North East Documentary Photographer: Diamond Jubilee Book Commissions in Durham and Newcastle

Photos featured in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album 2012 St James’s House, publisher of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album 2012 and official publishing partner to the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation, approached me last year with an exciting commission that I was very pleased to accept.  

This glossy, limited edition book went out to a national and international audience and is designed to mark the Queen’s 60 years as monarch. It details some of the highlights of her reign and celebrates the best of British life, from education and industry to tourism and leisure – in fact every aspect of British society today. St James’s House was looking for a CRB-checked commercial, schools and education photographer in the North East and found me through my website at www.davecharnleyphotography.com. 

My task was to visit Excelsior Academy in Denton to the West of Newcastle, to get some lively images of its pupils, who besides studying the traditional curriculum are encouraged to get involved with stimulating outside interests, including putting on art, drama and fashion shows that regularly appear in the North East press. I spent several hours touring the Academy’s classrooms and its impressive facilities, taking unobtrusive, fly-on-the-wall photographic shots of pupils aged from four to 18 getting to grips with the climbing wall and engrossed in their work in the science and music labs and the art classrooms, all of which provided a colourful glimpse into school life. 

Having sent the images to St James’s House they replied by return asking me to do two sessions at other North East schools.  The first one was on the outskirts of Durham, at the Durham Trinity School and Sports College. This caters for pupils between the ages of two to 19 with a range of special educational needs including moderate learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties, communication disorders including specialist autistic provision and profound and multiple learning difficulties. 

This 180-pupil school is an amazing place, full of fun and laughter and I was made to feel very welcome as I quietly worked my way around the campus with my camera, taking pictures of pupils combining learning with simply enjoying themselves. Students take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities designed to build their self-esteem and confidence, and prepare them for life. The children were happy to join in and soon forgot all about the camera so I could get some natural, uncontrived shots in the craft rooms - where there was some beautifully detailed work on display - in the sensory room and outside in the playground.  I was even able to photograph some of the baking sessions in the kitchens, where there was lots of messy fun being had!  

My third job took me to Elmore School near Pittington, County Durham.  This is a mid 18th century country house, providing a mix of residential and day school for 72 secondary age children with special educational needs. Standing in 40 acres of land its unique approach to promoting healthy living includes horticulture, bee-keeping, mountain-biking and bushcraft, and provided me with some great photo opportunities showing pupils at work.

I think it’s the first time I’ve been quite so close to a swarm of bees with no special suit on – a photographer’s life can be a dangerous one!  Inside the school I continued my photographic reportage style approach at a lively band session with some talented young musicians, none of them shy and all of them quickly ready to ignore the man with the camera and get on with making good music.  

I love doing this sort of school and college prospectus photography around the north east. It gives me chance to use my skills as a commercial and portrait photographer to put together a set of creative, natural photographs showing happy students in a safe and supportive learning environment, which give readers a snapshot of everything that school or campus life has to offer.  

I met some lovely staff and pupils at these fantastic North East schools, and I’m proud that their pictures – and mine - will be seen by the international readers of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album 2012.





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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

Fashion Rules Model Shoot in Middlesbrough

Every year, Middlesbrough Fashion Week celebrates the town’s independent retailers, designers and high street brands with a series of events. Marketing agency WeDo commissioned me to take a series of unique fashion images to promote its ‘Fashion Rules’ free show and shop event at the MIMA art gallery in Midddlesbrough on June 7.

The brief was to get a series of high impact pictures to get people along to this British-inspired event, which includes a collection of mini fashion shows and pop-up shops, featuring the best in clothing, jewellery, designer goods, accessories, food and homewares. As a commercial, wedding and portrait photographer based in the north east, I work with everyone from professional models to people who need a photographer with a relaxed, informal style to put them at their ease in front of the camera. When it comes to fashion photography, the choice of model can really determine the feel of the pictures, so I was delighted to find out I was working with new model Katherine Lees of Tyne Tees Models. Katherine who lives in North Yorkshire is a new model on the books but knows exactly what to do at the super-fast agency, hair and make up changes, and she is great fun to work with.

Fifty minutes was all it took for Katherine’s hair and make up stylists, Rachel Hoskins and Lisa Devanny, to help her emerge looking glamorous in a blonde hairpiece and a designer outfit in vibrant, bold colours matched with a black and white striped waistband. Alex Hall from WeDo kindly acted as my assistant for the day, and we set up the first shots against the simple, clean lines of the MIMA art gallery. Working with the natural light and my reflectors, the rough textured walls of the gallery really showed off the sharp lines of the clothes to best effect and got the session off to a good start.  

A change of outfit, hairstyle and location saw us at a well known local landmark, a row of traditional red phone boxes outside the Empire Theatre.  These iconic British symbols formed the perfect backdrop to Katherine’s buttercup yellow patterned dress and red and white shoes. As a photographer, I’m busy constantly assessing the lighting, the colours, the background and the model’s facial expression, so it was great to have Alex and the stylists on hand to make sure the clothes were hanging correctly and Katherine didn’t have a hair out of place.

The tunnel leading from Middlesbrough city centre to the Riverside Football Stadium offered us some fantastic colours to work with. For this location I used a portable flash system to pick up the contrast between the vibrancy of the tunnel’s wall art, and Katherine’s beautiful 50s-themed cream textured dress. Katherine then changed into yet another set of clothes, this time a raspberry pink pencil skirt and peplum top, while Rachel gave her a sophisticated ‘updo’ hairstyle. A balcony at the Ciac apartment building at Middlehaven gave us a good view of the Transporter Bridge and a great background for our next shots. The steel globes we used as props emphasised Middlesbrough’s ‘Steel River’ heritage and were the perfect foil for reflecting the blue of the sky.

A few days before the fashion shoot (last 2 shots) I photographed two local business in central Middlesbrough who have pledged their support for Fashion Rules; Psyche boss Steve Cochrane, and award-winning designer Kate Fearnley, who provided many of the clothes for our shoot.

Some editing back in my studio over the weekend to meet deadlines, and the day’s pictures were being used across WeDo’s online, print advertising and PR materials within a couple of days.  We hope they encourage people along to support their local retailers, and play a big part in Fashion Rules’ success. 

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

North East Headshot Photographer | Jo Hand Recruitment Middlesbrough, Teesside

My many years as a press photographer in Middlesbrough stood me in good stead with marketing and PR agencies, who know that only the best pictures will be chosen by the press, or influence the people reading marketing literature or browsing websites.

Teesside-based Jo Hand Recruitment is a respected name in the competitive world of recruitment.  Its marketing agency commissioned me to take a series of pictures to support the forward marketing plan, for use in brochures, newsletters, on the website and with press releases.

The brief was to capture corporate headshots of the people behind the business, showing the approachable, knowledgeable team that founder Jo Hand has built around her. As a professional press and pr photographer in Stockton on Tees I have a portable studio with high performance flashguns, reflectors and other tools of the trade.  This meant I could quickly turn the firm’s central Middlesbrough office into a studio.  The fresh and fabulous lime green walls - the company’s signature brand colour – created a perfect backdrop for pictures of the team.

Part of the brief was also to reinforce the company’s roots in the region.  Teesside, north Yorkshire and County Durham are the heartland of Jo Hand Recruitment’s customer base so the next job was to go out and vary the shots by working with a range of local landmarks. I chose two iconic backdrops that are right on the doorstep, to save Jo travelling time.  First stop was the 35ft high tempered steel Bottle of Notes sculpture in the centre of Middlesbrough, with its clean lines providing a perfect background.  We followed up with some lovely shots in front of the funky new CIAC RiversideOne apartments, in the Middlehaven district.

Jo and her team were relaxed in front of the camera and a delight to work with. Press and PR photography is essentially about people, and I like to retain the same relaxed, informal style that I use in my wedding and portrait photography

In the studio I edited around 40 key images, making adjustments and checking colours. Because I use top quality lenses I can capture natural brightness in a subject, bringing out the warmth of people’s faces, keeping the colours true and resulting in minimum re-touching. The two-hour PR photography shoot in Middlesbrough meant I was able to give the marketing agency a great range of images to use in its plans to help Jo Hand Recruitment reinforce its position as one of Teesside’s leading recruitment agencies. 

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

Middlesbrough Architectural, Interior & Commercial Photographer

Photographing homes, offices, shops or public buildings might not involve people, but it takes the same level of creativity as I use in my portrait, wedding and corporate photography bookings. Because most of my work comes via recommendation or from clients I’ve worked with before in the north east, they often trust me with a very simple brief such as ‘I need some shots of a building’.

I never know what to expect and it can be a challenge to arrive at a building to find it only part complete. It’s understandable because developers need to get a fast return on their investment and market their properties as soon as the paint is dry and it means I often have to work around builders and decorators and their equipment to get the shots I want.   

The trick with property, particularly industrial buildings and office exteriors, is to look for lines and shapes while steering away from the wackiness of steep angles and overly-slanted buildings, which are not appropriate for commercial property photography. I like to keep images clean and crisp, and use a mix of wide angle and also use short telephoto lenses, combined with post-production skills on Photoshop to keep the parallels lined up and the pictures pleasing to the eye.

The best light conditions are often in the early morning or late at night, when the tonal range of colours is most vibrant.  And those are perfect times for taking pictures without people too, which can date a photograph. Sometimes I’m helped by the exterior of a building being lit, so I can use shadows to create depth.

I was pleased to be asked by Middlesbrough Erimus Housing to photograph its innovative Bohouse development, which is part of the Boho Zone, the commercial quarter for Middlesbrough’s digital media, digital technology and creative sectors. Bohouse provides flexible living and working space, encouraging people to work from home and set up new creative and digital media businesses. My brief was to produce lively, contemporary pictures that would help to fill the last few apartments in central Middlesbrough. 
   

The bathroom and kitchen showroom job presented an interesting challenge. To create a luxury feel I wanted to use the purple light set into the spa bath, which meant some clever – and quick - work with three flashguns to get just the right look for the glossy magazine for which the pictures were destined.

Good quality architectural and interior photography encourages interest in a property for sale or rent, and the kitchen and living room interiors shots were taken to showcase a Fabrick Housing development on Teesside. Happily, because the homes had been ‘dressed’ by interior designers, I had a range of colourful accessories to use as props to create a fresh, aspirational feel to the photography.

Sometimes it’s a case of looking for that one great picture that sums up the building.  A long shot of a B&Q lighting centre reflected in a steel lightshade perfectly captured the enormous range of products available. At the other end of the scale a job to photograph a very practical sports centre interior forced me to look for an unusual angle, and I opted for a remote fish eye lens, set inside a locker, to bring a different perspective.

Redcar seafront’s £8.3m Hub is a new 35,000 sq ft business centre for the creative industries sector, and part of the town’s seafront improvement scheme that includes a 80ft high ‘vertical pier’. I was asked to photograph the architects’ model of how the finished development will look, and worked with natural lighting to reproduce the remarkable light conditions only found at the coast.

Whether it’s industrial, commercial or residential photography, my job is to let the pictures speak for the buildings, and encourage people to live, work and relax there.  

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography