October 2020

Hello everyone and welcome to my Autumn newsletter which jumps back to July and August 19.  I had the pleasure of meeting Alex and his parents Lisa and Adam over in Manchester.  The shoot, for Good Housekeeping Magazine was about Alex’s transgender journey and the wider family dynamics.  Even though Alex’s parents are no longer together, I was so impressed by the loving and supportive relationships in this family.  The magazine hired a beautiful house and stylist Hannah Gabriel and make up artist Kate Gately all brought their magic to the photoshoot.  A Lovely day!  You can read the article here.

I headed off to London for a day to work with SMRS and a video team to help create a campaign for Unlocked. Unlocked recruits graduates and trains them as prison officers.  This campaign was primarily video led, but my job was to capture the stills for use on the website and social media.  There were six scenes to shoot, in different locations with different actors and because we were on a tight schedule I only had 10 minutes per set up.  In these scenarios I plan exactly what and how I’m going to do it while I’m watching them film and then I jump in and get as much as I can in the time allowed.  It’s worth watching the video – the play on words is very clever.

I was commissioned by Think Design in Glasgow to re-visit Beneden Health over in York.  There were two parts to the photoshoot.  The first was to do an editorial portrait of Mark to illustrate a feature on him for a magazine.  The second was to get a corporate group shot of the managers who were having a conference that day. Before anyone freaks out by seeing this many people so close together – this was shot pre – Covid…

I was commissioned by Psychologies Magazine to shoot another ‘My Life, My way’ feature.  This time with Pragya Agarwal over in Formby.  These shoots always feature amazing women and Pragya was no exception.  She has founded ‘Art Tiffin’, a social enterprise for creativity and mental health, she runs a creative studio, she’s a printmaker, creating beautiful pieces of art, she sells cruelty fee, non toxic paints, she organised the first ever TEDx women conference in the North of England and works with businesses to promote diversity and equality.  And writes books.  Oh and she has twin girls, a dog and a husband too!  I’m exhausted just thinking about it…

Off to Bansley now for Active Profile, a marketing, PR and communications agency, to photograph one of their construction clients, Network Space. The aim was to get several group shots on the new building site.  I love this type of shoot where I get to move all the big stuff around.  Unfortunately I don’t actually get to drive anything, but I do get to say “left a bit, right a bit”… Then I had to make everyone stop what they are doing (easier said than done!) ensure they are looking good and wearing all the correct gear (which they were anyway) and off we go…

Yet another inspirational woman, the worlds awash with them!  Sarah Worthington began to pursue her life long dream to be a science teacher at the age of 50.  After working for the NHS, then raising her children she got a job in a high school in Sheffield as a teaching assistant.  After a few years she plucked up the courage and went back to uni to study for her PGDE.  I photographed Sarah for Prima Magaizne.  Read the story here.

Yet another inspirational woman, the worlds awash with them!  Sarah Worthington began to pursue her life long dream to be a science teacher at the age of 50.  After working for the NHS, then raising her children she got a job in a high school in Sheffield as a teaching assistant.  After a few years she plucked up the courage and went back to uni to study for her PGDE.  I photographed Sarah for Prima Magaizne.  Read the story here.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading. Claire x

The post October 2020 appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

August 2020

Hello everyone.  I hope you are all doing OK and getting by in these strange times.  Since June my work seems to have got back up to about half speed and I’m hoping things continue to improve.  I’ve been doing the vast majority of my jobs in the great outdoors where I have either been avoiding downpours or nearly passing out from the heat!
This newsletter jumps back to May and June of 2019 where we start with a job for the Women’s Institute magazine.  I visited Claire Pitt, a WI member who runs a pressed flower business in Runcorn that was inspired by the WI communal garden her group started.

I love pottering around artist’s studios doing little detail shots – I could have stayed all day!

I returned to Enact, a conveyancing company over in Leeds to refresh one of the team’s corporate headshots and to do a new group shot.  Nice clean, friendly headshots on a mid grey background to tie in with the previous shots.

This was a lovely job for the Co-op magazine where I headed off to a large agricultural farm up in Preston.  I donned my wellies and headed out with the Huntapac farmers into a knee deep field of carrots!  Trying to get these guys to feel comfortable in front of the camera was a challenge as I’m sure they would have been happier almost anywhere else, but they were very good sports and I ended up with an enormous free bag of carrots!

Huntapac regularly runs educational days for schools and I documented the visit by students from the Co-op Academy in Failsworth.  I was so impressed with how interested and respectful the pupils were and how hands on and inspiring the day was.  A really nice day to document.

I really like this portrait of Cheryl Lythgoe – a matron at Beneden Health,  because she looks strong and in charge, but also kind and approachable.  The portrait was to illustrate an article highlighting Cheryl’s role in the company for Beneden Health magazine.

Back to the lovely BBC Radio Sheffield to photograph some of the new presenters and also to get some new team shots.  I love photographing all sorts of people but occasionally I’m given a gift of a person. That rare person who is really comfortable with themselves, who has an outgoing and exuberant personality and they just shine in front of the camera and make the photoshoot easy.

Back over to Datel in Warrington to create more corporate headshots of the new and current staff to match up with my previous shots.  A really nice company, always organised with everything running very smoothly.

I’ve photographed DEBRA’s annual members’ weekend for a few years now – DEBRA is a charity that helps people with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) a group of genetic skin conditions that cause the skin to blister and tear at the slightest touch.

This year they have a new president so I was pleased to meet the famous Simon Western. He was fun to photograph and very obliging. The rest of the day was spent taking reportage style images of the days events and also spotting families and whisking them away to have nice portraits done that could later be used to illustrate case studies.

That’s all for now – I’ll send another one out in a month or so. Take care and keep in touch.

Claire
x

The post August 2020 appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

June 2020

Hello everyone, I hope you are well and coping with all the challenges.  Like almost all photographers and many self employed professions, my work dried up just before lockdown.  I took on the new role of homeschooling my two children, caught up on all my admin and tried to stay sane.  Fast forward three months to the 12th of June when I ventured out to my first job!  A lovely editorial photoshoot for Country Life magazine in North Yorkshire.  Social distancing was observed and all went well.  I can’t tell you how good it was to get out, do my job and earn some money.  I’ve since undertaken another two jobs and I hope more will follow.  So here is my newsletter to say hello, I’m available for work, to wish you all well and to show you what I was up to this time last year when the world was relatively normal!

A couple of my favourite images from a day with ‘Walter’s Wardrobe’. Here is model Amber Tutton and the make up artist was Abby Davies.

This was a gorgeous shoot for the Co-op Food Magazine in the Hulme Community Garden Centre, Manchester.  The weather was against us but luckily we had the use of a poly-tunnel to host and photograph a picnic.  It was a really fun and varied day.  Plus I met Humphrey the cat (my favourite model of the day)!  The images were used in the printed magazine and the online version – see here.

I popped over to Manchester to see one of my regular clients, Mills and Reeve, to update thier corporate heashots.  I’m always made welcome and they are a lovely bunch of people.

Last year I spent a day down in Chesterfield for the Nursing and Midwifery Council.  What a treat to be able to follow midwives around for a day and meet the newborn babies. I tried to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible, keeping equipment to a minimum and tiptoeing around.  Visiting the new mums at home reminded me how beautiful and precious, but also challenging those first few weeks are. Special times.

Another visit to Morrish Solicitors over in Leeds, to update their corporate headshots. A really friendly company who wanted nice, clean, corporate headshots on a white background.

Legal Practice Magazine asked me to photograph Darren Gower of Eclipse – Bradford.  Darren has a column in the magazine and needed some fresh editorial style portraits.  We managed to get four different set ups in a short space of time giving the magazine plenty of options.

I spent a day at Millers Oils in Brighouse, doing a commercial photoshoot, capturing a number of images for their new website.  I used a reportage style to cover the daily working life of the company and we managed to cover lots of areas such as testing, blending, packing and distribution.  We also managed to photograph a meeting and a few head shots. A busy day!

Another shoot for Mills and Reeves covering their annual drinks party at the Manchester Art Gallery.  I used to do lots of shoots at the gallery so it was really nice to be back and see some familiar faces (and paintings).  I occasionally do this type of event photography and quite enjoy being ‘invisible’ – it’s like being at a party but you don’t have to talk to anybody.  Doesn’t it look odd now – seeing everyone stood so close to each other?

OK, I hope you’ve enjoyed my newsletter and that there are people at work to receive it and read it!  If you would like to discuss a future shoot, just get in touch.  I’m happy and grateful to work, as long as we can observe social distancing.  Keep well.

Claire
x

The post June 2020 appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

March 2020

The post March 2020 appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

January 2020

Hello and welcome to my first newsletter of 2020 where we jump back to this time last year.  I went over to Hull to photograph the BBC radio presenters.  I always enjoy these shoots – meeting all the different broadcasters and getting their personality across in the images.  Radio presenters are often shy in front of the camera and have to be coaxed gently out of their comfort zone.

This was a lovely sweet shoot over in the Aquarius centre in Manchester for the Co-op Food magazine. The team at the Co-op took their Hot Cross Buns to community charity ‘Manchester Cares’ who work to reduce loneliness and isolation across the city. The group worked together to make Jammy Dodgers from scratch and then sampled the Hot Cross Buns. Read the article here.

Along with writer Ella Dove, I met and photographed Ann and her daughter Catherine who were injured in the Manchester Arena bomb in May 2017. The article, for Good Housekeeping Magazine, describes how they have found solace and comfort from joining the Manchester Survivors’ Choir. Here is the article.

Your Cafe, in Tang Hall, York, is run by volunteers and aims to reduce food waste whilst bringing people in the community together. I accompanied the Co-op Food team for the day, to photograph them cooking and sharing curry recipes with the hard-working volunteers. It was a really nice day and I met lots of kind people, plus I got to sample the gorgeous veggie curry. Read the article here.

We also squeezed in a portrait for the ’10 minutes with..’ feature with Margaret Hattam one of the Co-founders of the cafe.

Time Out asked me to photograph barber Ross Parlane for their Manchester feature. First job for Time Out – maybe they’ll send me somewhere less rainy next time – like California? I can wish!
Ross was great – very chilled and stylish and his shop had a great look too.

Corporate headshots now with Virtuoso Legal in Leeds. Virtuoso Legal are an Intellectual Property firm and required headshots with a little bit of gravitas whilst still remaining friendly and approachable. We hired the Quebec hotel in Leeds and then returned to the office to do a more relaxed fun group shot with Ted the dog.

Another set of head shots, this time for HB Projects, a construction company in Bradford. My client wanted the shots to tie in with the previous shots I’d taken – so waist up, office background and nice and fresh looking.

It seems like a Co-op newsletter special this month! I met Joe Turner at the Co-op head office in Manchester to photograph the ’10 minutes with’ feature for the Food magazine. Of course these features take about 2 hour’s rather than 10 minutes to shoot. Joe was lovely and patient, allowing me to shoot several different options, so the picture editor had plenty of choice. There was also quite a lot of bottle tidying to do to make the background look neat and tidy.

Bye for now. My next newsletter will be along in March.

The post January 2020 appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

December News

It’s been a while since I sent out my last newsletter as I’ve been spending all my spare time working on the new website – click here if you haven’t seen it yet.  This time last year I got to spend a few hours with the world famous Hacker T Dog!  Girl Talk magazine sent me along to BBC Saturday Mash Up Live, in Salford, to catch Yasmin Evans, Jonny Nelson and Hacker as they came off the show!  It was quite exciting behind the scenes – there was a boy band (I only recognised they were a boy band because of their immaculate hair and matching outfits), but the best bit was meeting Phil, the man behind Hacker – he is a legend!

Over to Manchester to photograph Carol Kane for an article in You Magazine. Carol is one of the creators of fashion brand Boohoo. I had lots of help setting up the shot and was brought rails adorned with glamorous and glitzy sequined outfits ready for the Christmas parties. We did lots of options and I kept the lighting quite strong with a back-light to add to the effect. It was fun watching the fashion shoots for the new lines while I was setting up – it’s quite a production line. The Mail online reused the article here.

Another great day at Alderley Edge School for Girls over in Cheshire. From trampolining, to leaf throwing, the library, to outdoor play and from reception to the 6th formers, it was a jam packed enjoyable day and all the girls were keen to take part.

I loved meeting Kim Joy (the 2018 Bake Off finalist). Kim and her husband are lovely and welcomed me into their home in West Yorkshire. I was photographing Kim for the ‘Emotional Ties’ article in You magazine. I needed to do quite a few still lifes as well – the prize cake with a ‘little Kim’ on top and the bake off apron (a bit worse for wear!) – here is a link to the online version of the article. (I also got to eat cake whilst I was there…)

Kate Hardcastle, aka ‘The Customer Whisperer’ often appears in the media sharing her expertise on business and consumer insight. She gets everywhere – in print, on the TV & radio and even has her own show! We get together on a regular basis to create a new bank of portraits that Kate can use to send out to the media when she is interviewed. It’s nice to have control over your own image.

I’m a regular visitor to Datel, over in Warrington. Datel is a company that provides implementation, enhancements and support for Sage products to businesses. They are a lovely bunch of people to work for and I keep their headshots up to date. I love the blue background – it’s lit by a window so it has a nice shaft of light falling on it making it a bit more interesting.

A few of my favourites from recent photoshoots for BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Sheffield. I love meeting all the different people, helping them choose what to wear and drawing their personalities out for the camera. Radio Presenters can be surprisingly shy – although Jen and Kat who do ‘The Naked Podcast’ don’t necessarily fall into that category! Listen to them here.

Lastly – I’m always made welcome over at GW Legal in Liverpool when I go over to do their headshots. People always dread headshots and practically have to be dragged in front of the camera, but it’s never as bad as they think – some people even find they enjoy it!

That’s all for now – have a wonderful Christmas.

Claire

The post December News appeared first on Claire Wood Photography.

Summer shoots

This time last year I had a really enjoyable shoot at Ilkley Grammar School with Neil from Expo.  Expo specialises in producing school websites and brochures.  Ilkley Grammar is a really inspiring and beautiful school located in a gorgeous part of Yorkshire.  The kids were fantastic and very easy to work with.     This […]