Original Observer Photography: October

'You're either a floor person or a furniture person,' said Zoe Kazan, who wrote and stars in the film Ruby Sparks. She opted for the floor for the shoot at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, west London
Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer

Jessica Thom, who has Tourette syndrome, is photographed at her home in south-east London in the guise of Touretteshero.
Richard Saker: 'She was great fun, her tics were so extreme, fast and frequent that it was a struggle to capture everything. The superhero costume made for a more unusual, quirky and surreal picture'
Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Frankel wows Ascot to end his career with 14 wins in 14 races. He now retires to stud with a value of more than £100m.
Tom Jenkins: 'This was taken on a remote while I shot from the other side of the track. I know the course well. I knew that the horses were going to pass close to that rail, so I positioned my remote there. Still there's a fair bit of guesswork involved – where to put the focus and point the lens. I would have had a greater chance of getting more in focus with a very wide angle lens, but I don't like to do this as it tends to distort too much and makes the horse look rather weird. As it was very dark and cloudy when the race was run, I didn't have much depth of field to play with. This was also because I needed a very fast shutter speed to freeze the action. This sort of shot is so much easier on a bright sunny day.'
Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Observer

Tom Jenkins: 'The usually very quiet, undemonstrative and posh Ascot racegoers in the royal enclosure couldn't quite control themselves just after Frankel had won. I particularly like the man waving the little flag painted in Frankel's colours'
Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Observer

Tim Burgess of the Charlatans fame is photographed at the Barbican Centre in London
Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

A fashion shoot in Palm Springs: thank goodness for Google and the kindness of strangers.
Deputy fashion editor Helen Seamons tells the story: ''I want local characters and a dog in this shoot,' declares Heather the photographer over breakfast. Mild panic sets in – we are on location with no production. A quick Google of dog grooming + Palm Springs and one phone call to the incredibly accommodating ladies (and their canine clients) at K-9 Country Club and we have regular customer Barbara and her pooch on set and ready for their close-up'
Photograph: Heather Favell for the Observer

Fashion shoot in Palm Springs: the heat is on.
Helen Seamons: 'The problem with fashion shoots is they always happen in the opposite seasons to the clothes they feature. The temperature here is 40C, the crew are in shorts and standing in the shade, but just look at that light!'
Photograph: Heather Favell for the Observer

Fashion shoot in Palm Springs: one man's junk is another woman's fashion prop.
Helen Seamons: 'When you are on location you have to work with what you have to hand and we had an abandoned shopping trolley in our rental house's garage, perfect for our quirky suburban optical print story. And no, we didn't Photoshop the sign in'
Photograph: Heather Favell for the Observer

Andy Hall: 'I wanted to convey, in my portrait of Jack Straw, the idea of how heavy the weight of power and responsibility is, and has been, and how it can eat at the soul. I did the portrait in his cramped office in the old parliament buidings. He was genial and showed me his old family snaps of his mother hanging out the washing. He was at pains to tell me about his humble beginnings'
Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

Francesca Griffiths photographed at Birkbeck College, London, where researchers are collecting data from her brain using a geodesic sensor net in an attempt to understand why people with Down's syndrome are significantly more prone to Alzheimer's disease
Photograph: Sonja Horsman for the Observer

Bryan Cranston, photographed at the Soho hotel in London, is best known for his roles as dad Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and, at the other end of the acting spectrum, Walter White in Breaking Bad, for which he has won three consecutive Emmy awards for outstanding lead actor in a drama series
Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Katherine Rose: 'Shooting the opening of Frieze Masters in London can be difficult as there are a lot of big personalities condensed into a relatively small space. You need a thick skin'
Photograph: Katherine Rose for the Observer

Nine-year-old blogger Martha Payne began publishing photographs of her Lochgilphead orimary school lunches on 30 April. She gave each meal a 'food-o-meter' and health rating, and counted the number of mouthfuls it took her to eat it. Her website has been visited by more than 6 million people and raised £100,000-plus for Mary's Meals, a charity which helps feed children in developing countries. She was photographed by the main road on the seafront of Lochgilphead town centre in Scotland
Murdo MacLeod: 'On her tussock Martha was plagued by midgies and could not but instinctively slap at them, much to her father's horror, causing the computer (his laptop) to slither and wobble dangerously towards the water'
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Observer

Writer Cat Marnell photographed in New York.
Annie Collinge: 'I liked Cat instantly. She is an interesting clash between her appearance – all blonde, wild hair, skimpy dress – and her deadpan, brutally honest tone. She told me she knew how she looked in pictures and hated taking direction from photographers (which is always fun to hear), but in the end I found her very easy to photograph. She is extraordinary looking and when she stared into the camera she had a sad, faraway expression'
Photograph: Annie Collinge for the Observer

Tim Burton in the walled garden of his studio in Primrose Hill, north London.
Richard Saker: 'Rather spookily, I had imagined Tim on a swing prior to the shoot and when I arrived it was there with the bonus of gravestones left over from a Hallowe'en party. He gave me 10 minutes exactly, was very pleasant, open to ideas and crucially agreed to get on the swing though he kept slipping off'
Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Sture Bergwall, who has a multiple personality disorder, photographed at Säter psychiatric hospital, outside Stockholm, Sweden. As 'Thomas Quick', he confessed to more than 30 murders. Subsequently, Bergwall has been acquitted of five of the eight murders for which he was convicted.
Andy Hall: 'I felt he cut more of a sad than sinister figure, weighed down by his 20 years of being, until Breivik, Scandinavia's most notorious serial killer'
Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

The site of the murder of backpacker Yenon Levi in Darlana woods, Sweden. Thomas Quick was sentenced in 1997 without forensic evidence but on statements that matched facts not disclosed publicly. Charges were waived in 2010
Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

Pal Hansen: 'A tricky shoot and a case of thinking on one's feet. After a five-hour drive to River Cottage to photograph Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for the cover of Observer Food Monthly, I found there was nowhere set aside to shoot him. I hastily created a studio using the burnt down barn outside. Because of the wind I had to nail the backdrop to a plank of wood and it looked like it would rain at any moment. His assistant gave me the pear. We shouldn't have used it really as Hugh only got three this year and he needed them for TV filming'
Photograph: Pal Hansen for the Observer

Katherine Rose: 'I was shooting the lovely new band Chvrches on a side street in east London and felt I wasn't quite getting the shot I wanted. Then a gust of wind injected some movement into the scene and brought the picture to life'
Photograph: Katherine Rose for the Observer

Protesters gather on the Embankment in London before marching against the coaliton government's austerity measures.
Gary Calton: 'It's difficult not to get drawn into the typical news image. I'm constantly looking for alternative ways of representing an event. Instagram provided me with the opportunity to create something and share it instantly. Here I'm trying to convey the early preparedness and energy of the event'
Photograph: Gary Calton for the Observer

Karen Robinson: 'Whilst we were looking for somewhere to do a portrait of Mercury Prize nominee Sam Lee in deepest Bramshott, Hampshire, Sam spotted this old tree with its roots exposed at the side of a small, ancient country lane. We thought it looked beautiful and Sam really wanted to be photographed there, he took his shoes off so he could climb higher'
Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

Sir David Attenborough photographed at home in Richmond.
Suki Dhanda: 'Over the last 10 years this was the fourth time I had shot Attenborough, on this occasion he was the most relaxed and accommodating. He's not a man who likes small talk, unless you have an in-depth knowledge of nature, which sadly I don't. His daughter was wondering why we needed to shoot him again as there are already so many images of him … I said that it was important for us to be here and capture something new, which we did
Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer