01/02/2022
This month I celebrate 43 years of working in the photographic industry.
I’ve been very fortunate to have worked in my chosen career and, after completing thousands of assignments – including shooting more than 600 videos – I am hanging up my camera professionally for good.
I’m sharing some memories and images from that time, much of it employed by Western Mail & Echo, in this post.
But I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who supported me during my time as a freelancer over the past couple of years:
Margaret O’Reilly – Barnardo’s
Alison Stokes – Wales & West Housing Association
Henry Peirse – GRNlive
Rhodri Evans – Tesco
Kathryn Chadwick – Front Door Communications
Rob Norman – WalesOnline
Richard Williams – WalesOnline
Huw Evans – Huw Evans Picture Agency
Matthew Horwood
Richard Swingler
Here are some memories from my time in the darkroom at the Western Mail & Echo in Thomson House, Cardiff.
Back in the days before digital we had film and these films had to be ‘run’ back quickly to the darkroom for processing in time for publication.
As a new starter in the dark room I was a film runner at the funeral of champion boxer Johnny Owen in Merthyr Tydfil which followed his death after a knock-out blow during a fight in Los Angeles.
The streets were packed and the coffin was draped with the Welsh flag.
I was in Merthyr and my job was to hand over the film to a motorbike courier. Problem was he left before I got to him. So the chief photographer I was with drove back to Cardiff as fast as he could in his Ford Capri.
On arrival at Thomson House I ran the film up to the darkroom and we just about made the deadline.
After some time I became a printer in the darkroom. On one occasion I had to develop a film in HC110 liquid developer at 80 degrees for 30 seconds and print ‘wet’. In laymen’s terms this means I had to speed up the normal film processing because I couldn’t wait for the negative to dry.
This wasn’t terribly unusual – we often did it to get pictures in the old pink Football Echo – but this is one of the times that sticks in my mind as the images were from a protest at a nuclear bunker in Carmarthen.
I remember running down the corridor with a print in my hand to make deadline.
These were the good old newspaper days where they printed using hot metal and we really did go down to the wire. There was no chance for an online update in those days. If you missed deadline, that was it.
On another occasion I remember Jock Stein, the manager of the Scotland football team, tragically dying pitch side at Ninian Park in Cardiff during a World Cup qualifier against Wales.
It had been just a normal shift and I was waiting for the films to come back from the match when the doors to the darkroom office burst open and in flooded about a dozen photographers from across the UK and further afield.
That night we had to project one of the pivotal images by turning the enlarger around and projecting it onto the floor to blow up a corner of the negative.
During the last days of hot metal I was fortunate enough to work with some of the great editors of the time; Geoff Rich, Duncan Gardiner, John Humphries, John Rees and renowned photographic manager Les Grist.
I went on to print the Echo’s Spot The Ball image every week and monitored and serviced the wire machines which received pictures from agencies from across the world such as Reuters, AP and PA.
Still in the time of film, I printed the first ever hand enlarged colour print at Thomson House.
At that time we had one of only 11 hand assessed colour printers in the UK, known as an FA720, which cost £74,000. This was 1989.
In time I progressed to photography. My first camera was a Praktika L2 35mm, with my first published pictures being of Sunday League football in the Echo.
I progressed to a Cannon F1 and went on to have images published in the Times Educational Supplement, Anglo/Irish publications and the Echo.
For one assignment at the opening of the Famine Memorial in Cathays Park I borrowed my auntie’s Irish Wolfhound, called Grainne, for a picture.
As the dedicated business photographer working under picture editor Tim Dickeson, I took the images for commercial features and left that role in the hands of Andy Parksinson, now a renowned wildlife photographer.
I joined the Echo editorial team working under Colin Robertson, gaining my NCTJ qualification at Sheffield College and later gaining a qualification in video at Tyneside University.
During this time I undertook some memorable assignments, which led to me walking through the famous door at Number 10 Downing Street twice.
I remember walking up the stairs past the portraits of past PMs to photograph then PM Tony Blair’s wife Cherie Blair decorating a Christmas tree.
I have covered many Royal events, even going to Clarence House and to the Prince of Wales’ residence in Wales.
I’ve also covered a police helicopter crash on my first Echo Saturday shift, the aftermath of a bomb explosion, rugby and football internationals, the Ashes test match in Cardiff, the Ryder Cup in Newport and President Obama arriving at RAF Fairford ahead of the NATO summit at the Celtic Manor in 2014.
But there were simpler times which have really stuck with me, such as working behind the goal line at Ninian Park for the pink Football Echo with my great friend Glyn Paul, the Cardiff Post photographer, who is sadly missed.
Giving a voice to our communities and people who wouldn’t otherwise have had one was what being in regional newspapers was really about.
I remember going to the houses of former miners who had the lung disease pneumoconiosis and were fighting for compensation.
They showed me such kindness and dignity, even making me a meal, when they were so unwell. Experiencing their kindness and dignity was humbling. They really were the best of us.
In my later years I worked across all titles and for the WalesOnline website under Rob Norman.
I worked with some great photographers including Paul Rose, Malcolm Morgan, Liz Pearce and Scott Ramsey, Clive Lewis and the late Tony Paradice.
My favourite job ever was covering the Bon Jovi concert at Cardiff Stadium. I was able to photograph them while performing Livin’ on a Prayer.
But my biggest ever achievement came outside of work and that was getting married and having my son Luke, now 10.
Now retirement begins but I won’t be looking for things to do. I’ll be taking pictures for fun, doing DIY projects and going on family holidays.
Thanks for reading.
