Several photographic magazines including the British Journal of Photography and Amateur Photographer have been campaigning recently for clarity when it comes to when it is against the law to take photographs.  Every now and then you read stories about over zealous police threatening to arrest tourists for taking pictures.  This is a very serious state of affairs when one the one hand we are being constantly reminded of human rights, then you wonder if decent law abiding citizens whose hobby is photography actually have any.

Personally, I have never been challenged by a policeman for taking photographs except in Northern Ireland back in the 1970’s at the height of the troubles when I worked there as a photo journalist. Even there, the police were usually courteous and friendly when they saw your press card, The army were much more threatening and aggressive.

While every sane person realises that there is a need to safeguard ourselves against terrorism in England today. It really is a serious threat.  We must stand up for our rights if we don’t want to end up like the old eastern bloc countries where freedom to take pictures was severely curtailed.

If you walk around London taking pictures of buildings you may well be challenged by the law. That’s OK. We do need a cautious and vigilant police force. What we do not need is threats of arrest for practicing a perfectly legitimate hobby.No one has the right to make you erase your pictures or confiscate your camera.

Thankfully, we still live in a free country where the police are there to serve  not threaten.

They can see you coming a mile off!  Who?  The car dealerships are famous for it and so many people  fall for it.  I mean the ones who cannot bear to be seen driving a car with last years number plates.  Snobbery? Yes of course. But digital photographers are often just as daft.

At the moment I am using Photoshop Elements 6 on my laptop, before that I was using Elements 4. Six does all I want it to do and more, it cost me £25.00 for a fully legitimate copy. Why? Because I waited until Elements 7 came out and bought the previous version which was being sold off cheap.

You can do the same thing with cameras and save many hundreds of pounds if you know what you are doing.

Digital photography can be a very expensive hobby and unless you are stinking rich it pays to shop around. Very often the latest model of camera is not the best and people who jump to get the newest release can find themselves in trouble.  The major companies are putting out new models every few months but there is no guarantee that it is better than the tried and trusted model that it supersedes.

The same applies to software.  People queued up for Windows Vista and a lot were disappointed. A friend of mine found that he could not load several of his existing programmes which had worked flawlessly on XP which he was glad to revert to.  I am very happy with my version of XP. It does everything I need so why spend money on a system that I would have to learn and get familiar with. I can’t imagine that having Windows 7 would greatly enhance my image. Perhaps a new  Ferrai  would!