Back in the late 1980's, I was a student going to college in the US, but living with my family in England during summer and Christmas breaks. In the summers, I would take pictures of the Royal Family, eventually photographing Princess Diana over fifty times, and meeting her twice. I would also see the Queen, Princes Charles and Andrew, and most of the more 'minor' royals, as well as many European royals. It was fun, and a big adrenaline rush, not to mention good practice for an aspiring professional photographer. I also saw some of the world's biggest celebrities of the time, and attended film premieres, two royal weddings, and other social events. But after 1989, I became a professional photographer, got married and settled in the US. So when the chance came to be part of a big royal occasion one more time, I bought a plane ticket, and headed across the pond to see William and Kate.
The day before the wedding, I arrived in London by train at 11am and walked the route a couple times, eventually settling on a good spot by 4:00 that afternoon. I wanted a location that had a front row spot and a good view across a wide part of the road- not too close so I'd be looking up William and Kate's noses, but where I'd get a shot of both of them from the other side of the street, and where I could get out quickly and get a prime view of the balcony appearance after the wedding.
The people around me were great– sharing drinks, food, and even a nice chair and blanket to use throughout the night. I had many chances during the night to walk up and down the route, see what people were doing, etc. Some were sleeping, others just sitting up talking. Old and young, British and foreign, it was a really mixed crowd. I had a group of English women on one side of me and a Canadian family on the other. It got cold during the night, down to the 40's. I actually slept for about fifteen minutes I think. In the morning, more people started arriving after 5am, and by daybreak it was packed. Then the bomb sniffer dogs arrived, the guards began to line the route and military bands marched by again and again.
Despite what it may seem, I'm not a big "fan" of the Royal Family. I've still never seen Kate and William on TV, or watched clips of the wedding. I picked up a souvenir newspaper on the way home from London, but haven't ever looked through it. But I wanted to go and be a part of something really big, to spend the night on the streets with strangers who became friends, and to experience the emotions of a million people all in one place for a genuinely happy occasion. And it was emotional– surrounded by so many people, all cheering as the couple each said "I do" over the nearby loudspeakers, singing along to the hymn, Jerusalem, and waving and shouting as the new couple rode by.
I shot over 1,000 pictures, as well as dozens of HD video clips. It took weeks to sort through them all, edit out the bad shots, process the raw images, caption them for stock sales, and post a gallery. My plan is to put together a ten minute video of the stills, audio clips and videos from my experience. Stayed tuned.
