Tag Archives: reportage

Twenty years ago – Concorde’s last ever flight

It was 20 years ago today (November 26th, 2023) that Concorde made it’s last ever flight before being permanently retired from flying duties. That flight was a non-commercial flight which took it from London Heathrow airport to its final landing strip at Filton Airfield in Bristol.

Quite by chance I happened to be in London on October 24th, 2003 when Concorde made it’s last ever commercial flight, and permission had been granted for 3 of the aircraft to allow them circle at low altitude over London before landing for the final time at Heathrow airport. I was completely ill-equipped to take advantage of seeing the Concordes fly over Tower Bridge, having just a Canon EOS10D (6.3MP folks!) and a 24-70mm lens.

I did manage to get shots of all 3 of them, but I just can’t tell the difference other than the times that they flew over! This is definitely the last one though, which was Concorde call sign G-BOAG, piloted by Captain Mike Bannister.

Concorde, call sign G-BOAG, on it’s last ever commercial flight, doing a low altitude fly past over Tower Bridge, London. Photo by Douglas Kurn

Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey has a Concorde as part of its display of aircraft, and it is possible to book a simulated flight aboard the plane, with Captain Mike Bannister acting as the pilot for the flight. I managed to book a flight and discovered that it was capable of flying at Mach 2 or supersonic flight. There was a bit of shaking and bumping as we reached Mach 2 but it was great fun being there.

A sign inside Concorde saying that we are flying at Mach 2 at 56,500 feet, in a simulated flight at, Brooklands Museum, Weybridge. Photo by Douglas Kurn

On leaving the aircraft after “landing” back at Brooklands you can walk past the cockpit and see one of the reasons that the Concorde was retired, as it is based on a very analogue system of switches and dials.

The cockpit of the Concorde. Photo by Douglas Kurn

During my project to photograph the remains of the Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit at night, I was allowed onto the Brooklands Museum site and just had to take advantage of a lot of waiting around for long exposures to develop, by taking a “selfie” with Concorde!

Doug in front of Concorde, at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey. Photo by Douglas Kurn

It’s sad to know that it will never fly again, although it feels exciting to have been around when it was flying. Even as kids growing up we would occasionally hear it fly overhead on one of its many flights, and look up eagerly at an amazing piece of technology, and as it turns out now, history.

:D

On Their Uppers – Swan Upping Along The River Thames

The Royal Tradition of Swan Upping takes place every July on the River Thames, so I got my bike out again, and headed down to Shepperton Lock to meet up with the Swan Uppers, on the first day of Swan Upping of 2023.

David Barber, the Kings’ Swan Marker, Sunbury Lock, Sunbury-on-Thames, 17/07/2023. Photo by Douglas Kurn
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Chertsey Armistice Day 2022

Every year in Chertsey the Armistice Day is commemorated on November 11th outside St Peter’s Church. The roads are always closed just prior to the ceremony and there is always a good turn out from the locals.

I have photographed it each year for a few years now and it is always touching, and at the same time grounding. Noticeably each year there are less and less old faces present, which really does bring it home.

This year was the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war and the following poem The Falklands by Terry Charles was read to remember the people who lost their lives during that conflict.

The Falklands

“In the south Atlantic the sea runs red 
With the blood of British sons now dead 
Never again will they have tears of pain 
Now they lay silent in the cold and rain 
Homes men left will never be the same 
To the Falkland Islands the task force came 
To fight for freedom on invaded lands 
And break the chains that bind free hands 
War injure and kill our friends and kin 
When the fighting is over no nation wins”

Terry Charles

This is a selection of photos from this years ceremony – click the image to open the gallery.

Good Sun, Bad Sun – Surviving The Climate Crisis

It may have turned a bit chilly here in the UK lately but it wasn’t that long ago that we were enduring a heatwave and that was when I took this photo of someone “fending off” the sun with their brolly. 

Two people use their umbrella to provide shade against the sun’s rays during the heatwave of the summer of 2022 in Selsey, West Sussex. Photo by Douglas Kurn
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Blessing The Waters

There used to be a huge Abbey in Chertsey (until Henry VIII dissolved it in 1537 and then dismantled it to make his own palace in nearby Weybridge – so a bit before my time), and although there is very little left, that doesn’t stop monks from The Saint Edward Brotherhood coming to Chertsey every year for the Great Blessing Of Waters.

I was lucky enough to be there this year so managed to take some reportage photos of the event, and then also arranged to visit their fantastic looking monastery in Brookwood, Surrey to take some interior photographs of the building itself.

The Saint Edward Brotherhood Monastery in Brookwood, Surrey. Photo by Douglas Kurn
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Definitely Not Dry January.

Whilst looking through my archive for photos themed along the lines of “Dry January” I came across this street photo I took back in 2014. I would often see this chap walking around Chertsey carrying a can of Special Brew in this rather interesting grip; I wasn’t sure if he was trying to hide it from view or whether it was just one of his quirks.

A man holds a can of Special Brew lager in an unusual grip, whilst standing between two posters at Chertsey train station. The posters proclaim “Fatal Attraction” and “Warning” as if in relation to the high alcohol content of the beer. Photo by Douglas Kurn
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Are your photos stoppers?

A red octagonal STOP sign against a blue sky used to illustrate a post on "stoppers". Photo by Douglas Kurn
A stop sign. Photo by Douglas Kurn

What do I mean by stoppers? It is a term that the fashion editor of Vogue magazine Phyllis Posnick attributed to former Vogue art director Alexander Liberman, that meant an image had the power to make readers stop at a page and absorb the content. Posnick even used Stoppers as the title of her book of photographs that she created at Vogue with some of the worlds best photographers and fashion photographers of their time.

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Working Through Lockdown

Although I have continued to work throughout the whole coronavirus pandemic (whilst complying with government guidelines), a lot of my clients have been working from home so shooting on location with them has been tricky. Luckily I have been able to use my home and garden to help out as I previously mentioned.

For that shoot I had to photograph a shoe, comp the shoe on to a stock shot of a leg and then repeat for the dorsi flexed or plantar flexed stages of taking a step during walking – can you tell I don’t know what I’m talking about? Luckily I had some experts from my client on hand to advise!

The image was for the front cover of the latest Halo Medical catalogue, which looks like this thanks to the good folk at Remember Creative:

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The M25 Motor Wey

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I’m often asked where I find my subjects for some of my personal portraits; the answer is simple – if I see someone interesting I go up and ask them! Take Chas for instance; I have regularly cycled past his long boat on the Wey Navigation just underneath the M25 motorway bridge, and often thought he would probably make a great subject, but the problem was his boat was on the other side of the canal so it was difficult to make contact with him.

Chas’ boat moored on the Wey Navigation under the M25.
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Icons Of Rock

I’ll be honest I’ve never really understood why someone would want to dress up and pretend to be someone else so when a (last minute) opportunity to photograph the inaugural Icons Of Rock festival in Surrey presented itself I jumped at the chance to find out. The festival was a line up of Tribute Acts to famous musicians; Limehouse Lizzy (Thin Lizzy), Michael (Jackson) starring Ben, Absolute Bowie, The Illegal Eagles, Live/Wire (AC/DC) and Killer Queen.

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