ANNIE DELIN – JOURNALIST, WRITER, BROADCASTER
Introduction
I originally planned to do this photo shoot with Annie in early 2020, but world events got in the way. My series of portraits ground to a halt. More than four years have passed since I took the last one. Then I got a call from Annie a few weeks ago, asking about the selection of photos I was about to put on display in Glasgow – they’re from 1979/80, when Buzzcocks did three tours of the USA. The subject of our long since abandoned photo shoot cropped up. When Annie mentioned she was about to retire. I took that as the perfect opportunity to kickstart the [WORK: Outer Hebrides] project again. We managed to get this one in the can the day before she officially retired.
About [WORK: Outer Hebrides]
Long term project ‘WORK: Outer Hebrides‘ is a series of portraits featuring people who live and work in the Outer Hebrides. Aside from each photo featuring the person in question, I also want the image to convey what they do for a living and where they do it. I give a more in-depth explanation in this introductory post to the series.
Location
It was Annie who suggested the HM Coastguard’s hangar at Stornoway airport as a possible venue for the shoot. She’s reported on numerous coastguard and helicopter callouts over the years. I agreed it would work as a great backdrop to portray at least a portion of what Annie has covered during her journalistic career. Using her contacts, she managed to wangle a day pass for us both. We were made very welcome by all the ground staff and crew. The coastguard helicopter occupies one third of an enormous hangar that was originally built to house Cold War era Vulcan bombers. What a grand day out!
In the photo
In addition to the helicopter – a $30m Sikorsky S-92 Helibus – Annie brought along her old faithful 1953 Bluebird typewriter (more on that below) and the name plaque from her desk at Stornoway Media Centre. Having set up Annie in her makeshift office, I set about lighting her, as well as the interior and exterior of the helicopter. Part way through, we were informed the crew would be taking the other helicopter in the room (the tail of which is just visible in the far left of the pic) for a spin. So we decided to hang around and catch them on camera as they went to work.
Annie’s career
To give you a little more background on the star of the shoot, who better to write it than the journalist herself?
Over to you Annie.
Enjoy your retirement!
Annie, in her own words
I started work as a journalist in 1981, soon after finishing university, where I had volunteered on the student newspaper as an arts correspondent reviewing music and theatre. My first printed work was published in 1980.In 1982 I started work on a weekly newspaper in Leicestershire, producing news and features and covering events which ranged from village fetes and fundraising days to the Royal Visit of Princess Diana in March 1984. That was the day the picture of me with my standard issue plastic typewriter was taken – it was rare to see colour pictures, but we were granted a colour print run for Diana’s visit. Having the camera in the office, we snapped pictures of all the journalistic team (all three of us).
1984: Annie Delin in a pre-computer office, typing up a ‘Princess Di visits Loughborough’ story
Soon after this I decided to get a better quality typewriter and sourced a 1953 Bluebird from a specialist repair and resales shop in Nottingham. Made in ‘US-controlled West Germany,’ it was the latest model in 1953 of a typewriter that had been in production since the 1920s. It served me well for seven years on the same job and stood quite a bashing, both then and since, while it’s been stored in a succession of lofts.
Interviewing Roy Hudd and Windsor Davies at pantomime time in Nottingham, 1984
My career embraced writing, editing and consultancy, TV and radio presenting – including for BBC2, Radio 4 and Channel 4 – political and historical research and even a short period co-ordinating media briefings for the campaign to gain rights for disabled people. I worked as a consultant in museums, arts buildings and for the National Lottery, but I continued to freelance as a journalist.
Moving to the Outer Hebrides in 2009 I couldn’t get a job quickly, but I did find that I could volunteer as a presenter with community radio station Isles FM. Within a year I was writing all the news bulletins, producing feature length programmes and presenting the Monday morning breakfast show and a Friday evening news round-up.
Volunteering in the Isles FM studio, 2009
Since 2018 I have worked for Stornoway Media Centre, where I was senior reporter for welovestornoway.com and Events newspaper, wrote features for Scottish Islands Explorer magazine and continued to freelance on jobs such as editing books for Stornoway publishers Acair.
I’ve had some highlights in editing – notably the landmark publication The Darkest Dawn by Malcolm Macdonald and Donald John Macleod – but local news is absolutely my first love. There’s nothing I like better than putting someone’s hard work, fundraising ambitions, heroic achievements or dramatic happenings into a readable and coherent form, or unpicking a complex issue which is going to affect all of us.
John asked some years ago if he could take my picture for his Outer Hebrides:Work series. With retirement in July 2024 the moment seemed right and, when I thought about images and backdrops, it seemed to me that I spend a lot of time with the action going on behind me, while I try to gather the facts and tell the story as accurately and succinctly as possible.
There have been many emergencies in Lewis and Harris while I have worked here, including the total loss of our mainland power connection, shipwrecks, wild weather and the coming ashore of an oil rig in a storm. The emergency services are unfailingly courteous and supportive with my attempts to report what’s happening, so I felt it would work well if I could put them into the frame, going about their job, while I and my trusty typewriter (which nowadays is a Mac) try to explain what happened, when and how. Many thanks to HM Coastguard and Bristow Search and Rescue Stornoway for giving us permission to camp in the emergency helicopter hangar for an afternoon. These are the people who make the news – I’m going to miss it.
Annie Delin
Isle of Lewis
July 2024
Behind the scenes
To round things off, a few BTS shots Annie took during the process…
Annie, John and G-MCGH
About to add some light under the Sikorsky for a subtle Knight Rider effect
One of the 20+ exposures it took to light the interior and exterior of the helicopter.
More Knight Rider stylee.
Remotely firing a light inside the Sikorsky’s cockpit
Over and out.