Friday Interview with Marie Harkness

Tell us about yourself and the beginnings of your career — have you always had an interest in photography?

I’m Marie Harkness, aka Harkness Photography and I’m the owner and founder of Hidden Heights Creative Studio. I’m 29 and originally from Dumfries in Scotland. I began studying photography in 2008 and fell in love with creating studio and fashion-focussed portraits. I moved to Newcastle in 2010 to complete my BA Honours in Creative Practice and I’ve worked in the industry ever since. This year is actually my 10th year of business, so I’m very thankful to you guys for helping me celebrate that! Growing up, I was always creative, in school my mains interests were in Art and Design, and I have been told that when I was very young I was constantly running around with a disposable Kodak camera in my hand — so I think my career was always destined!

Could you tell us how you go about creating and executing a photography shoot, for those that don’t know what that entails? A typical shoot involves building a team to create the idea, usually from a set brief. This team includes a photographer, make-up artist, hairstylist and wardrobe stylist but can be expanded depending on the size of the job undertaken. We are really lucky to have most of these individuals available in-house at Hidden Heights, but we are also able to source these for clients if needed. We then select and book the models to suit the brief, then discuss ideas and brainstorm as a team, devising a plan of action for the day of the shoot. Once the shoot is completed, it’s my responsibility to select, retouch and finalise the work for final delivery or submission to the client.

What advice would you give to readers wanting to get into photography? Learn the profession well, do your research, find your market and do something different to stand out from the crowd.

Jobs in creative-industries are notoriously tough, both to secure a job and sustain a career long-term. Were there any moments you felt things may not work out, and if so what got you through?

Starting out in the creative industry is very difficult, I’m not going to lie. When I finished my degree, I had three different jobs at the same time — I worked a day job in retail, would then shoot music gigs after work and then nightlife photography on a weekend! it was tough going and there were many times I felt like giving up and pursuing a full time 9-5 role, but I knew that just wasn’t right for me so that kept me pushing on. When I started out, there weren’t as many budding photographers in the area and the main line of work available was weddings. I did give this a try for a year or so but I just didn’t enjoy that side of photography as much, my passion definitely lay within the studio, shooting model portraits and fashion. There was undoubtedly a gap in the market for this type of work and I think my vision, paired with the launch of the studio stood out to potential clients, which helped to establish myself here in the North East. Looking back, to say that I’m glad I held in there is a huge understatement, I’m beyond pleased I stuck it out.

What sets Hidden Heights apart from other studios?

I think it’s because we offer the full package — a high-quality photography studio, professional photo and video content creation, award-winning hair styling and professional makeup artistry under one roof. Because of this, many creative opportunities have become available to us. We praise ourselves in being able to offer full brand content creation packages, which are unique to the area.

We love the décor of the studio, did you always want it to have an edgy industrial vibe?

When we relocated to our arch space, I definitely wanted it to have a chic and quirky interior, something that really stood out. The Pinterest mood-boarding life was real! My dad and brothers have their own construction and renovation business, so I think a lot of inspiration came from them. It was a long process, creating the space and sourcing our furniture as a lot of it was reclaimed and custom, often made locally.

What have you learnt about business and yourself over the past ten years?

Where do I start, I have learned so much! Owning my own studio has allowed me the freedom to experiment with different lighting and techniques, which has improved my knowledge tenfold. If you told me ten years ago would I be running a studio and salon with seven team members in completely different fields to mine I would have laughed! I could not have imagined myself in the position that I’m in now, so I guess I have learned that if you stick at it and really put your mind to it, you can achieve your goals.

You are constantly juggling being both a creative and a businesswoman, how do you marry those two aspects at work?

When I first entered the industry I thought that having creative knowledge and business knowledge were two completely different things, but as the years have gone on I’ve realised that whatever field you’re in, as long as you know your market, the business side of things will come to you naturally as you actively work in the sector and build your knowledge over time. It can be difficult to balance these two aspects on a daily basis, i.e. running the business and financials at the same time as tuning into your creative side on a shoot day.

Can you tell us about the choice to add team members to Hidden Heights?

Building a team of creatives was always a goal of mine, to achieve the concept that I had for the studio. It has been a natural progression over the years and we are pretty maxed out for the time being with a team of seven — but never say never! I’m proud to call all of the team members good friends, we are like one big creative family. Every day really is different, and having a mix of wonderful creative energies really makes the studio a fun environment to work in. I love being part of a team on set where everyone is on the same page, works together to each brings something different to the shoot. That’s when something really special comes to life.

Are there any challenging parts of your job, and what would people be surprised to find out?

E-commerce photography can be quite challenging, as it involved shooting multiple products in different variations and retouching, usually in a quick turnaround which can result in long working days and sometimes nights! I think people would be surprised that aside from portrait and fashion photography, in the summer I love to shoot imagery for food and cocktail menus! I find it really enjoyable to make food and drink look aesthetically pleasing.

What are your plans for Hidden Heights in both the near future and further down the line?

During lockdown we’ve been looking at the production of some HH products. In the current situation we find ourselves in, hand hygiene has never been more important, so we thought this was the perfect time to introduce a ‘HH Hand Cleanser’ and our ‘HH Sanitiser Spray.’ We hope to grow the range further and actually have some exciting new products we’re currently working on, which will be available in-store and from our online store — so keep your eyes peeled for those! I have a lot of short term plans and definitely hope to host new events at the studio when that’s possible again. In the long-term, we may look at branching out into different elements of studio rental, or even pop up in different cites.