January 23 News

It’s been such a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter – nearly a year! So in an effort to catch up, I’ve got lots of jobs to tell you about and we are jumping way back to summer ’21!
Firstly, I had the pleasure of photographing David Olusoga for the BBC series ‘A House Through Time’ in Leeds.  I’ve always loved the series and think David is a brilliant historian and presenter.  We did shots with and without the present owners inside and outside. It was very interesting to be around the film crew and see inside the house.

When I told my husband I was off to photograph the Formula 1 in Brighouse, he didn’t believe me. I was quite bemused as well but due to Covid, ‘F1 in Schools’ who usually host their competitions for schools all around the world in exotic locations, were hosting it online in West Yorkshire, 5 mins away from where I live.
School children from all around the world can enter the competition by designing and building a miniature racing car.  It’s all taken very seriously and there were some amazing prizes on offer. These included scholarships to universities in America and work experience with F1 racing teams. It was an amazing set up in a huge shed and photographing those tiny cars at extremely fast speeds really tested my technical skills…

This was a lovely chilled job for Country Life Magazines Frontispiece. I photographed Elizabeth who was the current ‘Miss York’ at the time.  We were in central Manchester by the marina and the picture editor requested a cool urban look. We had plenty of great city backgrounds to play with and decent weather too.  Thanks to Clare Hanson from Mach Management for hair and make up.  I do love those pink shoes….

You cannot possibly find a cuter puppy than this!  I photographed Clare at her business ‘Aunties Doggy Day Care’ in Lancashire.  This was for Barclays Bank Newsroom where they produce case studies featuring some of their clients.  You’d have thought a commercial photoshoot like this with so many dogs would be very chaotic but Clare and her staff made it very easy because they had all the correct procedures in place to keep the dogs happy and calm.

This commercial photoshoot was for Activate Accident Repair in Warrington. AAR are a growing business and when they open a new site they like to get some imagery and group shots to use for promotion. The Warrington site was brand new and sparkling clean.  The staff there are super skilled and it’s fascinating watching them work. Spot the ‘covid regulation’ group shot where they all had to stand 1 metre apart. I used to hate doing those… it looks like they are about to start a dance routine!

I photographed Sarah Buxton for FTA, a law firm in Leeds who provide legal solutions to businesses and the healthcare sector.  We did a session of headshots of staff on a white background and then we focused on Sarah for a couple of hours.  Alison Chesterton came along to do hair and make up and I’d asked Sarah to bring along several outfits.  This is a good example of a ‘Branding shoot’ with typically editorial style portraits suited to press and magazine articles and features.  Sarah wanted a set of images she could give out to magazines and newspapers that she is frequently featured in.

I do love a pink blossom tree. This was shot in April so we don’t have too long to wait until we can enjoy them again.  I photographed Kirsty for an editorial feature for Fab Daily. The feature was about returning to dating after lockdown.  I dragged Kirsty all around the park and up and down muddy tracks and finally found my tree.

It was actually pouring down for this photoshoot for Prima Magazine. That heavy blue sky might look pretty but really it was the rain waiting to get us again. We spent about an hour waiting it out in the green house.  The feature was about women who have found comfort and sanctuary in their gardens. Jenny had got herself a patch on her local allotment and loves going there with (and without) her two children. Lovely shoot with good company.

Last but not least, I headed over to Manchester train station to photograph Jacob for Project magazine.  It’s a magazine for project managers (clue’s in the title :-)) Jacob works for Network Rail.  We did some shots inside the station which were more rail related but this portrait against some old corrugated iron was my favourite.  I love a good wall.  Doing a photoshoot inside a railway station is always tricky with permissions and abiding by lots of rules, such as not using any stands or flash, but Jacob being a project manager, managed the whole process very smoothly indeed!