Over a Sunday lunch with friends one afternoon… “What are you doing on Saturday 19th?” At the time we didn’t realise it would be the end of a crazy mad 8 days of photography for me. We, that is myself and Mrs S were very lucky to have been invited to a party by friends that live on the Long Walk in Windsor. Their house had a prime spot on the route for The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. “Bring your camera with you… I’m sure you’ll get a nice photo or 2!!” Well, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it ?
I had kept an ear on TV & radio reports in the run up to Saturday. Windsor was quite clearly going to be packed with estimates of more than 120,000 people lining the route. To be safe we caught the 7am train to be sure of getting in to Windsor with time to spare. It was a good move, on the walk to the house we could see plenty of people were in position early. Once we arrived, I quickly set up and checked the view point to lock in my camera settings. It wasn’t a bad spot was it?
We then had time to chill. Help prepare food, maybe a cheeky glass in readiness before we watched the build up on TV. It was surreal watching Prince Harry and Meghan say their vows on TV, while listening to the cheers of the crowd at the end of the garden watching it on the huge screens. Before long it was time to take up my position on the balcony… they were leaving St Georges Chapel.
The crowds twitched below me in expectation. Then up at the corner, to a Mexican Wave of cheering and Union flags, the lead troops of the Household Cavalry came into view. My view of the newly weds was totally blocked. I now knew I would only have a few seconds as they made the slight right bend in the road.
Sure enough the cavalry lead the way around the bend, Prince Harry and Megan finally came into view. I fired of a burst of frames, at almost 11 frames per second!! Thank goodness the Nikon D4 is built with Press & Sports photographers in mind. Then a magic moment I had hoped for. Prince Harry spotted something or somebody on a balcony and pointed it out to his new bride.
Megan noticed it (I heard it might have been a dog wearing a wedding veil fancy dress outfit) her reaction was a photographer’s dream. As the carriage continued along the road, I quickly repositioned so I could track them from the side now. Another quick burst of frames and I captured my favourite image of the day. From my first clear view, in literally seconds (34 to be exact looking at my data) they were passed me, heading off down towards Albert Road.
I had a few moments to get off the balcony and into the 2nd position I had recced earlier that morning. I wasn’t sure how it would look until they actually came up The Long Walk.
I thought it might be a nice image to see all the cheering crowds in the foreground as the came by in the carriage… I think it worked out quite well in the end.
