Sally Soames who worked as a photographer for The Sunday Times for more than three decades died aged 82 at her home in north London on the 5th of October 2019.
Sally, like many of her generation had no formal training as a photographer, starting out by winning a photography competition run by a London evening paper. She was noticed by the Observer where she contributed work during the 1960’s before being taken onto the Sunday Times before the decade was out. She stayed on her beloved paper for more than 32 years working for esteemed editor Harry Evans and design maestro Edwin Taylor, reluctantly retiring due to problems with her knees and as black and white analogue film photography gave way to colour and subsequently digital image making.
Sally told me in the early 90’s that she was scouring London and buying up all the Nikon FM2 film cameras that she could find once she had been told that her favourite camera wasn’t going to be made anymore. I don’t think Sally and modern digital technology would have got on together, so a good time to call it a day.
Sally was a pure image maker, the eyes were everything, get the eyes sharp and you will have your reader, she said to me once. She would talk her subject into submission if he or she proved to be reluctant to have their photograph taken. She charmed and cajoled, often writing to her subject in advance of the photography session as well as reading their work if an author, or watching their films or plays if an actor. She saw herself and her work as the equal of the writer and the written word when covering an interview, not for Sally the three minute photo-op session dictated by a hovering PR, which is now seen to be the norm, Sally demanded and got as much time as she needed to produce her work.
Although Sally did specialise in portrait work for the paper, producing some of the most eye catching imagery to grace the pages of any newspaper in the land she was also a dab hand on the political scene. I personally worked alongside her on many occasions, Sally on the ST and myself on The Times at many a political conference during the 70’s through the 80’s. I was always surprised to see her visual summation of the week in her paper, normally a quiet reflective moment caught without fuss, just a fine quality image that would make you think a while.
I also worked alongside Sally in Israel whilst covering a general election in June 1981 featuring Menachem Begin and Moshe Dyan, both of whom she had entré to with one phone call. Her portrait of General Dyan on the Golan Heights ranks, IMHO, as one of her finest images. She introduced me around to those that mattered and arranged passes and some access to this then relative green horn, but that was just so typical of Sally, she would help just about anyone but especially new guys and gals on the block…there is a long line of news photographers working now who all owe Sally a great debt of personal gratitude, myself included.
She had a heart felt affinity with Israel, being born Jewish (born Winkleman), and when based there during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab States led by Egypt and Syria in October 1973 she was recalled by Kelvin Brodie her Sunday Times picture editor (and a former top flight news photographer) as it was deemed by the ST management as being too dangerous for Sally to stay after the death of ST correspondent Nick Tomalin. The group of Arab commandos who stormed the beach outside her Tel Aviv beach front hotel made the point more emphatically. She returned to Israel a week later to cover the km101 peace talks.
Sally may have been slight of frame and stature but she was strong and a fighter…Sally never ever gave up, she always found a way to achieve what she wanted, with a gushing smile, a hand hold, a squeeze and it must be said a fair bit of feminine schmoozing…Sally really was one of those unique individuals who was a friend to many, a mentor to many more and a bloody good photographer…oh, and a really nice woman. RIP Sally.
Brian Harris © 2019
]]>Tragic news. The day after Keith was reported missing, a body was found in the sea, near Aberystwyth.
Many would know his byline, but fewer would have met the man. I saw him a couple of times a year, and my memory is of not just a very talented photographer, but a mate who was always laughing. He really did have that joie de vivre that some people are gifted with. Rarely travelling outside of Aberystwyth, he nevertheless had pictures published in the national papers nearly every week via Alamy and LNP. His ‘murmurations of starlings over the pier in the sunset’ were a staple of most papers.
Based for nearly his whole career on the west coast of Wales in Aberystwyth, Keith made a living photographing the local community and all of it’s activities. What made him special though, was his ability to see a picture that was of local interest, and transcend it into an image that the national press would want to use. He was an incredibly hard working freelance, but was happy to share his knowledge with others, who wanted to learn the secrets of successful stock photography.
Almost uniquely he made a great success of his career without ever feeling the need to travel far from his home town. His enthusiasm knew no bounds, night after night he would return to the same locations, to capture variants on his famous sunset over the pier pictures. A prolific operator, he has over 25,000 pictures on Alamy.
After his death, dozens of tributes have appeared on social media from those he had photographed in the town. It seems everybody in Aber’ knew him.
I first got to know his work well during the great storms of 2013, when his weather pictures made the front pages day after day. Ironically, it seems that the great waves that he captured in all their glory, were what claimed him in the end.
Keith leaves a wife Gilly, two daughters, and a grandson.
DAVID LEVENSON, 9th October 2019
]]>THATS NEXT MONDAY!!
The new system wants you to file a complete list of every book or magazine publication you have ever had – which is confusing lots of people. IGNORE THAT.
You can still enter details of just three publications from magazines and qualify for around £700! That’s not three publications this year – that is three publications in your whole career. The same applies to uses in books.
BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT NOW!!
If you’ve done it before, it takes about five or ten minutes to re-do. If you’re new to it, it’ll probably take about fifteen or twenty. Thats maybe around £700 for half an hours work – the best job you will get this year!!
DO IT NOW!!!
]]>PLEASE GET INVOLVED!!
If you would like to get more involved with making things happen we would love to have you! Just email [email protected] with a short message outlining why you want to be on the board and what you hope to achieve in the next year and we’ll get back to you with more details.
Likewise if anyone wishes to stand for the “officer” roles then they should declare their candidacy now.
The officers are currently;
Chair – Chris Eades
Chief Executive – Neil Turner
Deputy – Andrew Baker
Deputy – Kelvin Bruce
Web – Jamie Lorriman
Treasurer – Tim Bishop
Officer – Spencer Griffiths
Officer – Joanne Davidson
If anyone wishes to stand for these roles they need to give notice by Friday midnight – in order to give us time to organise an election. Likewise if there are any resolutions for the AGM that you wish to table please could you let Chris have them by Friday 28th.
Finally thank you to everyone who has put in so much effort in the last year both in the spotlight and behind the scenes to make this such a good year for the BPPA. Hopefully next year will be even better – and we hope to see you all for a pint on May 4th to discuss how to make this happen.
Where and When?
The AGM will be held at The Hoop and Grapes pub, Farringdon Street, London from 7.30pm on the 4th of May 2017.
If you have never been, you can find it at:
80 Farringdon St, London EC4A 4BL
Parking nearby is limited but there’s plenty of public transport in the area.
The devastating news of the death of our friend and colleague Mike King was greeted last week with a mixture of disbelief and enormous sadness. He was not only one of the best sports photographers of his (or any) generation but he was also generous, witty and great company. There have already been several obituaries and memories including one from the Sports Journalists Association and a slide show by Philip Brown posted on the web and featured in national newspapers. This short but heartfelt tribute from Peter Tarry is posted here in the hope that others will add their comments about Mike and his professional life.
I first met Mike back in 1989 when I was a lowly junior photographer at a small sports agency and Mike was a staff photographer on the Observer.
At that time I feel that Mike was really enjoying life – a great flat, a Saab 9000 and a great job that involved traveling the world and getting to take fantastic pictures. But success never went to his head and he made time for everyone. He helped and encouraged me getting work at The Observer and was always pleased to offer advice. He would also ring up and ask if you wanted to go and take pictures for fun – events like lawnmower racing or early tough guy races, or if you just wanted to pop over to his house and play around with some new lights.
Mike was without doubt one of the finest sports photographers this country has produced. I remember looking through his contact sheets in the Observer darkroom – every frame was usable. The pictures were all pin sharp and beautifully composed. Just give him a couple of Nikon F3s, a manual 300mm 2.8 and a 180mm and Mike would produce magic – he was a craftsman – autofocus was of no benefit to him at all.
In recent times Mike loved covering London 2012 – he was in his element – it was the ultimate sporting event and it was being held in his city. After the closing ceremony we walked back to the Media Centre together – the party was over and we both felt it. But next morning Mike was back shooting the now deserted venue and getting the pictures published!
Mike was a prolific photographer – he loved taking pictures and never stopped – but beyond all of his skills as a photographer – Mike was a wonderful person whom I am proud to have called a friend.
Please feel free to add any comments that you wish to.
]]>“The Darkroom Boy is the story of a lad from a poor council estate whose working life was destined to be spent on a building site slapping glazed tiles on the walls of bathrooms and toilets. A chance meeting with his old art teacher in the early 70’s sent him on a different path… jetting round the world covering some of the biggest news stories of the late twentieth century as a newspaper photographer.
In the process, learnt a great deal about life, death, celebrity and how to behave at the awards ceremonies where he was twice crowned British Photographer of the Year.
He drank with Ollie Reed (copiously) tracked George Michael in the Hollywood hills, hunted showbiz fat cats like Michael Barrymore in America and real life lions on Woking high street. He travelled with John Major (exposing the parts that should never be mentioned let alone seen).
He also dodged bullets in war and peace, from Bosnia to Belfast and from Kosovo to Cape Town.In spite of this he still kept a sense of humour and an innate sense of right and wrong. This is the story of Roger Allen and his journey from a news agency run by two northern hacks who punted stories and pictures to the daily papers to the heights of his trade.
Through the murky days of the darkroom- dipping and dunking prints and processing film before taking the train to London to be shouted at and abused by the great and good of Fleet Street as he delivered photos to picture desks of the nations papers. Press photographers are seen as heartless coves. But The Darkroom Boy tells a different story- one of heartbreak and love, joy and laughter, rib-tickling humour and spine-tingling fear. He shows compassion not only to humans but also bears – Just ask the one Roger saved in Bosnia.”
]]>“The images collected in ‘Never Mind The Ballots’ express the sheer banality of the May 2005 general election. But more than this, they demonstrate the skill and determination of BPPA members who were able to produce excellent photographs under such tedious and stultifying conditions.
This was one of the most stage-managed, spin-driven and least visually interesting British elections of modern times. An event during which the nation’s press photographers faced months of ten-minute photo-calls and frustratingly regular delays in their quest to find interesting and significant images. This exhibition is both a celebration of the achievements under such conditions and a critique of those monstrous circumstances themselves; proof that vital and arresting shots are there despite the adverse efforts of political parties to regulate and normalize content.”
We have the strong suspicion that nothing will have changed apart from even greater pressure on news photographers to supply pictures in greater quantities, to tighter rolling deadlines and against even greater efforts from the political party machines to control what we do.
Railing against that control is something that press photographers do well and this project is a great opportunity to show off those pictures – especially those that may never be seen elsewhere.
Watch out for some interesting and creative work.