So imagine my surprise when I saw this picture in Guardian.co.uk’s photographic roundup, 24 hours in pictures, today… I thought for a second the picture desk had pinched my picture (and I’d have been very, very proud if they had, of course):

It’s not the same picture of course – the one used on the site was shot by Alessandro Abbonizio of AFP. But I suspect we must live quite close together, as we have almost the same angle on those vapour trails. And I’m happy a pro confirmed I was right to put the silhouette of those houses in the bottom of the picture. It certainly was a spectacular sight.

Such images are, of course, nothing new. But in the hands of a news photographer they turn into something more than mere eye candy.

Dan’s down at the Lib Dems’ annual conference in Brighton, and has been following leader Sir Menzies Campbell around today. And what his images show is that, away from the bog standard photographs and TV coverage, there’s almost nobody there.

Spin around in this photocall and there’s only a handful of photographers and journalists present. Even during Ming’s big speech, if you look back you see the hall is mostly empty.

See the offically-intended image up ahead… and then spin around to see the reality.

She rules all,
originally uploaded by Ben Hammersley.

Mr Hammersley was round for pancakes last night (and… er… a quantity of red wine), and took this picture of Ginny with a lens that was bigger than the cat herself, and almost as expensive. Worked though… it’s a lovely shot.