In addition to the IBTimesUK Agency Photographer of the Year, we have decided to create an award for the best single photo essay we saw all year. This goes to Jack Taylor of Getty Images, who went to the Notting Hill Carnival and came back with a beautifully observed series of photos that really captured the atmosphere and covered every angle. His street scenes somehow made ordinary people doing ordinary things look like flawlessly styled and posed tableaux.
Scenes at a soundstage: Dancing, flirting, drinking and checking to see where your other friends are at Notting Hill Carnival on 29 August 2016Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesRevellers take a break on a pavement during the Notting Hill Carnival in London on 28 August 2016Jack Taylor/Getty Images
He told IBTimes UK: "I have been going to Carnival since I was little. Having grown up in London, the Notting Hill Carnival was an annual trip for me and I have good memories of going with my mum and brother as a boy. In my teens, going with friends I began to really get into it – the music and atmosphere always excited me. When it came to photographing it on assignment for Getty this year my plan was to have no plan – the idea was just to wander around much the same as if I was a punter. The parade itself produces some vibrant scenes with these brilliant flashes of colour and feathers.
Samba dancers bring a bit of glamour to Westbourne ParkJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPerformers dance during the samba parade on the second day of the Notting Hill CarnivalJack Taylor/Getty ImagesSpectators line the street to watch the paradeJack Taylor/Getty Images
"Just as interesting are the sound systems and the areas around the parade route where you can capture these pictures of revellers caught up in the music and each other. I like photographs which have several elements and subjects and so I mostly shoot on the wider-end, in this case taking a step back to show the carnival-goers in these different street scenes. For me, something like the Notting Hill Carnival is an ideal assignment – it is a good opportunity to explore – letting the flow of people or sound of music guide you while keeping an eye out for a picture."
28 August 2016: A brief rain shower does nothing to dampen the spirits of revellers at the Notting Hill CarnivalJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPeople sell food from a stall outside a houseJack Taylor/Getty ImagesA barman has a drink behind a pop-up bar at the Notting Hill CarnivalJack Taylor/Getty ImagesRevellers listen to the music from a sound system at Notting Hill Carnival in London on 29 August 2016Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesTwo women with orange hair walk through Notting Hill CarnivalJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPeople queue for drinks at an off licenceJack Taylor/Getty Images
Taylor told us he always enjoyed people-watching at Carnival, and relished the opportunity to actually focus and spend a couple of days shooting it. "I was under no pressure to file a picture of a dancer grinding up against a police officer and I was not specifically seeking out violence or carnage – a common theme the papers like to run with. After all it is not a PR exercise for the Metropolitan Police, and while violence at Carnival certainly happens I am not there to make the event look more dangerous than it actually is. Given the Carnival's Caribbean origins and the long-running tensions between the police and black community I am mindful of how the pictures I file fit into that broader context and how they can be used by different media outlets."
Police officers assemble outside a Notting Hill brasserieJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPolice officers control the crowds on west London's packed streetsJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPeople inhale nitrous oxide from balloons, which has become a standard fixture at all festivalsJack Taylor/Getty ImagesRevellers and performers begin to leave Notting Hill Carnival as the party comes to an endJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPeople walk past rubbish pilled up around a lamp post as they leave the Notting Hill CarnivalJack Taylor/Getty ImagesA sign thanks people for coming to The Notting Hill Carnival – but one guy in the background seems in no hurry to leaveJack Taylor/Getty ImagesRevellers leave the Notting Hill Carnival as night falls on the Trellick TowerJack Taylor/Getty Images
Taylor told us he had always wanted to be a photographer. "After finishing my degree in photojournalism at the London College of Communication in 2012 I went on to do some work experience with Agence France-Presse and Save the Children's picture desk. I then got a job at a local news agency, as a general news photographer covering crime, the courts and politics in London. I now work as a stringer with Getty Images News and I consider myself fortunate to be able to cover a range of interesting features as well as some of the major news events." We end this gallery with some of those features and news events.
20 May 2016: Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, speaks to media outside Europe House in Westminster after unveiling a tour bus as part of their campaign for the EU referendumJack Taylor/Getty Images16 June 2016: At the London Welsh Centre, an England supporter reacts to the winning goal in the England v Wales Euro 2016 gameJack Taylor/Getty Images27 June 2016: Former London Mayor Boris Johnson leaves his home in London by car, shortly after the EU Referendum catapulted him to the front of the pack gathering to succeed Prime Minister David CameronJack Taylor/Getty Images30 June 2016: Lance Sergeant Stuart Laing from the Welsh Guards rehearses the Last Post at Westminster Abbey on a bugle that was sounded at the Battle of the SommeJack Taylor/Getty Images6 July 2016: Members of the audience listen to a speaker at a rally organised by the grassroots group Momentum in support of Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, at the Troxy in LondonJack Taylor/Getty Images17 September 2016: A woman sweeps up horse manure as members of the clergy leave on horseback following a church service outside St John's Church, Hyde Park during the Hyde Park Horseman's SundayJack Taylor/Getty Images25 September 2016: Pearly Queens and Princesses gather at Guildhall Yard for the Harvest Festival in LondonJack Taylor/Getty Images5 October 2016: Yeoman Warders parade during the installation of General Sir Nicholas Houghton as the 160th Constable of the Tower of London during a ceremony in front of the White TowerJack Taylor/Getty Images20 October 2016: Theresa May kisses President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker during a group photo at her first EU Council meeting as the British Prime MinisterJack Taylor/Getty Images24 October 2016: An Oromo Ethiopian cries during a demonstration in the Jungle migrant camp in Calais as he faces eviction by French authoritiesJack Taylor/Getty Images25 October 2016: Migrants walk through the Jungle camp in Calais as the sun rises over the makeshift Eritrean ChurchJack Taylor/Getty Images25 October 2016: A police officer stands guard after migrants and refugees burned down a shelter during the eviction of the Jungle camp in CalaisJack Taylor/Getty Images2 November 2016: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson gives a thumbs-up as Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos attempts to shake his hand as they visit the Churchill War Rooms in London Jack Taylor/Getty Images5 November 2016: A masked protester holds up a flare on Whitehall during the Million Mask March in LondonJack Taylor/Getty Images13 November 2016: Chelsea Pensioners parade during the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in LondonJack Taylor/Getty Images10 December 2016: The Churchill Arms pub in Kensington, London, decorated with 90 conifers and thousands of fairy lights for the Christmas periodJack Taylor/Getty Images10 December 2016: Revellers dressed in Santa suits urinate through a fence in Bloomsbury during Santacon, LondonJack Taylor/Getty Images
