North Yorkshire Commercial Photography | How to book a freelance photographer

My years of experience as a commercial and press photographer in North East England and Yorkshire comes in useful when I’m working with clients who are not familiar with booking and briefing a photographer. I often get asked the same questions so I’ve put together a few points that should help you draw up a briefing sheet for a successful photo shoot.

Date, time and location should be the starting point, plus contact details on the day in case of any problems. If it’s an event, detail the names and titles of any VIPs, and the running order so the photographer knows where he needs to be at what point.

Remember to think about whether he needs a security pass, or protective clothing. I’m used to taking commercial photographs at many of North East and Yorkshire’s chemical and pharmaceutical plants, factories and production environments so I always take my own protective gear with me, just to be on the safe side.

Uses: think about where you want to use the images. Your primary purpose might be to get some press photography for newspapers, magazines and in newsletters, but you may also need them for large format print such as banners, in bus shelters or on the side of vehicles, and on your website where landscape format and the ability to place text over the image will make life easier for your designer. All of these uses might need a different approach but an experienced commercial and PR photographer will guide you on that.

Style: your photos might need to fit with your existing corporate style. Give your photographer as much guidance as you can on what style you are looking for, for instance is the feel you want to achieve fun and funky, or serious and corporate - Coca Cola style or IBM?  I’m not suggesting you ask your photographer to copy anyone’s work, but giving them a flavour and feel of what excites you is useful. If you find that hard to put into words why not create a mood board on Pinterest. I’ve turned up on jobs in the past to find the client still establishing what style they want, and that can be a waste of everyone’s time and the client’s money.

Liability: check your professional photographer has the right public liability and professional indemnity in place. See my earlier news story (link), about the importance of having the right cover. Consent forms are something else to consider. It depends on the type of shoot but it is always wise to make sure you have people’s consent, for instance particularly on shoots involving locations such as care homes, schools, etc. 

Delivery:  I usually deliver the photos between one and three days after the shoot, unless the client has specified an urgent press or print deadline, which I’m happy to meet. A shoot with up to 200 shots can take quite a while to process properly and I like to take the utmost care at this stage. Tell your photographer what format you want your pictures in. Large format print work might call for large TIF files, but for most uses a high-resolution image of around 4MB will be fine. I use three platforms to send the results to clients - Dropbox, Hightail and We Transfer . Or I can deliver via email or drop the images onto a memory stick or disc if that’s what the client prefers

Invoicing: Make sure your brief details who should be invoiced (include post and email contact details), and whether your photographer needs an order number.

A little planning at the outset will help your photographer get the best possible results from the photoshoot. And when my clients are happy, so am I.

North East and Yorkshire Sport Photographer | Redcar Triathlon Event

This is the second year in a row that I’ve been asked to photograph the Redcar Sprint Triathlon in NorthYorkshire. I’m an experienced sports and events photographer used to working at venues like Gateshead Stadium,Middlesbrough football ground and the official BHF commercial photographer in Newcastle’s Great North Run, so I’m very familiar with being in several places at once, in order to capture all the action.

Organised by Trihard Events in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Council, the Redcar Sprint Triathlon is a swimming, cycling and running race, with entrants taking on a 750m swim followed by a 20km cycle race and 5k run.

This gruelling event takes place on Redcar Esplanade and sees entrants dive into the sea next to the Dundas slipway, then run back to the transition point, collect their bikes and cycle along The Seafront between Zetland roundabout and Majuba Road, doing six laps. They then ditch the bikes and run a 5k lap along the seafront heading for Marske, turning just after Green Lane and then racing back to the finish line.

Fortunately the triathlon transition area and the seafront made a great area for a panoramic view of the action, and in some spots I was able to take pictures of runners and cyclists from one vantage point, as they passed each other.  

The Middlesbrough Gazette estimated that 200 people gathered for the event, and I guessed that around 170 were actually taking part. They were of all capabilities and ages from about 20 to late 50s too, not just elite athletes. It was great to see people challenge themselves, setting their own personal best and pushing themselves as hard as they could.

With the Redcar Beacon and the Palace Hub forming a colourful backdrop to some of the shots, the sun shone and the blue sky was contrast to the black wetsuits and lime green swimming caps distributed by the organisers. One of the joys of sports and event photography over the North East is all the contrasting colours people wear, whatever type of sport they are doing, that adds to the impact of the pictures.

Because I knew people would be spread out over the course and particularly for the shots of the swimmers, I had taken my latest piece of kit the 1.4x convertor along fixed to the Canon 70 -200mm F2.8 IS, which proved very useful. In total I had two camera bodies and a set of lenses in my lightweight bag, to give me a great choice at the edit stage. 

The whole event is done at speed and is over and done with in just over an hour so I had to work quickly to get all the pictures I wanted. The local press hailed the event a great success, and I was pleased to have captured the spirit of the occasion, and the efforts of the contestants.