FRANCE WITH THE FLO SHOW

19 Oct FRANCE WITH THE FLO SHOW

My time at France with The Flo Show was so wonderful – it was a playground for creativity.

The film above is just a flavour of what actually happened, because most of my time was spent away from the camera…. teaching, sharing, eating, playing, creating, chatting and then collapsing each night full of inspiration and conversation.

Flore had an idea to host a workshop, by inviting some of her favourite teachers to share their skills, and then opening her home for people to experience practical workshops on photography, film making and flower arranging, alongside visiting flea markets and eating delicious food.

It was five days of fun and frolics, in this exquisite place.

I spent most of the time pinching myself that it was all actually real!

There’s so much to share from this trip… but I’ll begin today with my film and thoughts about the location.

Tomorrow, a celebration of the delicious meals we had and then I’ll write a little about my workshop at some point and share more photos.

Let’s start with the house and the grounds. What a pretty building (those shutters, right?!) with blue doors everywhere, rooms full of stories… and plenty of corners with photo possibilities.

My room was the blue room, it was so pretty! especially when it flooded with light in the mornings. I was a terribly messy guest (I’m sure they’ll never invite me back!) but I was too busy playing, to tidy up or even make the bed…

I have to mention the flowers… they were a dream, especially the dahlias! They were in abundance, planted along side the veg patch. Many grown especially for the retreat.

We used them in my workshop, as the subject of our films… My students would try out different shooting techniques, as I prepared a bouquet and then we’d play with them to practice some more, like throwing petals in the air or using them as props when creating Boomerangs (see my film above for more fun with flowers)

During my workshop this afternoon, we played with video and all the various ways to capture movement… it was so much fun. . #francewiththefloshow #xanthefilms #makefilmscourse #makemovingportraits #colorcolourlovers #littlestoriesofmylife

A post shared by ☆ Xanthe – Photography & Films (@xantheb) on Aug 12, 2017 at 1:42pm PDT

I couldn’t not mention the apples! The orchard was bursting… With baskets of windfall apples being collected daily. Homemade cider is made on site and by all accounts, it’s delicious.

One of my favourite spots on the grounds was the tree lined drive way, with corn fields on either side. I would walk there every day, to enjoy the birds singing and the wind moving through the corn.

The location was such a big part of why I loved the retreat so much. This beautiful home, was full of life and love – we were welcomed like old friends. You could see so much hard work went into preparing it for everyone… and making it a special time.

The buildings are so charming, at times I felt like I was on the set of a movie, especially on our last evening. We dined on the front lawn as it got dark, and then slowly each light in the house was turned on and candles lit on the window sills. As Flore said, it looks like a dolls house… and it did.

I shall leave this post here and carry on tomorrow as I share my love of the food and meals we shared together. DO come back… I promise it’s a feast for the eyes.

Do check out the workshop hashtag #francewiththefloshow to see more from this extraordinary event.