This had to be one of the oddest briefs I have ever received. Photograph a box arriving at Heathrow, the contents of the box will not be visible at any time. Now I have been known to work wonders but this maybe pushing it too far. How was I going to get a usable press picture out of just a box. However as two bright yellow eyes peered directly at me from inside I realised I might just get something out of this, though it would be tough. The box contained a Sumatran Tiger being transported to London Zoo for breeding.
All my lens’s were too big to get a good picture through the tiny holes in the box and realising there was no other way I turned to the great enemy of the pro-photographer. Camera phones have never been a favourite thing of mine, even for shooting holiday snaps but it was the one thing with a lens small enough to shoot through the hole.
Thus rewarded with my grainy close up of a tiger, I became very interested to see if it would get used. It brought up some of the big questions in press photography, we all agree that the camera is a tool for the eye of the photographer, but this was a particularly unsophisticated tool. The question is at what point does the right picture become wrong due the poor quality of the tool used? I still don’t know the answer, the shot was used on the Mail Online. I leave the decision to you.
Guest blog by regular TNR photograpgher David Parry
