As a Wakefield commercial photographer, it’s always a pleasure to receive commissions from new clients and today I did my first shoot for Bellway Homes on location at Newton Hill Cricket Club. Bellway have donated several new benches to be used around the cricket ground at local Wakefield team Newton Hill CC and my brief was to capture some shots of the benches along with key members of the cricket club. Unbeknown to me until I arrived at the ground, I knew the club chairman as he was a forner client of mine when I was wedding phtographer on his big day at Darrington a few years ago! After a quick catchup, we decided to use one of the benches that had a large willow tree behind it and also the sidescreen as this spot gave the best background – the ground is surrounded by houses and the backgrounds were messy. Although I had chosen the best backdrop, it meant I was now shooting directly into the very strong afternoon sun which was going to make me have to pay attention to the lighting. However, this is one of my favourite scenarios in which to create some vibrant images. By shooting with the subject’s back to the sun and lighting them with a 500w flash head and additional fill from a large Profoto sunsoft reflector, I was able to come up with some colourful, editorial images. Using an extreme wide angle allowed me to get low and use the benches in the foreground as a lead in but the 14-24mm lens is very prone to lens flare. However, I think the flare adds to the shots and is not too much of a distraction. The client was very happy with the final images!
