A set of images representing Cleopatra for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Last year the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust commissioned me to work with them on a new set of images to tie in with their work on Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.
It ties in with a multi-year project the Trust has embarked upon on The Women Who Made Shakespeare.
Two Hours Through Dusk
To capture the purple lights on the front of the Shakespeare Birthplace building, we had to shoot as close to dusk as we could, but without making Cleopatra late for her train! (I know, how the mighty have fallen.)
We first took a series of images in the gardens of New Place. New Place is where Shakespeare’s mansion stood, right in the middle of Stratford-upon-Avon. The mansion was eventually destroyed by a subsequent owner, sick of tourists coming to gawp at ‘Shakespeare’s home’. There are now formal gardens on the property.
Taran, Robyn and I chose a few locations that we thought would be visually interesting, and Kaja played Cleopatra brilliantly.
The BBC featured a couple of our photographs!
A photographer friend noticed our photographs on the BBC and sent me a link.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust PR team had done a good job getting the story out to local press, and national as well.
It really helps having professional photography to get a story into the press, especially if you can let the photographer and team get creative.
Yes, get the standard shots, but also use some flair, lighting, colour, movement, backdrops… this is when photography gets really interesting, arresting, and allows for visual storytelling that goes above and beyond the ‘normal’ shots we see every day.
If you’d like to talk about commissioning editorial photography like this for your organisation or publications, book a call or send a message at the bottom of this page.
Here’s one of my favourite images, Cleopatra swishing her cloak in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon as Shakespeare looks on, with the original Tudor house he was born in behind them both, with purple lights on the frontage.
This shoot was such good fun and I’d love to do more of this kind of creative editorial photography, playing with light, location, and ideas.
