2016: A Year in Review

In all my years, I can honesty say that I've never known a year like 2016. It contained so many changes, losses and episodes of upheaval for one twelve month period that, for once, I'm actually looking forward to New Year's Eve, when we can crack open a fresh calendar.

Thankfully, that doesn't mean that there wasn't anything to see or photograph, so here's my round-up of my own favourite images of 2016. Happy New Year!

The year has had so much misery, let's start off with International No-Pants Subway Ride Day in London.

2015 ended with the death of Lemmy, a man I saw play a number of times. Little did we know that the final list of deaths for the coming year would contain some of the world's biggest names. One of the first was also, arguably, still one of the most shocking and saddening; David Bowie. A makeshift shrine to him appeared in Brixton and became a focal point for those wanting to mark his death.

Whatever you think of him, 2016 was a big year for Nigel Farage.

If you're going to get up at 1am for work, you might as well do it in the darkest, coldest month, right? In January, I hit the road with "Milkman of the Year" Neil Garner to create a feature on the British milk round and its battle for survival. More from the series can be found here.

An early job of the year was the annual church service for the world-famous clown Grimaldi in east London. I have to admit that I hadn't even noticed that British veteran actor Simon Callow was tucked away in among the clowns until he stood right in front of me, gurning like a loon.

In February, I popped over the water for my second Irish election. Unlike my last visit, this time the result never actually arrived on the day after voting. Ah, the joys of democracy. My favourite shot of the trip came during a press conference with Gerry Adams that at first was proving a massive pain due to the backlit stage area, until I decided to use it to my advantage.

Sometimes, the picture that you're fondest of will be completely different to the image that you initially went to catch. I was sent to cover the Queen and Prince Philip as they opened a new big cat enclosure at London Zoo which made pretty average pictures. After the "mane" event was over, I wandered around the zoo and found these primates who happened to be clearly rehearsing their boy-band poses. I think that the guy on the left will go on to have the most successful solo career.

On the other hand, sometimes it's just down to pushing yourself to think of something a little different. Covering the opening of the annual butterfly enclosure at the Natural History Museum, all of the usual pictures had been done, with drops of orange juice applied to nervous looking children's noses (to attract the fluttering stars) and boxes of butterflies opened, sadly without the explosion of colour we'd been hoping for. I decided on an idea and tracked down a couple of butterflies with the most obvious round markings and found a suitable subject as a model. Some minor adjustments with positioning and I think I made something a little different.

One nice little stand-alone assignment that made fun pictures was the 400th anniversary of the death of playwright William Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The moment that makes this round-up came as spectators were handed free paper masks, ahead of the procession. Bard enthusiasts can see more from the assignment over here.

2016 featured quite a lot of football fans. Some were happy, some were... not so happy. The smiling people were mainly based around the city of Leicester for some reason. It was apparently something to do with some Premier League thing. Still, it made the residents and fans pretty darned happy so well done to them.

However, the ones I ran into while over in France, covering the Euro football championships, were a little less willing to share the love. Having found myself in a number of dodgy situations when in Libya for the revolution, I didn't imagine that I'd find myself feeling similar amounts of threat from covering a football tournament. Clouds of tear gas, random stabbings, charging riot police and Russian gangs with paramilitary-style tactics made it a real "experience".

I did manage to find some moments of actual football appreciation though, even when England were on the ropes. You can see more from my adventures in the clouds of gas over here.

Back home, Brexit was the word on everyone's lips. Despite shooting more jobs and photo-calls than I can remember during the campaign, the one that sticks with me is from when David Cameron fired the starting gun on the whole thing. A grimace during his address to the media outside number 10 feels like an omen of what was to come for him.

Meanwhile, a group of Anglophiles made their way over from Paris with handwritten postcards from like-minded French people, pleading with the country to vote to "Remain" in the EU. "Because what would you do without French Kiss?" should have been enough but it wasn't to be.

After nine years as staff, my final assignment for Agence France-Presse would be to head over to Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. It was a fun ending to a great time with AFP, although it would have been even more enjoyable to have been working in a little less of a crime-fest. The picture here was shot on the same night a colleague was mugged at knifepoint a few hundred metres away. After this one night of blissful ignorance, the cameras went away and remained hidden when out and about. A real shame as there was plenty to see.

My office for the Olympics was Copacabana beach and this picture from one of the first evenings, as the sun set, remains one of my favourites from the whole trip. You can see more pictures from the assignment over here.

All change! On leaving AFP, I moved to Getty Images as a staff photographer for their news team in London. Whoop! Anyway, back to the pictures.

At London 2012, the UK photographers had the pleasure of shooting the Olympics and then cracking on to cover the Paralympics shortly after. Sadly, I had to come back to the UK before the Paralympics began in Rio but it was a pleasure to be at Terminal 5 of London's Heathrow airport for the return of the ParalympicsGB team. Kadeena Cox's arrival proved a real highlight with ecstatic family and friends greeting her amidst the media huddle.

In politics, Jeremy Corbyn survived an attempted coup from within the party but still had to look on as one of the ringleaders, Tom Watson, received huge applause from the delegates at the annual Labour Party conference.

Another stand-alone image comes from the annual Judges Service in Westminster Abbey. Having hundreds of senior legal figures under one ornate roof made for some unusual pictures, particularly when exploring the corridors of the building.

Cute pets are a sure-fire way to get some interest in your pics but add the element of peril and it makes for a winner! More images from my pictures of the Battersea Dogs Home's new surgical wing can be found here.

To mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, I spent a few days making portraits of various members of a historical re-enactment society in their own homes. The Øst Centingas group proved a truly helpful bunch of people and allowed me to get some fun photos.

For more chainmail-based fun, you can see more from the set over here.

Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, I jumped on the first plane out to Bangkok to cover the unfolding story. My favourite image from the assignment came after heading back down to the palace, after hearing of groups gathering by the walls. A thunderstorm broke in the distance, creating this moment of turmoil in the sky while the country mourned below.

What I initially thought would be a bit of a damp squib worked out to be great fun, when I visited the National Poultry Show in Telford. The resulting portraits made the Guardian's Eyewitness. "Henthusiasts" can see more photos over here.

Back to UKIP and their continued leadership woes. Following the decision of Nigel Farage to step down, and various well-documented clashes and resignations, the party elected Paul Nuttall to be their new leader.

A few years ago, I visited the BFI film archive to document their restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's first film. 2016 saw me return to look at their TV archives. It's quite a feeling to be able to casually browse the shelves, seeing the names of famous television shows that haven't been seen since broadcast in the 1970's. Hurry up and digitise it all, damn it!

As 2016 started to wind down, the question of Brexit was still burning brightly. Despite a narrow win for the "Leave" campaign, campaigners from both sides continued to argue over what the next move was, be it overturning the decision or going full steam ahead into Hard Brexit. While covering the case at the Supreme Court, the debate visualised itself quite nicely, with an added touch of fire.

The festive season arrived and I went to have a look behind the scenes at the pantomime in Hackney. The cast and crew allowed me full access and it gave me the chance to really enjoy the assignment. This moment from just before the curtain is raised for the first time, as the three fairies prepare to be revealed being one of my favourite shots.

2016 ended with a new Star Wars film (and it's associated promotional stunts) but yet another high profile celebrity death; Carrie Fisher. What an absolute stinker of a year.

There we are then. That was 2016. I'll be heading to photograph the fireworks on the 31st and, like many across the world, will be looking forward to a fresh start. In the slightly adapted words of one of the many names that we lost; "Help me 2017. You're our only hope."

Huge thanks have to go to Getty Images for my new position, and to Nikon UK for their continued support and assistance with all of my requests and questions. Cheers all!