North East Sport Photographer | FlowRider Pro Am finals in Redcar

Clearing the snow off my car to drive through the snow and cover a national surfing competition recently felt slightly odd, but as a North East freelance photographer every day brings variety, from corporate portraiture in a boardroom to exciting outdoor events.

 The occasion this time was the FlowRider Pro/Am finals at the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart, which saw competitors from across the country descend on the town. Heart offers a variety of ways to stay active, with a state of the art gym, a multi-use sports hall, group exercise classes, Flowrider, swimming pool and water confidence pool.

The two-day event saw flowboard and bodyboard riders put their colourful boards through their tricks, with 12 young riders competing on Saturday, and eight amateur adults plus seven professionals battling for top spot on the Sunday.

If you’ve never seen wave riding, you’re missing a treat. It’s a tough physical challenge involving breathtaking moves that take hours of practice to perfect. Surfers come down the waves pretty quickly so as a sport photographer my challenge was to keep up with the action as it happened. There is nothing worse than being slightly behind a shot and missing what would have been a perfect photographic moment.

I was so busy concentrating and looking for the shot that I forgot to look out for the water, and managed to get completely soaked at one point when a wave came over, to the amusement of the spectators. Fortunately the camera I was using is waterproof, so I carried on taking shots like a trooper, albeit a bit soggily.

I love photographing water and experimenting with slow and fast shutter speeds for different effects. A slower speed gives effect such as a trail of water, while a fast speed picks up the people action in sharp definition. It’s not possible yet, but I’m sure one day technology will move on so photographers can capture both effects in a single shot.

As well as shot of the action I mixed in some of the spectators and the facilities, including some of people taking their own photos on iPads and phones, to add variety.

Half a dozen students from Teesside University were also busy filming the event, using GoPro hand held cameras. Some of the surfers also took real action shots using selfie sticks – surfing and filming took some real skill and was amazing to see. 

I was pleased to see my photos used for PR and publicity purposes, and widely distributed across the North East media and across social media channels.

A summer-themed event held in winter, this competition was a great chance to get more people interested in the sport and and there is talk of it becoming a twice-yearly event, which would be a great chance to put Redcar Heart on the map.

North East Editorial and Documentary Photographer | CRB Official Opening Event in Billingham

I was asked to take event photographs at the opening of a new biochemical facility in Billingham in Cleveland recently, when Cambridge Research Biochemicals held the official openings of its £1m Gardner Ratcliffe building.

CRB specialises in custompeptide and custom antibody production for research and industry, and I was commissioned by Better Brand marketing agency to photograph the CRB event in Billingham,Teesside. The new logos, signage helped create a photo bank of images that worked well in brochures and for other printed marketing materials. 

A group of highly respected scientists from around the UK gathered to see a ribbon cut and a plaque unveiled, as well as listen to speeches by CRB’s senior team, plus a talk by Professor Gillian Griffiths, the Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. VIP guests included Dr Joseph Gardner of Pfizer and Dr Steven Ratcliffe of GSK, after whom the building was named.

Guests were invited to take a tour of the peptide and immunology laboratories and view demonstrations by CRB’s team of biologists and chemists, and I worked rapidly to keep up with the two groups of visitors and get some action shots in the labs as people moved round the building.

A sea of people in white coats against mainly white laboratory backgrounds presented crisp clean images, some walls were branded with plum and dark blue which helped produce a set of varied shots.

Space was tight, particularly in the corridors where I was keen to photograph CRB’s company timeline art on the walls, but having taken a selection of lenses I was able to get some clear photos that showed off the imagery.

Being a north east corporate photographer and not a scientist meant that some of the technical presentations went over my head, but I actually learned a lot about the business and the biochemicals industry, and people were happy to chat with me as I worked around the building.

On a 4-5 hour shoot like this one it is important not to get in people’s faces, I like to let them get on with the job in hand and feel at ease rather than worrying where the chap with the camera is. Someone actually commented on how quiet my camera was.

Once the official business was concluded and I had taken some group photos of staff members outside the building, I followed in my car as the guests travelled by coach to have afternoon tea at nearby Crathorne Hall in North Yorkshire.

Using one of the different lenses I had with me I was able to get some relaxed photos of the guests enjoying tea, and finished off with an overhead shot of everyone gathered in the courtyard.

I had also been asked if I could take some video footage of the event, but with such a tight brief and at least two separate tours of the facility going on, I opted to recommend a specialist video photographer based in Stockton instead, who I knew he would do a great job.

It was a long day but I was happy that I had met the client’s brief, and I was pleased to see my photos used by the Newcastle-based Journal newspaper, Middlesbrough Gazette and pictures in the Darlington’s Northern Echo over the following few days.

Stockton Freelance Photographer | Fire Engine and Vintage Vehicle Show in Eaglescliffe

In my 30 years as a professional press and commercial photographer working across the North East, Scotland and Teesside I’m used to taking photos under tricky circumstances, so I wasn’t fazed by this job which seen me 106 feet up in the air on an arial platform so I could get a bird’s eye view of the Fire Engine and Vintage Vehicle Show held at Preston Park Museum and Grounds in Eaglescliffe.

Thousands of people turned up to this annual event organised by Stockton Borough Council, where visitors could see fire fighting vehicles from bygone days to modern streamlined appliances, plus bikes, commercial and passenger vehicles, agricultural and military exhibits from the 1930s to the present day.

For family fun and great pictures, the main arena’s programme of events and activities couldn’t be beaten, particularly when monster trucks “Big Pete” and “Grim Reaper” rumbled into the ring to crush a line-up of old vehicles, and I got some high-impact shots from high in the sky.

From up there I could also use my fish eye lens to photograph the long line up of historic and modern day fire appliances, which from high in the sky stretched into the distance like a red ribbon.

Coming back down to earth for the display given by the bike riders from the Bolddog Lings motorcycle stunt team, as seen on Britain’s Got Talent, was a good move – their thrills and spills had spectators on their feet in amazement and I was able to get some great close up pictures of the action. 

Lots of the exhibits were like stepping back in time and you could see the work that had gone into maintaining them. One particular charming couple dressed to kill in their lovingly restored vintage car seemed very pleased to have their photos taken with their beloved vehicle.

With the large amount of shiny chrome and polished paintwork about, I was able to use reflections to bounce off photos of people admiring the hundreds of vintage motorbikes and cars and taking the obligatory selfies against them. 

It was a fun-filled day and although we didn’t get any brilliant sunshine, I was actually very happy with the soft light that the cloudy conditions presented. Too much sharp sunlight can often be a nuisance – check out the number of photos on your phone or camera where people are squinting against the sunlight – so a more milky light can often produce a better effect.  

It was hot all the same though, and I was mighty glad to get out of the harness and get my feet back on the ground!

Preston Park’s £7m restoration was looking beautiful, and I was pleased to have been able to document such a great day out for all the family. 

Football PR Photographer | Ex Middlesbrough Manager Steve McLaren Opens New Centre

One of my latest North East sports photography jobs was to cover the opening of the Cleveland Juniors Football Club’s new £418,000 clubhouse at Mill Hill playing fields in Acklam.

Opened by former Middlesbrough boss and ex-England manager Steve McLaren, who lives on Teesside, the new building was a big hit with everyone. Players had formerly been using an old shipping container as their changing facilities so this amazing building with a series of changing rooms, showers and office facilities was quite a contrast. 

The commission came about after a well-established commercial photographer in London found my website at www.davecharnleyphotography.com liked my work and after some discussions about the brief, then booked me for a commercial photography shoot at Acklam in Middlesbrough. My job was to take a series of photos of the building and grounds, plus some of the young players in action on the pitches, the family sports and activities on offer, and of course to cover the official ceremony.

A pretty big crowd had gathered for the event and out on the playing fields the young players were pleased to have the chance to show off their best moves in front of the camera, with their smart red and white strips adding to the energy of the shots. The same bright colour theme continued inside the building too, with lime green flooring throughout the building standing out against the cream and red walls.

On the pitch I had to work quickly to capture the action in the cage football area, where four players played a fast and furious game. It was good to see so many girls playing – the club has nine girls’ teams and two soccability teams and they play well, quite rightly expecting the same opportunities  as the boys.  

Also covered by the Darlington-based Northern Echo and the Middlesbrough Gazette, the ceremony saw Chairman Michelle Rush and other VIPS say a few words as I moved around unobtrusively with my camera taking pictures of the speakers and the crowd, before Steve McLaren cut the ribbon and declared the centre open.

I was delighted to be trusted to record this event in pictures for a club that really is embedded in the community and has a history of encouraging young talent, with a long list of young players who have gone on to play professionally.

After I had dropped off Julie from RWE at the Middlesbrough railway station (all part of the service) I reflected on Michelle Rush’s words when she said: “This is a community club with a strong ethos of offering free football and quality coaching to local people. There are no fences or boundaries - the club is for the whole community.”

It is so important to encourage young people into sport, and the enthusiasm and commitment I saw around me as I worked convince me that Cleveland Juniors FC’s new clubhouse will quickly become a firm favourite with young people from all over the borough.

Press and PR photography coverage of Diversity Ashley Banjo in Stockton on Tees.

Thousands of people turned out in July to help Britain’s Got Talent winner Ashley Banjo and Diversity dance group get Stockton dancing.

Part of the Sky 1 series Ashley Banjo: the Town That Danced Again, the day drew huge crowds on to Stockton High Street next to the Town Hall, where specially constructed stage platforms had been set up for the professional dancers.

Ashley Banjo is an English street dancer, choreographer and actor, and the programme was all about celebrating Stockton’s dance heritage and reinvigorate the whole town by bringing together everyone from shop assistants and librarians, to care workers and teachers to get them dancing in the streets.

The day was building up to be the hottest of the summer when I arrived an hour before the start of the event. I know the open air space well so I had already visualised where the best photography vantage points would be. This was a big event for the region and as well as the Sky 1 team there were a few other professional photographers from Sunderland to Harrogate there and of course nearly everyone in the audience had their camera phones out.

I knew I would be carrying my kit all day so took my monopod and a handful of lenses including a mega wide angle. The crowd was packed so the monopod and camera set on 2 sec timer were particularly useful in getting shots above the heads and with some good views of the various stages. 

As this live event was also being filmed, several of the dance routines were done in segments and repeated until the director was satisfied. It was interesting to see the clock in Stockton’s Town centre being stopped and rewound for continuity several times!

I was kept busy darting about documenting not just the dancing but the street party atmosphere of the day too. Everyone was in party mood, including my daughter and her friends who had gone along. Moving through the crowd I swapped out my lenses to do some fly on the wall photos and get some close ups of the dancers as they encouraged the crowd to join in, choreographed by Ashley Banjo himself. Some of the youngest ones were particularly good, and showed no sign of nerves at all the cameras going off as they performed.

At one point the kind people manning the Vodafone stand let me take some shots from their stand overlooking the sea of people, which was a fantastic vantage point to see everything that was going on.

 It was a brilliant day that generating some amazing pictures, and Ashley’s tweet from @AshleyBanjo summed up its success in a nutshell:  ‘What a day...What a night....Amazing times with amazing people. Stockton we love you and we will miss you #TTTD #20DV’.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography