Recently I was approached by the North Bucks Arts Society management team, who were looking for a Milton Keynes image to become part of their new brand identity. They had seen my MK stock photography and were interested in finding a suitable image to act as a header on their website, and also for use in other marketing materials, including printed brochures.
Having looked at their requirements in detail it became clear that a single image was not going to give them what they needed, as the web template needed a very long and narrow header banner, and the main focal point needed to be right in the centre, so the image would work on mobile devices as well as desktop PCs.
We then moved on to talking about a bespoke image, which I would shoot for them - giving them the added benefit of it being totally unique to their organisation. From here it was just a case of deciding on a suitable subject, which they felt really illustrated all that North Bucks Arts Society is about - and after much discussion and location scouting, we settled on the iconic Tickford Bridge in Newport Pagnell. This dates back to 1810 and is one of the last few remaining iron road bridges of its kind.
From a photographer’s perspective, this was a very interesting technical challenge, as the bridge need to be right in the middle of a very long and thin panorama, which was also dark on the left to accommodate a white-out logo. Not easy when there were very few locations in which I could stand in order to achieve the right viewpoint - and only one side was an option as there is a modern footbridge on the other side! I had to calculate the correct sun position for optimal lighting, and then shoot the image in multiple sections and stitch it together in Photoshop.
Lastly I also needed to shoot the same central section again, in portrait format with extra image area top and bottom, to provide a high resolution print quality image for use on A4 sized brochure covers and other materials.
Putting all of this aside, the final challenge was to shoot the scene in mid November, but still in good light - leading to a couple of failed attempts before I finally managed to capture the shot they were hoping for! The final result was well received all round, and it was certainly an interesting, and challenging, project to work on. You can see the finished site at www.theartssociety.org/north-bucks.
"Thank you so much once again for your enthusiastic help with our project. We'll be looking at your bridge for many years to come, I'm sure! It will probably be up on screen at the start of every lecture and on the cover of every flyer we produce!"
Julia Campion - North Bucks Arts Society Committee