Mollie Makes Magazine
Nice coverage for Mollie Makes of Shevie Moyles work down in Cornwall...
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17 04 13
Wow, its all gone mad now! off to Cornwall for a hotel shoot tomorrow, back to Bath for a hotel shoot on tuesday, then to East Sussex for two days shoots for magazines, then back to Bristol to prepare for four days in Italy... see you on the other side...20 03 13
Ongoing work with Chateau Impney in Worcestershire see here... and many other jobs too.. Homes and Gardens shoot last week in Devon, and some rather smart new architectural clients based in London this coming week... watch this space!17 01 13
Well, the year's turned and I'm mooching around in the office trying to reorganise/springclean and generally do nothing! It was a good year (2012) and you can read a review here... At the moment its snowing here in Bristol, so any excuse to discuss 'not snowing' weather would be gratefully received!15 7 12
Well its 'here we go again' time!... off to Cornwall again shooting for 25BH magazine, then straight back and up the M4 to shoot for a day with Esti Barnes of 'Top Floor Rugs' in London on wednesday. Then another shoot for Route One in the next couple of weeks, and a final shoot for the wonderful National Trust at Powis Castle Gardens ... Blimey...Twitter Feed
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Tag Archives: hotel photography
Photography at Harington’s Hotel, Bath
I have recently spent a day photographing at this lovely little hotel in Bath city centre, for new marketing and website use. It’s a great little hotel, right in the ‘thick’ of it, with modern, clean rooms, good breakfasts and two very friendly owners, Peter and Melissa. We shot a variety of rooms, some food, and the little garden with its jacuzzi… The hotel has car parking available, which is helpful, because the one way system in Bath is maddest I have come across! These images are a good example of what we can do in a one day shoot… enough to spruce up any hotel web site! We photograph hotels across the UK and Europe, please call or email if you need a quote or some information.
Harington’s Hotel in Bath, Photography
Gara Rock, Devon
I have been photographing the brilliant restaurant and spa interiors designed by Kendall Kingscott for the newly-built Gara Rock development right down on the tip of South Devon… a lovely area with a fantastic secret (ish) beach and a cliff top location to die for! We have fond memories of the old hotel with its wood-panelled bar which hinted at a more glamorous past and where we used to stop for a quick pint after traipsing up the hill from the beach – a perfect spot to catch your breath and take in the fabulous views and sunsets.
The team from the nearby Millbrook Inn at South Pool have taken over the restaurant, and the food is, by all accounts, great. The interiors are industrial/contemporary with lots of barn wood being used to clad the walls. Much of the furniture was designed and built in the area and there’s a real emphasis on keeping everything ‘local, honest and sustainable’. Sleek tables and sky blue chairs with funky retro lights above lend the place a clean, airy and distinctly modern feel. Very refreshing when one may have expected to find New England style cladding and overdone ‘nautical accessories’ – this place is much cooler than that!
The Gara Rock development at Rickham, South Devon, interiors designed by Kendall Kingscott
Chateau Impney
I’ve been hard at work in Worcestershire recently, photographing the recently updated (ongoing!) Chateau Impney Hotel, in Droitwich Spa. A fabulous building, dating from the 1870′s, Chateau Impney was made in to a hotel and exhibition/conference space in the 1970s. The hotel went in to a decline in the late 20th century, but has been revitalised by its new owners. PR and marketing gurus ‘Alias‘ were bought in to help bring the website and marketing in to the modern era, and they called me in to shoot a new set of pics for the website. Now the results are there for all to see, and apparently its already having the desired effect…. There are still areas of the hotel that we need to photograph when they’re done, but you can see from their new site that there have been vast improvements!
Chateau Impney website, Home Page
Hotel, Interiors and Garden Photography, a review of the year, 2012
After spending a lovely new year at Fingals, it’s time to get back to the grindstone, but not before I have a brief look back at the work I did last year. It reall was a mixed bag of assignments, from following NT gardens through the seasons to shooting a top hotel in Tuscany, Il Borro. My work is varied (that’s how I like it!) and I feel as ‘at home’ in a vibrant spring garden as I do in a Midlands ‘Spa Resort’ with four swimming pools and a 5 star chef!
Hotel Photography 2012
Hotels wise it was a good year, and I shot a range of places, from small ‘bed and breakfast’ businesses (Bolotho Barns for example), to huge, multi-restaurant and spa resorts with hundreds of bedrooms (Hoar Cross Hall). Somewhere in the middle are the small hotel operations, with 10-15 bedrooms, owner operated, and with , more often than not, very good kitchens serving locally sourced food. These are enjoyable jobs as the owners know every room, the staff are their friends and they are able to put their own stamp on the places (Gliffaes Hotel, Boskerris Hotel, Tasty Ski Company). I have often said it but I love shooting these sorts of hotels as I get to do a bit of each of my favourite types of photography – gardens, interiors, food and lifestyle.
Interiors Photography for editorial and commercial clients, 2012
It was a busy year too, shooting for my commercial clients: Mandarin Stone are one of my favourites… we shoot lovely houses, finished with wonderful ‘products’, and the client really enjoys, and more importantly, understands the value of careful styling and propping. Another valued client is Top Floor Rugs, with whom I did a fantastic shoot at an amazing house in North London. Again, the client understands the importance of photography and the way that the products are shown (apart from the fact that she is also a world class rug designer!). I also had a good year doing editorial for interiors magazines and shooting major features for Country Living, Homes and Gardens and Saga.
Garden Photography for the National Trust 2012
Out into the rarified world of the internationally important garden, and I spent another year shooting, through the seasons, with the National Trust. I worked at three gardens, The Courts, Lacock Abbey and Powis Castle, and spent many happy hours watching the way the gardens changed through the year… frosty views at Powis, early spring shoots at the Courts and fullblown summer borders at Lacock. It’s hard to think of a job I prefer more…
All in all then, an excellent year… even if the weather wasn’t amazing!
A bit of Slap and Tickle at the Chateau
Just back from the autumnal delights of the Bordeaux region where every other house is a château and even the most minute pocket of land is given over to the vine. We were staying at the wonderful Château Rigaud, owned and run by dream team Anna and Aib and where you feel as though you’re a guest at an intimate house party rather than an impersonal hotel; there are no numbers on doors or reception staff – you just help yourself to drinks at the bar, stroll about checking out what the brilliant chef Steve is planning for dinner, eat way too much and generally have a fabulous time.
There was a purpose though you understand – it’s not all play – we were the first guests to try out their Bread and Wine Weekend. We learnt to make fougasse, sour dough and pizza which we cooked in the wood-fired oven in the vegetable garden surrounded by just-turning vines and ate with new best mates – our fellow guests. The ‘slap and tickle’ is a method for kneading the dough by the way, taught to us by Steve and fellow chef, Peter – highly recommended as a form of strenuous exercise or a way of getting rid of pent-up aggression! Afternoons were spent visiting St Emilion or Sauternes (apparently they’re quite famous for wine…) before we came back for truly memorable feasts which were matched with wines from Bordeaux. Back to earth with a bump last night though when we came home to a bare fridge and ended up eating fish fingers and peas…
Autumn at Chateau Rigaud
Autumn at Chateau Rigaud
The staff at Chateau Rigaud
Guests at Chateau Rigaud
Guests bread making at Chateau Rigaud
Fantastic food at Chateau Rigaud
Go Slow Italy
A couple of years back I was lucky enough to be asked to help shoot the food and lifestyle images for a book about places to stay that were in tune with the Slow movement which originated in Italy. It was commissioned by Alastair Sawday’s, a small travel publishing and media company based near Bristol as part of their Go Slow series. I took off for Italy, travelling mainly by train from Lombardy to Sicily and stopping off at some stunning places along the way whose owners had chosen to opt for a less frenetic way of life – growing their own fruit and vegetables, producing olive oil and wine from their land and respecting the seasons. The book is available here on their web site…
Go Slow Photography for Alastair Sawdays in Italy
Garden Photography at Hoar Cross Hall Hotel
Have been photographing for the wonderful ‘Alias’, a creative team based in Stow On The Wold who are doing the design work for Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire… Part of the brief was to do some exteriors of the hotel, including the fabulous gardens… a boon then, to have some sunny weather… Hotel Photography involves a mix of disciplines (part opf the reason I love it!) and here are some of my favourite ‘moments’ from the shoot…
Garden Photography at Hoar Cross Hall Hotel
The Tasty Ski Company
Tim Maitland is the young owner of a small catered ski chalet company, called The Tasty Ski Company, with places in Morzine and Grand Massif in the French Alps. His idea is to provide luxury accommodation with top quality catering in the heart of the ski country he knows so well. In his own words, “Food is what makes us tick. Our team has a wealth of experience throughout the catering industry, from 3 Michelin Star restaurants to luxury alpine chalet companies. Catering is what we love and what we do best”. Tim asked me to provide new photography for the updated website, and for two days we have been shooting interiors, exteriors, food and ‘lifestyle’. Here is a small selection of what we achieved with the food…
Food Photography for the Tasty Ski Company in France
Food Photography in this sort of situation is a balancing act. We were not in a studio, Tim was cooking, and we only had a dining room table on which to photograph the finished results. We had limited time, and were restricted to using available light. So, using the existing ‘props’ (plates, cutlery etc) and a bit of sunlight we managed to photograph a surprising number of expertly created dishes. It helps that Tim has worked with Heston Blumenthal (note the Butternut Squash ‘Foam’ above!)…
Hotel Photography in Tuscany, Italy
I Shoot Horses Don’t I?
I’ve just returned from a few days hotel photography at ‘Il Borro‘, near Arezzo in Tuscany owned by the Ferragamo family – designers of very beautiful footwear and bags worn by proper Hollywood royalty over the years – Marilyn, Audrey and Angelina amongst others. The estate is vast with its own medieval ‘borgo’ where we stayed, a spa, stables and huge winery. They’ve managed to pull off the trick of respecting their traditional Tuscan roots while introducing super slick, up-to-the-minute design elements particularly around the spa with its infinity pool and Vincafé. I spent my time racing around photographing interiors, charming staff, atmospheric vistas and even the horses!
The next day we drove into Chianti where classic Tuscan views of ancient hilltop estates flanked by cypress trees and surrounded by dusty olive groves forced me to leap out of the car, camera in hand around virtually every bend. Volpaia is a tiny village which sits high above Radda in Chianti where the restaurant La Bottega and bar are both owned by the same friendly family – there can’t be too many better places in the world to have lunch.
All this bucolic bliss can get a bit much so it was time to head into the hubbub of Florence – 92 degrees, many shops and restaurants closed for holidays, swarms of tourists (like me), coffees at 5 euros – but still utterly amazing. Best bits were midnight photography of Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria and an early morning trip to the food market at Sant’ Ambrogio to stock up on pecorino and tasty tomatoes.
Hotel Photography in Italy is a tough job, but someone has to do it…. so, if you have a hotel, Bed and Breakfast, Spa or restaurant , and you need some marketing images, please do get in touch…. I’m photographing a ‘Gourmet’ ski chalet in the French Alps next month, and back to do more at the slightly bonkers Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire after that… come on, catch me while you can… 
Hotel Photography at Il Borro in Tuscany, Italy
Boskerris Hotel, Cornwall
Wow, what a busy couple of weeks… I have been whizzing around the country photographing hotels, gardens, interiors and furniture… Lovely Cornwall has featured heavily and I spent a dreamy couple of days down there, doing shoots at Boskerris Hotel and a beautiful house on the Lizard (surely one of the most lovely parts of Cornwall?). Boskerris is family owned by the Bassetts and its a simple, smart and friendly place with amazing views of Carbis Bay and St Ives. We shot their newly refurbished rooms, and tried to get some shots on the deck with the view (the weather intervened a little there!)… They were such a friendly and helpful family and you can see that they take great pride in their hotel… they’re obviously very popular, and I’d recommend a visit soon!
Boskerris Hotel, St Ives, Cornwall
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