00:00 -0700

I've had a busy summer in 2008, Maja has had a major solo exhibition in Skopje at the cities cultural centre, one of the biggest spaces in the city. It's quite scary to see pictures that elsewhere fill a whole wall disappear into that vast space. After that she just had endless interviews, TV, radio, magazines etc, all very exciting as it always is.

Then we were both off to an art residency, once again we were lucky enough to get a joint place while my mother-in-law 'volunteered' to baby sit for the 10 days.

10 days in sunny (very sunny) Ohrid at the Ramazzoti Art Colony, a truly breathtaking location next to a huge UNESCO protected lake surrounded by limestone mountains. Where of course I was desperately trying to avoid taking all the normal range of tourist shots and achieve something a little more original. Of course I did take lots of sunsets and views over the lake, but I like to think I found a little out of the ordinary stuff as well.

The whole trip ended up with a lot of good luck. We held the normal group exhibition to display the work we had done, but then found out that the very same Cultural Centre in Skopje had had a very last minute cancellation and would be prepared to hold a joint exhibition of the residencies work! So back there again for Maja (different paintings this time) and my first time exhibiting in that space!

Ivan gets his modelling dream break

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:00:00 -0700

I'm happy when it all comes together Ivan is a young model I met through one of my usual routes net-model and we did a series of location shoots for his portfolio. Now on the back of that he has landed a place with the top agency in his city!

Skopje Zoo 2008

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:52:00 -0700

Back to the lovely Skopje Zoo, lots of changes, sadly not all good for me. Improved fencing is helping to keep the beavers out of their favourite lake with all the wild beaver having been rounded up. The new enclosure building programme is moving on with lots of new pens springin g up, which means close access to animals is just going to get harder as well as preventing them from going on their daily walks. There are still I'm happy to say lots of various herbivores escaping for short strolls around the zoos paths, long may it continue. The baby wolf is now too large to fit through the cage bars so he/she is now confined along with the adults.

The highlight of my all too brief visit, I asked if I might 'jump into' the beaver enclosure to take some better shots. In true 'can do Macedonian style' they said why not and in I jumped. Looking a bit closer at those teeth I'm not sure who was the more nervous out of us.

Macedonian Diaspora Football

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:13:00 -0700

There has been a running competition of a team of Macedonian footballers taking on various other European amateur teams. Held mostly in London the matches are fiercely fought by players who travel quite some distances to make it. The series ends in a competition to be played in Ohrid, Macedonia in the summer. While not the official photographer (they don't have one), it has given me an opportunity to practise my sports photography.

Maja at the National Gallery

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sat, 6 Oct 2007 06:35:00 -0700

Maja has had a animation work screened at the National Gallery, the work will remain available to view for the foreseeable future on their website and probably on YouTube.

Photography at Totton College

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 04:24:00 -0700

Well this year sees me teaching at http://www.totton.ac.uk/ as well as my usual shifts at Solent I'm looking forward to it as this will be covering a structured A level and GCSE photography course, not something I've delivered before.

Skopje Zoo 2007

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:00:00 -0700

I would recommend that anyone who gets the chance go and visit Skopje Zoo. Unlike a lot of more modern zoos Skopje Zoo has been trapped in a previous era with an obvious lack of modernisation. A design that would have once been considered acceptable and normal throughout the world is now considered to be tortuous and cramped. Bad news for the animals is good news for me. You can quite literally touch most of the animals, including the apes, lynx, bears and if you want to loose a finger, the tigers too.

There are some uniquely strange elements as well. Certain animals can and do escape. Various herbivores simply jump over or under their fences and go parading around. A baby wolf simply squeezed through it's bars and did likewise. It's quite a sight to see a baby wolf trotting across your path.

Photographic Residency

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Tue, 5 Sep 2006 04:29:00 -0700

This year saw both Maja and I going on an art residency up in the mountains for 2 weeks with a bunch of other artists including some very impressive wood carvers. I took far too many photos, now I just need to edit them all down and hopefully come up with something a bit more manageable for exhibition work. Apparently there were bears in the mountains, but I didn't find any :(

I'm just sad that the main exhibition of the combined works won't be held until after I'm long gone.

Models have regrets too

ben@ben-hill.co.uk (Ben Hill) — Tue, 8 Nov 2005 06:13:00 -0800

I have a very simple opinion on what levels and limits models should be prepared to work to. As long as they are above legal age then they should do whatever they are ‘truly’ comfortable with. I add in the caveat as so many models appear to allow themselves to be talked into work that they are not happy doing.

I love seeing the transformation in models as they gain confidence in themselves through their work and as they mature in the profession, I find it is very positive for them and in such it cheers me as well. Only so many seem at some point to allow themselves to enter scenarios that they are unhappy with, later to find out just how long images remain in circulation and just how small the world can be.

Of course there is no simple answer, I only wish there were, and I sometimes feel that the rise of the Internet and the digital age has made the world smaller and the problem only greater.