Friday 13th, never the best time to be asked to do a shoot, especially if you are superstitious. But originally it had been scheduled for Thursday…
‘Free on Thursday?’
‘Yes potentially – what do you need?’
‘You to go to No.10’
…Was how the back on forth went via email in the days preceding the shoot. Ultimately schedules changed, and we were moved to Friday. But as the sun rose on Friday 13th, I knew things were going to be a little hectic. Israel had launched a massive surprise attack on multiple targets inside Iran. I had a feeling our shoot might get a pushed down the agenda.
When we finally started the session in Number 10. four hours later than planned the Prime Minister apologized for keep us waiting and I responded that I ‘figured he might have a lot on his plate today’ to which he chuckled. We then had a hectic five minute window to try and shoot an image to hold the cover of the Sunday Times magazine. All phones and computers had been ditched for security so there was no shooting tethered as I would normally want too for a cover image. We’d also had our setup time cut short by about 20 minutes so our setup on the stairs was not pre-lit, but that is the nature of the beast sometimes. I was happy with what we got and it’s nice to have created an image of a sitting Prime Minister; it feels a real privilege to have been trusted and asked to do it.
