Best Of The Bunch and Crafty Gardeners
Introducing THE Best of the Bunch and Crafty Gardeners
A little insight into my time spent with a local florist business
To begin, let me introduce you to the Crafty gardeners and Best of the Bunch. In summary, these local Bristol businesses combined offer a myriad of leafy, vibrant goodies from floral workshops to wedding/funeral flowers and not forgetting the beautiful bouquets which can simply be delivered to your front door. Best of the Bunch focuses on the styling whilst Crafty Gardeners consists of workshops. The ladies of the business who were kind enough to give me this opportunity to be involved are Louise and Jane Marie. Louise is the founder of Crafty Gardeners whilst she and Jane Marie work together in the Best Of the Bunch business.
Getting down to business
My involvement with Best of the Bunch consisted of helping out with styling and photography of the work produced. This opportunity for me was very exciting as I have a passion for photography, on top of this I had the pleasure of getting hands on experience in creating magnificent wreaths, the biggest and best I have come across to date for sure. Our first wreath making day started with a cup of tea and a cinnamon bun. From here Louise taught me step by step how she creates her wreaths which I found a relaxing, highly enjoyable activity. My favourite part of the process was putting the final touches and details onto the wreath. This could be the placement of a feather here and there or perhaps a cluster of pine cones. Throughout this process I learnt how important the placing of these final touches are, they are what make each wreath unique. These wreaths were then ready to serve their purpose as glorious ornaments for front doors.
Styling and photography
My main role was to photograph the work Louise and Jane Marie have carefully crafted. On a day out to Ashton court, where Louise was carrying out a wreath making workshop, Jane-Marie and I got to work on our first task of styling the fireplace.
To achieve this we used a range of deep green, leafy plants as a base, then filled up the middle with a range of rich vibrant ornamental flowers.
When decorating the mantle piece we spread a layer of ivy across and placed in pine cones and the odd pink flower for a subtle pop of colour. Despite being a slight fire hazard, we experimented with adding a candle onto the mantle piece. I loved the warm glow it added to the dull stone, overall creating more of a cosy, soothing atmosphere.
I love the way the flowers look as though they're exploding from the middle, the bright white and pink colours are a powerful contrast to the subdued stone frame
Styling and placement of the whopping wreath
Our next task was displaying and photographing the main spectacle, created by Louise and Jane Marie, a wreath almost bigger than myself.
The first place i noticed as a more unique spot was to the left of the building when walking through the door. Here was an alcove, perfect size for the wreath, and above was a tall archaic stain glass window, rimed with ivy. This struck me as an interesting spot for a photo shoot as the wreaths fresh aura exploding with vibrant colour would contrast with the surroundings bringing this obsolete setting to life.
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Taking photographs in this setting was more of a challenge compared to taking shots outside.This was due to the lack of lighting besides the stain glass window above. The photographs overall came out with a darker tone. When editing these images I wanted to keep this effect I did not increase the saturation or exposure too much. I think the greyish tones of the photograph are slightly more unusual, giving off a cooler, mysterious atmosphere.
The wooden door
Our next spot for photographing the wreath was the majestic door. A wooden spectacle, framed with a arch with detailed carvings in the stone.
This one was a challenge to construct. With difficulty, we managed to lever the wreath up over the door, Jane Marie held the wreath up from behind whilst I took some shots.
What I loved about this setting was the warm tones of the wooden door which nicely complimented the earthy leaf tones and the pink flowers.
Within this image on the right you can see the light coming into the lens from the upper right corner. Although this is not usually a desired trait in photography, I liked how the image had this glowing effect. The light shines down onto the wreath, accentuating the lighter tones , whilst lighting up and adding a textured layer to the architecture in the background.
When shooting these images, one key thing I wanted to achieve was exploring a variety of angles. I think when photographing wreaths this is beneficial as every section of the wreath is different, by exploring angles, you explore the hidden details within the creation.
Final stop: The grand door
Our last location was the grand door at the front of the building. At this point in the day we had relocated the wreath a fair few times, therefore a little touch up here and there was due. After Jane Marie fixed in a couple more sprigs of eucalyptus, we took a few steps back to admire the monumental scene before us.
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In terms of lighting, this location was much easier to achieve a classic, crisp shot. Within these images you can see the wreath and its colours in its most vivid form. I think this differs from the previous photographs which were based around creating mood and atmosphere.
The picture on the left was taken from a lower angle almost gazing up in awe of the wreath. It was important to capture the layers and bushiness of the wreath.
Louise and Jane Marie with big grins after a successful day at the workshop!
