The 40 Most Beautiful Actresses Pre-1960 (my preferences) - and characters

I love this compilation of old films. If you pick your dates carefully, you can choose out of copyright pictures and films.

Nostalgia from the old days.

My favourites: Marilyn Monroe, always first in the list and first in my mind. I really like Lauren Bacall. So sultry.

As the saying goes, the past is another country. L P Hartley wrote that, I believe.

You can now save films on Singapore Airlines to watch the endings later or see your favourites again.

If you were to take actresses with character, you could compile a totally different but equally mesmerising list. My favourites would start with: Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Ursula Andress, Bette Davis, Liz Taylor, Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart - play it again, Sam or Singapore Airlines.

What about older women, or the same women when they grew older? Who is my favourite?

The Ladykillers
The little old lady whose name I always forget who appears in the classic comedy, The Ladykillers, with Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. She never made another film. But one is enough to put her on my list. I hope one day to grow gracefully old, appear in my final film, to play a character and to be in real life as seemingly innocent yet disarmingly smart as she was.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please save links to your favourite films.

Is my blog or yours copyright? Writers, illustrators, performers ...

Not just writers, but illustrantors, translators and performers can benefit from copyright and public lending right from library loans.

The BBC has an interesting series of articles and videos on copyright. I knew that educational organizations could use works for study purposes. I did not realise that the organizations had to be registered.

I would like to add:
You cannot copyright a book title.
Copyright can protect the owner from financial loss plus damage to their reputation.

Read the copyright notices in books and other media. Notice that some say 'all rights reserved'. Why? Because if you had copyrighted something in print only before the days of film, somebody might have said that you have the rights to written material, text, but not animation.

New kinds of products might appear. A soft toy based on your character? A tee-shirt? A hologram?

To get paid by UK libraries, you register your book titles with the PLR. We have been fighting attempts to close public libraries in the UK.

Another organization deals with Ireland.

Useful Websites
https://www.bbc.co.uk/copyrightaware/what-is
https://www.bbc.co.uk/copyrightaware/article-8745
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States
https://www.gov.uk/copyright
https://www.bl.uk/plr

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

A quick look at Wikipedia, copyright and high resolution photos

Problems
The information given with each photo on Wikipedia is far too long to copy.
It take an hour or two to read all the pages, digest, re-read to grasp the essentials.
The information is constantly expanding.
I used to copy photos and it was fine. Now they are all blured. Why? How can this be fixed.

Answers
Every now and then I go back. Here's a summary of my conclusions which are relevant to use on a travel blog.

COPYRIGHT
Many amateur, professional or retired photographers and writers would be glad to allow their photos to be reproduced without charge in exchange for a photo credit. They want the status, which might lead others to commission paid work.  So you can use their work without paying on condition that you name the photographer and equally importantly don't pass the work off as your own or try to get paid for selling it and copyrighting it.

There are at least three strings to copyright.

PERMISSION
One is having the palaver of writing to the author for persmission. Why would you do that? Why would they ask you to do that if they are not charging? If I put a free photo ofmy local high street or church up on the webs, and it never gets used, I might not bother to put up any more because it seems like a waste of time. If I am doing it to get famous, and nobody tells me they've used it, I might be disappointed.

On the other hand from a user's point of view, if I have to write to ten people for permission to use photos in a book or a blog, that's another hour or so of my time. It would be quicker to photograph a pack of butter from my fridge, or a rose from my garden.

Would it? I have to edit my pictures. Remove my foot, my shadow. Even allowing the time to edit out the litter and too much sky, and bring it into focus, and enhance the colour, sometimes I would rather take my own photo than send off emails and waiting for replies - or look for the person who took the online phoot to give them credit.

CREDITING THE AUTHOR
Look at it this way. William Shakespeare's sonnets are out of copyright because so much time has passed that they should be out of copyright in every country. However, you can't pass off a Shakespeare sonnet as your own or charge people for it.

Why hide the name of the author of the quotation? Your painting of the rose is probably enhanced by a short quotation from somebody famous.

But you have to look up the copyright owner of the text. I wanted to quote a ballad in a book of poetry. It sounded like it had been written in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I was shocked to find that it was written by an American academic, who was still alive.

A very clever man. Wonderful to write a poem which becomes a classic in your own lifetime.

I quickly had to cut out most of the poem. I left, an opening line and the ending line, added lots of comments on the style, and gave attribution to the author and said where you could go to see more.

Wikipedia talks about derivative works. What's a derivative work? If you were to publish an out of copyright text such as, 'my love is like a red, red rose', the original text is still to be attributed to the original author. You might sell a drawing of a giant rose, with the text small in one corner, but you should put the name of the original writer or the words at the end of the words.

(Post being expanded - I'm saving it so as not to lose it and so you can benefit from what I have written so far.)
Information on High resolution in my next post.

I used to end my blog posts with 'please share my blog posts'. However, I don't want people copying my words as if it were their own. I want to get more readers for my posts.

Why does the number of readers matter?

1TIME ALLOCATION
Because if I had fewer than three readers my family would tell me, 'Stop wasting your time and make lunch'.

2 MORALE
Because an increase in readers raises my morale.  I used to wodner if writing a blog was inrerior to spending time wirting a book. But I can see instantly if one subject rather than another is popular. I've had article published in magazines and newspapers which claim to have a million readers, but no evidence that a single person unknown, or a single person I know, has ever read the article.

But a writer's reputation is cumulative, and enduring. People come up to you years later.

A PR lady for Cumbria said, "I read something about you and the Kennedy museum in Dallas years ago. I don't read American newspapers. I read the Guardian. They must have copied it from a news agency."

I was thrilled. I was famous? An end to the lack of confidence which somebody clever later labelled as 'imposter syndrome', feeling I was just pretending to be a writer.

3 Because I want to help readers, and restaurant owners, and share news of great discoveries. If a tourist board has given me help, they deserve to be given a mention. If a new restaurant opens, they deserve a mention, a boost. The readers need to know if it is worthwhile going, and what is good value, and whether it is worth the money to splurge.

4 When I go onto affiliate programs they tell me that I must have so many readers here and there, on Facebook and other media, on a blog.

COMPETITION
Other writers boast that they have so many readers. If you want a bigger readership, you write about fashion and football. But BBC2 and BBC3 and BBC4 operate on the principle that lovers of minority interests deserve to have their subjects mentioned.

COMPETING AGAINST YOURSELF
5 I watch my readership all the time. I find it more exciting than playing a lottery. I always win. I compare readers all week, all day, and right now. I compare the numbers of readers in the US, Russia, Italy, the UK and ... A general post gets more readers from the USA - because there are more of them. But a review of an Italian restaurant brings in readers in Italy and they stay all month. Write about a Russian statue and the Russian readers leap up the league table.

I can see that I am getting more readers today than yesterday, more this month than last month, more this year than last year.

Should I write a post about a subject which gets most readers? Or turn to writing about a country where I have few, to boost my readership there?

You, my dear reader, are contributing to my daily excitement. Thank you.

USEFUL WEBSITES
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Copyright and Captions for Photos of People and Locations

Copyright differs for photo, text, video and varies from one country to another. Check on your area and consider the following idea.

Copyright and Photos
Most photographers want to keep copyright of their photos. To get the rights to the photo without having to constantly pay a fee, you would have to reach an agreement.

Some photographers specialise in actors and others who need or want to be able to keep using a photo without paying further sums. You might find their advertisements in publications featuring actors. Or just do a search.

If a photographer prints off pictures and you want to pay for this, the time and trouble, and the paper, that's a different matter. The question is whether you could continue using the photos printed or distributed by somebody else, or by yourself, during that photographer's lifetime and if they died or sold their business to somebody else.

A photographer might, not unreasonably, want to publish a book of all the photos they had ever taken. You might want to have an arrangement allowing the photographer to continue to have rights over the photo, so long as you had rights to use it. So one of you owns the right but shares it with the other, or both have equal rights.

I presume if you go to a stage school photo shoots are arranged for you.

What are you paying for?
First, you are paying for the photographer's time.
Secondly, their studio and equipment.
Thirdly, it's a business - they may be paying tax, secretary, website etc.
Fourthly, it can take hours to go through many photos to choose the best one. Many more hours to edit it. Get rid of red eye. Remove blemishes. Adjust colour balance. Crop the picture. Increase contrast.
Storage and filing.
Captions - each photo must be stored and retrieved, by name of person, date, location, subject. Each photo must be distinguished from the next by number of subject.

If you are storing your own photos, you will find the more captions you write at the time the easier it is to find a photo later.

CV
You also need an up to date cv of all your experience. If you are a retired or older actress or model, you may have lost track of the dates when you did work. So you want to update your CV and/or include pictures and clips.

Once your photos are on the internet, some websites take away your copyright. You know longer have exclusive rights, and cannot charge others to use the photo.

Don't take my word for anything. I am merely telling you what to watch out for and what you need to check.

Stories
How to identify a photo? I once saw a photo of a monument in India printed in a magazine. I thought - hey - that's my photo.

However, when I went back to my photos I saw that it wasn't. The people in the background were different. If you can put your own family or friends or dog, or car in a photo, you can prove it's your photo.

The opposite happened to me with a photo in Brides magazine. I sent the text and a choice of photos. When the article was published and they sent me a copy, I saw that they had a full page spread of a photo labelled Spanish Tourist Board. I keep looking at the photo and wondering why they had chosen it.

I conceded that it was colourful, all in focus, attractively framed. A good photo.

Later I received a message from an unhappy sounding girl asking me to phone the magazine about my text and photos. I worried for hours. What had I done wrong? What could they have done wrong? Had they lost all my photos and had to use one by the tourist board?

It turned out that they had used one of my photos but mistakenly attributed it to the tourist board. I asked them to print a notice in the next edition acknowledging that it was my photo.

Nowadays, you can print your own photographer's name small as part of the photo. Unless the user crop it out, your photo remains captioned.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Me A Model? At My Age? Maybe Yes. Maybe No. Agencies in Australia, UK, Singapore

Australian Model Agency 

I have a friend, William, who appears in TV serials in Australia. He is signed on with an agency. They got him work on TV. Great success.

UK Work
Film Extras
I once answered an ad for extras in a film in the UK. We sat around all day in a church as part of a crowd at a wedding. We had to come with a hat. Most of the time you did nothing except sit silently.

No Pay
We filled in a form at the beginning. Everybody was asking everybody else, 'How much are you getting paid?' People were reeling off lists of film shoots they had been in earlier that month. I was at first too embarrassed to admit I was not being paid.

Payment
However, when I finally said I was not being paid, one of the older men who I thought would sneer at me instead was very kind and protective. He was indignant on my behalf and told me to say I came from his agency because I would then be paid a small sum of about £20. That was not much for four hours (plus travel) but a lot better than nothing.

Spotlight
I was asked to join Spotlight after my late uncle died. I had phoned them to cancel his subscription and to explain that he had died and they asked if I would like to join. This would have been really right for me a couple of years earlier when I would have loved to be featured in a professional listing. Unfortunately, at the time when I was in touch with them it was not a sensible use of money because I was a full time, on call, carer for my late father and I did not want to work, to be away from home. 

You had to pay an annual fee for membership which included a listing in their directory. If I remember rightly, to be listed you had to supply a professional photo or two, ideally one face close up and one full body.

Now I'd like to fulfil my dream and be a character actress. My favourite actress was the little old lady in The Ladykillers. She was in the film with Peter Sellars, and Alec Guinness.

Singapore
I passed a sign for a model creation agency in Singapore. I thought I'd go in and find out if they had any opportunities for an English voice over.

I filled out a form and was told to come back for an appointment. Because I had other engagements that day, I made an appointment for the following day. Meanwhile, I checked them out online.

It then transpired that I had to pay about 600 Singapore dollars - the sums were quite complicated, so much for the photographer, plus the make up artist, and the hairdresser, and that included so many photos for them to send out, plus several for me to keep, but after the first mailing out another set of photos would have to be printed, but I would not have to pay for these, it would come out of my first salary.

What if I did not ever get a job? Would that be a debt? I was told I would not have to pay the second sum. However, nothing in writing. I can't prove to you what was said, and that was what put me off the whole deal.

Apart from the actual cost, I was concerned that they could not give me any written account of the sums involved, just wrote it out on a piece of paper. To me that did not seem professional. The sums might increase. I had no way to be sure of the total.

They admitted they had very little chance of finding work for a Caucasian of my age, except for occasional government ads which features people of all races when promoting services for the retired.

I asked why I could not use my own photographer and they said it was a question of copyright, as well as having suitable photos of the kind they needed.

I looked at reports online for scams. One website I looked at said that any agency which insisted that you use their photographer was a scam.

CV and Portfolio
I would still be interested in putting together a portfolio including professional photos. If you look at online agencies you can see what is required. 

Some charge a monthly fee to reveal job ads. The ones I looked at required one face photo and one full body shot. If you a modelling any other part of your body, such as hands for nail polish advertisements, you are advised to include those. Some sites have a minimum number of photos. Others have a maximum.

Another promotional activity is to have a showreel of yourself, demonstrating your skills such as accents or singing or clips from previous amateur or professional productions.

Your CV will include age, height, weight, vital statistics (bust, waist, hips), language, accent, race, maybe shoe size. So if you don't know your weight and hip size, you might want to find out.

First, the photo. You need a professional photo (with copyright, meaning permission to use it by printing it or online for self publicity without paying the photographer for every use). It should be in focus. Ideally several shots, serious, smiling, assorted expresions. Clear background. Also any unform you may have (with permission to wear it).  

Angela Lansbury, travel writer

Is Your Name Or Blog Post Copyright?

Problems
1 You want to protect words you publish and create.
2 You want to avoid action taken by others if you quote them.

Answers
Copyright varies from country to country.
A title is not copyright. I can write a book called Winston Churchill or How To Bake Bread and so can you. The author's name will help readers find the correct book, and so will the ISBN number.

Stories
If you record yourself playing a piece of music on the flute and load it up to YouTube and that music is not out of copyright YouTube is likely to recognise the tune with it matching system and bloc access, sending you a message saying whey the have done it.

Tips
Here's a link to the US copyright website:
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html
https://www.gov.uk/copyright/overview
Wikipedia has sections regarding copyright.
Look up intellectual property and FAQ.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I am a member of Harrow Writers' Circle and two speaker's club in London, Harrovian Speakers and HOD.
My books include:
Wedding Speeches and Toasts published by Ward Lock/Cassell.
How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In. Lulu.com

You can read my profiles and posts other blogs on blogger.com ; twitter ; Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
Read about my books and buy them from Amazon.com and Lulu.com
Please follow me and like and share my posts.

Photo Credits: why you need to credit a photographer

Problems
1 I have written a post on another blog on blogger.com and the pictures and layout are all in HTML which I do not yet know. In the olden days, until earlier 2016, I could see the pictures in my draft text in the create box on the create and edit page. So I could know which picture was where and move it up and down into the right part of the page to match the text. Now, when I create my blog post, when I am creating I cannot see how big the photo is until I see the preview.

2 Why do you need to credit a photographer? (Why not? because it's a nuisance if you move photos around. You might forget to do it. The speaker is more important to you and the reader than the photographer.) Who should get the credit for the picture of one of the speakers? Often the photographer will say they don't need a credit.

3 TripAdvisor rejected our photographer's photos with his copyright symbol on them.

Sometimes I think that a post is so out of focus that I don't want a credit.

Answer
I need to credit each picture, especially if I have more than one photographer to avoid confusion if somebody wants more pictures of an event. And give credits for photos. Some professional photographers (me and my husband) insist on it.

Story
The websites are increasingly asking if it’s your photo. You have to state author’s own work or public domain. Wikipedia is getting tougher - you must only use your own photo and can’t even have a church or shop signboard with text because it’s somebody else’s copyright unless it’s in the far distance. or if you have permission to use it. You tube rejects videos which have you playing a piece of music which is copyright, even if its your piano, clarinet. Happy birthday has only just been make public after repeated court cases in the USA.
I need at least couple of hours with my husband to do the HTML and I’ll do it this evening or at the weekend.

Tip
Make a drawing or mind map of each post.
Introduction, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 with the suitable photo. Add the photo to each section not at the end. If you have to add photos later, do your blog post in pages outside first and then load it up with the photo captions in the correct place in order.
When copying a photo from Wikipedia, include the dete of the photo and the author in your Information caption, or the details. That way you can find a Wikipedia

Action
1 Create a fold for draft blog posts.
2 On a non busy day or in the evening after your important daytime tasks are done, add captions to pictures including names of photographers or authors of photos.
3 Superimpose your author name on all your photos to protect copyright.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
See my posts and photos and performances on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. Please like my pages, follow and share.

How to copyright mark your photos, illustrations, maps or other images

If you send other people photos or drawings or paintings you made on holiday or business trips or presentations such as Powerpoint or Mosaic or Keynote (on Apple) you might wish to watermark them.

You might find that putting on a copyright mark prevents your pictures being uploaded to some media.

Two ways I know of for doing this.

1 Text Box
The easiest way. Add a text box over the photo. Type in the words 'Copyright' followed by your name. Save.

I'm using the word copyright spelled out because some of the people to whom I'm sending photos, and somer readers of websites, are not even very clear on copyright and symbols.

2 Photoshop Elements
Use a photo editing system such as Photoshop Elements and add the copyright symbol. The simple Photoshop Elements can probably be bought for under £100. They keep updating it. My friendly photographer says he buys every other version.

When you buy Photoshop Elements you are sent two installing discs and instruction books. One installing disc is for Apple system. Instructions are also on the web.

First you insert the disc to install. This is why I need a laptop with a slot for inserting discs. I had a MacBook Air without a disc slot. It was a real nuisance.

First you have to install the installer. I got a message saying cannot install. Probably because the disc had not ben recognised. I waited. The installing whirred. I watched the download bar. Time passed. Ten minutes to go, nine, eight, seven, back up to eight. It's not me, and it's not you. Don't panic. That's the way it is.

You are asked to insert your buyer's number, serial number. I thought that would be on the box. It is on the package inside the box. Copy that out.

I am using just the simplest version, which is cheaper. The professional version is too expensive for me and my business. In any case it is so complicated at this stage it would confuse me.

Within Photoshop Elements, you have lots of choices to make. When you click on the watermark symbol you get boxes to fill in or select. You might want to adjust the opacity (opposite of see-through or transparent). Increase the font size - according to the site of your photo. Make the font bold or a bolder font.

At the end nothing happens until you have selected your choice in all the boxes. Then you need to be sure you have remembered to click on done or accept at the bottom of the screen. Sometimes I find the done box is not visible and I have to scroll down.

Saving Watermarked Photos
My professional photographer helper saved all my watermarked photos in a separate file labelled watermarked. He names the file images. I asked, 'Why not just call it photos?' He answered: 'Because you might save items which are not photos, such as illustrations, for examples, charts or drawings.'

Images
My caricatures are currently all saved as photos of caricatures. Maybe later, I'll get proficient at drawing on a computer, and filing my computer drawings. At the moment I'm drawing on the computer and using my mobile to take a photo of the drawing, which is automatically saved in date order, in case I lose the online drawing or delete it.

Little steps, little advances, a little learning every day.

Angela Lansbury, author, photographer and illustrator (caricatures and more).
Follow me and like my pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter.

Funicular song, sung at Fellini Italian Restaurant in London

I had a wonderful evening at Fellini's opera night in London. During the interval for the main course buffet the opera singer, Davide Sorrentino, took a rest and we were serenaded by Vittorio. One of his songs which proved popular with the audience was Funicular.

I recorded the singing and worried about whether the song was in copyright. I looked it up and was amazed to find that it dates back to 1880, when it was composed for the first funicular.

Wikipedia says:
"Funiculì, Funiculà" (IPA: [funikuˈli ffunikuˈla]) is a famous Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival the same year. The sheet music was published by Ricordi and sold over a million copies within a year.



Fellini restaurant and caffe has events through the year listed on their website and you will see posters or brochures outside the restaurant.

More details from

www.felliniacaffe.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other writing and photos on:
Amazon books by Angela Lansbury
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LinkedIn
Lulu.com books by Angela Lansbury
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Photographic Competitions - some suggestions, or Instagram

Google photographic competitions to see what you can enter and what inspires you.
What do you need to do?
Take photos in the categories listed.
Make sure your photo is sharp.
Do not take any pictures which might infringe somebody else's copyright.

First look through your existing photos to see what you have in the listed categories.
If you have a good subject, but bad lighting, go back and take more photos in better light. If your photo is not sharp, go back and take another photo with a tripod.

If previous winning competitions included human interest, or objects to illustrate size, add these to your composition.
1 Dress in your best clothes. Take a selfie. Or use time lapse.
2 Take your dog or a family member's dog. For example, a photo of a tree might be enhanced, or size exaggerated, with a dog or bird.
3 Set up time lapse in your garden and take multiple shots hoping a bird or cat or spider will come into view.

Many competitions have closing dates far ahead. You have time to take many different photos or many photos of the same scene with different lighting, people, or added objects.

Emotions
Add the joy of a prizewinner. The sadness of a funeral. Loneliness. Crowds. One person out of step.

Contrasts
Large and small. Old and young. Light and dark.

https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/2017/open

Instagram
If you don't feel your photos are ready for competitions, you might like to use Instagram. A new friend told me she does not use Facebook which is full of distracting text. She used Instagram just to put up photos.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Signposts and memory aids for photos, souvenir and recommendations

When you come home at night you remember the name of your restaurant and your friends, the nearest station, the city. A year later when you want to caption the picture, or find it, or recommend a hotel to a friend, the name escapes you.

The simple answer to this is to take a photo of the name of the city, the street, the hotel, the restaurant, the taxi number.

What's the restaurant name? Table at 8? Restaurant at 9? After 8 Restaurant? Table at 6 or 7? Table or tables at 7? Ah - Table at 7.

When you want to caption your photo, argue with your family about the name of the restaurant, find out if the place your friends visited the year previously was the one you saw this year, or phone about your lost wallet or umbrella, you have the name instantly, complete with the visual reminder.

Was I in Clarke Quay or Boat Quay? The map shows they are adjacent. My photo tells me.  I was in Clarke Quay. Clark or Clarke? It's Clarke. 

Take the photo on arrival, when you have nothing else to do or are waiting for others to arrive. If it's a place you visit often, the chances are that the first time you visit you will be impressed enough to want to take a photo. By the following day or week it will be raining, or dark. Later, you will be bored, or your family will say, 'Stop - enough photos' or, 'We're in a hurry.

Statues and Landmarks In Sunshine
I remember visiting Nottingham, England on a press travel trip. We passed the statue of Robin Hood. It was sunny and I wanted to stop. The guide said, "You can do it later".

The next two days it rained. On the last day we took a short cut back to the station and didn't pass it. Besides we were hurrying to catch a train.

I've never forgotten. That would have been my landmark statue.


Yes, the tourist board can send a picture. But it's their copyright. The photographer may have rules about entering his name in the caption.

The photo might be a year old. The magazine may have used the generic photo already or not want the same photo that the rival magazine or newspaper is using. Maybe they already have that picture on file. They already covered the story last year.

Why should they take my text? A glance at the accompanying photo will tell the editor that he or she has seen this before.

I always find a new angle. I might want myself, little me, in the picture to show the height of the statue.

Human Interest and History
My face adds human interest. My face added proves that I visited the place. This is up to date and a personal story, not a press release put out by the tourist board, identical to that published in every other newspaper.

But clothes can date a picture. So can cars. And your face growing older. Somebody can look at you and ask, "When was this taken?"

Historic photos are useful. If the building is demolished later. O to show your town through the ages.

I might get paid for my own picture. I can't get paid for somebody else's picture.

If I'm told, "You can do it later," I reply, "I'd rather do it now and strike if off the list of things I have to do." Or I say, "Let's do it now while the sun is just right."

Obstructions
A day later the cathedral is covered in scaffolding. (Umpteen times in England and Europe.)

Two hours later when we walk back past the church with all the statues it is in shadow and a fast food van is parked in front of the church. (That happened to me in Malta.)

Handy Captions
A caption of a hotel or museum is useful. Why did I take that buildings with columns? Is it the hotel where I stayed? Budget b and b? Or five star luxury? Or a national museum?

Signposts
The photo as a signpost to the reader. If it's not visually appealing, use it small as a signpost or opening to your title page on the slide show. It's also a caption writer for you, saves hours of searching though maps and distractions on the internet.

Where was I? River Valley Road.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Wedding Photos - whose copyright? The photographer's.

If you are going to a wedding, note that the official photographer's photographs are his or her copyright. If you want to edit photos and cut out Great Aunt Jemima and gatecrashers, you might like to have a second unofficial family member photographer as a backup.

What could go wrong?
1 The photographer fails to turn up.
2 The photographer's equipment fails.
3 You want your wedding photos for another use, such as your own website or blog.
4 At my wedding the charming man who sold me the wedding package was in effect the extravert and obliging salesman; and chief photographer of a group; the photographer who arrived at the wedding was a complete stranger, not familiar, no rapport, no record of anything I had previously requested and agreed, just following his standard format, a photo of the bride and parents at the house, the couple with the wedding car, the signing, the top table, the bride and groom and their parents. The photographer took no photos of any guests at tables because 'we don't take photos of eating - never look elegant'. As a result I had no or few pictures of beloved relatives and friends.

He then rushed off to the next wedding.

The cost of the photos was in additional to the original fee and higher than expected and nothing special.

That said, the photographer will take in focus pictures, or focus on the foreground with the background hazy, will pose you  (bride and groom) in good positions, such as back to back on a piano stool, with the bride seated and groom behind, with the bride's train flowing down a staircase, or with all the bridesmaids together, all the ushers together, and all right arms forward in mirror image poses, or under a tree as an arch, or on a bridge reflected in water, or ushers lifting their hats int he air. Understandably the photographer who makes his living selling photos wants to keep copyright.

Another way to get extra photos out of copyright is to give a one trip camera to every guest, then they are sure to take extra pictures of the bride and groom and each other.

Now I want to publish a family history. I have several family photos of different weddings. Even when I have the name of the photographer on the cover of an old picture, the original company seems to have moved or gone out of business.

Over in Singapore brides and grooms can have wonderful photos taken the day before of bride and groom in costumes at the studio. I saw this used as a life-size freestanding 'statue at the top of the stairs in the entrance hall to the reception.

Another set in good weather can be by a waterfall over in Malaysia or in a Botanical Garden. A set of photos from the previous day can be displayed on a table, for family and friends to choose one to order from the professional photographer as a souvenir.

My favourite wedding photo was a big photo blown up like a oil painting in a frame for the new home's living room or bedroom.

http://www.prime-photographers.co.uk/copyright-for-wedding-photographs/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer