Down by the riverside...

...is where I worked today. Boy, it was a long day. By 3 a.m. I was in the car, heading out West towards a small village in rural Wiltshire, in a valley divided by the healthy stream of the River Kennet, one of the prettiest in England. My brief was to photograph the river, the beauty as well as some river keepers cutting weeds in the riverbed.

I organised an underwater housing for my trusty G9, got myself a spare pair of jeans and shoes, and prepared myself for a wet day's work. Luckily, John and his son Rob had some waders waiting for me in their truck, so I ended up staying dry although immersed in cold river water up to my chest. After a beautiful, mild sunrise with gorgeous light, my morning got better with the two of them working their way upstream and letting me photograph them going about their business without any qualms. Needless to say, I really enjoyed my day.

My friend Tony Sleep came along for the trip and shot a set of pictures of me working. Rare, but it happens, apparently. I was very chuffed seeing them afterwards, as it is so rare that I ever get pictures of myself in weird and wonderful moments when it's usually me behind the camera.

Some might say that getting up at 2:30, standing up to your chest in cold water by 9, and continuing to shoot until the afternoon goes beyond the call of duty for a one-day assignment. Well, it probably does, but then shooting pictures to me is not comparable to an office job, regular working times, clocking on and off after your hours are done. Photography is about chasing that elusive, unique moment captured in one picture at a time, be it in the water, early morning, late evening, or whenever else the urge takes you to shoot. Admittedly, I was pretty tired by the afternoon and it took some effort not to fall asleep on the way home, but I reckon it was worth it. See some of the results here, and a full set on my Archive Site.

The MD and his sandwich

Now here's a trick question: How do you separate a very senior manager from his sandwich?

We were interviewing Graham Mackay, Group Managing Director of SABMiller, one of the world's largest brewers of beer. The scene is one I have seen many times before at business interviews: stale boardroom, flourescent lighting, journalists eager to sit as close as possible to the big man, dictaphones thoughtfully tucked to the sides, and then ... a big, ugly sandwich, majestically placed right in front of my portrait subject. As the interview was already progressing and the man was not to be interrupted, I cringed as he clearly was not making any attempt to devour his meal. Instead, that fat, ugly sandwich just sat there, blocking my view and preventing me from taking any straight-on pictures, unless I fancied green salad leaves and majo in front of the MD...

Well, I wouldn't mind, but I was sure that my client would, so by now you can probably see my dilemma: how to take a decent interview portrait without that omnipresent sandwich? Answer: work sideways. Obvious, really, but harder in practice as it involved leaning precariously over the attending journalists, crouching under the table and all sorts of other contortions, all in order to avoid my unhealthy obsession with that ugly sandwich. Yes, before anyone asks, I *do* hate sandwiches...

Anyway, towards the end of the interview, I simply could no longer keep quiet and interrupted our main man, asking him to move his meal, as he hadn't even touched it. To his amusement, he did, and I finally managed to get the last pictures I needed.
You can see the offending sandwich, and ways to avoid it here:

Three Peaks Challenge

Straight off a boat in Cornwall, onto a plane, hirecar and then hike up Ben Nevis, then drive down to Wales, and within 24 hours, find yourself on top of Mount Snowdon. Two of Britain's highest mountains within 24 hours? Not your idea of a fun weekend? Well, mine neither, but (for my sins) I took the job, and so duly suffered the consequences. And I cheated. Twice.

In order to photograph the Three Peaks Challenge, I just *had* to cheat. First, there is no way that a guy of average fitness can run up and down three mountains laden with camera grear within 24 hours and drive the 500-odd miles between the peaks all by himself. Even the fittest athletes attempting this physical endurance test have designated drivers that take them from mountain to mountain, allowing them to rest en route. This luxury was not part of the plan for me, so I skipped Scafell Pike in Cumbria and drove from the Scottish Highlands straight to Wales. And to my luck, I was ahead of the teams arriving from Scafell Pike, and then I cheated a second time: I took the Snowdon Mountain Railway to get myself as close to the summit as possible before the first teams arrived. Bliss! The cheat paid off: I was on top of Mount Snowdon, enjoying a spectacular panorama as the first runners appeared. We took a quick picture - snot and sweat included - before they turned around and ran back down the mountain.
A few more of my favourites from this mad weekend are here:

Gone fishing...

Apologies for keeping the blog quiet for a while - after a short break I spent three days on the south-western tip of Cornwall, photographing handline fishermen. The south west handline fishermen work one of the few sustainable fisheries recognised and certified in the UK - their small coastal fishing has proved to be not harmful to fish stocks and is thus one of the few positive stories you can find today on humans living off their environment.

I managed to get a ride with handline fisherman Will Treneer on his open boat the Cornish Rose. At Will's young age of 19, he is a tough, experienced and enthusiastic Cornish fisherman who hopes for nothing more than to keep earning a living off the sea in the way that his father and generations before him have done. His home, Newlyn, is a small, quiet fishing town on the Cornish coast and fishermen are feeling the squeeze of rising fuel prices, depleted fish stocks and a nonsensical EU quota system that prevents them from landing certain fish caught as bycatch.

Despite all these worrisome issues, our trip was positive, as we were lucky on several fronts: the weather gods were on our side, and so were the fishermen: good access, great views, beautiful morning light and a rather long and cold day on a small boat all added to the flavour, and here's some of the pictures I've come back with...