Craig Bingham Beautifully Depicts Yorkshire Life in Short ‘Running Through Life’

Against the backdrop of the farm they grew up on in Yorkshire, Craig’s short looks back at his Mum’s life and the special relationship she has had with horses over the years.

Craig says: “What started off as a phone conversation during lockdown with my Mum turned into the backbone of a short. Whilst chatting to her I never quite realised the sacrifices she made for us when we were growing up. I guess as children we never do. Animals have always been a big part of my life growing up on the farm. Mum and Dad were hard workers and still are today. From goats to jersey cows, all our animals held special characters. Me and my brothers earned our pocket money through mucking out the stables. But I never fully appreciated the special innate connection my Mum has with her horses”

The film was initially carved out by a timeline of photographs, starting from Craig’s Mum as a child up until present day. 

“Nostalgia was the tone and I knew this was going to be a project to be shot on film. Adric Watson is a DP I’ve been wanting to work with for quite sometime, I pinned him down in a pub one evening and sealed the deal with a pint of Guinness.”

The production approach had to be incredibly lean and nimble, due to the current shooting limitations and the nature of shooting with horses. On such a low budget, all the toys such as tracking vehicles or remote heads were not an option. It had to be a down and dirty approach.

“Adric's process of shooting is really organic, he is all about the art, the feel, a grafter through and through which was needed on such a stripped back production. He introduced a new perspective to the project. The film was always made to breath, and the shots we captured needed to sit with the audience."

Shot just after lockdown eased Craig says “It felt like the perfect time to shoot something like this, with no work on the horizon and more time on my hands, to re-connect with my Mum and family on such a personal project injected some fulfilment back into my life. Me, Adric and BTS photographer Peter Lally slept in a shed my Dad built for us at the bottom of the yard. There were such good vibes whilst shooting and I feel that always comes across in work when you have an amazing team”

Check out some more of Craig’s work here.​