A comparison of print-on-demand bespoke softcover journals from Blurb Books and Mixam. An outline of the costs, the quality and how they compare. Part of my series about printing your work for photographers.

During the build-up to the Iraq war, the US and UK were desperate to get approval for the proposed invasion from the UN, but some of the non-permanent members of the Security Council were reluctant, to say the least. The NSA requested the assistance of GCHQ in getting information on diplomats representing those countries that could be used to ‘encourage’ them to tow the line.

I admit I'm stretching the definition of 'Newspaper Movie' by including The Insider.

However, it's a great film, and The New York Times does play a pivotal role in the story, so it's not entirely fallacious. The Insider has been on my list to watch for a while, and with the recent sad death of Christopher Plumber, it seemed fitting to take a look; I'm glad I did.

It's a classic. With the possible exception of Citizen Kane probably the best-known film on my list.

You've probably seen it, but trust me it warrants another look, and if you've never watched it you're in for a treat.

Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) finds himself a front-page story in the local newspaper the Miami Standard.

The federal prosecutor suspects Gallagher knows who killed a local Union official. He leaks to Megan Carter (Sally Field) that he's investigating Gallagher for the crime, hoping Gallagher will reveal the real killer to clear his name.

In 1967, Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense, formed the Vietnam Study Task Force to write an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". This report, commonly known as the Pentagon Papers, detailed the systematic lying by US administrations to the American people, starting with Eisenhower, through JFK and Johnson to Nixon.

Set four-years later, The Post portrays the true story of The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers.

Yes, Russell Crowe's Cal McCaffrey neatly fits the stereotype of the middle-aged, grouchy, grizzled reporter, but this a stereotype for a reason. If we're honest McCaffrey is just the sort of reporter we love to love, and Russell Crowe does it well, very well.

The film starts in 2001 with the arrival of Martin 'Marty' Baron, the new Editor of The Globe. The film hints that the paper had previously reported on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, but hadn’t followed it up as Baron would have expected. Not having grown up in the shadow of the Catholic Church, the new editor lacks the reverence that holds back the native Bostonians and he prompts the Spotlight team to investigate further.

Andrew Rossi’s documentary focuses on the Media Desk at The New York Times. Shot in 2010 it covers, amongst other stories, the Wikileaks publication of the Afgan war logs. The standout star for me is David Carr, who steals every scene he’s in. Carr is irascible, smart and at times, very funny. In fact, just how I want my New York journalist to be.

Kill the Messenger is the true story of Gary Webb, an investigative journalist working for the San Jose Mercury News. Webb was passed court papers implicating the CIA in supplying arms to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

What is true, however, is it makes a great movie. I rode the highs and lows. Watch it and let me know what you think?

'What is AG23?' I hear you ask. AG23 is a collaboration between Dan Milnor of Blurb Books and Rick Elder of Beyond Clothing. They describe it as a project "to promote understanding through dialogue and art".

In a world that feels more divided than at any time that I can remember anything that promotes understanding can only be a good thing.

I wrote, in what seems like a previous life, about having become disillusioned with Instagram as a platform for sharing long-form work and how I'd started to look for alternatives.

Today is day five, I think (I've already lost track), of our social distancing here in the UK. When we emerge from under the shadow of this lockdown, it will be a massive challenge for some creatives to restart their careers. It probably doesn't take me to tell you to make the most of this time, and be as prepared as possible.

Having read recently read Kevin Mullins' article detailing how he set the custom film profiles on his Fujifilm X-series cameras I was keen to give it a go on my new Fuji XT1. Although I've been shooting with my X100s for some time it's mainly been in RAW.

I posted before a sample of Orwo N74+ developed using Kodak HC-110, the sample below was developed using Rodinal diluted at 1+50.

This is a shot of Robin Hood Gardens in East London, it's a test from my first roll of Orwo N74+. Orwo film manufactured by FilmoTec GmbH based in the former East Germany. The company in various forms has been making the film, mainly for the motion picture industry, since 1910.

Camera reviews aren’t really my thing but a couple of people have asked what I think of my new (to me) Nikon D700, so I was tempted to give it a go. This is purely my subjective opinion of the D700 rather than a detailed technical analysis, the D700 has been around long enough for there to be quite a few of those.

As you can see I didn’t buy a D610 as I suggested I might in a previous post. I went to look at one and for some reason, it just didn’t excite me. I appreciate that’s a rather an amorphous thing to quantify, but if you’re not using a camera as a professional tool where maybe a particular feature is paramount, it should be something you enjoy using.

If you ever look at any photographic forum (which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend) there's generally a thread with about 14,000 posts on the never-ending debate regarding the pros and cons of full-frame (35mm) sensors vs APS-C. As it happens for some time I've been thinking about trading in my Nikon D7000 (APS-C) camera for a Nikon D610 (full-frame), so I find myself in the middle of this debate.

Two years ago I attended a Portrait Photography short course at Central St. Martins, part of the University of the Arts London. Just walking through the doors of St. Martins is an inspiring experience. With alumni as varied as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Brian Duffy it's difficult not to be inspired and, maybe, a little intimidated.