The business’s owner, entrepreneur Mike Smith, said in a statement today (2nd April 2009):

“The worldwide banking crisis has created critical financial challenges for the company. The board has been involved in ongoing and intense discussions with the company’s bank, RBS, to obtain funding to secure the company’s future.

However, despite offering further injection of shareholder investment we have unfortunately been unable to reach agreement with the bank on additional lending facilities. Sadly, in these circumstances the directors have no option other than to appoint administrators to find a buyer – in the meantime it is business as can normally be expected under these circumstances.”

Spicer Hallfield CEO John Wyatt is working with administrators, MCR, to keep the business running day to day during the search for a potential buyer.

He said: “We are working flat out to find a solution to this problem. We are mindful of the extremely negative impact this is having on both staff and distributors and we are doing everything in our power to find ways to both save jobs and the legacy company that is Spicer Hallfield.”

He added: “It will be the job of the administrators to secure the best outcome it can to ensure the future of the company and I am confident that there a number of viable solutions. Whatever the outcome I am sure there will be an ongoing business to serve our customers and to save as many jobs as possible.”

Spicer Hallfield has been working for months to implement a move of its Bucks factory production lines to the company’s sister site in Bradford. The firm was planning to maintain Head Office and support staff locally in the Haddenham area, as the Haddenham site lease came to an end this spring.

The annual TFC Glamour/Figure course for 2009 is now starting to fill.

This popular course run by Chris Burfoot of TFC Courses for 2009 will be held on June 13/14th in deepest darkest Dorset at Studio Décor’s HQ near Beaminster.

As well as a fully equipped new studio the venue offers 60 acres of grounds! Sets will include (weather permitting) Meadow grass, woods, tree stumps with amazing views, an orchard, log cabin, a beach scene, old barn plus a brand new studio!

Supported by The Flash Centre, Elinchrom and California Sunbounce, this is your chance to spend two very busy days learning the finer points of Art/Nude and Glamour photography in this fantastic setting. Two professional models are available all weekend as is all the gear from the leading Swiss supplier of Studio equipment, Elinchrom. Chris will be assisted by fellow award winning photographer, Terry Hewlett so there is plenty of opportunities for producing some great shots and to get all those questions answered.

For further information please go to www.tfccourses.com or call 01249 444750.

The new Lastolite 2408 camera bracket allows the camera to be flipped between vertical and horizontal while retaining the flash position. The handle is extendable and has the option of hotshoe or spigot fixing.

The 2408 is the ideal partner for the Ezybox Hotshoe and the new range of Off Camera Cords.

Price & Availability:
The Lastolite 2408 camera bracket ( JP Code: 192142 ) is available at SRP £59.99 inc VAT

Last week was half-term and on Friday I decided to take my boys to one of our favourite places – Swanage, on the Dorset coast. When we were last down there I found myself drawn to a place I had not seen before (it turned out this was because it wasnâ??t there before, not because I just hadnâ??t noticed) called the â??Photographers Loungeâ?. Although not the biggest of galleries I have visited, it was probably the most welcoming!

The exhibition at the time was of images by Richard Heeps, whose work I had seen published before. There is nothing quite like seeing the real thing to make you appreciate the quality and skill and, in my case at least, to inspire you to get out there and do some work yourself. Anyway, I purchased a couple of Richardâ??s books and asked Kate (the gallery owner) if she could hang on to them and get them signed for me. Richard had been due to be in the gallery the week I was in Swanage, but had had to postpone or I would have tried to blag an interview!

Back to last Friday and Iâ??m collecting my books and having another enthusiastic conversation with Kate which lead to her telling me about a competition they are going to run.

The press release has just come through:

Make an Exhibition of Yourself!

Open Shutter Photography Competition

Open Shutter, a photography competition for photographers of any experience or ability, has been launched by the Photographers Lounge gallery. Every six months, an experienced panel will select three winning photographers to have their work exhibited and for sale in a month-long exhibition at the Photographers Lounge. Each exhibition will be launched with an Open Shutter Showcase evening and successful photographers will also receive continuing exposure on the galleryâ??s website.

Open Shutter will provide a unique opportunity for photographers to have their work presented in a dedicated gallery and for sale online, as well as being appraised by independent, well-respected panellists. Each biannual competition has a deadline in order to view the entries and choose the winners for each exhibition, but as soon as one competition closes, the next one opens, allowing photographers a continuing opportunity to submit their work.

The Photographers Lounge, based in Swanage on the Dorset coast, was set up just over a year ago by photographer, Kate Cross, and is already established as one of the countryâ??s foremost galleries dedicated exclusively to photography.

â??The Photographers Lounge and now Open Shutter came about as a direct response to the shortage of dedicated photography exhibition space in the UK.â? explained Kate. â??Whilst the USA and the rest of Europe have embraced photography as an art form, here in the UK, it seems that photography still takes a back seat in terms of exposure.â?

â??Open Shutter now provides emerging photographers the link with the gallery and the opportunity to see their work exhibited, which Iâ??m really excited about.â?

In its relatively short lifespan,The Photographers Lounge has rapidly become synonymous with the promotion of photography, and its growing reputation has meant that it is now a must-visit gallery for art-lovers and photographers alike. In its first year it has helped promote several emerging and established photographers. Richard Heeps, the internationally-acclaimed photographer, is a permanent member of the Photographers Lounge portfolio, as well as an Open Shutter panellist.

â??I have been impressed with the Photographers Lounge dynamism and enthusiasm from the word go,â? commented Richard. â??As a photographer looking to get as much exposure as possible, they have continually supported and promoted my work, and Iâ??m happy that they are now a permanent outlet for my work. I think the Open Shutter is a great concept, because I know how much they will be behind the chosen photographers, and Iâ??m delighted to be one of the panellists.â?

The Open Shutter competition only accepts submissions online at www.openshutter.co.uk.

For further information view the website at www.openshutter.co.uk or email info@openshutter.co.uk.

Additional Information

Open Shutter is a photography competition for all photographers run by the Photographers Lounge gallery in Swanage, Purbeck, Dorset. The competition is a rolling competition with two six-monthly deadlines a year. Three photographers will be selected by a well-respected panel to have a month-long exhibition in the Photographers Lounge, as well as to have their work permanently on sale on the Photographers Lounge website. Each exhibition will be launched with a showcase evening, and all works will be for sale.

The Photographers Lounge was established in January 2008 and is one of the few galleries in the UK devoted exclusively to photography. It has exhibited work by both emerging photographers and established photographers. The gallery also offers hi-resolution scanning, fine art printing (up to A2 on a range of media), promotional printing, website design and mounting & framing services.

Contact Kate Cross by phone on 01929 424414 or email kate@photographerslounge.co.uk.

The Photographers Lounge is based at 38 High Street, Swanage, Dorset BH19 2NX

I have been a subscriber to Digital Camera Magazine for some while and have been a regular, if not frequent, user of their online forum. This morning I received this email:

An administrator of Digital Camera Magazine Community has sent the following email to all users in the Everyone forum group.

Sent From: admin
Subject: Attention f*****s
__________________________________

Your retarded administrators don’t understand that repairing damage is meaningless unless you first fix the problem. This forum is now 4chan’s bitch, and we shall do with it as we please. Since your administrators are completely incompetent we have decided to ban them, as well as change their passwords; we’re sure you won’t mind. We went easy on you this first time, prepare for the worst.

-Anonymous

Their server appears to be completely offline at the moment, but I don’t know whether this is the doing of the hacker or the DCM team. I’m very pleased to NOT be a member of their Web Department this morning!

We recently published a post about the RED Digital Cinema Epic and Scarlet camera systems. Still fascinated by these fantastic looking cameras, we’ve been keeping an eye out for more information.  Now, this is a bit of a departure from our normal photography discussion, but the good folks over at DVICE have put up a video of the RED One (movie camera system) being used to film Sci Fi’s hit show, Sanctuary.

You can take a look at it here.

I don’t know a lot about filming movies and tv, but this looks like it might be a bit special.

Acquisition and exhibition of a leading name in the Swedish history of photography.

From 15 January to 30 August 2009 the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm will be exhibiting portraits by Hans Hammarskiöld. Born in 1925, Hammarskiöld is one of the leading names in Swedenâ??s photographic history and his work is internationally recognized. During his lifetime he has undertaken varied roles and has worked in most genres of photography. In the 1950s, for example, he contributed to the fashion magazine Vogue. In conjunction with the coming exhibition, the Swedish National Portrait Gallery has acquired a number of Hammarskiöldâ??s photographic portraits and, accordingly, the focus of the exhibition is on portraiture.

A survey of Hammarskiöldâ??s oeuvre testifies to his range as a photographer with a diversity of artistic expression. There are examples both of a conventional approach and of an experimental bent. The portraits in the exhibition include royalty and noted figures from the arts, all the subject being Swedes with the exception of his American photographic colleagues.

The exhibition will be shown in the Prints and Drawings Gallery on the ground floor. Admission is free.

Exhibition curator:
Eva-Lena Karlsson, elk@nationalmuseum.se, +46 (0)8-5195 4430
Exhibition producer:
Magnus Olausson, mon@nationalmuseum.se. +46 (0)8-5195 4371
Further information:
Anna Jansson, ajn@nationalmuseum.se, +46 (0)8-5195 4452

Picture credits:
Self portrait, Hans Hammarskiöld. 1956/1995. © Nationalmuseum.
Rudolf Nurejev (1938-1993), dancer, choreographer. Hans Hammarskiöld, 1967. © Nationalmuseum.

Editor’s Comment

I love the dark, grittiness of these portraits. His portraits are not always flattering to his subjects (in my opinion), but I get a strong feeling that he captured more than a little of the essence that made that person who they were. If I could get to Sweden to see the real thing I would be there like a shot!

Apparently Hans is still actively taking photographs, mainly working with film rather than digital.

My thanks to Anna Jansson for bring this work to my attention.

Today marks 50 years since Canon launched it’s first SLR Camera, the Canonflex. Since then they have gone on to produce more than 50 million SLRs of various shapes and sizes, their most recent being the much coveted Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

You can find out more by reading their official press release.

If you have a bit of a passion for camera history check out Canon’s online camera museum.

Happy 50th, Canon SLRs!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a weapon of mass destruction? Is it Optimus Prime’s wayward cousin? No, it’s a… er… a million different cameras, apparently. It’s kind of ugly and incredibly beautiful at the same time and I feel drawn to it.

I gather that the movie camera has been out for some while and is threatening to revolutionize the movie industry. Whether or not the rest of the system will go into production is unknown, but the clever money seems to be betting in favour. I really hope it does.

The system comprises a collection of components which can be put together in an almost infinite number of configurations. Pop over to the Red website and have a read – I can’t do it justice.

Google and LIFE magazine have teamed up to bring us the LIFE photo archive hosted by Google.

There are literally millions of photographs in the archive ranging in time from the 1750s to today.  Whatâ??s more, a staggering 97% of them have never been seen by the public until now.

I have a feeling I’m going to be spending a lot of time there.