One of our first location shoots took place in the seaside town of Brighton. I had never actually been to Brighton before, and was really looking forward to the day. My only problem was that I had put my back out, and it was going to be no fun lugging all my camera equipment around all day, but hay ho I soldiered on!
I used two cameras during the day, my Nikon D7000, and my Fuji
XF1 compact camer. With my Nikon I would use a ND filter on the day.
These images were taken with my Fuji camera. The camera was quite a little gem that had different programs that enabled you to take photographs in the style of a SLR etc. (This was the one time that I actually used this camera before deciding that it was just too "compact".)
The final image here was taken using a ND filter to try and show the water as misty. This was my first attempt at this, and feel that it is ok, but I would like to try this again as I like the idea of long exposures, and the smokey effect you achieve with the movement of the water.
In May 2015 we visited Witley Court.
The visit was in order that we would produce 20 or so images for the
English Heritage so that they could relaunch their website, and also use the
images for promotional purposes. The
idea was that the images would appeal to an audience of 30 years of age. I needed to research Witley Court to see
what their current branding etc. was, in order that I could produce something
that was “a little different”.
The English Heritage look after and care for over 400
historic buildings, monuments and sites.
They vary from prehistoric sites, castles, and forts to Cold War
bunkers.
The Heritage began from small beginnings at the end of the
19th century. The idea was to
bring the different sites to the attention of the public instead of them being
privatised, and locked away.
The collection of buildings etc. that
are now in the care of English Heritage began to be collected1882. At that
stage heritage was the responsibility of the Office of Works, the government
department responsible for architecture and building. In 1913 an Act of
Parliament was passed that gave the Office new powers. These were essentially
to make a collection of all the greatest sites and buildings that told the
story of Britain. At that stage these were regarded as being prehistoric and
medieval remains, it was only later that country houses and industrial sites
were thought worth preserving for the future.
By 1933 there were 273 sites in the
collection including Stonehenge (probably the most well known prehistoric
site), Carisbrooke Castle and Richborough Roman Fort. Preservation of these
important sites was, of course, the main objective, but telling their stories
was just as important.
All these places were open to the public
and had guidebooks and explanatory signs. Some also sold postcards and even had
teashops.
After the Second World War the Ministry
of Works (as it had become)(nothing to do with the Ministry of Magic and Harry
Potter!) started to be interested in buildings other than castles, and manor
houses. The first industrial sites were acquired and in 1949 it acquired its
first country house, Audley End in Essex.
The Ministry had set its sights on a
number of other big houses, but the Treasury was a bit wary of this. The
government felt it was one thing to take on old castles and abbeys, but quite
another to look after, and maintain, huge roofed buildings full of works of
art. After some debate it was decided that it would be financially more
sustainable if the National Trust took on the country houses and that the
Ministry of Works confined itself to the older monuments.
This ruling, though disappointing to the
men at the Ministry, did not stop them collecting and huge numbers of historic
sites, as windmills, iron works and Georgian villas were added to the collection.
By 1970 the English part of the
collection alone stood at 300 sites visited by more than 5.5m people: it was by
far the largest visitor attraction business in the country. Many of the sites
now had museums and shops selling souvenirs.
It was possible to buy a season ticket and visit the Ministry's sites
across the country for free.
In 1983 what had effectively become the
English national heritage collection was transferred to a new body set up by
the government. It was called the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission.
Its name was not thought to be very snappy by its first Chairman, Lord Montagu
of Beaulieu, and so it was re-christened English Heritage. Under Lord Montagu's
inspired leadership English Heritage did two jobs: it cared for the National
Heritage Collection and it ran the national system of heritage protection,
including listing buildings, dealing with planning issues and giving
grants.
It was over a period of a decade or
more, the collection became better run, better displayed and the season ticket
was change to a membership scheme. More buildings were collected which included
country houses such as Brodsworth Hall.
The membership for the Trust grew
together with visitor numbers. By the mid-2000s, income from the collection was
beginning to make a contribution to their maintenance and conservation. This
was largely due to the number of visitors passing through the doors. In 2011,
for the first time, the national heritage collection instead of costing money to
open it to the public, it actually made a small profit.
With these successes in mind the
government agreed that it would provide £80m to English Heritage if it
transferred the national heritage collection to a charitable trust. This
happened on 1 April 2015 when the old English Heritage separated into two
parts: a charity that looks after the collections, and Historic England that champions the nation's wider
heritage, running the listing system, dealing with planning matters and giving
grants.
The sites operated by the English
Heritage are open to many visitors, which also include schools and
colleges. It was through my college that
I made my first visit to Witley Court.
The Heritage relies upon donations,
volunteers, and sponsorship, together with membership to raise the necessary
funding, etc., to keep it accessible to the public.
I had never actually been to Witley Court
before, and it was a pleasant surprise.
Today Witley Court is a large and very
impressive ruin, but should you go back 100 years it would have been a very
impressive Victorian country house. The
house showed the results of a profitable industrial era.
William Humble Ward, the first Earl of
Dudley, created the house and garden between 1854 and 1860. By the 1890s Witley Court was at its most
magnificent. The epitome of extravagance was shown in the
resulting royal shooting parties that were attended by the Prince of Wales, who
was a personal friend of the second Earl.
The history of Witley is quite long going back to the 1400s.
The big parties of the 1900s came to an
end when Earl’s wife drowned in Ireland.
The family fortunes were in decline and as a result the house was sold
to Sir Herbert Smith, a rich industrialist.
He was only in residence for 17 years before a fire, which occurred in
September 1937. The fire destroyed part
of the house. The insurance did not
cover the full cost of repairing the damage, and the house was subsequently
sold at auction.
In the year following the fire the
house, park and farm were sold off separately.
A salvage dealer eventually bought it in the 1950s. The building was stripped and was very nearly
demolished.
In 1972 the Department of the
Environment rescued the building when it was consolidated to prevent further
collapse. It was finally in 1984 that
Witley became part of the English Heritage.
The house and gardens are approached
from the Visitor Centre, which leads off from the car park.
The Visitor Centre also has a small shop
where you can purchase small items such as plants, small keepsakes, English
Heritage products, and some food and beverages.
If you do become peckish there is a tearoom, but this is not part of the
English Heritage.
Once you pass through the Centre you
then enter the gardens. There are many
walkways to choose from, the wildlife garden, wilderness play area, before you
pass the large pool and come upon the restored forecourt that stands at the
main entrance to the house.
The site consists
of Witley Court, Witley Parish Church (this is not part of the English
Heritage), the winter garden, the conservatory, the south façade, the east
parterre, Perseus & Andromeda Fountain, and finally the south parterre
(parterre is another word for an ornamental garden).
I think the problem
with the “English Heritage” is that is has a bit of a fuddy duddy image, and
this is something when considering the brief I needed to get rid of. I need to make people realise that it’s not
just for the older generation, but that it can make an enjoyable day out for
young and old alike.
When visiting I was
struck by the fact that the site is actually quite beautiful, and would make a
beautiful backdrop for many occasions such as fashion photo shoots, weddings,
birthdays. There were plenty of nooks
and crannies to take intimate photographs, together with the wide-open spaces
that would be suitable for landscape/architectural shots.
The beautiful
gardens that are beautifully maintained were originally the work of William
Andrews Nesfield. The main features were
parterres (ornamental gardens). The
gardens were very formal and were designed to be looked down upon from the
rooms of the house, and the raised balustrades.
One of the most
striking features of Witley is the Perseus and Andromeda Fountain. When visiting Witley I was able to witness
the stunning firing of the fountains.
You just need to be careful not to get too close, or you may get a
little wet.
As part of location shoots we had the privilege of working with the talented Talia White, and the beautiful model, Hannah Gardner. The location for this shoot would be in the college ground, Tudor House, and the gardens around it. Talia showed us how she approached a shoot. We used natural light shining in from a window, and a reflector to highlight. I took several images of Hannah on the staircase and by the window. After we had all taken turns we then went into the garden and proceeded to photograph in the hot house. (It is worthwhile scouting out locations beforehand so that you have all the information to hand about it.) Whilst working in the hot house the sprinkler system went off and we had to dive for cover both ourselves and the model. We didn't want to get our equipment wet, and we also didn't want to get the model wet. After the hot house we retreated out to the garden areas to take a few more photographs before it was time for our model to leave.
In the early summer of 2015 I was asked at very short notice to photograph a wedding vow renewal. I had never actually photographed anything along this line before, and was quite scared about the prospect of this. Between the actual request for photographic work and the actual renewal was actually only 2 weeks. I had envisaged a more relaxed, storytelling style of photography, but my client wanted the more traditional style. This entailed photographing in the church, and afterwards taking the traditional group photographs (bride and groom, bride, groom and parents, etc).
I have actually attended the church myself for christenings and weddings in the past so I knew the layout of the church, and what the lighting would be like.
Being a typical British summer on the day of the renewal there was torrential rain for most of the day with the occasional dry spell. To cope with this I had my daughter helping me, and we had quite a few umbrellas. The umbrellas were to keep guests dry, and also to keep my camera equipment dry. Even with the umbrellas this did prove quite difficult, but we survived and that was what mattered. After the church ceremony and the traditional group photographs I then attended the reception where I continued to take photographs. It was all in all a very long day, but it was also quite an experience, one I hope to do again.
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