Branding Shoot - Revidge, Blackburn - 09/07/2020

Cllr Jackie Floyd and I met some years ago now through our enthusiasm for socialism and our membership to the Labour party. Meeting up at a soft play centre to talk tactics and put the world to rights while my little boy played, she inspired me more than I think she can ever know. She is a person with integrity, compassion, and a such a bright and warm personality that you can’t help but agree with her! I first had the pleasure of photographing her for her borough council campaign back in 2018. Of course she was voted in and now represents Billinge & Beardwood on the Blackburn with Darwen borough council.

Since then much has changed, Jackie is well established as a councillor who has shown she’s not afraid to get stuck in and also lead the way. She’s very much involved with the Keep Blackburn Tidy group, educating residents and litter picking around the town. Most recently she has taken on the role of promoting food sustainability, again much of this revolves around education. Some of this is moving away from the idea of just giving food and looking more at helping families move towards providing for themselves. Learning about where our food comes from and how to grow our own is also an important aspect.

On a more visual level Jackie’s look has completely changed since her shoot in 2018 so new headshots were definitely in order. This time we met up at the Revidge allotments where she has a plot. The perfect backdrop for everything Jackie is involved in and a dream for me. Vines twirling upwards, flowers providing bright spots of colour, the wonderful shapes of near ripe fruit and vegetables, as well as the lush green foliage surrounding it all.

We needed to show a range of expressions for Jackie’s portraits to cover the many different situations she may need the images for. From open and approachable to stern and disapproving we did the lot! Jackie also needed some more natural ‘at work’ shots to use on her blog and social media. We met up on Zoom beforehand to discuss exactly what she needed the images for, how they might be used, and look at other images/people that fitted Jackie’s brief for inspiration. We also talked through clothing options as well as what backgrounds/locations would be suitable.

It was a fun morning and we got exactly what Jackie needed. Having your photograph taken can feel like an intimidating experience but it doesn’t need to be! I’m there to guide to from start to finish, preparing you beforehand and helping you with the final decisions.