Happy Birthday Sir David Attenborough!!

On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough

I photographed David Attenborough when he turned 90 back in 2016 for the Guardian.

It was the second of three shoots I’ve done with him. The first was at his home in London, exactly 10 years earlier, when he was a mere 80 years old.  The Guardian

This one was part-birthday shoot, part-push that David was doing for his new show about the discovery of the world’s largest-known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. BBC

My dear old friend and picture editor Ranjit Dhaliwal had the bright idea that maybe I could photograph David holding a toy dinosaur. I wasn’t entirely convinced but thought I’d give it a go, so I dutifully pinched a bag of soft toy dinosaurs from a local child to take to the shoot. Ranj had also told me that David didn’t particularly like photographers or having his photograph taken. I must say that this wasn’t my recollection from when I’d met and photographed him 10 years before, but it did put the wind up me a bit. So come shoot-day I was a little bit nervous to say the least, that a) he might not be particularly fond of me and b) that he wouldn’t take very kindly to the suggestion of posing whilst holding a toy.

On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough
On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough
On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough
On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough
On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough
On 24/1/16 on BBC1 Sir David will tell the story of the fossil discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur. London. Photograph by David Levene 24 January 2016
Sir David Attenborough

I started gently, traditionally even, planning to reveal my bag of soft-toys once he was himself softened. 10 minutes in and David was on good form and seemed to be enjoying himself, so I pulled out a dinosaur and handed it to him. He looked at the dinosaur, then he looked at me, then looked back at the dinosaur. Nervous about which way this was going to go, I quickly handed him another dinosaur, and then another one, and then another one, all the while happily clicking away thanks to the trusty tripod-mounted camera set-up that I use for portraiture (so that I don’t have to look through the lens much once I’ve focussed and framed the photograph, instead keeping connected with my subject). I loved this picture and it got a good showing in the Guardian, in time along with lots of the other pics from the shoot which have been published countless times. I got to photograph David a third time in 2019 whilst he addressed the masses at Glastonbury festival. The Guardian – Glastonbury Festival. Just me and David all alone on the huge Pyramid stage (I was crouching down trying not to be seen obvs). THAT was another experience all together…

Happy birthday David 🥳 And let me know if you fancy doing another shoot for your 100th!