Home is where the heart is ..

Following on from a recent 'Interiors' shoot at a rather grand house not far from here, I was delighted to be asked by an estate agent to photograph two properties for her yesterday. This is an area of work I've been trying to get into ever since I moved to France as it was, of course, something I did on a regular basis back in the UK. This photography is completely different to all the 'people-based' stuff I would normally shoot but I love this kind of work and thrive on its creative potential. Ironically - for something so static - it's still quite pressured work. Constantly changing light and anxious owners, hovering around and often eager to get you out of their house, are just two of the challenges I'd normally face. A seller won't realise that there's more to interior photography than just pointing and shooting and generally won't understand why I've taken fifteen shots from the same angle just beside their bedside table!

Still, I'm hoping this leads onto more work of this kind. The owner of the 'grand' house said my photography was "AMAZING!!!!!" (His capitals, and I counted the exclamation marks for accuracy) and the estate agent mailed me to say the shots were "great", so I guess I'm getting the hang of it!..  

I'm booked in ..

It's as if it was meant to be ..

I was invited to a breakfast networking meeting the other day, down at a chateau near our gîte. As I turned into the drive my car began to make the most horrendous screeching noise, and a cloud of grey smoke rose from under the bonnet. I crawled into the car-park and pulled up, with a rather red face, next to a guy and lady who had driven in before me. Folks, they were car mechanics! A couple who moved to France a year ago and were, like me, at the meeting for the first time. Even better, their workshop is less than 2 miles from our house. I'm booked in for Monday ..

Into the meeting and we all start to press the flesh. "A photographer? .." asked one nice chap who turned out to be an estate agent "You don't do property photography do you? .." I'm booked in for the first week of December ..

Coffee and bacon butties were served. The lady handing out the goodies just happened to be the owner of the chateau. "We're having our Christmas Fayre this Saturday .." she said "You couldn't take some pictures, could you? .." I'm booked in for 11 am ..

It's as if it was meant to be ..

Ps: This isn't the garage I'll be going to, but a lovely quirky old building in the next village down from ours that seems to have been turned into some kind of impromptu museum. Très cute ..

    

Bottoms up ..

I photographed a £1.3m house the other day and thought I'd done a pretty good job until the estate agent called me back after I'd sent over the shots. Could I go back, they asked, as I'd left the toilet seat up in one of the shots. "What do you expect?" I said .. "I'm a bloke!"..

I happened to go past my old studio the other day. It's full of knickers! It's been taken over by a lady selling lingerie - no comments please - and all the hangers I'd put into the walls to display my photographs are now bedecked with sexy bras and corsets. I knew those hooks would be handy. Bottoms up ..