Press and PR photography coverage of Diversity Ashley Banjo in Stockton on Tees.

Thousands of people turned out in July to help Britain’s Got Talent winner Ashley Banjo and Diversity dance group get Stockton dancing.

Part of the Sky 1 series Ashley Banjo: the Town That Danced Again, the day drew huge crowds on to Stockton High Street next to the Town Hall, where specially constructed stage platforms had been set up for the professional dancers.

Ashley Banjo is an English street dancer, choreographer and actor, and the programme was all about celebrating Stockton’s dance heritage and reinvigorate the whole town by bringing together everyone from shop assistants and librarians, to care workers and teachers to get them dancing in the streets.

The day was building up to be the hottest of the summer when I arrived an hour before the start of the event. I know the open air space well so I had already visualised where the best photography vantage points would be. This was a big event for the region and as well as the Sky 1 team there were a few other professional photographers from Sunderland to Harrogate there and of course nearly everyone in the audience had their camera phones out.

I knew I would be carrying my kit all day so took my monopod and a handful of lenses including a mega wide angle. The crowd was packed so the monopod and camera set on 2 sec timer were particularly useful in getting shots above the heads and with some good views of the various stages. 

As this live event was also being filmed, several of the dance routines were done in segments and repeated until the director was satisfied. It was interesting to see the clock in Stockton’s Town centre being stopped and rewound for continuity several times!

I was kept busy darting about documenting not just the dancing but the street party atmosphere of the day too. Everyone was in party mood, including my daughter and her friends who had gone along. Moving through the crowd I swapped out my lenses to do some fly on the wall photos and get some close ups of the dancers as they encouraged the crowd to join in, choreographed by Ashley Banjo himself. Some of the youngest ones were particularly good, and showed no sign of nerves at all the cameras going off as they performed.

At one point the kind people manning the Vodafone stand let me take some shots from their stand overlooking the sea of people, which was a fantastic vantage point to see everything that was going on.

 It was a brilliant day that generating some amazing pictures, and Ashley’s tweet from @AshleyBanjo summed up its success in a nutshell:  ‘What a day...What a night....Amazing times with amazing people. Stockton we love you and we will miss you #TTTD #20DV’.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

Runners to Royals - North East Editorial and Press Photographer

I remember my very first celebrity photograph. I was a really keen athlete as a young man and I even qualified for Scotland's national shot putt finals at Edinburgh Meadowbank Stadium. I was just a teenager when I then saw Scottish Olympic sprinter Alan Wells, and being unsure of myself I tried to casually get a shot before eventually asking him if I could take a photograph. He was quite curt and it taught me a lesson about how to get the best pictures when working with minor and major celebrities, VIPs and royalty. I’m not star stuck at all now – I wouldn’t get the pictures if I was.

One of my first big assignments as professional press photographer in Scotland was covering the visit of John Major for Dumfries and Galloway Council. It was my first experience of being part of a newspaper press pack, and having to be courteous but still get the right shots for the picture desks.

In my days on newspapers and then after I set up as a freelance editorial photographer in the North East I must have photographed thousands of politicians, celebrities and members of the royal family. Like every other north east commercial photography assignment, the trick is to work fast and spot the shot before it happens.

People in the sports world are usually preoccupied with doing their job when you point a camera at them, and it’s important to be there for the action shot. One shot I took out of a car alongside Dame Tanni Grey Thompson was a fast decision that worked well, and one that help me win a photography award.

Some of the other sporting names I’ve photographed have been great fun. George Best was a great character and a gentleman, and no problem to photograph. Film and music stars cross my path regularly, and I’ve photographed people including Morrissey, Victoria Beckham, Marc Owen, Billie Piper, Caprice, Stella McCartney and Bob Hoskins too, when he was filming in nearby Whitby.

I love getting a quirky commission, especially if you are part of selected

few. For instance I was the only North East photographer to be chosen by global news agency Reuters to shoot American artist Spencer Tunick’s famous Naked City art installation, which saw 1700 people pose naked in Gateshead’s Baltic Square, and my pictures were picked up by international media within moments of the shoot. 

Photographing actor of MartinClunes portraits was another great job.  As part of the BBC Islands of Britain series he visited Piel Island near Morecambe to see the ceremony where the King of Piel Island gets crowned by beer poured over his head. I was offcourse happy when my photos of Martin made The Times and other national newspapers - job done!

My assignment in Kosovo in the 1990s was slightly less glamorous. I went out with the British Army, shadowing Brigadier Richard Dannett as part of a commission to cover the Green Howard regiment, based at Catterick. The sleeping accommodation was fairly basic and we flew in helicopters, went out on night manoeuvres and generally, wherever the Green Howards were going, I went too.

In general, less well known celebrities can be the most awkward to photograph, while top stars and royalty are easy to work with. People like the Queen and the Prince of Wales, who are used to having their photograph taken, understand what makes a good shot, and are generally fuss-free and very obliging.


I remember how relaxed the Countess of Wessex was when she opened a shop in Northallerton, and a commission to document the Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to Teesside, to lend her support to a literacy campaign was an equally smooth day.

Clients who book me for celebrity, VIP and royal photography range from councils to north east newspapers and uk news agencies. Some of the pictures I take are not for public consumption, such as some of the ones I took on the occasion (some inside shots) of the Duchess of Cambridge’s first visit to the North East, following her appointment as patron of Action on Addiction. 

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

Newcastle, Durham & Middlesbrough Commercial Photographer: Fast Professional Service in the North East.

Although photographers are in general a friendly bunch, we all want the best pic for our clients so there is always a little bit of rivalry at big events.

But that doesn’t mean we tread on each other’s toes or don’t support each other. For instance I was recently contacted by a Newcastle press and commercial photographer who was stuck in traffic on the A1, and asked me if I could get over to do some PR photography in Middlesbrough and generate some ‘same day turnaround’ press photography for the following day’s Middlesbrough, Yorkshire and Newcastle newspapers.

Helping each other out is all part of a day’s work, and in those instances it’s a case of get the brief, get there, and get the job done. On jobs like these I would never want to tread on anyone’s toes by handing out my Dave Charnley Photography business card, as far as the client is concerned I’m just Dave. 

We have to react equally quickly on a client job too. I’d say around 5% of my photography jobs involve an odd extra shot that was not on the brief, but it’s usually no problem. It often arises when a senior person has asked the in-house PR account manager to get a few shots of X,Y an Z. In those circumstances, it’s a case of if I have the time and it will save them a separate re-shoot I’m happy to help out. A board director might only have ten minutes to spares, so it’s important to be flexible and work fast. 

Some photography commissions are a mix of product, lifestyle and portrait shots, destined for use in marketing material, on the web and in advertising. I like to create a variety of shots for the client so they build up a photo library they can put to a range of uses. For instance if they are commenting in the press about an incident or some low profit warnings they need a shot of the Managing Director looking sombre, while a news story about the business supporting a local childrens’ charity needs an altogether more cheery shot of him.

Some clients plan well in advance, and as I write this blog in June I already have some Newcastle, Sunderland and Stockton commercial photography shoots booked in for October. But the PR, marketing and advertising photography world moves at a fast pace, and I can routinely get a call from a client asking if I can do a shoot starting at 7.30am the following day, and going on until dusk.

A younger photographer might be stressed by the pressure, but to those of us with 25 years of press and commercial photography under our belts, it’s no problem. My days as a Middlesbrough pressphotographer working for newspapers turning out four editions a day gave me a good grounding. 

Running my own photography business means being more than just a good photographer, I have to be good at the behind the scenes work too, such as studio work, admin, accounts and marketing. It’s about striking the happy medium between day-long photoshoots and the luxury of time spent back in my photography studio in Stockton.

Even when days are incredibly fast-paced and stressful, I still wouldn’t swap places with anyone.

I’m lucky to have an incredible variety of jobs in my diary, ranging from PR photography and product shots to sports and royal events, and as a north east freelance photographer it’s a case of ‘access all areas’. It’s a real privilege to work for some great clients and to see my photos used on the front page of newspapers such as the Journal, the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, the Yorkshire Post and online. 

I honestly can’t think of any other job I’d rather be doing.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography

County Durham Commercial, PR & Advertising Photographer: Crossfit Gym in Darlington

The owners of Darlington’s newest gym, http://www.crossfitdl21dl.com, saw my work online at www.davecharnleyphotography.com, loved it and got in touch about a PR photoshoot to get some pics for the Darlington gym’s official launch and open weekend on 15^th and 16^th June.

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning programme that is taking the UK by storm. When I visited I found that this is no ordinary gym. It’s open to novices all the way up to professional sportspeople but the focus is firmly on fitness and health for everyone, whatever their shape and size.

The interior of the building, part of the former Darlington Mowden Park Rugby Club on Neasham Road, reflects that theme with a look and feel that is almost industrial. Steel girders, textured walls and clean lines presented some great elements that I was able to incorporate into my pictures.  

For this Darlington commercial photoshoot I took some shots in colour and some in black and white to add a grainy, real feel to the images and meet the client’s brief.  A brand made up of grey and white with some added splashes of colour gave me a strong palette to work with and a clean background to the action shots.

Head Coach and former Royal Marine Lee Howe and the CrossFit team were very accommodating, helpfully working out on a range of equipment as I moved around them, seeking out images of the effort and determination that sums up the whole CrossFit ethos.

Reportage photography – my specialism – is all about capturing the moment exactly as it happens, so the second a cloud of chalk floated in the air after Lee had dipped his hands prior to using a machine I was there with the camera to pin it down. 

It was a really interesting commercial photoshoot in County Durham to add to my portfolio and as CrossFit DL2 was established by North East entrepreneur Joanne McCue Bannatyne (Nike top below), the launch and its imagery attracted all the local media, and made the nationals too.

The pictures will be used in the press, online across the website and social media feeds and in print and outdoor advertising, and will hopefully get across the physical and emotional benefits of training at CrossFit DL2. As Joanne herself puts it on the website: “Being fit is inspiring, feels good, enriches your life, and adds both years to your life and life to your years.”

And you can’t ask for more than that.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography