Amsterdam Russ

You're welcome. It used to be the case that you could get rid of EXIF data simply by using Photoshop's "save for web" feature, which reduces the resolution (and quality) so that becomes a smaller file and thus is quicker to load online. I've no idea if that still works. If people are serious about protecting their images then both watermarking them and adding EXIF info about copyright is absolutely the best option. Sadly, too many uninformed people believe that any/every image they find online is "public domain" and thus free for them to use, which of course is not true.

Thanks, Not heard of 500px before - will take a look. Lots of people on image sites do add either watermarks or "signatures" to their photos. Adding your name somewhere on the perimeter of an image means it can easily be cropped out. Getting rid of watermarks (Digimarc) is a much harder thing to do. Photoshop can't get rid of them with a click as the watermarks are part of the actual image itself, meaning you'd have to use Photoshop's editing tools to remove and alter the image bit by bit, which is very time consuming - especially if you make your watermarks quite obvious. People also embed their copyright and contact details into the metadata of images. All photos taken with a digital device contains EXIF data, which includes stuff like camera setting, even geographical location if you're inclined. And most photo viewing/editing software allows users to add info such as your name/contact details to that.

Cheers, Steve. Kind of you to say so. I've often thought about making my own website to display my better photos, rather than use places like Flickr and Ipernity. All these photo-sharing sites seem to succumb to internal politics after a while, or you find that other members lose interest in commenting and liking the pics of others. Not sure exactly why that should be, but I've seen it happen with both those sites. Flickr, in particular, had so many thematic groups with "laws" associated with them – post one pic, like and comment on five others, put your hands in the air, just like "Simon says" – that it was all too much. Whenever people get together, it seems some always want to make terms and conditions for being a part of the group. I couldn't be bothered with all that pecking order stuff, so I went to Ipernity. Sadly, though, Ipernity is a loss-making site and is sure to go under. That's unless the recently-formed rescue team of members can save the day, but – if they can save the site – they're talking about introducing a 50 euro annual annual fee. No thank you! Where then to display your photos to a like-minded audience? Perhaps oddly, in many respects it actually seems the best place is here!

Still got my Flickr account, although I moved from there to Ipernity around 2011. https://www.flickr.com/photos/rigilbert/ That said, my Ipernity subscription expired last year and I've not bothered to renew it because I think it's too expensive for what it is, and there's a strong likelihood that the site will fold very soon. http://www.ipernity.com/doc/rigilbert?view=1

Yup, the entire Billboard archive has been available through Google Books for a few years. Absolutely amazing what you can find in there, isn't it?

An acetate of a presumed unreleased song signed "To my brother Charlie… John "Someone"". Can't quite make out the last name properly, but it looks like "Higton"...

Signed by Bobby Bland...

On the Toy record label. Mine's red rather than grey.

Thank goodness one of us here still has a working memor… Er, what was I saying?

Wendy & Kev… Quite frequent visitors to soul nights in Amsterdam. It was Kev's 50th birthday over the weekend, so we put up the balloons and birthday bunting you see in some of the clips. There's usually a few in from the UK most months, which is great as they're always up for a good night. Often we get people coming in and they're disappointed at how small the place is. By the end of the night though, they always go away telling us what a great time they had.

Nooo… Just call ME Loma Russ!

Probably the smallest soul club in all of Europe at just 50 square metres! None of your big allnighter halls here with 10m square circles for each dancer, we're back to the early 1960s with bodies pressed against one another and everyone having a great time! Absolutely. Have I told you about my website recently? Discography of Loma Records

Soul Source music video feature announcement Name: Northern Soul Amsterdam Promo 2017 Category: Video Bites Date Added: 2017-02-19 Submitter: /profile/9478-russell-gilbert/>Russell Gilbert Video Description: Little selection of clips of Northern Soul Amsterdam... watch now... /videos/view-1355-northern-soul-amsterdam-promo-2017/>Northern Soul Amsterdam Promo 2017 Soul Source Video Feature 2016

Ooh, that's nice. Off to buy me a copy right now…

Didn't really notice the cold to be honest. Beer can have that sort of numbing effect. ;-) Once I was on the bike my biggest worry was cycling home through patches of snow and ice and making sure I didn't take a fall, especially as I had my DJ box in one of the panniers.

Coming home from our Northern Soul Amsterdam event on Sunday morning, which requires an hour-long journey on the night bus and a short cycle ride home, this is what awaited when I got off the bus at four am. Worse, the front combination lock had seized up, although I managed to get it open after about 10 minutes!

Thanks for that. Not come across it before, but have bookmarked it now and will have a good trawl later. Looks a very inviting little records shop - and with the opportunity to get "something for the weekend" right next door!

Cheers, Steve. In addition to taking the camera out of the case, I need to go a step further and take it out of the house. It's great when a photo opportunity presents itself from the comfort of your own home, but it's something else to be out there in the field. Soon, I hope...

Thanks, Kev. Looking out the window on what was a foggy day, I saw the small boat making its way down the canal and thought there was potential for a half decent pic. I dashed to get my camera out of its case before the boat turned the corner and went out of sight. I also wanted to capture the craft and its occupants while they were in the clear and away from the dark shadows cast by the trees on the bank to the right. I just managed to fire off this one pic before it was too late. Must look out the window more.

Johnny McCall - I need you - on Al-teen went for a smidge under $900 yesterday, and that was for a VG copy! I know we keep having the discussion about how crazy prices are, but every day seem to bring yet another high in bidding craziness. And I'd love to know who these people are - the ones paying well over the odds for the rash of VG and even G condition 45s that are increasingly for sale. The finger's been pointed at retirees with cash to burn; people coming back onto the scene after having cleared their mortgages or whatever, but I can't believe it's only the older generation of soulies who've been driving up prices these last few years and who continue to do so with no sense of financial care. Is it also newbies into the scene - whether in the UK or elsewhere in the world? Collectors from other scenes looking to cross over and make an impact, perhaps? Just who are these crazy people with the deep pockets???