James Breeden - Photojournalist

‘View’ magazine, shot on Fuji X100

James — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:18:36 +0000

One of my photographs of Anthony Chapel has just been used as a double page spread in Germany’s View magazine. The chapel is a stunning glass structure set in the picturesque Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

This was the first time I’d used my Fuji X100 for an actual job, and the superb quality of the images it produces was good enough to run this as a double page.

Anthony Chapel, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas. November 11th 2011.

We Bought a Zoo

James — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:08:23 +0000

‘We Bought a Zoo’ is a movie based on the real-life story of Benjamin Mee, who along with his family sold up everything they owned and bought a dilapidated zoo in Devon, England. The movie was released in theaters across the US just before Christmas and it is set for release in the UK on the 16th of March.

Although in the film the zoo is set in California, when I was at the Western Morning News I covered the plight of Dartmoor Wildlife Park (known as Sparkwell Zoo to locals), which was struggling to stay in business. The place was completely run down and didn’t have enough visitors coming through the gates to cover the expensive upkeep of exotic tigers, jaguars, bears and monkeys. Ellis Daw, the owner since the park opened in 1968, was facing criticism over the welfare of the animals and the conditions which they were kept in. Animal cruelty groups called on the local council to revoke the zoo’s license, which the council was reluctant to do as there were fears the animals would have to be put down.

Here is one set of pictures I found from early 2006, around the time when Ellis Daw was desperately hoping to find a buyer for the park so that the animals would be saved. In August that year the Mee family bought the zoo, the animals were saved and the zoo reopened to the public after undergoing a major refurbishment. I haven’t been back since the new owners took over, but I look forward to seeing Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson in the film and visiting the re-named Dartmoor Zoological Park the next time I’m back in the UK.

Former Dartmoor Wildlife Park owner Ellis Daw pictured in April 2006 as the zoo faced closure and the animals faced an uncertain future. © Western Morning News.

One of the threatened Siberian tigers at Dartmoor Wildlife Park. © Western Morning News.

Closed gates at the Dartmoor Wildlife Park in April 2006. © Western Morning News.

One of the Siberian tigers roams around its concrete enclosure at the zoo. © Western Morning News.

Ellis Daw looks out over the threatened Dartmoor Wildlife Park which was facing an uncertain future. © Western Morning News.

Closed gates at the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. © Western Morning News.

One of the Siberian tigers looks out from his enclosure. © Western Morning News.

Ellis Daw studies one of his wolves, desperate to see the animals saved. © Western Morning News.

Ellis Daw checks on one of his Siberian tigers. © Western Morning News.

Condoms To Go? How useful!

James — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:10:15 +0000

From my Instagram feed

British backpacker accused of murder in Costa Rica

James — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:04:23 +0000

My 2012 was quickly underway as I was sent to Costa Rica on January 2nd for the Daily Telegraph. I was covering the story of British backpacker Alfred Saunders, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Czech student Alexandra Drbohlavova at a remote ‘eco-farm’ in the rainforests near the country’s northern border with Nicaragua. Saunders is alleged to have stabbed Drbohlavova a total of 15 times while she slept in a tent, according to police.

It was quite a challenging story to cover, as the farm where events unfolded was in an extremely isolated location, accessible only by 4×4 vehicles via rocky, muddy trails crossed with streams and rickety wooden bridges. Wiring the images was also a challenge with a lack of internet for many miles – something that’s taken for granted now.

Police display Alfred Saunders' possessions outside the local police station in Colonia Libertad where he was arrested for allegedly stabbing Czech student Alexandra Drbohlavova to death. Local police officer Gabriel Cordoncillo, who made the arrest, stands to the left.

Police display a sack containing Alfred Saunders' possessions outside the local police station in Colonia Libertad.

A solitary desk at the provincial police station in the remote town of Colonia Libertad contained notes about murder suspect Alfred Saunders.

With his face obscured by a white bath towel, British murder suspect Alfred Saunders arrives at court in Upala, Costa Rica, on Monday January 9th, 2012.

With cuts on his hands, including a deep gash on his left thumb, British murder suspect Alfred Saunders arrives in handcuffs at court in Upala, Costa Rica, on Monday January 9th, 2012.

Shackled and handcuffed, and wearing a white bath towel over his head, British murder suspect Alfred Saunders arrives at court in Upala, Costa Rica, on Monday January 9th, 2012.

Alfred Saunders arrives at court flanked by police.

Alfred Saunders leaves court Monday night, without wearing the white bath towel he'd worn to obscure his face for much of the day's proceedings.

Links to coverage of the story from the Daily Telegraph:

Backpacker held over ‘drug fuelled’ Costa Rica murder (Jan 1st)

British murder suspect tied with vines before arrest in Costa Rica (Jan 3rd)

British backpacker accused of murder had been on course in China (Jan 4th)

British backpacker accused of Costa Rica murder was carrying SAS training manual (Jan 5th)

British backpacker begins trial over Czech student murder in Costa Rica (Jan 10th)

2011: My Year In Pictures

James — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:53:43 +0000

2011 has been quite a mixed bag for me. A lot of travel, some interesting jobs, but virtually no hard news at all. I decided to shamelessly follow the trend and post up a few of my favourite photographs from the year. They’re not necessarily my best and some weren’t even ever submitted, but this is a pretty last-minute post I’ve just cobbled together. In roughly chronological order:
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1) I started off the year with a trip to Barbados in January for The Sun to photograph Ronald Fenty, father of global pop superstar Rihanna. As is typical with most of these jobs, despite being there for about a week I ended up with less than five minutes to take his picture when we met in Bridgetown. Barbados was definitely one of the nicest Caribbean countries I've been to.

2) The obligatory cheesy postcard beach shot from Barbados!

3) Locals in Barbados sell tourists bottles of this smelly shark oil on the beach, promising them that drinking it will make them "strong in bed" and that they'll "last all night"!

4) A man in Barbados stands to attention and salutes me as I try to photograph drug dealers in the upscale resort area of Sandy Lane in Barbados.

5) I photographed Australian actress Krista Vendy (who used to play Tess in Neighbours) at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood for the Daily Telegraph (Australia). Krista was taking part in the 'G'Day USA – Australia Week' fashion show.

6) Up-close with Krista Vendy in Hollywood

7) Portrait of Mary Helen Bowers, the ballerina who trained actress Natalie Portman for her Oscar-winning role in the 'Black Swan'. I photographed Mary on the roof of the London Hotel in West Hollywood. She was incredibly patient while my light stand kept blowing over in the uncharacteristically strong wind.

8) Mary Helen Bowers strikes a ballet pose on the roof of the London hotel in West Hollywood.

9) Portrait of Michaele Salahi, who gained notoriety for gatecrashing the White House state dinner in 2009 with her husband Tareq Salahi. This year Michaele famously left Tareq for Neal Schon, the lead guitarist of the band Journey. Photographed at the SE hotel in San Diego.

10) Working for the now defunct News Of The World, I got the first photograph of Cheryl Cole in weeks, following the protracted speculation surrounding her possible appointment as a judge on the debut US season of the X-Factor.

11) A man armed with a garden hose tries to defend his home against a brush fire burning in Happy Valley, Los Angeles, before firefighters arrive.

12) This was probably my favourite feature of 2011. A commission for FourFourTwo magazine in the UK, shooting pictures of a soccer team called the Aztecas which is comprised of rival Norteños and Sureños gang members in Watsonville, just outside Santa Cruz, California.

13) Gang member and Aztecas FC player.

14) The other side of the wire.

15) Bringing gang members together through the power of football (or soccer).

16) Time for another cheesy picture, this time from the 'Comic Con' convention in San Diego. I was working for The Times and was supposed to be taking a portrait of Jonathan Ross. For one reason or another the job never happened but I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this Stormtrooper checking his iPhone!

17) It was very interesting meeting Dan Price at his tiny underground home in Oregon. Dan himself is a former photojournalist who became burnt out with the game and opted to live a simple, clutter-free life as a 'real-life hobbit'.

18) This was probably the most fun job of the year. In August I took part in a three-day photo/film shoot on location in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for an upcoming reality TV show for Discovery Channel called 'Combat Cash'. In searing 120 degree heat Stephanie Hernandez fearlessly modeled while the two hosts of the show fired WWII flamethrowers just a few feet behind her. I was a safe distance away using my 135mm f/2.0! The show airs January 11th on Discovery.

19) Sunset on a beach where Scottish fraudster Michael Brown, who donated £2.4 million of stolen money to the UK's Liberal Democrat party, was often seen walking his dog. I was working on the story for the Daily Mail but unfortunately the reporter and I never found Brown.

20) A guard mans a gate at the notorious 'La Victoria' prison in the Dominican Republic. We found out that while living in the Dominican Republic under a false identity, Michael Brown had served time in 'La Victoria' – for fraud.

21) The Kimbell Art Museum in Dallas acquired Poussin’s “Sacrament of Ordination" for $24 million after being on display in the UK for hundreds of years.

22) Dr. Christian Jessen, presenter of the UK's Embarrassing Bodies TV show. I photographed him at his hotel in Dallas, where he was in the US filming a new season of his hit show. As usual a very short time to get my shots so I kept it simple.

23) Oprah Winfrey look-alike Charlette Cummings, photographed in Florida. Great fun as a subject and probably the nicest woman I met all year.

24) At the end of 2011 I returned to Haiti for the first time since I covered the aftermath of the earthquake. While I was there Real Madrid played FC Barcelona in one of the biggest league matches of the year: El Clasico. Hundreds of soccer-mad Haitians clamored to find any available space in front of small television sets showing the match in Port-au-Prince. Barcelona won 1 – 3.

25) Crowding around to watch the game. Most of the Haitians I spoke to were either Real Madrid or Barcelona fans.

I wish everybody a great 2012. James.

Supersize vs Superskinny’s Dr Christian Jessen

James — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:10:44 +0000

Supersize vs Superskinny's Dr Christian Jessen at the Hyatt Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Photo: James Breeden.

I photographed Dr Christian Jessen from Channel 4′s Embarrassing Bodies and Supersize vs Superskinny this week. Dr Jessen was in Texas filming a new series of his show and only had a short time frame for the pictures so I opted for a simple setup. It was a good opportunity to use my new AlienBees lighting gear and the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery pack. Using a single B800 head with a medium (24″ x 36″) softbox and PocketWizards I was impressed by how quickly everything was set up and ready to go. As the head was connected to the battery pack I could move the whole stand around without having to worry about finding a power outlet or trailing cables. I look forward to using the ‘bees more in the future.

Real Life Hobbit

James — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:51:28 +0000

I recently did a feature on Dan Price, a man living in a tiny underground home in Oregon. The National Enquirer ran this spread in this week’s issue:

To find out more about Dan, check out his website: www.moonlightchronicles.com

Comic Con 2011

James — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:44:09 +0000

Last week I was sent down to San Diego to shoot a portrait for The Times of London at the Comic-Con International Convention. Unfortunately the portrait didn’t end up happening, but I took the brief time I had down there to take a few photos of some of the people attending.

A group of people dressed as ‘Wilfred’ cross Harbor Dr outside the San Diego Convention Center.

A stormtrooper takes a moment out of the busy convention to text on his iPhone.

A man wearing a costume including a rocket-launcher casually crosses a road in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.

A man dressed as ‘Spider-Man’ doesn’t even attract the attention of passerby’s outside the San Diego Convention Center.

Final ever News of the World

James — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 21:09:54 +0000

Happy Valley Brush Fire

James — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:19:12 +0000

**Correction to earlier post** The location of the fire has been corrected to Happy Valley, adjacent to Rose Hill, and not Montecito Heights as initially captioned.

A brush fire broke out in the early hours of this morning (Sunday, July 3rd) in Happy Valley, Los Angeles. At the time these photos were taken approximately twenty fire engines were on scene and a water-dropping helicopter was in operation. Homes surrounding the two-acre fire were said to be threatened.