To round off an eventful year, our last News Sports and Entertainment Spotlight of 2024 is with Edinburgh-based photographer Iain Masterton. A multifacited photographer, not only does Iain capture breaking news events, he is also an award winning landscape drone photographer, winning 2023’s Landscape Photographer of the Year competition in the Bird’s Eye View category.
Iain is also a chartered civil engineer and lived in Hong Kong and China for 10 years, aspects which have influenced how and what he chooses to shoot.
Read on to discover how Iain has utilised drone photography in order to bring new perspectives to news stories, how he found himself in a dangerous riot and why he has chosen to work with Alamy for the past 21 years.
LG: What was your first job within the news sector?
IM: My first entry into the news market was with Alamy Live News, I have never worked directly for a news organisation.
To be able to survive as a freelancer you have to have several income streams and news seemed like something interesting and possibly exciting to try. The first hard news story I covered was the opening of the Queensferry Crossing bridge by the Queen on 4th September 2017.
I had just returned from living overseas and because I was born a stone’s throw way in Dunfermline and am a civil engineer who used to design bridges, the event was very interesting and I started to learn how to be a news photographer and know my place in the pecking order (at the bottom!).
LG: Do you have a favourite story that you have covered, if so what was it and why is it your favourite?
IM: My most memorable news story was covering the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in September 2019. I lived in Hong Kong in the 1990s and have an emotional attachment to the city. When it became clear that there was a massive public backlash to the authoritarian changes being forced onto them I had to visit and try to document it. I had planned on staying for a couple of weeks but ended up being there for a month and I think my credit card is still paying for this!
This was never going to be a money making project. There were hundreds of photojournalists (and thousands of brave citizen journalists) covering the protests and they had the means to upload images to their agencies immediately. I often found myself in my hotel room, exhausted and sometimes covered in pepper spray, uploading images at 3am – obviously far too late to compete for publication. But the excitement and sense of history was palpable and something I will never forget.
LG: You have some fantastic drone shots in your Alamy collection, are there advantages/disadvantages to this kind of photography within the news sector, and what made you get into using drones?
IM: Drone photography is now quite commonplace in the news sector because it is a powerful way to capture many events and their context. As I mentioned previously, I need to have several income streams and using a drone was another way to do this. When I started out with my first drone it wasn’t so common but once aerial images started appearing regularly in the press, more and more news photographers went out and bought one.
Advantages are too many to list but I would say being able to cover weather stories such as floods, snow, heatwaves (think beach shots) drought etc are all perfect for drones. I had a nightmare 5 hour drive in the night to reach Brechin last year when the River South Esk broke its banks in the town causing major flooding and a large emergency response. My aerial photos of the flooding featured in many newspapers.
Another aerial photo won the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2023 prize in the drone category. This image was previously submitted and published via Alamy Live News.
However it is expensive to buy and fly drones. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) considers the selling of images for news as commercial use, and so they require drone pilots to have the necessary qualifications and insurance – this adds up. I currently have a drone being repaired after a careless accident recently.
Also it is against the law to fly a drone near sites where the emergency services are operating …such as road traffic accidents, house fires, gas explosions etc. These would be perfect opportunities to obtain drone images and footage but are now highly risky.
LG: What has been the most challenging news event you have covered?
IM: The most challenging news event and the most dangerous occurred in Glasgow after Rangers won their 55th Scottish football league title in 2021. Supporters gathered in George Square to celebrate but things got out of control later on when they refused to leave.
Riot police had to be called to clear the square and they were pelted with bottles by a hard core of Rangers fans. I got caught up in the middle of this and was assaulted several times and narrowly missed broken glass heading my way. I seemed to be the only photographer in the square and got some powerful images that made it into the papers. Would I do it again? No.
LG: Are there any ethical considerations that you take into account when photographing a news event?
IM: The main issues would be maintaining the right of privacy of the subjects being photographed. I have not been in a situation where this would have been necessary and would prefer to leave these stories to staff news photographers.
LG: What do you think is the best way to get your photos noticed by the media?
IM: Good question and all I can say is to do what I have tried to do. Study and learn from the best news photographers and try to raise your game in the quality of your work. But hard news is not the only news that newspapers want. Often it is far better to research and organise your own news shoots from interesting events happening locally. I need to spend more time doing this because the competition from covering open news events is fierce.
LG: How do you know which events to photograph and get accreditation for?
IM: I’m not the best person to ask as often I only find out about an interesting or important news event from a newspaper story the following day, but you have to to your research and find out what is on the horizon.
When Trump visited Scotland I had to doggedly pursue lots of routes to obtain accreditation. Obviously major events such as party political conferences or state visits can be foreseen but there are a multitude of other interesting newsworthy events that can slip below the radar unless you are on the ball.
LG: Why did you choose Alamy to supply your images to?
IM: Alamy has the reputation of being a reliable and fair place to put images. I’ve always made Alamy my main agency to license images since I started out selling photos in 2003. It’s now the only place I sell photos. Live news is a powerful and efficient way to sell news images.
To see more of Iain’s work, you can check out his collection on Alamy here, visit his website and follow him on Instagram here.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s new spotlight blog showcasing our valued News, Entertainment and Sports contributors. We’re really looking forward to speaking with more NSE contributors next year, so be sure to check back then. In the meantime, why not check out our 2024 instagram feature spotlights roundup, which features our photographers who don’t fall into the NSE category?