Snapper

Best wait until we get hard news on this one. Whoever this poor guy was - he was loved by someone somewhere. MB

I got a battered Oregon licence plate to add to the small collection I have related to US and Canadian states and provinces I have been to. That is all. Still happy. MB

For what it is worth - the press team will start snapping from tomorrow - so you will be able to see a good range of images from the event on the show website. I will be there with Simon Thomson, John Blackman, Stuart Gould and Phil Royal plus a lady named Sarah who snaps a lot of the special event stuff.

Absolutely true, Doug. I've practically given up worrying about it. It is nice to be asked. I have never had a website (too lazy) and have generally put my snaps on here or latterly on a well known social networking site. I've noticed that after WP when I've put my stuff up and it's been on the show site I get masses of friend requests from people I do not know at all. No disrespect, but I tend to be friends with people I am on speaking terms with. I also find friends and acquaintances of mine share my galleries, but to be honest, I am the muppet who put them up in the first place, so... It is always nice to be asked, and in my case it is nice if I actually get round to sending off the snaps. I often forget and some times just don't. People who know me on here will realise I am back after a year out when I went off for a sabbatical. I'd had enough....so off I went back to the world. I am going to WP tomorrow and will be on the press team. Come and say hello. I'll be the chap wearing the HMVF cap. It may be my last full show. I've got some unpleasant stuff going on with my head and it isn't going away - but don't worry I will be sticking around. One day at a time.....

Thats right - which is how media companies renew copyright. Also, in the business, a lot of pix are supplied as copyright free - but the user pays a "service fee" to the provider for letting them have it. There is a term used nowadays - aggrogater - or something like that, it defies our spell checker - which covers this. What it basically means is the rules are there to be bent.

Nice idea, Tony. I will make subtle enquiries. The owner is a little protective of it all. I was only allowed to see it all once.

I watched the BBC weather report they do on Countryfile last night and it said Tuesday would be fine and Wednesday would be OK. Thursday would have showers. Then on Friday it would be mostly dry and there were signs that the Gulf Stream was starting to move north to where it should be and that if that is the case it would be dry in the south all weekend. Rex and Seb Coe know all the right people....so don't worry. MB

I work for News International here in the UK. We own the photographic rights of The Times The Sunday Times The Sun The News of the World (closed 2011) Today (closed 1995) Daily Sketch (from when it was brought from Edward Hulton by Lord Rothermere and then only up to 1950 when the title was sold on) Daily Graphic (same) Sunday Empire News (same) various Allied Newspaper regionals (same - all as part of the Kemsley empire) Any images stamped Graphic Photo Union We vigorously protect our copyright. We can't stop you owning prints bought in good faith as a consequence of library clear outs - they have been happening for decades. But, trying to make money off the images - ours or anyone elses, breaches copyright law and there are people who will come after "you" (i don't mean YOU personally obviously) with a flock of bull mastiffs and an aggressive team of ambulance chasers looking for their buck. Photographic opyright theft is a serious affair and is something the big corporations are beginning to take notice of. It's actually long overdue. In actual fact, pooling of images during WW2 has presented an enormous grey area allowing people to make money off each other in all kinds of ways. But at some point it will have to end.

I forgot to mention a friend of mine's uncle Claude was an RAMC doctor at Salonika and kept a sketch book which is really nice - he did water colour cartoons of his billets and the local vistas and brought back souvenirs which includes a very nice cased Iron Cross 1st class and a kukri of all things which was made locally. He was also at Galipolli and when it was done he went back to being a GP in west Wales.

As part of my day job I've been working on a set of a dozen nitrate negs from the Bulgarian/Serb front which someone on the Daily Sketch or Daily Graphic acquired in 1919. Unfortunately due to copyright law I am not allowed to reproduce them here. They show Bulgarian artillery, an observation balloon named Sofia and some Serb infantry. I've had help with other negs from the wider collection I'm reviving in time for the centenary in 2014 on the Great War Forum and from friends in the WFA. Sadly, I have found nothing of vehicles so far, save for some British tanks in Limerick in 1919 during the period of the Soviet there. This project has a year to run. I am hoping my employers - the less than loved News International - will allow me to combine my own battlefield pix from my trips with their archive into a projected book or exhibition. I had been photographing the graves of employees of the Times, Daily Sketch, Daily Graphic (tbese two were part of what became the Kemsley empire which was bought by Thomsons which was bought by the Digger) and the News of the World. Sadly, the NoW is now so toxic, that the brave men who worked for it and who died in the two wars are tainted...something I refute. By the by, if any of your ancestors were employees of the above papers during the Great War in any capacity and you have any archive of them, I would love to know.

That, sir, is a thing of beauty.

Safe journey over!

Yes you will Jo. Will you be bringing a vehicle with you? If yes, try and post a picture of it and tell us where you camp and one of us will say hello. Some of the chaps still have HMVF pennants on their vehicles and the odd HMVF cap and fleece still survive. Have a safe journey and see you there! Mark

Great photos Lee. I agree with Peter - they are a boost. The weather would never have kept me away anyway. See you all there. I will hopefully be on site from Tuesday if all goes well with the cyborg experiments.... MB

Nice one, Guy. I have an A2 as well. Just about to put it through more abuse at the War and Peace show....

Well said. Keep up the good work. Everyone knows how much you enjoy WP and look forward to it. Sensible people will take no notice of any bollo' allegedly attributed to you.

Nice to have you with us, Dave. Welcome to the Friendly Forum. Mark

Entirely sensible.

Absolutely right, Ray. It was an unfortunate situation handled with complete tact by a fantastic copper. Before the flats were built we were not overlooked and my son had not got used to the new regime. I don't blame my neighbour at all. I may well have done the same. I like to "think" that having a degree of knowledge about guns I would react differently. But situations are all different. I just wanted to report an example of what I see as excellent policing. It happens all the time, we only notice the stuff that the media tells us has gone wrong.

I live in an Edwardian semi in a seaside town. My road is Mr Average but backs on to the posh people. Our rear neighbours sold out and their 150 foot garden - a paradise - was developed into a block of flats despite two appeals to a minister of state who now sits in the Lords and rejoices in being a man of the people. My son, who shall remain blameless took up an interest in airsoft wargaming and, being underage at the time, had acquired one of those dayglo weapons for newbies. He was cleaning/fiddling with it while dossing in his room while one of our delightful new neighbours was out on his balcony having a Marlboro moment. The chap called in the police, who sent round a most excellently informed constable who was not from any firearms background but had done his homework and knew the meaning of the word 'tact'. He inspected the lethal weapon and was invited by my wife to inspect the other rooms in our house including the one where I keep a small number of wooden or metal/plastic film props and one deact. He declined to do so. I was out at the time. In actual fact the officer was more concerned about the nosiness of the man who had been peering through my son's bedroom window and said he would speak to him about it. We took this to be a gentle warning to us and my son to be realistic about things. The policeman did say that the local firearms team had been busy elsewhere and would have come themselves otherwise. How much of this is pertinent? I do not know. All I know is this officer showed the kind of restraint that has to be appreciated.

A couple of years ago a kid came running up to me and said "you're an official you have to help me". "What's happened?" I ask, attempting to calm him down. "I've lost my phone". "OK, where do you think you saw it last?" "Oh, that's easy..." he says and takes me to the septic tank by the shower block. He'd been sitting on the ledge and it had fallen out of his pocket into one of the vents. We phoned it up and we could see it buzzing away as it floated.... "Sorry son..." I said.... "But..." I probably have other tales... MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum, Ian. You have come to the right place for advice. MB

They're nice, Mike. Where do you find this stuff?

Beckett has water on the brain.

Yep - model release forms are essential. Especially for anything generic for agencies like Alamy and Flckr. ALWAYS anything involving under 18s. As I confine myself to event photography and quiet stuff out and about I worry not. Past caring.