The Brief.
Located in the rolling fields of Co Down, nestled near the town of Ballynahinch on the Spa road is Montalto Estate. The historic site has recently went under some redevelopment, and for the first time opened its gates to their colourful gardens, lake walks or dense forest trails to the public. Prior to opening they approached us looking to shoot a catalogue of stock photography on site to prepare for the grand launch. Seeing as landscape photography is a key passion of mine I had no problem taking on the job. We arranged a series of seasonal shoots, sunrise or sunset, to best show off the Estate in all its glory. When renovations came close to being completed Montalto teamed up with The Foundation, a Belfast based brand company who we already work closely with. The guys developed a great launch campaign to get the wonders of the Estate out to the general public. The ‘Secretsʼ Campaign was aimed at target audiences, inviting them to visit the Estate and discover the secrets it had to offer for themselves. A series of 4 main shots where planned to go along with The Foundations 4 main secrets, which would go out to Adshel bus shelters and 48 sheet billboards around the country. A recce was arranged to scout locations for each of the 4 hero photos, and to work out what the best times of the day where to take the shots using sun surveying apps. Following this the shoot was arranged for the next day promising good weather. We arrived on the Estate at 5am an hour before sunrise, to prepare our first shot. We used very long lenses where possible, shooting through as much foliage in the Estate at keys areas they wanted to promote. The result was 4 beautiful sunrise shots, with the long focal length to give the feeling to the viewer of looking though the Estate at a certain ‘Secretʼ that Montalto has to offer.
