Photography Archives - Page 2 of 2

Garden Centre Website Design in Kent – Stones Garden Centre

Stones Garden Centre on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent is a long‑established local business specialising in buxus, exotic plants and bonsai. When the original owners regained control of the site after several years away, they began a major redevelopment of the garden centre and surrounding facilities.

As part of this redevelopment they required a modern website redesign that would showcase their products, promote the garden centre and allow customers to purchase items online.

We were approached to design and build a mobile‑friendly WordPress website for the garden centre, following the success of the Stones Fishing Lakes website which we had previously created for the same family‑owned business.

About Stones Garden Centre

Stones Garden Centre is located halfway between Sheerness and Minster-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey and has been serving gardeners in the area for over 25 years.

The centre is particularly well known for:

Buxus and ornamental shrubs
Exotic plants
Bonsai trees
Seasonal garden plants and supplies

After the original owners repurchased the site, significant work began to redevelop the garden centre. Future plans included expanding the facilities with:

An on‑site café
A specialist hot tub retailer
Expanded retail areas

A modern website was needed to support this redevelopment and attract more visitors to the centre.

WordPress Website Redesign for a Garden Centre

The existing website was outdated and not designed for modern devices. One of the main goals of the project was to create a responsive website design that worked well on mobile phones and tablets, as many customers search for garden centres while out and about.

The new website was built using WordPress, allowing the client to easily update content, add products and manage the website without requiring technical knowledge.

Key objectives included:

A mobile responsive website design
Clear navigation for customers
The ability to sell products online
A visual design that reflected the branding of the garden centre
Integration with photography to showcase plants and products

E‑commerce Functionality

To support online sales, the website included an e‑commerce shop allowing customers to browse and purchase selected products directly from the website.

This functionality enabled the garden centre to:

Showcase plants and gardening products online
Allow customers to purchase items before visiting
Expand their customer base beyond local footfall

The e‑commerce system also allowed the business to manage:

Product listings
Stock levels
Pricing and promotions
Online orders

Website Design & Branding

Because the garden centre is part of the same family business as the nearby fishery, the website layout was designed to feel familiar while still reflecting the unique branding and colour scheme of the garden centre.

The design focused on:

Clean, natural colour palettes
Clear navigation
Large images of plants and products
A simple layout that works well on mobile devices

This approach helped create a website that is both visually appealing and easy for customers to use.

Photography for the Website

As part of the project we also created new photographic content for the website.

Professional photography helps businesses like garden centres present their products more effectively online. High quality images were used throughout the website to highlight:

Plants and shrubs
Bonsai trees
The garden centre environment
Featured products

These images help bring the website to life and make it easier for customers to explore what the garden centre offers.

Stones Garden Centre website design sheppey

A Website Designed for Growth

The completed website gave Stones Garden Centre a modern online presence that supported the redevelopment of the business and helped promote the centre to local gardeners.

The site provided an easy way for customers to:

Discover the garden centre
Browse available products
Purchase items online
Find directions to the location

Although the business has since moved to a different e‑commerce platform as it has grown, the original WordPress website played an important role in helping the garden centre establish its online presence during the early stages of redevelopment.

Technologies Used

WordPress CMS
Responsive website design
E‑commerce functionality
Custom styling and layout
Product photography

Fishery Website Design in Kent – Stones Fishing Lakes

Stones Fishing Lakes on the Isle of Sheppey in Swale, Kent is a well‑known venue among anglers looking for quality carp, predator and match fishing. When the original family regained control of the fishery, their goal was to restore the lakes to their former glory and attract more visitors to the venue.

To support this, they needed a modern WordPress website design for their fishery that would allow anglers to easily find information about the lakes, buy tickets online and purchase bait before arriving at the venue.

The result was a fully responsive fishing lake website designed to make it simple for anglers to plan their trip while helping the fishery manage visitors and bait stock more efficiently.

About Stones Fishing Lakes

Stones Fisheries had previously been mis‑managed and had almost disappeared from the radar for many anglers in Kent. After being taken back over by the original family who dug the lakes, significant work was carried out to restore the fishery and improve the overall fishing experience.

Today the venue offers excellent sport including:

Match lakes producing bags over 300lb of carp
Specimen carp to 40lb
Predator fishing with catfish to 45lb
Pike over 20lb
Even sturgeon within the lakes

The website needed to showcase these features while making it easy for anglers to access the key information they search for when visiting a fishery website.

WordPress Website Design for a Fishing Venue

The main goal of this project was to create a user‑friendly fishery website where visitors could quickly find essential information such as:

Day ticket prices
Fishery rules
Information about each lake
Available bait and tackle

Because many anglers check this information on their phones before travelling, the website was designed to be fully mobile responsive and fast loading.

Key Website Features

Online Day Ticket Purchases

One of the most important features was the ability for anglers to purchase day tickets online before arriving at the fishery.

This helps the owner:

Predict visitor numbers
Manage capacity across the lakes
Prepare bait stock in advance

It also makes planning a fishing trip much easier for anglers.

Bait & Tackle Online Shop

Stones Fishery offers a selection of high quality bait brands that are not widely available locally, including:

DNA Baits
Crafty Catcher
Bait-Tech

The website includes an e‑commerce shop where anglers can purchase bait online and collect it at the lakes when they arrive.

This functionality also allows the fishery to:

Manage stock levels
Track popular products
Run promotions and special offers

One of the most important sections of any fishing lake website is clear information about the lakes themselves.

Each lake page includes:

A photo of the lake
A map for easy identification
Fish species present
Typical fish sizes
Recommended fishing methods
Any lake‑specific rules

At the bottom of the page a map of the fishery helps anglers easily identify which lake is which when they arrive.

Call‑to‑Action Focused Design

The website was designed around several key calls to action to guide visitors towards the most important areas of the site.

These include:

Quality Bait Range
Promoting the specialist bait available at the fishery.

Specimen Hunters
Highlighting the large fish available across the lakes.

Well Stocked Lakes
Directing anglers to the lakes page for detailed information.

Match Fishing
Promoting club and open matches, which are particularly important during the winter months.

These sections help visitors quickly find what they are looking for while also encouraging ticket purchases.

The website header includes:

Contact information
Social media links
Website search
Shopping basket

The footer provides additional functionality including:

Links to legal pages
Recently viewed products
Shopping basket access
Instagram feed integration

This structure helps create a user‑friendly WordPress website for anglers, making it easy to navigate whether visitors are browsing from a desktop or mobile device.

Additional Website Pages

The website also includes several additional pages designed to improve the user experience:

Catch gallery featuring anglers’ captures
Contact page with a direct link to Google Maps
Frequently asked questions
Fishery rules and regulations

These pages help provide all the information anglers need before visiting the venue.

Result

The finished website provides Stones Fishing Lakes with a modern, SEO‑friendly WordPress website that promotes the fishery, improves communication with anglers and allows visitors to purchase tickets and bait online before arriving.

This not only improves the customer experience but also helps the fishery manage visitor numbers and stock levels more effectively.

How much does a fishery website cost?

The cost depends on the functionality required, such as online ticket sales, lake information pages and e‑commerce features for bait and tackle.

Can anglers buy fishing tickets online?

Yes, many fisheries now allow anglers to purchase day tickets online to help manage visitor numbers and improve convenience.

Why do fisheries need a website?

A website helps fisheries provide important information such as lake details, fish species, rules, prices and contact details while also attracting new anglers through search engines.

Although this project was originally completed several years ago, the website demonstrates how a well‑structured WordPress fishery website can improve online bookings and visitor engagement.

Stones Aquatics

Stones Aquatics is a new Aquatic Retail Store that will be launched August/September 2019 inside of Stones Garden Centre in Minster-on-Sea, Sheerness. The store will offer dry and livestock for Ponds including Koi, Tropical and Marine Fish. This project was a full E-Commerce project including branding design.

Although bearing the same name “Stones” as the garden centre, it is independently owned, and therefore did not need to completely match the current branding. Therefore we opted for a more minimal and modern design for the branding.

The shop sells a variety of fish and products and therefore limiting the logo to one of the 3 areas wouldn’t have been suitable. The area holds a lot of Koi Pond hobbyists, therefore this needed to be represented along with something to relate to the tropical side. The final logo is a Red Circle, this represents the pattern on a Tancho Koi with a Betta splendun (fighting fish) being a negative inside of the circle. The font chosen is more modern than the current branding, with the letter ‘A’ having a wave running through it.

Stones Aquatics Logo

The main navigation works the same as a Single Page Website, when you click on each link it navigates to a different section on the homepage. We wanted to keep the information minimal on each section and therefore felt a single section would be stronger than too much writing on a whole page. There are additional information pages with fact sheets and videos to compliment these sections.

When working on the design of the website we wanted it to be more visually appealing than the local competitors and therefore used wave shape dividers to make the layout more interesting.

Chat is a really important feature in todays websites, the ease of chat is even more important. Previously having chat on your website meant that someone had to be logged into the back end of the website, and be at a computer to talk with prospective clients; which for a small business is not practical. Facebook has launched Messenger for websites, this is a fantastic integration tool and means that when a message is sent using it through your website it will generate a pop up message on your phone using the Facebook Pages app. This means you can be anywhere and interact with your clients. The advantage for your clients is that it uses a platform they are already familiar with and once they leave your website they will still have a copy of your conversation in their facebook messages, unlike other systems where once you leave the site you lose your message.

With the new Facebook Messenger integration we can now link the shop direct to the Facebook Page shop, this means as we add new products to the website they will automatically be added and updated to the Facebook Page shop.

The website can integrate both with Quickbooks and Epos Now to make accounting and Stock Take much simpler. The website is fully GDPR compliant with notices for Cookies as well as permissions for integration for YouTube and Vimeo videos. It is fully secure and will automatically block users who try to access files that they are not allowed to or do not exist, after 3 attempts at login it will lock the user out for 20 minutes and forever if the attacks persist. The website is fully mobile responsive and will accept major cards for payment and Apple Pay. Although the website can easily be linked to Stripe or PayPal for a payment gateway this site is linked direct to the card service used in store RMS, which means that the website sales can benefit from lower transaction charges.

This is a continual project, at the moment the online sales are for Click & Collect only. Once all data for Size and Weight have been added to each product this will then be opened for national delivery. The website will calculate the packing size and automatically generate the postage costs.

To view the site please visit www.stonesaquatics.co.uk

To discuss your project call Darren on 07849 385 331 or alternatively fill out the Contact Form.

Canon Porsche Day + BTS Video

In April our photographer Darren Woolway was asked to run a 2 day workshop with Canon UK and Porsche Club GB, the event was so popular the 150 places sold out in under one hour of their release. Darren gave a talk each day and run live demonstrations of how he lights cars. The participants had the opportunity to try Canon Camera gear on the sets that were being demonstrated, have their images retouched by a professional retoucher Mark Lacey and have them printed at A2 on the latest Canon printers. Darren was accompanied by behind the scenes photographer for Top Gear Rod Fountain. We would like to extend our thanks to Cnon UK, Porsche Club GB, Manfrotto and Broncolor. Below you can check out the Behind the Scenes video and a selection of images that Darren captured on his set-ups.

Giving back to the community

Business isn’t just about making money, it is about building a community. Many people help you along the way and it is your duty to give something back. It may not be of monetary value but a simple bit of your time goes a long way. Our CEO has had a lot of help from others which has made him who he is today and to give back he regularly visits camera clubs to judge competitions giving constructive criticism for members to learn and improve and to delivery various lectures and demonstrations to teach them new skills and to inspire their future projects (on average 33 times per year).

Last night the live Light, Shoot, Retouch session was held at Canterbury Photographic Society, the title of the evening was Artificial & Mixed Lighting. During the evening Darren demonstrated different types of light, lighting modifiers and how to use them to different effects. Although there was lots of flashy gear around (No pun intended… honest) cheaper alternatives were shown to get a similar effect.

The first set was to demonstrate how you can use ambient light and flash together, the result is a slightly darker background and brighter subject. Just a cheap flashgun of around £45 was used for this image, you can see the audience in the background.

The second set became a bit more high tech using studio lighting, a softbox and a beauty dish. The two light set ip is very simple and for those entering studio photography is very affordable. Again a similar set up can be created using cheaper equipment, so is within reach of an enthusiastic hobbyist. This is typically the lighting set up that Darren uses when we visit offices to carry out headshots.

It creates such a beautiful light as the light wraps around the cheekbones and across the shoulder blades to the collar bone. Retouching of imagery has changed a lot in the last few years, now we try to keep things as natural as possible removing only small spots and blemishes and correcting any difference in skin tone due to make up use. You can see the before and after shot below:

We have gone past the heavy porcelain skin, Asiana magazine type look and now we make sure that texture of the skin still exists, next up is a crop at 100% so you can see the retention of skin detail.

The third and final set of the evening was to illustrate how you can take just one light and no background paper to create a dark, contrasty studio looking image. Darren used a single beauty dish for this but once again a cheap flashgun could be used instead.

The session was finished by demonstrating a few techniques on how to retouch the images using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. I hope you enjoyed these images and if you are interested in booking a talk for your club check out what is on offer here:

Club Judging and Lectures

With thanks to Canterbury Photographic Society and Milly for modelling for the evening.

Acting Headshots Theatre Royal Stratford East

Theatre Royal Stratford East Actor Headshots

Darren Woolway photographed Actor Headshots for Actors of Theatre Royal Stratford East, these were a series of shots to be used in CV’s, Comp Cards and Social Media profiles. Of each actor 2 side shots and a forward facing profile was taken.

It is important when taking headshots that you have the right shots to use in varying media. Finding out how the images are going to be used is really important in determining lighting, backgrounds and cropping. Typically actors headshots are photographed on an off grey background. It was decided for the main CV shot to have the actors looking to the left as in the CV template the image would be on the right hand side facing towards the text, therefore the eyes of the actor will lead the viewer to the CV.

The main headshot was lit with a high amount of contrast, almost in a Rembrant style, whereas the additional shots were taken with a more even light spread. A shot was taken looking left and looking right so that the actor has a wider design option when using the headshots as well as one face on shot for profiles where a circular crop is required. Below you find a series of our favourite headshots from the day.

To book your headshots email us with the number of people in your team and your location to info@scorpionmedia.co.uk

Stop Start Animation for Pearlessence London

We have worked with Pearlessence London since the end of 2017, they are a startup in London who produce luxury bathbombs. Each bathbomb has a hidden surprise inside, a ring worth anywhere between £20 and £2000, it is like a Kinder Egg for adults. After producing a series of images for them for use in e-commerce they were able to increase the sale price of their product by 25% as now the imagery is as luxurious as the product itself.

A couple of weeks ago they challenged us to create a stop/start animation of the unpacking of their products, so we created the following four animations to showcase this. With great planning and execution the work is beautiful and minimalistic.

SuperGlass – Before/After Photography

MKI Escort Door Glass

Last November Debbie from SuperGlass Maidstone got hold of us to help her document how you can restore a door glass to look as good as new. Darren was super excited about this project as having photographed a lot of classic Fords this would be brilliant to see. As you can see from the image it was in a pretty bad shape before the restoration.

The biggest challenge for us would be how to make sure that the before and after shots are consistent in look, lighting and compostition, Therefore a lot of planning went into this, we also checked how/where the images were to be used to make sure we cropped them accordingly.

The Before and After images of the restored window glass were posted in several car groups on Facebook, it had an overwhelming response with a lot of requests for quotes. New door glass isn’t cheap and when you replace it you lose the originality of the vehicle, Debbie restores your original glass keeping in tact the logos that define the originality on the glass. The images were cropped square so that these could also be used on Instagram.

Maserati Bora

Following the success of the first project Debbie was the first one on the phone on the 2nd January to book in another piece of glass. This time it was for a Maserati Bora, not quite as badly damaged as the Escort glass but still with some pretty deep scratches and lots of residue build up. To keep the campaign consistent we used the same lighting techniques as before, then within 2 weeks Debbie had returned with the finished glass.

If you have some glass you need restored then give Debbie from SuperGlass Maidstone a call on 07854 142 011. Did you like this project? Then use the social share buttons below to share with your friends and leave us a comment. Got a similar project you wish to discuss with us for you, give the team a call on 0800 135 7687 or alternatively email your brief to info@scorpionmedia.co.uk

Website Launch STAT Centre

Youssouf Adama has just launched the new Success Tuition and Training Centre in Maidstone offering tuition and training courses to BTEC level in ICT, English, Maths and Science.

WARNING SIGNS

Youssouf initially contacted us to help develop a website for him that will allow a shopfront for his business, he provided us with a logo that set off warning signs in our heads:

It appeared very generic and typical of what a designer might come up with as their first conceptual idea, it is full of cliches and the writing is very dated for a modern business. The first thing we did was a Google Image Reverse Search to see if the logo was being used by anyone else, this resulted in over 65 other companies using the same graphic for their training centres.

As we are building his website it is important to get the branding right, the whole design of the website will revolve around the branding logo and colour scheme so we suggested that we design a unique logo especially for him. Our designers come up with the following options:

logo Concepts

Youssouf chose the first concept; which he felt didn’t need any alterations at all, he now has a unique logo that he can copyright and protect for his business. Now that we had a unique and modern logo it became a lot easier to design his website, all of the colours and fonts used were used in the web design concept.

The Brief

Create a new website that incorporates the use of e-commerce so that the sales of courses can be completed online.
The website should meet today’s design and security standards and be easily updated to meet changing standards and needs. The website was built on the platform WordPress which is open source, this will allow us to easily keep the website up-to-date, an SSL security certificate has been installed and a rigorous security check system that blocks and IP Address that consistently try to access files that they shouldn’t.
The website should have a back-end that allows the user to easily edit their own content, add blog posts, create new product listings and collate customer orders. A Learner Management System has been installed to allow for the addition and editing of courses, along with WooCommerce for shop items, training was provided as part of the website package so that the user/s can add and edit their own content.
The colour scheme should match that of the branding, the branding must be discussed to make sure it meets todays standards. As mentioned above the branding was reviewed and changed.
The header/hero images should be designed with a call to action in mind. These were discussed and then professionally photographed.
The website has to have the ability to accept payments online via BACS, Paypal and Stripe, this was achieved through two platforms; WooCommerce and a Learner Management System.
Students must be able to book onto courses online and this has to be limited to a set number of students per course. The system allows the administrator to add an Instructor, Date & Time and limit number of seats available which adjust as places are sold. The site also has the ability to provide online courses, tests/quizzes and produce automated certificates.
There must be an area where Testimonials can be placed. We situated a testimonial slider on the home page that automatically changes:
Social media channels should be created for Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIN and Facebook. Where possible social shares should be available. We created all the social media pages, added links to the site in the header section, created social share buttons for courses and linked live updates. Twitter posts are now added to the front end of the site automatically along with any new posts or new courses:
Courses should be searchable. We created a search bar that allows courses to be searched by Category, Type and Keywords.
Help may be needed to create copy. We understood that starting a new business can be a daunting task and when asked to produce a lot of copy for pages can cause anxiety. We helped Youssouf by researching and writing some of the copy on his behalf as well as editing the content that he provided. Where possible we tried to include some animation of graphs and images.
Tuition fees are variable and a discount is available for multiple students or when purchasing bulk sessions in advance. To facilitate this we create a shop type item where parents can select different variables so this can automatically be calculated and added to their basket. The credits can then be used to book time slots.
There must be an area for policies and procedures. We created several pages for policies, procedures, terms and conditions and FAQ’s to cover this, we even assisted in creating templates to make the policies look consistent and professional.
All imagery should be representative of the quality that can be expected from the brand. All imagery was planned and photographed specific for purpose, this included any promotional imagery needed for social media

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Visit The Success Tuition and Training Centre Website

Interested in how we can help you? Give us a call on 0203 151 7687, 0800 135 7687 or call Darren direct on 07849 385 331. Alternatively email info@scorpionmedia.co.uk.