The BPPA has written to the Leveson Inquiry and asked to be added to the list of those giving evidence. We did this because of the one-way traffic from witnesses criticising photographers and because of the dreadfully lazy television journalism that has painted each and every one of us as the worst kind of citizen-with-camera-wannabe-paparazzi.

You can read the full text of our initail submission on the association's new blog HERE - and once you have read it, please go the our new Facebook page and share and 'like' it.

If you are feeling really energetic, please follow us on Twitter and re-tweet our posts about it too. It's part of the association's new strategy to promote press photography to engage with all forms of social media a lot more and we could do with your help.

The Annual General Meeting that took place last Friday was one of the most positive and productive meetings held by The BPPA in recent years. We had the formal business to attend to:

1. Tim Bishop gave a report on our finances and, whilst we are far from rich, we are in good shape for the rest of the membership year.
2. All of the existing Officers of the association were re-elected unopposed:
   Chairman - Jeff Moore
   Vice Chairman - Eddie Mulholland & Neil Turner
   Treasurer/Secretary - Tim Bishop
   Books & Exhibitions Coordinator - Dillon Bryden
3. A new position of Member Offers & Discounts Coordinator was created and Spencer Griffiths was elected to fill the position.
4. We elected not one, not two but ten new board members. The BPPA constitution doesn't set a specific number of seats aside and so we now have a very healthy board with twenty elected members and one co-opted membership administrator - Joanne Turner.
   Your Board members are:
   Carol Allen-Storey, Andrew Baker, Steve Burton, Richard Chambury, Carl Court, Chris Eades, Naomi Goggin, Dan Kitwood, Doug Peters, John Rogers, Oli Scarff, Allan Titmuss, Lewis Whyld and Andrew Wiard.
   This blend of youth and experience and different market sectors is exactly what the association needs.
5. We heard that membership numbers remain stable at just under 400 paid up.
6. We are currently refusing around 87% of all applications for UK Press Cards from non-members - all of which are because they don't fulfill the UKPCA criteria of being full-time newsgatherers.
   We also heard that there are a number of new discount schemes that we should be able to announce in the new year (or earlier)
7. Under Any Other business we discussed the Leveson Inquiry and made a plan which includes the following:

• To request to give evidence to and become a Core Participant at The Inquiry
• To write to The Times and other publications about our concerns about how the inquiry is portraying press photography
• To get as much positive coverage for press photography as we can
• To use social media to make our points better
• To appoint three spokespersons to appear on our behalf in the media and to get them some professional media training
• To back an initiative at the United Kingdom Press Card Authority to create a universal code of conduct for all holders of the press card
• To try to influence the vocabulary used in discussions about photography and to get the phrase "paparazzi" as far away from the discussion as possible
• To challenge any and all attempts to establish a privacy law in the UK

That was a long meeting that eventually wrapped up just before 11pm - allowing just enough time to grab a beer. We achieved a lot and we are now working through the list of things we promised to do.

As we have already announced, The BPPA and Snapperweb are holding a joint Christmas drinks party again this year in London. The date is Friday December 9th and it will be Upstairs at The Castle, 34-35 Cowcross Street, Farringdon, London, EC1M 6DB

So that numbers can be gauged properly and enough food ordered can those wishing to attend please RSVP to admin@snapperweb.net

The pub can be found here THE CASTLE don't worry, we will be reminding everyone about this event again.

As if one event wasn't enough, our long-time friends at Fixation are  throwing a Christmas Party for BPPA Members and Canon are paying for some drinks too!

Their invite says...
The Staff and Management at Fixation would like to invite members of the BPPA to join them for a festive drink and get-together on Wednesday 14th December from 6pm to 8.30pm, in their showroom.

We want to say thank you to you all for your custom and loyalty, and to celebrate the year.  We thought it would give you a chance to meet and get to know the staff and chat in an informal setting, without the stress of the daily workload. 

And if you have any suggestions for the New Year on how we could further improve your experience of working with us, we’d be more than happy to take your ideas on board.

Wine, beer, sausage rolls and mince pies, and a lot of Christmas Cheer - Please join us!

Unit C, 250 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5RD
(plenty of free parking after 6pm!)