Today we launch the seventh Times Young Photographer of the Year Award. The
winner of the competition, which is sponsored by Nikon, will win a six-month
contract on The Times - where they will work alongside some of the best
photographers in the business.
The competition is open to any UK and Republic of Ireland resident aged
between 19 and 25. As Bob Kirwin, the associate picture editor on the
newspaper, explains, he and his fellow judges are not looking solely for
current affairs images.
“We want someone who can show a little flair and imagination - we want to be
visually excited. What we do is set you three different categories to work
in:
1. Sport
2. Reportage
3. Lifestyle/Fashion.
It's up to you to interpret those different subjects and send us three images
- one image for each category - that you think will make us sit up
and pay attention. Don't try to be too clever: if you need to explain your
picture in a lengthy caption then the picture isn't working. A powerful
picture needs no explanation - it speaks for itself.”
Closing date for applications is Saturday, May 10.
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THE NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER
Peter Nicholls, 44, with The Times since 1995
If you want to do this job, you have to have a passion. And you have to be
adaptable; there are a lot of last-minute manoeuvres and changes of plan.
You've got to be able to cover the news in any situation, whether it's in a
difficult place or on a Caribbean island. You have to live with the
deprivations; to be able to go without sleep, food, companionship and all
the normalities of life.
The satisfaction comes from achieving the pictures and being pleased at how
you've shot something, how you've presented the story. Plus the satisfaction
of seeing your stuff used well in The Times. There is fierce competition out
there from agencies and freelancers. On a big story you have a million
contributors sending in stuff to the paper- so to see your pictures means
that you have done well.
Working alongside a good reporter means that you tell the story together. The
words add to the pictures and vice versa.
Post-9/11, coverage of the war on terrorism has had the greatest impact on me.
I was in Baghdad for the paper before, during and then after the war; I
followed the whole story through. News photographers don't often have the
chance to stay with one story: we nip in for the highlights. But the war was
different.
As well as technical ability with your camera you have to be savvy - you have
to know how to operate. Communications are vital. You might have the world's
best picture, but if you can't shift it back to the office, you've got
nothing. It's useful to have a little satellite phone. Look after your kit;
treat it like an extension of your anatomy. You need to know every setting
and variation because speed is all-important, you have to take the picture
without worrying how to set up the camera, otherwise you'll miss it. Things
can get a bit eggy, but you have to trust your instincts, be confident in
your own abilities and keep a calm head. I've always trusted my own
instincts - it's been my biggest protection.
In this job you go through every emotion. When everything comes off, it's
great. But then you have days where you've missed a picture and, unlike a
reporter, you can't pick up the story afterwards. As Arthur Edwards on The
Sun has mournfully said: “One day you're King George. The next day you're
just George King.” You're only as good as your last picture.
THE SPORTS MAGAZINE
Marc Aspland, 44, chief sports photographer
I've never ever had a Monday morning feeling in my whole life. Every day I've
been where every other bloke would want to be - at a top sporting event.
It's like a lifelong stag party. But there are some downsides; the incessant
travel, being away from my wife and children and the pressure from the
paper's sports desk to maintain high standards. But I've been doing it for
20 years - I've been on The Times man and boy - so I should be used to it by
now.
When you start you do anything that they throw at you. I didn't have a day off
for two years, I worked to get a toe in the door and tried to become
half-good. I did news, features, fashion - I was happy to do anything.
Nobody else used to like working on Saturdays, and I'd put my hand up for the
shifts. In those days there was the football, and the Five Nations and
Premiership rugby. The other guys would take care of the main events and I'd
go to what was left. That's how I became focused on sport, and then a
contract came up - I was lucky enough that I had the support of the sports
editor and his deputy at the time.
What I like most about covering sports events is that, unlike doing features,
say, you have no control over your subject. Even choosing your vantage point
can be out of your control. In Vegas, for the Ricky Hatton fight, there were
only two British nationals ringside. I was given probably the worst
position, under the neutral corner post - and they squeezed me in only
because I made a lot of noise. Getting the shot comes down to experience.
When that head bangs that canvas, and you know the boxer and you like that
boxer and half of you wants to scream at him like a supporter and a friend,
it's the professional half that kicks in. And you hope that after the moment
you've got something that will encapsulate the whole fight.
THE PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
Graham Wood, 58, director of photography, The Times Magazine
I still prefer to use film. The news demands of a daily newspaper are greatly
aided by digital, but with the magazine's weekly schedule I can take longer
over my black and white portraits.
I don't need to see the pictures on an LCD screen because I've been doing it
long enough to pretty much know how they'll come out anyway. Lighting is
important - I know where to position the light to make a shadow fall in a
certain way.
My style is gutsy, intense. I often concentrate on two white eyes, peering out
of the black. Eyes are the key to who we are. You do adapt the style to the
person to a certain extent. I normally take about 45 minutes to an hour with
a subject. You need some warm-up time, say ten minutes, to chat to the
person, to find out whether they're relaxed or agitated. Then you chat to
them about anything really, allow them to do their own thing until that
perfect moment when they do something revealing.
People think of Tracey Emin (above) as quite brash, but in my 1999 shots of
her she looks beautiful, vulnerable. Ewan McGregor was lovely, easy to shoot
and very relaxed.
The best way to relax people is just to get on with your job, quietly and
professionally. You don't want a writer there, and no PR or publicist if you
can help it, although that's trickier these days. And you don't want to
outstay your welcome. The subjects will get bored. The hardest picture of my
career is always the next one. It's never easy and always a challenge.
LAST YEAR'S WINNER
Susannah Ireland, 24
I decided that I wanted to be a photographer when I was 16. Photography
typified everything that I was interested in - current affairs, looking at
other people's lives - and once I got my first camera, a rather nice SLR
when I was 15, that was it.
Not everyone's as lucky as me - The Times is a great gig, you can't really get
much higher at my age. I get a lot of satisfaction when my picture goes in
the paper and not an agency picture. It means they like my picture, which is
really the point, I think. I don't always get the news stories because I'm
pretty junior, but they're what I like best. Part of the challenge is trying
to get something really bold and striking in a short space of time.
I'd say getting a good shot is down to about 60 per cent being in the right
place at the right time and the other 40 is skill. One of the shots I sent
in as part of my competition entry was of a media scrum. A policeman was
giving an interview about the death of a child and all the press were
swarming around him. I got in the middle of the scrum and took the shot with
these great, moody skies in the background. If you can master that sort of
event, it's great. Tough but great, especially in London, because it's so
competitive down here. When I was in Birmingham, you could turn up and be
the only photographer there but here you're usually one of ten. You have to
fight to get the best picture.
