Robert M Estall

Rights grabbing has been going on for a very long time. A publisher or packager would have a person who's job was contracts as long as I can remember. Not to be left to photographers and picture researchers over a tipple in the pub. They were never push-overs! For the most part, they took the view that I was only doing my job by holding out for best terms and it was vital to not get in any sort of temper. Terms like "in perpetuity" and "through-out the universe" started appearing twenty years ago. I'm afraid it will get worse, not better.

Slippers are a serious subject if you live in a draughty old house with brick and stone floors like this place. Heavy slipper socks for fireside, damp proof for nipping out back to collect dog droppings, and something getting on for shoes to pop out the front door to buy a fish or two from the bloke who comes 'round in van on a Tuesday morning. Jane took a dislike to one pair calling them pervert's slippers. Couldn't see it myself, but they had to go. Recycling an old pair of trainers isn't the greatest look, but, if it works for you, why not? Losing a set of long loved kitchen knives would be hard!

Gosh, I had completely forgotten about about those little whisker curb feelers. Haven't seen those for years

Chuck, we all admire the eye watering standard level of compensation in the US ( as long as you have registered the copyright) I assume you always go for the full amount in order to protect the ruling. You used to have a fairly high standard figure for lost transparencies back in the days of film. The UK usual figure was £400 and I never settled for less but pointed out that they were getting off lightly compared to US. Unfortunately that doesn't apply in these digital days; I used to do a nice trade in that area. Good records were the key!

Simon Croft knows his stuff all right, but there a few things first: Do you have any history of charging clients for the kind of use your infringer has made? You can't just pick a figure out of the air. Before you make any approach, take screen grabs so your infringer can't just delete and pretend it never happened.. Is your infringer in the same country as you? If you are in Spain and your infringer is in UK he is likely to consider it unlikely an action originating in Spain is going to gain much traction. So, yes, they are likely to ignore you. There are some photographers who have become pretty expert in this business and make good money pursuing infringers. They are doing us all a favour! There is almost a cult of people who think copyright is a kind of scam dreamed up by photographers and big-assed agencies like G.

Many years ago I sported big long bushy sideboards and flares. I don't think it was ever a good look and I'm sure I had left it too late. Hands up another never viewer of the Kardashian show' No, I don't think I will be tempted by catch-up or re-run TV. I quite like some buskers but they are a rarity in Sudbury which is my nearest town

It used to be possible to make a living out of stock photography though most professional photographers looked to make more of our income from assignments and the stock was likely to be what filled in the quieter times and build up a collection for some future revenue. That worked pretty well up until, maybe ten years ago. Habits die hard or perhaps we just like to keep our hand in. Maintaining this crumbling pile and garden can fill a lot of time before I succumb to daytime television. So far I've made 59 sales for 2020 which is still a little better than pin money but let's not kid ourselves that is making a living.

I don't think Jim ever made much from photography, but sold advice well. As far as he was concerned there was only America which works for some but is a pretty limited view

I remember my early days in Canada when the shops had not a lot to offer and we didn't have a lot of cash for "fancy stuff" But Canada does go for seriously strong and aged cheddar. Mother was a terrific hoarder and she would save the dried up corners of cheddar (which didn't seem to go mouldy) These were grated finely and that's what we used instead of parmesan. These were post war years and we had to make do as best we could.

Back in the days of film, I had a lot of kit. One day I realised I could do 95% of my work with a Canon F1 body, a power winder, my 24mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8 lenses. So I bought a nice little bag and stuck to that most of the time. Too late, i'ld already knackered my left shoulder. In the digital age I have something similar but smaller housed in a mini backpack. This summer, I've hardly left the village except for outings to the seaside avoiding the popular beaches. We have only one village pub open which attracts all those loud louts which works well for me as I top up my home glass of Shiraz or Famous Grouse. The frequent trips to the bottle bank have to be made under cover of darkness. Never had a pet gull, but there once was a crow who went for walks sitting on my shoulder some of the time.

long wait for a plump sale B12PG3 for a bit over $900. Banking sector. There are over 800 pix on Alamy for Tabernas with pretend gun slingers among other things, but mine was shot before the whole place turned into a sort of theme park. Tried to drag the image in but it wouldn't budge I've always said, if you have a decent sized collection of well edited images, you ought to win a nice fat fee once in awhile. One a year won't affect the yearly takings a huge amount but encourages that not all sales are tiddlers. Sadly, it seems impossible to predict what and when.

The In Perpetuity duration could only affect the chances of Alamy selling this photo as an exclusive rights sale. Basically, that is for an advertising buy-out for a year or two. I don't wish to diss your image but this is a vanishingly small possibility. Don't Lose any sleep over it. The term really came into play about twenty years ago from rights departments of private TV documentaries. There was often added nonsense about "all territories throughout the universe" and "all media now known or yet to be invented". The virus has spread!

Hedgehogs have charm but their mission in life is to patrol my vegetable patch and flower gardens scoffing slugs and such pests. A bowl of water is a help and appreciated by the birds as well. It's worth reminding that hedgehogs are very lactose intolerant.

My last shoot at Stonehenge, there was the usual morning gang of a couple of dozen visitors. A violent hail storm hit and everybody scarpered to the car park, while I hunkered down in the lea of one of the stones. It was a little uncomfortable but I stuck it out. As fast as it struck, the storm finished and the black clouds parted and everything glistened. The sky was amazing and I had the whole thing to myself for perhaps ten minutes. Magical!

Will some publishing client please buy a licence to use Edo's St Peter's Basilica? It's clearly getting to him! When I had started getting the hang of this stock photography thing I used to advise photographers wanting to have a crack at it to start with Niagara Falls or Stonehenge or some such prime example, do a really good job of it and move outwards from there. That's the worst advice possible these days, there are just too many good shots in the collection and no matter how good your ratings are, the algorithm will not rescue you. Years ago I was lucky enough to find myself at Stonehenge with really dramatic conditions and we were still allowed inside the circle. The shots sold a lot! Now we have little choice but to sell through a big collection such as Alamy and I think I have sold just one Stonehenge shot out of close edit in the 15 years I've been here. That's not a complaint, that's just where we are. Our garden is frequently visited by hedgehogs and last summer they were so hungry, they came out in the daylight sometimes. Each time I would go for the camera, they'd moved off by the time I had geared up. They move faster than you might think!

I reminded of the importance of having a UPS as part of our home office (Uninterruptible Power Supply) These are now pretty cheap (£75 or so) and should save your bacon in a case of Power Outrage or Power Cut or thunderstorms.Those little surge protectors are very limited in protection and many many have had their little surge and are sitting there useless. Would not have saved Alamy from yesterday's problems but probably would have been effective for our little home set-ups A whole day down may have cost Alamy quite a bit in lost business.

That's how we first learned that Americans were weird. Why would they have a smaller gallon? You can explain it as many times as you like, but it's still weird in my simple little mind. It didn't matter much as Canadians and Americans always pull into a gas station and say "Fill her up" In France they mostly Fill her up but I have to watch them carefully as nobody in their right mind would drive a Petrol VW Van. Ah but wait, I was right now that we have come to realise Diesel is evil

Metres are my most comfortable metric measurement; I know full well that a metre is about 3 inches longer than a yard, but in terms of social distancing, it's near enough. Height? I'm 5ft7in and no idea how much that is in centimetres. No matter how many times I look it up, the answer doesn't stick. After 50 years, I have come to terms with my weight as so many stones and so many pounds. How did we ever come to use this bonkers system? Back in the 70s Canada and USA had agreed to go metric. Pretty well at the last moment, USA pulled out but Canada had already started the switch so just kept going. When I go to the butchers I still order a 4lb chicken in spite of the fact that the scales are metric and all the prices are metric and I know full well what I want is about a 1.8 kg chook. If I go to the pub, I'll order beer by the pint but I don't do that a lot these days. I suspect Americans visiting Canada by car find it a bit confusing. At least they all drive on the same side of the road

Could even be in UK though the time is a stretch. The only times I have ever issued refunds or credit notes have been to be able to reclaim the VAT I had already paid on a bad debt

First thing in the morning is probably enough but there do seem to be some zooms show up later in the morning. I used to check late Friday afternoons when there seemed to be an end of week flurry. But that doesn't seem to happen these days. Frequent viewing sounds a lot like watching for the old kettle to boil

Aha! so it's a real thing not just a one-off lashup. Interesting to see how many trombone variations there have been. My Euphonium shared the same mouthpiece with the trombone and could hit pretty well all the same notes, but couldn't produce the same effect

Once upon a time I played a Euphonium very badly. The main part looks like one of those (like a half sized Tuba) but the rest is made from odd parts of other instruments. The valve paddles look like from a French Horn; there are 4 of them. Most brass instruments only have three The best part of being in the band was we wore rather smart red hats rather than the drab rigs of the rest of the cadets and we could move about a bit rather than the rest of the parade who had a tendency to pass out from the heat That was Canada in about 1960. Only boys! We all hated it, but the highschool received a hefty grant they couldn't resist

You shouldn't believe everything those humans tell you.

I'm a 14 year old labradoodle, but don't write me off any time soon. I don't smell like an old dog and am still learning new stuff

5 out of my somewhat meagre 7 sales so far in July reported as PU. I don't think that will cover the cost of a case of claret