GUARDIAN: Acclaimed photographer Roger Bamber – a life in pictures

Sad news of the passing of the extraordinary photographer, Roger Bamber. The Guardian celebrates Roger’s life through his iconic photographs in ‘Acclaimed photographer Roger Bamber – a life in pictures’.

I was privileged to have Roger come to my studio to capture the sculpting of the statue of Sir Nigel Gresley for King’s Cross station. It was  inspiring to see such a strong creative vision at work as soon as he stepped into the room. Above is his favourite shot from the day – he loved a touch of the Gothic – lighting was everything, and he was delighted to capture the shadow of Sir Nigel against the studio wall. My favourite image is below. Roger was such a perfectionist. We were both up ladders for hours – we were giggling about what would happen if we both fell off the ladders at the same time.

Here is the description Roger embedded in the photograph file, mentioning the Mallard Duck that was meant to be at Sir Nigel’s side:

Picture by Roger Bamber : 04 January 2016 : The statue about to arrive at King’s Cross Station: Sculptor Hazel Reeves works on the clay moulding of the statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, the designer of the fastest steam locomotive in the world, the LNER’s Class A4 N0. 4468 “Mallard” and also the famous A3, “Flying Scotsman” in her Billingshurst studio, Sussex. This statue of the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, North Eastern Railway is about to be cast in bronze and placed on the platform at London’s Kings Cross railway station on April 5th 2016. The controversial £95,000 statue commissioned by The Gresley Society was originally designed to have a Mallard duck at Sir Nigels feet but the duck was controversially dropped because his grandsons thought it made him look ridiculous. The streamlined steam locomotive achieved a speed of 126 mph in 1938.