BARRHEAD - It was a long time in the making.
For about a decade Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) teacher Bruce Tyrrell has had in the back of his mind to take a group of his portrait photography students to London, England.
However, he really did not start planning for the trip until 2017 and just about when they were ready to submit their plan to the school board for approval, the pandemic struck.
However, the 13 students and two chaperones, excluding Tyrrell, who spent nine days abroad, believe it was worth the wait. Even though it meant the young photographers did not get an opportunity to work with a professional photographer.
Typically, Tyrrell said that one of the mainstays of the annual trip that has been taking place since 2009, minus the pandemic years, is that the students get to work with and have a photo review with a professional photographer. Some of the more notable photographers BCHS students have worked with in recent trips include Pooya Nabei, a highly sought Canadian photographer known for his work in fashion, portraits, celebrity and advertising campaigns and photojournalist Ben Norman, who among other things, is known for his work as a regular freelancer for the New York Times newspaper.
"Our budget was pretty high, so I took them around to locations that have good photo opportunities," he said, adding he has relatives in the area and has visited the country multiple times, including a scouting trip last summer.
But he noted the class raised a good portion of the trip by selling school photography photo packages.
Unlike other schools that hire professional photographers to take the standard graduation photo in a mass one or two-day event, the portrait photography class takes grad photos during multiple sessions throughout the year. About half of the funds raised go towards the annual trip, while the other goes towards subsidizing the purchase of equipment for the Com-Tech program. The school also had a bit of a war chest because there were no photography trips in 2020 and 2021.
"But next year's photo trip might be to Leduc," Tyrrell said.
The group left for London on April 29 and returned home on May 8.
The contingent stayed at a hostel next to St. Paul's Cathedral in central London and, at one time, had served as its choir school. Although the domed Anglican church is one of the most historic (and recognisable) London sites dating back to the 17th century. It is still a functioning church that conducts regular daily services and hourly prayer. Its bells also ring every 15 minutes.
"You got used to it," said student Erika Kerckhof.
Melissa Kettler agreed, saying that by the end of their stay, she had effectively "tuned them out".
This was helpful during the coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla when the cathedral's bells and those of other churches across the city for hours.
After settling into their rooms and sorting out their cellphone situation, a necessity to aid in navigating the city rested up for the week ahead.
London and photography
The next morning they toured St. Paul's Cathedral, before heading to St Dunstan of the East and the bombed-out ruins of a historic church damaged in 1941 during Germany's blitz of London. It is now a city park. They also visited the London Eye, a large observation Ferris wheel on the south bank of the River Thames that overlooks the city.
On their way to the Eye, they also walked through the Leake Street graffiti tunnel London's largest legal graffiti wall. Both Simon D'haene noted that he and Erika Elgersma spray painted their monikers to the wall.
Elgersma interjected that later the same day, while walking across the Westminster Bridge witnessed one of many protests they saw during their visit. The one they walked by was about cuts to education funding.
One of the highlights for the group was when they visited the Churchill War Rooms museum, an underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the Second World War.
Other visits of note included the National Gallery, the British Museum, Tower of London and Trafalgar Square.
Another favourite stop was the Tower Bridge, where they conducted one of several night shoots after stopping by a cousin of Tyrrell's (whose balcony overlooks the bridge). The Tower Bridge is a drawbridge in London and it crosses the Thames near the Tower of London.
The Coronation
Tyrrell interjected they hadn't planned to visit London during the coronation week as the final date was set after they had booked their travel arrangments and added that for the most part, he felt it added to their experience.
"It certainly made it more memorable," he said, adding all of the shops were selling souvenirs to mark the occasion, many of which were the "over the top variety".
The only way the coronation negatively impacted their trip, Tyrrell said, is that they could not see Westminster Abby.
Of course, the coronation also increased the number of visitors to places such as Buckingham Palace, which the group visited four days before the event.
This is why they decided to watch the event at St Bartholomew the Great, London's oldest surviving church, currently celebrating its 900th anniversary.
"I thought it was pretty cool that we were in London at the same time as the coronation and to be there as history was happening," Kettler said.
The students also said they had a chance to glimpse the monarch as they were touring the Westminster district to see Big Ben and the Palace of Westminister, which serves the two houses of the United Kingdom Parliament.
"We were stopped by a policeman who told us we had to wait until the king passed by. So we got a lot closer than we ever would have if we had gone to the coronation," Tyrrell said, adding he managed to get a partial picture of Charles as his motorcade passed.
Harry Potter and navigating around London
In addition to visiting and photographing some of London's historic landmarks and institutions, the photography class took a couple of side trips to stop at locales made famous by the Harry Potter book/movie series, including Platform 9 3/4 (where Harry and his friends catch the Hogwarts Express) on their way to the British Library.
The students said they were somewhat disappointed with the location, calling it a "tourism trap". However, Tyrrell did admit that he did succumb and bought a Harry Potter scarf.
The students conducted a photoshoot of the London street used to depict Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies.
The students also had free time to explore the city on their own, but only after they passed a test demonstrating their ability to navigate around London, as their cell phones and Google Maps, were helpful only to a point.
For the most part, the contingent got around on foot or by using the "tube", which Emma Weeks and a few of her friends learned when returning to the hostel from the famous Harrods department store during rush hour.
"It was bad. There were people standing on every side of you. It was gross," she said.
As for if the trip was worth the wait, the group said yes, adding they all wanted to return to the city one day. But until they do, they noted they still have all their photos to look back on.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
