Sunday saw Faye and I down south @ the beautiful Pipewell House a venue suggested to us by a previous delegate and what a suggestion. We drove down on Saturday taking around 5 hours to make the journey and on finding the venue we were immediately struck by the possibilities both inside and around the 50 acres of grounds surrounding the property. Trudie and her husband Sean were perfect hosts and had kindly booked a meal for us at a local pub with a superb restaurant. One of our delegates, Andrea, was also staying @ Pipewell so the 3 of us set off for dinner while I tried to text Zoi one of our models for the following day who was also staying that night and had just flown over from Holland where she now lives. Zoi eventually managed to find us and I must say the fish and chips and sausage and mash were excellent and we were among the last to leave. The following morning we woke to a bright, sunny and warm day, unlike the following day with deluging rain! 8 delegates arrived by 10.00am, some old and some new friends. After a brief demonstration I headed outside with Zoi and 4 of our delegates while Faye remained in the house with Ella Rose and the remaining 4 delegates. I can only say that we had so many locations both internal and external that Pipewell will be on our schedule perhaps later this year but definitely in 2013. Lunch, expertly prepared by Trudie was excellent and we then swapped groups around with Faye remaining inside and around the main entrance while we headed off into the midge infested woods much to Zoi’s delight!. Before we headed out we had brought a hat to photograph for a forthcoming exhibition at The Union Gallery in Edinburgh, so Faye and I set up a shot with Zoi resplendent with the most amazing headgear and photographed with my Hasselblad with the 150mm lens on Portra 160 film stock.
Later in the day we had an afternoon break with tea and coffee and Trudie had baked the most amazing meringues with fresh cream which everybody just loved! We ended with a group shot, a few more images then final departure by around 5.00pm. Wonderful day and some fabulous images with Zoi and Ella Rose who were perfect for the venue.
That evening though tired and drained Faye and I drove into Market Harborough where we found the most delightful Thai restaurant, peaceful, great service and wonderful food to end an amazing workshop day. A good nights sleep before waking to a rain sodden Pipewell, we had been so lucky the previous day. Then the long drive back home but with the thought we had some great images to work on, in fact despite the long drive as soon as we got home it was back up to the office to see our images and downloaded a couple of FB friendly ones. More images will follow from both of us over the next few days and already I have marked 2 or 3 for possible platinum prints and I know Faye has a couple of quite beautiful, romantic images that she is excited abut sharing with you but we have a very busy week ahead of us so please be patient.
So if you are interested in attending an Art Nude workshop in this stunning location, perhaps over 2 days with print critique etc. then drop us an email so we can gauge interest. This is one of my favourite images from the day.
