Work Experience - Day 4 (Royal Wedding Street Parties photography assignment)

On Friday, the day of the Royal Wedding, I was sent out on my own to photograph some of the street parties that were happening around the city. The first location I was assigned to photograph was Bridgemead Nursing Home, where they were holding a party from 12 – 4pm to celebrate the wedding. However, seeing as most of the residents were over 80 years old, by the time I got there in the early afternoon they had gotten so fatigued from the excitement that they had all gone to bed! Fortunately, five residents had just woken up when I arrived so I was able to set up a shot with them standing next to a wedding dress and photo display made for the occasion, seen below. This photo was published in the newspaper in the section titled 'How Bath Celebrated the Royal Wedding' on page 45.


The second street party I was sent to was one in Sydney Buildings, where they had closed off the street and decorated it with layer upon layer of bunting, balloons and wedding and union jack paraphernalia. I had to weave my way around the residents dressed in their finest wedding clothes to try to find the main organisers and explain who I was to get permission to take photos. I then scouted out the people dressed most conspicuously in wedding finery and asked a group of them to pose together, along with a dog that was also dressed for the occasion. I found out later that someone had come in to the office to ask if he could buy the photograph after seeing it in that week’s paper, seen below:

I enjoyed this day since it was the first one where I was sent out on assignment on my own. I found having to walk into a party or an establishment and explain who I was boosted my confidence, getting easier each time. I also had to walk up to complete strangers, explain who I was and ask them to pose for the camera, setting up the composition and formation of the group to best show the event. This was challenging at first, but again became easier the more I did it.

In retrospect, I think I probably should have invested in better camera equipment before going out as a representative of the Chronicle. I was using my own DSLR, lens and hotshoe flash which are all good quality, but had a homemade diffuser taped on made from packing material which did the job but didn't look the most professional or what you would expect a photographer from the city's largest newspaper to have. One person commented on this and made me realise that, although I did look before the placement to try to find a diffuser to fit and couldn't, perhaps I should have invested in a higher-quality flash that would have come with its own professional diffuser. I've learned from this that equipment and accessories such as a large camera bag are essential, as I had to improvise to find a way to carry all my equipment.