New Space!

I really like my little attic office space.  It's quiet and cosy and has served me well over the last year and a bit.  But every couple of months, I've been craving a different space.  A space where I can have meetings with my families and couples who are booking me.  A viewing space where I can show people their photos after their portrait shoot or wedding.  And a display space where I can have all my work on the walls.

Well, at last, it's going to happen!  January 2013 will be the start of something very new, my new office in a great space.

This is a view of the building - the one with all the windows!  My office will look straight out onto those copper beech tress.  And it's a mere hop skip and a jump from my house.

The seed was planted when Hannah started looking for a bigger studio to design and create her lamps.  She was very excited to have found an amazing space and mentioned the other 2 offices.  My head started buzzing with ideas of how this could be the perfect spot and it came in a week when I was REALLY craving a different working environment.

So, I popped in for a peep.  I was bowled over by how light the space is and how quiet it is.  This room will be Hannah's new studio.  The carpet is going!

This is one of the other office spaces.  I'm just trying to design the room and what to put where!  The carpet is making an exit and I'm thinking about wallpaper on one of the walls.  The other two will be hanging space for my work.

No more disturbances from an attention seeking cat during a big edit (as lovely as he is!). It's just right.

Hannah's partner Robert will be moving into the other office.  It will be a creative hub.  A space for new ideas.  Designing, viewing, making, meeting, all under one roof, and we can't wait!

We get the keys at the end of this month and then December decorating will commence.  New year, new beginnings!

Franki, Ant & Luca

I have grown very fond of Franki and Ant over the past 12 months or so.  I met them last year when they booked me for their wedding in 2013.  Then, a few months ago,  I had a very excited call to say they were expecting their first baby!

Over the past few months, we have had a baby bump shoot together...

Then a few weeks later, a lovely shoot with their beautiful baby boy, Luca.... 

Franki even found time to write some lovely words on her blog about the whole experience.  You can read it here.

 It's been great to get to know them, and I know we're going to have a lovely relaxed time on their wedding day next year.  But first, we have a pre-wedding shoot to plan!

Scales Plantation

We recently had a little break in the Northern Lakes at an amazing place called Scales Plantation.  It's a family run encampment site on an upland farm.  They describe it as a back to nature experience.  In fact, in the guest book, someone had described it as Swallows & Amazons for adults - perfect!

In the middle of Greystokes Forest is a little clearing for the Skiddaw site.

There's a shepherd's hut to sleep in, and a wooden shelter to cook and hang out.  

They've really thought of everything to make it cosy, including a wonderful welcome basket with lots of scrummy locally produced food!  All the spaces were equipped with log burning stoves - including the bathroom which was a luxury! 

It was typical Lakes weather but it didn't really seem to matter.  There was sporadic mobile reception and no TV to be distracted by.  There was lots of reading, tea drinking, walking and relaxing.

I loved making the fires and then cooking in the oven. 

When the skies were clear, they were big, and the light was beautiful both day and night.

To top it off, we saw red squirrels leaping around in the trees and a roe deer close to camp.  

When we left, I immediately felt a pull to return.  What a beautiful hideaway.

National Trust Photography Day

Last Friday I ran my second photography workshop for the National Trust at Hardcastle Crags.  I'm quite new to this sort of thing, but I am thoroughly enjoying it!

I was joking the other day that Hardcastle Crags has almost become my second office, I do seem to spend quite a lot of my time down there.  There's always something new to discover, and I love how it changes through the seasons.  It's the perfect spot to run a photography workshop.

  

We spent time in the lovely cafe in Gibson Mill, discussing different ways to make our photos stand out, and developing our styles as photographers.  Then we took our cameras and ideas outside to try a different approach in capturing an image.

It was great for us all to share our photography stories.

And discuss where we'd like to take our photography in the future!

I am always inspired by people talking about their photographs, what they like taking pictures of, and the stories behind the images they take.  I'm really looking forward to running more workshops in the future!

If you'd like to come along, the National Trust have asked me back to run a series of Photography Days in 2013.  I'll be posting news about these.  Or if you'd like to join my mailing list, please drop an email to info@sarahmasonphotography.co.uk.

Lights, A Camera & A New Website

I was so pleased when Hannah (maker of beautiful lamps),  told me the other day her new website had just gone live!  It has been great being part of such a creative process, buzzing with ideas, discussing the style and feel of the photographs I was going to take for the new site.  Plus - working with your friends, that's pretty cool too!

Hannah came back from her adventure in Japan, head full of ideas and bursting with inspiration.  It was a rainy morning, so we saved the walk we had planned, and popped out for a cuppa instead.  She showed me the most beautiful book she'd picked up on her travels - 'Flower Book' by Rari Yoshio. 

photo by Hannah Nunn

Packed full of gorgeous images and delicate line-drawings, stylish in its simplicity, it formed a good source of visual inspiration for the new look site.  You can see and read a little more about it here. 

To start us off - we went to Hannah's workshop for the first day.  It's a beautiful space at the back of Radiance with natural light pouring through the window - perfect!  We wanted to create simple, clean, beautiful images and this style developed throughout the day. 

We carefully selected props that Hannah had in the studio to reflect the style, and angles to reflect the workspace.

From these shots the super duo Ffion and Robert started on the website.  Ffion came up with some stunning designs and it was really great to see my photos coming to life on the pages!

Then came the lamps themselves.  I knew this was going to be a bit more challenging technically.  I wanted to capture the glow of the lamps and to show them within their surroundings.  Our eyes are very clever and they can differentiate light sources, but it's a little harder to achieve with a camera.  I didn't want the lamps to come out too over exposed in the photos and lose the delicate designs.  So, I created a little burst of fill light with an off camera flash in a softbox.  It did the trick. 

I also wanted the warm colour of the lamps to be consistent, so I played around with the colour temperature until we were happy that what we were seeing in real life was reflected on the back of the camera!  

We had the occasional trip out to pick up flowers & props from the Antiques Centre.  Then, at lunch, we sat round the table to chat with the web team who'd walked down the hill to join us.  It made a change from quickly scoffing a sarnie at my desk!  It was a very pleasant couple of days.

Then came the editing.  The web team were busy working behind the scenes, waiting to put the photos into place.  Ffion works calmly, creatively, and at super speed.  She popped round after the shoot and edit.  We would select an image, re-size, and in no time at all, the image was then uploaded to the website.  

I SO have my eyes on this wall panel for my office!

We also spent a bit of time taking a few photos of Hannah's book Illuminate coming out in November. Have a sneak peek and a little read about it here - it's gorgeous!

 

Sometimes, photographing and editing can be quite a solitary thing.  I don't mind my own company,  but this website project was a real change for me in the way I work.  It was great to be included from the initial concept and to be part of a creative process.  But for me, most importantly, as part of a very lovely team. x

Take a look at Hannah's  new website site here.