Prince Andrew Embarrassment

I spent the day on order for The Sun, photographing Prince Andrew as he visited the Cambridge Business Park.

For those readers who may not be up to date with the regular embarrassments caused by almost every member of the Royal Family apart from the Queen, this was Prince Andrew's first public engagement since his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, told journalists acting as businessmen that she can arrange access to her ex-husband for a substantial fee.

For Prince Andrew it was business as usual, but the desire was for pictures portraying him as less than happy with this most recent scandal. The shot of Prince Andrew with his head in his hands was published in The Sun.

The above picture was published in The Times.

Yamit Mamo for Spotify

I had a lovely day today in Unity Studios, north London, taking stills and video of singer/songwriter Yamit Mamo, for a new video streaming project for online music application Spotify. Yamit performed two songs with her band, Down That Deep and Silent Way- the tracks were produced by Al Stone.

Yamit, who has performed at Glastonbury Festival and the 02 Centre, and whose debut album is due for release at the end of 2010, can be found at www.myspace.com/yamitmamomusic

The Queen- Looking Casual

It was the final day of the Royal Windsor Horse Show today, so having organised accreditation I drove up to Windsor, hopeful to come back with a new set of pictures of the Queen. Typically at the show, the Queen is a little more relaxed than when on formal engagements- often dressing casually and driving down to the show herself, as it's basically in her back garden.

I arrived just in time to see a small group of photographers excitedly watching a Range Rover that had just pulled up. As I walked towards it a man next to me, dressed casually in chords, turned round and said in a very serious tone "don't go in front of me, OK?" Her Majesty's security were on guard. The Queen spent around half an hour watching the events of the show, and from a safe distance I was able to snap away to my heart's content.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, involved in some time-keeping for the Carriages event.

David Miliband Campaign

Former Foreign Minister David Miliband visited the West Harrow Labour Club, to start his campaign to become the new leader of the Labour Party following a woeful General Election. Surprisingly, I was the only national newspaper photographer there- possibly as the rest of the media was watching events unfold in Westminster, as David Cameron and Nick Clegg's negotiating teams worked on forming a historic coalition government.

One of my pictures was used on the front page of The Daily Mirror the following day.

Satisfied with my pictures, I asked the press officer if I could have a minute with Mr. Miliband. She said it may be a possibility, a brief moment later I was one-on-one for about 30 seconds, and managed to shoot the portrait below.

More pictures available on my website... www.blakeezracole.com

Conservative Party HQ

With the future UK government up in the air, the country having voted for a Hung Parliament, I received a call on Friday night from the News of the World who, like every other Sunday paper, were planning on giving masses of space to the election and subsequent jostle for power.

The coming weekend was to be an unprecedented one, with secret negotiations between all parties happening behind the scenes. I arrived at the Conservative HQ on Millbank, central London at 20.00, and ended up there (and awake) for 25 hours. The main players of the Conservatives all came and went throughout the day, David Cameron choosing to try to avoid the press in order to distance himself from the coalition talks in case they should fail.

William Hague arrives in the morning.

Future Prime Minister David Cameron leaves through the back door.

Oliver Letwin, scared of me being run over as I step into the road.

A shady looking George Osborne leaves the HQ.

Esther Rantzen Campaign

Television presenter and founder of Childline Esther Rantzen welcomed me into her office in Luton this morning, where she is campaigning to be an independent MP for Luton South.

It was hoped that there might be an influx of independent candidates standing to be MPs after the expenses scandal that engulfed every party in Westminster. Esther's campaign has gained some momentum, and she's certainly a seasoned campaigner with the press- making sure that myself and the other two photographers could get all the shots we each needed.

David Cameron Campaign

With the General Election in full swing, I had the chance to photograph David Cameron this morning, as he gave a talk at a business centre in south London- continuing his campaign to become the next Prime Minister.

Politicians are always placed in front of masses of people at these types of events; possibly as there are so many events and they'd like each one to look different, maybe also so they build up a mental association in the mind of the viewer that they are leaders- standing at the front of a crowd. Either way, sometimes it can enhance a picture but it can also ruin one- a badly placed extra can make a scene look messy. I think in this case the architecture of the building adds to the pictures.

Icy Waters

Working in an unpredictable and fluid industry, I'm never sure what to expect from the day or week ahead. Anything can change at a moment's notice- often to the detriment of a social life! Sometimes, a day or week can turn out to be a real highlight as something enjoyable comes along.

This was not one of those weeks. It has been one of the coldest winters in living memory, and unfortunately this week I was witness to two incidents of dead bodies being pulled out from icy waters. Spending the day at the scene of a search can be draining- not knowing what will be found or where, and ultimately hoping that the missing person will show up alive.

The first was at Brightwell Lakes near Northampton where two bodies, of friends on a fishing trip, were found on 21/12/2009.

Picture of police divers published on the front of The Daily Mirror the following morning.

Boxing Day was extremely grim. I was on my way to photograph a staple of British eccentricity- Barrel Rolling, in a small Cambridgeshire village. A call came in from the office "A 13 year old boy has gone missing from Bishops Stortford on Christmas Eve, so can you do some shots of the site he went missing from on the way to the Barrel Rolling?" Having taken those pictures, I then stuck around to photograph the search teams whilst talking to locals and trying to find out more about the missing boy- Jordan Trowsdale.

Numerous hours later, with the boy's friends gathered together and his mother wandering distraught around the park, police divers found a body half a mile down the river and everybody's worst fears were confirmed. The young boy had drunk a few cans of cider with his friends, and then walked home alone- slipping on the frozen path next to the river. Being party to the process made it a difficult experience to 'leave at work'.

Detectives stand with the body of Jordan Trowsdale.

Rescued Seal Pups

I visited the RSPCA Centre in East Winch, Norfolk, where there has been an influx of seal pups separated from their parents in the Northumbria floods. Expecting to take a cute picture of a group of baby seals together, I showed up and was changed into a white protective suit and boots- to protect myself from the seals biting me, and to protect my clothes from the intense smell of fish in the air.

Hopes of a picture showing numerous distressed but lovable young seals were quickly dashed, as the seals were in solitary confinement- and they also didn't look so young to me. I spent about half an hour taking pictures, trying to avoid being bitten, and attempting to ignore the smell. Pictures were published in The Daily Mail, The Metro and The Times.

Thanks to the lady from the RSPCA for this one.

A pup named 'Glaven Vet', roughly 5 weeks old, and (below) being fed.

Pygmy Hedgehogs

I received a call from the office "You're off to do some cute pictures of pygmy hedgehogs, they're like regular hedgehogs but much smaller and they range in colour from white to dark brown. So if you could do a picture with them all lined up from lightest to darkest, that'd be great."

Well, pygmy hedgehogs don't sit still for pictures- in fact they do the opposite and run amok. So I focused on portraying the diminutive size of the animal, rather than trying to organise a colour-based line up and hope they sit still and smile at the right moment!

The pictures were used well in nearly every British newspaper, as well as magazines and newspapers in Germany and Poland.

Having spent hours trying to get the hedgehogs to sit still enough for a photo, the owner's (a teenage girl) mother came home. The mother remarked on how "sexy" my name was, which would have been less awkward if she hadn't repeated it, and if her husband wasn't standing next to me. She loved my name and said that she'd name the hedgehog in the egg-cup Blake.

The next day I was watching BBC news, who ran a feature on the pygmy hedgehogs on the back of the massive coverage in the newspapers. I couldn't help but laugh when the presenter lifted her hand, with the pygmy hedgehog in it, and said something like "pygmy hedgehogs like Blake here are very much growing in popularity". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8300124.stm

Page 3 of Metro.

Tanvir the Tiger

Tanvir, a Bengal tiger at Noah's Ark Zoo in Bristol, climbed up his 5m activity tower and was too scared to come down. Tanvir tarnished the fearless reputation of the tiger by spending over 24 hours stuck at the top of the tower, before finally mustering the courage to come down for food.

One Taste Festival 09

One Taste, a bastion of thriving creativity in the fields of music and spoken word. Along with numerous gigs held throughout the year, festival tours and compilation releases, One Taste puts on their own festival each year- it's a great day out for music lovers.

Here are some pictures from the One Taste Festival held at The Bedford in Balham, headlined by Newton Faulkner.

To find out more about One Taste, go to www.onetaste.co.uk

Jerusalem

In Israel for the wedding of two great friends, I got to spend a day or two in Jerusalem- a city I love to explore.

Stacey Lawrence Murder

I was at the Police HQ in Northampton this morning, in order to take a copy (known as a collect photograph) of a handout picture of a young girl named Stacey Lawrence, who was found strangled to death in a lorry belonging to her mother's boyfriend- and also to take some pictures of the press conference itself.

The conference room was full to the brim, this particularly horrid chain of events garnering many column inches in the national press. Detective Chief Inspector Tricia Kirk addressed the room, and held up the picture of Stacey for the waiting photographers to copy.