Pointless vanity project of the former Tabascokid

So as Christmas grinds ever closer and everyone begins to slip into holiday gear, I thought it would be a good time to wish all and sundry a very happy Christmas/festive season/holiday and here’s to a fantastic 2009.  Cheers for taking the time to read this ramble over the last few months and, to those of you who always provide me with plenty of chortles through your comments and feedback, an extra special thank you.

As for the New Year, I decided while out on the AFP Christmas drinks the other day that one of my rather pointless challenges is to get one of those protest pictures with a Policeman reaching out and covering up my lens.  Every archive should contain at least one but, to date, I’ve clearly been far too compliant.  May 2009 bring out my inner anarchist.. 

Happy Christmas!

Not being one that likes to simply forward links, this was one that I couldn’t let slip by..

The fury of the Fuhrer

Easily worth 4 minutes of your life..

One of the things that photographers learn very early in their careers is that, on a worryingly regular basis, when you file your pictures from a job, if you included an image that you weren’t that keen on but sent it in on a whim, that’ll be the one that gets used.  Not only that, but it’ll end up being splashed across some prominent page of a publication resulting in fellow photographers failing to stifle their giggles at your work.  Along with photo-calls only beginning just as your parking meter runs out (yes that was my first London car below..) or your photographic target leaving the office that you’ve been camped outside for hours just as you decide to swap the 16-35mm lens for the 24-70mm, your least favourite shot making the paper is just one of the those things that press photographers have to learn to deal with.

In the virtual world, flickr provides a similar source of this kind of frustration with images that you put time, effort and sweat into capturing going unnoticed as others gain hit after hit.  My particular photographic albatross has gone so far out of the realm of frustration that it’s now become almost sad when it isn’t my most-viewed image of the day.

The particular honour goes to “adult” film star Delta White.  Shot at the Erotica exhibition in London in 2007, the sheer volume of one-handed surfers that stray upon this page is enough to reduce any photographer to tears.  To date, 29,414 people have viewed it.  Of those, only three have commented.  That’s currently over 3,000 more hits than it’s nearest rival and growing by the day.  I’m sure Ms. White is a lovely lady but that’s a hell of a lot of disappointment caused..

Excuse the title but Friday night saw all round good egg Getty photographer Dan Berehulak have his farewell drinks before he heads out to India. With a slightly fragile head, I rocked up to the ExCel Centre to see a roll-call of chaps prepared to inflict a similar feeling on each other.

Having only shot boxing once before, the undercards are always handy target practise for blowing away the technical cobwebs.  As you can imagine, shooting boxing depends on fast shutter speeds, fast autofocus, high ISO and hoping that you’re on the best side when the knockout blow is thrown.

As usual, I arrived with a whole batch of lenses and ended up just using one.  For those interested, the 24-70mm f2.8 is perfect for boxing.  Wide enough for decent full-lengths but long enough for decent close-ups, it gains the TabascoKid nomination for the ultimate boxing lens.. 

After a series of average matches, Enzo Maccarinelli ramped up the excitement with a somewhat decisive victory over Matthew Ellis. Not being much of a sports follower, it’s always good to see someone who is very good at their chosen field, particularly when you don’t know what to expect from them.

Now.  Audley Harrison.  Never having seen him box before I was expecting to see a decent fight but I was surprised at how nervous he looked throughout the whole thing.  My first impression was that it may be part of his “stage persona” but it didn’t take long to reach the conclusion that he just simply looked scared.

With their bout going for the full ten rounds, Martin Rogan ended up the eventual winner.

Apparently Audley’s a lovely chap but when you’re facing someone like Rogan (below), you’ll need a bit more than that.

Finally, it was Amir Khan’s time to shine.  Following his shock defeat to Colombian Breidis Prescott in September, Oisin Fagan stepped up to the mark to see whether Khan’s days of victory were over.

Following the obligatory Spearmint Rhino girls, lycra and wolf-whistles, it was time for the moment of truth. Has he still got it?

Yup.  No problem.  One minute and 37 seconds into the second round and after a whole bunch of moments with Fagan on his backside, the referee stopped the fight and declared Khan the winner.  Welcome back, squire!

One of the very regular parts of shooting for an agency is the “pool photographer” job.  Unfortunately, this has nothing much to do with shooting a swimwear competition and more to do with men in suits shaking hands in front of a fireplace or members of the Royal family meeting random bods (such as the Welsh Rugby team below…)

When an event is going to happen but space is limited, a pool system kicks into place that results in one photographer being allowed into the room to shoot it but then his or her work is given to all publications and agencies to do with as they please.  A regular location is the aforementioned fireplace in Number 10 for grip’n'grins featuring various British politicians and the leader of the Principality of Randomistan.

Like most things in life, the first time you shoot one of these, “the fear” ™ fills your every pore as you consider the fact that EVERY picture desk and editor will be able to see every image you file and worst of all, they’re sometimes waiting specifically for your images to drop onto their desktops for a publication deadline.  Thankfully, again like most things in life, over time the fear soon becomes your friend, then just an acquaintance and finally somebody you never really got on with in Junior School that you can safely forget about and you realise that it’s a job like any other.

Today’s pool was to cover the State Opening of Parliament for the second consecutive year.  Unlike last year (above), I managed to screw up on my choice of position (wrong place, right time) so found myself in a room that didn’t get a whiff of regal action.  Booo.. Not that I’m a staunch Royalist but if the choice is between Queen Elizabeth II in all her glad-rags and ceremonial gear, wearing the Crown Jewels as she makes her way through a hall filled with Lords and Ladies OR standing in a lobby as an odium of politicians file past, I don’t take too long weighing up my options before I can reach a conclusion.

In the end, due to this year’s ceremony being covered with the fallout of a scandal involving the arrest of a Conservative MP, I could at least get the leaders in the bag, cover a bit of political news and grab some stock images for future stories on our gloriously stream-lined and slick political system (or maybe just some Lord collecting his pension before Brenda arrives..)