Student Photographer at Vassaliki

Back in July last year we found this Media request on the BN forum from Adam Hyland a student photographer.

“I have been a photographer for some years now and have been commissioned to shoot an increasing amount of jobs over the past few years ranging from still life commissions to actors/models portfolios. At the beginning of 2008 I decided to go back to university to gain a degree in photography as I knew it was something I wanted to pursue as a full time career.

At the start of the second year in September we are to be given a photo documentary project in which we have been advised to choose a diverse and original subject to photographically document. To support the photographs we will also be required to write an essay in the form of an editorial article for a publication of our choice. I would like to base my article around Naturism, in particular at a holiday venue showing the enjoyment of the daily activities or simply just the relaxation that happens within the venue.

I understand that this is, and can be, a sensitive subject matter if not dealt with correctly and responsibly and hope to gain the confidence of you, your venue and your members/patrons to allow and assist me in producing a fair and beautiful account of naturism. In gratitude for the opportunity I would like to offer the venue the full library of the images taken (copyright free) for your own promotional use or to print for the members/patrons as keepsakes.”

We called Adam and had a long chat about our resort and his project and decided to offer him the opportunity to come and say at our resort for a week to take a range of images for both us and himself. The only issue we had, will the guests we have staying want to get involved in a photo shot?

We decided with Adam that the best thing to do is get in models. I know this is sometimes frowned upon but trust me if you are on holiday you don’t want to be involved in a photo shot. The time to take one photo can sometime takes hours of setting up waiting for the correct light standing in the right place, not frowning when the suns in your eyes the list is endless. We have had several photo shots done with Charlie Simmonds and several magazine photographers and trust me Charlie and the girls work so hard when on a shot it takes me and Samantha a week to get over there visit!!
Adam made contact with several new models who were looking to improve and expand their portfolio and wanted the opportunity to work abroad. We finish up with two sisters, Cassie and Heidi. With Samantha, myself and Dominic our barman also willing to take part Adam had a lot of option open to him
The photo shot took me off resort duties for the whole week. We started with shots around the resort and in the rooms. I was looking for images to show the different services we offer our guests at Vassaliki so we set up several different scenarios so show these. This included our masseuse Mary setting up in our garden, our welcome hampers and an image depicting our Wi-Fi service and a stunning range of images of our cocktails and coffee service. Adam was very particular to detail sometime taking 30 or more shots before being happy with the result.
We then had a day on board one of our catamarans which we are using for our new naturist sailing week this June. The images needed to show people relaxing on board but also the many facilities the boat has to offer. We even spent some time following the cameraman in a small boat so we could get images of her sailing with our nude models on board. The shot took nearly 12 hours to complete but we managed to get some great photos.
The last brief we gave Adam was to create some images to help promote Vasnat South Africa, our new resort that is opening in January 2011. This created two problems, one we were not in South Africa, two the resort was a building site. But I was very impressed with the ideas and creative mind of both Adam and the girls. We travelled around the island and found several locations before settling for a vine yard and field full of fruit trees. We spent most of the day taking a large number of shots and came up with some superb results which are now on our website and ready for the publicity and adverts we plan to put out soon.
Coming to the end of the week we were all very tied but happy with the results. But then two of our guests came and asked Adam if he would be happy to take some photos of them both as a 40th wedding anniversary present to each other. We took them both to a sunning location full of olive trees and flowers. After set up we took a few test shots for lighting etc and then they both undressed and spent over one hour walking through the trees sitting on the branches and lying in the flowers. The results we fantastic and we believe one of the images is now pride of place in their house.

From our experience we are really pleased and impressed with the professionalism and creative skills of Adam and the models. The brief was fulfilled and Adam got a distinction in his course work.