All Change… At The Top

The night of Tuesday the 11th May 2010 was excellent for me, I had decided at the last minute to see what was happening in Downing Street. The hustle and bustle of the previous few days after the general election had been manic with a hundred Chinese whispers circulating around the Westminster Press pack as to what was going on at any particular moment in the negotiations between the tree main political parties. Nick clegg was here then he was there… Gordon brown was resigning, then he wansn’t… Clegg and Cameron had made a deal then they hadn’t!

As I entered downing street I had peter Mac from Getty Images behind me weilding a monster lens and the coppers on the gate telling me that I was very lucky to get in as the street was going into lock down very shortly indeed. The area of the street that had been set aside with platforms and barriers for the press, directly opposite the door of number 10, was absolutely jam packed with bodies and lenses. The place was buzzing busily and Thanks to Steveie at Reuters I had nabbed his ladder earlier in the afternoon and luckily I was stuck with it. Perched up precariously as high as I could get. A few minutes went by and out came the lecturn. For the first time ever I was at an event where history was literally in the making.

Number 10 staff look on as Prime Minister Gordon Brown stands along side his wife Sarah and resigns.

Final wave goodbye to the onlooking press and British Public.

The night didn’t finish there, we had a short break while the two main men of the moment went to a very low key meeting with the Queen and then suddenly we were back for Act Two.

David came into Downing Street by car and it stopped short of the line of press for him to walk the last few paces to the microphone. His wife Sam stood back a few steps from her husband, in contrast to Sarah Brown who stood beside her man, but I suppose this was Davids moment. I must admit I didn’t hear any of what he had to say, I was too busy concentrating on his expressions and the Buffer on my D3 reaching its maximum, coping with the uber ammount of RAW Files I was taking.

I have to say as a press photographer you long for days like this and it makes all of those endless doorsteps seem somehow worthwhile. I had a brilliant night and if not the best shots out of all the ones taken or published that night, it was an experience and a half and I have some shots to learn from and try and do it better in 5 years time.

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Step up to Power….

Number 10 Downing Street three days after the Tory Leader David Cameron became the British Prime Minister. After 13 years of Labour rule he leads a coalition Government in a alliance with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Lets hope it all works out and you deliver some normality and prosperity back to us all.

The most famous door in the land.

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On Assignment – Sir Willard White

Pictured here is Bass Baratone Opera Singer Sir Willard White, and I have to say he is perhaps one of the coolest people I have ever met… A pleasure to photograph, he was asked for an interview by the Irish Independent on Sunday and I was in turn tasked by National News to photograph Sir white in the area of Trafalgar Square in London. After being denied permission to use the hotel we met in for a portrait session, and being escorted away from Trafalgar Square itself by a couple of highly strung power hungry security guards, I was running out of time and Ideas so I chose a plain stone wall at the side if the National Portrait Gallery and set to work… Here are a couple of the resulting images.

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On Assingment – Sotheby’s

I’ve just finished transmitting pictures from a task at Sotheby’s Auction house in London, not an easy job for getting inspiration and like many of these kind of jobs a press release is normally issued to every man and his dog so there are always loads of snappers there and it is a challenge indeed to get something different. As usual the likely lads (or lasses) from the wire agencies go along too so it makes it extra difficult to get things published from a job like this. However, that said it all adds flavour to the challenge…

Caption Used – ‘Sotheby’s auction house in London revealed items in their Spring sale of Impressionist and Modern Art which is to be held in New York on various dates throughout May 2010. Amongst the items on sale are an iconic and rare self portrait from 1986 by Andy Warhol (Estimated Value $18/25M) and a spectacular painting by Henri Matisse called ‘Bouquet pour le 14 Julliet 1919′ (estimated value $18-25M) and Pictured is a Large Orange Canvas which is an untitled painting by Mark Rothko (estimated value $18-25M). Also on sale is Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme au Grand Chapeau, Buste’ 1965 which is expected to fetch between 8 and 12 Million Dollars.’

I must admit that I normally annoy all the other Photographers with my off camera (strobist) setup but I did it all today using quite a high ISO and less faffing around with lights… I think it is important as a press photographer to be able to show that you can manage the light in both circumstances (using extra lights or just available light).

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Ian Tomlinson Memorial

A year after the G20 Protests in central London, Julia Tomlinson, the wife of Ian Tomlinson lays flowers and pays tribute to her late husband who died during the violent clashes with police exactly a year ago. Mr Tomlinson’s family including his son Paul King (grey Jumper) were present near the Bank of England where onlookers paid their respects with a minutes scilence.

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Spring Afternoon in Westminster

I took some weather pictures short notice yesterday afternoon with fellow Photographers Zed and Callum in the Westminster Area, Thought I’d share them…

Portrait of Zed.... 3 Cameras, Never enough!!!!

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Photocall – Boris opens Olympic Size Pool

London Mayor Boris Johnson opened a new state of the art, £31m Leisure complex containing London’s fist 50 metre Olympic Sized Swimming pool for 40 years. The new complex has been built on the site where a 1930′s outdoor pool used to be called the Uxbridge Lido. It is the first of 150 fitness centres across the capital to receive funding from the Mayors office to make their facilities more accessible for disabled users. The Leisure centre has a fully equipped cardiovascular gym where he met local hillingdon residents as they worked out.

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