A 180 degree view of the Pride Park stadium and pitch constructed from a series of overlapping images ‘stitched’ together.
As a life member of the National Union of Journalists, and former member of the unions National Executive Committee, I am very used to the demands and requirements of unions and similar organisations. I am empathic with the needs and endeavour to record their events without overly intruding. Wherever possible I utilise a fly on the wall approach, using longer lenses. I venture to adapt to all situations, using a lifetime’s acquired skills as well as hi-quality equipment. When required I also have a portable studio that can be setup on demand, to make the most of any occasion.
I have been honoured and fortunate to have been the photographer for the Midlands Trades Union Congress for over a decade.
During that time, I have photographed many conferences and events, at a great many wonderful venues spread across the East and West Midlands.
This years’ Annual Conference took place at Pride Park, the home of Derby Football Club. Not the first time I have worked at Pride Park, indeed, I have covered many conferences there over the past decade and more. A modern and spacious venue with excellent staff and catering, as well as all the other facilities that one needs when hosting a conference in 2026.
The delegates seating area before their arrival. The difficult backgrounds can be seen either side of the main screen
Paul Novak TUC General Secretary, makes the main address.
During the day the space as can be seen from the photographs was quite spacious and well-lit by the windows on two sides and could easily have contained four times the number of delegates with ease. The layout was such that the space could easily be allocated to several functions as was the case for this TUC Conference. One area containing the seats for the delegates, a second for various stalls highlighting numerous associated interests and the third arm for the catering, and allowing a large area for delegates to meet up and network etc..
Stuart Richards -TUC Midlands Regional Secretary addresses the conference.
One area of potential concern for me, before the delegates had begun to arrive was the area either side of the projector scree, which formed a major part of the background to the speakers
To the right of the screen there was a large open space, with some distracting background, and to the left a walkway with a number of doors which potentially would prove very distracting as a background to the speakers working at the podium positioned to the (actors) right of the front, or to the left as the delegates were viewing.
In order to mitigate some of the background distraction I asked for a colour coordinated Midlands TUC pop-up banner be put behind the rostrum. Placed in such a way that staff could still easily access the various doors but would still block sight of them, not perfect, but it worked.
The brief for the conference, was simple:
Document the conference through out the day, with general views of the delegates, ensuing there are photographs of each of the speakers.
The aim of the day’s work is to document the conference itself and provide a library of images for use throughout the year. The delegates are regular activists in the union movement so this conference would provide a source of material that can be used as required.
An important part of the brief is to ensure accurate captioning and identification, provided in each image title and in the caption field of the meta data. Vital for use in any Digital Asset Management system (DAM).