Powerhouse

Wednesday 10th April - Powerhouse Photography in Rodley

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Over the past couple of weeks I have been in touch with Richard White (director of photography) at Powerhouse. In my previous blog post, Networking, I spoke about Powerhouse and the initial emails between Richard and myself.

We organised for myself to come over to Powerhouse and once I arrived Richard showed me around. There are multiple large studios within Powerhouse and I was able to observe a couple of shoots going on that day, one being a food product shoot for Morrisons. Richard also took me to where they keep the props that they use for shoots, the equipment rooms and the main office space with individual meeting areas.

I had prepared some questions to ask Richard about working within a commercial photographic environment to aid one of my assignments (included below).

* What kind of skill level do you look for in your photographers?

"There isn't a straight answer to this question. I prefer to hire graduates and train them on the job. Initially starting off as an assistant and working their way up to becoming on of our photographers. My number one priority is for somebody to have a good personality, be a people person."

* What kind of kit/software do you use?

"Phase one, Canon, Capture One and Photoshop etc."

* Who are your clients?

" Major Northern supermarkets, Thorntons, Quorn, Kelloggs. Iceland is a major client for us."

* What kind of work do you do? Is it just products or do you do any advertising or corporate work?

"Not so much corporate. Food for packaging and PR mainly. We do a lot on social media now, videos for Instagram are becoming a big thing."

* How did you get started in the industry? What did you do when you first left uni?

"Funnily enough I worked originally in this building. I shot photos of cars assisting for a car photographer. After that I went freelance for a bit, specialising in food. I then started Powerhouse 20 years ago."

* Do you have any tips/advice on how to survive after uni?

" Put yourself out there! Have a realistic expectation. Don't be too specific in what you want to do. Visit studios and ask for freelance assisting work. Don't be afraid to ask questions and be a people person, people skills are very important!"

I spoke to Richard for a long time about Powerhouse and discussed coming in to do some assisting work with the rest of the team. I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.