Filters and Intellectual Property Rights

I've been wanting to shoot longer exposures for landscapes but haven't had any filters to help with keeping the sky from burning out. I bought myself a Cokin filter set in order to help me do this. I got a ND Grad filter to keep the sky in contrast with the whole image. I haven't yet had the chance to use it but hope to when I get back up to Scotland next week. 

Ian Shipley came into the class to talk to us about intellectual property rights and copyright. The talk was surprisingly very interesting and opened my mind up to the possibilities of not copyrighting your work and what the consequences are. I'm quite disapointed with networking sites like Facebook after reading thier terms and conditions. 

Focus On Image

I went to focus on image at the Birmingham NEC a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed myself. I got to see what new gear was coming out. I also got to see a Scottish landscape photographer called Duncan Mckewan who I later e-mailed after going onto his website. He had images of my grandparents home on the Isle of Harris. I also got the  two Travel Photographer Of The Year books for £20 which made my day really. I'm now planning on entering this years competition. 

Yesterday we went to the Format 09 Festival in Derby. We had a really interesting talk with Steve Harris and Mel Bles who travelled across America photographing all the scenes from there favorite 70's movies. Really enjoyed this talk because they were so enthusiastic about the whole trip and that came through in their talk.