UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Photographers Blog:
Yes, my job really is this glamorous
When people ask me what I do for a living, or they hear tales from my wife about me being away at the Olympics or shooting football or golf or a Papal visit somewhere, the usual response is to tell me how glamorous my job is, rubbing shoulders with all these famous sporting and political icons and how lucky I am to get to attend all these events and call it work!
Granted, I am incredibly lucky to have an office that regularly includes Premier League football grounds and other major sporting events, but glamorous......not a word I would often use, and last night was a perfect case in point.
I've been shooting professionally now for 15 years. Being located in the north of England, an awful lot of that time has been spent shooting football, which we all know is an outdoor sport. I've experienced most things that football can throw at you: the thrills, the spills and the bad weather. But I have never been as wet as I was at last night's league cup game between Liverpool and Northampton Town.
The early rounds of the annual cup competitions always throw up the classic David and Goliath contests with teams from the lower leagues drawn against the Premiership big boys,. This one had all the ingredients for an upset, especially when you take into account my beloved Liverpool's off pitch going's on with talk of takeovers and board room splits being rife. So, the game plan had to be to shoot as if Liverpool would lose, after all they are expected to beat a team from the lower divisions with ease, so where is the story in that?
Best of Britain: Fakes and spills
This week’s Best of Britain brings us everything from highs and lows to fakes and spills.
Prince Harry falls off his horse as he plays polo in the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic on Governor’s Island in New York, June 27, 2010. REUTERS/Stephen Lovekin/Pool
Best of Britain: England pride
This week’s Best of Britain photos show the many different angles of people’s pride in England.
With the World Cup in full swing, one photo shows a house wrapped with fabric in the shape of St. George’s Cross ahead of the match against the United States. While another shows a man with a British flag being held back by police during a counter-protest.
from Photographers Blog:
A break in choreography on the campaign trail
On tightly-choreographed campaign trails there aren’t many photo moments that haven’t been carefully planned beforehand by spin doctors, so when Gordon Brown made an impromptu visit to a hair salon in Oldham, there was a ripple of excitement.
Such unscripted moments create great opportunities for photographers because they offer a glimpse of reality and inject a human element into often monotonous days of speeches, handshakes and platitudes.
from Photographers Blog:
A town of grief
The coffins of six British soldiers killed in Afghanistan are driven though the streets of Wootton Bassett in southwest England November 10, 2009. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
Since the early 2000's, the bodies of fallen servicemen and women from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places have been repatriated to RAF Lyneham. They pass through the town of Wootton Bassett on their way to the coroner in Oxford. This has led to family members, friends, locals and mourners from further afield assembling along the route of the funeral cortege. It is an emotionally charged event that garners wide media coverage every time.
from Photographers Blog:
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…?
Snow. Looks good on those Christmas cards, doesn’t it? Fun for small children. Even nice for penguins in the zoo. But photographers covering soccer? Brrrrrrrrrr. Not really.
Let’s get one thing straight. We Brits go on about the weather like a stuck record, but when it comes to it, we can’t cope with it. That’s why we live in Britain.
from Photographers Blog:
How the earthquake in Sumatra affected me
Write a personal blog on an earthquake where thousands have been killed. Spot the contradiction there... but here goes - how the earthquake in Sumatra affected me.
So usual drill (1) Get a call. (2) Pack my bags, too much, too little, unpack, repack - I know I'm missing something. (3) catch a flight - London, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Padang. (4) Take pictures. (5) Transmit pictures. (6) Repeat (4) and (5).
from Photographers Blog:
Remembering Lockerbie
Reuters Sports Editor, Pictures, Greg Bos recalls covering the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in the following question and answer session.
What role were you in when the bombing happened?
I was working on the Reuters pictures desk at the time, but was also part of the rotation system we had - where photographers could go out and cover picture assignments.
Online vote to decide Saatchi show finalists
The Saatchi Gallery in London, known for its role in launching conceptual Britart in the 1990s, is collaborating with Google to exhibit the work of winners of an international online photography prize competition.
More than 3,500 student photographers from around the world submitted images to try and win a chance to show their work at Saatchi, a trip to London, 5,000 pounds and to illustrate personalised iGoogle Internet homepages.
Eye-to-eye with Simon de Glanville’s pigeons
Pigeons create controversy among city dwellers whether they are being pilloried as “rats with wings” or celebrated as endlessly feedable feathered friends.
Through photographer Simon de Glanville‘s pictures, viewers come eye-to-eye with the creatures.
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The Wall
