A World Away on your doorstep.

Received this promotional email yesterday…

.. and so after sending them an invoice for this additional use our work here, I talking to Marie about this and she said:

“I remember you texting me straight after the shot to say you’d got it – and then yes, I knew there was a huge blending job needed – and the only one who spotted it was Sun 🙂

I think you should blog about it …”

(Sun Lee by the way, is a photographer who we have worked with before when shoot in London – whose computer & lighting skills are second to none – so if you are looking to work with the best, I can highly recommend him.)

Anyway, yes Marie was right (as usual) – so here is the story behind this image, which I think some of you may find interesting – as the reality really was A World Away or in this case, about a mile away.

Back in 2007, we had been asked to produce some image for this Hotel to use – and so one of the images they naturally said they would like, was of the exterior – ideally from across the Bay. So we had a look and I took this quick recce shot of it…

.. using the longest lens I had with me at the time, which was the Canon EF-135mm-f2.0L.

Going to need something much bigger than that I reckoned, if I was going to produce an image here, that they would want to use – so I decided to buy the biggest lens I could afford for the Hasselblad – and so ended up buying a second-hand Hasselblad 500mm f/8 Tele Tessar lens from Ffordes in Scotland the following week.

A bit of a beast to put it mildly – and trying to produce an image that was sharp with that, require two tripods in the end – one for the camera and one for the lens.

Anyway, a few weeks later we headed back down to the hotel to produce some images for real; however, the weather wasn’t great, so I didn’t manage to get this shot.
And so it wasn’t until the summer of 2009 that I finally got around to seeing what I could do.

Headed down to Kinsale the day before and so was set-up ready to go the following morning, as the sun began to light it up…

.. which looked great, bar there was a slight haze – which over that distance, with the 500m lens was very noticeable.

Tried the 250mm f5.6 Sonnar CF lens to see if that was any better…

.. which it was; however, the Hotel actually did look like it was a long way away.

Still, I liked the boats in the foreground, and so while I waited for the haze to clear, I took different pictures of what all was going on in the Bay – like this image for example…

.. which I really liked because of the fisherman.

Nevertheless, this was roughly how big I wanted the Hotel to be in the frame…

.. which I could only get by using the 500mm lens.

The 250mm was perfect for this…

.. which looked great in the foreground – especially since the name on the back of the boat said “Oysterhaven” – this being the Oysterhaven Bay after all, which therefore really did help complete the story I was trying to tell here 🙂

Also loved how these yachts looked…

.. as they added a bit of class – but as you can see, they are over to the left of the hotel, which is now almost out of frame.

So what’s the solution?

Well, how about this…

.. and that’s when I text Marie to say “I’ve got it”

Okay, it still took me a while to bring it all together back in the studio, but this was the result…

.. which I reckon very few people will ever realize was actually created rather than just taken… because we all know, the camera never lies.

Having said that, they also say: “If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is” – so I’ll let you decide which is truer here

That’s advertising for you – which is what we specialize in, i.e. creating images that you will want to use, to help make your dreams come true.

A World Away on your doorstep – 5 years on and still going strong – and now you know why – because as Marie would often say to clients: Great images don’t just happen… or at least, as you can see here, our’s very often don’t.

So the next time you see this image being used, I bet you’ll smile at the Carlton, as it is indeed a A World Away, because it’s been amped as we would say

And so that’s the story behind the story that this picture was created to tell

Festive Elegance.

Is the title of our latest published work in the December 2014 issue of Ireland’s Homes Interiors & Living magazine…

.. on pages 78 to 86 – featuring Seamus Sweeney’s cottage style bungalow near Holywood in County Down at Christmas.

“As Belfast businessman Seamus Sweeney settles down to enjoy Christmas in his elegant home, he can hardly believe that his first instinct was to knock down the property, until he fell in love with it’s period charm. A last minute execution for the 1920s bungalow – not to mention a major re-style – has given it a new lease of life and created a modern home retaining all the charm of its classic provenance.”

Which we talked about shooting here: Christmas comes early.

Anyway, it is obviously the magazine’s Christmas issue – which does now seem to come around much earlier each year, as it only seems like a few months ago since I was taking the Christmas tree down – so must remember to take it down a bit earlier this year 🙂

Seriously though, with less than 2 month to go, the festive session has begun – and so we are now on the look-out for next years Christmas homes – so do let us know if you are up for it or know of someone who is, as we would love to hear from you.

Anyway congratulations to Seamus here, for this time making it into this beautifully printed Irish glossy magazine – which besides being jam-packed with homes, features and competitions worth £2,500 – really does start the festive season off with elegance.

Have a great pre-Christmas everyone, from Marie, Mandi & me @ homesinteriors.com – where you can read more about what we do… should you like your home featured too at some point in time 🙂