Carrying DSLR kit through the airport

Packing for travelling Australia for a year is a challenge for anyone especially when your financing the trip yourself and want to take your DSLR kit with you. I looked online before the trip and it seemed the internet was saturated with flight information for travelling from America to Australia. Flying from the UK it was going to be different. Checking on my carrier’s website I saw that I could add camera gear to my hold space at an extra cost, much like you add ski equipment or bicycles. Being weary of having my gear put in the hold, especially as we had a change in China, I really wanted to keep it all where I could keep my hands on it.

After rooting around on the internet I realised there was a loophole with a lot of carriers that (for ladies mostly!) they are able to take in addition to their hand luggage, a small handbag. After investigating this further on my airline’s website I noticed this applied also (perhaps obviously) with duty free carrier bags and “small cameras”

Granted a Canon 5D mk2 cannot be called a “small camera” but I was willing to push my luck. With my camera on my shoulder, all the batteries emptied out my flashgun and any small accessories, chargers and cables that could be replaced at a small cost in the hold, my hand luggage passed the 7kg check even with my Macbook Pro and a paperback inside!

Please note this is just my experience and I advise everyone to read the information on their airline’s website before travelling and as I was, be prepared to pay the extra should it come to it. Arguing with check in staff is definitely not advised as they can make things even more difficult for you!

Photo Credit:
Bag photo from Chicago Mike’s Photoblog

Photography in the news – Cameron’s ‘Personal’ Photographer Paid For By The Tax Payer

Photo provided by Ambro

Last week David Cameron came under fire bacause of his ‘personal’ photographer paid for by the Tax Payer.

He was attacked in the House of Commons by Labour Leader Ed Miliband who mocked the Prime Minister saying ‘I can’t believe he is talking about hard choices this week because who has he chosen to put on the civil service payroll? His own personal photographer,’

Cameron’s spokesperson defended his appointment of photographer Andrew Parsons by saying that the Government’s communications budget has been cut down to a third of what it was. Cameron’s spokesperson also stated that the appointment of an in house photographer was a huge saving for the British tax payer compared to the cost of freelancers.

Downing Street stated that Andrew Parsons is not the Prime Minister’s personal photographer and would be used across several departments and for taking photos of several senior government workers.

In my opinion having an in-house photographer can only save money for the government. The cost of freelancer’s fees and the administration costs of hiring different photographers and getting them to sign the relevant confidentiality agreements would be far greater than having someone on the payroll.

You can see examples of Andrew Parson’s work here on the Guardian website

Related articles

• Cameron’s crazy claim vanity photographer will save taxpayer “a lot of money” (leftfootforward.org)
• David Cameron: my ‘personal photographer’ is not vanity (telegraph.co.uk)
• David Cameron’s photographer allowed despite Tony Blair’s being blocked (telegraph.co.uk)
• Watch: Ed pokes fun at Cameron’s photographer (liberalconspiracy.org)
• David Cameron forced to defend appointment of ‘personal photographer’ (guardian.co.uk)

Photograph of Shooting Star

The past few nights I have been shooting the stars up by Black Sail youth hostel in the Ennerdale Valley, Lake District, UK.

One evening I was shooting a series of images designed to be put together into a movie of the stars going round. I just so happened to catch this shooting star flashing across my exposure.

Here is the video I created of the 3 hour period:

Walk from Ennerdale to Wastwater via Haycock