From Bare Lodge to Dream Getaway: Behind the Shoot at a Cornwall Resort

“Good luck with that,” the director said with a raised eyebrow.

I’d just been introduced as the photographer who was going to “make the cabins look beautiful” — part of a marketing campaign for Retallack Resort, a holiday park near Wadebridge in Cornwall. The brief was to create a standout hero image to help sell riverside holiday lodges, even though only one was finished and furnished, and it was painted matt black.

The location had potential, a peaceful river valley in Cornwall with modern, Scandinavian-style cabins. But photographing a black lodge with no landscaping, no finished surroundings, and only basic staging was going to be a challenge.

The client needed an image that would capture attention online, in print ads and on large-scale hoardings. I knew that a dusk shot using flash would let me paint the scene with light, add drama, and make the cabin feel warm and inviting. The goal was to create an image that made viewers imagine themselves sitting on the deck at sunset, glass of wine in hand, enjoying a summer evening by the water.

We scheduled the shoot during a good stretch of summer weather, which meant a late start — around 9 to 10pm. I know I would only have one go at it getting it right so I was a little nervous as I set the camera up on the far side of the river and tested the tech that would allow me fire the camera and flash from 50metres away: a Camranger wireless trigger so I can release the shutter with an iPad and separate radio trigger that fired the flash.

Just before the sun dipped below the trees, it lit the side of lodge with a beautiful warm glow that couldn't be replicates with artificial light. I captured this with the first frame and then then waited for the sun to dip some more and started the using flash.

Over the course of the session, I took more than 100 frames, moving the flash around to light different parts of the scene. Back in the studio, I blended around 20 of those exposures in Photoshop, masking in pools of light to create depth and a sense of atmosphere.

To complete the image, I replaced the plain sky with a more interesting one, retouched the grass to fill in bare patches, and added outdoor furniture and planting to the neighbouring cabins.

The final image ticked all the boxes: it was used in ads, on the resort website, and even popped up in my own phone’s news feed. You can watch the full timelapse of the shoot below.

Need high-impact property marketing images? If you’re looking for architectural and interiors photography in Cornwall that combines lighting, retouching and creative thinking, get in touch here or view more of my work on the property photography page.