Pictures help to bring paper’s stories to life

As part of Local Newspaper Week, which highlights the importance of papers like the Oxford Mail, we reflect on the importance of pictures to accompany all the column inches we print – both in our newspapers and online.

• A bomb threat at an Army recruitment office in St Giles, Oxford, in February

PHOTOGRAPHERS made sure they were in the right place to record the activities of our predecessors when the Oxford Mail started out in 1928 in New Inn Hall Street.

A dedicated team has worked for the Mail and its sister titles ever since to make sure they get the best news pictures possible to accompany a story.

In the old days, the pictures were strictly black-and-white, but now colour is the norm.

And whenever there is breaking news – it could be a serious smash on the A34 or a police siege – our photographers will be there to capture the drama and the details.

Sometimes they go to great lengths to get the best position for the right shot and there can be a long wait before they get the picture they want.

But with the help of digital technology, processing pictures is now a much quicker operation than it used to be.

“One of the great things about the job is the huge range of subjects we have to cover,” said Oxford Mail photographer Damian Halliwell.

• Prince Charles sits in on a lecture on a visit to the Said Business School in February 2013

“There’s a big variety and sometimes it can be murder one minute and sport the next.

“But a picture can make a huge difference to a story and there are not many stories that won’t be enhanced by a picture to illustrate it.

“Even the best words in the world will be helped out by a picture.”

When royal visits are announced, the Oxford Mail picture desk ensures our photographers have enough rota passes and Jon Lewis took a shot last year of Prince Charles listening in to a lecture at the Said Business School.

In Kidlington last year Antony Moore was in the right place to get a picture of a child being rescued from a siege, while Cliff Hide showed how the usual tranquillity of St Giles was disturbed earlier this year by a bomb threat at the Army recruitment offices.

With so many picture opportunities created by the floods in Oxford at the start of the year, hundreds of photos were featured on oxfordmail.co.uk as well as in the newspaper.

Oxford Mail picture editor Leah McLaren added: “Pictures play a vital role in telling a story and we have some of the most talented and enthusiastic photographers, with drive and passion for getting the best shot.

• Picture editor Leah McLaren

“Whether it is rushing out to breaking news, or creating a vibrant front page picture from nothing, our photographers have constant challenges to face, which the readers can’t see, but they overcome these obstacles.”

It’s about being in the right place at the right time

• Photographers took hundreds of pictures during the floods earlier this year. Marc West spotted Tom Ballance paddleboarding along the flood waters in Abingdon Road, Oxford.

• The animal rights issue has always been fiercely debated in Oxfordshire and protesters made their feelings clear at Hillgrove cat farm, near Witney, in 1998. The farm, which has since closed down, bred the cats for medical research.

• After Oxford United’s 3-1 victory over York City in the Conference play-off final at Wembley in 2010, the players took a tour of the city centre on an open-top bus. Striker James Constable holds the trophy aloft, as U’s fans below applaud.

• Sir Winston Churchill is buried in a grave at St Martin’s Church, Bladon, close to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, where he was born. Following the war leader’s funeral on January 30, 1965, mourners filed past his grave in the churchyard to pay their respects.

• May Morning is always a good opportunity for our photographers to get great pictures. Mark Hemsworth took this atmospheric shot with the crowd clutching blue balloons

• In 2009 Richard Cave captured the moment revellers took the plunge from Magdalen Bridge.