Over the past few weeks you may have seen reference to the "Instagram Act" so many times in the press that I felt that I had to comment. The issue of retaining copyright of images that you post on the web, to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, 500px etc has been with us for years. A couple of years ago I became aware that Facebook were changing their terms and conditions to allow their partners to use images uploaded to Facebook, without any recourse to the photographer....or any money changing hands. Once you click "Accept" on the terms and conditions they could legally do this. It’s the reason why I post my images to PhotoBucket first and link them across to Facebook / Twitter.

Most of us also protect the images themselves to identify them as ours. We place subtle watermarks across them and embed copyright information inside the file’s IPTC info. We also only upload ow resolution images, mine are only 700 pixels on the longest side. So does this stop image abuse? No it doesn’t. Anyone can right click on an image, save it and effectively steal it. Trust me I know, I have successfully sued people for misusing my images on the web. I accept that some of my images will be placed on wildlife websites etc, that is fine as long as they carry my copyright watermark, it’s great PR and I turn a blind eye to it. The problem comes when a commercial company uses my image on their website, to advertise and sell their products, that is copyright theft.

Internet Orphans

Now you may wonder why I need to worry about this as I have the original copyright? Yes that is true, I will always have copyright of images that I take as I have the originals to prove that I took them. The problem is that it is very simple to take away all the copyright information from an image by someone who wants to mis-use them. It takes seconds to strip out the IPTC info using one of many different programs. In fact most the time the IPTC information is already stripped out by the very program that you use to upload it, Facebook does and so does Flickr! So you have already gone halfway to removing your copyright once you uploaded it. The watermarks, well they are usually placed in the corners to avoid distraction of the image, which makes them easy to clone out or simply crop. In a matter of minutes the image goes from being easily identified as mine, to one that is called an "orphan". It’s out there floating around on the web, waiting to be grabbed by anyone.

Up until now copyright law protected these internet orphans, but the government has had other ideas for many years. Now it looks like they have, very worryingly, added a provision in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, that could allow internet orphan images to be freely used. It’s not affected copyright law yet, but the writing is on the wall. It looks like the government is trying to make it legal for anyone to use internet orphans (music, images) provided they carry out a cursory search to try to establish who’s copyright it is. But without a watermark and IPTC caption info, it will be virtually impossible for them to do this. So it will be open season.

How does it affect you?

Should you be worried? Yes you should. It could mean that if you upload an image to the web, someone could take it and claim it as theirs, or a company can use it on their internet site without any payment or even thanks. It means that for photographers like me, who inspire others by posting images, that our image will go from looking like this:


to this:


It’s more than just having to put bigger watermarks on images, it’s the principle of having no control over the images that you have worked so hard to take. One thing I am doing in the coming months is stopping all uploading of my images to social media sites. Instead I am going to only show bodies of my work to members of my new Inner Visions BLOG (out very soon now), protected by some very stringent terms and conditions. It’s all I can do from a personal level to give myself some protection...

But what can I do?

The BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photographers) are worried enough to meet with Viscount Younger, the minister concerned, and are leading the fight against this. They are a great organisation that fight for the rights of photographers. The BIPP, on their website, have given us some tools with which to make our feelings known. I have copied them here to make it easier for you to act, but I stress they are from the BIPP and I am not taking any credit for them:

1) Sign the petition – click here

2) Write to, Tweet or call your MP* - http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

3) Write to Viscount Younger of Leckie, the Minister for Intellectual Property* - http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/viscount-younger-of-leckie/4169

4) Spread the word – blog, use Facebook, Tweet – get as many people as possible to Tweet about this

Note when writing to your MP or to Viscount Younger, send a professional letter outlining the problems as you see them and how this affects YOU. Guidelines for writing -http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Letter_writing

For more information, visit www.stop43.org.uk or the excellent BIPP BLOG on this subject.

Please take a few minutes of your time to help us here. This is not a knee jerk reaction or scare mongering, it is real and it could happen. If it doesn’t happen then we haven’t lost anything, in fact we have gained credibility as a group for standing up for our rights. But if if does go through then it affects the whole online photographic community.

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Amazing South Georgia / Antarctica trip Announced

Yesterday I formally announced a 20 day exclusive expedition to the amazing wilderness of South Georgia / Antarctica in October 2014. What’s different about this expedition is that we have only 80 people on board, have two great photo leaders to help and mentor you throughout (myself and Andrew James, editor of PP magazine), are going early season to try to get penguins on ice / snow plus snowy landscapes plus albatross courtship, have an itinerary that I have set with no filler landings (only good ones!) and with a great expedition leader and crew. See stuff like this....




Amazing huh? Just spectacular and a wonderful experience. The tour is backed with my bonded partner Natural World Safaris and we offer a range of accommodation options on board.

To see the full online brochure and to reserve your place today please click here.

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Wild About Animals Theatre Tour Announced

I have just announced my 2013 theatre tour called Wild About Animals. Packed full of great new images, anecdotes, tall stories, toe tapping music and fun videos, it will be a great night out for all. I have booked several theatres around the country for the show, and at each one the raffle will support the Medical Detection Dogs charity. We are even doing a special fundraiser for them on October 9th. Here are all the dates so far....

Date	Venue	Talk	Tickets
09-10-2013	Medical Detection Dogs Charity Fundraiser The Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
01-11-2013	The Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham	Wild About Animals	details soon
08-11-2013	The Blake Theatre, Monmouth	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
13-11-2013	The Gatehouse, Stafford	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
14-11-2013	The Arts Centre, Nottingham	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
17-11-2013	The Garrick Theatre, Lichfield	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
20-11-2013	The Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds	Wild About Animals	details soon
27-11-2013	The Lights Theatre, Andover	Wild About Animals	buy tickets
28-11-2013	The Barnfield Theatre, Exeter	Wild About Animals	details soon
17-12-2013	The Borough Theatre, Abergavenny	Special!!	details soon
2013	The RGS, London	Wild About Animals	details soon
2014	Scotland	Wild About Animals	details soon
2014	Ireland	Wild About Animals	details soon
2014	Hong Kong	Wild About Animals	details soon

Please do support us with these events, it costs a lot of money to hire theatres and to put on these shows and without your continuing support it would not be possible.

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2020Vision show @ The RGS

I am compering the inspiring 2020Vision show at the RGS London on Friday May 17th. This shows looks at conservation within the UK and illustrates it with inspirational photography, videography and thought provoking messages. It’s had a great reaction so far at it’s first two outings so come along for a great night out. Photographers presenting that evening, apart from yours truly, are Pete Cairns, Alex Mustard, Mark Hamblin and Bertie Gregory.

For tickets click here.

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The Inner Visions BLOG

We have almost finished work on the Inner Visions BLOG and will be releasing it very soon indeed. Watch this space, it’s coming.....

Just a quickie.....I need some help. Yes you all know that by now, but seriously we are looking for help.

Hello and I am going to start with an apology. Not the ideal way to start a BLOG I know but I feel goodness in my heart today as its Valentines. So here we so. Sorry that I have been a bad boy matron. I have neglected my duties to keep you all updated on my wild world and there is no excuse (bows profusely!!).

The reason I have been quiet is that I have my head down working on a new project, the Inner Visions BLOG. It will see a major change in the way that I communicate with fans that follow my work as it will allow me, for the first time really, to share the innermost secrets of what I do and how I do it. So I have had my head down charging ahead with web guru Keith getting it all working and I have to say that it’s 75% there now. I have been writing lots of new articles and posts for it across a wide spectrum of interest levels, from photographer to animal hugger alike. I’ve help too, in the shape of my mentor Eddie Ephraums, who will provide a different view on both my work and the world of photography. Anyway enough of this, expect an announcement in a couple of weeks.

Recently I went to Hong Kong on a business trip, with the joint goals of cementing some business relationships I have there and also working on my growing interest in urban time lapse. Now I won’t go into the details of how and when I shot it, that is one of the first articles on the new Inner Visions BLOG, but I thought you would like to see one of the time lapse sequences. I shot this, ably assisted by the director of Canon Hong Kong Vincent, on the street one busy afternoon in Hong Kong. You will see trams that go by within inches of me, it was quite a harrowing yet fun experience, the weird effect is caused by my beloved fish eye lens. Anyway just click play and maximise it for best viewing:



Amazing isn’t it, just look at the life right there. God I love urban time lapse and will be doing a lot more of it when I get the chance. Hong Kong was a fantastic place to be, I was treated with such respect there by other photographers and just people on the street. There was a politeness there that I think we have lost, it was nice to be able to walk (or more truthfully stumble) around the streets of a night without any abuse or any danger. I met some great people too and hope to see you all again soon. I will also be posting about a great fStop rucksack that I used there called the Kenti, with a unique design it was awesome to use for travel and wandering around, more on this in a couple of days.

Right I have been busy working away locally again on the Barn Owls and others, thanks to Russ as always for his help and supply of morning chocolate. I thought I would share with you a couple of the recent pics I shot with the 1DX and the 600mm lens, I had a great couple of days and will be returning next week to do some more:



Ok I did three!!!!! Beautiful huh!

Finally just a mention of my talks program for 2013. My new Events Manager Denise has been busy booking up theatres for our Winter tour and so far we will come to Stafford, Lichfield, Exeter, Andover, Leeds, Monmouth, Cheltenham & Abergavenny. This is only the first leg though, we will be coming to Scotland at some stage too and to the East of the country. I will post ticket details as soon as I have them, it will be an all new show with some surprises and a more laid back style.

For those in Hull I will be coming to see you sooner, on the 21st March to be precise, giving a talk that will be hosted by Andrew and the Viewfinder Photographic Society. This will be my 2012 talk, so lots of great favourites, music and some awful jokes.

Details for the Hull talk, the 2020Vision shows and my 2013 Wild About Animals Tour can be found on my website talks page by clicking here.

Anyway I will be quiet again for another week as I have the small matter of my birthday tomorrow (Friday), followed by a photographic road trip with a friend and a lot more work on the Inner Visions BLOG. Trust me it will be worth waiting for. Rouse out.

On the business side well the highlights for me must have been receiving the Cherry Kearton award from the Royal Geographical Society, making a difference to tiger conservation by finally selling out my fundraising book and feeling part of something special with 2020 Vision. On the downside perhaps the worst experience of the year was to see my creative ideas so awfully and willfully plagiarized in a major wildlife competition, it has made me rethink a lot of things that I do. But life goes on and it’s a lesson everyday! Inspiration is one thing and I love it but sub standard copying is quite another. Uhh oh yes I am ranting, sorry, happens with age and hair loss.



Business wise, well it has been tough for everyone I think and I’ve seen lots of big names really struggling with the way that the business has changed over the years. When I first began it was relatively easy to make a decent living from stock photography, if you were a good enough photographer of course. Over the years we have seen the stock photography market decline, due to market pressures, increased competition and very silly people giving away their work for nothing but an ego boost. The result is that professional photographers have had to adapt and none more so than in the genre of wildlife photography. I am quite lucky in many respects as my stock photography sales have actually increased, partly because my style seems to just suit it but also because I have invested in a searchable image library and other marketing tools. I work damn hard at it too. But it’s still a tough world with a heap of talented, great pros in it, all competing for a shrinking bunch of price conscious clients.

To be honest I would not call myself a professional photographer if I did not make a sizable part of my income from selling my pictures, after all, why would you trust anything I say or respect my photography if I didn’t. If I made my money from leading tours then I couldn’t really call myself a professional wildlife photographer, I’d be a tour guide and to me that’s an important distinction. Nothing wrong with tour guides, I know some brilliant ones that are a lot better at it than I will ever be, but I want to be known and respected as a professional wildlife photographer. Of course leading tours is great fun and I really love the connection with other photographers and getting them great shots. But I put so much into them that I can only run a few every year, that’s the only reason I do not run more.

On the 2012 tour front I led two safaris to Africa and one to Madagascar. The year started with a double header to the Maasai Mara, followed immediately by an incredible gorilla safari that took me up to 49 emotional treks. Here are a few memories from those first safaris of the year:






After a long break, mainly due to the wedding / extended honeymoon, I returned to tours in September, this time taking two of my Explorers Club on a private safari to photograph the migration for two weeks. It was a great time, again with my no1 driver Dickson, and for the most part we worked with leopards and cheetah. The migration can be a confusing time for some as there is seemingly so much to do, we concentrate on the cats that we have known for several years as I feel I have a relationship and a connection with them. I love working with animals that I have known for years, it’s special and it’s so much more than just photography. This year though we encountered something that I had never seen before in the Mara, jealousy from other photographers leading tours. I consistently put my people in the right place at the right time, that is my passion after all, and unfortunately certain southern hemisphere tour guides didn’t like it and started spreading some untruths about me on the web. Of course their clients believed it, one even wrote to me and I had to explain the difference to her between a leopard walking and one hunting. Anyway we ignored the jealous comments and simply answered them by continuing to do our own thing and get great images and experiences everyday. That seemed to make them quiet, I wonder why. It just annoys me that people are so petty and show no respect for experience. One wonderful bonus on this trip was my working relationship with fellow photographers Aditya Singh and Paul Goldstein, proof that just because you are all leading tours you can’t work together to get your clients the best sightings. Anyway here’s some images from that special time in the Mara:



Finally in October I led a grueling month’s trip to Madagascar. It’s a tough country to lead tours in, particularly if you want to get great pictures, and everyday we had to make decisions and adapt to the conditions on the ground. Again that is my job to do it and I thrive on it, although it totally exhausted me by the end of the trip and I needed a holiday! But it was a very special experience and we had some amazing wildlife encounters, thanks to all for sharing them. I will never forget the moment when an Indri reached out it’s hand to me, truly incredible. Here are some images from Madagascar…..




Over the past few years tours have taken over and now I’ve decided to reduce them a little so that I can concentrate on my photography, as well as helping others with theirs. It also means I can spend more time at home with the wife and my friends. For me photography is not an obsession, it’s a pleasure, and I don’t want to constantly travel, be away and be a stranger. I enjoy having a home life, going out, and if the sacrifice to keep it is to run fewer tours and pay less tax then so be it. Like I said earlier I do not want to become dependent on tours for my lifestyle, I want to strive to continue evolve as a publishing wildlife photographer. Sometimes I do not pick up a camera for weeks, I don’t feel the need to produce images all the time, I produce them when the time is right and I am in the mood. I actually started to do this last year, taking the Summer off to work on my Hare project a few days a week, and not worrying whether I post images on a daily or a weekly basis. I just ensured that when I did post an image, it was inspiring, well exposed, composed and had something to say. This change of attitude has really changed and improved my photography no end. So for the rest of this BLOG you’ll see some of my latest images.....


So, in light of all this, in 2013 I am only running three foreign trips, two to Svalbard and one migration safari to Kenya in our own exclusive camp in the bush. Details for the latter will be announced in the coming weeks. We do however have space on our lovely 7 day Svalbard cruise in June, an exclusive charter of a very comfortable 50 berth expedition ship, with the services of myself and Eddie Ephraums as photo mentors it will be a memorable adventure into this amazing wilderness and a completely different pace from my usual Svalbard adventures. We have a few places left so click here to see the online brochure.

At the heart of 2013 for me will be a return to what I do best, creative photography. I want to spend more time in the field working with the animals that I love, working on personal creative projects. When I first started I remember there were so many amazing pros that I looked up to in this country - Mike Wilkes, Mike Reid, Mike Lane (no you don’t have to be called Mike to be a pro but it clearly helps), Colin Varndell, George McCarthy to name but a few. Over the years I have seen their names fade a little from the hurly burly world of photography, does this mean that they have given up? Nope, they are still producing world class work, but they just cannot be bothered with all the razz, bravado and "mine is bigger than yours" that surrounds wildlife photography today. I can see their point, it’s about going back to basics and what I do best, taking pictures and inspiring people about the natural world.


2013 for me is also a year of collaboration. I have always been a lone wolf, trusting only a few people to help me in this business and preferring to very much go my own way and do my own thing. Of course I have paid the price in some ways, as certain magazines won’t have anything to do with me, but I’ve retained my integrity and style which is much more important to me than anything else. But in 2012 I worked on the 2020Vision conservation project, alongside 20 of the country’s best pro’s and under the steerage of Pete Cairns. I’d never really worked with Pete before and it was quite a change from me to do so, but you know what, I loved it. I felt inspired to be part of something so good. Together with underwater guru Alex Mustard I dressed up for the launch of the 2020Vision exhibition in Edinburgh; I don’t think that many people in Edinburgh will forget the sight of a ghillie suit walking arm in arm with a dry suit that evening! I felt so proud to be part of the whole thing and it kind of changed the way I look at working with people. This year I will be hosting the 2020Vision multimedia show called The Vision, introducing several awesome photographers and generally trying to get the core message of 2020Vision to the general public. It’s an honour for me to do it and damn scary I can tell you. So far we have three shows scheduled so click here to see them and get tickets, it will be a great evening.


Sticking to the talks theme, I have now passed over the reigns of organising my shows to the lovely Denise, who is currently dealing with several theatres to host the next Andy Rouse experience. More details on this as we get them, but she’s doing a great job and you’ll see me out and about towards the end of the year. Working with others is definitely the way forward for me this year.

Of course I am working on many more things in 2013 that are exciting and will come to fruition throughout the year. This BLOG is already long enough so I won’t bore you with them. Suffice it to say that you can expect several books, Apps and other cool stuff from the Ephraums / Rouse design collective! It will all come together I hope and I will try to continue to inspire you with ethical, honest and downright inspirational photography.

Oh I almost forgot one thing, in this year I changed camera system too, from Nikon to Canon. The reasons, well they were compelling but they will stay with me for now as it would be unprofessional to do otherwise. Suffice it to say that shooting with the 1DX has allowed to work without barriers and I have not regretted the change for 1 nanosecond.

2013 is going to be a fun year, watch this space......