Andrew's Working Stories, number 5

I was sent on a job in Worthing last week, about a couple who felt that their electricity company had not been serving their best interests. That’s a controversy-free way of saying that they felt ripped off to the tune of £500 after a cock-up involving the meter.

The figures that the meter had been reading were faulty, but it was entirely the fault of the company, who had installed this meter despite protests from the couple (who didn’t want it changed in the first place) and were now claiming compensation for THEM having installed a faulty product.

This was due to be the lead story in The Times’ Money section, so I was asked to be “Nice and creative with this one. Feel free to experiment.” Very specifically, the paper did not want just a straight shot of the couple.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? However, on arrival, there were a few difficulties….it was 7pm and there was therefore no natural light at all…..the meter in question had been taken away…..the flat was, er, cosy and busy…..my mind went blank.

The only uncluttered location was the stairs, but how could I illustrate this dissatisfaction the couple felt with their electricity supplier?

Suddenly, before I could even think about it properly, I blurted out “Have you got any candles?”  “Hundreds,” they said. “A-ha,” I said, as an idea formed.

I broached the subject of lighting a whole load and putting them and the couple on the stairs, lighting the whole picture by candlelight. They said okay, so I headed back to the car to get my tripod. ISO 800, and a half-second exposure at f5,6 did the trick.

The paper ran with one picture in the print edition and a slightly different one for online, as you can see below. For the technically-curious among you, the one that ran in the paper (the top one) used a bit of torchlight too, bounced off the wall behind me.

Andrew's Working Stories, number 6

I had a job for the Daily Telegraph last week in New Romney, just over the border in Kent; a fairly standard financial page story needing an interesting portrait of a man who happened to live there.

It’s a long drive from Brighton to New Romney; out past Eastbourne, through Hastings, then Rye, and on past Camber. I had come straight from a Guardian job shooting portraits of Sally Gunnell in Steyning so, after the second job was finished, I didn’t fancy just getting straight back in the car and heading home. Neither job was needed until tomorrow, so there was no pressure on that front.

When you finish one assignment, why not look around you and see what else there is to shoot. Is there anything that could be useful for a stock library?

New Romney is just five miles from Dungeness so I decided to pop down there and see what I could see, wander about for a while and stretch my legs.

I love it at Dungeness…it’s the very strangest part of this country in my opinion and, when I got there, the light was really interesting. I pulled out a camera to take a few shots for myself; if I happened to see something saleable, then so much the better.

I took some shots of the power station and the lifeboat station nearby. On the way back I stopped and shot a load of pictures of the electricity pylons stretching off into the distance, and a wind farm / pylon combo. That kind of generic thing is great for stock so don’t just drive past it…get out and shoot it.