The MD and his sandwich

Now here's a trick question: How do you separate a very senior manager from his sandwich?

We were interviewing Graham Mackay, Group Managing Director of SABMiller, one of the world's largest brewers of beer. The scene is one I have seen many times before at business interviews: stale boardroom, flourescent lighting, journalists eager to sit as close as possible to the big man, dictaphones thoughtfully tucked to the sides, and then ... a big, ugly sandwich, majestically placed right in front of my portrait subject. As the interview was already progressing and the man was not to be interrupted, I cringed as he clearly was not making any attempt to devour his meal. Instead, that fat, ugly sandwich just sat there, blocking my view and preventing me from taking any straight-on pictures, unless I fancied green salad leaves and majo in front of the MD...

Well, I wouldn't mind, but I was sure that my client would, so by now you can probably see my dilemma: how to take a decent interview portrait without that omnipresent sandwich? Answer: work sideways. Obvious, really, but harder in practice as it involved leaning precariously over the attending journalists, crouching under the table and all sorts of other contortions, all in order to avoid my unhealthy obsession with that ugly sandwich. Yes, before anyone asks, I *do* hate sandwiches...

Anyway, towards the end of the interview, I simply could no longer keep quiet and interrupted our main man, asking him to move his meal, as he hadn't even touched it. To his amusement, he did, and I finally managed to get the last pictures I needed.
You can see the offending sandwich, and ways to avoid it here: