centre for life Archives - Sarah Deane Photography Studio Newcastle

Robot Faces: Exhibition Photography

This exhibition at the Science Museum explored the 500 year history of humanoid robots. It opened in 2017 in London, and in 2018 Life Science Centre in Newcastle was lucky enough to host it before it toured internationally, this year in Berlin.

If you love a robot face, particularly the 1970’s 80’s toys like me, then you’d have been in for treat at this exhibition! It was a joy to capture these photos for the Life marketing team, the colourful lighting, cartoon style designs and the amazing interactive technology of the moving and talking machines!

The exhibition graphics are the design work of the amazing London based Environmental Graphic Designers, Studio HB, for whom I have captured images for the David Bowie, Winnie the Pooh, Dylan Thomas and most recently the Corbridge Hoard exhibitions to name but a few.

These colourful robot photos are the perfect antidote to a grey day or a crazy pandemic lockdown…. just look at their funny googley eyes! If you wanted to find out more about the fantastic PR stunt that I captured to promote the exhibition’s visit to Life then you can read a blog I wrote in 2018 on this link here.

Robots Then and Now

Life Science Centre has a new amazing exhibition! It is the story of robots progression from 16th Century mechanical automatons to the fascinating humanoids of today and the future. The exhibition was created by the Science Museum in London and after travelling to Manchester now us northerners are lucky enough to see it locally at the Life Science Centre Newcastle.

Last month Life promoted the new exhibition with a robot humanoid duo from Berlin being photographed in character all around Newcastle. It was my job to as event photographer to capture great PR and editorial shots of the robots as they mingled with perplexed shoppers in the city centre. They also travelled on the Metro to much amusement of commuters, shopped in the Grainger Market for their fruit and veg then relaxed and entertained on the Quayside Seaside with staff on their lunch breaks.

This type of event photography is so much fun and really keeps you on your toes as everything is so unpredictable! The moving metro is a technical challenge as the light changes by the second but standing back and photographing genuine public reactions is what makes it so entertaining! Below are a selection of my images shared from that day by The Chronicle and the International Life Science Centre. Even an image of me shooting which was kindly sent to me via the press from a very kind Dariusz Brodowski who was trying out a new lens at the Monument!

Watch this space for more robot shots of the opening of the exhibition. If you havent been to see it make sure you make some time this summer!