On assignment at the Presidents office
Halfway into the month of January I was assigned by a major nationwide daily newspaper to photograph during a interview with the President of the European Parliament, the German MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering.
22 JANUARY 2009 -- Hans-Gert POETTERING, President of the European Parliament - German MEP (CDU, EPP/ED) and member of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, during an interview in his office. Photo: © Erik Luntang
It’s not the first time I go there for an interview. Have been there a couple of times and always tried to do something different with my pictures so the readers would feel like reading the article or at least stop up and investigate. It is not so easy since the President always sits on the same spot on his sofa under a heavy framed antic painting of some ancient landscape. To be fair the painting is from time to time changed, but not the style. And when you want to do something different after the interview it must be done within a second.
This time it was a bit different, not the painting, but that he asked if we could do the pictures before the interview. I said firmly that we will do them after and during the interview. He did not like this and excused himself explaining that it was not so pleasant that pictures was taken during the interview. I said nothing and was only thinking that this was some kind of a new idea he have gotten. I could just not figure out why and especially for a politician and if this have an important a message.
We compromised. I said I would not overdo it and therefor keep a low profile with my camera during the interview and he in return promised to give me five minutes after the interview.
To be honest I was very happy not to take to many pictures during the interview since they are always the same. You need to make photos more appealing for the readers.
Unfortunately the journalist was becoming more and more nervous into the interview and could not concentrate anymore and suddenly had to ask if it was OK to take some pictures now at the end of the interview. It was very important for the newspaper with these pictures. I began photographing and soon the interview was over and it was supposed to be my five minutes with the camera.
I had got some very good ideas for pictures listening to the interview, if I may say so. Unfortunately none of them was so good in the eyes of the president and he wanted to do the opposite of me, with the result that they more or less could be compared with a boring handshake picture nobody looks for or after. The style he wanted was more or less like the picture shown here on the page. Unfortunately something went a little wrong technically because we were late and since none of my ideas had worked with the President, I had put my remote radio operated flash on the floor when asking him to pose for me in the doorway. The result was a heavy shadow of the President on the wall which actually illustrated one of the subjects in the interview – Migration.
I hope the readers got curious and wanted to read what the President had to say.