PROJECT manager Chris Rennison-Rae, 37, is from Newcastle. Outside work, his passion is photography. "I'm currently a weekend warrior with a camera and dreaming of turning that into a full-time job. Time will tell," he says.

The Northern Echo: Chris Rennison Rae photgrapher

What do you love about photography?

I love to create and capture a moment. The trouble is most of these 'moments' are held forever on some server on the internet these days. This is why I love to see photos printed – my house is full of large-scale prints from travels, photo albums, photo books and maybe a few too many pictures around that can be appreciated forever. As for how I work, while I'm pretty easy-going, I so plan meticulously. I have three weather apps on my phone. I walk around venues in advance and carry a list of the photos needed. I also love to get involved in planning a shoot or wedding so that it's more of a collaboration between the parties. It is true: do a job you love and you won't have to work another day.

What are your favourite locations in the North-East?

Well it really depends what for. I love sunsets and sunrises. There is something so magical about a sunrise on the beach, seeing the sun peek out over the horizon and the colours that ensue. For wedding shoots, I prefer big airy spaces with lots of natural light, although smaller, more intimate, venues give a totally different feel.

What is your favourite time of year to take pictures?

For me, being outside all year round sounds like a plan. From March to end of September, it's amazing to shoot outside, and although I live in Newcastle, it really doesn't rain that much. I like warm, bright mornings when you can disappear off and create something special, or the sunsets of the golden hours that cast warm tones on faces. Equally, a totally white sky can give brilliant light for perfectly balanced photographs. With us living so far North, the winter does suck a bit for shooting outside, and there are only a few hours each day when the light is good enough.

“Never work with animals or children” goes the famous saying. Would you agree?

Ha-ha... no I wouldn't agree. I've had dogs in wedding shoots that were remarkably well behaved, and with children, if you are genuine and approachable, there is normally not an issue. If you can get on with who you are shooting and they get on with you, it's going to go well. The more details you know, the better you can be. I always advise anyone I sit down with that if you don't get a good feeling about a photographer, don't book them. They may give you a good photo, but photos are more than just a photo; they're the memory of the photoshoot and how the photographer and the situation made you feel. On the other hand, I have been in the middle of family argument on a wedding day before. That was interesting!

Do you enjoy wedding photography?

I love it, although it's a huge responsibility. I have back-ups for my back-ups. I have a spare camera in the car, spare lenses in my bag, batteries and double memory cards. On a wedding day you just can't sit still. Blink and you'll miss that moment. You can get amazing shots of the bride and groom in a ten-minute span, then do another later. A wedding day is about the wedding and celebrating it., so it seems a shame to take the bride and groom away for a long time. One of my favourite images was taken at Sage Gateshead, under a purple and orange sky. I hunted out the bride and groom and five minutes later, they were standing outside the building as the sun went down over the Tyne bridge.

Tell me about the Levitation series of photographs?

I run a project each year to improve my skills and last year, I was looking for something a bit different. This was certainly about learning something new, about pushing the boundaries of what I can do as a photographer and making people say, "how did he do that?" Thankfully, ideas come from all sorts of places. The shoots posed all sorts of difficulties: too many clouds, sinking sand, wading out in to a sea that got very deep, very quickly, a nosy dog that was far too and rain. I won't spoil the magic of how it's done, but if anyone would like photos of themselves "hanging around" like this, please get in touch.

Which famous person and/or place would you most like to photograph?

I thought about saying "give me the royal wedding please", which I would utterly love, as it would be an honour and a privilege. However, I think I'd prefer to spend a day with someone, acting as an interviewer and photographer as a fly-on-the-wall, running around the streets of somewhere like New York, Hong Kong or Las Vegas with a great slew of people. I'll be greedy and name a few –Richard Branson, The Rock, Michael Jordan, or maybe up on the rooftops with ballerina Misty Copeland, potentially someone like Lewis Hamilton, Jennifer Lawrence or maybe even Barack Obama.

I do have a bucket list for photography too, so I have a long list of places to travel to. Hopefully, I'll tick off a couple this year, fingers crossed. I want to head back up to Glen Coe and take some landscapes. I'd also like to get out to Iceland at some point and photograph the aurora, although if I'm lucky, it might pop up around Kielder, in Northumberland, some time this year.