All hail the Queen
By Suzanne Plunkett
When Queen Elizabeth II makes a public appearance there is usually a long list of protocol rules for those handling the visit, but this clearly doesn’t include what to do when hailstones start showering down.
The Queen was caught in a sudden hail storm on Wednesday while meeting the public in Richmond Park, southwest of London. Dark clouds overhead unleashed a torrent of ice on the 86-year-old monarch and a bitter wind tried to snatch away her umbrella.
The burst of wintry weather caught many people off guard. There were squeals from school children gathered for the event.
Secret London
By Stefan Wermuth
A walk from the Olympic side to ‘Little Venice’ along the Hertford Union canal and the Regents Canal.
I started my journey at the Overground station Hackney Wick. You will not find Hackney Wick in a travel guide under ‘highlights’ or ‘things to do’ but it has his own charm and its own ‘highlights’.
One of the ‘Highlights’ is also my culinary tip. Half-way between the station and the access to the Hertford Union canal is the cafe “The Griddlers”, located next to a car conversion shop. It’s a breakfast point for workers around the Olympic construction side. There is no Goût Mieux plate at the door but it’s authentic and the people are very friendly. The food is honest and cheap. I tried meal number 6 – scrambled eggs, baked beans, sausages and buttered toast. While eating number 6, I enjoyed looking at replicas of Paul Fischer’s ‘Girls bathing” and Jack Vettriano’s ‘Mad Dogs’.
A convert to Islam
By Danish Siddiqui
London to me, as a photographer, is a uniquely diverse place to capture on camera in terms of its people and their stories. It amalgamates a lot of complexities that make for compelling narratives.
A couple months back I went to London from Mumbai as part of a short assignment, to get some experience out of my usual domain. I worked closely with the Reuters UK team and specifically Andrew Winning on the production of a multimedia piece that would tell the story of young Muslim converts in London.
In an age where there is a lot of skepticism around Islam, empirical evidence has proved otherwise. A study, for instance, has suggested that more than 100,000 people converted to Islam in the last decade. London is one such melting pot. And the city made for an interesting background to follow the life of one such convert.
But it wasn’t easygoing from the start. People in London aren’t that forthcoming, especially if there is a camera involved. The contacts that Andrew had lined up for me backed out without warning. Upon landing in London, I’d have to start all over again.
Sigh…Reuters comments pages are extremely buggy. Only half my post made it last time.
You wrote “In an age where there is a lot of skepticism around Islam, empirical evidence has proved otherwise.”
This sentence has so many problems with it I’m having difficulty knowing where to begin.
You do not mention why (Oh why?) would anyone think we live in an “age of skepticism around Islam.” Were your intention to compose a straw man argument, you’d still need to introduce a Mr. Straw here, say an unreasonable bigot with no ability to be objective. You don’t even make that much effort.
You then counter your non-existent straw man (thin air man?) by saying “empirical evidence has proved otherwise.” Whereas you do provide anecdotal evidence, you do not in fact provide any empirical evidence. Yes, empirical refers to observation, but only in the context of a scientific experiment whereby actual evidence is obtained.
I would like to conclude by assuring you that my diatribe is not directed at your faith, but rather your writing skills. I know and respect many Muslims, and I have lived in Muslim countries.
To become a better writer, debater, and yes thinker, please look to a search engine for the dozen most common fallacious arguments (you’ll find a definition of “straw man” among them).
Salaam.
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3
By Eddie Keogh
The world now is a very different place to the one that held the Ancient Olympic Games which only lasted for one day. In those days only men could compete and only unmarried women could watch. It was rumored that women would dress up like men in order to get in, but that sounds a little Pythonesque….
The greatest show on earth is due to take place this summer in London. For a London boy who has photographed sport for the past 30 years, having the Olympics here is very special. It won’t be my first, that was in Los Angeles. As a 21 year old kid working for a London news agency, I can still remember my jaw dropping when I was asked to go. My hair is a little greyer now, but I still have the photography bug and was looking forward to covering the Olympic test events.
Now it’s a very serious business. The stadiums and venues are ready and the testing is now in full flow. As a photographer working for Reuters in Britain we shoot a lot of Premier League football, so to have the opportunity to shoot some different sports is challenging but really interesting. We need to get the right balance on each job, from nailing an important moment that tells the story of the day to shooting some pretty or unusual angles. Sometimes I get it good and other times I get it better. (Ok, I’ve missed a few, just don’t tell the boss.)
NFL touchdown in London
By Suzanne Plunkett
British sports fans are a serious bunch. When it comes to football (they never call it soccer), many would rather lose their home than miss their team score a winning goal. Club allegiance is often demonstrated with tribal passion – influencing tattoos, clothing and even choice of marital partners.
When American football makes a rare appearance in London, it’s somewhat of a surprise to see the seriousness of the sport replaced with a more frivolous obsession: cheerleaders.
That’s not to say British fans have no interest in the sport. When the Chicago Bears took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a showcase game at Wembley Stadium in October, I spoke to plenty of Brits among the American expats paying homage to their national sport. Many professed as much fanaticism as the American supporters who had traveled from the States specifically to see their team.
But as a photographer who had covered both kinds of football matches on either side of the Atlantic and grown to love both sports, it’s hard to ignore a few major differences in the fan experience.
Try as I may, I cannot understand soccer but la football! I am an impassioned fan and usually watch three games each Sunday (of course hoping for a Bills win). I enjoyed this article.
From Downing St. to the White House… and back
It’s cold, it’s very dark and oh…. of course it’s raining. I have no idea if or when I will actually see the Prime Minister after standing here for hours.
That’s my enduring memory from 10 years (1989-1999) of covering Downing St. as a photographer for Reuters. I still tell people that Downing St. is the coldest place on Earth, no matter what month it may be!
Twelve years later, I walked up Downing St. as a veteran of the White House Press Corps for Reuters, and things were very different indeed. The sky was blue, the air was dry and warm and sunshine washed in from Whitehall. This couldn’t be the same place where I regularly photographed Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair all those years ago.
On this perfect day, as I awaited President Obama’s arrival at 10 Downing St., I reflected upon the many differences between covering Downing St. and the White House.
Kevin, you forgot to mention the life saving bacon butties from the greasy spoon – nice read though
The view from inside the Abbey
There were probably more than a billion people who would’ve loved to have been inside Westminster Abbey to see Prince William marry Kate Middleton and to soak up the glamor of what was, for a day, the world’s biggest news story.
I was lucky enough to be assigned a position inside the abbey, but though I got to witness the spectacle through a camera lens, my experience was less about pomp and pageantry and more about perils and pratfalls.
With the congregation dolled up to the nines, even the photographers were expected to smarten up. Abbey staff told us to wear “a suit and tie or female equivalent”. Dressed accordingly in my smartest jacket and skirt, I felt the part – right up until I saw the ladders.
To get to my position, a rickety, three-story high balcony perched above the abbey’s main doorway, I would have to scale a series of steep, metal-rung ladders. I would have to scale them carrying a heavy camera bag behind me — wearing a skirt.
It was hard work, but myself and the six other photographers assigned to the spot worked like a team of Himalayan sherpas to ferry all our gear up the ladders. After 15 stressful minutes of hauling and holding on for dear life, I was safely at the top.
Final preparations for the big day
The guest list was finalized weeks ago and the invitations sent out. For the lucky ones their presence was requested, nobody refused.
There was no fancily decorated envelope from the lord chancellors office landing on our doormat, but an email from the UK chief photographer asking you to be part of the Reuters team to shoot William and Kate’s wedding is an invitation you don’t turn down.
It’s like any other wedding in many respects; you worry about what to wear. How do you keep dry and warm whilst dressing for a wedding? Not as easy task.
And then it comes to where will you sit and who will you sit with; please not annoying Aunty Betty and Uncle Jim, well in this case which position will I get and what will I see?
For myself I was not disappointed, there was no Aunty Betty to worry about, I was given a prime position near the abbey and would be sharing it with my good friend and Reuters Frankfurt photographer Kai Pfaffenbach.
in what place is that? I would love to go there ,.. nice job very clear pictures and gives new dimension to the viewers eyes…
Snowed under
So what do you do when the TV and radio news are all telling you not to travel, and then you receive a group SMS from your company saying stay at home?
Well it’s the worse snow storm to hit London in 18 years and all you want to do is get out there and shoot it.
I get to my car and as I am wiping the snow off it I look up at the window and see my kids looking at more snow than they have seen in their lives. I watch their little faces light up as it dawns on them that all this snow means only one thing — NO SCHOOL. Now let’s face it, that’s just about as good as it gets.
As I head into the office I start to call the guys. I know Darren Staples has a long journey to Cambridge and want to make sure he’s on his way. I call him at 6:30 a.m. and he’s already there, left his house before 4 a.m. to make sure he beat the weather. The same thing happens as I call the London team, they are dressed to impress in all-weather gear and in situ and already taking pictures.
Congratulations for the inspiration to take this special pictures in a special snow moments. Thank you all.
I still enjoying all the photograps about those days, the light, the snow, the different sides of London, details, that make you really feel are there. Again, thank you. …..maybe can be interesting to see the same sides, and actions , with the Spring , Summer and Authom special moments that nature remind to all of us it presence.
A picture is worth another thousand words…
A short while back I collated a few choice quotations and sayings on photography and the picture-taking process: ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’.
I think various gems were omitted first-time round, so here are a few more:
“There are few professions where even when you are right at the top and a household name, you might still be standing on a draughty street corner with your feet getting wet and cold, waiting for something to happen.” (Philip Jones Griffiths)
Above – A British Airways aircraft taxis past BA tail-fins at Heathrow Airport, west London. Photograph by Toby Melville
“When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls.” (Ted Grant)
“I always believed the press would kill her in the end. But not even I could believe they would take such a direct hand in her death as seems to be the case…Every proprietor and editor that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her…has blood on their hands today.” (Earl Spencer on his sister Diana, Princess of Wales)
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Resident Photographers Blog Expert
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The Wall
From the early days of her enthronement as Queen, Elizabeth has always shown pluck and fortitude in dealing with situations as diverse as post-World War II reconstruction, to damaging public relations concerning her children, their wives, becoming less regal and more in-tune with the people. Abandoning royal yachts, riding on public trains, and even having her own personal website endear her more than half-a-century reign.