seen

Notice the curse in the background.

I heard that there are plans to dig him up to try and determine why he died.

I thought I would write a few lines about the actual experience of shooting an event like a book release in downtown London. As you can probably imagine, it was a madhouse.

I arrived at the bookstore about 40 minutes before U2 was scheduled to arrive. The two photographers in front of me were both carrying small step ladders.

I sheepishly asked the bookstore people in charge of press why they brought ladders. They just kind of laughed and said it would be crowded. Great. Luckily, I arrived early enough to snag a spot that didn’t need a step latter.

They had us, about 30 photographers, in a small caged in area in front of where U2 would be signing the books.

It was like what you see on T.V. before a big awards show on the red carpet– All of the photographers were yelling, “Bono! Bono!Look over here!” and thousands of flashes were going off. It must be absolutely blinding to be the on the receiving end of that.

Whoever said “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” doesn’t know what they are talking about.

I quit The Methodist Recorder yesterday becuase they didn’t need a full time photographer. I was nervous about jumping ship, especially because I burnt the M.R. bridge. Would thelondonpaper work out and meet my class’ requirements?

I started work today at this paper, which was launched since we arrived here in the U.K., and is the first paper that News International ever launched. News International is part of Rupert Murdoch’s New Corps.

The online editor, and my contact at the paper, meet me this morning to let me past security. Before we even arrived at the paper’s building, he mentioned that he had a ‘bit of a first day assingment for me.”

The assignment: Photograph U2, the Irish band known around the world, signing books at bookstore in Picadilly Circus. Not bad for a first assignment, I’d say.

When I got back, the online editors taught me about how they moved content from the paper edition onto the web. I was in charge of uploading a number of stories, and had to write summaries for the online c-decks.

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/
My U2 photos are on the front page of the webiste, towards the middle. I also updated the Kevin Smith interview at the top of the page, among other things.