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Newcastle’s City Tavern up for Heineken Award

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This month Heineken awards it’s very best pubs nationally for their best achievements. The City Tavern in Newcastle city centre has been entered for Best Newcomer. Lessee Dave King who has been in the bar and leisure trade for many years had taken retirement but returned to the business to start up Barhound to refurbish and re-open what once was LYH (legendary Yorkshire Heroes).

The ales are varied and they have their own house ale brewed by Caledonian in Edinburgh. The food offering is fantastic with a high ranking certificate from food hygiene standards and the decor is spectacular with views up and down the vault like centre of the building. If you are Newcastle based and doing some Christmas shopping over the next few weeks it’s a perfect quiet stop away from the bustle of shoppers and long shop queues!

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Sage Group Treasurer John Swift

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This month’s edition of The Treasurer features local Sage Group’s John Swift. Think Publishing in London who manage the design asked me to capture John at the impressive Sage building in Newcastle to assist the copy. The portraits were to reflect a relaxed and professional John with a variety of posed and in a natural working environment for a centre spread and cover option.

The challenge of corporate portraiture is finding good sources of light and making sure that the subject is relaxed. Commercial portraits need show the individual to be approachable and professional and reflecting character can also be a great addition to the image. John was really genuinely jolly and a willing subject which made the shoot run smoothly and enjoyably. The setting offered so much natural light that there were several options for backdrops and a few incorporating the strong Sage branding. Some shoots are tricky but this really was a dream! See the results below currently on The Treasurer website.

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The Big Cheese Making Kit

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Big Cheese Making Kit has been created by Ailsa Proverbs and her team offering an amazing product for those who fancy the idea of making cheese at home. It has exploded so fast that originally the kits had instruction manuals with quick phone snaps. With the demand increasing for Christmas from stockists such as Debenhams and Harrods, Ailsa wanted to replace the temporary shots with professional ones. I was commissioned to capture well executed illustrative photos of the key stages in the cheese making process for Halloumi, Goats and Mozzarella. As food and drink photography is one of my specialities I was delighted to get on board!

The day was lots of fun learning about cheese making as I worked and Ailsa’s beautiful new kitchen was a fantastic backdrop for the imagery. For anyone interested in these kits, have a look at thier website as they make a perfect pressie for any cheese lovers!  http://www.bigcheesemakingkit.com 

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The All Seeing Eye, Fluid Group Newcastle

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The All Seeing Eye opened two weeks ago by owner Oliver Vaulkhard of Fluid group in Newcastle. Heineken’s Star Pubs and Bars have invested in the refurbishment of what was The Blackie Boy’s rarely used function room upstairs. The historic features have been exposed with the roofs rafter’s, rustic red brickwork and 30’s satined glass windows creating a cool New York feel together with ornate Moroccan tables and velvet furnishings adding a laid back vibe.

The brief was to capture PR portraits of Manager Dave Walker and his staff along with photography of the bar interior design showcasing the large atrium, the light features and the relaxed low ceiling snug area. The lighting and colours created dramatic compositions perfect for PR & marketing photography for todays Journal to promote this fantastic new late night bar in Newcastle city centre.

The article is in today’s Journal on this link http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/popular-pubs-receive-240000-makeover-7120118

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Private Dining at As You Like It, Jesmond

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Apartment Group’s bar and restaurant As You Like It in Newcastle is a rich and colourful environment to capture. The bar and restaurant interiors are a photographer’s dream with the textures of rich fabrics and low lighting. The images were required for their private dining area for future marketing material for weddings and private dining functions. The brief was to use my creative eye to show it off to it’s best with atmospheric, illustrative interior design photography. Whilst the rich velvet curtains gave a cosy feel there is an escape to a private veranda for an exhilarating and elevated view over Jesmond.

Whilst this shoot was enjoyable, technically it was tricky as the low light required a slow shutter speed and the use of a tripod restricted the angles to shoot from but the colours of the dusk light and the interior design resulted in some great shots as you can see below….

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