Thoughts on GDPR and color

‘Thought’ is maybe one of my most favourite English words. And it is very much part of my personality. When I did a Birkman method test some 18 years ago it was clear I was a thinker.

In a week, on May 25 2018, the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation will set in. And I wonder how that will affect us photographers. And especially those who publish work regularly on the internet or printed publications.

Now let me make clear that I don’t collect personal data. You can subscribe to my blog and you will receive an update in your mailbox whenever I publish a new blog post. The owners of wordpress.com, Automattic, also use cookies to track your internet behaviour. By next week they have to be compliant to the GDPR. I don’t run biometric software, but I’m aware that my photographs do sometimes show people’s faces. Automattic made the following statement about GDPR. If you, as a visitor of my site, want to know more about what Automattic, and it’s partners, do with the collected data, you can read that here.

Regarding privacy concerns I try to determine how that will affect my photography. I don’t photograph on the street with consent and don’t ask those photographed for their permission to be published. I have no commercial intentions for publishing my photographs. I don’t seek payed photographic jobs or clients. I have a day-time job and photograph for pleasure, therapeutic reasons, my personal mindset and right-doing, and because I just love photography and it is very much part of me.

Privacy is still a concern to me, and I will try to keep you informed on how this new legislation and all the privacy concerns will affect my photography. So, one of my first measures is activating the EU Cookie Law widget you might notice below.

I’d like to know what you do to comply with the new regulation. And will you take the GDPR in consideration when taking photographs in public spaces?

And when it comes to photography you might have noticed an increasing amount of color work on my blog. During my therapeutic counseling due to my burn-out I started using positive mindfulness on daily basis. And somehow using black and white in my photography didn’t feel right to me. Now looking back at my photographs from the last two months I noticed that subconsciously started to do a lot more in color. Therefore I decided to stop black and white for now. Right now, color photography syncs so much better with my current state of mind.

At some time I will try to dive deeper into this subject. And I’m sorry for my thoughts of sort on the new GDPR, but I feel an obligation to you, the readers of my blog, to make this clear.

And on a different note, when it comes to 100% photographs post (like the previous one) I will probably keep the comment section closed so all the focus will be on the photographs instead. Feel free to contact me by mail or twitter (and follow me there too).

All photographs by Wouter Brandsma

Remembring

I remember the moment I made my first photograph, I remember when I first went to school, I remember when my first kiss, I remember my first job, I remember when I married, I remember when my photography really took off, I remember when I started my blog, I remember so many things. I however like to experience new things too, learn more, challenge myself, but there is only so little or much I can do with my available time.

Strolling again

I don’t know where to find my time. I work and work, many long hours. I have a family too I care about and I want to be there for them. I care about my photography and my blog too, but I do realize some have to suffer. After a while many blogs collapse. I certainly hope not mine, but without new content it is certainly not easy. I wrote a couple of times about cameras, but feel absolutely no need to write more extensively about it. I see the numbers of visitors drop, but the amount of followers still increasing. Many thanks to all of you for still following my blog and my photography.

I miss my photography, I miss strolling the nearby streets. I will try to restart my photograph a day project tomorrow.

Photograph by Wouter Brandsma