Cheating, a bit...

Because, I'm re-posting something I wrote for another blog a while ago.  It was written for a guest blog that I did for the News Photographers Association of Canada.  If you are a  photojournalism student or working photojournalist based in Canada, I highly recommend that you join.  There are forums on a wide range of topics, including information about job postings and internships in Canada.  For $50 a year, you can't beat it.

So, here you go, in an effort to be environmentally friendly, my recycled post:

More after the jump...

“Don’t try to take the piss out of me mate” was the response that I received from one of Fleet Street’s finest when I wanted in to the photo pools in Barbados during Prince Harry’s visit.  I don’t actually think that’s where the British newspapers are located in London any more, regardless, to say I wasn’t welcomed with open arms by my British colleagues would be a bit of an understatement.  The U.K. pool system, or in the case of Prince Harry’s trip during which they are called Royal Rotas, is quite different from our Canadian system.  In Canada, royal tour, pools are decided on by merit.  The bigger the media outlet that you are representing, the more likely you are to get the access to pools that you need.  The wire services are virtually guaranteed to get into every pool, since they represent a huge number of, clients; newspapers, magazines, etc.  Since I was shooting for Hello Magazine, with over 1,000,000 readers, I usually get good access.  In Barbados, I thought I would be fine, since I was shooting for all the Hello Magazines, representing over 10,000,000 million readers, and specifically for Hello U.K.

Score:  YVR-YYZ, The bulkhead seat, a few extra millimetres of legroom.

Not a chance mate.  The British pool system works on different criteria.  Only members of the U.K. media get into the their pools.  Though I was shooting for an English publication, I wasn’t eligible.  My flight didn’t depart from England.  That’s right, even if you are shooting for a British magazine, or newspaper, you can only get into the Royal Rotas if you are based in the U.K.  Since I clearly wasn’t Barbadian, or considered local media, there were no pools available to me.  Another quirk of the Rotas, pools aren’t really pools.  In Canada, pool coverage is exactly that, all photos are available to all media present, freely.  Rotas are only shared with the other members of the Rotas.  Does it sound a bit like a private club?  That’s exactly what it is.  Joining the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery is a reasonably straight forward affair, as long you meet the fairly objective requirements.  Not so Royal Rotas.  The rules are different at home and abroad.  At home, in England, the major media outlets get into pools as well as 4 special Royal Rotas.  These special passes are allocated to 4 specific freelance photographers.  Do you know how it is decided who gets them?  When one of the four eventually retires the other three elect a new member.  Kinda like getting elected to the student council in high school, it’s really just a thinly veiled popularity contest.  Buckingham Palace has no say in the matter, only the other three members get a vote, which is cast purely based on who they would like to have in the club.  Abroad, any U.K. based journalist can get into the Rotas.  The old boy network is alive and well in Jolly Old.  Not all the U.K. photographers tried to defend the system, some acknowledged that I was being royally screwed, but couldn’t do anything about it.  It turned out that the ones who were enforcing the rules vehemently, are all agency photographers who regularly sell to Hello Magazine, and were pissed that I was there taking sales away from them.  Everyone likes to protect their turf.

The view from my Barbados office/hotel room.

Dispelling the myth, that only mad dogs, and Englishmen, go out in the midday sun.
While waiting for Harry, at an event, neither were anywhere to be found

After trying unsuccessfully to get into the U.K. media pools, I appealed to the P.R. woman from Clarence House.  She was very understanding, as she deals with this savagery on a daily basis, and knew better than I did what I was up against.  Eventually, I got some pool access, but unfortunately some of the best pictures came from a tiny pool which she couldn’t squeeze me into.  Prince Harry at a hospital visiting with gravely ill children, during which he hugged a baby with AIDS, eerily reminiscent of photos of his mother doing exactly the same thing.  The biggest event of the weekend was a polo match to raise money for the charity, Sentebale, founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, of Lesotho.  No need for a pool at the polo grounds, there’s room enough for everyone on a field that is three times that of a football pitch.  I was still at a disadvantage, however, since all the others had shot polo many times before.  Until, one of the Brits explained, in terms that I could understand, that photographing polo was really like shooting hockey on horses.  No problem.

No mad dogs this time, but plenty of Englishmen roasting on the polo pitch.

Before I left for Barbados, I discussed, with my editor, the idea of bringing some studio strobes with me.  Most of my shoots for Hello are lit portraits, but we decided that there was absolutely no need, since I wouldn’t be getting any opportunity to use them.  I packed a long lens and the other gear I would need, typically, for a royal visit and was glad to be traveling a bit lighter than usual.  That’s a bit relative, of course, as I still managed to sneak on my 70 pounds, about twice the limit, of carry-on luggage.

A boy and his pony.

During our trip, we, the writer and I, met a Canadian-British business man, who happens to own the most expensive home in Barbados, and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.  Both of whom are perfect to be featured in Hello Magazine.  We were introduced to Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry at an informal round of drinks at the hotel one night, during which Seeiso told me that his wife was a huge fan of Hello Magazine.  I replied that it would be a brilliant surprise for her to open up the magazine and see her husband featured with a big portrait and profile.  He enthusiastically agreed, introduced the writer and I to his assistant who he then ordered to “make it happen.”  Which it did.

We also managed to arrange to do a story on the Canadian-British businessman, Ajmal Khan, and his fabulous home.  The only difficulty was that I would normally bring a pile of lighting gear, and an assistant or two, to both of these shoots, and I had neither.  All I had were two Nikon speedlights, and a writer.  I have to say, I used both quite effectively.  Using the very versatile Nikon wireless TTL system, sorry Canon users it really is a lot better, a white bed-sheet, and 1 V.A.L. (Voice Activated Lightstand-also known as a helpful writer) to create some lighting that did not look like it came from a  couple of hot-shoe flashes.  My one half day off in Barbados, reserved for the beach and shopping for my two daughters, turned in to a hectic and exhausting adventure in guerilla lighting during which I shot 5 lit portraits, 7 rooms and I don’t know how many ocean views from various balconies.  At least no one back at the office can accuse me of lying around on the beach drinking pina coladas.

Barbados Highlights:  Shooting and meeting the princes, Harry and Seeiso, getting two other stories done, and the 32 degree heat in the middle of our Canadian winter.

Barbados Lowlights:  Royal Rotas, bad hotel food, 10 and half hours flying time from Vancouver, and feeling like I was slowly being turned on a spit in the 32 degree heat on a polo pitch.