Facebook Black and White Photography Challenge | Solway to Saltburn

As a north east professional photographer I like to keep my work fresh and I belong to many groups and forums to keep up to date and challenge myself. A York-based press photographer Mike Tipping recently challenged me to join in a Facebook five-day black and white challenge. The idea was to post a black and white photo every day for five days, and nominate other photographers to do the same.

I used a mix of photos I had on file and new ones. It was great fun to take part in and a good reminder of how powerful black and white photos can be. When you remove colour, you’re distilling images down to shape, form and contrast to tell the story and it was interesting to see such a wide variation of shots and what other photographers had done.

Day 1 – this was a photo I took in Portling, on the Solway coast during the worst snow in Scotland for 30 years.  I love the moody feel and the way the rock face is silhouetted against the sky, and how the black and white format really makes the dripping icicles stand out. 

Day 2 – I spotted a huge flock of Starlings feeding in a field between Marske and Recar, and when they flew off I jumped in my car and followed them until they landed at The Stray, a 2-mile long strip of grassland bordering the beach at Redcar. Shot against the light, you can see the amazing detail on the birds’ feathers, which I thought made up a visually very pleasing shot.

Day 3 – for my third day I chose a photo of a chap jumping in the air on Saltburn Pier. He is comedian Victoria Wood’s brother and a very colourful character who was in the town that day to promote the region, and was easy to work with. His straw bowler and pinstripes gave him a great ‘going yachting’ look, and the shot of him with his arms outstretched and mirroring the shape of the pier meant that several photos from this shoot appeared in the Middlesbrough Gazette. 

Day 4 – this was taken at the Stockton Light and Sound Festival in Thornaby, next to the University campus. I used a remote flash to photograph the performer using the firesticks, which also perfectly framed the couple snatching a kiss behind him. Black and white made for a very atmospheric feel to this night shoot.

Day 5 was one of my favourite shots, a picture taken in Preston Park showing Britains Got Talent motorbike and rider flying through the air. Shooting upwards gave me a plain white background and a perfect contrast between the rider and his disconnected bike. The two were reunited at ground level without any injuries, you will be pleased to hear.

I found the five-day black and white challenge very useful, and in turn I challenged my cousin Kevin Henderson in Scotland, Stu Bolton and Tom Banks from the Darlington-based Northern Echo, and Katie Lynn from the Middlesbrough Gazette. All of them produced some impressive shots, and contributed to a great challenge for professional photographers.

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Season of Goodwill | Independent Business Free Half Day Photography Competition

As the season of goodwill is nearly upon us, and by way of a thank you to all my great businesses who have booked me for commercial photography across the Teesside region from Stockton, Redcar, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Darlington areas this year, I’m running a competition to win a free half-day photography session for one lucky independent retailer, cafe, restaurant, etc whose name is pulled out of the hat on the 22nd December. 

As a North East photographer with nearly three decades of commercial, press and freelance photography experience behind me, I’m passionate about images and how they can affect the success of a business. If you look at any successful organisation it is likely to be one that has invested in professional imagery that really tells the story of its brand and its product.

There’s nothing wrong with using stock shots but if you are trying to create a powerful brand that people can identify with, you really do need great photos, taken by a professional photographer.  When you look at the cost of setting up and growing an enterprise, the cost of investing in a professional photographer for your business is a drop in the ocean, yet it could mean the difference between success and failure.

A product or a service can easily be portrayed through the right look and feel in your pictures. It’s about being honest and using ‘real’ imagery, but presenting your business in a way that your target audience will be attracted to. I often use the example of a café that serves a terrific full English breakfast. There would be no point in photos that presented breakfast as a healthy option, but equally it would be silly to make it look like a greasy spoon café. As with most things in life, honesty is the best policy.

So, off my soapbox now and back to this fantastic competition. If your business is the lucky winner, just one half-day photography session could provide you with enough images for a website and a brochure, plus enough images to use on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms too.

I really wish I could open this up to all the small businesses across the region, but the winner must be an independent retail outlet, not a big chain, operating in any area of business but with premises, rather than being a home-based business.

I’m doing this partly as a thank you for all the work I’ve had this year, and partly to show my support for local businesses.  I’m a big believer in shopping local wherever possible. If we all do a bit where we can, then the cumulative effect will be massive.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning, drop me an email at info@davecharnleyphotography.com with details...

• Details of your own name. 
• Your business name.
• Your business address and postcode.
• Contact telephone and email.
• Type of business you operate.

• Retail business premises must be in the Stockton, Darlington, Redcar, Hartlepool or the Middlesbrough areas.
• Winner will be notified before the 9th January and valid till the 27th March, 2015
• Please do not enter via Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc 

And the winner was....

Winner - Vintages Rags in Middlesbrough

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.

Test Camera Shoot | Fuji X100 in Cannes, South of France

As a busy North Yorkshire freelance photographer regularly doing a 50-70 hour week I find it hard to squeeze in some time off, so a recent trip to the South of France with my family was a real treat.

Most of the time we stayed at St Maxime, not far from St Tropez, but for the last few days we splashed out on a stay at a four-star hotel in Cannes. On the Sunday morning the fun of sharing a family room, I woken very on Sunday morning before dawn had broken (crazy I know) and picking up my new Fuji X100 camera, I set out for a stroll along the beach. 

I was amazed how many people were up and about at that time, including groups of revellers coming home from a night out. I came across runners, fishermen, beachcombers, people sleeping rough – it was a glimpse into the side of life that most tourists would not see and I was pleased to have the chance to take some great pictures as I played around with my new camera.

Being a professional NorthYorkshire photographer working all over the north east regions means I can often be out all day so I’m used to carrying quite a large camera bag with a couple of camera bodies, lenses and other equipment in it, but having a small, lightweight camera allowed me to blend in with everyone else and take some casual shots.

I’m used to working to a photography brief for my commercial clients, so it was really enjoyable to have no pressure to deliver, and just be able to take random pictures. As the sun came up and the light bounced off the sea, subjects from beach-cleaning machines to a group of ants enjoying an apple core all found themselves on my shots list.

I wish I’d paid more attention in French class at school, but through a mix of my broken French plus some gesticulating I was able to talk to people and ask if I could take their photo. I got some interesting close up shots of one hardy middle-aged swimmer who goes down to the beach every morning for a dip in all weathers.

As it started to get hot I could see the attraction in getting your daily exercise done 
early. It could be that we were in Cannes, the home of the beautiful people, but it seemed to me that in general the French take good care of themselves and I was impressed by the number of pensioner-age people I came across walking, running and swimming. My new Fuji X100 camera was a joy to work with and even had a little go on video mode. 

Arriving back at the hotel I realised I’d been out nearly four hours and walked about three miles. My new camera had coped with conditions from near-darkness to bright sunshine and I can maybe see it being a useful addition to my commercial photography equipment range.

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.