"Damn it" I said to myself as I tried to take a photo with the Fujifilm XH1 on the bus. I then muttered an expletive as I tried the same with my Fuji XT1. My camera batteries had run out and we were about to watch a fireworks display to commemorate the Day of the Sun, birth date of President Kim-Il sung in Pyongyang.
Feeling quite upset with myself I left my camera bag onboard and went with the group with just my iPhone 7 to our viewing point.
The fireworks were as you would expect, flashes of green, red and gold fizzled out over the Taedong River as a crowds oohed and aahed. I snapped the best I could with my phone but I then I noticed something behind me.
On a set of shallow stairs were hundreds of people - soldiers, couples, parents with their children looking up at the fireworks set off next to the Juche Tower. Their faces were only illuminated by a light shone on them by a local camera crew filming parts of the audience intermittently.
I waited until the light beamed on the glaring faces directly behind me and I poked at my phone until I got the best shot possible.
I knew it was one of my better photos from the long weekend tour of the D.P.R.K. as soon as I reviewed it on my phone and I made my way back to the bus in a better mood then when I had left it.
I entered the photograph for LensCultures' street photography awards and received an email a few days later saying I have a 'highly rated entry' that has a 'very good chance of a positive outcome' in the final.
Hopefully it will make the top 25 and feature in exhibitions in Paris and London. Any developments will be reported here!