US President Barack Obama State Visit, a set on Flickr.

State visit to Britain by US President Barack Obama. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron greets the US President Barack Obama, welcoming him to 10 Downing Street. May 25 2011. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
The ‘Beast’ (the nickname given to the Presidential limousine), the Secret Service, huge American cars and a red carpet.
President Barack Obama makes a State visit to England in May 2011. I spent two days in Downing Street photographing the meeting of the President and our Prime Minister David Cameron, as well lots of goings on as far as Hilary Clinton, security, demos and car polishing.
As enjoyable as these assignments are, a big part of the enjoyment is being there with colleagues, several of which are close friends. I’m estimating that there must have been around 60 photographer covering just Downing Street. Lots of catching up but mainly, lots of standing around and very early starts. Many many hours of waiting for a minute’s worth (if that!) of photography. To add to that, we had terrible harsh light to contend with.

Colleagues setting up their remote cameras which are triggered by Pocket Wizards. Photo: ©Edmond Terakopian
It’s all great fun though and I personally wouldn’t change a thing.

L-R: photographers Lefteris Pitarakis, Jess Hurd and Edmond Terakopian covering the State visit by US President Barack Obama. Downing Street, London. May 25, 2011. Photo: Sang Tan
On a technical note, I worked with a Canon 7D and 300mm f2.8L IS, a Canon 5D MkII with a 16-35mm f2.8L II or 70-200mm f2.8L IS and a Leica M9 with a 50mm f0.95 Noctilux.