Portrait and product photography of a cabinet maker.
I love it when a skill swap presents itself. There’s something quite satisfying about two people trading their craft and experience for a mutually beneficial outcome. Working with Harry Sanger was one such experience. Harry had recently launched his new business as a cabinet maker and was looking for a portfolio of photography to start marketing his business.
He got in touch, we had a chat then both went off and had a think. Harry came back to me with a proposal. I had some slabbed oak that I’d been seasoning for a number of years and had all these wonderful ideas of making an outside dining table. The likelihood was that (if I ever had the time) the end result would very much look like someone’s first attempt at making an outside table. With this nightmare prospect in mind, Harry offered to make my table in return for photography and I was very quick to accept this generous offer.
So off we went. Stage one was some product photography at various family homes. For the most part, it was all done with natural light. I had to use some studio lighting and each product was dealt with individually but with a continuous style in mind.
I was blown away by the incredibly high standard of Harry’s work. The carpentry was so detailed and intricate and Harry’s understanding of the raw materials, grain, components and how to work with them was so comprehensive that this made me realise that my future oak table was in extremely safe hands.
The next phase was a portrait and reportage style photo shoot at Harry’s workshop in Devon...
The space was great. Pretty much every wood working tool you could think of. A very professional set up that he shares with another wood worker, also called Harry!
The objective - to capture him at work and create a handful of portraits for future use. My concern with situations like this, is not knowing what lighting I’m walking in to. There is always the option of using my own lights but this can change the authenticity and certainly slows the process down. Fortunately for me, we had a cracking Summer day in Devon and sunlight was streaming through every available window. This gave me loads of lovely bounced light to play with. Had it been a wet afternoon in November, then the whole shoot would have looked quite different.
The end result. Harry got his images and I had my table. If you want to see the table then you’ll have to come over toplace for a BBQ sometime!
Have a look at his website and maybe enquire about a commission….
