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 headshot. Stephen 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.
