17th September 2019 · “From Railways to Royalty”

Presenter: Jack Boskett

Local professional railway photographer Jack Boskett got our new season off to a wonderful start on 17th September with “From Railways to Royalty”. A chance to observe Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee tour in Hereford and Worcester opened doors Jack could not have imagined. A smartly dressed young Jack, in the press pen with more scruffily attired cameramen, saw him extricated by Royal media officials to serve as formal photographer for the occasion. He has since been commissioned to be official photographer for many other Royal events. Jack works with several Train Operating Companies and Network Rail, and he takes commissions from many railway media publications. Great Western requested an image of IET 800003 “Isambard Kingdom Brunel” – at speed – under the wires – in a specific location, for a publicity piece. One chance to get it. The image displayed had the cab and name razor sharp, the rest of the carriage showing that the train was not hanging about, the catenary framing the shot. Then there was the silhouette image of a steam train on a viaduct, with it Jack knocked the dreaded ‘B’ word off the front page of two national broadsheets. Jack doesn’t use image manipulating tools to modify his work. What you see is the image he took. What a talent!