Tributes paid to former Express photographer

CIPPENHAM: A former Slough Express photographer who snapped politicians and covered both Iraq wars and Afghanistan after 9/11 has died, writes Simon Walters.

Gary Trotter also photographed John Prescott playing croquet on the lawn of his mansion when he was supposed to be running the country.

Gary, 65, was a fearless war photographer who covered countless conflicts including the Balkans, both Iraq Wars and Afghanistan after 9/11.

In 2006 when Prime Minister Tony Blair went abroad leaving his deputy, Mr Prescott, officially in charge, Gary trained his camera lens on Dorneywood, Prescott’s official country residence in Bucks, ‘on a hunch.’

It paid off when he caught Prescott and his team of civil servants and Labour aides playing croquet on the lawn.

Gary said later: “With the naked eye, you could clearly see them on the lawn. When I looked through a long lens and saw what they were doing I had to laugh.”

But it is what Gary, who lived with wife Liz in Cippenham (pictured), did after the Prescott photo that marks him out.

He used the freelance earnings from it to campaign successfully for the release from jail in Iraq, his friend, guide and interpreter Tarik Ramadan.

After starting as a cruise liner photographer, he progressed via the Slough Express to the Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail in addition to running his own photographic agency, Images Sans Frontieres.

Gary said his ‘proudest achievement’ was to be among the first to draw attention to the dangers of land mines.

His close friend Tim Page, renowned for his photographs of the Vietnam War, paid this tribute to him:

“An inspirational legacy for a raft of budding shooters (photographers). A champion of those in need. The jester in the pack with the ability to laugh when the cards are down.”

Gary, who died after a short illness, is survived by wife Liz, his devoted partner of 30 years, his son Luke and grandsons Leon and Ashton.