May 5, 2020 • 37 mins
#OrdineroliSpeaking Ryan Pierse is one of Australia's leading sports photographers. Ryan has captured some of the most iconic images of the Australian Men's Cricket team but one day will live with him forever. In this episode of Ordineroli Speaking, the Getty Images Chief Photographer shares the stories behind the photographs he took of Phillip Hughes - a player who became a mate.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Ordinarily speaking, as a sports photographer, you never expect to
have to cover a tragedy, let alone one involving your mate.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Time, Hello and welcome to ordinarily speaking, today's guest is
a little different. Ryan Pierce is a chief photographer at
Getty Images, one of Australia's leading sports photographers. For years now,
(00:41):
he has followed the Australian men's cricket team and is
the man behind the lens of some iconic images. The
ones most precious to him the pictures he took of
Philip hughes Hughsey was one of those people that greeted
everyone with a smile, no matter which side of the
fence you were on. He was cheeky and he was
(01:01):
one hell of a cricketer. A photographer's dream. November twenty five,
twenty fourteen, is a day that none of us will
ever forget, a day where cricket changed forever. Ryan was
there that day photographing his mate. In this chat, Ryan
shares the stories behind his favorite images of Hughesy. He
(01:22):
has put together a gallery on Instagram to accompany this episode,
so if you'd like to see those photos, head to
Instagram and follow at Ryan Pearce or at Ordinarily speaking
throughout this chat, our thoughts always remained with the family, friends,
and teammates of Philip Hughes. He was someone special. Well, Ryan,
(01:50):
thanks very much for spending some time with me. You're
a bit of a different guest to what I'm used
to on this podcast. Tell me a little bit about
your background.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So having me Nez. Yes, I'm a sports photographer. I've
been working for Getty Images for sixteen years shooting a
variety of sports in Australian around the world. But the
last six or seven years I've fallen into shooting one
of my great love's cricket so and it's taken me
around the world and to some incredible places and met
(02:23):
so many amazing people and got to work with some
great cricketers and got to know their families. It's been
an amazing a few years.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Why do you love cricket?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, I grew up playing cricket and I think there's
no doubt that most Australian kids want to wear the
baggy green and Captain Australia. And as a kid I
was Alan Border had all the.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Kid because you're Captain Grumpy.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I only before my coffee in the morning. Yeah, I
looked the part. I just couldn't play very well and
I still hold my high school record for a number
of ducks in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So you're a bit like me. You love sport, weren't
very good at it, so you decided to watch it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Absolutely But I looked the part. I had all the
best kid but no idea how to play.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So you are one of the leading sports photographies in
the world. I can say that you maybe don't feel
comfortable saying that, but as you mentioned, you get invited
into those really intimate moments that no one else really
is outside of the team. So if you take the
Australian cricket team for example, you're there for those moments
of celebration, giving the insight to the public of what
(03:27):
they'll never experience and what a journalist like me really
doesn't get the opportunity to experience. So you're there in
pretty intimate times with these guys.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
It took a long time to get to a point
where I guess you trusted and accepted, but I think
that's the key in our jobs, and for me, it's
just about just being a normal person to them. You know,
of course you look up to them as their performances
on the field, but as soon as they step off
that pitch there, for me, they're just like normal people.
And that I can definitely say that of the Australian
(03:56):
cricket team. I think they're generally just normal guys who
happened to be really good at cricket. That's what I
explained to everyone when they asked me what are they like?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, So tell me about the day that you
met Phil Hughes.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I was living in the UK at the time, working
for Getty over there. I was sent out to cover
a Middlesex County cricket match in the outskirts of London.
It was only a couple of months after he made
his debut in South Africa and burst onto the scene
captured everyone's attention, and so I'd only seen him on
Telly read about him in the paper. I just wanted
to get a great shot of Phil Hughes, you know,
(04:28):
being a big cricket fan, I just know I'm going
to spend the day. I'm just going to sit on
him as long as I can and get something good
of him. I've turned up to the ground pretty early,
you know. I set up as a beautiful ground, white
pick at fence, lots of trees, just a classic English ground.
Just after the toss, I think Middlesex won the toss
and battered and I've moved around towards the change rooms,
(04:49):
which I say change rooms was actually a tent under
a tree. I poked my head around the corner and
there's this little fellow sort of side on. I couldn't
see who it was, reading the paper, just sitting there.
Heads turned around and I just said this, get a bruzzi.
Here you gone, as if I'd known him from Millionaires.
And it was Phil and he was sitting there with
(05:10):
his pat it up, ready to go out, reading the paper.
And I'll never forget that moment. I said, get a mate,
and he said you're an Aussie. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
work for Getty over here for a while, but I'm
moving back next year, so hopefully I'll be shooting more
of you when you're in the test team. That was
the first time I met him, and he walked out
that date about I'm pretty sure he got one hundred.
(05:32):
I saw creatures played that day. I've never seen before
him down on one knee, so unorthodox, so amazing to
watch and even better the photograph. I think cricket's such
a game of patience for the photographers and he can
get really bogged down sometimes waiting for something good to happen.
But when you get a guy like hughsy Eddie's just
you can't look away for a second. It was even
(05:53):
in a county match. So yeah, that moment will stick
with me forever.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So you've brought in a lot of your photos today
because you've shot him a lot of times over the
years and you got to know him pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Is that fair to say? Yeah? I think when my
first Test tour was twenty thirteen, so probably a year
after I met him for the first time, and that
was the Ashes in England twenty thirteen and I walked
into the team. It was a new role for me.
I didn't know anyone. I knew the media manager that
was it. Two guys during that period really took me
(06:29):
under their wing and made me feel really welcome and
took me out for a beer, maybe one too many beers,
and one of them was Phil that was David Warner.
Dave was going through his own struggles during that tour
off the field, but he finally got back in the
team where Phil started in the team and then ended
up out of the team halfway through the tour, so
(06:49):
there was I think Daveon said to me that it
was good at the time to get away from cricket
and hang out with someone just away from the team
just for a night and someone else's opinion on things,
and I felt the same, although I don't think you
ever said it. I think Phil felt like he could
talk to me and I wouldn't talk about cricket to him.
It would just be just generally, you know. So yeah,
(07:12):
I definitely viewed him as a mate and someone that
always put a smile on your face generally because he
had a smile on he's one hundred percent of the time,
even when things were going bad for him.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And I think what a lot of people listening won't
understand is that when you're on tour as media, often
the person that's out of the team in the twelfth
man is the person that you spent the most time
with because whilst the team is off being professional and playing,
often they're socializing a little more. So you often get
to know that twelfth man better than anyone.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Very well. Yes, I think if you'd if you ask
me now to roll off the people I was closest
to in the Australian cricket team, most of them have
spent quite a bit of time mixing the gatorade.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Good at mixing drinks. The reason why you're doing this podcast.
It's a hard one for you, and I know you
are very clear about the fact that there's a lot
of people that were closer to him than you. But
at the end of the day, the truth is you
also lived through what happened to feel Hughes, and you
(08:15):
live with it. Is that fair?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh? Absolutely? I live with it every day. There's every
time I think about cricket, you think about that day,
anything about him, anything about how he made you feel,
You think about how he made others feel. And absolutely,
I'm nowhere near the closest person in this tragedy. But
I was there that day and I've obviously continue to
(08:41):
be involved with the team after that. And yeah, I've
never really spoken about I never felt comfortable to speak
about it, and even when family and friends bring it
up and ask me about it, I tend to remove
myself of conversation or the room pretty quickly because I
just really struggle to talk about it. I think just
(09:03):
recently hearing some other people talk about things they've gone through,
and yeah, I just feel like I'm ready to talk
about my feelings during that time and how I still
feel about it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Tell me about that day. Why were you the SCG?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yes, So, Sheffield Chield was pretty pretty rare for me
to cover Sheffield Chield matches because most of them are
clashing with Test matches or other tours. So it was
an unusually Sheffield child day because both teams were packed
full of players that are even in the team or
about to be picked in the Test team. And I
(09:39):
feel went well this day, which he did. No doubt
he would have been picked in the team for the
first Test that was going to be at the Gabba
a couple of weeks later, so or the week after.
It was a very relaxed day of It was one
of those days where you turn up to work and
it was a blue sky, nice breeze. SCG is the
best place to work in the world, hands down. I
remember walking out with Brad Hadden to the middle he
(09:59):
was capped and then he put his new South Wales
caps and check it on that he hadn't worn for
a while and on the way out to the toss,
Hughsley was hitting balls into a net just to my
left and he seen me out of the corner of
my eye and just shout out again, get a Brusie.
How you going? What are you doing out at Sheffield Chair?
And I thought you only do test matches and I'm like, yeah,
(10:20):
I know. I said, I'm just here to shoot you, mate,
Just here a photograph you. He's like, good, make sure
it make me look good, make me look good. So yeah,
I can't remember who won the toss, but anyway, South
Australia he came out all guns blazing, playing again shots
that you just never rarely see, rarely see from most cricketers.
(10:41):
Everyone was just looking at each other sideways going just
not of approval. I was there that day shooting with
two other photographers, Phil Hillyard from the Daily Telegraph and
my colleague Mark Metcalfe. Have We just kept looking at
each other going yeah, okay, he's in. He's in in
that form where you're just like, no one's going to
(11:03):
keep him out of this team. And we got the lunch,
went up to the press box, grab a quick sandwich
and that was the buzz. All the journals were like,
who's he's in? You know, I think the journals are
probably started writing their copy for that night, you know,
even though the team wasn't going to be picked till
a few days later. I left the press box, probably
earlier than I would for after lunch, because it's pretty
rushed up there generally, to get back down under the ground,
(11:23):
because I wanted to do a picture of hugh'sy walking
out of the change rooms. Obviously, the SCG change rooms
are the original change room in the members pavilion, and
for a photographer, it's the best place to shoot a
player walking out to bat anywhere in the world. So
I thought, why not do a bit of a feature
picture for Hughsey that might get used at some point.
So I've got down there early. He was also finished
(11:45):
lunch early and ready, and he's just sitting on the
massage table near the door, and I've walked up the
stairs to the side and up to the railing and yeah,
this is probably something I haven't told anyone. Still makes
me smile thinking about it. He said, Now am I
looking out there? How am I looking out there? BUSSI?
I said, yeah, gone, all right, mate, gone, all right,
not bad, not bad? He's got You've got any good shots? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
(12:05):
I got a couple. Did you get my good side?
I said, I'm trying to, mate, I'm trying to you know,
just keep going the way you're going. I'll get a
good picture of you. And then he's walked out the bat.
Probably one of my favorite pictures of all the time,
probably because of what happened later on that day. Yeah,
He'm walking out the bat with this really term of
look on his face, out of the members of pavilion
(12:26):
and down onto the ground. Yeah. Never forget that moment.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So it was all buzz really and celebration and typical
Hughesy making everyone feel welcome and entertaining everyone, and then
everything went very bloody wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, did it ever? I was when you're on the
side of the ground, you're constantly transmitting pictures on your laptop.
I didn't actually have the camera up to my face
for that ball, so I was sending, finishing, sending, probably
the pictures have been walking out onto the out of
the change rooms, and I heard Phil Hilly are just
(13:06):
sitting right next to me, just let out this sort
of dull noise or grant, he's just like you know,
and I've looked up and I've just got the camera,
picked the camera up straight away, and obviously from the
time he was hit to the time he ended up
on the ground, I was able to pick the camera
(13:26):
up and photograph what happened next basically, and looking back
at it now, that seemed like forever that moment, and
then I think as soon as you ended up on
the ground, that's when you knew something wasn't completely right.
(13:48):
But as a photographer, and I guess a news gatherer,
you keep shooting. You just kept shooting. But I remember
saying the while I've still had my head up to
the face up to the camera, I said, this doesn't
look good. This is not good. And that's when you
(14:08):
you tense up your heart. I just I remember the
feeling my heart just going million miles an hour, and
I felt sick instantly, but I just kept shooting, just
kept shooting because we had no idea obviously how bad
it was. Yeah, that was definitely the hardest thing I've
(14:31):
ever had to shoot in my career, just that that moment,
and then what what I guess what followed was even harder.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And you're a sports photographer. This is not something that
you go into your office and anticipate.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, I guess you never expect to have to go
to work and as a sports photographer and photograph someone
in a way any more than a serious injury like
a knee injury or a broken arm or a broken leg.
Maybe that's that's as bad as get let alone someone
you know and who's mate laying there unconscious, not knowing
(15:07):
what's next. I don't know what kept me shooting that
day because I'm not trained to as a news photographer
at all. I've always said I don't think I'd ever
risked my life for my job. But there's plenty of
guys brilliant news photographer out there that do daily and
I'm in total all of those guys. But for me,
(15:28):
that was a total new experienced situation for me to
be in.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
There are obviously a lot of details that we're not
going to go into because we don't need to what
happened next, because there was a moment for you where
you and Phil Hilly are decided that's enough, we're not
shooting anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, exactly, the three of us, Phil, myself and Mark.
There was a moment where, just after they put Phil
on the medicab and they started to drive him to
the side of the members stand and the little tunnel there,
I just heard this voice out of the corner of
my my ear yelling just stop stop, stop, stop, And
(16:09):
I didn't realize what it was at the time, but
I looked over and it was Brad Hadden running over
towards us. I thought he was talking to a medical
person or someone else in the stand, but as he
got closer, his voice lowered a bit and he's like, guys,
stop shooting. It's not good. And immediately we didn't just
stop shooting. We put our cameras on the ground and
(16:31):
just sat there. And then it seemed like an hour,
but it was probably about twenty minutes where we were
forced to sit there. There's security there by that time,
who just just told us to move there. It was
obviously became a pretty restricted zone around that area where
they brought him to the side of the ground and
we just sat there and we had to watch the
next probably twenty minutes unfold.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
How do you cope in that moment, Yeah, because it's.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Not I did at the time, because I think the
adrenaline kicks in and you're just like, Okay, I'm in
the middle of this and you have to react. The
first react. First reaction was to take photos. Second reaction
was too told to stop when you're told, and we
did that, but.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You're it's not for me covering the later days. It
was having that, you know, the relationship, friendship, colleague, however
you want to call it, with Phil. And then there's
also the layer on top of that of being mates
with a lot of the guys. So you were mates
with all of those guys out on the ground who
(17:37):
are also going through this. That is an incredibly traumatic
thing to experience on a workday.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, in my way, it's the best situation in the world,
knowing everyone you're photographing out there, But on that day
it probably turned out to be the worst. But I
can honestly say at the time when it all happened,
all I was thinking about was was fel like I
didn't really you know. The only I guess the only
(18:07):
thing other person I remember really clear was was Dave Warner,
who was on the medicap with him and stuck with him,
with him all the time, holding his hand. That will
stick with me forever. Yeah, that was Yeah, It's a
different situation to be in, for sure. And I think
(18:27):
as we started looking through the pictures on the back
of our camera, and there was some really graphic pictures
that as a group, we probably decided that it was
best not to ever be seen. So the pictures that
end up going.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Out that day, they were filtered.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Absolutely, there was no reason for some pictures to go
out wouldn't have added to the story or the moment
at all. To this day, I still have not looked
at those photos again. They're sitting on a hard drive
somewhere at home, and I have no need or want
to look at those photos again. I'm not sure I
want to relive it through still images. I love looking
(19:09):
at pictures of Husey playing having fun, but I'm not
sure looking at pictures from that incident would do me
any good. So I think I'll just keep them locked
away on that hard drive.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
How did the rest of your day unfold? Do you
remember any of it? Do you remember how you dealt
with it that night, how you felt that night? I do.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
In parts. I stayed at the ground for quite a while,
only because I just didn't feel like I wanted to
get in a car. I was still shaking, and even
though it's ten minutes drive home to my house from
the ground, I just I think I actually sat in
the car when I got to the car, I sat
in the car for a little bit, just things going
through my head. And I got home and yeah, basically
(19:51):
just collapsed in a heap. And I think my wife
came home not long after, and she knew what was happening, obviously,
but yeah, that's when I really sort of got set off,
I guess, And yeah, it wasn't a good night you're
listening to.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Ordinarily, speaking with photographer Ryan Pearce, it was such a
hard thing to cover because it then went on for
a couple of days. How did you cope through those
couple of days whilst also trying to be a support
to people that your mates within in that fold?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Well, first off, my manager at the time asked me
straight off the bat, do you want to cover this?
Do you want to follow this story through? And I
knew there's no way in the world I could have.
I was just way too close to the whole situation.
So I'm glad I was given the option. I think
a lot of people might not have been given the option,
but I was reassigned to other things. So the day
(20:48):
after I ended up at the ARIA Awards of all things,
the show goes Forevero's Red Huppet and everything, and I'm
just I'm like a zombie. I couldn't tell you who
was there, who's saying who won? I couldn't tell you anything.
I was just And obviously my colleagues knew what happened
the day before, and they're like, why are you here?
Why are you here? And I'm like, well, I just
wanted to help out, and I think maybe to keep busy.
It was good. If I'd stayed at home, I just
would have been texting the guys all day, going looking
(21:11):
for updates, just going how is he? That word sort
of filtered through I think at night that things weren't
looking that good, and that's when it really set in that, yeah,
we weren't going to get to see you smile and
face again.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
At that point. Are you just his mate?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'd like to think I always felt like that, but
there was that probably five minutes where I kept doing
my job, and I think that's what haunts me a
little bit still. And you ask yourself, what did the
same thing happen again, what would you do. It's a
very fine line between doing your job and looking after
your mates, especially when one goes with the other. You
(21:53):
just got to trust in the rest of the team
that they know that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
How did they receive you? Did things change between those
guys or were they always pretty supportive of everything?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Always always really supportive. I think they could see by
talking to me when they saw me how affected I was.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
The couple of days where we sort of knew what
was happening, but we didn't yet or couldn't couldn't say
it public yet. You know, we're still holding out that
glimmer of hope. Do you remember the moment that you
found out that that he was gone?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yep, I do, I do. I I got a message
from a player. Probably was half an hour before the
press conference was held. Maybe, yeah, I remember it pretty clearly,
but I think I'd nearly already prepared myself for it.
I turned on Fox Sports News. It's probably you on there,
(22:56):
I guess at the time, I remember that half an
hour before the but I think there was announced the
press conference and everyone knew it was coming, I think,
and I'm just I just remember sitting there, I'm a
couch at home watching this and yeah, just in pieces
wasn't good. I think I called my dad to tell
(23:17):
him and chatted with him for a few minutes. But yeah,
I remember it really clearly. And then I was just yeah,
I just felt really.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Numb after that day, well that evening, when I had
to say what I had to say on air and
let people know. Watching I completely broke down that night
because I had to hold it together for a couple
of days, and as I say, watching how mates go
(23:47):
in and out of the hospital that night, I don't
think I've ever had a outburst of just complete and
utter collapse and everything that that week had taken.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Was it the same for you.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Did you have a moment where, because when you're working
on it, you have to hold your shit together, but
you're also living through it. Did you have a moment
where you allowed yourself to grieve?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I think at the time, if you can call that grieving,
I think crying uncontrollably, I'm not I guess that's a
part of grieving, but I think after that everything happened
so quickly, I'm not sure I did grieve properly. I
think the funeral was good again. My office gave me
the option of covering the funeral and I did think
about doing that, but it didn't take long to make
(24:43):
a decision that I just wasn't up to doing it.
My good mate Cameron Spencer ended up doing that. I
was speaking to him again about it the other day
and he's not he likes his cricket. He doesn't love
his cricket. He wasn't attached to the game or the players,
but he still says that's the hardest day of his career,
been in that room in Maxville and seeing everyone's faces
(25:04):
of you guys he'd photographed and known for years, and
so I think that says a lot about the pressure
of that day for that guy. I went up with
Phil Hilliard, Peter Lawler, cricket journalists for The Australian, and
my wife Will went up. Just such a blur. I
guess I've never felt that way really at a funeral.
Prior to that moment. I broke down a number of
(25:25):
times and I don't know why. I don't know why, Like,
obviously I was close to the situation, but I'm normally
not that person to break down. Maybe it was just
looking at around and all he made to the players
around and the team and the staff were just in
pieces and maybe that set me off, but yeah, that
was a really emotional day. The wake was good. It
(25:47):
was a celebration of his life. It was good, lots
of good stories and everyone had a smile on his face,
just like he would have. One of the great things
Cricket Australia did, I think was turned the focus directly
on how we can celebrate feel and obviously the test
matches were moved though Adelaide ended up being the first Test,
and I think focus really quickly turned to that. And
(26:08):
again work gave me the option, do you want to
do these test matches still? And I took me half
a second. Absolutely, I want to be there because this
was going to be you know, paying tribute and a
lot of respect to Phil. There's no way I could
be home watching this. I had to be there, photographing
and capturing it. I knew it would be hard, but
I had to be there.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And it was certainly the most special Test match I've
ever covered, you know, with ashes and all those sorts
of things, or even cricket in general. World Cup. That
match was like no other experience, I think anyone at
the ground had had you had you had the four
to eight painted on the ground, you had the Steve
Smith tribute even very coally and twin tons and he
(26:51):
was a mate with Peel as well. But Nathan Lyn
needed those well, they needed the eight wickets and at
four eight pm Local, which is just beyond belief, he
takes that first wicket and then from there they all
crumble and I get goosebumps just thinking about it. But
from my perspective watching those boys get through that, we
(27:12):
all worried whether it was too much pressure and whether
they were able to mentally get up for this game.
And then it just turned into this therapy for them
in a very public way. But was it felt therapeutic
watching them? Is that how you felt photographing it?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Absolutely? I think it was that summer and then the
following World Cup. The way they were playing, they look
like they're floating on air.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Nelly.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
They were so determined to do it for him and
have success fulfill that. The Adelaide Test match was, I agree,
one of the best Test matches I've ever covered photographically
because of everything you just mentioned, but just the added
meaning behind everything for everyone. I think was incredible and
I think the moment that stands out to me where
it hit home that this was happening, This Test match
(27:59):
is happening. It was going to be tough. Was the
day before Gavin Dovey, the team manager, invited me into
the rooms. He said there's something I want you to see.
So walked into the Adelaide rooms and sure enough, where
Hugh's his locker would have been, were two massive photos
of us that I'd taken over the years, one in
his locker and then one on the wall. He's like,
(28:20):
you don't have to photograph this if you want, but
if you would like to photograph these, and he's empty locker.
What wasn't empty? They had his shirt in there as well,
and all the player's shirts had four oh eight in
place of their test number. I thought, this is this
is the moment in time. It's so with storic. So
I had to photograph it, but it was it was hard.
That was really hard.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
How proud are you of the level of respect that
the Australian team showed you, the fact that they use
those photos, wanted to allow you in. I mean that
is a sign of respect for you.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh, absolutely look the photos. I think it just so
happened that they were mine. I think they could have
been anyone's photos. But yeah, it's a privilege. It's always
a privilege. Any accident, some granted by the team is
always a privilege, and you never take that for granted
for a second. The moment that really hit home in
terms of how members of the team, all the staff
feel towards me. Just before the anthems on the on
(29:12):
the morning of the game, Grant Baldwin, who was the
that still is at times of physio massuse, he was
handing out they had the black armbands made with the
pH on them, and he was handing him out to
the boys just before they went out to the for
the anthems, and he came over someone. I just felt
someone grab my arm and he put one on my arm,
(29:37):
and that was Yeah, that was a pretty special moment.
I'll never forget that. But yeah, what a day, What
a day to photograph like that anthem ceremony. Obviously I
was way back. I'm normally right in there for the
anthem ceremony under the they put the flags in front
of the players and normally crouched down and shoot it
quite wide. There's no way I was going in there
(29:58):
that day. I was way back with my long lens.
I was not getting anyone's face and shot it from
a long way away. And images of Michael Clark gave Warner,
Ryan Harris just in tears, arm in arm. Yeah, all
pretty powerful images. And then all the bats. You know,
players put their bats out with their baggy greens on
(30:19):
the top. They put Phil's name on the team sheet.
I took a picture of that. Yeah. Look everywhere you
look that day, there was just amazing pieces to be had,
and they all paid tribute to Phil when they won
the test.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Take us inside what you got to see that night,
because you got no access that was unrivaled.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, Nathan Lyon. Over the years, getting to know him
a lot better, He's allowed me some pretty close and
intimate access to the team song when they sing it
on the ground. I've never photographed it in the change rooms.
I never want to because that's their space. But if
they go out on the ground at midnight and sing
the team song, I want to photograph that, whether it's
(31:04):
from just outside the circle or up in the stand.
And I thought this was a good moment to really
step back and shoot it from a long way away,
with the added bonus that there was the four oh
eight on the ground. I didn't know they were going
to stand around the four oh eight and sing it,
but they did. And I was up at the top
of the Bradman stand and it was dark, there was
(31:26):
hardly any light on the pitch, and yeah, the quality
of the photos aren't great, but you can definitely see
what's going on. And they all had a round the
four ro eight, brought the ski out, put it in
the middle, or cracked a beer and saying under the
Southern Cross, I stand the loudest I've ever heard team song,
even louder than the Ashes last year.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
People listening should probably also know that those photos are
cherished by those players as well. A lot of what
you do is for the public and for the access,
but fair to say that a lot of what you
do is for their family album.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Absolutely. Oh the amount of stuff that will never get
sent out to papers and magazines was just for the
players and the families. There's a lot of that material
and I really enjoy taking those pictures. And of course
there's moments your new sense kicks in and you're like, oh,
that's such a beautiful picture of that player and their
wife or their kids and whatever, and you know, you'd
(32:20):
know a newspaper would run it. But that's where the
Trust is.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It was really hard for a lot of the boys
to head to the SCG. What was it like for
you to head back there?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah? Even harder than Adelaide for sure, because there was
so much going on in Adelaide. You didn't have that
much time to stop and really reflect on the weeks beforehand.
But the SCG was tough. The Trust erected a plank
outside the Australian Chaine Rooms of phil beautiful plaque, which
is actually the artworkers of picture. I took a Phil
(32:54):
during the twenty thirteen Ashes tour which was used through
a lot of the press. On the invitation of the
running order, on the funeral, it was used everywhere and
they ended up making that picture for the pluck. So
having a photograph that going up, that was an emotional
moment and all I was thinking for the next few
days of the test matches, how do I illustrate, how
do I get this pluck in a picture that really
(33:15):
makes it relevant? And thankfully day one, David Warner walks
out the bat goes up to it with his glove
on and pats him on the head. I didn't know
what was going to happen. I had a feeling that
someone might do something again. That's probably one of my
favorite pictures I've ever taken. It just captures the moment perfectly,
and I'm not sure how else you would try to
capture that moment of the players walking out. The biggest
(33:37):
moment that day was when they've got to sixty three
and he walked across to the spot where Hughes he fell,
got down his knees, kissed the ground, got up, looked
to the sky. What a moment, What a moment, Just incredible.
The photos don't do it justice. You just had to
(33:58):
be there. Everyone got on the feet and never forget that.
What a moment.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Sport remembers people and rallies around people better than anything.
I think wraps their arms around around people in moments
like this. I want to finish by saying, how will
you remember hughsy.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
And I'm saying this with the biggest smile on my face.
That because that's how he made me feel. I think
that's how he made everyone feel. He made you feel
like the only person in the room. Every time he
spoke to you. I already remember him as a fun
loving kid from the country who was amazingly talented batsman.
There was only just scratching the surface on it. Incredible
(34:40):
test career, and I just feel so fortunate to have
had the time I did with him. I wish I
had more time with him. I wish I wish I
had the chance to have more beers and funny chats
with him. I wish I had the chance to photograph
him batting. He's a photographer's dream. Yeah, I'll just miss him.
(35:05):
I'll just miss him.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
How do you feel about talking about it now?
Speaker 1 (35:12):
It's still really hard. It's still really hard. But although
it's a tragic event, it's really hard to feel sad
about someone that made you feel so happy. And yes,
he's gone, but his memory will live on forever. He'll
always be sixty three, not out.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Thank you for chatting, and know it's a really different
perspective for people listening. As you mentioned off the top,
you know you're not, you know, the closest person, but
I think you have every right to feel sad, and
you were mates with him, and you did go through it,
and I know you live with it all the time,
(35:51):
so yeah, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thanks NAS, thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking. A reminder,
you can see the photographs that Ryan has referenced at
Ordinarily Underscore Speaking or at Ryan's Instagram page at Ryan Pearce.
As I said off the top, our thoughts remain with
Philip Hughes's family, friends, and teammates.
Ordinarily speaking, as a sports photographer, you never expect to
have to cover a tragedy, let alone one involving your mate.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Time, Hello and welcome to ordinarily speaking, today's guest is
a little different. Ryan Pierce is a chief photographer at
Getty Images, one of Australia's leading sports photographers. For years now,
(00:41):
he has followed the Australian men's cricket team and is
the man behind the lens of some iconic images. The
ones most precious to him the pictures he took of
Philip hughes Hughsey was one of those people that greeted
everyone with a smile, no matter which side of the
fence you were on. He was cheeky and he was
(01:01):
one hell of a cricketer. A photographer's dream. November twenty five,
twenty fourteen, is a day that none of us will
ever forget, a day where cricket changed forever. Ryan was
there that day photographing his mate. In this chat, Ryan
shares the stories behind his favorite images of Hughesy. He
(01:22):
has put together a gallery on Instagram to accompany this episode,
so if you'd like to see those photos, head to
Instagram and follow at Ryan Pearce or at Ordinarily speaking
throughout this chat, our thoughts always remained with the family, friends,
and teammates of Philip Hughes. He was someone special. Well, Ryan,
(01:50):
thanks very much for spending some time with me. You're
a bit of a different guest to what I'm used
to on this podcast. Tell me a little bit about
your background.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So having me Nez. Yes, I'm a sports photographer. I've
been working for Getty Images for sixteen years shooting a
variety of sports in Australian around the world. But the
last six or seven years I've fallen into shooting one
of my great love's cricket so and it's taken me
around the world and to some incredible places and met
(02:23):
so many amazing people and got to work with some
great cricketers and got to know their families. It's been
an amazing a few years.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Why do you love cricket?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, I grew up playing cricket and I think there's
no doubt that most Australian kids want to wear the
baggy green and Captain Australia. And as a kid I
was Alan Border had all the.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Kid because you're Captain Grumpy.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I only before my coffee in the morning. Yeah, I
looked the part. I just couldn't play very well and
I still hold my high school record for a number
of ducks in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So you're a bit like me. You love sport, weren't
very good at it, so you decided to watch it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Absolutely But I looked the part. I had all the
best kid but no idea how to play.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So you are one of the leading sports photographies in
the world. I can say that you maybe don't feel
comfortable saying that, but as you mentioned, you get invited
into those really intimate moments that no one else really
is outside of the team. So if you take the
Australian cricket team for example, you're there for those moments
of celebration, giving the insight to the public of what
(03:27):
they'll never experience and what a journalist like me really
doesn't get the opportunity to experience. So you're there in
pretty intimate times with these guys.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
It took a long time to get to a point
where I guess you trusted and accepted, but I think
that's the key in our jobs, and for me, it's
just about just being a normal person to them. You know,
of course you look up to them as their performances
on the field, but as soon as they step off
that pitch there, for me, they're just like normal people.
And that I can definitely say that of the Australian
(03:56):
cricket team. I think they're generally just normal guys who
happened to be really good at cricket. That's what I
explained to everyone when they asked me what are they like?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, So tell me about the day that you
met Phil Hughes.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I was living in the UK at the time, working
for Getty over there. I was sent out to cover
a Middlesex County cricket match in the outskirts of London.
It was only a couple of months after he made
his debut in South Africa and burst onto the scene
captured everyone's attention, and so I'd only seen him on
Telly read about him in the paper. I just wanted
to get a great shot of Phil Hughes, you know,
(04:28):
being a big cricket fan, I just know I'm going
to spend the day. I'm just going to sit on
him as long as I can and get something good
of him. I've turned up to the ground pretty early,
you know. I set up as a beautiful ground, white
pick at fence, lots of trees, just a classic English ground.
Just after the toss, I think Middlesex won the toss
and battered and I've moved around towards the change rooms,
(04:49):
which I say change rooms was actually a tent under
a tree. I poked my head around the corner and
there's this little fellow sort of side on. I couldn't
see who it was, reading the paper, just sitting there.
Heads turned around and I just said this, get a bruzzi.
Here you gone, as if I'd known him from Millionaires.
And it was Phil and he was sitting there with
(05:10):
his pat it up, ready to go out, reading the paper.
And I'll never forget that moment. I said, get a mate,
and he said you're an Aussie. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
work for Getty over here for a while, but I'm
moving back next year, so hopefully I'll be shooting more
of you when you're in the test team. That was
the first time I met him, and he walked out
that date about I'm pretty sure he got one hundred.
(05:32):
I saw creatures played that day. I've never seen before
him down on one knee, so unorthodox, so amazing to
watch and even better the photograph. I think cricket's such
a game of patience for the photographers and he can
get really bogged down sometimes waiting for something good to happen.
But when you get a guy like hughsy Eddie's just
you can't look away for a second. It was even
(05:53):
in a county match. So yeah, that moment will stick
with me forever.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So you've brought in a lot of your photos today
because you've shot him a lot of times over the
years and you got to know him pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Is that fair to say? Yeah? I think when my
first Test tour was twenty thirteen, so probably a year
after I met him for the first time, and that
was the Ashes in England twenty thirteen and I walked
into the team. It was a new role for me.
I didn't know anyone. I knew the media manager that
was it. Two guys during that period really took me
(06:29):
under their wing and made me feel really welcome and
took me out for a beer, maybe one too many beers,
and one of them was Phil that was David Warner.
Dave was going through his own struggles during that tour
off the field, but he finally got back in the
team where Phil started in the team and then ended
up out of the team halfway through the tour, so
(06:49):
there was I think Daveon said to me that it
was good at the time to get away from cricket
and hang out with someone just away from the team
just for a night and someone else's opinion on things,
and I felt the same, although I don't think you
ever said it. I think Phil felt like he could
talk to me and I wouldn't talk about cricket to him.
It would just be just generally, you know. So yeah,
(07:12):
I definitely viewed him as a mate and someone that
always put a smile on your face generally because he
had a smile on he's one hundred percent of the time,
even when things were going bad for him.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And I think what a lot of people listening won't
understand is that when you're on tour as media, often
the person that's out of the team in the twelfth
man is the person that you spent the most time
with because whilst the team is off being professional and playing,
often they're socializing a little more. So you often get
to know that twelfth man better than anyone.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Very well. Yes, I think if you'd if you ask
me now to roll off the people I was closest
to in the Australian cricket team, most of them have
spent quite a bit of time mixing the gatorade.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Good at mixing drinks. The reason why you're doing this podcast.
It's a hard one for you, and I know you
are very clear about the fact that there's a lot
of people that were closer to him than you. But
at the end of the day, the truth is you
also lived through what happened to feel Hughes, and you
(08:15):
live with it. Is that fair?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh? Absolutely? I live with it every day. There's every
time I think about cricket, you think about that day,
anything about him, anything about how he made you feel,
You think about how he made others feel. And absolutely,
I'm nowhere near the closest person in this tragedy. But
I was there that day and I've obviously continue to
(08:41):
be involved with the team after that. And yeah, I've
never really spoken about I never felt comfortable to speak
about it, and even when family and friends bring it
up and ask me about it, I tend to remove
myself of conversation or the room pretty quickly because I
just really struggle to talk about it. I think just
(09:03):
recently hearing some other people talk about things they've gone through,
and yeah, I just feel like I'm ready to talk
about my feelings during that time and how I still
feel about it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Tell me about that day. Why were you the SCG?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yes, So, Sheffield Chield was pretty pretty rare for me
to cover Sheffield Chield matches because most of them are
clashing with Test matches or other tours. So it was
an unusually Sheffield child day because both teams were packed
full of players that are even in the team or
about to be picked in the Test team. And I
(09:39):
feel went well this day, which he did. No doubt
he would have been picked in the team for the
first Test that was going to be at the Gabba
a couple of weeks later, so or the week after.
It was a very relaxed day of It was one
of those days where you turn up to work and
it was a blue sky, nice breeze. SCG is the
best place to work in the world, hands down. I
remember walking out with Brad Hadden to the middle he
(09:59):
was capped and then he put his new South Wales
caps and check it on that he hadn't worn for
a while and on the way out to the toss,
Hughsley was hitting balls into a net just to my
left and he seen me out of the corner of
my eye and just shout out again, get a Brusie.
How you going? What are you doing out at Sheffield Chair?
And I thought you only do test matches and I'm like, yeah,
(10:20):
I know. I said, I'm just here to shoot you, mate,
Just here a photograph you. He's like, good, make sure
it make me look good, make me look good. So yeah,
I can't remember who won the toss, but anyway, South
Australia he came out all guns blazing, playing again shots
that you just never rarely see, rarely see from most cricketers.
(10:41):
Everyone was just looking at each other sideways going just
not of approval. I was there that day shooting with
two other photographers, Phil Hillyard from the Daily Telegraph and
my colleague Mark Metcalfe. Have We just kept looking at
each other going yeah, okay, he's in. He's in in
that form where you're just like, no one's going to
(11:03):
keep him out of this team. And we got the lunch,
went up to the press box, grab a quick sandwich
and that was the buzz. All the journals were like,
who's he's in? You know, I think the journals are
probably started writing their copy for that night, you know,
even though the team wasn't going to be picked till
a few days later. I left the press box, probably
earlier than I would for after lunch, because it's pretty
rushed up there generally, to get back down under the ground,
(11:23):
because I wanted to do a picture of hugh'sy walking
out of the change rooms. Obviously, the SCG change rooms
are the original change room in the members pavilion, and
for a photographer, it's the best place to shoot a
player walking out to bat anywhere in the world. So
I thought, why not do a bit of a feature
picture for Hughsey that might get used at some point.
So I've got down there early. He was also finished
(11:45):
lunch early and ready, and he's just sitting on the
massage table near the door, and I've walked up the
stairs to the side and up to the railing and yeah,
this is probably something I haven't told anyone. Still makes
me smile thinking about it. He said, Now am I
looking out there? How am I looking out there? BUSSI?
I said, yeah, gone, all right, mate, gone, all right,
not bad, not bad? He's got You've got any good shots? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
(12:05):
I got a couple. Did you get my good side?
I said, I'm trying to, mate, I'm trying to you know,
just keep going the way you're going. I'll get a
good picture of you. And then he's walked out the bat.
Probably one of my favorite pictures of all the time,
probably because of what happened later on that day. Yeah,
He'm walking out the bat with this really term of
look on his face, out of the members of pavilion
(12:26):
and down onto the ground. Yeah. Never forget that moment.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So it was all buzz really and celebration and typical
Hughesy making everyone feel welcome and entertaining everyone, and then
everything went very bloody wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, did it ever? I was when you're on the
side of the ground, you're constantly transmitting pictures on your laptop.
I didn't actually have the camera up to my face
for that ball, so I was sending, finishing, sending, probably
the pictures have been walking out onto the out of
the change rooms, and I heard Phil Hilly are just
(13:06):
sitting right next to me, just let out this sort
of dull noise or grant, he's just like you know,
and I've looked up and I've just got the camera,
picked the camera up straight away, and obviously from the
time he was hit to the time he ended up
on the ground, I was able to pick the camera
(13:26):
up and photograph what happened next basically, and looking back
at it now, that seemed like forever that moment, and
then I think as soon as you ended up on
the ground, that's when you knew something wasn't completely right.
(13:48):
But as a photographer, and I guess a news gatherer,
you keep shooting. You just kept shooting. But I remember
saying the while I've still had my head up to
the face up to the camera, I said, this doesn't
look good. This is not good. And that's when you
(14:08):
you tense up your heart. I just I remember the
feeling my heart just going million miles an hour, and
I felt sick instantly, but I just kept shooting, just
kept shooting because we had no idea obviously how bad
it was. Yeah, that was definitely the hardest thing I've
(14:31):
ever had to shoot in my career, just that that moment,
and then what what I guess what followed was even harder.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And you're a sports photographer. This is not something that
you go into your office and anticipate.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, I guess you never expect to have to go
to work and as a sports photographer and photograph someone
in a way any more than a serious injury like
a knee injury or a broken arm or a broken leg.
Maybe that's that's as bad as get let alone someone
you know and who's mate laying there unconscious, not knowing
(15:07):
what's next. I don't know what kept me shooting that
day because I'm not trained to as a news photographer
at all. I've always said I don't think I'd ever
risked my life for my job. But there's plenty of
guys brilliant news photographer out there that do daily and
I'm in total all of those guys. But for me,
(15:28):
that was a total new experienced situation for me to
be in.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
There are obviously a lot of details that we're not
going to go into because we don't need to what
happened next, because there was a moment for you where
you and Phil Hilly are decided that's enough, we're not
shooting anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, exactly, the three of us, Phil, myself and Mark.
There was a moment where, just after they put Phil
on the medicab and they started to drive him to
the side of the members stand and the little tunnel there,
I just heard this voice out of the corner of
my my ear yelling just stop stop, stop, stop, And
(16:09):
I didn't realize what it was at the time, but
I looked over and it was Brad Hadden running over
towards us. I thought he was talking to a medical
person or someone else in the stand, but as he
got closer, his voice lowered a bit and he's like, guys,
stop shooting. It's not good. And immediately we didn't just
stop shooting. We put our cameras on the ground and
(16:31):
just sat there. And then it seemed like an hour,
but it was probably about twenty minutes where we were
forced to sit there. There's security there by that time,
who just just told us to move there. It was
obviously became a pretty restricted zone around that area where
they brought him to the side of the ground and
we just sat there and we had to watch the
next probably twenty minutes unfold.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
How do you cope in that moment, Yeah, because it's.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Not I did at the time, because I think the
adrenaline kicks in and you're just like, Okay, I'm in
the middle of this and you have to react. The
first react. First reaction was to take photos. Second reaction
was too told to stop when you're told, and we
did that, but.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You're it's not for me covering the later days. It
was having that, you know, the relationship, friendship, colleague, however
you want to call it, with Phil. And then there's
also the layer on top of that of being mates
with a lot of the guys. So you were mates
with all of those guys out on the ground who
(17:37):
are also going through this. That is an incredibly traumatic
thing to experience on a workday.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, in my way, it's the best situation in the world,
knowing everyone you're photographing out there, But on that day
it probably turned out to be the worst. But I
can honestly say at the time when it all happened,
all I was thinking about was was fel like I
didn't really you know. The only I guess the only
(18:07):
thing other person I remember really clear was was Dave Warner,
who was on the medicap with him and stuck with him,
with him all the time, holding his hand. That will
stick with me forever. Yeah, that was Yeah, It's a
different situation to be in, for sure. And I think
(18:27):
as we started looking through the pictures on the back
of our camera, and there was some really graphic pictures
that as a group, we probably decided that it was
best not to ever be seen. So the pictures that
end up going.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Out that day, they were filtered.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Absolutely, there was no reason for some pictures to go
out wouldn't have added to the story or the moment
at all. To this day, I still have not looked
at those photos again. They're sitting on a hard drive
somewhere at home, and I have no need or want
to look at those photos again. I'm not sure I
want to relive it through still images. I love looking
(19:09):
at pictures of Husey playing having fun, but I'm not
sure looking at pictures from that incident would do me
any good. So I think I'll just keep them locked
away on that hard drive.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
How did the rest of your day unfold? Do you
remember any of it? Do you remember how you dealt
with it that night, how you felt that night? I do.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
In parts. I stayed at the ground for quite a while,
only because I just didn't feel like I wanted to
get in a car. I was still shaking, and even
though it's ten minutes drive home to my house from
the ground, I just I think I actually sat in
the car when I got to the car, I sat
in the car for a little bit, just things going
through my head. And I got home and yeah, basically
(19:51):
just collapsed in a heap. And I think my wife
came home not long after, and she knew what was happening, obviously,
but yeah, that's when I really sort of got set off,
I guess, And yeah, it wasn't a good night you're
listening to.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Ordinarily, speaking with photographer Ryan Pearce, it was such a
hard thing to cover because it then went on for
a couple of days. How did you cope through those
couple of days whilst also trying to be a support
to people that your mates within in that fold?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Well, first off, my manager at the time asked me
straight off the bat, do you want to cover this?
Do you want to follow this story through? And I
knew there's no way in the world I could have.
I was just way too close to the whole situation.
So I'm glad I was given the option. I think
a lot of people might not have been given the option,
but I was reassigned to other things. So the day
(20:48):
after I ended up at the ARIA Awards of all things,
the show goes Forevero's Red Huppet and everything, and I'm
just I'm like a zombie. I couldn't tell you who
was there, who's saying who won? I couldn't tell you anything.
I was just And obviously my colleagues knew what happened
the day before, and they're like, why are you here?
Why are you here? And I'm like, well, I just
wanted to help out, and I think maybe to keep busy.
It was good. If I'd stayed at home, I just
would have been texting the guys all day, going looking
(21:11):
for updates, just going how is he? That word sort
of filtered through I think at night that things weren't
looking that good, and that's when it really set in that, yeah,
we weren't going to get to see you smile and
face again.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
At that point. Are you just his mate?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'd like to think I always felt like that, but
there was that probably five minutes where I kept doing
my job, and I think that's what haunts me a
little bit still. And you ask yourself, what did the
same thing happen again, what would you do. It's a
very fine line between doing your job and looking after
your mates, especially when one goes with the other. You
(21:53):
just got to trust in the rest of the team
that they know that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
How did they receive you? Did things change between those
guys or were they always pretty supportive of everything?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Always always really supportive. I think they could see by
talking to me when they saw me how affected I was.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
The couple of days where we sort of knew what
was happening, but we didn't yet or couldn't couldn't say
it public yet. You know, we're still holding out that
glimmer of hope. Do you remember the moment that you
found out that that he was gone?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yep, I do, I do. I I got a message
from a player. Probably was half an hour before the
press conference was held. Maybe, yeah, I remember it pretty clearly,
but I think I'd nearly already prepared myself for it.
I turned on Fox Sports News. It's probably you on there,
(22:56):
I guess at the time, I remember that half an
hour before the but I think there was announced the
press conference and everyone knew it was coming, I think,
and I'm just I just remember sitting there, I'm a
couch at home watching this and yeah, just in pieces
wasn't good. I think I called my dad to tell
(23:17):
him and chatted with him for a few minutes. But yeah,
I remember it really clearly. And then I was just yeah,
I just felt really.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Numb after that day, well that evening, when I had
to say what I had to say on air and
let people know. Watching I completely broke down that night
because I had to hold it together for a couple
of days, and as I say, watching how mates go
(23:47):
in and out of the hospital that night, I don't
think I've ever had a outburst of just complete and
utter collapse and everything that that week had taken.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Was it the same for you.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Did you have a moment where, because when you're working
on it, you have to hold your shit together, but
you're also living through it. Did you have a moment
where you allowed yourself to grieve?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I think at the time, if you can call that grieving,
I think crying uncontrollably, I'm not I guess that's a
part of grieving, but I think after that everything happened
so quickly, I'm not sure I did grieve properly. I
think the funeral was good again. My office gave me
the option of covering the funeral and I did think
about doing that, but it didn't take long to make
(24:43):
a decision that I just wasn't up to doing it.
My good mate Cameron Spencer ended up doing that. I
was speaking to him again about it the other day
and he's not he likes his cricket. He doesn't love
his cricket. He wasn't attached to the game or the players,
but he still says that's the hardest day of his career,
been in that room in Maxville and seeing everyone's faces
(25:04):
of you guys he'd photographed and known for years, and
so I think that says a lot about the pressure
of that day for that guy. I went up with
Phil Hilliard, Peter Lawler, cricket journalists for The Australian, and
my wife Will went up. Just such a blur. I
guess I've never felt that way really at a funeral.
Prior to that moment. I broke down a number of
(25:25):
times and I don't know why. I don't know why, Like,
obviously I was close to the situation, but I'm normally
not that person to break down. Maybe it was just
looking at around and all he made to the players
around and the team and the staff were just in
pieces and maybe that set me off, but yeah, that
was a really emotional day. The wake was good. It
(25:47):
was a celebration of his life. It was good, lots
of good stories and everyone had a smile on his face,
just like he would have. One of the great things
Cricket Australia did, I think was turned the focus directly
on how we can celebrate feel and obviously the test
matches were moved though Adelaide ended up being the first Test,
and I think focus really quickly turned to that. And
(26:08):
again work gave me the option, do you want to
do these test matches still? And I took me half
a second. Absolutely, I want to be there because this
was going to be you know, paying tribute and a
lot of respect to Phil. There's no way I could
be home watching this. I had to be there, photographing
and capturing it. I knew it would be hard, but
I had to be there.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And it was certainly the most special Test match I've
ever covered, you know, with ashes and all those sorts
of things, or even cricket in general. World Cup. That
match was like no other experience, I think anyone at
the ground had had you had you had the four
to eight painted on the ground, you had the Steve
Smith tribute even very coally and twin tons and he
(26:51):
was a mate with Peel as well. But Nathan Lyn
needed those well, they needed the eight wickets and at
four eight pm Local, which is just beyond belief, he
takes that first wicket and then from there they all
crumble and I get goosebumps just thinking about it. But
from my perspective watching those boys get through that, we
(27:12):
all worried whether it was too much pressure and whether
they were able to mentally get up for this game.
And then it just turned into this therapy for them
in a very public way. But was it felt therapeutic
watching them? Is that how you felt photographing it?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Absolutely? I think it was that summer and then the
following World Cup. The way they were playing, they look
like they're floating on air.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Nelly.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
They were so determined to do it for him and
have success fulfill that. The Adelaide Test match was, I agree,
one of the best Test matches I've ever covered photographically
because of everything you just mentioned, but just the added
meaning behind everything for everyone. I think was incredible and
I think the moment that stands out to me where
it hit home that this was happening, This Test match
(27:59):
is happening. It was going to be tough. Was the
day before Gavin Dovey, the team manager, invited me into
the rooms. He said there's something I want you to see.
So walked into the Adelaide rooms and sure enough, where
Hugh's his locker would have been, were two massive photos
of us that I'd taken over the years, one in
his locker and then one on the wall. He's like,
(28:20):
you don't have to photograph this if you want, but
if you would like to photograph these, and he's empty locker.
What wasn't empty? They had his shirt in there as well,
and all the player's shirts had four oh eight in
place of their test number. I thought, this is this
is the moment in time. It's so with storic. So
I had to photograph it, but it was it was hard.
That was really hard.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
How proud are you of the level of respect that
the Australian team showed you, the fact that they use
those photos, wanted to allow you in. I mean that
is a sign of respect for you.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh, absolutely look the photos. I think it just so
happened that they were mine. I think they could have
been anyone's photos. But yeah, it's a privilege. It's always
a privilege. Any accident, some granted by the team is
always a privilege, and you never take that for granted
for a second. The moment that really hit home in
terms of how members of the team, all the staff
feel towards me. Just before the anthems on the on
(29:12):
the morning of the game, Grant Baldwin, who was the
that still is at times of physio massuse, he was
handing out they had the black armbands made with the
pH on them, and he was handing him out to
the boys just before they went out to the for
the anthems, and he came over someone. I just felt
someone grab my arm and he put one on my arm,
(29:37):
and that was Yeah, that was a pretty special moment.
I'll never forget that. But yeah, what a day, What
a day to photograph like that anthem ceremony. Obviously I
was way back. I'm normally right in there for the
anthem ceremony under the they put the flags in front
of the players and normally crouched down and shoot it
quite wide. There's no way I was going in there
(29:58):
that day. I was way back with my long lens.
I was not getting anyone's face and shot it from
a long way away. And images of Michael Clark gave Warner,
Ryan Harris just in tears, arm in arm. Yeah, all
pretty powerful images. And then all the bats. You know,
players put their bats out with their baggy greens on
(30:19):
the top. They put Phil's name on the team sheet.
I took a picture of that. Yeah. Look everywhere you
look that day, there was just amazing pieces to be had,
and they all paid tribute to Phil when they won
the test.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Take us inside what you got to see that night,
because you got no access that was unrivaled.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, Nathan Lyon. Over the years, getting to know him
a lot better, He's allowed me some pretty close and
intimate access to the team song when they sing it
on the ground. I've never photographed it in the change rooms.
I never want to because that's their space. But if
they go out on the ground at midnight and sing
the team song, I want to photograph that, whether it's
(31:04):
from just outside the circle or up in the stand.
And I thought this was a good moment to really
step back and shoot it from a long way away,
with the added bonus that there was the four oh
eight on the ground. I didn't know they were going
to stand around the four oh eight and sing it,
but they did. And I was up at the top
of the Bradman stand and it was dark, there was
(31:26):
hardly any light on the pitch, and yeah, the quality
of the photos aren't great, but you can definitely see
what's going on. And they all had a round the
four ro eight, brought the ski out, put it in
the middle, or cracked a beer and saying under the
Southern Cross, I stand the loudest I've ever heard team song,
even louder than the Ashes last year.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
People listening should probably also know that those photos are
cherished by those players as well. A lot of what
you do is for the public and for the access,
but fair to say that a lot of what you
do is for their family album.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Absolutely. Oh the amount of stuff that will never get
sent out to papers and magazines was just for the
players and the families. There's a lot of that material
and I really enjoy taking those pictures. And of course
there's moments your new sense kicks in and you're like, oh,
that's such a beautiful picture of that player and their
wife or their kids and whatever, and you know, you'd
(32:20):
know a newspaper would run it. But that's where the
Trust is.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It was really hard for a lot of the boys
to head to the SCG. What was it like for
you to head back there?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah? Even harder than Adelaide for sure, because there was
so much going on in Adelaide. You didn't have that
much time to stop and really reflect on the weeks beforehand.
But the SCG was tough. The Trust erected a plank
outside the Australian Chaine Rooms of phil beautiful plaque, which
is actually the artworkers of picture. I took a Phil
(32:54):
during the twenty thirteen Ashes tour which was used through
a lot of the press. On the invitation of the
running order, on the funeral, it was used everywhere and
they ended up making that picture for the pluck. So
having a photograph that going up, that was an emotional
moment and all I was thinking for the next few
days of the test matches, how do I illustrate, how
do I get this pluck in a picture that really
(33:15):
makes it relevant? And thankfully day one, David Warner walks
out the bat goes up to it with his glove
on and pats him on the head. I didn't know
what was going to happen. I had a feeling that
someone might do something again. That's probably one of my
favorite pictures I've ever taken. It just captures the moment perfectly,
and I'm not sure how else you would try to
capture that moment of the players walking out. The biggest
(33:37):
moment that day was when they've got to sixty three
and he walked across to the spot where Hughes he fell,
got down his knees, kissed the ground, got up, looked
to the sky. What a moment, What a moment, Just incredible.
The photos don't do it justice. You just had to
(33:58):
be there. Everyone got on the feet and never forget that.
What a moment.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Sport remembers people and rallies around people better than anything.
I think wraps their arms around around people in moments
like this. I want to finish by saying, how will
you remember hughsy.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
And I'm saying this with the biggest smile on my face.
That because that's how he made me feel. I think
that's how he made everyone feel. He made you feel
like the only person in the room. Every time he
spoke to you. I already remember him as a fun
loving kid from the country who was amazingly talented batsman.
There was only just scratching the surface on it. Incredible
(34:40):
test career, and I just feel so fortunate to have
had the time I did with him. I wish I
had more time with him. I wish I wish I
had the chance to have more beers and funny chats
with him. I wish I had the chance to photograph
him batting. He's a photographer's dream. Yeah, I'll just miss him.
(35:05):
I'll just miss him.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
How do you feel about talking about it now?
Speaker 1 (35:12):
It's still really hard. It's still really hard. But although
it's a tragic event, it's really hard to feel sad
about someone that made you feel so happy. And yes,
he's gone, but his memory will live on forever. He'll
always be sixty three, not out.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Thank you for chatting, and know it's a really different
perspective for people listening. As you mentioned off the top,
you know you're not, you know, the closest person, but
I think you have every right to feel sad, and
you were mates with him, and you did go through it,
and I know you live with it all the time,
(35:51):
so yeah, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thanks NAS, thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking. A reminder,
you can see the photographs that Ryan has referenced at
Ordinarily Underscore Speaking or at Ryan's Instagram page at Ryan Pearce.
As I said off the top, our thoughts remain with
Philip Hughes's family, friends, and teammates.
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