Shoot diary - Portrait at Shimizu Flowers
- Conrad Lee
- Feb 16, 2016
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 25, 2019
So on my quest to find the best shops and most interesting people to photograph in Hastings; I stumbled across Shimizu Flowers at the High street in Old town.
Shimizu Flowers is a small, independent floral design shop that is run by a lovely Japanese lady, Mao, for the past 11 years. The intricacy and details in her flower designs was a real inspiration. I contacted Mao and arranged to shoot a portrait for her, to try and capture this passion of hers, and hopefully share with the people of Hastings.
Everything about the shop was just so lovely, from the entrance to the interior. As you walk in the shop, you automatically feel fresh and happy. The beautifully arranged flowers were colourful and you can tell it was done with real passion and care. Whist Mao and her assistant Charlie served some customers, I took some snap shots outside. Almost every by-passer stopped to just say how great and wonderful Mao and her shop are.
We shot for about 20mins when the shop was less busy. Using the natural light from the big windows facing the streets and a reflector to feather some light as fill, I was able to get some really soft light into the shots. That was the look I wanted to get, a portrait that give a sense of care, passion and beauty. Mao was great, and even is short amount of time we got some really fabulous shots.
Here is a low res preview, but I hope this will get published so people can find out about this great hidden gem of Hastings!
Before i went, we took a lovely snap shot together too!
For more info about Shimizu Flowers:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldtownhastings