It’s always a privilege to win an international photography award for assignments where you put yourself in violent situations covering news stories. These days my work is a mix of editorial photography and corporate and commercial photography, so it’s not everyday I find myself confronted by right- wing protesters clashing with Met Police Officers in my viewfinder.
Commissioned to photograph Armistice Day for The Sunday Telegraph
On this occasion I was assigned for a national newspaper to cover the very patriotic annual Armistice Day in Whitehall, London. My brief was to position myself close to the Sir Winston Churchill Statue as there had been rumours of clashes between right-wing supporters and pro-Palestine supporters in this area. I’ve covered many protests over the years including ones involving the right wing. Not a very nice lot to be honest, always very aggressive towards photographers, therefore you have to be careful not be attacked or have your equipment snatched or smashed up. I did get plenty of grief on this one, but hey, at least I got my cameras home safely and the next days Sunday Telegraph front page and massive photo inside.
Winning the TIFA Award
I still enjoy covering news stories, it gives the photographer an element of freedom, to shoot live pictures, nothing set up. Corporate photography usually means working to a brief. Definitely not the case with this assignment, all hell broke out on this Armistice Day. The far right had only one goal on this occasion and that was to fight with the Police. To get any decent photographs as a photojournalist you have to get close to the action. That could mean getting punched or kicked by one of the far right protesters or hit with a Police baton. I managed to get inside the Police line close to where the action was. Shoot enough photographs and get out in time to transmit the set to the newspaper for edition. At one point I did have approximately a hundred far right football thugs singing “F**k Off Cameraman, F**k Off Cameraman” at me and one of them try and grab my cameras and shove me down on the ground. This has been made all worthwhile to win the TIFA Gold Award. It definitely makes the times you put yourself in these types of circumstance as a photographer feel worthwhile – thank you TIFA!
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