A dream come true.

It’s funny sometimes, because when I’m standing looking at a room like this…

.. I can actually see what the final image would look like – almost like it has already been created – even though I know that that isn’t what the camera is about to record.

It doesn’t always happen, but it did here at Straffan House – and so when it came to trying to explain to the client what I saw, it was like “this is going to sound crazy” but since you asked me, well then here you go:

OUR THINKING: “They say a picture is worth a thousand words – so throughout this set of images here, I feel we need to make the viewer feel like this is ‘their home’, rather than some property that they are looking at in a real estate brochure. Make them feel like they are already in the room, sitting there or standing there… in their home.

So with that in mind – as well as trying to imagine who this person is / what would appeal to​ them / the type of magazines & books that they would read and/or look at for inspiration, etc, etc – we both feel that this is an important room to show.

Late evening, rather than day time – timing would be very important here – lights on, candles lit, roaring fire, etc, etc.
So we would need people – who look and are dressed the part.”

Half expecting them to once again tell me to “get a grip”, because they didn’t actually ask me to even look at this room, as they felt the image that they had of it was 100%.
And I thought that it was too​​ when they showed it to me – but I had this vision in my head, which I saw each time I looked at this – and so was totally amazed when they came back to say “yes, we like the sound of that”.

So this was the one that I actually enjoyed the most – because like I say, it was almost like it had ready been taken – so now all I needed to do was figure out how to get the camera to record that

Anyway, with only about an​​ hour of daylight left, we all knew that we had to work fast on this one – as the goal here was for me to be pressing the button, just before the sky outside the windows when black – which I would call the ‘twilight zone’.

So with the camera in position, the first pictures appeared on screen…

.. and we could see right away that the table needed to​ be moved, as it clearly wasn’t in the centre of the rug.

So once that was sorted and the lights were put up…

.. then Ivan & Dianne got to work on the table setting…

.. while I as usually did nothing…

.. but stand around and watched them do all the work

“Looks good guys” – as Susie and Orla here…

.. jointed me to have a look at the screen – just as the models arrived…

.. and started to do their thing in the room beyond…

.. which once again we checked on the ​screen…

.. as we were now almost there – as you can see here…

.. just as the sky began to darken.

I loved it – however, as you can see here…

.. I was outnumbered​ 3 to 1

And I’m actually very glad I was, because now when I look at what the girls suggested here – which was to put the roses back into the tall vases …

.. I realise why the signs reads: “Men to the left, because women are always right”

So I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone here – as this,​ you could say, was like a dream come true for me – which in the end, was even better than I had originally imagined it would be.

Four done, two to go – which I will talk about another day – as we headed upstairs to shoot the rooms which their lucky guests can enjoy dreaming in too

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