Capturing a love for the city on camera

With his image of Bath’s most iconic building on display in a new exhibition of architectural photography, Hassan Elwakeel tells Sally Bailey how he uses photography to unwind from his work as a breast cancer surgeon

Cancer patients walking down the corridors of the royal United Hospital’s (RUH) oncology unit won’t realise the paintings and photographs that line the walls are created by staff.

among them is a striking picture of Bath’s royal crescent, taken from an unusual angle on a wintery day and framed by skeletal trees and snow white clouds. anyone having surgery for breast cancer may be a little surprised if they look closer and see the name of their surgeon, Mr Hassan el-wakeel, beside it. The photograph – which won the inaugural architectural Photographer of the Year competition – was taken early one weekend morning before much of the city had stirred. Hassan had ventured out to try a complicated panorama technique and a new camera lens that he’d never used before. “There are a million pictures taken of the royal crescent every year and many will look the same. I had this idea that I wanted to take everything I liked about the building and make it look different,” he says. “It was early in the morning, perhaps 6.30; I like to be out when it’s quite quiet and calm and the streets are empty. I’d got a new lens and I was just playing around with it. “everything was just perfect . . . the weather, the sky, the clouds, the light. I got lucky.” Mr el-wakeel, 60, joined the RUH on a temporary contract 20 years ago but he and his family loved the city so much they stayed, starting as a general surgeon before specialising in breast cancer surgery 18 years ago. With an all-consuming job, he needs a hobby that enables him to unwind and not think about the work he does at the Bath hospital on a day-to-day basis. and it’s this hobby that has led to him winning the Bath category of the competition. His picture, and a second of the rhythmic colonnades at the roman Baths, is on display at the Museum of Bath architecture along with 20 others. cally Stephens, from Misterton in Somerset, won the adult open section with a picture of a blue sky contrasting against the gloomy grey of Taunton’s multi-storey car park. Harry ayres, from Bath, won the junior category with a picture of birds flying over St Mark’s, and there are photos on display of Pulteney Bridge, camden crescent and the Pump room alongside others taken in London, Morecambe and Singapore. Hassan has been taking photography seriously for about 14 years, and has since become a member of the royal Photographic Society and being given its prestigious LRPS award. “Breast cancer surgery is quite an intense specialism, there’s a lot of emotion in it and you do get affected by patients and relatives,” he says. “When you work in a hospital everything has to be done to a very high level, you have to follow the rules and do everything with military precision. With photography it’s just the opposite. It’s a release, it’s completely free thinking, you can totally immerse yourself for a few hours and it clears your brain for the next week.” among Hassan’s team, including anaesthetists, oncology doctors and radiographers, most have hobbies that help them to rebalance outside of work – sports, travel and arts. Many do photography. “every year the corridors are full of pictures by hospital staff,” he says. “about a third of anything that sells goes to the hospital charity. There’s a lot of good work. “I had an email from another member of staff about a picture I’d taken of a Japanese garden. She said, ‘I just thought I’d