Middle Templar 2020

Page 116

BEHIND THE LENS

CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU

Behind the Lens Chris Christodoulou began his photographic career in 1979 at the Royal Albert Hall where he was the house photographer for 33 years. He specialises in live classical music, opera and show photography. This year he celebrates several important photographic milestones, 40 years of photographing the BBC Proms, 30 years opera production photography at the Royal College of Music and 25 years at Middle Temple.

My first job in the Temple was on a freezing cold night in November 1995. Dr John Birch, the then Temple Church Organist, knew my work from the Royal Albert Hall; I had been the House Photographer there since 1979 and he was curator of the organ. John wanted a picture of the Choir outside the Church for a Christmas card. The shoot was a great success and the start of a long and happy connection with Temple Church, Middle and Inner Temples. I have photographed many royal occasions – including more than 300 in London – but royal visits to Middle Temple, whether official or private, are always special. Over the years I could not fail to notice how much royal visitors enjoy coming to Middle Temple and relaxing in the company of Benchers and members they know so well. HRH The Duke of Cambridge is an enthusiastic and committed Royal Bencher and he plainly loves being part of, and adding to, the history and traditions of the Inn.

Two major challenges immediately presented themselves. The first was that I was entirely at the mercy of the daylight (or rather lack of it); the second was my fear of heights! I had to spend two weeks with a heavy plate camera (and endless other photographic kit) 18 feet above ground up a scaffolding tower. It was amazing to be up close and to be able read details which are simply not visible from ground level. I was left in no doubt as to the exemplary artistic skill and craft of these, the very best, stained-glass window makers. After the success of the stainedglass windows, the next project was to photograph every piece of silver in the Middle Temple collection, being sure to record their

corresponding hallmarks. The game of ‘find the hallmark’ on a piece of 16th Century silver which has been polished for 400 years proved to be as challenging as photographing the silver itself. If you want to photograph silver, it can be summed up in just one-word – ‘reflections’. You need a little reflection to give the image depth and life, but you do not particularly want an image of the photographer and his lights, tripod and camera reflected in the silver you are trying to photograph. After several tests, I built a one metre square cube out of 6mm opaque perspex sheeting with a little hole for my camera lens to poke through and painted white to further minimise any reflections. I was then fully in control of my lighting and the amount of shadows and reflections I wanted to introduce into the shot. The importance of the commission became immediately apparent when Ian Garwood, the Inn’s Director of Estates, handed me the collection schedule with the valuations. It was at that point that I developed

Three royal occasions stand out: the re-dedication in 2013 of the Temple Church organ with HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; the year-long events in celebration of 800 years of Magna Carta, leading up to the national commemoration at Runnymede in June 2015; and TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s private visit to meet the students awarded their Cambridge Scholarships in October 2012. Archival photography is a significant part of my work and my first important archive commission for Middle Temple was to photograph the stained-glass windows in the Hall as full panels and individual crests. They had never before been photographed in their entirety. Each of the 14 windows, and the 16 individual panels which make up each window, had to be recorded.

114

Temple Church Choir photographed in 1995

2020 Middle Templar


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

Temple Church Weddings

0
page 145

New Masters of the Bench 2019-20

9min
pages 127-129

Middle Temple Students' Association

4min
page 126

Middle Temple Young Barristers' Association

7min
pages 124-125

Hall Committee

4min
page 123

The COIC Pupillage Matched Funded Scheme

3min
page 122

What Have the Bar Council and the Inn Ever Done for Me?

2min
page 119

Behind the Lens

8min
pages 116-118

Temple Residents' Association

4min
page 121

Valedictory: The Rt Hon. Lord Carnwath

7min
pages 114-115

Temple Church During Lockdown

7min
pages 112-113

Lent Reader’s Feast: The Highways, Byways and Blind Alleys of International Law

11min
pages 108-110

Temple Church Choir Summer Review

2min
page 111

Becoming a Barrister

15min
pages 103-105

Autumn Reader's Feast: Current Challenges in the Criminal Justice System

8min
pages 106-107

Talk to Spot

3min
page 102

The Divorce Blame Game is Nearly Over

6min
pages 100-101

You have the Right to Remain Unidentified

7min
pages 98-99

Levelling the Playing Field

8min
pages 96-97

A Day in the Country in Lockdown

9min
pages 92-93

Confronting the Challenges Presented by the Covid-19 Pandemic

8min
pages 90-91

Impeachment of a U.S. President

8min
pages 94-95

How Middle Temple Helped Me

3min
page 88

Don’t Let Commercial Awareness be a Bar to Success

4min
page 87

Student Life at the Inn

3min
page 86

In the Shoes of an Out of London Student

4min
page 85

The Inns of Court

3min
page 84

The ICCA Bar Course

3min
page 83

Troubled Journeys on the Path to Justice

3min
page 82

Turning the Tide against Corruption in the Congo

4min
page 81

My Journey to the Bar and Becoming the First Kurdish Iraqi Barrister

3min
page 80

Qualifying Sessions

4min
page 79

The Role of an Inn of Court

3min
page 78

Five Perspectives on Sponsorship

8min
pages 76-77

Advocacy at the Inn

7min
pages 74-75

Outreach

3min
page 72

Sherrard Conversations

3min
page 73

Mock Pupillage Interviews

7min
pages 68-69

Volunteering at Call Day

2min
pages 70-71

Mooting Trip to Cherokee

9min
pages 65-67

Education Update

4min
page 64

100 Years Since Helena Normanton's First Qualifying Session

2min
page 58

MTYBA & MTSA International Women's Day

2min
page 59

Créme de la Créme Climbing Rose

2min
page 62

Celebrating a Century of Women in Law

5min
pages 56-57

Circuit Societies

15min
pages 53-55

MTYBA Dark Waters Event

3min
page 63

The Rule of Law Under Attack

7min
pages 60-61

Working in the Seychelles

4min
page 52

An Increased Use of Technology in Gibraltar's Legal System

2min
page 51

Access to Justice during the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Malaysian Experience

8min
pages 48-49

Cross Border Practice in Europe and Brexit

4min
page 46

Business as Usual at the European Court of Justice Pending Brexit

7min
pages 44-45

Reflections on a Declaration of Friendship

7min
pages 42-43

Mind the Gap: The General Adjourned Period and the Coronavirus Pandemic in Hong Kong

4min
page 47

Amity Visit to Canada

6min
pages 40-41

Book Review: Equal Justice by Frederick Wilmot-Smith

3min
page 39

Book Review: Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain by Thomas Grant

4min
page 38

Book Review: Simon Brown's Memoirs by the The Rt Hon The Lord Brown

4min
page 35

The Ceremonial Plate of the Middle Temple

4min
page 32

Lord Carson of Duncairn: Barrister, Statesman and Judge

11min
pages 27-29

Unshaken & Unshakeable

7min
pages 30-31

A Personal Collection of 15th Century Documents

17min
pages 23-26

Justiciability – A Forgotten Saga

9min
pages 33-34

Readers of the Temple: From the 16th to the 19th Century

9min
pages 20-22

A Potted History of the Office of the Under Treasurer

5min
pages 18-19

Equality and Diversity at the Bar Council

4min
page 13

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic

3min
page 17

Racial Equality, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Working Group

2min
page 12

Black Lives Matter

4min
page 11

BAME and the Bar

4min
page 10

From the Treasurer

6min
pages 8-9

Speech at the Inauguration of the Middle Temple LGBTQ+ Forum

11min
pages 14-16

Under Treasurers’ Forewords

8min
pages 6-7
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.