Uncategorized Archives - Daniel Atkinson: interior and architectural photographer in Buckinghamshire

London restaurants photo shoot series

I was commissioned by the popular group of restaurants Burger and Lobster to provide up-to-date visuals of their London restaurant locations for their new website.

The photo shoots included restaurant venues across central London including the West End, the City of London and Canary Wharf, with an array of venues including a former bank and a converted warehouse.

Burger and Lobster – West India Quay, near Canary Wharf

Burger and Lobster – Mayfair restaurant with wonderful wood panelled interiors

Burger and Lobster Oxford Circus

Burger and Lobster Threadneedle Street

Get in touch if you need marketing visuals for your restaurant or hospitality venue.

London AirBnB photo shoot

I was commissioned to photograph a serviced apartment in central London, located a short distance from London Bridge. For each photo shoot I discuss the property with the host and suggest ways in which they may wish to present the property to best appeal to their target guests. I use professional photographic lighting in the interior shots to create eye-catching, appealing visuals for marketing the property. The photo shoot resulted in some wonderful feedback from the property host, which you can read below.

Staged living room of a serviced apartment in central London

Daniel did and outstanding job with photographing our serviced apartment. We’re really happy with the results and the editing turn around time was impressive. Daniel was fantastic to communicate with as well. Would highly recommend

Ash

Property Host

Staged bedroom of serviced apartment in central London

Staged kitchen in serviced apartment in central London

Bathroom in central London serviced apartment

Daniel Atkinson is a Serviced Accommodation photographer in London and the Home Counties. If you are looking for professional visuals to make holiday lets stand out from the competition then do get in touch.

Airport Retail Photography London

I was commissioned by a leading travel retail operator to photograph their new stores across London’s airports. This consisted of photo shoots at London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted airports and featured leading brands such as Lego and Tommy Hilfiger in addition to airport-specific brands.

The client required shots of both empty stores and when active with customers. This involved working the store teams at each location and identify the optimal times for the photo shoots.

Airports are constantly busy environments so during the photo shoots I had to adapt to the situation as I found it, working through the shots as opportunities presented themselves and involving the store teams to manage customer flow for brief periods to allow crucial images to be captured.

In a busy airport environment it’s simply not practical to be using strobe lighting so it’s a case of working with the natural light and applying my interior photography expertise in the editing process to produce the best results.

Tommy Hilfiger store interior, Stansted Airport

If you are looking for an experienced airport retail photographer, please get in touch. I am conveniently located for Heathrow, Luton, Stansted, Gatwick and Birmingham airports.

Does my building design and fitout business need professional marketing images?

Businesses involved in the design and fit out of property often consider whether they need professional images of their completed projects for their portfolio, case studies and their wider marketing.

In the property and construction industry, a significant proportion of business can come through business connections and referrals. This can make documenting project

s be viewed as a nice to have; something to sit on the website and show off good work, but not clearly driving business.

There’s a cost to commissioning professional marketing visuals, so is it worthwhile for property design and fitout businesses?

A means to an end not the end itself

First off, it’s important to keep in mind that visual content is a resource that will help you achieve business goals. The goal is not to get some photos of a project. Plonking some photos on your website might impress some visitors but it’s not by itself going to have a significant impact on your business. In contrast, savvy use of content at the heart of your sales and marketing can achieve some major results. We’ll come to this in a moment.

Marketing: Ignored by some in the industry but essential for others

Before we go any further it’s worth addressing the elephant in the room, that of the many businesses in the property industry who get by just fine without marketing. Property and construction is full of job referrals and for some businesses they’re in sufficient demand and have the sort of projects coming to them via contacts that they want without the need to market their services.

That’s great for some, but for those in more competitive or challenging markets with ambitions for this business, action is needed, and it’s here that visual content can play a crucial role.

An investment in your business goals

Like with any business investment, there should be a clearly defined goal that photo and video content are going to help the business achieve. The common challenge for businesses is being able to make this connection and understanding how the visuals are going to help realise positive results.

Let’s start with your business. Perhaps your business goals include:

Growth
Higher value projects
More profitable work
More rewarding briefs
Recognition amongst peers and the industry
To reposition itself in the industry

All of these goals can be supported by using professional photo and video content, when applied in the right way.

Return on investment

Too often, businesses regard professional visual content as an expense, detached from the business processes of securing future work. Consequently, the perceived value is limited and budgets are similarly minimal.

Commissioning a photographer or videographer, involving planning or pre-production, some hours on site, at least as many hours in the editing does of course cost money.

Yet, what is rather than an expense with limited benefits, the content created actively drove prospective clients to your business. Whether by creative awareness, building trust, showcasing services and team and creativity involved, visual content can, when placed at the heart of sales and marketing, make a tangible difference to the business.

Once visuals become a valuable customer acquisition tool, the investment and potential return on investment is transformed. When viewed within the prism of acquiring just a single extra project, the outlay of visual content shrinks dramatically and the potential gains for the business can look impressive.

The challenge

Businesses find themselves in a world that demands and expects visual content; a far cry from just a decade ago where businesses could get on with designing and delivering great projects. Today’s customers demand more, tailored to them, presented up front and throughout the sales process to provide a satisfying experience.

For design and fitout businesses, especially those with limited marketing capability in-house, this change can feel unsettling. Experts at designing and delivering outstanding projects, taking a more visible role towards customers can be a shift beyond the normal comfort zone.

However by realising the potential of visual content to attract and drive business, the potential benefits are considerable.

If your business can benefit from visual content, ensure that content is used to its absolute maximum. If your photographer or videographer is solely providing content, ensure you’ve got the know-how to understand when content to commission for the results you need. Alternatively, commission a content creator who can provide both.

About the author

Daniel Atkinson is a commercial photographer and videographer with 20 years experience of content creation and marketing. Daniel specialises in visual content for design and fitout businesses of commercial and residential spaces, serving London and the South East of England.

Luxury Beaconsfield windows and door installation photo shoot

I was commissioned by high-end windows and doors manufacturer Schueco to photograph a luxurious property in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, that had been fitted with their windows and doors throughout.

The garden view of an extensive, 3-floor property in Beaconsfield, Buckingshire, featuring Schueco windows and doors

This shoot is on familiar territory, as I’ve had the pleasure of photographing a number of quality properties over the years in the South Bucks towns of Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and the surrounding areas.

Beaconsfield perennially nestles at the top of the most expensive towns in Britain, alongside nearby Chalfont St Giles and Gerrards Cross. (See this article in The Week, December 2021). Highly commutable into central London, minutes from the M40 and M25 and set amongst the stunning Chilterns countryside, it’s not too suprising why the likes of Beaconsfield ticks a lot of boxes for affluent homeowners eager for the space and clear air that the shires afford.

Open plan living space with larger sofa, piano, and sliding windows giving access to the garden

It should comes as no surprise then that Beaconsfield is home to many luxurious and well-appointed homes and the property being shot for the Schueco was a fine example of the type. Extremely generous living space fitted out with Schueco’s range of windows. An absolute pleasure to photograph.

I help businesses showcase their work in creating outstanding residential and commercial spaces for their clients. Capturing projects in high quality visuals not only demonstrates the completed projects, it also showcases the superior workmanship, materials and textures used and to the client demonstrates the impressive experience the completed space provides.

Get in touch through my contact page to learn more about how an investment in photography can boost sales for businesses working in fitting out homes and commercial spaces.

Case study: Windsor and Eton serviced apartments

Castle Properties contacted me to update the marketing visuals for their holiday apartments in Windsor and Eton. These are popular tourist destinations in Berkshire, sitting either side of the River Thames and best known for Windsor Castle, Legoland, Windsor Great Park and Eton College.

In this case study I’ll share how we planned the photography and staging of the accommodation to appeal to potential guests.

Boost bookings with photography

When I’m commissioned to take accommodation photography, one of the first things I do is identify how the photos are going to be used. Castle Properties needed marketing images both for their own website and for online travel agent (OTA) listing sites such as AirBnB and Booking.com.

Guests booking directly want to see the quality of the accommodation and service, which photography can help to visualise. Guests browsing Windsor and Eton serviced apartments on listings sites will be drawn to the higher quality images that have been taken professionally. Our goal is to entice both groups to take a deeper look at the apartments and make those all important bookings.

Staging apartments for your ideal guests

When planning a photoshoot, it is also crucial to understand the needs of a business traveller can be quite different to those of a holidaying family. Located in some of the most convenient, central locations in Windsor and Eton, the Castle Properties apartments are equipped for a range of guests including couples, families and business travellers. We discussed how the facilities of the apartments could be staged to show off the well equipped features that would appeal to each of these groups, ranging from a coffee maker to a cot.

The serviced apartments were a pleasure to photograph, each being freshly decorated and well appointed, often combined with the period features of the building and stunning views of Windsor Castle or Eton College. The Castle Properties team were also on hand to stage the facilities magnificently, demonstrating the flexibility of the accommodation.

What the client says…

“We have always maintained that the photography of our guest accommodation in Windsor and Eton, has been a large contributor to the success of our properties. In todays world with all of our marketing, reviews and guest communication being very much digital, it is vital that we show our portfolio in the best light. Daniel and his team have been able to capture each property in their very finest light. We would not hesitate to recommend Daniel Atkinson Photography to anyone that asked.

Tim Woods

Managing Director – Castle Properties Group

Find out more

To find out more about photography for holiday accommodation, see our Serviced Accommodation Photography page.
To discover more about Castle Properties selection of apartments in the heart of Windsor and Eton, please visit the Castle Properties website.

Property photographs: 5 tips to make your home sale-ready

The start of a new year is a popular time to start thinking about future plans and for many people this includes their home. Whether it’s upsizing, downsizing, relocating for work, being nearer good schools, changing your circumstances, improving your lifestyle or settling for retirement, life can present any number of reasons for making a move this year.

The internet has a well established role in selling properties now, putting thousands of homes in front of potential buyers so if you want to sell you have to get your house noticed.

I shoot properties every day and there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing quality properties that are being undersold because they’ve not been properly prepared for marketing.

Remember, once a buyer has set their price range in a search, they’ll be using the property images almost entirely as a guide to decide which homes to look at in more detail and booking a viewing for. For the sake of some preparation you could be turning away potential buyers without realising it.

Here is my guide for making a property attractive to buyers:

Top tips for preparing your home for sale

Declutter. It’s difficult to impress how much of a difference this makes to property photography. Even a few items on surfaces will distract from the space and potential of a property. A buyer wants to be imagining themselves in the house not be put off by personal items everywhere.
Lights. Check they’re working and replace any blown bulbs. Blown bulbs will make a property look uncared for and they make for even lighting of the property in images.
Set tables. This is a neat trick that makes a big difference. Setting the dining table helps buyers imagining themselves enjoying the space and it puts them a step nearer to buying. Outside, make sure garden seating is set out, even if it’s wintertime!
Clear the view of the house. The property frontage is often the first image buyers will see of a house. Make it look its best by keeping it clear of cars and free of bins when being photographed.
Quality photography. Alas all your efforts to prepare your home will only get you so far if the photography you use is poor. Interiors are tricky to photography well and casual snaps of a house will normally give you dark rooms with wonky walls – not an accurate representation of your home and sure to put off buyers. Professional property photographers will compose and light rooms to make your home look bright and inviting to potential buyers. Don’t accept poor photography and lose out.

Daniel Atkinson Photography provides property photography services across South Buckinghamshire, South West Herts and the wider Chilterns area. I work with estate agents and private sellers alike. Get in touch to find out more.

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