Amsterdam Russ

Having a camera with you is certainly a good start, Steve! 😉 And absolutely, professionals will typically go out with a clear idea of what they want to photograph, usually scouting locations and potential light conditions well in advance. And as with anything to do with nature photography, a certain amount of luck or good fortune is always going to be a factor. Now as Kylie would say, I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky... 😂

A mini murmuration of starlings flying over our apartment at sunset. Just managed to grab my iPad in time to take a photo before they flew overhead and out of sight.

Fantastic shot, for sure. What's particularly great is that the guy went looking for the photo - it wasn't just a lucky capture. Everything was planned out in advance: he picked his location, composed the shot, and waited for the right conditions to come along, and it paid off big time!

Happy to share as I know they'll be greatly enjoyed here. Now where's my all-weather gear and waterproof hood for my camera...?

Weather Photographer of the Year: only a small selection of pics to look at, but they are stunners, especially the overall winner - which shows Blackpool's iconic tower, pier and ferris wheel against an impressive backdrop of a lightning storm. Check them out: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46223996

Autumn leaves...

Not interested in tunes with the same or a similar title, to be honest. But thanks anyway. More interested in the legal boundaries surrounding whether it’s legit to “edit” a track in some way (so it’s an enhanced version of itself?) or whether it’s just bootlegging. I appreciated that in law it’s entirely possible to creatively redesign an existing work to the degree that the new work becomes something unique, and thus is deemed to be an original, but are the differences in this tune enough? I can’t see that editing a track down and fiddling with the EQ is enough to make it an original work (and I also appreciate some of the nuanced differences between US and UK/EU law relative to this type of scenario). I don’t make any statements or claims about the legal validity, I’m only after clarification about what they might be here. Anyone?

Well, we have bit of an unusual situation when it comes to the "Most liked photo" for the month of October. We have a tie – with two photos getting the same number of "Likes". But (and here's where it's a bit unusual) both were taken by the same person! So, double congratulations to @Winsford Soul for the brilliant close up of a young badger, and for the kingfisher sitting on a branch. Well done, Steve... twice!

Bob Abrahamian Collection Preserved View full article

No idea if this particular owl is doing a good job or not, but shoo-ing the birds away just might be the most effective thing it's ever done. 😂

The owl is perched on top of an industrial greenhouse and used by the owner, who breeds racing pigeons, to scary away birds of prey and other predators that might take a fancy to the pigeons. The owl's raised wings came about as a result of a storm the previous night - in the high winds they'd become detached from the body. I just had to capture the comical effect! 🤣

Been after a decent photo of an owl for years and finally got one!!!

Not a great shot, but this looks like a lot of fun! The guy was out there practicing for a night-time performance at our local firework display (one of the biggest in the country), and was doing all sorts of acrobatics with the board while a couple of metres above the water. Reminded me of Spiderman's arch-enemy, the Green Goblin!

Thanks for the info, Greg. With no artist/writer/publisher credits on the labels at all, and a made-up song title, I take it this isn't an officially licensed release! Isn't this just bootlegging?

White label demo, no bars, and same layout and font combinations as the yellow one posted by The Yank. Record has a flat outer edge, rather than coming to a point, indicating styrene rather than vinyl. But if that's correct, it's very heavy duty styrene. Run-out grooves: Love is the greatest: 4 - BROS - 10466. AT and W (or is it 3?) scratched in. Plus two tiny rectangular stamps with a line in the middle. Just before the "AT" there are two feint letters that look like "3L" written backwards, or it could be "ET", but with the "E" looking like a reversed "3". IGSG: 4 - BROS - 10467, and the rest is the same as the other side, except that the two very small stamps can only just be made out. Bought from Guy Hennigan about 30 years ago.

Wow, that’s epic! Thanks for that. It’s obvious to hear the purpose of the edit, but what a monumental track in full. Now where do the vinyl 12”/7” and the JLM releases fit in to the equation?

Ok, having the name of the album and the real song title, it doesn’t take much to find out the original LP was reissued on CD by Essential Media Group in 2016. https://www.discogs.com/Greene-Sisters-Whatevers-Fair/release/11150205 It’s taken for granted that includes the full version and not the 7”/12” edit on Moton. But is that right? So the track on Steve Clancy’s playlist, is that the Moton edit, the CD version, or a version on this JLM label? <added>Doh! Suddenly remembered it’s possible to tag members, so calling @Mister Fish

Brilliant info - thank you! I half thought the “Beautiful world” title wasn’t accurate and based on that listened to as many tracks by both the artist and the group as I could find online in the hope of finding it - but with no success. So it appears someone’s decided to press a dance-floor edit, so to speak, aimed at DJs specifically. Would love to hear it’s a legit release, but with no artist, songwriter, or any other credits on the 12” and 7” Moton releases, it does appear to have bootleg written all over it. Perhaps someone in the know can correct or clarify. And can anyone offer up anything about the JLM release? Bought a copy of the Moton 7” yesterday thinking it was perhaps an issue of an unreleased track (especially having seen the names associated with the label on their Facebook page), but seeing nothing could be found to substantiate that (and being unable to find any info at all), I can’t help but feel there’s bit of a dupe going on. Someone please tell me I’m wrong.

Song here, and a mention of it being an album track (JLM?)

Edna Isaac and the Greene Sisters - It’s a beautiful world. A fantastic, uptempo and uplifting gospel number, and new to me until recently, but what’s the story with it in terms of releases? There are only two clear mentions I can find of it online. One is in a Steve Clancy/Mr Fish playlist on here in which he lists it as being on JLM. The other is on Discogs where the artist’s name is given in the comments under a three-track 12” release on the Moton record label from 2009 where the artist/group isn’t named at all. The person providing the comment identifies it as being Edna Isaac & the Greene Sisters, and points out that it was also released on Moton as a 7”. The Moton releases are described on Discogs as being “unofficial”. Does that mean bootlegged? Further, from the Moton Facebook page, it appears Greg Belsen is involved in some way. Anyone able to provide some clarity here about the JLM release, which I can find no actual reference to beyond Steve’s playlist, and the validity of the Moton releases?

No sign of NSoulchris anywhere now. According to YouTube... This account has been terminated because we received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding material the user posted.

Sounds like it could be in customs control for inspection. Once processed, you'll then get a demand for payment of duty - if it's deemed to be due. Otherwise it might just be a random check for illicit/illegal contents. Not had it happen for a good while, when it has it usually took about a month to clear.

I went on a school trip to the big paper mill in our town where the paper pulp smelled like vomit on an industrial scale!