Photographer to share her skills during Attingham Park workshops

Through her lens, the master photographer loves capturing the natural world in all its beauty.

Now, she is combining a passion for the outdoors with sharing her photography skills by running workshops at one of her favourite beauty spots – Attingham Park, near Shrewsbury.

“Attingham is where I go to immerse myself in nature,” says Victoria, who has been working as a professional photographer for 15 years.

“Attingham means such a lot to me. It helps me with my mental health. I have a deep appreciation for the nature that’s there and for what the rangers do to manage the landscape and habitats.”

It was during a visit to the National Trust site that Victoria was inspired to set up her photography workshops.

“There was some light that fell on a nettle and I thought that light will never fall on that nettle in the same way again. I thought there was value in me helping people to see that,” she explains.

Before becoming a trained photographer, Victoria studied creative writing with the Open University and then went on to study animal behaviour and welfare at Harper Adams University.

As part of the course she studied wildlife conservation, farming systems, ecology and wild and domestic animal behaviour.

She then went on to qualify as a Master Photographer with The MPA. Over the years her work has taken her to the island of Skomer to photograph the resident puffins and to the press office at the world’s biggest dog show, Crufts.

Her collaboration with Attingham Park will see her offer two workshops – a beginners photography workshop on April 13 and the art of photography and wellbeing workshop on May 4.

The full-day beginners workshop will cover all aspects of photography from the technical introduction through to the art of seeing and is suitable for anyone who has ever considered taking up the hobby. “It is a great foundational workshop to get started,” says Victoria.

The Art of Photography workshop is a morning class teaching skills in composition and light.

“It is aimed at any camera user; from camera phone to DSLR and is a great introduction to producing better imagery and using light and the world around you to create beautiful photographs,” explains Victoria.

“Our workshops aim to build a community and to teach skills in seeing and appreciating the world around us.

“Photography is a brilliant medium for this as it involves looking for light, colour, texture, lines, framing to name just a few things.

“I have been so enriched by learning to see the world through photographers eyes and I feel so passionately about passing these skills on,” she adds.

As the founder and creative director of Hedgerow Media, Victoria is currently using her creative skills to produce visual content for rural businesses, conservation charities and businesses within the pet industry.

“We are very much a family business, my husband graduated Harper Adams having studied rural business and my 12-year-old daughter is always very proud to be credited with naming the business.

“On a long car journey, one day, I was talking to Marcus about my goals with the new venture and we were brainstorming names when a voice from the back seat shouted “Hedgerow Media”.

“As a family we then considered the idea and realised that the Hedgerow represented what we were trying to do exactly. A hedgerow is a man made feature in the countryside and is a thriving habitat supporting many species; providing nesting sites, bolt holes, shelter and food.

“Businesses are also man made features co-existing with the wildlife on our planet, we very much want our business and the businesses that we work with to be more “hedgerow” and work towards supporting nature in a similar way to hedgerows across our countryside.”

Hedgerow Media is hosting is a “kind” headshots day and rural business networking event on June 24, from 10am until 1pm.

“SME’s and single employee businesses will be able to book in for a profile photograph and headshot photograph either for themselves or their whole team and know that 30 per cent of their fee will be passed to the Shropshire Wildlife Trust to support their projects supporting our wildlife and conservation in the county.

“The event will be hosted at The Shropshire Wildlife Trusts site and there will be networking opportunities for those that attend throughout the day,” explains Victoria.

“We are creating a community of businesses all sharing the same values in respect for the countryside, wildlife and the planet . It is our goal to be the bridge that brings our clients together with conservation charities across the UK,” she adds.

For more information, see www.hedgerowmedia.com