2021: A Year in Review
aka “2021: Just a small scratch.”
This year has been a little bit of a replay of 2020, with a major focus on domestic stories, of which the main angles were the double delights of pox and politics; Covid-19 and Westminster’s attempts to tackle it. Despite the apparent permanent state of déjà news, it’s the press photographer’s job to find new ways to illustrate the stories that mattered. With that in mind, here’s a look back at some of the photos and stories that made the cut in ‘21.
The year started with a massive Covid-19 vaccination drive across the U.K. with church halls, pharmacies, and medical centres all taking on the mammoth task of putting jabs into arms. Despite the red tape hassle of getting into these pop-up locations, it’s amazing how quickly you get all you possibly can photographically from a needle going into an arm. It’s only then that the mind starts wandering a little. Thankfully, I noticed the grim reaper being kept at bay by the little dose of wonder.
Alongside the vaccination process, the country was encouraged to stay at home, with Government campaigns reminding those who did leave the house to re-consider their journeys, where possible.
If nuclear Armageddon arrived, there would still be one subject that would be on the average Brit’s lips; the weather. After covering the pandemic for so long, it was a pleasure to look at the snowy conditions, as a cold snap hit our shores.
When a hard news story arrives, it comes without warning. In early March, Sarah Everard disappeared while walking home in South London. As the days went by, and the search continued, it became clear that something was very wrong. When the alert came through that a police officer had been arrested in connection with her kidnapping, it rocked the country.
Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens was eventually found guilty of her rape and murder. The outpouring of anger and grief was truly moving to see.
Back in my usual playground of the Westminster bubble, it was business as usual.
During a constituency visit to a school in Uxbridge, Boris Johnson was asked questions by the young students. I have to say I wish I could remember what the answers were to Bebe’s questions, but when I’m working, I find myself inside a little visual tunnel and the audio passed me by.
Covid-19 was never far away from the headlines, with new strains cropping up across the country requiring focused door-to-door testing services.
The pandemic didn’t stop people from getting out to enjoy the warm weather when it arrived, with this exceptionally supportive boyfriend going the whole nine yards for his girlfriend’s Instagram post.
It pays to have a camera ready and be always moving. The pelicans of St James’ park have made some special images over the years, so it was great to see them mixing with the locals as I passed by one day in early April.
The London Mayoral elections threw up the usual assortment of characters including podcaster Brian Rose doing anything he could for his moment in the limelight. After spending time with him in his heavily-gilded broadcast studio and offices, it was this moment as he walked to the battle bus with his partner that I remember most.
In the end, despite many column inches paid to the assortment of hopefuls, attention-seekers and extremists, it was Sadiq Khan who retained the crown.
As the year chugged along, the high street continued to face tremendous pressures with footfall down, online sales increasing, and the threat of another lockdown never far away. Empty streets were the image of the first main lock down, so it was satisfying to find this little oddity in a corrupted window display, crying out for a national reset of the High Street.
Following a steady decline in his health, Prince Philip died on the 9th of April, focusing the spotlight on Windsor. Royalists and members of the public alike paid their respects at the gates to the castle, day and night.
On the day of the funeral, another agency had received all of the prime positions within the church for the service itself, so I feared that my assigned position on a rooftop may just provide a general view of the hearse as it passed below. In the end, the route provided much more, with an emotional Prince Charles walking behind the custom-made hearse, and a glimpse of the Queen as she passed by. It was pleasing to see the image of Queen Elizabeth II made the Buzzfeed Images of 2021 list.
2021 saw my work with the Ministry of Defence continue, firstly onboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier. A somewhat stiff breeze was enough to restyle the neatest of haircuts.
As Covid-19 test events began to take place, allowing members of the public to once more gather in larger numbers, I visited a darts championship in May.
Sometimes a picture doesn’t require much of a caption.
In June, Cornwall hosted the G7 summit of global leaders. Photographically, it was a bunch of people in suits shaking hands and waving. Looking back through my archive of the year, I’m drawn to this small act of protest by an environmental group, as they projected a message onto the floating police hotel in the harbour,
On the 1st of July, Royalists gathered outside the former home of Diana Princess of Wales to celebrate what would have been her 60th birthday.
In July, I finally managed to leave the U.K., heading over to Tokyo for the delayed 2020 Olympic Games. More thoughts on that story can be found here.
2021 also saw a return to the annual festival of weaponry, the Defence and Security Equipment International fair in London’s ExCel centre. Filled to the brim with men in suits, it paid off to get there before the doors opened to spot this woman neatly plaiting the wig on her battle mannequin.
In hyperlocal news, a rare addition to the London underground system opened in 2021, with an early start paying off due to the absolutely boundless enthusiasm of the TfL fans and train buffs. Much amusement was had over the naming of the station station.
The cold blasts of October arrived so when better to go camping in Wales, following the Cambrian Patrol, care of the MoD? For more on that story, head over here.
I’ve previously written enough tips and thoughts on how to cover an event, but one that consistently pays off more than any other is this; the best moments always happen before the event begins or just after it’s ended. You either catch the speaker nervously building themselves up to speak, or relaxing after it’s over. Another thing that can happen, as in the case below, is that you get to catch some interesting lights, as the house lighting changes. This moment, as Bill Gates left the stage after an event at the Science Museum, has the feel of a portrait, but was just a fraction of a second as he passed a spotlight.
A good part of October seemed to involve chasing an enormous little girl around the country. “Little Amal'“ was a project aimed at promoting the plight of refugees, as a large figure of a young girl arrived in the U.K. and toured around cultural points of interest. This moment came from her visit to Westminster Cathedral, where she paid her respects to the Archbishop Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
My favourite aspect of working in this industry is the eclectic nature of the job. Each day presents new challenges and experiences. A visit to the HS2 site not only offered the rare chance to go into the tunnels and travel on the boring machinery (not a personal comment), but also to break out the drone above the enormous storage area for pre-fabricated tunnel wall sections. The figure in the bottom left of the frame gives an idea of the scale of the yard.
Why the medical staff member at the vaccination centre didn’t go for the eye will bug me for the rest of my days.
Black Friday sales are always a bit of a chore to illustrate, as most of it happens online these days. Thankfully, a bit of patience and a lot of wandering resulted in stumbling across this amazing template for a picture. It was then just a case of waiting for someone of the right height, with the right signs of consumerism in hand to walk past and create the moment.
Panto season arrived in December and due to the absolute hammering that the arts sector has endured throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, it was great to get behind the scenes and marvel at the huge amounts of skill and effort that venues such as the Hackney Empire theatre put into their productions. I’ve worked there a few times before and am always blown away. As a photographer, the best thing that can happen is for you to be ignored and after introducing myself to the cast, they allowed me to go wherever I wanted and shoot whatever I saw throughout the show. A real privilege.
After visiting a vaccination centre in Ramsgate in December, I diverted down to the coast to see if there were any coastguard patrol boats returning to Dover with migrant refugees on board. Thanks to some great help from Getty Images colleague Dan Kitwood and some handy apps, I soon started tracking an incoming vessel and before long, they pulled into the harbour. Among all the weary, nervous and exhausted people on board, a young girl was taking in all she could see. As she passed, she gave a huge, happy wave before an adult quickly told her to stop, nervous of what reaction they were about to receive.
My 2021 ended in a police station with Boris Johnson, visiting his constituency of Uxbridge. Coming the day after a shock defeat for the Conservative Party in a by-election, and after weeks of questions and debate about alleged lockdown infringements in Downing Street, this image was one of a few to receive quite a lot of attention.
Yet again, another year trundles past. Thanks to Getty Images for continuing to support me in my photography, thanks to all at Nikon UK for giving me the best gear to work with, thanks to the team at the Ministry of Defence for facilitating amazing access, and thanks to you for visiting my site and following my work both here and on Instagram. Here’s to a variety-packed 2022!