Now I had Bletchley Park, GCHQ and MI5 sorted, I turned my attention to the SIS building at Vauxhall Cross. I decided to adopt the same contact method I had used for GCHQ and MI5 so firstly contacted the local council; in this case it was Lambeth Borough. As it appears with most councils in London, it has it’s own film office so I went directly to them. My contact here was Emma Jane Richards. My first contact was via their online enquiry page. Here again, I outlined what I wanted to do and again mentioned that because the building and the area I would be in was of a ‘sensitive’ nature, I would not be using zoom or close up photography.
The reply advised that as long as I was on a Public Highway and my crew was less that five people, I would not require a permit to photograph. I was advised however that because of the nature of who the occupants of the building are and the work they do, I may be approached. I decided that I should obtain a permit just in case this happened. I replied by asking how I applied for the permit and Emma Jane replied back with the details and my application was sent off. After a few amendments here and there, I received my permit to film a couple of weeks later and all I had left to do was to book my train ticket and organise a hotel for the night.
To some people, the locations that I chose to shoot for this assignment may have seemed to be a little unrealistic or perhaps unobtainable and if I am honest, at the outset, I thought that too. Yet, after sending off a few emails here and there and speaking to the right people, I got the permissions I needed and the images I had envisaged from the start and dare I say it, a little education in the art of perseverance.
It just goes to show that if you don’t ask, you don’t get!
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