Redcar Press and Editorial Photographer: Christmas Events and Festivals

Photographing the happy atmosphere of Christmas celebrations, usually in near-dark conditions, which really tests your skills and experience, and I was lucky enough to be asked to be the only North East commercial photographer to be commissioned to shoot a trio of North East Christmas light ceremonies and parades this year.

Stockton Sparkles Launch

My first job was the Stockton Sparkles launch on 28^th November, with thousands gathered in the town centre. Attractions ranged from a nativity scene and firework display to carol singing children, entertaining the crowns. Stockton-born musician Mike McGrother coordinated the 1500 kids wearing flashing Xylobands, and the carol singing children drawn from schools across Teesside.  

At one point I was on stage and felt like a rock star as I encouraged the audience to wave their armbands. My childhood ambition was to be a drummer and I had a surreal moment standing up there, thinking ‘What on earth am I doing?’

Stockton Sparkles had a real festival feel, marking the first night of late night shopping in Wellington Square and the Castlegate Centre, the Press photographs were for the local papers the Darlington Northern Echo and the Middlesbrough Gazette. It was what I call a ‘live shoot’, where my photos have to be edited and sent back to the client or to local media titles within a few hours or even minutes! I got some great front page pictures of the large crowd, using a fish eye lens on my Canon camera, which can cope with near darkness and was well worth the investment.

A couple of days later saw me photographing Redcar’s Christmas light switch on at the Beacon, it stands above the town, to mark the completion of the £30m seafront regeneration programme.

Redcar Light Swich On

The town centre stage was the heart of the celebrations and drew a big crowd, keen to see Santa and experience a fabulous snow machine that delighted children and adults alike. I moved through the crowd taking photos of people being entertained by singers from the Topline Youth Choir and One Voice Choir, as the Christmas parade made its way from the blue clock to the main town clock, before the lights were switched on by Councillor Brian Briggs.

 

Middlesbrough Fire and Ice Procession

The third of my seasonal jobs involved photographing Middlesbrough’s Fire and Ice procession. This was a fantastic spectacle, with around 5000 people gathered in the streets and in Centre Square. The Coca Cola truck proved a popular attraction, while with ice queens, Jack Frost, ice dragons and fire birds keeping everyone entertained.  

Santa and his Cairngorm reindeer parade provided the ‘aah’ factor, while an ice rink and coloured fountains in central Middlesbrough created challenging light conditions for this commercial photographer.

Capturing the spirit of events like these with clear photos taken in very low light takes every bit of my years of experience as a north east press and commercial photographer,  and as well as a top of the range camera I use techniques such as bouncing the flash off the ground to light up the crowd’s faces.

I love photographing Christmas events, they are an important way of bringing the community together as well as creating tourism revenue, and as well as making the news this year, many of the photos I took will be used to publicise next December’s events through print publications, advertising and social media.  

I was proud to have been asked to photograph the three big Christmas events & festivals across Teesside, and to help to get the festivities off to a great start for local people. 

...Merry Christmas!!!

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography