Yesterday, I had the pleasure of shooting Leicestershire Fire and Rescue’s Long Service and Good Conduct Medal Presentation. It was a most auspicious occasion, with the medals presented by Lady Gretton who is Her Majesty’s Lord-Leiutenant of Leicestershire (and also President of the Melton Mowbray and District Model Engineering Society).

The ceremony was small, with only the recipients, their families and a small number of dignitaries present. The mood was solemn but proud.

It gave me a real appreciation of the work our Fire and Rescue crews do and it was a pleasure to be present as official photographer and to capture their wonderful day.

On technicalities, I was rather out of my comfort zone with the main ceremony (but that’s never a bad thing – a bit of quick-thinking and brain exercise never did anyone any harm). I avoid, where possible, on-camera flash but there was no other option so in the end I plumped for a speedlite on a TTL extension cable, and bounced the output from the cream coloured wall at the back of the room. It took lots of power, but gave a nice warm glow to the recipients. Because the flash was popping close to full power, the recycle time prevented my planned two shots each. Thankfully, apart from one case, everyone came up great on the first try. One out-take was quickly fixed by giving a subtle signal whereby the proceedings were held up for about three seconds while the flash charged itself back up. It’s always worth having the eye open that isn’t looking through the viewfinder – while an SLR is taking a picture, the viewfinder goes black and you can’t see what you actually took unless you’re looking with the other eye. That’s part of the reason I never take studio portraits while looking through the viewfinder (another part is that fact that it’s rude to talk to people with a camera stuffed up against your face).

Next was the group shot, the planned location had to be abandoned due to there being a giant Christmas tree blocking the view of the beautiful Beaumanor Hall staircase. A seated/standing arrangement was set up in advance with studio flash (ahh… comfort… measurability). Approximately 24 people were brought in, arranged and three shots taken all in the space of five minutes. I think they appreciated the quick working, and I’d always rather spend 30 minutes setting up and measuring in advance than with the subjects in front of me, beginning to glaze over.

Then another quick rearrange of the kit while the participants indulged in the buffet, and each medal recipient was brought in to me with their family for a formal portrait. In this section I was truly in my element, and we made our way through them all in a nice short space of time before I was invited to indulge in the buffet myself. I could get used to these clients that feed me!

A great three hours of work in beautiful surroundings, and as I mentioned, a new-found appreciation of the service provided by our Fire and Rescue boys and girls.

Photographer Leicestershire