RECENT PRESS FEATURES.....

I just wanted to share a few recent press features, all relating to myself and the four other lovely new photographers joining Lisa Pritchard Agency, as part of their Futures roster......

Feature on LPA Futures on Photography Monthly magazine's website.....

Another great feature on the World Photography Organisation website.......

NEW REPRESENTATION....

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that I'm now represented by top London based agents Lisa Pritchard Agency for commercial photography commissions, as part of their Futures roster.

More news and updates to follow soon!

HOMEMADE PIZZA - PART ONE, DOUGH RECIPE

I've been working on some really interesting and varied photography commissions for the last few months, which I hope to be able to share over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I wanted to post a personal project that my husband and I have been thinking about shooting for a while - my other half has been perfecting his homemade pizzas for the last few years, so I thought I'd share our recipes for a great (in our opinion!) homemade pizza.

I wanted to split the pizza making process into three posts, so here we go with part one....with a recipe for an easy basic dough that we love.....

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

(adapted from the brilliant 'Pizza and Pasta' by Susan Conte, originally published in 1986, but worth hunting down on Ebay etc)

INGREDIENTS

25g/1oz fresh yeast 

300ml/half a pint of tepid water

400g/14oz strong plain flour plus extra for working the dough

1 teaspoon salt

a dash of good olive oil to taste 

METHOD

*Blend the yeast with a little of the tepid water.

*Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture and the remaining tepid water, plus a dash of olive oil according to taste.

*Using your hand (or an electric mixer if preferred!) work the flour into the liquid, working in circular movements from the well outwards, until you have a sticky, elastic dough.

*Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it well, adding more flour if necessary, until it stops sticking to your knuckles and the work surface.

*Knead for approx another 10 minutes, or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. (again you can use an electric mixer at this stage.)

*If you are making several individual pizzas, divide the dough into individual pieces and knead each one into a ball.

*Transfer each ball to a mixing bowl (sprinkle the bottom of the mixing bowl with flour), and leave the dough to rise, covering the bowl with a tea towel or cling film, for approximately an hour. The rising time will vary depending on the warmth of your kitchen, you can tell it's ready when it's approximately doubled in size.

*Roll out the risen ball of dough onto a pizza tin or baking tray, rolling thinly or thickly depending on your preference.

Recipes for homemade tomato sauce and favourite topping combos to come.........

(All images are my own photography/styling, please contact me before reproducing any of my images elsewhere, many thanks!)

WILD THING....

So last month we accidentally became a three cat household, thanks to the unexpected addition of a new rescue cat, named Fudge due to her unusual colouring (after much heated debate!).

She is a real softie, but has spent most of her first 10 months living rough and fending for herself, so she is also a tiny wild thing, although in true cat style she has taken to soft furnishings and home comforts with surprising speed!

 I purchased this beautiful woven basket a while back for Emily and Elvis, but they turned their furry noses up at it, and it has been sitting unloved on the sofa for ages. Weirdly it was love at first sight for Fudge and the striped nest, and she spends hours curled up in it like a small ewok, so it seems like the basket was just waiting for the right cat!

(All images are my own photography/styling, please contact me before reproducing any of my images elsewhere, many thanks!)

NEW PORTFOLIO WEBSITE LAUNCHES

Just a quick note to let you know that my newly revamped portfolio website has launched today, over at www.hollypickering.com

(All images are my own photography/styling, please contact me before reproducing any of my images elsewhere, many thanks!)

AN ENCHANTED GARDEN - PART 2

As promised here is the second part of the garden shoot I recently worked on, this incredible garden is set within an original Victorian walled kitchen garden and is now split into a rambling cutting garden of flowers, and an expansive vegetable plot. (Part one of the shoot is blogged here)

Even in the midst of Winter the vegetable garden was overflowing with incredible purple cabbages and row upon row of black kale and architectural globe artichoke plants.

Tucked away at the back of the vegetable plots is a partially restored Victorian greenhouse, filled with gnarled grape vines, tumbling nasturtiums and raised beds overflowing with winter salad crops, the pale blue metalwork adds an air of industrial elegance.

(All images are my own photography/styling, please contact me before reproducing any of my images elsewhere, many thanks!)

AN ENCHANTED GARDEN - PART 1

I thought I'd share some recent work, shot in an expansive private garden, which is a wonderful mix of a rambling, enchanted, cutting garden of flowers and a traditional walled vegetable garden. 

The first part of the shoot captures the cutting garden in Winter, I love the skeletal seed pods that have been left standing amongst the evergreen hedges, and the drifts of Honesty in front of the Victorian green house.

(All images are my own photography/styling, please contact me before reproducing any of my images elsewhere, many thanks!)