National Trust Fine Farm Produce Awards 2011

For the past couple of years I have been commissioned by The National Trust to photograph the Winners of the Fine Farm Produce awards with another great photographer William Shaw.  The work is split between the two of us and we cover the entirety of England and Wales, it’s quite a shoot ! Meeting these fantastic producers and tasting their food makes up for the fact I spend most of the week rolling around in cow muck, herding sheep with a tripod leg and having my ankles bitten by pesky pigs. I even managed to unwittingly steal a farm dog, it wasn’t until I was half way down a lane that I heard an unusual sound coming from the back of my car, it somehow managed to get in whilst I was packing !

Here are some of the winners I photographed this year

Barnhaven Primroses

This is a selection of images taken at Barnhaven Primroses for Gardens Illustrated which appeared in the March issue. Barnhaven Primroses are produced by Lynne and David Lawson at a small nursery at Plestin-les-Greves, in rural Brittany. These delicate little flowers were first produced by Florence Bellis of Gresham, in Oregon, Usa in 1935 from her home, Barnhaven.

Polyanthus 'Chartreuse' (Barnhaven polyanthus)

Polyanthus 'Paris '90' (Barnhaven polyanthus)

Polyanthus 'Gilded Ginger' (Barnhaven polyanthus)

Polyanthus 'Striped Victorians' (Barnhaven Victorian polyanthus)

Primula acaulis Barnhaven Blue (Barnhaven primrose)

Polyanthus 'Gold Laced Jack-in-the-Green' (Barnhaven Enthusiast's primrose)

Polyanthus 'Jack-in-the-Green' (Barnhaven Enthusiast's primrose)

Polyanthus 'Jack-in-the-Green' (Barnhaven Enthusiast's primrose)

Polyanthus 'Hose-in-hose' (Barnhaven Enthusiast's primrose)

Primula acaulis Osiered Amber (Barnhaven primrose)

Primula 'Cherry Ripple' (Barnhaven Double primrose)

Double primrose 'Sundae' (Barnhaven primrose)

Primula Doubles (Barnhaven primrose)

 

Lynne and David Lawson

 

 

International Garden Photographer of the Year 2011

I am very happy as I have just had my portfolio submission put through as a finalist for International Garden Photographer of the Year. The work will be on show at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on May 14th 2011. There will be follow on exhibitions through to 2012 at Wakehurst Place, Lacock Abbey, Ironbridge, Shropshire and Exeter.

The work titled  ”The hands that pick the food that I eat” was shot as a personal project after completing a similar commission for a chain of garden centres.

Winter Flowering Clematis (the finished shots)

This feature appeared in Gardens Illustrated in December 2010. I have already posted something about this shoot earlier in my blog as it is a particularly good example of a plant profile for a magazine. For these profiles to work successfully it usually takes several visits and a very good relationship between photographer and nursery. I think I must have visited New Leaf Plants about 6 times over the period of 3-4 months, sometimes only shooting one variety. Everytime a new variety was ready to be shot I would be given a call and off down the motorway to capture it. All these pictures have been taken in polytunnels with the aid of clamps, twine, diffusers and reflectors, so when the article is finally published and I can look at the pictures again, I actually forget the work that has gone into producing them and can enjoy the photographs for what they are, beautiful winter flowers !

Clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles'

Clematis cirrhosa 'Jingle Bells'

Clematis cirrhosa 'Balearica'

Clematis cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream'

Clematis paniculata var. Lobata

Clematis paniculata 'Early Sensation'

Clematis 'Fragrant Oberon'

Clematis 'Lunar Lass'

Clematis x Cartmanii 'Joe'

Clematis 'Pixie'

Clematis Napalensis

Celebrity Chefs

This is a small selection of shots taken from a shoot for BBC Haymarket at their summer show. We set up a studio in the green room at the NEC and ploughed through as many celebrity chefs as we could in a two day period. Haymarket organised for props to be delivered from producers at the event and everything ran smoothly!

Anglesey Abbey

This is a small selection of images from a shoot I covered at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The gardens will be looking fantastic now so well worth a visit, so much Winter interest you will probably want a couple of days.

Two more covers to start the Year

A lovely start to 2011 with another two covers, one for BBC Gardeners’ World and another for The English Garden

 

Wintery Delights

A couple of Winter photographs taken at Abbey House Gardens last year. The feature has just appeared in Gardens Illustrated this month.

      

Two covers for December

Very pleased to have two cover images for December with Gardens Illustrated and Coast Magazine.

 

One Day Garden Photography Workshops for 2011

The Royal Photographic Society

One Day Plant and Garden Photography

Date: 11th February 11

Location: Gloucester

Access:   

Contact: Reception

Email: reception@rps.org

Phone: 01225325733

Cost: £155.00

Members Rate: £145.00

Type: Education Workshops

One day workshops February Friday 11^th  (Dene Mill) October 30^th (Batsford Arboretum)

A not to be missed opportunity to work alongside two professional photographers Jason Ingram and Paul Debois.

www.jasoningram.co.uk

www.pauldebois.com

The group will be small – only ten and while shooting this will be split to enable the tutor to work with people on an individual basis.  This workshop is aimed at those who love plant and garden photography and/or those who are thinking of entering the profession.

The workshop will take place at Mill Dene(Feb) or Batsford Arboretum(Oct) both wonderful yet very different gardens.

www.milldenegarden.co.uk/
www.gardenvisit.com/garden/batsford_arboretum

Time: 10am – 5pm

10am – 11am 
Introduction from tutors, tips and tricks, what’s in the bag and macro photography – invaluable information on what you need  from the bare minimum to the hi-tech, whilst being given an insight  into the tutors’ professional workflows’.

11am -11.30am
Guided walk around the garden with the tutors to identify different points of interest.

11.30am -  2pm
Shooting time with your guidance from your tutors

A buffet lunch will be available between 1pm – 2pm to allow you to come and go as you please.

2pm – 3pm
Down loading images – The importance of storing your images correctly, how and why.  You will also down load and save your images for discussion.

3pm – 5pm
Critique, an informal, friendly discussion on some of your selected images and a chance to ask questions.

WHAT TO BRING
Camera, tripod, a spare memory card and appropriate clothing, spare batteries. Lunch will be provided on the workshops at Mill Dene. Food is available at the Arboretum (October) or please bring a packed lunch

You will need to know the basic functions of your camera

Some Winter images from Jason Ingram