Property Photography in Warwickshire: Winter 2017

Property photography in Warwickshire: Winter 2017

So as well as lots of beautiful property photography in Warwickshire in Spring I photographed five wonderful properties in the Winter months of 2017.

Grosvenor Hotel

The first of these was a re-visit to the newly refurbished and very smart Grosvenor Hotel in Stratford upon Avon. After a huge refurb and refresh of their bar area I was asked back to renew the photographs. the decor is just lovely, and I could have sat in those gorgeous big seats for ages!

Bower Willis Kitchen Designs

The next job for us was to photograph for the very fantastic Bower Willis Kitchen Designs. We love photographing for them as their kitchens are just amazing. They are tough to photograph sometimes, but make our job so worth it! One such kitchen was this one that you can see here with a mirrored splash back… Yes, quite a bit of editing went into that to remove the tripod! We always look forward to the shoots with Angela from Bower Willis and not forgetting the brilliant Lucy Kirkman of RMG Creative who does all of the marketing for Bower Willis. Lucy accompanies us on all the shoots and whilst we are busy photographing, interviews all of the kitchen owners to create amazing blogs such as these – www.bowerwillisdesigns.co.uk/blog-news/

Midsummer House Bed & Breakfast

I ended the year photographing for a new client, Midsummer House Bed & Breakfast, in Stratford upon Avon. I had been recommended to Sandie by another bed and breakfast owner in Stratford. It is a brilliant bed and breakfast and would highly recommend it!

“I used Charlotte to photograph our B&B as I needed photographs for a new website. From the moment she arrived, she was so friendly and professional and a joy to deal with. She grasped what I was after straight away and I am absolutely delighted with the photos she has produced. They are amazing and capture the atmosphere of our B&B perfectly. I am so happy with the service she provided from start to finish. I would highly recommend Charlotte without hesitation. Thanks again Charlotte for doing such a fabulous job!”

Property photography in Warwickshire

Property Photography in Warwickshire: Spring 2017

Property Photography in Warwickshire: Spring 2017

2017 has been a fantastic year for me for property photography in Warwickshire as well as being busy with weddings and a baby! I have been to photograph some fantastic properties for both new and existing clients. So I thought I would do a roundup of the properties I have photographed throughout the year over a couple of blogs.

Little Bulpits

I started the year by photographing a fantastic holiday cottage in early Spring. Little Bulpits in Long Compton is a real little gem of a place. It is tucked away, is cosy and very well looked after. Elizabeth is a fantastic host and the attention to detail is just lovely. Here are just a few photographs…

Talton

The next set of interior photographs that I took were for my existing client, the wonderful Talton House & Lodge. The eagle eyed of you will have seen previous blogs I have done about the fantastic setup and events they hold at Talton. This visit was to rephotograph bedrooms that had been newly decorated. I couldn’t resist whilst I was there taking a few ‘detail’ shots. These type of photos incidentally make great filler shots for website and/or social media.

Property photography in Warwickshire

Shipston High School

The last photograph I took in Spring before my little Molly was born was a shot that we had been trying to photograph for around 10 months! It was a drone photograph of Shipston High School. We needed the right weather and the right time of day. With no one in the school, between building work and I really wanted the horse chestnut trees out in flower, so you know, not much of an ask! Well we finally got there and we were so pleased with the result, and thankfully so were the School!

Property photography in Warwickshire

Property photography in Warwickshire: 2017

The beautiful weddings of 2017

2017 has been a fantastic year! Not only have I photographed some stunning weddings, but I have been slightly busy in my personal life… In July I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Molly Elizabeth is absolutely wonderful and she has everyone wrapped around her very cute little fingers. I carried on working through my pregnancy and after as well! Below are some of the images of the great weddings I have worked at this year…

Talton House & Lodge

I have been extremely fortunate to photograph for the fabulous Talton Lodge & House for many years now. As well as having shot their interiors, exteriors and aerial photographs I have been invited along to the Spring & Winter feast nights. If you get the opportunity to go, you must! The Spring feast is held outside at the Lodge in two giant tipi’s with live acoustic music and of course a fabulous feast. The winter feast is held over at Talton House and is a grand affair with Christmas decorations and gorgeous hearty food.

I adore the accomodation available here, you can either stay like the Lord & Lady of the manor in Talton House, or go alternative in a yurt, shepherds hut or house boat! Enjoy these images of a special, special place.

www.taltonlodge.co.uk

2016 Property Photography

2016 has been a great year with new clients coming on board and existing clients needing a lot of updated shots. Here is just a small selection of what I have been up to this year for holiday cottages, estate agents and hotels…

Interior Photography & Videography

Interior Photography & Videography

Just before Christmas two fabulous interior photography jobs came in for two new clients. One was a joint shoot for two companies called Wykamol and Aspects Properties. We photographed and videoed two amazing basement conversions in Leamington Spa and Warwick. Below are the photographs and videos. We were so pleased with the results, as were the clients. I think you can tell by the email that came straight back from receiving the photos…! “Bloody hell. Fab fab fab.” Andrew Latimer, Sales Director, Wykamol

The other job was to photograph a retro style kitchen by Source Kitchens for a new magazine that launched this January, Reclaim Magazine. The kitchen was AMAZING and if you get a chance to buy the magazine then you must! It is so interesting and packed full of ideas and amazing homes.

Interior Photography

Interior Photography

Interior Photography

Bower Willis Kitchen Photographs

Bower Willis Kitchen Photographs

This year we had the pleasure of photographing two more stunning kitchens for the wonderful Bower Willis Kitchen designers. Our photographs play a huge part in their website and we have been featured in many magazines advertising them, most notably this year in Utopia Magazine. Below are a selection from the images we have shot for them this year and the article in Utopia Magazine.

Bower Willis Kitchen Photographs

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Bower Willis Kitchens

Ben & Cheryl – Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl – Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

This amazing Tredington wedding was one of my favourites from this year. It was an explosion of laughter, colour, sunshine and love. Cheryl got ready at her parents house just across the road from the Church and just down the road from the reception! I started the day by photographing her setting up the marque with her parents and brother and then we went and the make up, hair and dresses were all applied, done and put on. We drove down to the Church in Tredington where a very nervous Ben was waiting.

After a beautiful ceremony (where even I was in tears!) the three of us headed to a local beauty spot to take some lovely photographs of just the two of them. I always like to take my brides and grooms aside for photographs of just the two of them, as this makes them relax (because there aren’t 100 people then staring at them!) and they can have some time alone, which I think is extremely important for a couple. Normally we just find a quiet spot at the reception rather than disappear completely, but Cheryl really did want some photographs on that certain bride, and the photographs were really stunning, so it was well worth it!

We joined the guests who were tucking into the champagne at the marquee reception and this is where I mingle like I am a guest to get those real photographs of everyone having a great time. The main group photographs came next with the beautiful Warwickshire hills acting as the backdrop. Once these are done, the speeches were said (the best man nailed it!) and the food was served. The rest of the evening was a mix of football, more champagne, more laughter, dancing and some fantastic fireworks.

An all round brilliant day!

“The pictures are AMAZING babe me and Ben love them and can’t wait to show everyone!!! Thank you soooo much you are a star xxxx.” Cheryl, 29th June 2015

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Tredington Wedding, Warwickshire

Ben & Cheryl Wedding, Warwickshire

Felix Dennis Statues – The Garden of Heroes & Villains

Felix Dennis Statues – The Garden of Heroes & Villains

The next project I wanted to share with you are just a few of the hundreds of photographs I have taken of Felix Dennis’ statues, the insane Garden of Heroes & Villains.

This garden was open to the public once a year for the NGS Gardens Scheme when thousands of people descended upon Dorsington and into Felix’s amazing gardens. The gardens surrounding his uses were beautiful, large, but understated, and extremely well kept. Welshman’s garden however was slightly different!

To be up there photographing and wandering around these amazing and huge bronze statues of people, mythological creatures, heroes, villains and stories was astounding. It was so peaceful up there, yet you knew you weren’t alone. There aren’t many places were Winston Churchill stands proudly next to Oscar Wilde or you can go round a corner and be faced with a life size bronze woolly mammoth!

I have been lucky enough to photograph these statues since 2009 and have seen so many arrive. Dürer’s Rhinoceros was a personal high point for me, it is astounding. Also, visiting the lovely sculptor Anita Lafford and being welcomed into her home and studio to see her work and follow the journey of Leonardo Da Vinci from clay to following it through to be cast and fired in an Oswestry foundry was an experience I will never repeat.

I don’t know where the statues will end up, but I absolutely know that I will never get a more detailed, eccentric, attention to detail photographic job again, and if you EVER get a chance to see them, it is an absolute MUST!

www.felixdennis.com

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

I thought it was high time I told you about one of my largest and certainly most influential clients. Over the next few days I shall share some of the various photographic jobs I have done for the late, great Felix Dennis​.

It began in the Summer of 2008 when Chris Wright Photography​ got a phone call from a lovely old lady called Mrs Sawyer. She had seen Dad’s name in the Yellow Pages and rang us up, mentioning no names but her own, saying the following…

“I am looking for a photographer to photograph my Son’s house being thatched. He has everything in the world he could possibly want, so I would like a photographer to take pictures of the re-thatching and make a book for him”.

Mum replied with “Of course, we have a photographer that can do that”, thinking of me and how sweet she sounded, and that we won’t charge her too much. Now Dad gets extremely busy in the summer photographing holiday lets all over the country and with me having recently turned 21 and become a director of the business (and just starting to go out photographing for Dad’s clients on my own) Mum thought this would be a nice little, summer job for me. Little did we know!

I got to Dorsington and having heard rumours of Mr Dennis I realised as soon as I got there exactly who I would be photographing for. I photographed throughout the summer, getting to know the properties and the people working there very well, without ever meeting the man himself. Once the project was finished, I created my first photographic, coffee table book and delivered it to Mrs Sawyer (who gave the one and only tip I have actually ever received!). Thinking no more about it, I went back to my main job in our office at the time, photoshopping Dad’s images and being general back up & filing Queen.

Four weeks later I got a phone call from a gentleman called Toby who told me that Felix was back in the country and would like to speak to me about the photographs I had taken for his Mother. Man I was nervous! I arrived with sweaty palms about 20 minutes early and had a chat with one of the gardeners over the hedge until I gingerly knocked on Toby & Catherine’s office door. I was made to wait as Felix was on a phone call and then was taken up the steps to the conservatory to meet the enigmatic, larger than life Felix Dennis.

He was sat at a table by the window with a cigarette in his hand and my book in front of him. He asked me where I was from, what I did, my background in photography but didn’t mention the photographs once. I don’t remember him actually mentioning the images at all, but one conversation has, and will forever stay in my (terrified at the time) mind.

“I want you to tell me exactly how much you quoted my Mother and how much you charged her.”
“Um, well, I don’t really want to do that. It was a present for you from Mrs Sawyer, and I don’t think it is my place to really say.”
“No. Tell me exactly. If someone was holding a gun to your head, tell me how much you quoted and how much you charged.”
“I can’t remember exactly I’m afraid”
Much scowling from him prompted a high pitched “But I can ring my Mother in the office and find out!”

Mum says she remembers the phone call very vividly; a panicking, high pitched version of me asking for the necessary information. From my end, all I remember is the sound of pieces of paper being thrown about the office and madness at their end. We found the quote and I told Felix the details.

“Good” he said “I may have more work for you…”

Since then I haven’t really looked back, I have worked closely with Felix and his many wonderful staff in both Dorsington and Mustique for 7 years now and whilst he may be sadly gone and missed, his legacy lives on, which you will see in the photographs over the next few days.

These are Felix Dennis’ Dorsington properties; I have never been able to use the images before because of his privacy. However, they are now for sale and Welshmans is a holiday let, so I can finally show them off.

I hope you enjoy looking at the amazing interiors and exteriors of some of the very best properties Dad and I have ever photographed….

P.S. I hadn’t charged more than I quoted, and I have never been allowed to put my prices up since!

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

Felix Dennis’ Dorsington Houses

All images Copyright of Felix Dennis. Photography by Charlotte Wright Photography. www.felixdennis.com www.charlottewrightphotography.com