New York, New York
The New C&J Store in Soho, NYC
Craig Fraser pictured outside the new store prior to the photoshoot.
A photographic studio in Northamptonshire recently won the job of a lifetime when it was asked to shoot street and store scenes in New York City. Craig Fraser of Frasershot was commissioned by Northamptonshire shoe company Crockett & Jones to fly out and take photos of its new store opening in Soho. The iconic shoe brand already had a store in New York, which sits just off the prestigious Fifth Avenue, near to Central Park and was opening a second retail store in trendy Soho, a neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan known for its arts scene and boutique shops. The company, which was already working with Frasershot in the UK, wanted Craig to spend three days in the city to not only capture the grand opening of the new store, but to also take staff portraits, photograph the store at work and capture street scenes for both stores. “Even though both stores are in the same city, they are targeting completely different customers,” said Craig. “The brief was to take shots of the store opening from a press point of view, as well as staff portraits for both stores that were consistent with the work we have done with Crockett & Jones here in the UK. We were also asked to photograph street scenes, which captured the essence of the areas – from the upmarket, luxurious feel of Fifth Avenue to the quirky, cool, hip and trendy streets of Soho.” Despite the stores both being in New York, they were a one-hour walk away from each other, which meant Craig had to pack equipment that could achieve the desired results but would be lightweight and easy to transport.
“Transportation was a major factor in deciding on the equipment I was going to use,” said Craig. “Not only because I was going to be doing lots of walking with it, but also because I wanted to keep my kit in the hold on the plane. I purchased Profoto’s new B10 light, a beautifully designed light that is small enough to hold in your hand but has fantastic power output.”
Craig also used a combination of different cameras and lenses including a Canon 5dm3 and Sony AR72, Canon Prime Lens, 50 and 85 1.2 lenses and the 24-70mm Profoto OCF beauty dish with colour filters as well as batteries, chargers, memory cards, a MacBook Pro and a power bank for onsite charging.
In total, Craig was in New York for five days, shooting for three days. This meant he also had a little downtime in the city which enabled him to watch an NHL game at Maddison Square Garden and visit the famous Harvard Club, which is a private social club located in Midtown Manhattan.
Craig added:
“Frasershot has been working with Crockett & Jones for seven years now, shooting all of the company’s creative and product photography and video. We pride ourselves on the way we light the products and the quality of imagery we produce. So, it’s a real testament to the standard of that work that they commissioned us to work overseas on the photos for the US market too. “Not only was it an incredible experience to travel to New York with Crockett & Jones to photograph the city, it has been an honour to work with the team over the last seven years and witness their incredible success and growth. The Crockett & Jones marketing team are so talented and completely understand the power of professional imagery. They do a great job of marketing the brand across multiple channels and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
Kit for travel shoot.
Profoto B10 & A1, Canon 5dm3 and Sony AR72, Canon Prime Lens, 50 & 85 1.2 lens and the 24-70mm. Profoto OCF beauty dish with colour filters, Batteries and chargers and memory cards for both, MacBook Pro and power bank for onsite charging. Mini Manfrotto light stand.
Some of the work we produced.
Above are some street scenes I shot to show the area, very much on the fly with the Sony AR7, processed in Capture One Pro
In store shooting staff portraits
All shot on the Canon 5d and as always pulling a stupid face as we squint through the lens.
Shooting street scenes.
All shot with Sony on this occasion, nice backdrop of a UPS delivery van.
““Working with Craig is like working with an extension of my own marketing team. Craig easily understands the end goal and always welcome’s involvement from clients. He gets the job done and in the 7 years we have worked together, he has never missed a deadline. Craig and Frasershot were my obvious choice to accompany me to New York, where we had mixed briefs – Staff portraiture and a new store opening in the very cool SoHo! We were on tight timescales with no second chances, working in unfamiliar territory that pulled on all of the skill strings that Craig has in abundance. Work aside, Craig is a very affable chap and always brings great enjoyment to any shoot. For obvious reasons, 2020 resulted in our biggest ever spend with Frasershot.””