For well over two years I have been carrying out assignments for various institutions within the worldwide Anglican Communion. I have blogged before about a couple of the events and trips but mostly I have been carrying out the work quietly and very much enjoying it. I’ve lost count of the plane journeys taken, countries visited and extraordinary people that I have worked with and met but it was a simple service earlier this month that might just be the one that remains in my memory for the longest.

On January 6th this year, just before seven o’clock in the evening, The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby laid down the Gregory Crozier on the altar signifying the end of his Ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury. It came at the end of a Service of Evensong in the Lambeth Palace Chapel.

It was also Epiphany in the Anglican calendar as well as his 69th birthday and so being at Lambeth for the day was something that I will never forget. I was the only person with a camera in the chapel and it was a great responsibility and honour to capture those moments. I shot well over thirty frames as His Grace laid down the crozier but it was this short moment of private prayer that spoke the most to me.

We distributed five frames from the service immediately and they started to appear across the world’s media within minutes as well as being used in specialist press for a couple of weeks after the event. Because we distributed them to several agencies you can find the pictures with a huge range of bylines and, of course, with none.

I cannot remember the last time that I shot a picture that meant so much to me. Even writing this short blog post about it has reminded me about the feelings that went through me as I framed the pictures, pressed the shutter release and prepared the files.

For the technically curious amongst you there wasn’t a lot of light but what there was, was pretty even. I used a Canon EOS R6 MkII with an RF 70-200 f4L lens. The ISO was 12,800 and the exposure was 1/125th of a second at f4. Over my shoulder was a second R6 MkII with an RF 24-105 f4L and on the table behind me was an EOS R5 MkII with an RF 50mm f1.4 L lens – just in case.