Mind that building!

Back from seeing the folks in Warwick. The town was this weekend host to its annual Mop fair, which takes place in the main streets and squares.

Did I hear you ask what a Mop is? Well, for the uninitiated, it's a traditional 'hiring' fair where labourers and servants would gather near to Old Michaelmas Day to find employment. They would carry an item to identify their trade. And if you had no particular skills, you would hold a mop head. Various stalls providing food and entertainment were set up in addition to the Mop's main function as an employment dating service.

A week later the town hosts the Runaway Mop, which would have offered those people unhappy with their new jobs - or for employers disappointed with their new staff - a second chance to find work.

These days, the Mop is no longer an outdoor job centre, but simply a funfair. Warwick's dates back nearly 700 years, and I have fond memories of visiting as a kid. The close proximity of the old buildings adds an extra thrill that you don't find at regular fairgrounds. There's nothing like the prospect of plunging headlong into the roof of a Georgian townhouse to excite the senses, as this video shows... Apologies for the poor quality, but I just grabbed it on the hoof.

Mops are held in a small number of old market towns, mainly in the Cotswolds/Midlands area. Expect Iain Duncan Smith to pilot 21st century Mop jobseeker fairs in the near future.

Article on photographers using video in this week's Design Week

I was recently asked by Design Week to write about how my experiences of how "still" photographers are increasingly turning to video as part of their work. As regular visitors to the blog will be aware, I've done quite a few video commissions myself over recent years, including some short films for Harrods at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2008. I also edited the video of 100% Design 2009, part of this year's marketing materials for the show.

The pace of change has accelerated over the last 18 months, with digital SLR cameras now capable of shooting extremely high quality video. So much so that the finale of the current season of US medical drama House (the one with Hugh Laurie being American) was filmed entirely with the Canon 5d Mark II.

My article is published in this week's Photography & Image supplement. Unfortunately, you can only access the article on their website if you subscribe. So if you're not paid up, then rush to your local newsagents and buy one!

If you're using video as part of your photography work, drop me a line and say hello.