Hayden Hackney - Home Town Boy
I don’t think anything will beat photographing footballers, it was always a dream of mine to be a footballer but that never happened! Being in and around the professional game and the players is as close as I will ever get and it’s something that I will never take for granted! Hayden Hackney is a 21 year old from Redcar who plays for my very own Middlesbrough FC and England under 21’s. Hayden went back to his old school, Sacred Heart, where we shot and filmed him talking to current students and his old teachers about his journey to date.
“He exudes calm, and he’s very stable and level-headed. But there is also a real steeliness and stubbornness about him. He has real belief in himself, in a good way.”
When shooting ‘talent’ it rarely works out exactly how you plan or would want it too. When the commission first came through I had 3 locations around Redcar earmarked and some quite brave and different situations for Hayden. Players such as Hackney are in demand 7 days a week and obviously have many commitments they need to fulfil. We had 1 hour, this would include film and stills, baring in mind there were 8 students each asking questions as well as 6 teachers, this left us around 10-12 minutes to get stills in 4 chosen locations!
All things considered I am really happy with both the film and the stills, lessons learned as they always are, I also still have the other ideas in my back pocket for future shoots! Thanks Hayden and Middlesbrough FC as well as Redcar Athletic and Host & Stay who commissioned the piece. Shot and post by NORTHERN MADE, Jack Holmes with Olivia Carter on production.
