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Photographer bows out after nearly 30 years at weekly

Glenn PHillipsA photographer has left the weekly newspaper where he spent almost three decade after being made redundant.

Glenn Phillips, pictured left, is set to embark on a new freelance career after leaving the Wiltshire Times.

His was one of six photographer and picture desk roles axed at a series of Newsquest titles earlier this summer.

The Swindon Advertiser, Wiltshire Gazette and Herald and Wiltshire Times reduced the number of staff photographers from six to two, with the picture editor and picture desk assistant roles also disappearing.

Glenn has now set up his own freelance photography business in Wiltshire.

He told HTFP: “To be honest I’m already missing being in the office with people, reporters and the buzz of the newsroom.

“It is strange at the moment not being able to sit there and throw ideas about. Maybe that will come back.

“I’m going to be back out on the road meeting people again, but it’s a bit of a shock after 30 years.”

When asked what his fondest memories were of his time in the regional press, Glenn joked: “Not the office coffee machine.

“It is the people, the new reporters you take on and coach them along a bit and give them a few pointers.”

Glenn’s photographic subjects during his time at the Times included Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Lebanon hostages Terry Waite and John McCarthy.

He began his careert the Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter series, passing his driving test the day before the interview, after training on the NCTJ course at Sheffield’s Richmond College.

While at Ashton he met his wife Alison, a journalist on the Reporter, and the couple married in 1984.

Glenn moved to the Trowbridge-based Times the following year.

12 comments

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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:14 am
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    I fully expect the scenario to be that from time to time his former employers will want to use his pictures, plead poverty and say they can only pay him a pittance.
    If he does let them have them, he will spend six months sending invoices and making phone calls before payment is finally grudgingly made.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:19 am
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    All the best for the future Glenn.There are many things you won’t miss about working for Newsquest!

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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:37 am
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    Good luck Glenn, hope the phone keeps ringing.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:56 am
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    Let’s just redraft the first par a tad: “A photographer has left the weekly newspaper where he spent almost three decades after being sacked.” That’s more accurate, I think. I wish Glenn all the best in his new venture and, as he’s a bloke who obviously enjoys the buzz of working life, I’d urge him to keep in the social mix, even during downtime between assignments. As for the Wiltshire Times, I expect readers’ phone pictures of swans on ponds and hazy sunsets will be of award-winning standard.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 11:20 am
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    “Cast aside” – that happened at one of my old titles.

    We made a number of photographers redundant in 2011 and it wasn’t long before we were struggling to get coverage of important diary events and breaking incidents.

    Pretty soon our editor was breathing down our necks to “give X a call and see if (s)he’ll do it” – for no money, of course. I’m delighted to say they all told us where to shove it, and quite rightly so.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 3:26 pm
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    Thanks for all the positive comments folks and just to clarify Dick Minim,- Not sacked, I’ve had 33 years in the business without a blot on my career. It was redundancy and as unpleasant as that is there’s no point in wallowing in despair about it. So ‘shooter for hire’ I am and best of luck to all the others out there.
    http://www.gphillipsphotography.com

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  • July 21, 2015 at 3:29 pm
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    Spot on James. The bosses always ask the news/sports editor to ring a former staff photographer and ask if they could do a job as “a favour”.
    I know a redundant snapper whose reply was: “Just as the company did me a favour by scrapping my job!”

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  • July 21, 2015 at 4:49 pm
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    I didn’t mean to imply any improper conduct on your behalf by using the term ‘sacking’, Glenn, just to convey the full unpleasantness of redundancy – which I’ve endured myself. It’s doubly frustrating that the reason for it is that you’re an accomplished and talented professional, to which your long record attests, and as such were probably paid a fair salary. To the accountants now running the industry “fair” equals “expensive”, though this never seems to apply to the senior execs who can’t compose good pictures, sub a page, write a column or, indeed, do anything useful at all. Funny how there’s always enough cash to reward them. Best of luck – a friend of mine has done very well in portraiture and I’m sure you’ll fly.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 5:10 pm
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    Don’t be surprised if we soon see the headline;

    “Photographer bows out after nearly 30 weeks at yearly”

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  • July 21, 2015 at 7:48 pm
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    Good luck for a new future career, and yet another talented journalist, full of local knowledge, lost to a newspaper.
    Listen to The Bottom Line on BBC Radio 4 a week or so ago, and three CEO’s were full of how well newspapers were doing, post recession. Which is of course great for senior management salaries and bonuses, though the cull of journalists, especially photographers, continues.

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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:50 pm
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    Freelance photographers (and writers) generally don’t get paid on time for one of two reasons. Either inefficiency by the accounts department or by an editor deliberately sitting on an invoice.
    I once worked for an editor who admitted he would never pay up after the first bill was submitted.
    “If they want it that badly, they will chase it,” was his philosophy, hoping they might then forget it altogether. He reckoned it was his job to keep as tighter rein as possible on editorial budgets.

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