Garden photography for contemporary coastal garden
Background and Brief
This was my third garden photography shoot for landscape designer Tracey Parker. Previously I covered her show garden at BBC Gardeners World Live and a project for a national hotel chain. This time it was a residential project in Broadstairs, Kent.

Tracey’s client’s requirements were “to make the most of a small space for a semi-retired couple who wanted a decent amount of outdoor entertaining for family and friends. They also needed a flexible play space for visiting grandchildren”. The client also required “a lush, coastal feel to the planting, but low maintenance”. Tracy’s designs were predominantly evergreen with palms, tropical looking plants with splashes of colour close to the terrace area. The project also made use of some composite decking specifically for its longevity and low maintenance.

Collaboration
This project was run alongside another to extend and refurbish the existing sun room. Her bi-fold doors were added which opened up to really give the family the feel that they were sitting in the garden. This provided Tracey with the opportunity to enhance the terrace area with a porcelain paved patio. this gave a clean contemporary look to go with the new sun room extension.

Both projects complimented each other and the whole thing felt as one. It was a great opportunity for Tracey, as it was born out of a collaboration between Tracey and Dawn of Inara Interiors. Dawn designed the rebuild of the sun room. Dawn is also a client of mine and I introduced them. This is a great example where collaboration has produced a really stunning result which the clients are delighted with.

Technical Challenges
For me, the technical aspects of the shoot produced a few challenges. The light on the day was particularly harsh, requiring multiple exposures and blending of the resulting images. This is a technique which I have perfected for my interior design photography and transfers outdoors particularly well. Shots had to be taken from inside the sun room too. Again the exposures had to be blended to allow perfect exposure both for the interior and the exterior.

This was a very pleasurable shoot, as I would never turn down a trip to the sea for work. To cap it all we had fish and chips on the beach as a reward!
© Andrew Boschier Photography 2017