Shooting Interiors for Cocoon & Bauer
A great day spent shooting interior photography with the amazing Cocoon & Bauer interior design team, if you don’t already know their brilliant work check them out here.
It started out capturing images at the Mabo Media offices at Albert North, Middlesbrough with it’s clean lines and their signature blue branding, next we were down the stairs to the warm tones of the Big Bite Creative HQ, then to the atmospheric and intense interiors of The Cleveland Cable Company, before finishing up with a visit to the amazing bistro at Pinchinthorpe Hall. All is a days work for an advertising photographer!
It’s great to develop a working relationship with such a cool and creative client, shooting something this good looking is a real pleasure, I’m always looking forward to seeing what they’ve created next!
For more interiors type imagery check out this post about a store interior shoot at Barker & Stonehouse
Shooting teams
I spend quite a lot of my time photographing people at work and since the rise of Linked In more so than ever. Most people working in a business now need to have a photograph on the ‘meet the team’ page and getting those kind of images takes up a good chunk of my year.
All the shots here were taken around the Northeast of the UK using a long lens (so I don’t get too close and startle the models) and battery powered flash – which is quick to set up and move from desk to desk. This combination gives a bright and airy feel along with a slight advertising feel.
Getting my subjects to look good in camera is a skill built up over time, the biggest impact I can have is for me to to be relaxed and cheerful, it tends to rub off on the person on the other side of the lens!
Shooting paintings and a mystery guest… who the devil is it?
Out of the blue I received a call from an exclusive London gallery, Aleph Contemporary (situated at Piccadilly no less), asking about my experience and equipment. Fortunately they felt I was up to their standards and we booked in the shoot, but I was in the dark about who the local artist was (although I was mentally shortlisting who it could be).
So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be my former neighbour (across the corridor at my studio) and good pal Gordon Dalton – who was equally amused his gallery had found me to shoot his work.
Photographing fine art is something I have done a fair amount of over the years and colour is always of huge importance, I use a Colour Checker Passport to guarantee scientifically accurate colour and with bright even light the paintings came across just as Gordon wanted.
If this floats your boat check out my other product photography here
West By Design Multi-Shoot
A great shoot for West By Design saw us trekking through the woods and down to the beach shooting wallpaper in interesting settings as we went. Once we had the location shots in the can it was back to our studio capturing product shots and a set of images that tell the story of where the designs come from. A great day shooting and a boat load of content for this up and coming Teesside business!
Check out the full range of wallpaper here https://www.westbydesign.co.uk/
Baltic Training
We had the pleasure of working with Better (the ad agency) for client Baltic Training on this stylish photography project. The brief called for high contrast and mood, which whet the appetite!
A whirlwind tour of premises across the Northeast from Aycliffe to Newcastle got us a great selection of students and mentors to shoot in our pop up studio. Once we had the subjects captured Better worked their magic on the post production and hey presto!
Here’s a small selection of the final images which feature on Baltic Training’s website and marketing materials. A great project to work on!
Stay hydrated!
We all need at least 2 litres a day to stay hydrated, so they say, but single use plastic is filling the ocean!
The answer is reusable bottles like this one I recently shot in my studio in Saltburn, Teesside. The manufacturer is selling the product online so needs a series of advertising images to show customers all the different aspects and details of the product, so we used a perspex shooting table and several Elinchrom flash heads to give the product a striking look.
Maybe even more important than the practical point of showing the features and quality of the product, is making the customer feel confident enough to press the Buy It Now button!
Hero/Feature Shot
Front Shot with Lid Open
Front Shot
Back Shot
Lid Detail
Lid Open Detail
Via Teesport Campaign
Recently we had the a great time shooting this campaign photography to promote Teesport for PD Ports. To communicate the concept of how many surprising products come through our local port on the Tees is no mean feat, but the creative team at ad agency Better met the challenge with this ingenious concept.
We started with ‘Jack and Sam’ and their furniture from Vietnam – thanks to Barker and Stonehouse – in a huge studio in Middlesbrough. With the usual challenge of getting the right poses and expressions from our models, we also had to ensure that the light and dark tones of the image would work with the under laid port scenery shots and we used a whole range of our flash system to get it right.
Next stop was Hitatchi at Newton Aycliffe and one of the biggest warehouses around, trains take up some serious space! We shot Dan inside one of the latest East Coast Mainline trains, first class of course, and with no mains power and little room to shoot the challenge lay in getting natural bright light through the window (even though the train was indoors) so we used a battery powered 3 flash set up and a reflector that nearly blocked the aisles.
And the last stop was back to my studio in sunny Saltburn to shoot Miranda breathing in the goodness of a proper cup of Yorkshire Tea. Despite having every bit of kit at hand we kept it simple with a single massive soft box and reflectors to get the shot just right.
The campaign was a joy to be involved in and has been very well received, big thanks to all involved at PD Ports, Better, Barker & Stonehouse, Hitatchi and Yorkshire Tea!
Morgans Auto Salvage
For two days we had the pleasure of being on site in sunny Guisborough at Morgan’s Auto Salvage to shoot some very cool photography. At Morgan’s, they take in end of life cars whether it be from damage or old age and ensure the vehicles are safe and environmentally friendly by de-polluting them. Then they remove various parts from the vehicles that are in good quality condition, they refurbish and clean the parts so to sell and ship out to customers.
We toured the site, shooting every process that’s carried out there from removing engines to packing radios. Morgan’s facility is very visual with rows of cars stacked in their yard making a nice backdrop for the shoot. There was always something visually interesting happening which was a real treat for us and made our jobs easier having such good subjects to work with.
It was a very successful shoot in which we came back to the studio with fantastic shots, leaving the client very happy with the results.
Clad You Like It
Recently we have been shooting away in our studio for new clients Cladding Centre ltd. They’re a company that manufacture plastic cladding for many large, global companies. We were shooting some trimmed down samples of the cladding showing off their product and quality manufacturing. They had many vibrantly coloured samples for us as well as subtle pastel options which we shot individually on a grey graded background as well as in groups.
It was a successful shoot which resulted in some great, classy shots of the cladding as well as a happy client. Enjoy a selection of shots below as well as a behind the scenes look at our setup.
Forever Sport Magazine
We are delighted to have our images featured on a double-page spread in Forever Sport magazine for an article featuring Alex Wrigley, a professional golfer from Hartlepool. We travelled over to Hartlepool golf course for the shoot where we met Matt from Forever Sport, and Alex. Our golfer had prepared his bag full of kit that he’d take with him on the pro tour for us to photograph. We also took a contextualised feature shot showing selection of Alex’s clubs on his personal putting green.
We were very pleased with the images and Forever Sport has done a fantastic job of presenting them along with an interesting article.
Shooting Dockside
On a chilly Saturday morning, we drove up to Teesport for a day of shooting with PD Ports. They had recently acquired 5 brand new trucks that they’re really proud of with the new colour, logo and PD Ports emblem showcased on them, all designed by our good friends over at Better.
The first call of action was to get a group shot of the trucks on the port. It was important that the background behind the trucks was recognisably Teesport, so to achieve this we shot from afar with a telephoto lens to keep the shot compact and make sure the cranes and containers on the other side of the river still appeared as though they were up close.
After shooting concluded at the port, we and one of the trucks traveled to the transporter bridge (an iconic Teesside location) and had the truck drive up and down a road whilst getting shots of it with the transporter in the background. Next, up we went to Tees Barrage as the sun really started to shine. It’s a lovely location within Teesside and great to shoot at so we photographed the trucks as they were on the bridge whilst we were down below close to the river. At the end of the day, the trucks were taken back to the depot where we took some final group shots after they’d all just been washed and were gleaming in the sunlight.
It was another successful shoot for us resulting in some good work and happy clients. Enjoy some of the shots from the day below.
Millbry Hill Shoot
You’d think we’d gone all out to travel to the south of France for this!
We drove down to a lovely home in sunny Stokesley that had a beautiful, huge, garden for the shoot. The clients were Millbry Hill, a northeast based pet and equestrian supplies company that sells various equipment for pets and equestrian needs as well as country clothing etc.
We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for this shoot, the sun was beaming down on some stunning scenery. Throughout the day we photographed a number of models in different scenes, ranging from a family picnic, brother and sister walking dogs, petting ponies, preparing for show jumping, shooting etc.
We took full advantage to great effect by holding up an 8x4ft reflector to bounce the sunlight onto the subjects which created gorgeously bright and even light.
It was another successful shoot resulting in some very happy clients.
Typhoon Winter ’16 Collection
We’ve recently completed another collection for Typhoon international, the winter collection being readied for the market when the cold seas come.
Appropriately, we commenced shooting the suits on on a seethingly hot day in July. Spare a thought for the model, climbing in and out of these suits that are designed to keep you warm! We prepared for the shoot by rolling out our white background and constructing our best lighting set-up yet for the Typhoon suits.
We shot the suits with somebody wearing them and used the invisible man technique in post-production. Enjoy a selection of the shots below.
Axis Labs – Testing Processes Shoot
We recently had the opportunity to drive up to Durham for a shoot with Axis Laboratories, photographing various, interesting, testing processes.
The first process we shot was the salt mist chamber, this is where the product would be tested to see how vulnerable to corrosion it is. We placed three pieces of metal inside the chamber and water sprayed down on them.
Next up was for us to shoot the environmental testing. We opened the chamber which had a very cool breeze coming out, due to severe minus temperatures inside there, which was most needed on a record-breaking temperature day. We also had to make sure to absolutely not touch inside the chamber as the temperate had been as low as -80 in there, so if our skin got on there; it would not be coming back. We shot a product that had already been in the chamber, freezing away and covered in ice which gave is some very COOL looking shots. Adding to this there were a couple of other testing processes involving moisture and heat.
It was a fun shoot that gave us an opportunity to photograph some unique and interesting processes. We gathered some great shots which resulted in a happy client, happy days.
Houlder Teesport Shoot
On an absolutely scorching morning in early June, we arrived at Teesport to shoot new pile restraint arms for Houlder.
Though we were melting alive in our full PPE gear, the weather was absolutely fantastic for the shoot with a bright blue sky and full white clouds adding a real strong and crispy contrast to the photographs we were taking. As well as great weather, there was also a pretty impressive background on location with the Pacific Orca portside. The Orca is a massive ship used as an installation vessel for off-shore wind farms.
We were even given the fantastic opportunity to board the ship which gave us a great view of Teesport and the pile restraint arms. Soon after, we were flying high yet again by rising up in the cherry picker for some birds-eye shots of the arms. When it was time to photograph the crew, we decided to go for some armageddon-esque shots of them in front of the pile restraint arms.
It was another successful shoot and another great opportunity to shoot unique and interesting objects. You can view a selection of the images from the shoot below.
Crystal Galleries Studio Shoot
The pleasure was all ours when Crystal Galleries handed us some pretty marvellous glass products for us to photograph. They’re a company that produce products made from glass that vary from drinking glasses to, very prestigious looking, awards.
The shoot was a fantastic technical challenge for us because the sides of the glass created something prism-like which meant reflections were appearing on the opposite sides and corners rather than where they ought to have been. To combat the aforementioned problem we had to, essentially, light the product upside down and back to front to allow the product to glisten cleanly in all of it’s glory.
We shot the products on a blue then grey background; giving the images a distinctive look for the different sections of their website and catalogue.
Feeling that this would be an interesting shoot, both for us and you reading this, we decided to set up another camera on a tripod with an intervalometer to create a time lapse video of the shoot. Overall, it was a challenging shoot but we finished with some real classy looking photographs. You can find the time-lapse below, as well as a selection of images from this product photography shoot.
