Mark’s been in the shipping game for 15 years – mainly sending containers around the world for clients. He’s just started a new role in a brand new business so needed some new shots to promote both him and the business.
Images of Shipping… in Leeds?
So the challenge of finding a suitable location began – we discussed the vibe of the shoot, and I always try to get a bit of a story in there… then I remembered there’s a huge container storage facility in Strourton, but not only that, there’s the canal and Aire flowing past there too.
So the story builds… I locate a suitable road with views of the containers on Google Earth, the photographer’s friend! We agree a time and place – Thwaite Mill in Stourton. It’s quiet, lots of car parking space and well sign posted.
Meeting Up
Another blistering day, my 2013 shoots seem to involve a lot of heat, graft and sweat….
Driving down the little road to the Mill I spotted a huge stack of containers – we could do the whole shoot on this one location! So I get 3 lights set up, 2 with light benders, the other with a 1 meter softbox – and we’re raring to go.
The Shoot…
Putting people at ease is the most important part of the shoot – for me anyway.
So before the camera gets pointed, you spend time getting to know them – I found out about how the “freight forwarding” business works, how big these ships really are, that Hull is actually quite a small port, Liverpool has a cracking nightlife associated with its port and that Felixstow was the biggest…
So we then set up with a cool “Sin City” feel to the lighting, and got a few shots in the shade – nice green backgrounds. From there we walked up the “island” between river and canal, taking shots of mark with the containers in the distance.
A little further is a huge lock and old bridge – so we used those as backdrops to get that “shipping” message in the background.
Then we left the canal and wandered back down to the car park, stopping 3 times – once with a grey building as backdrop, once with the containers right behind Mark and finally some more chilled out shots with his tie off… which apparently his mum wants a print of!
Delivery
They needed the photos for a press release, so within 2 hours they had all the shots on Dropbox to choose from – then the chosen high res-shots with them the same day.
The Photos…
So here’s more of Mark
Love these portraits, what lens did you use to create this shallow depth of field?
70-200