A British Airways 777 crash landing at London’s Heathrow airport when you have a fully equipped photographer and a text journalist airside is not something you see every day. Unfortunately when it happened yesterday they were trapped onboard another plane carrying British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and assorted colleagues waiting to take-off for the Far East.

Dylan Martinez

Fortunately photographer Dylan Martinez was able to find a window with a distant view of the stricken aircraft and emergency vehicles and despite the dismal optical properties of aircraft windows, able to shoot and file a couple of quick pictures.

Stephen Hird

Those of us in office waiting for more pictures to arrive while watching events unfold on TV may have been slightly covetous of the aerial view we could see from the BBC’s helicopter but Stephen Hird was swiftly on the scene and soon moving clear strong pictures shot from the perimeter fence. He was followed by London bureau colleague Toby Melville. From their pictures of the wrecked plane it was evident that with the exception of a few “minor injuries” the passengers and crew had had a remarkable escape.  

Stephen Hird

Of course before all this happened the primary focus had been Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  

Dylan Martinez

From the back steps of the aircraft taking them to China, Dylan had photographed him and his wife embarquing by way of the front steps, 

Dylan Martinez

so he was there when Richard Branson got on too. The Virgin Atlantic boss getting onto a British Airways flight - now that’s something you don’t see every day!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22706026

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/17/e urope/heathrow.php

http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2008/0 1/18/2141308.htm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk  /article3204607.ece

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-0 1/17/content_7442126.htm

At various times some of our photographers and picture editors have talked about how the eyes, hands and even feet can be used as the subject of pictures. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the “middle way” - the human belly as a means of self expression.

Going one better than wearing his heart on his sleeve, this soccer fan has transformed his belly into the Brazilian national flag, shame about the chest hair. Ivan Alvarado .

Gregarious biker, gsh, likes choppers, tattoos and beer. Laszlo Balogh.

I find this image really disturbing. It is one of a harrowing series showing life in an Argentine women’s prison where 273 female inmates, several of them pregnant, live with their 63 children who are allowed to remain with their mothers until they are four years old. Carolina Camps.

No paint or tattoos here, just a winnner in Spain’s El Gordo, ”the fat one”, lottery.  Perhaps with his winnings he’ll buy some underwear more appropriate for a well-fleshed lad. Miguel Vidal

By Sapper Ian Chapman, winner of the British Army Photographic Competition 2007 

After my return from a busy tour of Afghanistan last year, someone suggested that I enter a few of the hundreds of images I’d taken on operations into the annual Army Photographic competition. ‘What the heck’, I thought, so I sent a slack handful of prints off in the post, never expecting to hear back.  Several weeks later whilst working with the US Marine Corps in Washington, my wife managed to contact me to let me know that an invitation had been received for the competition awards ceremony.  To cut a long story short and never having entered a competition before, I became the rather bemused but extremely proud winner of all five amateur categories that I had entered, as well as winner of the “Best Overall Image”. One of the judges was the Reuters UKI Chief Photographer David Viggers, who has since asked me to contribute to this blog page - thanks David, no pressure there then!

Crown copyright/Ian Chapman

My first camera, an OM10, was a 21st birthday present and I carried it everywhere with me whilst serving with the Army, taking pictures from Africa to Norway.  In 2006, I was given a Canon 350D and having the luxury of being able to delete all the rubbish shots, I became more adventurous with the images I took and saved.  So, armed with a shiny new camera and a big machine gun, I set out to document my experiences at the sharp end in Afghanistan.  Being a novice photographer, I never realised just how much memory space would be required to back up my images and on one occasion I managed to delete a full memory card while trying to download the images onto a mate’s laptop in the middle of the desert. Even charging the batteries for the camera was a challenge and I frequently had to flutter my eyelashes at our signaller in order to blag a plug socket for half an hour. Due to my tiny collection of memory cards, I estimate that I deleted around five thousand images to bring about a thousand home. A lesson well learned although I still haven’t bought a portable hard drive - I splashed out on a Nikon D200 instead! The Canon camera just about died in Afghanistan due to all the dust and abuse it was subjected to.

 
The feedback and comments I’ve received since winning the Army photographic competition have really fired me up and encouraged me to pursue photography as a future career, so I enrolled at a digital photography night class over the winter months to improve my general camera skills. I turned up on the first night to have the lecturer inform everyone that there was a pro’ amongst the class and proceeded to show everyone a magazine article about me. Embarrassed or what? Every time I turn up now, all I get is ‘what have you won this week?’ and ‘which magazine are you in today?’ I just laugh the banter off and continue photographing the melons and Goth models. One of the prizes I won was a two day training course on digital editing and I’m booked in to attend that later this month. Hopefully, I’ll learn more about image manipulation to enhance my work. Saying that, I’m really not interested in putting donkey ears on grandma’s head - I prefer to capture the image I want and just do the basics with it on the computer.

My local paper, The Hull Daily Mail, featured me in a ‘local boy done good’ article and afterwards I asked if I could possibly shadow their pro’ photographers to get a feel for press photography. The paper kindly had me on board for the week before Xmas and to say that I learned loads would be an understatement! A great bunch of people and a brilliant experience. The icing on the cake for me was when they asked if I’d like to cover the Championship footy match between Hull City and Wolves at the KC Stadium on Boxing Day. I jumped at the chance and was let loose on the touchlines with a 300mm lens that resembled a rocket launcher. Brilliant. Thankfully, the day was cold and dry, but I became a bit of a weather-watcher in the preceding days, praying for a crisp, bright afternoon. How people can do that job in pouring rain is beyond me - I just didn’t want to get my camera wet. They’re having me back to cover a rugby match when the Super League starts in February. Can’t wait, but please, no rain!

In summary, it’s been an exciting and hectic few months for me.  I’ve been amazed at how willing the professionals are at giving their time and precious advice and I’ve also learned that trying to get on the professional ladder is not an easy step to take, but I’m prepared to graft hard and I know it’s going to be fun trying!

So far it’s been a great story and a rollercoaster ride for supporters and candidates alike and the great pictures keep coming.

I particularly like this clever picture from Brian Snyder in New Hampshire. It is simple, effective, well observed, beautifully executed and delightfully still.

Our team of photographers may have changed shift but the candidates are still going. strong. As well as being completely awed by their sheer stamina, I am always amazed by the commitment demanded of their nearest and dearest. Jason Reed’s picture of the Obamas working the crowd shows that campaigning is very much a family affair.

The caption on this picture tell us that Senator Hillary Clinton “points to supporters in the crowd at her New Hampshire primary night rally”, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this expression of surprise and delight was a direct result of her having spotted Larry Rubenstein back behind a camera. 

Having spent the weekend listening to my kids grumbling about having to return to school today after the Christmas break, I couldn’t help but be struck by the coincidence that these images, part of a series from South Korea by Lee Jae-Won, should be the first thing I saw as I read-in this morning. 

They show primary and middle school children on a six-day winter camp at the Cheongryong Self-denial Training Camp outside Seoul.

Run by ex-marines the camp is designed to strengthen body and spirit.

While nobody appears to be finding this process much fun, this little guy at least has the benefit of some evidence that, from this angle anyway, he was more than a match for the bigger kids.

This might be someone using their head creatively or perhaps just trying to hide from the world but if the expressions of discomfort on the faces we can see are anything to go by, while possibly not resulting in a flood of marine recruits in future, the physical and spiritual gain must be considerable.  

May your Monday be equally rewarding. 

From a rich picture file of events in Iowa comes another one of those images that rang a bell somewhere. Andy Clark’s picture of the winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses former Governor of Arkansas and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee appears to show rays of light emanating from his head as he addressed a crowd of supporters in Grinell.

It was something I recalled seeing as an art student portrayed in classical representations of Moses on his return from Mount Sinai, like this one by Jusepe de Ribera, in which his great wisdom is represented by similar-looking beams of light - there is a well known  engraving of the same thing by Gustav Dore.

I draw no further comparisons and in any case Andy’s picture is deficient in terms both of the tablets and the beard, although as an earlier picture of his shows, perhaps the beard can be accounted for.

A while ago, making a comparison with the jubilant expressions we see from soccer matches, I suggested that protective headgear obscuring players’ facial expressions was one reason why exuberance or any other emotion was so hard to portray in sports like American football and ice hockey. There are of course exceptions and Joe Giza’s picture of the Washington Capitals’ Brashears and Ottawa Senators’ McGrattan punching one another’s lights out leaves little doubt as to the emotional state of the participants. 

However, for those of us raised on soccer and unconsciously used to seeing facial expressions as an essential part of the action, it is great to see football pictures like this from Lucy Nicholson which combine the two.

Sometimes no facial expression is required because the body language says all there is to say as in Danny Moloshok’s pictures of USC Trojans’ Desmond Reed performing a flip as he crosses the goal line to score a first quarter touchdown against the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Other times just a partial expression and the angle of the head are enough to tell the story.  

In this picture from Lee Celano there can be no mistaking University of Hawaii Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan’s abject dejection as he is led off the field after the Warriors lost 41-10 to the Georgia Bulldogs;

however Sean Gardner’s image of the University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Dancers performing before the game suggests that the flight home may not have been entirely miserable - applications for places there must be terribly oversubscribed.

Hats off to the team of photographers assigned to candidates campaigning for Thursday’s Iowa caucuses. Even the most spritely of them must by now be feeling a bit weary but while some of us have wallowed in festive sloth and gluttony, they have continued to come up with ways to keep this relentless media opportunity looking interesting. 

In Jim Young’s picture from the Iowa School for the Deaf, Senator Barack Obama appears to be manifesting an aura of some kind as he addresses the crowd.   

More light play from Keith Bedford who captures the shadow of fomer Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as it falls on a photograph of President Ronald Reagan. 

Back with Obama, Jim Young captures a lovely moment as daughter Malia reacts to being kissed by her father at a rally at a Des Moines high school. 

Although there can be no doubt she was intended to be pictured from above, the first impression of Brian Snyder’s  image of Senator Hillary Clinton is that we are perhaps looking at a picture of a campaign poster, until we take account of the applauding hands at the bottom of the frame. 

Andy Clark takes advantage of what looks like a spontaneous moment in what must be an otherwise staged appearance by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee again in Des Moines -

and then follows it up with an example of an effective ‘on-message’ way to mute any criticism of the band’s performance.

There have already been thousands of campaign pictures from the U.S. and before the process is over there will many thousands more which will inevitably provide rich pickings for blogs like this. From the Democrat nomination contest in Iowa come these three interesting examples.

Jim Young stills the frantic activity of the campaign trail in this image of Senator Barack Obama apparently meditating inside a bubble.

It is hard to escape the conclusion from John Gress’s picture that for kids at least, campaigning is not all fun and frolics as  former Senator John Edwards waits backstage with his children at Cronks Cafe.

Andy Clark brings us Hillary Clinton caught apparently playing the crowd like a piano.

More to follow in the New Year, in the meantime may I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2008.

Bird’s eye views are comparatively rare in the daily news file.

Though not the high impact, immediately understood news and sports pictures we usually aim for, they can deliver a huge amount of information and fascinating detail, which unfortunately is not best illustrated in a low resolution format like this blog.

It is a strange coincidence that two should appear on the same day, albeit of vastly differing subjects. 

Zahid Hussein illustrates the biggest international news story of the day with this picture of family and supporters placing the body of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto into a grave during her funeral in Pakistan.

Despite appearing to illustrate some sort of stand-off between this tightly packed crowd and yellow-jacketed officials, Luke MacGregor’s picture shows nothing more disturbing than bargain hunters waiting for the doors to open on Harrod’s winter sale in London.