portfolio

Archive photo: Private investigator. December1990

©Neil Turner/Insight. December 1990. London

Back at the end of 1990 I was sent to accompany a reporter to do an interview with a private investigator. He was an ex-Metropolitan Policeman who had a very good reputation and track record in finding runaway children. He was possibly the severest looking person I had ever met and his penchant for big fat cigars did wonders for his image. The truth is that he was actually a very caring man and both the reporter and I liked him a lot.

When I did a quick “Google” for the man I found that he had given another interview to the newspaper ten years later and that he was still as forthright as he had been. I would imagine that he has since retired but I still look very fondly at this picture and remember it’s place in one of my old portfolios.

This was shot using ambient light at his office in Southwark. I was probably using a Nikon FM2 with a 180mm f2.8 Nikkor which I had at the time and the film is Kodak Tri-X. This was scanned from a fibre-based print which was printed full frame with the rebate showing.

Folio photo #13: Michael Rosen, London, 2004

©Neil Turner/TSL. May 2004, London

Michael Rosen is a poet, author, broadcaster and all round brilliant bloke. I spent a good hour shooting a whole range of pictures of him at a park near his home in East London. I have photographed him about five times in total and it is always a joy to spend time with him. I have also been interviewed by him for his BBC Radio 4 programme about words and etymology. We did a special about photographer slang. This set of pictures is ripe for a future “contact sheet” too.

Geek moment: Canon EOS1D with Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens.

Folio photo #11: Sir Paul Stephenson, February 2009

Sir Paul Stephenson at New Scotland Yard. ©Neil Turner, February 2009

This portrait was made when Sir Paul Stephenson had been in post as the Commissioner of The Metropolitan Police for less than two hours. He had been acting Commissioner but this was taken when he was actually given the job. This frame was right at the end of the session where I had already shot quite a wide variety of pictures in the time allotted. Having packed 90% of my gear away I was told that I still had a couple of minutes and so I did this picture with a press officer holding a Canon Speedlite off to my left with the head zoomed in to create this pool of light effect. Sir Paul has now left the post but this picture is staying in my folio. Shot using a Canon EOS5D MkII with a Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens and a single 580exII flash triggered by a Canon ST-E2 transmitter.

Folio photo #10: Eton College Choir, March 2004
©Neil Turner/TSL, March 2004

©Neil Turner/TSL, March 2004

Choristers leaving the College Chapel after early morning prayers at Eton College, Berkshire. The famous public school is offering junior music scholarships in an attempt to attract bright and musically gifted boys to the school. The blur was used in this case to anonymise the pupils. The camera was sat on the ground, propped up with a the lens hood because I didn’t have a tripod and wanted the motion blur. The lens was a Canon 16-35 f2.8L and the camera was an EOS1D.

Folio photo #09: Bournemouth grave digger, October 2008

©Neil Turner. October 2008

Dave Miller has been working for the cemetries service in Bournemouth since leaving school. These days he even lives in a house inside one of the local graveyards. Photographed at dusk in Bournemouth’s North Cemetry for The Guardian. They were running a whole series of pictures of people who do slightly unusual jobs and they times this particular feature to run at halloween.

This frame features four separate flash units – one of which is down inside the grave (which was otherwise empty). Dusk is my favourite time of year for shooting pictures and this particular sunset was very colourful. If you’d like to know even more about this picture, go to this technique page

Folio photo #08: Peter Snow, London, May 2004

©Neil Turner/TSL, May 2004

Peter Snow, BBC sephologist, journalist and newsreader photographed after an interview at a central London hotel for a “My Best Teacher” feature for the TES Magazine.

He had a book and a TV series with his historian son at the time and the interview was one of a long series that he had already done that day. The room was cramped and poorly lit and so I used a medium sized soft box very close to him to keep as much light off of the background as possible. One picture editor that I worked with used to call this very tight crop the “egg cup” because it was as if someone had flattened the top just like one.

Folio photo #07: Ugandan primary school, April 2005

©Neil Turner/TSL, April 2005

Asaba Primary School, Masindi, Uganda. This private primary school has 1000 pupils aged from 3 to 12. Parents in this remote and poor area go to great lengths to give their children the best education that they can afford. Class sizes at Asaba are as small as thirty or forty which compares very favourably to the free schools where eighty or even a hundred children in one class is common.

I was in Uganda to shoot a feature to coincide with a television series about rural African education and Masindi is a very interesting place with the huge contrasts between the locals and the aid agencies, many of whom have regional offices in the town, and their brand new four-wheel drive vehicles which are parked outside their offices.

Folio photo #06: 10 Downing Street, November 2001.

©Neil Turner/TSL November 2001

Children from a Leicestershire nursery school try to hand in their petition against closure to No.10 Downing Street.

This was a very ordinary story about yet another petition being handed in at No.10 which became extraordinary when the Police Officer on duty allowed the two children to try to knock on the door and then stood back and laughed as they kept trying.

It was a very cute moment on a day where the world’s media were not watching and the reflection of the officer in the shiny black door makes this a favourite picture of mine. They never reached the door knocker and so the officer eventually helped them out by knocking it for them.