Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: King of the camera on capturing Her Majesty

In my first week as a full-time press photographer at a press agency in 2008, my picture editor sent me to Windsor for the afternoon, with the instruction to take some shots of local scenery and ‘use the lenses’, meaning getting to know how each lens operates and how focal length can change the entire shape of an image. While wandering around, trying my hand at creating silhouettes with fast shutter speeds and compressing images using long lenses, I spotted a poster announcing that Her Majesty the Queen would be opening a new wing of the Windsor Shopping Centre the following week.

Upon my return to the office, I asked the news editor if I could cover that event. He explained that it wouldn’t be a priority as there would be many national press photographers there and my time would probably be better used shooting small stories with no competition for publication. A press agency is a business after all. The day came and no stories came in of sex offenders at Reading Crown Court, and no tales of dogs that could bark the alphabet were in the local papers. “Off you go to Windsor,” I was told.

As a new press photographer with a career spanning a whole 10 days, I was not totally sure where to stand, which lenses to use, whether I’d get a clear shot, which way the Queen would face… and about a hundred other factors that could determine the success or failure of this trip. This was my first time photographing the Queen – it was a big deal.

I stood among a few other photographers and journalists who had assembled in a small pen near to the plaque that her Majesty would unveil. The next few minutes passed in the blink of an eye, but there was just a split second where the most iconic person on the planet looked directly towards me.

I kept shooting and hoped that the camera settings were as they should be, knowing that in just a few moments it would all
be over.

I immediately headed to review my photos and saw this shot above. There are so many photographs of the Queen, and this one didn’t really include a huge amount of context, but I had taken it, it was my shot, and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life as a photographer. I’d been keenly taking photos on my travels for a few years, sharing my shots and enjoying the process, but this was on a whole new level. I’ve been lucky enough to photograph her Majesty many times since that afternoon in Windsor, and it is always an honour, but this stands out as a very proud moment for me.”