Aintree interiors photography commission by Liverpool photographer

Published on Wed May 3, 2023 by David J Colbran

I have worked before on a few commissions at the Aintree Racecourse, here in Liverpool over the years. Quite a few times for commercial organisations using their excellent conference and function facilities. And some connected to the horse racing - a couple of times for The Racing Post and then a few for various PR organisations with events connected to the meetings. But never actually on the course itself for the Grand National Festival.

Each year Aintree showcases three days of top-class racing, including the world's greatest Steeple Chase - The Grand National. And of course it is a great weekend to be in Liverpool, with many visitors and tourists flocking to the city. So I was excited when Arena, one of the world's biggest temporary structure providers got in touch for some location photography at Aintree.

Arena Group supply a comprehensive range of approximately 100 pieces of temporary event infrastructure to Aintree Racecourse for the Grand National Festival. These include The Jockey Club’s double-decker Amberleigh House hospitality facility, and the Owners and Trainers Pavilions. As well as grandstands and all of the public areas including the Red Rum Garden, the bars at the Embankment viewing area, and the Moet & Chandon pavilion.

The temporary structures and interim designs are a major undertaking and the build begins at the end of January to be ready for the meeting in April. So of course Arena need an archive of high quality images of both the interior and exterior of these spaces. And it was fascinating going around the site on the day before the racing with the project manager getting some photography completed. Of course, in this day and age, part of the brief was to turnaround quickly some rushes for their social media channels. So it was back to the studio and a quick edit of a handful of files for that afternoon.

Non-permanent facilities like these at Aintree are increasing in popularity and are now being used in a number of ways across the world of sport and major events. And fantastic to learn that Arena has now a team of 1,224 employees across 18 depots across the globe. Hopefully after this successful commission I can work with them again at one of the many events they support.

Author: David J Colbran