Morgan Reeves, founder of Salterns Creative.
Published: February 4, 2025 | Updated: 4th February 2025
A SWEF Enterprise Fund grant from Dorset Community Foundation has helped Poole photographer Morgan Reeves focus on growing his business.
The fund helps young people aged 18 to 30 to overcome financial challenges and other disadvantages to develop their business, and a £1,500 grant was enough to transform Morgan’s.
The 29-year-old had planned to save enough money to leave a job in credit control and start his own photography and videography business.
But when the company he worked for went into administration, his hand was forced.
“I’d been in various credit control jobs for 10 years, and I knew I didn’t want to stay in it,” said Morgan.
“So when I was told I’d be made redundant, I figured it was probably the best time to start my business.”
He expected the firm’s winding up process to take a year, so he began building up his business with photographic jobs at weekends and evenings and on his annual leave.
“I was starting to get a few jobs, and then I was commissioned to take photographs at a Champions League event in London hosted by Heineken.
“I went to book a day off and my boss told me I only had one more day left.
“That was in April, and I’d expected the job to last until about November.”
When his redundancy came earlier than expected last May, Morgan turned Salterns Creative into his full-time job.
But he only had one camera – a relatively basic model he’d owned for several years.
He had planned to save more of his wages to add to his equipment, but now he needed his redundancy money to live on while the business grew.
“I’d been offered a job shooting a client’s online teaching course that required a lot of video,” he said.
“My camera was a little bit above entry level but by no means a professional camera.
“This job was a week of shooting everything at different angles, so having just one camera would’ve exacerbated the recording – and my camera kept overheating.”
He discovered the client had himself received a SWEF Enterprise grant and he encouraged Morgan to apply.
The community foundation’s fund awards grants of up to £2,000 to established businesses or £500 to start-ups to help with the cost of training, product development and equipment or stock that will help launch new products or services.
Morgan submitted an application and was invited to attend an online meeting.
“The whole process was super easy,” he said.
“The meeting was intimidating at first, because I’ve never done anything like that, and I wondered if they would understand my vision.
“I told them how I wanted to scale into more of a production company so we can do pictures, video and interviews to tell a story.
“Once I started talking, it was relaxed and actually really enjoyable.
“A couple of weeks later I got a message to say I’d been accepted, which was amazing.
“I had the camera saved on my laptop and was able to order it straight away and tell the client I could do the job.”
Morgan added that having a second camera which is much more adept at shooting video has transformed his business
“It’s been game changing, because about 80 per cent of my work is now video.
“Making that jump from one to two cameras just unlocks another layer of production.
“I’m taking on so much more work that I wouldn’t have been able to accept before.”
Among Morgan’s regular clients are hospitality provider Rockwater, building contractor Ecosafe and motoring product distributor Sonax.
He’s also worked with mountain bike company Knollie and has been shooting motorsport.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the grant, because with this camera I feel confident in accepting and agreeing to jobs, knowing I have equipment that’s capable.
“The last six months have probably been the hardest, most tiring and sometimes very lonely six months of my life, but I’d make the decision again 10 times out of 10.
“I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.”
See Morgan’s work at salternscreative.com or on Instagram at @salternscreative