Lee Steele - The Potter Man Studio

As a portrait photographer I love the challenge of making environmental portraits of talented artists and crafts-people in their workspaces. Lee Steele is a ceramic artist and potter and I recently photographed him in his studio in Holme-on-Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire.

Lee runs The Potter Man Studio and produces industrial-inspired pieces called Salvage Ware ( his customers include Darren Henley O.B.E. - the Chief Executive of Arts Council England amongst others) so this was a great opportunity to see Lee's work up close.

You can visit Lee’s website at www.thepotterman.co.uk , he also runs classes and workshops if you're interested in learning pottery and ceramics. Lee was very welcoming and I spent a very interesting and enjoyable couple of hours in his studio.

For lighting I used a Bowens GM400 strobe with a 60’ Photek softlighter for the large soft main light and a second Bowens with a smaller 24”x24” softbox attached as a rim light to give a bit of separation from the background.