The brilliant Teach First
organisation aims to address educational inequality in the UK by training and supporting
young people to help them become brilliant teachers. My latest job was in Leeds, to do the conference photography for the welcome ceremony at its 13th annual residential
training event, Summer Institute, followed a commission earlier this year to
track a young Teach First teacher at Thorn Academy in Cardiff and relate a day
in her life through pictures.
The Summer Institute’s
Impact Conference is the UK’s largest and most ambitious teacher training event
and hosts over 3,000 delegates including Teach First 2014 and 2015
participants, university tutors and school and business leaders. The last two
years have seen the event contribute a £5.5m investment to the city of Leeds.
In my work as a North East commercial photographer I work across a patch from Yorkshire up to Northumberland and Leeds is just a short car ride away
from my Stockton on Tees base. I arrived early at the venue, Leeds Beckett University, introduced
myself to the client contact for the day and did the all-important task of
checking the brief hadn’t changed since the booking was made. Clients sometimes
surprise me with a change of speaker or running order, and I like to make sure
I’m fully up to speed with any new developments before I unpack my camera gear.
The audience was enthralled
by a range of speakers, including Teach First’s Founder and CEO, Brett Wigdortz
OBE; John Lloyd, the television producer behind Blackadder and QI; and Nicky
Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education.
My brief was to capture the
engaging spirit of the launch of the two-week event, with shots of the speakers
and audience. Speaker Dave Bunting is an experienced Everest guide and gave a particularly
interesting presentation about teamwork and building relationships and trust,
all vital skills that teachers will need as they progress their career.
I had taken several camera
bodies and some fast lenses so I could work at slow speeds to cope with the dark
lighting conditions in the hall, and get a mixture of crowd and individual
shots. I’m always looking to add longevity to a photoshoot and as the delegates
filed out of the auditorium I used the light flooding in through the open doors
to get some generic ‘leaving’ shots that will come in useful to promote next
year’s conference – a kind of ‘it’s been great, see you next year’ theme.
Set just off Woodside Lane
in the heart of Leeds and close to the First Direct Arena, the campus has some
great outdoor spaces for group shots and I even had a bit of fun taking
pictures of people taking the obligatory selfies that are now part of every
occasion.
The students were a
good-natured group and keen to join in the fun. And of course no student photos
would be complete without a picture of everyone cheering so I was happy to add
that one to the portfolio.
Around 1700 delegates were
at the welcome ceremony, and everyone left feeling invigorated and inspired. I
was glad to have played my part in recording an event set to continue the good
work of Teach First and to further its aim to combat educational inequality.
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