REFOCUS in Stockton on Tees, Cleveland | Freelance and Editorial Photography Coverage

As a North East freelance editorial photographer I am blessed with beautiful locations and landmarks, so it was a pleasure to be asked to photograph a stunning artwork created to celebrate Stockton and the surrounding area.

Arripare is a large scale photographic work styled around a mythical island, which shows an alternative version of some of our region’s best loved landmarks. Unveiled late last year, Arripare was the centrepiece for the launch of REFOCUS, the new biennial Castlegate mima Photography Prize.

Keen eyed visitors will spot many of Teesside’s best known sights in the 38-metre wide piece, which sits on the outside of Stockton’s Castlegate Shopping Centre. Renowned international artist Gayle Chong Kwan created Arripare by focussing on Stockton on Tees photographic landmarks and scenes taken from around the region, including Stockton, Thornaby, Norton, Yarm, Seal Sands, Billingham and Ingleby Barwick. 

She then used a combination of documentary photography, collage and sculptural construction around Stockton to create this amazing piece of work that is constructed to encourage the viewer to see the island as either sitting in the clouds or out to sea. I made several visits to Arripare, to make sure I covered all the angles and in a range of light conditions. Close up, it is full of vivid colours, with extra tiny details becoming apparent at every 

viewing.

It’s an amazing piece of work from any angle, and I photographed it from the Millennium Bridge,Riverside Road and the River Tees. Using my monopod allowed me to shoot it from low and high angles, some of which would have been inaccessible without the monopod.

The resulting set of photos are being used on large format display boards, in marketing literature and press articles and on a range of online sites.

I also covered the official launch in October, which was held at Joe Rigatonis behind Castlegate Shopping Centre, and saw a number of speakers praise Arripare and welcome the effect it will have on tourism.

The launch was a packed event, drawing Journalists, video journalists and photographers from the Middlesbrough Gazette, the Darlington Northern Echo, TFM radio and other media, all as keen as me to get the best shots. I was pleased to be the only North East editorial photographer allowed to go out on a river boat on the River Tees with Gayle and a video news cameraman, and we got some unique shots.

If you get the chance do go along and view the piece and see how many local sights you recognise - it is well worth the trip and really cements Stockton’s position as a thriving arts scene.