Event Photography – Book launch for Professor Andrew Bradstock’s biography of Bishop David Sheppard       

Event photographers: Andrew & Sarah        Event location: The House of Lords

My old friend, Andrew Bradstock, was invited to write the official biography of Bishop David Sheppard. In cricket, Sheppard was one of the best batsmen of his generation and could have had a brilliant career for England if he hadn’t prioritised his ministry in the church. In the end he was equally brilliant as a bishop, becoming the first bishop to be recalled to the Lords as a life peer after his retirement. It was felt that any biographer needed to have a foot in both the cricketing and the ecclesiastical camps; Andrew was approached precisely because he is a professor of theology, a church history expert, and a huige cricket fan. He is also left-leaning in his politics, which made a good fit with the Labour bishop.

Andrew enquired about our event photogtaphy services and asked us to photograph the launch event at the House of Lords. The River Room is a large, high-ceilinged room looking out on the Thames. Unsurprisingly, the event drew together a number of well-known faces, mainly from the older generation. Cricket, the church and politics were roughly evenly represented, and it was a privilege to meet and photograph a number of household names. The speakers were Lord Griffiths, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Jenny Sinclair, Mike Brierley and Andrew Bradstock himself.

It was the kind of event where you want to be as inconspicuous as possible. By and large we avoided using flash, despite fairly low light. This keeps a lot of the authentic atmosphere in the images, but it is harder to keep people in focus as lenses are working wide open.

I think that we cover this kind of event very well, and certainly enjoyed ourselves on a great evening.

Sarah took this one of me with Andrew Bradstock and his sister, Christine. We have been friends for nearly 50 years!