After last weeks escapade at Coleton Fishacre in subterranean light levels, I didn’t think I’d be under the same pressure for a while, but it seems the dark clouds and heavy rain are following me around! I drove up to Mid Wales on Monday for a shoot at Plas Dinam Country House to shoot some hotel photography and arrived first thing on a stormy autumn morning. As a photographer, one hopes for atmospheric and interesting light… not full on sun, but ideally a directional and slightly filtered light… we didn’t have any sun on monday, and the light we actually got was gloomy and uninspiring. So, the challenge at Plas Dinam was to shoot as many rooms as we could, instilling some calm, peace, warmth and cosiness into a magnificent 1870′s house. The current owners, related to the famous Welsh entrepreneur David Davies who built up a vast fortune and bought the house at the turn of the century, have decided to open the house to the public, and Plas Dinam is available as a self catering country house, perfect for large parties, corporate getaways or spectacular walking holidays with groups of friends.
Hotel Photography at Plas Dinas, Wales
Photographically, we needed to ensure the rooms were sympathetically lit and ‘warmed up’ (thanks to the current Lord Davies, the fires were lit and roaring by the time I got there!), and we tried to instill some homeliness with various bit and pieces… tea cups, books etc. I also wanted to show the ‘grandness’ of some of the rooms… floor to ceiling windows, panelling and fabulous wooden floors. The snooker room (we couldn’t shoot in there as it’s in the middle of restoration) was amazing and I can just imagine spending a long friday evening in there pretending I’m any good at it! Anyway, the owners are pleased with the pictures, and I think another day next spring (with some sun??) doing lifestyle images would be great… I’d certainly enjoy it too!
