Two North East students are moving onto the next stage of their careers as band photographers, thanks to support from their university.
Arlo Brown and Susana Hill have created BandVue, a company set up to provide video and photographic content for bands. Both are University of Sunderland students in the second year of BA Photography, Video and Digital Imaging degree. Over the summer the enterprising duo worked with over 30 bands – including Noel Gallagher, Johnny Marr, and Lewis Capaldi.
The two students’ summer project was funded by DOSH, the University’s Development Office Scholarships program. Every year DOSH awards tens of thousands of pounds in scholarships to students studying at Sunderland.
The scholarship has given them the taste of a possible career path, and says Arlo, would not have been possible without support from DOSH.
“The project began with a bang when we filmed at the This is Tomorrow Festival in Newcastle,” says Arlo, 19, from Horsington in Lincolnshire. “It provided us with our first real taste of what it’s like to work at a festival, and it would be fair to say we were thrown in at the deep end!
“But we loved every minute, and managed to come away with high level professional images and video, and since then we have photographed as many gigs as we could, working in Manchester, Hartlepool and Camden.
“We were only able to do this thanks to the money provided to us by the University.”
Susana Hill, 19, from Granada in Spain, founded BandVue alongside Arlo. She added: “It was really hard for us to expand our horizons, as we couldn’t really afford to travel to gigs and festivals to generate materials for the website – but DOSH radically changed that!
“Between May and August we were able to attend festivals, gigs and recording sessions from Newcastle to Manchester, London and Sheffield, printing t-shirts and business cards to promote the company as we went along.
“What we’ve learnt and the experience we’ve gained really is priceless.”
As part of the project Arlo and Susana plan to employ current students, and this summer welcomed fellow Photography, Video and Digital Imaging student Ali Edge to the team.
Arlo added: “We know we are extremely privileged to be in the position that we’re in, and we have given it everything.”
You can see Arlo, Susana and Ali’s work at their website: www.bandvue.com.
To find out more about the scholarships available to current student from our Development Office go to: www.sunderland.ac.uk/dosh.