Commercial work varies a lot from job to job. This one was a real pleasure: Redhouse Christmas Barn, a family business that pairs traditional festive charm with a working commercial operation. David Rix, one of the family, asked me to photograph the Christmas Barn and the fields of Christmas trees ready for sale. The images were for the Redhouse Christmas Barn’s social media and website, kept in a gallery the staff could access, download and share.
Immersed in a Christmas Wonderland
The brief had two parts: show the range of decorations for sale in the barn, and show the Christmas trees in the fields, across a spread of sizes and species. As a commercial photographer, I liked the mix of a straight business job and the chance to photograph Christmas itself.
The Barn: A Haven of Festive Decorations
I started in the Christmas Barn Shop, one of the largest independent suppliers of Christmas trees and luxury decorations in East Anglia. Inside, the choice runs from mid-October through to Christmas Eve, with over 10 full displays of mostly handmade decorations from the UK and Europe. The photographs needed to carry that scale and the care behind the arrangements.
The Fields: A Spectrum of Christmas Trees
From the barn I moved out to the fields. Spread over 850 acres with more than 200,000 Christmas trees, Redhouse grows everything on-site and replaces each tree that is cut. The trees run from 3ft to 24ft, covering most customer preferences. Photographing that green expanse said a lot about the scale of the operation.
Social Media: Extending the Festive Vibe Digitally
Social media is where a lot of this business meets its customers. The images were made to read well online and to prompt people to visit the barn in person. The gallery gave the team a ready set of pictures to post through the season.
Reflections on the Project
This was a commercial job, and it was also a good day out in a Christmas setting. The pictures now sit across Redhouse Christmas Barn’s website and social channels. If you run a business and need commercial photography that shows your work properly, that is the kind of shoot I am set up for.