D700, 16-35mm, 16mm
Although I’d known that the Fire Brigades Union were on strike and having a conference in Methodist Central Hall, just a couple of hundred yards from Parliament, I hadn’t come to Westminster to photograph them, but another protest taking place nearby. So it was something of a bonus to come across them sitting and standing in the roadway in front of Parliament. Apart from anything else it made it easier to cross the road!
I’ve long felt that Parliament Square should be improved, and one of the major improvements would be to take away the traffic, at least from the roads on two sides of the square, between it and Parliament and Westminster Abbey. It just isn’t a good idea to have one of London’s major squares as a traffic island.
But the firefighters obviously have good reason to be upset, with promises clearly made to them having been broken, and I wasn’t surprised that they came to show their anger. Nor that police were treating their protest in an unusually relaxed fashion – they share a common bond with their fellow emergency workers and also many of them feel they too have been shafted by the government. And certainly it would be unwise to tangle with the firefighters, who are undoubtedly fitter and tougher than the average police officer.
It was too and almost perfect winter day for photography, with great light and good clouds, with a literal grey cloud over Parliament as well as a metaphorical one in front of it. I’ve always liked open shadows in my images in both black and white and now in colour, and the combination of Nikon sensors and lenses with Lightroom 5 perhaps sometimes tempts me to take this to extremes. The 16-35mm, here used at 16mm, f10 with a shutter speed of 1/400 at ISO 640 is a very sharp lens. Every slate on the roof at right is clearly defined and at 100% on screen the 4256 x 2832 pixel original processed with my standard noise removal and sharpening defaults seems noise free.
I’d arrived at a point where the protesters were uncertain about their next move, had missed the excitement of the marching on to the road and occupying the space. The grey of the roadway is a great background on which the individuals sit or stand, setting off their colours, which are perhaps just a little more saturated than real, the yellows, browns and reds of the jackets, warm colours that cluminate in the flames of the banner, set against a blue background and the blues of the working jeans.
D800E, 18-105mm DX, 24mm (36mm eq)
I took more pictures – you can see some of them in Striking Firefighters block traffic – and then photographed them as they made their way up Parliament St to Whitehall, stopping outside Downing St.
Things were rather crowded and chaotic there, and it was difficult to make pictures as both firefighters and other photographers filled any empty space.
D700, 16-35mm, 16mm
At Downing St I kept my eye on FBU leader Matt Wrack when he came to the gates, wondering what he would do next. As he moved around I tried to keep in a position where I could see his face, while also taking pictures of the firefighters who were crowding around him and shouting towards Downing St.
D800, 18mm (27mm eq)
When a police officer pushed his way through the crowd to speak with Wrack, I was at his side. Perhaps ideally I would have been a little further back, but I was wedged firmly in place, hardly able to move an inch in any direction, though just managing to have enough space in front of me to work with the 16-35mm.
D700, 35mm
I took what I thought was a rather nice series of photographs of the encounter, although all seen from that single viewpoint. It was as Wrack commented a surprisingly polite encounter with the officer asking what the firefighters wanted to do, taking down Wrack’s mobile number and then going away to see if he could arrange for someone from Downing St to come out and meet with the firefighters as requested.
By this time I was worried about missing the event I had actually come to Westminster to cover, and though I was in an interesting position I decided to leave. It wasn’t easy to make my way out through the dense crowd, but they were good-natured enough to squeeze out of my way.
D800E, 32mm (48mm equiv)
When I got as far as the gate leading into Downing St, a few yards down the road, I decided to go through it. I didn’t want to actually go inside as nothing seemed likely to happen there, and it involves and airport-style security check (those without a Press card have to apply days in advance and bring a passport) and I avoid it unless I really have to, but going just a little way down it did allow me to photograph the crowd from ‘inside’.
Had I stayed there any length of time, I think the police would have ordered me out, but I was able to take a few pictures and then move away without problems.
Striking Firefighters block traffic
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
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