PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER NORTH EAST ENGLAND - CORPORATE - PUBLIC RELATIONS - LIFESTYLE

PR PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BRITISH ARMY FREEDOM PARADE

2010-06-25T12:39:00.000+01:00

The Yorkshire Regiment used their Regimental Freedom rights and marched through Stockton on Tees with their newly presented Colours flying, bayonets fixed and drums beating, according to tradition.

I was working for the British Army press Office, and along with the regimental photographer and various other assorted professional and amateur photographers, captured the parade and the locals showing their pride and appreciation of the regiment's efforts in Afghanistan.

Whatever your view, and I don't think we should be in Afghaistan, you have to admire the tremendous bravery and job these guys and girls are doing.

The Parade was led by the Band of the King's Division, followed by the Colours Guard and two guards of soldiers dressed in desert combats to reflect their recent return from Afghanistan.

There was a great turnout - and so I hope you enjoy some of the many photographs I took.

KERRY QUINN TO LEAVE HER POST AT DURHAM TEES VALLEY AIRPORT

2010-04-22T12:23:00.000+01:00

It’s been announced that Durham Tees Valley Airport Director Kerry Quinn is to leave to take up a senior post at Cardiff Airport.

Kerry was always great fun to work with at the airport on press calls and I will miss her smiling face - and when Middlesbrough FC got to the UEFA Cup Final in May 2006 and the place was manic with an apron full of jets and jumbo jets - it was a great place to be part of the team!

Kerry had worked at Durham Tees Valley since 1999 and has been Airport Director for the past two years, said today" I am leaving a great team, a great area and a great airport’ she was looking forward to the challenge of becoming Operations Director at Wales’ major airport.

Said Kerry “As a born and bred North Easterner it will obviously be a bit of a wrench to move and I will certainly miss the tremendous support and friendship I have enjoyed with colleagues at Durham Tees Valley.

We will miss you too!

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

FASHION SHOW PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NORTH EAST - THE BRIDGES

2010-03-11T09:58:00.001Z

Fashion shows are one of the staples of a professional freelance photographer.

They're very popular with the public, a great money making idea for charities and a way for shopping and retail parks to generate interest and a 'value added experience.

So, it was off to The Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland for the latest one - and the young models had a great time - and the audience, primarily composed of young girls took a particular delight in a VERY good looking guy, and were practically passing out when he took off his shirt!

If you want my company to photograph your professional fashion show or be part of a fund raising fashion event in the north east of England - just ring on our FreeFone No 0800 8047270

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

GREAT REVIEW OF DIRK VAN DER WERFF PROFESSIONAL FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-03-11T09:50:00.000Z

It's always nice receiving reviews or testimonials of my work - and especially from someone I inspired to be a bigger and better photographer - even if he is now a competitor in the commercial and wedding markets in the north east!

From Alan Clarke of Alan Clarke Photography.

"Someone once told me that to be a photographer you must be focussed on one specific area of photography, only cover one aspect of it to be truly great, well Dirk in my humble opinion is living proof that this simply is NOT the case.

If you take 5 minutes to have a scan through Dirk's work on his website, his wedding blog, his Flickr site or this site, you will see talent that only comes with experience and you see an excellence across the board.

Dirk is one of the friendliest people I have met, seeing him work at weddings and PR events he slots effortlessly into the background, directing matters when needed, producing stunning results.

It was watching this man at work that inspired me to pick up a real camera for the first time and discover for myself that photography simply is not as easy as it looks!

If you hire Dirk, you simply won’t be disappointed!"

NORTH EAST BAND PHOTOGRAPHER LIVE CONCERT AND GIG PHOTOGRAPHY - KASABIAN AT NEWCASTLE

2010-03-09T15:13:00.000Z

KASABIAN LIVE AT NEWCASTLE METRO RADIO ARENA

I've photographed thousands of bands over the past 25+ years, and live music photography has always been a passion - smaller gigs and up and coming bands are more fun as access is easier and less controlled - you can actually photograph the encore!

It always amazes me that the traditional 'first three songs, no flash' scenario is so embedded in the psyche of promoters nowadays that the band's management and PR people that many, many great images are missed.

The majority of the greatest rock photographs ever were taken during the encore ... emotion, sweat, triumph .. many of these moments are missed because of 'first three songs and no flash' .. que sera

I digress ..... Kasabian are a fine live band, in fact twice I have actually bought tickets to see the entire concert, even though I have had a photo pass, they're that good and deserve all the praise they receive.

Tom Meighan is a great frontman and Serge and the boys drive the music along - and of course there are many anthemic tunes that really get the crowd going.

So - my images are from the first three songs at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena ... great gig!

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

PHOTOGRAPHER'S SEARCH OPTIMIZATION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITES

2010-02-17T11:01:00.000Z

Search Engine Optimisation is easy .. but constant and never ends.

There are hundreds of companies in the UK offering to make you Number One in Google Searches .. especially if you are a photographer.

So, save yourself from the snake oil salesmen, but be prepared to put in some hard graft on a regular basis.

Most important is content, content, content ....... up to date relevant content to photography fully keyworded and well written with inbound and outbound cross-link your own blog to your website with relevant content to relevant content, linked out to your Facebook company profile, Linked-in company profile and even (for me) to my Flickr relevant sets and pages and, occassionally images.

TITLE tags are WAY more important to Google, but Keywords and Description tags have their place as well as Alt tags for images

My title descriptions on Flickr images often rate more highly in a Google search than a website page or a BLOG .. and when they do, I make sure (even though Flickr kicks off occassionally when they find them .. and also have a NO Follow tag against any link you post that's not a Profile page link) that I put a LINK from that Flickr image to the relevant BLOG page or web page to make them (in Google's robotic eyes) all relevant

The reason BLOGS do so well is that they are UP TO DATE and RELEVANT .. whereas a lot of websites are made, and the pages remain static and the same for weeks or months on end - that's why you need to tweak your website pages by a little bit every week, so that Google knows they are not static, that they stay relevant and up to date.

To be honest, there's a good argument to only have a blog nowadays, particularly from a pro company .. new pages on my blog are often catalogued by Google within 10 minutes, a new page on the website often takes 3 / 4 weeks .. mine often make it in 10 days but ONLY when I make a LINK to them from my Blog

I use an enhanced Blogger site rather than a WordPress site because in the early days it was easier for me to understand and get up and going ... but Blogger is a Google company, so that helps to a degree and to be honest, there's just as many customisations from Blogger templates nowadays ....

So .... age of a site (a domain that has been alive and registered for 5 years will be beteer than one for 1 year..) .... relevance of a site, inbound and outbound RELEVANT links, triangulation of sites to each other (blog / website / a.n. other(s) and continually tweak and change small parts of the website and blog every week at least once, if not twice

Use Google Analytics - especially good is the OVERLAY option which shows you where your visitors leave a page on which link...

Use Feedjit to see where visitors are coming from LIVE and using which search phrases or inbound links ...

Other photographers in my area are always (in a friendly way) whingeing that my web pages and my blog pages and my Flickr images ALWAYS come above them in particular search terms, but that's because I put a lot of hours into it every week ..

Don't cheat (cos Google will slaughter you) , be relevant, be up to date and you shouldn't need snake oil salesmen ...

Best of luck!

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER

AQUILEGIA PHOTOGRAPHIC LIMITED

COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

SUMMER LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHS - HARTLEPOOL BAY

2009-09-06T09:22:00.000+01:00

One of the great things about being a professional photographer is that business and pleasure mix on many occassions.

Not in the way that people ask me 'Where's your camera?" at family or social events, believing of course that my camera is actually an extension of my right arm which I carry with me always.

No, in the way that I still after 30 years have an enthusiasm for photography for pleasure, in my own time, which often offers opportunities for commercial exploitation.

Landscapes, Seascapes and Cloudscapes are a real thrill for me to photograph for my own pleasure, but the photographs I produce also offer me the chance to sell those images to agencies like Alamy who License photographs to publishers all over the world, and also for the thousands of North East England expats all over the world who like reminders of home - often on their walls and displayed as huge prints, on canvas and in acrylic display and gallery art pieces, and Christmas is a time when folk like to be reminded of home, so I sell a lot of this type of work in the run up to Christmas.

This summer has been great for clouds in particular, virtually every day has filled the skies with dramatic clouds - and often rain, so when I have had the chance, I've dashed out the office, sometimes late on, and photographed these amazing clouds and stormfronts from across the land and across Tees Bay and Hartlepool Bay.

A field of sunflowers, grown as a testbed by a farmer between Hart Village, Elwick Village and Dalton Village near Hartlepool also provided a new opportunity for landscape photography, one in particular showing the industry of Teesside and the Hartlepool and Tees Bay in the distance - I hope you enjoy my 'private' work too ...

KEYWORDS FOR USE WITH THIS ARTICLE: SEASCAPE, CLOUDSCAPE, LANDSCAPE, PHOTOGRAPH, PHOTOGRAPHS OF HARTLEPOOL. GALLERY PRINTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, PHOTOGRAPHER, PHOTOGRAPHERS, ORDER PRINTS, ORDER FRAMED PHOTOGRAPHS, CHRISTMAS, HARTLEPOOL, TEESSIDE, NORTH EAST ENGLAND.

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

FIRST TIME MODEL - CHARLOTTE LOOKS THE PART ON FASHION MODELLING SESSION AT THE BEACH - BLUE LAGOON, SEATON CAREW, NORTH EAST ENGLAND

2009-07-28T14:29:00.000+01:00

I bumped into Charlotte in the pub believe it or not, and she was such a striking girl, with unbelievably long fingers, that I suggested we get together (with her boyfriend Ray) and do some photography.

I felt sure that she would get interviews with some of the best model agencies in newcastle and the north east on the back of the images, especially for 'bit-part' modelling with her long fingers!

The hand shots were fine, as were the other ones, but it was the landscape fashion-type ones that worked really, really well.

The sun was low in the sky, and it wasn't the warmest day to be on a beach on North East England, but the dark brooding clouds, the heavy rain laden skies made for wonderful lighting - and after all, that's what photography is all about.

Charlotte did her stuff, mother nature contributed, and I pulled it all together on the Canon 5D.

I loved the photos, and Charlotte got in to see the agencies in Newcastle - job done!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO PHOTOGRAPH YOU ON LOCATION AS AN ASPIRING OR ESTABLISHED MODEL, WORKING TOGETHER, THEN PLEASE CONTACT ME BY TELEPHONE OR E-MAIL WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS OR IDEAS.

YOU WILL BE ASKED TO BRING ALONG A CHAPERONE, BOTH FOR MINE AND YOUR PEACE OF MIND, AND THEY CAN ACT AS ART DIRECTOR TOO :) AND MAYBE CARRY A FEW THINGS TOO!!

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

PR AND MARKETING PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NORTH EAST WITH DR DAVID BELLAMY - DARLINGTON - NEWCASTLE - SUNDERLAND - DURHAM --

2009-04-24T08:56:00.000+01:00

I've photographed Dr David Bellamy quite a few times over the years, but he isn't on television as much as he used to be.

If you chat with him, he's convinced it is because of his stance on global warming and wind turbines .... that said, he's still a lovely chap wto work with and always gives his clients value for money.

My company Aquilegia Photographic Limited company was commissioned to produce and provide images for Alcazar, a full service agency involved in creative brand communication and their work with Darlington Borough Council on their South Park project which has been restored to it's Victorian splendour by a big program of investment.

A key feature of South Park in Darlington is the giant Redwood trees, and I produced some images in and around the trees with members of the team involved in the park and with David himself - I rather liked the one of David on his own with the swirling trees - and for myself, I made this as a split-tone image. One of the other images I created when we visited Drinkfield Marsh, a local nature reserve - and hopefully that image will be used on the front page of their magazine.

Thanks to Adam Powell of Alcazar and Dr David Bellamy for being a pleasure to work with.

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

DAISY GREEN MAGAZINE ETHICAL EXTRAVAGANZA IN NEWCASTLE - PR - PHOTOS - PHOTOGRAPHY - PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-03-13T14:19:00.001Z

Last night I phoptographed Daisy Green Magazine's Ethical Extravaganza at Newcastle university Student union - it was a good night, with an excellent turnout and support from the good people of Newcastle and the north east.

There was a host of Vintage clothes stalls, and a whole bundle of one-person businesses offering everything from Soya candles to felt handbags to jewellery that would really stand out in a crowd - and there was a Magpie Swap too ... Bring five pieces of clothing that you no longer want - and go home with five pieces of clothing / belts / handbags / jewellery that someone else doesn't want - how cool is that!

Nicola Alexander and her dedicated team at Daisy Green Magazine did a crackin' job putting together the evening, and I'm sure they will become bigger and better than ever in the future - and it also reasied money for Dans Funds For Burns too.

Beate Kubitz (MD and Founder) of Makepiece was there too and I had a nice chat with her before she headed back to Yorkshire, while there was some really fantastic clothing on the catwalk from Redmutha.com, THTC, PeopleTree, Lifesnotfairbutmyknickersare, Beaumont Organics, Makepiece, Boutique Ethinque, Tammam,

Make sure you are part of the next Ethical Extravaganza -

IF YOU NEED A PROFESSIONAL CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER FOR YOUR EVENT IN NEWCASTLE - YOU KNOW WHERE TO COME, JUST RING ME ON 0778 7150966 OR GO TO MY WEBSITE HERE:

NEW IMAGES FROM THE SHIPLEY GALLERY GATESHEAD - ART - MUSEUMS - NEWCASTLE - PHOTOGRAPHY - PHOTOS - PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-03-02T09:02:00.000Z

Art galleries and museums are great places for creative professional photography.

With all the investment and refurbishment in new galleries - such as the Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art (MIMA), and The Baltic in Newcastle over the last decade in the North East of England, it's been a privelege to have been involved.

The Shipley Gallery in Gateshead received a LOT of investment from a lottery grant to refurbish their new Designs for Life gallery in 2008, and the Communication department of Tyne & Wear Museums service commissioned me to take photographs of the new gallery for their use in PR, marketing aids and internal communications.

Lighting was kept as natural as possible with a little added fill in flash where appropriate.

In the end, they were so pleased with the images that I created a modern, contemprary coffee table book containing the images.

These books are quite stunning and are printed and assembled in the USA and then despatched by Fed Ex to us - the turnaround from me uploading the digital files and design to receiving back the books is just 10 days.

If you wish for me to be involved in the production of photography at any art gallery, museum, public art space across the north of England, and show you the possibilities of showing the images, whether on canvas, on modern acrylic wall art or in contemporary coffee table books, I would be happy to advise.

NORTH EAST PR COMPANY - CORPORATE PORTRAIT - MIDDLESBROUGH - TEESSIDE - NORTH EAST ENGLAND

2009-02-26T20:57:00.000Z

When a North East England PR company head rings and asks you to capture and image of herself and her team , it's both exciting and daunting.

Exciting because I enjoy creating photographs - especially people photographs, but daunting because with a group shot, it's difficult to get one that is saftisfying in an office environment, and even more so because nearly everyone hates their own photograph!

I always try to explain to people that I'm trying to make them look cool, but they usually know in their heart of hearts that they will hate their own photograph. They will love everyone else in the photo, but will make sure that they 'hate' their own....

Tanya Garland is head of Cool Blue Brand Communications in Middlesbrough, a really succesful communications company, and I've worked for them on quite a few occassions over the years, so it was nice to be asked to create an image for their own use and publicity.

We decided it would be best out of the office environment, I wanted a good 'angle' or viewpoint, so I decided that the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art would be the place to go.

It would be nice to tell you that we had an hour or two, that make-up, assistants, lighting rigs and multiple flash units were employed.

But I would be lying ....

Natural light, a little bit of fill, great viewpoint from the staircase, some daft joke or throwaway line to catch their attention, et voila .....

I suggested that it may be better and have more impact as a black and white image, or split tone or duotone ... and Tanya agreed too.

NORTH EAST LIFESTYLE PORTRAITS ARE PROVING VERY POPULAR

2008-11-03T08:42:00.000Z

Lifestyle portraiture has become a really popular form of photography over the past four or five years, with some great exponents of the style across the North East professional photographer's community.

Life many, I prefer to go out on location with my clients and capture them naturally at a country park or a beach or a favourite place rather than in a studio which can be a sterile and intimidating place to be natural.

Children are a favourite subject to photograph as they come alive on a beach or running through woodland, and more and more couples are choosing to express their relationship with professional photography, giving gifts of canvas and acrylic prints to parents and to hang in their homes - often as large as paintings in galleries.

The latest professional portrait commission I was involved with was Shelly and Steve whose wedding I'm commissioned to photograph at Langley Castle in December.

We needed to spend a little more time together getting to know each other before the wedding day and an hour or so walking a beach on a crisp and cold day is a good way to do it.

We created some lovely images together, they are so looking forward to their wedding at Langley Castle - and I'm very much looking forward to being a part of their celebrations.

I hope you enjoy a few of the photographs!

DIRK VAN DER WERFF

ENTREPRENEURS' FORUM VIVA LAS VEGAS BALL - GATESHEAD NEWCASTLE HILTON HOTEL

2008-10-31T16:44:00.000Z

It was great to be part of the team involved with the Entrepreneurs' Forum 5th Annual Charity Ball, Viva Las Vegas, at the Gateshead Newcastle Hilton Hotel last weekend.

The event raised A LOT of money for Maggie's Cancer Care Centre and everyone seemed to have a great time too.

Some of the photographs taken at the event by Principal Photographer Dirk van der Werff feature a Diana Ross tribute singer, Deanne Keanne, Host Philippa Tomson in a fine designer gown and dancing girls from Encore Dance Entertainment Group.

If you are holding a grand ball to fundraise, give Dirk van der Werff a call about our Charity Ball packages, and our FABULOUS coffee table books featuring the evening which are great to give to corporate sponsors, key fundraisers and award winners as a great memento of the evening!

Victoria and Jaeger's fantastic USA wedding photo album from their wedding at The Crab & Lobster - Done!!

2008-10-29T15:24:00.000Z

Victoria and Jaeger's magnificent wedding album arrived hot off the press from the USA this week .......
The image is a bit different to a normal wedding photograph, which is why I decided to use it, and my wife loves the series of images in black and white and in colour when the wind (and there was plenty of it on a windy day in Yorkshire) picked up her veil and swirled it around.

Hope you like it - they loved it .. and her Mum Margaret has ordered one of the A3 sized albums too and I'm expecting an order in from Italy from Jaeger's parents too!