I don’t Beliebe it…
CAUTION : THIS POST CONTAINS ONE IMAGE THAT IS PROBABLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK depending on where you work, I guess. If it’s the SoHo book store, crack on but if you’re reading this from the staff-room of a retirement home for nuns, it’s probably best to wait until your shift finishes before continuing. [...]
“So, in short, you’re a wizard then?”
So often in this line of work, we have to make something out of nothing, with either long waits for men in suits to shake hands, or photo-calls relying heavily on the photographer’s inspiration rather than the publicist’s ideas. However, this weekend provided a welcome cure to the problem with the “London Comic Con MCM [...]
Three days on the Farm
On October 12th, after ten years, the residents of Dale Farm traveller’s site lost their final bid to overturn their eviction, when the High Court refused them the right to appeal the judgement. With every legal option exhausted, it was simply down to the matter of eviction, so I was sent down to cover the [...]
That’s well Jackson…
In my ongoing mission to mix it all up a bit whenever I can, I thought I’d actually do a proper photoblog for once so without further ado, here is a selection of my favourite shots from the recent “Forever Michael” concert in Cardiff, Wales. Celebrating the life of US musician Michael Jackson, the evening [...]
The flying cocks of Wembley
From “bad-men-in-town” to just plain badminton. Oh the puns… So many many puns… Following the weight of last week’s work, it was quite a nice break to be sent to cover something new for me; the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships 2011 at Wembley Arena in London. Regular readers will know of my complete [...]
London riots, August 2011
On Saturday, I spent the day in Hyde Park, covering the Women’s Elite Triathlon event before heading off to a barbecue. After a settling in for the evening at home, I got a text from my picture editor telling me of trouble in Tottenham. As it’s only down the road from where I live, I [...]
Retro-a-go-go!
On the last weekend of July, the Royal Festival Hall was transformed into a playground of all things retro for Wayne Hemingway’s “Vintage at the Southbank Centre” event. Over the three days, the retro festival honoured all things from the 1920s through to the 1980s with fashion, dancing, film and memorabilia being displayed and enjoyed [...]
Umpire State of Mind
They come for me when I sleep. Thousands of them. Attacking from all sides. Glowing in the darkness, they whistle past my head. With the instantly recognisable “thwack”, the Slazenger “Wimbledon Ultra-Viz” are out to get me. I wake from my dreams as the alarm chirps on the bedside table. Yes, I’m deep into coverage [...]
Yes, One can
With the Royal Wedding supplements only just hitting the recycling bin, London had to spring back into gear once more for a visit from the American Eagle himself, President Barack Obama. Having already produced some great moments during his visit to Ireland, it was going to be hard to beat some of the fantastic photos [...]
This just might be a one shot deal…
After many hours of thought, concern and general fizz, the day of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was quite definitely the biggest rollercoaster that I’ve ever been on. Thirty six hours after the day ended, I’m just starting to get a clear idea of how the day went. The problem with [...]
The Royal countdown begins…
12/04/2011 (17 days to go) With the details finally announced, AFP finally receives the list of positions that will be available to us on the day of the Royal Wedding. With so much planning already in place (despite a total lack of actual knowledge on where we’d be), it’s a relief to find that we’ve [...]
Never mind the barracks
In the process of writing a blog on the upcoming Royal Wedding, I realised that I had enough shots from one of my marriage-related assignments to make a separate blog, so here’s some work from a visit to the Wellington Barracks in central London. With the media demand for wedding-related stories getting to a state [...]
That nagging feeling
Following on from my recent coverage of the ISU World Short Track Championships in Sheffield, last week I was sent to the Cheltenham Festival for my first ever taste of horse racing. Those of you who know of my previous experiences with horses on this blog will appreciate the fact that there isn’t a single [...]
Éire’s Heir Affair
As promised/threatened in my previous post, AFP sent me off for a week in Ireland, covering the blistering story that was putting all that was happening in North Africa in the shade; the Irish election. (Cue lightning strike) Based at Bewley’s hotel in Ballsbridge (fnarr), I was well positioned for the vote count that would [...]
La Fashionata
Last week I got the chance to shoot a couple of days of London Fashion Week. With colleague Carl de Souza organising the week’s coverage, the bulk of the shows are being covered by him with a few odds and sods open for me to play with. The work that goes into dealing with pass [...]
Fees, fights, foes fumped
Before I begin, I should explain my own experiences with fees and student debt. When I was 17, I took a Foundation course in photo-journalism with my A levels. On passing this, I applied for and secured a place on the next stage, the Pre-entry NCTJ Photo-Journalism course. However, when I was told this good [...]
Rally in the Valleys
Like a bolt from the sky from a flaky A380, my Picture Editor decided to throw me a challenge in the shape of the WRC Wales Rally. Up to this point, my only experience of motor-sport rally was climbing in the trees of Sherwood Forest when my Dad took me to watch the Lombard RAC [...]
Hell is where the party is
As I’ve said in #12, photography is a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows and, recently, I was feeling in a bit of a dip. “What I need”, I moaned at the ever-patient Kirsten, “is a job that really gets my mind working”. Then Satan answered my call. From 12-17 October, the Old Vic theatre [...]
Battle of the ‘bands
Within hours of returning from the heaven on earth that is Villa Cenami, I was up in Manchester for the annual Labour Party Conference, preceded this year by a knife fight to the death between rival candidates hoping to become the new party leader. With a brief speech by the previous Guvnor, Gordon Brown, it [...]
The Papal People Meeter
With all leave cancelled for the AFP photographers, the Pope’s visit to the UK was always going to be a pretty big deal. As the visit got closer, photographers began to compare notes, plans and tactics, with the rival agencies keeping their cards close to their chest. On receiving my accreditation, I found that I [...]
Licensed to Chill
Having spent the last few years with Glastonbury as my only festival event of the year, last weekend I got the chance to broaden my horizons and try out some of the competition, ie “The Big Chill” in Herefordshire. Running from the 5th to the 8th of August, the line-up consisted of a similar range [...]
Raiders of the Lost Archive
Last week, I had the chance to visit the BFI film archive in Berkhamsted to see how the renovation and restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s first acknowledged film, “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” was coming along. The tour started in the acetate archive, a vast warehouse built to house some of the thousands [...]
They say it changes..
Having tried to put a blog together on this year’s Glastonbury festival, I was struggling to decide on which frames to drop until our lass suggested that I split it into on-piste and off-piste, as it were. You should have already seen the light. Now for the dark.. For me, the best time to shoot [...]
A Worthy cause for celebration
This year, Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts turned 40 with what ended up being a ridiculously hot weekend of music, performance and general chaos. Thankfully, I was sent down to the site for my second year running for AFP (and my ninth actual Glasto). Heading down as early as I could on Wednesday, I arrived [...]
