INSIDE JOB: Commission for Woodblocx Garden Design

Client: Woodblocx

Location: London

Website: https://www.woodblocx.co.uk/

So, in a new series of blog posts, I have decided to share some info about commissions that I am either currently working on or recent completed. The hope is that this will give you a little insight in to how I operate, how to overcome certain challenges and if you’re considering hiring me, a look at some of my commercial work. With that said, let’s get into it!

Woodblocx are a manufacturer of garden planters, retaining walls and other specialist items. I have worked with them previously but this was to be my first job following the lockdown. The client asked if I could travel from Birmingham to London to shoot an outdoor area that had made great use of their products.

The brief required me to photograph the are and also produce a short video with ‘fly through’ gimbal shots. and edit the video - However, the client did not require branding/music etc. as this was something they would add themselves. This was perfectly fine with me but I still wanted to make sure we got some great footage.

Planning was critical as I would have to travel from Birmingham to London and I didn’t want to make the journey, only for weather to ruin the shoot. The main concern was obviously rain. However, if it was a grey, uninspiring day, the products wouldn’t look their best, so it was critical that we planned for the clearest possible day - our planning certainly paid off as the weather was spectacular!

The day of the shoot felt so different. On arriving in London, the underground felt deserted and the usual bustling streets were remarkably quiet. I made my way from central London to Kew Gardens where the beautiful 3 bed apartment was with an amazing outdoor space - incredible to think this was still London!

After being greeted by the very friendly residents, I set about capturing the shots that I need. The plan was to photograph all planters/spaces and then move on to the video. However, it was important to check the are first to make sure everything looked spotless and move any distracting items.

I spent a little over 30 minutes, slowly walking around the space and photographing from various heights and distances from the items - to give the client as much potential as possible to use a variety of images. The weather made it a really enjoyable experience but the heat certainly was an issue!

After a quick breather and a chance to shelter from the midday sun, it was on to the gimbal work! Having already photographed almost every square inch of the space, I had built a pretty good mental image of how I wanted to move through the space. I set about capturing the necessary shots and once completed, reviewed the footage to tripple check that I hadn’t missed anything!

The job was done and after packing away and saying my goodbyes, it was time to head back to Birmingham. The train journey gave me the opportunity to do some editing and I was pleased to see that the images looked great - the weather had really made the shoot! The gimbal footage looked great too and I was satisfied with my days work! All that was left to do was to get home, disinfect everything and have a beer!

If you have any questions or would like to hire me, please feel free to Contact Me