Highlight: A tour of the famous Oxford Colleges!
Lowlight: Trying to find parking spaces.
Fill in: Gillman and Soame cover this auspicious occasion by shooting the group photos and individual portraits of the freshers. The job is planned with military precision as at least 20 teams of photographers and administrators are organised in to what can only be best described as platoons. These platoons have a planned route of attack with strict instructions to shoot on sight anyone one in a black robe, with specialist platoons setting up a camp once the college defences are down and to imprison whole year groups and shoot them en mass. It's a dangerous job, especially if you get trapped in the carpark by a platoon trailer or worse still - trap the platoon trailer in the car park with your own vehicle.
Tech Spec: As well as shooting freshers, one of the main objectives was not to get lost. Negotiating the maze that is Oxford is a task in itself and with a tight schedule and a fair amount of equipment to lug around (tripod, 2 x cameras, portrait lenses, flare buster and stand, flashgun, paperwork, and posing mat) just getting in past the porter's lodges was a major achievement. As we arrived at each college, hoards of freshers with their robes in various states of disarray lined up to greet us. It was a case of shooting as many as possible before zooming off to the next college on the time slot. As in any war, there are always casualties, and I am sad to say a posing mat was left behind. All day I fretted about itself fate, but you'll be pleased to know the story had a happy ending as it was picked up by a passing platoon that did the group shot later that day - unharmed and happy.
Enquiries: http://www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk/
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