23 Apr 2012

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. 




______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography



3 Feb 2012

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. 




______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography



12 Jan 2012

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.  




______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography



28 Nov 2011

Corporate PR Photography for Fabrick Housing Group in Middlesbrough







Everyone needs a good quality place to live, and Fabrick Housing Group based in Middlesbrough prides itself on building communities through rental, shared equity and shared ownership.  The company manages 15,000 homes, from North Tyneside to York. Fabrick Housing Group includes Erimus Housing and Tees Valley Housing and I’ve worked with them for several years over the north east, so I understand the company’s ethos the community feel it wants from its imagery.

When one of the marketing team, a contact from my days as a press photographer at the Middlesbrough Gazette, rang me to talk about a multiple location commercial photo shoot across Teesside and County Durham, I knew it would be a busy day.

The core of the company’s business is people, so it’s logical that they figure largely in its marketing materials.  The photo brief was to produce a set of clean, bright shots to reflect the heart of the business and the diversity of the communities it works in.  These were to be added to its photo library and used on the website, for news releases, in newsletters, the annual report and other materials.

To give Fabrick’s graphic designers a free hand with future layouts I planned a series of landscape and portrait formats, giving these additions to Fabrick’s image library maximum flexibility.

Because I’m familiar with Fabrick I had some ideas for the type of shots that would work well.  One of the marketing team came out on location with me, which was really useful.  As we moved round the sites I was constantly referring to the photo brief and scanning the opportunities for a great photo, while they were highlighting what was important and relevant to the business so we worked well together.  As the day progressed I was also able to show them what photographers call back of camera shots so they can see the photo stock we were building up.

It was a full day that saw us travel between Redcar, Stockton on Tees, Middlesbrough and Darlington photographing people and properties, with shots ranging from happy tenants and busy workmen, to a young apprentice on a building site, and senior executives back at headquarters. I’m a big fan of working quickly, with the minimum of fuss, and my style is natural, informal photography.  

Speed is a necessity because whatever their role, anyone with a busy job does not want to stop to have their photograph taken! If you are too slow, the subject gets uncomfortable and the picture loses its energy and looks forced. If your subject is a man with a toolbox, you would be very unpopular with the foreman too, who could get twitchy about the time spent holding the job up.

Everyone was very helpful, the weather was kind to us all day and we were able to get all the shots the brief demanded. It was an action-packed day, but once I had processed the images back at my studio, we had a great set of commercial photos that Fabrick can use to show how it is helping to build neighbourhoods and benefit the people at the heart of its communities. 





______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography



21 Nov 2011

Unique Christmas Gift: One to One Photography Training


Would you like to capture great photographs? Our 'One to One Photography Training Day's are perfect way to learn at any level and age.  Many of you have loved the 'One to One' training with Middlesbrough Award Winning Photographer Dave Charnley and this Personal Photography Experience could possibly be a Christmas present or unique gift for a loved one (ask about gift vouchers)

Dave would be happy to base the training at a location of your choice and covering a subject of your choice (e.g. kids, sport, off camera flash, landscape, natural light, Photoshop on the computer - anything!) Your 'one to one' bespoked course gives you a fantastic opportunity to sample life through the eyes of a professional photographer with over 20-years experience.

Teesside based commercial, wedding and portrait photographer Dave Charnley offers valuable advice and tuition on technical side of photography too. We can cover topics such as use of lenses, Photoshop skills, shutter speeds, working in natural light, technical skills, working with a flash and how to create an eye catching composition.

One to One Packages:

Refresher  Session            £ 75
Morning / Afternoon           £165
Evening Session               £175
Full Day Session               £295

Please contact us for more detailed information about each package or check available dates.





______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography





6 Oct 2011

Press Release Photographer | Same-Day Corporate Photography For Hartlepool Stadium Group











As a former Middlesbrough Evening Gazette press photographer I’ve photographed everyone from royalty, senior business figures and media stars through to community champions, children and winners of giant leek competitions. Working with such a range of subjects means your job on the day is not only to capture the perfect image, you have to do it in double quick time too!

A recent booking to photograph Stephen Phipson, the new Chief Executive of the £44m electronics manufacturer Stadium Group in Hartlepool came via the company’s marketing manager, who had seen my work on www.davecharnleyphotography.com

Stacey wanted a same day service, and like most in-house communications teams and PR agencies she had a detailed photo brief ready for me.  This is a useful tool that guides me as to what sort of shots the client wants to achieve, and what they are to be used for, whether that’s to go with news stories for regional and national newspapers and magazines, in-house documents, websites or other communications channels. In Stacey’s case, she wanted a variety of press photos that she could use to illustrate press releases, news stories and interviews with the new CEO.  Some of them were to be in a photography style that fitted with Stadium Group’s existing image library, and she wanted a range of internal and external backgrounds, some branding in shot and a choice of portrait and landscape layouts.

Busy CEOs don’t have time to waste and want the photographer in and out in a flash (no pun intended!), so I arrived early and had a quick look around Stadium Group’s site to assess the possibilities. In the one-hour shoot I worked quickly to capture a range of formal and informal shots of Stephen, using a combination of natural light, reflectors and a remote flash. To get some branding in some of the images I took one picture through a window etched with the company logo, plus a series of shots with Stephen in front of the company’s glass-fronted reception area. 

Working with the light streaming through glass or bouncing off it was technically complex but resulted in some nice variations on the standard corporate headshotStephen is comfortable in front of a camera so I was able to add a touch of informality to some of the shots, moving round the room and using different camera angles while he talked to colleagues around a boardroom table.

Stadium Group is a big employer on Teesside so the media is always interested in developments at the company.  The shots have been added to Stadium’s stock library of photos and have already been widely used in the regional and national press and TV coverage of Stephen’s new appointment.




______________________________________________


Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography