Covering Her Majesty

[Camera Face]

The Queen is coming to town on Thursday for a tour of the Capitol and a jaunt to historic Jamestown. Anybody have any tips on what to do or not to do? Any funny/insightful anecdotes? Any thoughts would be appreciated to help make this less of a .... royal pain. (Sorry, I had to)

[The Daywood]

Only one I can think of is not to bow while you are shooting...(sorry, I had to)

[aussie]

She is not very tall. I once saw here disappear behind the mics that were on a lectern she was speaking from.

[WarBird Dude]

Heh. I thought you were talking about Ms. Bill Clinton.

[elvezz]

I once covered her here.
She is very short, so I jumped up on a ledge to get a shot, avoiding the cluster.
I then jumped off the ledge and tracked with her to her transportation.
I was about 15' away the entire time.
Only when I tried to follow her as she was getting on the bus was I told "thats far enough then."
I had run head on into a member of her detail, dude was huge, I hit him full stride and he didn't budge! I'm 6'2" 240lb. That was it, no ramped up attitude, no manhandling, no grabbing the lens, just a simple suggestion implying I would be wise to heed.
I think, considering all my shenanigans that her guys were very cool.
Maybe it was the Union Jack I was flying on my wireless antenna.

[cameragod]

Her guys are very cool but when they say “that’s enough” they jolly well mean it. Seriously don’t push it with them, keep it low key and you might get closer than you would have believed possible.
I was following her on a factory tour. I had a wide lens so I got voted as pool camera.
The tour was ok I didn’t get in her face. They don’t like you recording close up sound of her conversations with the public, so I kept back a bit. We got to an old freight lift and I shot the Royal party going inside. I was just thinking “Stairs or wait for the lift to come back” when she looked at me and said “Are you coming with us?”
!!! “Umm with you thanks.” real smooth Stephen, I so wasn’t expecting that.

The other thing is never shoot a royal eating.

[aussie]

yeah the sound point is a good one. I have seen the royal protective squad pull down sound booms when they got too close.

[bassetf5]

When they're drinking, though, it's a different story...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451518&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=picbox&ct=5

[ewink]

Don't ask her if she misses owning Jamestown...

[Brian P]

I was in the "rota" (pool camera) for her visit to a new Air Force museum in the UK.

I was briefed by her staff to "stay a limo's length away from her at all times."

I replied "would that be a Bently or a Rolls?"

I received a glare that left a scar.

The event was in a huge space filled with old aircraft. Small groups of museum people were positioned around and she went about touring and meeting the people in these small groups.

It was very simple and quiet and good pics everywhere.
I positioned myself behind one of the small groups, got an over the shoulder shot of the people, big aircraft and little queen moving around.

Then she vectored right to group where I was, worked her way down the line, shaking hands and chatting and ended up right in front of me. She gave me a quick pursed smile and went on her way. Good stuff.

It's amazing how well mannered you can become on shoots like this. Have fun.

[SimonW]

they jolly well mean it.

Hey CG, you're beginning to talk like her! ;-)

[cameragod]

One does one’s best to keep up standards.

[A Step Above Productions]

Sounds like fun - enjoy it. From what I understand you will have much more acess to her than you would the President.

Let us know how it turns out.

[vidrock]

I would suggest putting a small British flag on your camera, that kinda thing seems to go over well in Texas..............

[Land Rover]

I would suggest putting a small British flag on your camera, that kinda thing seems to go over well in Texas..............

Only if you're in Houston......

[elvezz]

Yeah, funny how that reared its head after my post. It's funny 'cause I don't look British.

[f11vid]

Tell her that that whole "Revolution" thing was a terrible mis-understanding and that the Boston Tea party was a fraternity prank gone awry...

[Jonathan]

Did anyone see the shaky video of her after landing at the airport? It look like a weak tripod shot on CNN and Foxnews