Editorial Photography for Muscular Dystrophy UK

I was commissioned by Muscular Dystrophy UK to photograph a family case study at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The images were created to accompany a ‘day in the life’ story, providing a natural picture of the family spending time together for use across the charity’s website, social media, PR and wider communications.

A documentary approach to a family case study

The brief called for a relaxed, documentary style rather than a heavily directed family portrait session. Much of the photography was therefore centred around simply spending time with the family as they explored the park, played together and stopped for a picnic in the woodland.

Working in this way gives people time to become accustomed to having a photographer around. Rather than continually stopping an activity to create a photograph, I can observe what is happening and work around it, stepping in with a little direction when it is useful.

For case-study and editorial photography, I find this balance particularly important. The photographs still need to work for the client and leave enough variety for different layouts and uses, but they should also feel representative of the people being photographed.

Working with the location and available light

We photographed the story during a particularly bright day in March. The low, direct sunlight gave the open areas of Haigh Woodland Park quite a hard quality of light, so the landscape and woodland became an important part of how I approached the shoot.

The open sections of the park were useful for wider establishing photographs, placing the family within the landscape and giving the story a sense of location. Moving beneath the trees gave us areas of softer light and shade for the more intimate parts of the shoot, particularly during the family picnic.

Rather than trying to remove the character of the sunlight completely, I worked with it and the surrounding tree cover. This also helped maintain the warm, slightly vintage visual treatment requested in the original brief.

Creating a varied set of editorial photographs

Alongside the candid photographs, I created a small number of more structured family portraits and wider environmental images. Combining these with closer details and spontaneous moments gave Muscular Dystrophy UK a varied set of photographs that could work across different formats.

For me, this is one of the strengths of documentary-style editorial photography. A single shoot can produce the wider images needed to establish a story, recognisable portraits of the people involved and the quieter moments that give a case study its personality.

The final photographs were supplied to Muscular Dystrophy UK for use as part of the family’s case study and across their digital, social media, PR and internal communications.

I work with charities, organisations and editorial clients across Manchester, Greater Manchester and the North of England, producing natural photography of real people and the stories behind them.