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Silverbean Office Interiors Photography
Last Autumn just before Lockdown No3, I completed an Interiors Photography shoot for affiliate marketing agency, Silverbean, PR agency, North and paid marketing agency, Ortus an impressive global marketing collective in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Silverbean team had recently moved into a beautiful new office space in Brinkburn Street, Byker close to the quayside and city centre. It was a really windy day with blue grey patchy skies, crunchy brown leaves and that dreamy warm pink/orange light that September brings.
The building is steeped in local history with traditional typefaces and exposed iron girders marked with ‘Iron Works Ltd’ proudly affirming its North East industrial location. The bold metal structures, exposed imperfect brickwork and polished wood floors are a stunning office setting together with plants bringing colour, softening sharp corners and adding warmth to the interior space.
Hannah Strong, Head of Marketing at Silverbean and sister agency AGY47 invited me for a meeting after a LinkedIn recommendation pointed her my way. We discussed the company objectives in line with brand photography then had an enjoyable scout about the building assessing light and points of interest whilst I offered some creative input.
I was wowed by the light, the colours and textures together with the simplistic and spacious interior design of the building. The communal areas were warm and inviting suggesting a friendly, fun and unified team despite many staff off site temporarily working from home. My post visit proposal to the team offered a dual approach tailored for each brand and sample imagery to demonstrate my portrait, interiors and documentary photography style.
The Silverbean space was an absolute Newcastle Photography treat, the type that makes you proud of North East industry, past and present. 166 Brinkburn Street is simply bursting with character blending its historic and modern charm perfectly with Scandi furniture, giant palms and a burgundy pool table to boot! There was even Reggie, a pupppy King Charles Spaniel happy to model, adding yet more warmth and playfulness to these Office Interior Design Photos.
Once used for traditional industrial manufacturing, this creative commercial workspace now generating marketing ideas and online technology is the perfect environment for my own creative Commercial Photography. Where old and new meet in unison and the people within it absolutely do…
Northern Stove Log Burner Photography
Who’s feeling chilly? ME!
This January was exceptionally cold, in fact it was the coldest January in ten years, I really felt it! This February is much the same and more snow is on its way. It’s been so cold I have even discovered usb chargeable hand warmers which have been life changing, especially on early morning dog walks. But it’s not hand warmers of the pocket variety I’m wanting to shout about, it’s something much more exciting than that. Here is a ‘before’ shot to keep you guessing!
This winter we welcomed into our home a new friend, a working-from-home treat and an absolute saviour in fact! All this in the form of an amazing Woodpecker Log Burning Multi-Fuel Stove installed in our living room last month. This warmed our hands, toes and our heat greedy pooch dog who is currently living her best life! Her face looks sad, but she’s happy as Larry! (btw.. does anyone know who Larry is?)
The wonderful Newcastle based Northern Stove did a fantastic job of installation, they were friendly, extremely tidy and respectful with noise, important when working from home. Jonny came initially to measure up, gave great advice on approach and finishes followed up later by Jonny’s Business Partner Scott and Andy coming to install the Log Burner.
They kindly checked in with us for decisions on intricate design details like the size of the opening in relation to the stove size, brickwork and hearth width. They even added a bird guard on our chimney top as having never been on our roof, we didn’t realise it was missing.
The chimney breast was to be knocked out to expose the brick work, which has a 90 year history having being laid in 1930! A slab of rough cut limestone was to be our hearth so I braced myself for the dust but there was none! This was due to fab gizmo which sucked it all out and shot it out the window. Bingo! Here is Northern Stove’s Scott discussing the preferred height of the opening during installation for you to see their slick operation.
The brickwork was intact and worthy of a clean up and just look at the great job Northern Stove’s Scott and Andy did! The whole job of knocking out, cleaning up, stove installation to current regs including chimney lining and alarms fitted took less than two days. We were so happy with the work I thought it worth shouting about the team on here.
Once the painstaking job of sitting watching plaster dry for a week was over, (visually unfinished things like this drive me potty) the final touches of paintwork could be completed in this newly refurbished room.
The theme was traditional materials reflected by the main focus, our cast iron and steel Wood Burning Stove together with colours green and gold. For soft furnishings I wanted natural materials such as leather, cotton, sheepskin and wool adding comfort and texture. Having grown up on dairy farms I have a great sentiment for cattle so my cow skin is absolute fakery from Wayfair!
I’ve included a few before and after pictures as we replaced the carpet with a wood floor oak finish and painted the walls with Little Green’s calming Sage Green on recommendation from a friend (thanks Paula) who is also bonkers for interior design.
I’d really gone to town with the design details selecting woven fabrics, mat ceramics and check out my gold pot with bird feet below (thanks Lisa) with the intension of capturing Interior Design Photography incorporating the burner too. This felt particularly relevant as currently I’m splitting my time between studio and home during this pesky pandemic.
I bargain hunted, scouring the internet finding vases, sheepskins, baskets and cushions from Dunelm, (check them out and you too will find the nuggets) floor lamp from Next Home (this was the big spend), leather butterfly chair from Ebay, a second hand chair (an upholstery project draped in a sheepskin for now) from St Oswald’s Charity shop, wool rug from Benuta and 4 old wooden fruit boxes from a skip in Newcastle (I have absolutely no shame) which all were ace pieces to capture. Our 1950-60’s chandelier I bartered and bought in an antique shop in Hexham.
Along with many things old and recycled, I added a brand spanking new piece of art, a shiny new Heart Break Mirror that was designed by Patrick Schmidt who is a friend and a London based illustrator so feel free to click on his name to whizz over to his website where you can see the work he creates along with his online shop. I am a big fan!
The black pen drawn illustrations in frames are non other than Jim Moir’s portraits of Bob Mortimer drawn for FHM many years back before it went into administration, they make me smile daily at their silliness!
The theme for this room was natural materials, comfort and warmth so hopefully when you look at these images you’ll feel the glow from within! It’s now time for my tea break so fitting with the theme of traditional and natural materials such as glass, cast iron and timber, I’m adding porcelain to the list with this tea set from Oliver Bonas. Tea, a big softie (my Frenchie pup) and a cosy wood burner what’s not to love with this incredible comforting combo?
Pregnancy Photography in Newcastle
Portraits are what I love and when it is Portraiture of a couple rather than an individual it’s double the fun! This month I had the pleasure of capturing some gorgeous Maternity Photography of these two (soon to be three) beautiful people, Masitano and his pregnant wife Chabala at my Newcastle Photo Studio. I love Maternity Shoots with an almost ready to pop bump! The women look delicious and the men are doey eyed, it’s a dreamy photo combo.
To capture the amazing curves and shapes that pregnancy brings I always advise the best time to visit my studio is around 35 weeks onwards. Also it is wise to avoid being photographed too close to a delivery date as I have also observed some women can find the last few weeks hard work and they are understandably not in a photo shoot mood!
I always want my studio time to be enjoyable and relaxing so that my clients leave having had a really lovely and memorable experience. For couples being photographed, it’s often very atmospheric and loving as these shots show. Masitano and Chabala are clearly very in love and the imagery reflects the tenderness between them. As a photographer you are often observing your subjects from the sideline, but with a pregnancy studio shoot like this, I find it is important to work closely with the couple to capture personality and emotion.
Chabala had researched pregnant couple imagery online that she liked, some on Instagram and others on Pinterest and brought screen shots to the photo session. This was very helpful for me as I used this to guide my choices on backdrop colours and lighting effects. The preferred photographic style had simplicity and intimacy as its strengths, all images with well executed flattering lighting in grey and black tones. It was perfect for my portrait style.
Clothing always plays a large part in the end result of an image, dictating colours, texture and atmosphere. The looks Masitano and Chabala chose were fantastic, focusing their attention to clothing fabrics and shapes including gold lame no less! Chabala had a long black stretch jersey dress to create the ultimate bump silhouette and hair up to allow for stylish femininity and a slick smart finish. Masitano wore a simple white crisp cotton shirt to complement the lame dress glamour then for the casual shots, dark grey textured denim and a pair of Dr Marten boots loosely laced with their leather and shape giving a sense of sturdiness and strength.
I felt really proud of these shots and was as ever, flattered to know this couple chose me as their photographer for such a special time in their lives. I was thrilled that they were happy for me to share the images and to promote my studio maternity photography here at the studio. Thank you Masitano and Chabala, and good luck with the next stage in your adventure!
If you would like an opportunity to chat through ideas for your pregnancy shoot please get in touch on my online form or call my number and I’d be happy to discuss. Or if you have a specific portfolio request and would like a good excuse to get out of your lockdown joggers and don some nice clothes just shout!
More images can be found on this page of my website; click here
Newcastle Photography Charity Face Masks
One of the first photography commissions I was asked to do after lockdown eased was so perfectly fitting for current times! A face mask product shoot for local Newcastle based charity Clothe & Feed, no less! Rob Turnbull the charity’s founder got in touch and needed various portrait photos of their new handmade mask range on models ranging in age, cultural diversity, sex, size and height.
It was a particularly fun and interesting shoot as Rob handed over a good deal of creative direction of the portrait and product photos to me, so I made it all about the colour! The brief was to create eye-catching block colour backdrops ie boxes of colour with a masked model within and we agreed the shots should show a little character to add personality to the product. We wanted a ‘something for everybody’ vibe!
Having chosen a colour scheme for the Colorama backdrops, (pumpkin, leaf, forget-me-not, buttercup-all the plant colours!) when the models arrived dressed with a box of beautifully made masks, I paired mask fabrics to their clothing and a background colour. It was fab to get the creative juices flowing! A particular favourite colour combo of mine is orange and blue (opposites on the colour wheel therefore perfectly matched) and so this was to be the strongest theme for the photography throughout. Particularly as Charity Masks logo is blue and all the funds go to North East not for profit charity Clothe and Feed, which has an orange logo. Just perrrfick!
The models Rob organised were absolutely incredible for many reasons, 1- they weren’t professional but performed as such, 2- they were giving up their time for a Face Mask charity that helps underprivileged parents and vulnerable children in Newcastle, 3- they looked fantastic, posed well and presented themselves beautifully in their own well thought out clothing and accessories. There is even a FOUR! They were all SO up for it! Such fun to work with and everyone left with a smile on their face. Big shout to the amazing Joan who was 91 and this was her first trip out of home in 4 months!
I was thrilled with the results and so here some some faves from the photography taken in my studio that day! To find out more, to support the charity or simply to stock up on what I’ve found to be the most breathable and comfy masks out of all I have tried, use the links above! Oh and…watch out for vending machines in Intu shopping centres coming soon!
