North East Architectural Photography: Hospice in Sunderland, Newcastle Police Station to the Redcar Beacon.

My job as a North East commercial and PR photographer takes me all over the region, and every day brings new challenges, whether it’s photographing celebrities and community champions, or buildings and businessmen.

A lot of my time this month has been spent photographing Teesside landmark buildings and construction projects, and one of the first jobs was a commission from the construction company that built the £1.6m Beacon at Redcar, a structure that has sparked a love-hate relationship with locals. I like the building, it adds a splash of colour and forms a focal point for the town. Dubbed the ‘vertical pier’, the Beacon is part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of Redcar seafront, which is now unrecognisable from a few years ago.

At 80ft tall, the cafe area and open roof terrace at the top of its seven floors offers fantastic view over the coastline and surrounding area and a clear day presented me with some amazing photo opportunities. As well as the exterior, which is wrapped in coloured steel and mesh strips, I spent some time photographing the business space and meeting and conference areas that all reflect the Beacon’s clean, modern principles.

One of the biggest challenges of architectural photography is to keep the vertical lines as true as possible. Wide angle lenses give great results but can twist a perfectly straight vertical into convex or concave lines. I use a combination of special lenses and image manipulation software to correct this, which means lots of work back at my Stockton studio.

Another architectural job saw me photographing the opening of the new garden at St Benedict’s Hospice in Ryhope, Sunderland. This is the city’s first purpose-built hospice, and the construction firm has used lots of wood and textured materials, adding a roof garden and lake area which all combine to create a calm and welcoming environment for staff and patients. 

I was pleased to be asked to photograph the ‘old meets new’ architecture of Newcastle’s newest police station at Forth Banks, which is part of the regeneration of the Stephenson Quarter. A sensitive new structure links Kings House with an historic railway warehouse, creating a state of the art 24/7 police station, and is a fine example of how to integrate old and new buildings successfully.

I’m lucky that my job allows me to be out and about with my camera photographing North East architecture; whether it’s an iconic structure or an undiscovered gem, each has its own story.

A commission to photograph the demolition of the Spotted Cow pub in Stockton, the first stage of the re-building of the Victoria Estate behind Stockton High Street and the splash pool, threw up an interesting tale.

As I worked I got chatting to the man operating the wrecker, who told me his dad had planted the surrounding trees when the estate was built 50 years ago, so we were both pleased to find they would be staying in place when 210 homes are built and the old site is transformed. 

Successful architectural photography often depends on sun and weather conditions, and I’m a big fan of an app that tells me where the sun will be at any given time, so I can plan the shoot knowing that I’ll be photographing the building at the best time for the right light conditions. 

Sometimes the weather is against me though, and if the deadline allows I might decide to revisit the site - I want every single picture I take to be original and pleasing to the client, and I won’t rest until all the right circumstances are lined up to create the best possible image, whether it’s for use in print, outdoor or online media.

Interior and Advertising Photographer | Sliderobes in North Yorkshire and County Durham.

The life of a North East commercial and advertising photographer is as varied as the days are long, and a recent commission to take some interiors shots for SLIDEROBES® GROUP LTD was a welcome change from editorial and commercial photography in Teesside and North Yorkshire, it often sees me out in the cold for hours on end, in search of the perfect shot for my clients.

The photography locations were near Yarm in North Yorkshire and the other was in County Durham, and I had two houses to visit, and four rooms to photograph. The company I was working for is a well known name, designing and producing stylish made to measure furniture in a wide range of colours and choices.  

The photographs were to be used for a variety of marketing tools, including brochures and online on the company’s website, so my brief was to give the designers a good range of photographs to work within, including different formats to give them maximum flexibility with design layout.

Interiors photography can be challenging, and as the photographer I have to use my experience to help the client tell their story, working with angles and lighting and sometimes cope with restricted space too. I often have to stage interiors photographs, without adding too much detail into the image that would confuse the viewer. 

All the clients' rooms were fitted out in very different styles from minimalist to classic and contemporary according to their occupants and uses, and it was important that the photographs reflected the wide range of choice on offer. 

What I called the white room had been given a fresh, clean look with stylised monochrome wallpaper behind the bed and full size mirrored wardrobe doors reflecting a unique chandelier.

Another bedroom had a wooden floor and full height mirrored robes inset with panels of lacquered glass, housing an impressive shoe collection and all set off by a stylish purple and lilac theme.

The master bedroom was drama personified and absolutely stunning. The smokey black mirrored finish to the wardrobes was echoed in the purpose built dressing table, which together threw up some photography challenges involving the bonus of having reflections to play with while avoiding any light bouncing back into places where I didn’t want it.

The company’s furniture can be made to fit a range of rooms, not just bedrooms, and a craft room at the top of one of the houses was furnished in a light oak finish, with wardrobes and shelving cleverly made to measure to fit the roof apex and give maximum storage for the owner.

Like most interiors photography this was a demanding shoot in the north east, with so many textures and finishes to work with and every photo had to be just right. I edited the photos back at my Stockton on Tees photography studio and had them back to the client within a couple of days, and I’m looking forward to seeing them on the client’s website very soon.

Subway Franchise Corporate and Marketing Photography: Cramlington, Washington and County Durham.

A top national marketing, PR and digital creative agency based in London contacted me recently, having seen my commercial photography on my website at www.davecharnleyphotography.com

The agency was in search of a cost effective North East commercial photographer to visit a group of Subway branches and update the company’s photo library.

The photography will be use for arange of PR and marketing purposes, in print and online.  My commercial photography brief was to visit stores in Cramlington in Northumberland, Washington in Tyne & Wear, and Spennymoor and Thinford in County Durham to get a range of interesting shots of the stores, in landscape and portrait, at different angles, and including interior and exterior shots.

Although all the stores share one distinctive brand, I needed to make sure the resulting images were individual and unique, showing Subway’s target audience and how the brand meets their expectations. As an experienced north east freelance commercial photographer with nearly 30 years’ experience it presented challenges, but ones that I was comfortable I could meet.

My timeslot to cover all four sites was between 10am to just after lunchtime. All of the stores were very busy, and as well as taking the photos I was kept on my toes getting signed approvals from all the customers in each store too. People think being a good commercial photographer is all about getting the perfect shot, and that’s part of it of course, but we put in a lot of extra work and behind the scenes effort that is all included in the price.

All of the staff at each branch made me very welcome, and had made sure the environment was clean, tidy and with well-stocked counters that showed off the background decor and Subway branding.  

I moved around each store making sure I got clean shots and met the brief, and I was really impressed how hard the ‘Sandwich Artists’ worked and how fast they were at serving customers. And all with a cheery smile too, which made for some great, relaxed shots of customers being served and sitting down to enjoy their food.

At the Washington site I also did some headshots of the franchisee, to give the marketing agency the rights shots for illustrating media case studies and news stories.

The Thinford site was particularly interesting to photograph, as it sits within a new garage forecourt environment and gave me a chance to illustrate both how the dual branding works and how a Subway store can sit comfortably within a larger store operation.

Once the shoot was over I went back to my Stockton photography studio to process the images and get them off to the agency within a couple of days. I pride myself on providing a fast, efficient service that delivers great results, and gives clients a flexible range of shots that can be used for a variety of purposes, whether that’s in print or online. It all adds up to helping them get maximum value from their photography budget.