North East Sport Photographer | FlowRider Pro Am finals in Redcar

Clearing the snow off my car to drive through the snow and cover a national surfing competition recently felt slightly odd, but as a North East freelance photographer every day brings variety, from corporate portraiture in a boardroom to exciting outdoor events.

 The occasion this time was the FlowRider Pro/Am finals at the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart, which saw competitors from across the country descend on the town. Heart offers a variety of ways to stay active, with a state of the art gym, a multi-use sports hall, group exercise classes, Flowrider, swimming pool and water confidence pool.

The two-day event saw flowboard and bodyboard riders put their colourful boards through their tricks, with 12 young riders competing on Saturday, and eight amateur adults plus seven professionals battling for top spot on the Sunday.

If you’ve never seen wave riding, you’re missing a treat. It’s a tough physical challenge involving breathtaking moves that take hours of practice to perfect. Surfers come down the waves pretty quickly so as a sport photographer my challenge was to keep up with the action as it happened. There is nothing worse than being slightly behind a shot and missing what would have been a perfect photographic moment.

I was so busy concentrating and looking for the shot that I forgot to look out for the water, and managed to get completely soaked at one point when a wave came over, to the amusement of the spectators. Fortunately the camera I was using is waterproof, so I carried on taking shots like a trooper, albeit a bit soggily.

I love photographing water and experimenting with slow and fast shutter speeds for different effects. A slower speed gives effect such as a trail of water, while a fast speed picks up the people action in sharp definition. It’s not possible yet, but I’m sure one day technology will move on so photographers can capture both effects in a single shot.

As well as shot of the action I mixed in some of the spectators and the facilities, including some of people taking their own photos on iPads and phones, to add variety.

Half a dozen students from Teesside University were also busy filming the event, using GoPro hand held cameras. Some of the surfers also took real action shots using selfie sticks – surfing and filming took some real skill and was amazing to see. 

I was pleased to see my photos used for PR and publicity purposes, and widely distributed across the North East media and across social media channels.

A summer-themed event held in winter, this competition was a great chance to get more people interested in the sport and and there is talk of it becoming a twice-yearly event, which would be a great chance to put Redcar Heart on the map.

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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North East and Yorkshire Sport Photographer | Redcar Triathlon Event

This is the second year in a row that I’ve been asked to photograph the Redcar Sprint Triathlon in NorthYorkshire. I’m an experienced sports and events photographer used to working at venues like Gateshead Stadium,Middlesbrough football ground and the official BHF commercial photographer in Newcastle’s Great North Run, so I’m very familiar with being in several places at once, in order to capture all the action.

Organised by Trihard Events in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Council, the Redcar Sprint Triathlon is a swimming, cycling and running race, with entrants taking on a 750m swim followed by a 20km cycle race and 5k run.

This gruelling event takes place on Redcar Esplanade and sees entrants dive into the sea next to the Dundas slipway, then run back to the transition point, collect their bikes and cycle along The Seafront between Zetland roundabout and Majuba Road, doing six laps. They then ditch the bikes and run a 5k lap along the seafront heading for Marske, turning just after Green Lane and then racing back to the finish line.

Fortunately the triathlon transition area and the seafront made a great area for a panoramic view of the action, and in some spots I was able to take pictures of runners and cyclists from one vantage point, as they passed each other.  

The Middlesbrough Gazette estimated that 200 people gathered for the event, and I guessed that around 170 were actually taking part. They were of all capabilities and ages from about 20 to late 50s too, not just elite athletes. It was great to see people challenge themselves, setting their own personal best and pushing themselves as hard as they could.

With the Redcar Beacon and the Palace Hub forming a colourful backdrop to some of the shots, the sun shone and the blue sky was contrast to the black wetsuits and lime green swimming caps distributed by the organisers. One of the joys of sports and event photography over the North East is all the contrasting colours people wear, whatever type of sport they are doing, that adds to the impact of the pictures.

Because I knew people would be spread out over the course and particularly for the shots of the swimmers, I had taken my latest piece of kit the 1.4x convertor along fixed to the Canon 70 -200mm F2.8 IS, which proved very useful. In total I had two camera bodies and a set of lenses in my lightweight bag, to give me a great choice at the edit stage. 

The whole event is done at speed and is over and done with in just over an hour so I had to work quickly to get all the pictures I wanted. The local press hailed the event a great success, and I was pleased to have captured the spirit of the occasion, and the efforts of the contestants.

Passion for Bikes | North Yorkshire and North East Cycling Photographer

One of my passions outside being a North Yorkshire commercial and PR photographer is cycling. When I look back I’m surprised just how much sport photography in the North East I’ve done for cycling and outdoor events, and I’ve even invested in a foldaway bike that goes in the back of my car so I can follow cyclists routes and photograph the action as it happens.

I’ve cycled since I was a youngster out on my bike all day long, in fact my early dreams were to work in a bike shop and repair bikes all day. But the life of a press photographer and subsequently a commercial and PR photographer called me, and I’m lucky enough to be able to combine my love of cycling with photography.

I’ve covered the Stockton triathlon (swim, cycle, run) and the Stockton duathlon (run, cycle, run) several times. There are three separate races run so everyone from first timers and novices to elite athletes can test their mettle.  It takes a lot of pre-race organisation to check out the best photography locations and then some fast moving between them on the day, to make sure I get the right shots.

Another client I love working with is Sustrans, the leading UK charity that encourages people to travel by bike.  I covered a Sustrans in Redcar that was designed to promote healthy cycling, and my photos were used in large format as full van wraparounds, which looked fantastic.  

I also covered last year’s Sky Ride in Middlesbrough, which is part of Middlesbrough Bike Week and runs along the beautiful Middlesbrough Riverside. I photographed both the event and the training day which was covered by the BBC, even going out along the route with the producer on my bike. I was asked to go back and cover the Sky Ride again last year but another PR photography job in Sunderland booking meant I couldn’t make it. This is part of a series of Sky Rides around the UK and a great event for all the family, and entrants could even find themselves cycling alongside stars like Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton. 

I haven’t decided whether to watch or work at the Tour de France that comes to Yorkshire this summer. I’d love to go and see the 190km stretch between Leeds and Harrogate ...but if Yorkshire Tea’s PR team is reading this and needs an extra photographer to cover the event, feel free to get in touch!

I was out biking around the Stockton area last night with my son, and it got me thinking about planning a European tour. In my youth I biked home across Europe from my stay on an Israeli kibbutz, carrying my trusty old camera and photographing my journey as I went. You can read more about that in my (blog here) – and it was such a great trip I’d love to recreate it.

Every event is different, whether I’m photographing elite athletes to fun family rides. Cycling is a great way to gets children interested in getting out and about instead of hunching over their gadgets. Most events include road closures so it’s safe for all age groups and abilities. Routes are often lined with spectators too, so there are some brilliant photo opportunities as children cycle past, beaming as they pedal along to the cheers of onlookers.  

If you haven’t sat on a bike for years, can I suggest you check out some of the fun rides in your area and give it a go? You’ll get some exercise, fresh air and fun, and you might even see yourself in one of my newspaper photos covering the event!

Teesside Sport and Event Photographer: 29th Redcar Half Marathon

Redcar seafront saw hundreds of runners covering the 13.1 miles route in the town’s annual half marathon. I was commissioned to  do a commercial photoshoot  along with Middlesbrough Evening Gazette and Darlington's Northern Echo press photographers to capture the fantastic event, it got under way by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jo Jackson.

Professional, amateur and wheelchair racers had travelled to Redcar, Teesside from all over the UK to try and beat their personal bests. Thankfully the weather was mostly sunny for the 100’s of spectators lining the streets to cheer the runners on.

Amazingly this was the 29th year of the Redcar Half Marathon, which was organised by Tees Valley Leisure. A total of 1,550 competitor’s took part in this years half marathon and the first wheelchair racer over the line was Simon Lawson, 29, of Maryport, in Cumbria, who was trained by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson (pictured above in green) and her husband Ian, who both also took part. Simon, who won the event last year, said: “The conditions were good and I enjoyed it.”

Graeme Taylor, 25, from Jarrow and Hebburn Running Club (No 210) was the first runner over the line in a very respectable one hour 10 minutes. The first woman to finish was 30-year-old Carolyn Summersgill, from Coulby Newham, who runs with Middlesbrough and Cleveland Harriers. “I didn’t expect to win,” she said. “It was a bit warm to start with but then it clouded over and got windy which cooled us down.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography