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You are here: Home / Personal Development / New Forest Life / Storytelling photographer fulfilling his dreams

Storytelling photographer fulfilling his dreams

November 1, 2017 by Jerry Fenner Leave a Comment

I’ve always wanted to live in the countryside

And more specifically, The New Forest

Round about a year ago, in September 2016, I popped up to see a house in Thorney Hill, a small settlement close to Bransgore and just inside the New Forest National Park boundary. I’d been living in Christchurch and Bournemouth for a long time, so I was close to the forest, and visited it frequently, and ever since I’d been a little boy watching “Out of Town” on ITV on Sunday afternoons, I’d dreamed of living in the forest.

First impression was the smell! The house had been closed up for a long time, with no fresh air circulating and so smelt a bit stale. And the area itself has had a certain reputation locally for a long time, since the New Forest Gypsy community were resettled there in the 1950s.

But I saw a future here, and brought my partner Barbara to see the house on Sunday, just from the outside, and then for a proper visit on Monday morning before she headed back to work in Dartmoor.

Within a week or two, we’d visited a couple more times, and had our offer accepted! And we were making our plans. Big plans.

Then we were stuck in the good old English house buying system for a long time… it wasn’t until February 7th we finally got the keys, and we began work on the 8th!

Mid-summer moving in

We wanted to move in as soon as we could, to save time and money, so as soon as we had a proper working tap (albeit on the outside), a proper flushing loo, a hot shower and electricity coming through the walls and not extension cables, we hired a van and moved in, choosing the day of the summer solstice, a beautiful day to make big changes in your life. The summer solstice has resonated for me many times during my life.

Another life-long dream

I’d also always wanted to do a renovation project too, and this house was perfect for it. Structurally sound and well build, as council houses were in the 50s, nothing had been done to the house for about 20 years so we felt free to rearrange the property to suit our dreams. Move the kitchen into the dining room, and then make one big room by combining the old kitchen with the sitting room. Take out the old fireplace and replace it with a wood burner, and use that to partly power the hot water and heating. Oh, and we needed gas too – that wasn’t connected. 

Loft living

And we plan to convert the loft into a big bedroom with an en-suite, though this will have to wait a little while until we’ve saved up some more money. We also future-proofed the hot water and heating system by allowing for solar input when we have done the loft conversion.

Animals, lots of animals

And even if this is starting to get a bit unreal, another life long dream has been to have a dog… and we are going to get one pretty soon. After all, living 100m from the open forest, you just have to have a dog. No excuses! So we have one cat, Jupiter, a rescue cat from The Ark at Fareham, and we’re going to get him a feline playmate, another rescue cat, and then when they’ve fully settled, we’ll get chosen by a dog! 

In the meantime I have hens back in my life. I’d missed having hens, but it hadn’t been practical for the last few years. We have Gertrude and Jessica, two modern hybrids from Longdown Activity Farm in the New Forest. Fresh organic eggs from happy hens! Delightful, especially friend and in a sandwich of home-made bread. 

Fruit trees – we want fruit trees too, even if we have struggled to get through the ones given to us by one of ou new neighbours; we’ve eaten lots of apple crumbles, often with blackberries from our hedges. Though we’ll have to make sure we do close the gate; otherwise we’ll have ponies in the garden – again! 

And if all this does start to sound like The Good Life, well it feels like it too! And I am doing it with Barbara after all.

Photographic opportunities

Well, that’s just obvious! And from a business point of view, I want to start really promoting location photography to take advantage of living so close to some beautiful spots. If you want to book one, check out my prices on my Portrait Prices page and contact my using the <a class=”lightBlueContactFormAnchorCA1DADD4C7F35B35FA137ADDD4A15BF4″ href=”#”>Contact Form</a><script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://online.lightbluesoftware.com/js/formDialog.php?version=2&amp;businessURL=jerryfennerphotography&amp;formKey=CA1DADD4C7F35B35FA137ADDD4A15BF4″></script><script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://online.lightbluesoftware.com/js/iframeResizer.min.js”></script>

And there are new wedding venues to reach out to and hopefully start working with on a regular basis, such as Burley Manor, Sopley Mill, The Old Vicarage, Balmer Lawn, Rhinefield House, Sopley Lake, Careys Manor and Weddings in the Wood and many more. If you are planning a New Forest wedding, check my wedding pages and drop me a line using the Contact Form

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Filed Under: New Forest Life, Personal Development Tagged With: Balmer Lawn, Burley Manor, Careys Manor, cats, country life, country living, countryside life, dogs, green living, hens, living off the land, New Forest dreams, New Forest life, New Forest photographer, Old Vicarage, ponies in the garden, Rhinefield House, Sopley Lake, Sopley Mill, The Good Life, Thre Tuns, Weddings in the Wood

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Kind words

Thank you to Jerry for being such a professional fab and all round great photographer yesterday at our wedding at Parley Manor, Thank you! Xxxxxx
Leyla Akaidere
Thank you so much for our fabulous photos which arrived so quickly. There were so many to choose from initially but really love the ones we chose in the end.
Nicky Green
Thank you, Jerry, for the beautiful photos of my family and a huge thank you for trawling back through your archives to find them for me . Will be in touch in the new year for another family shoot xxxxxx
Lisa Taylor
Can’t believe it’s been a week already since our fabulous wedding day! Thank you Jerry for your super calm but highly professional photography. You even managed to gently get us back on schedule after our late start. Thanks so much and can’t wait to see the photos. Gillie & Tom x
Gillie & Tom 13th September 2014
Jerry was fantastic with our little girls, we had a lovely family session today and all thoroughly enjoyed it! 🙂
Alison Silver 24th October 2015
Jerry provides a very professional service paying close attention to detail. He completely understands the importance of the moment and works hard to capture you looking at your best! He can be your best friend, laughing a joking to put your mind at ease, noticing when a shirt needs to be straightened or a shadow is lurking in the wrong place, but can quite as easily melt into the background and capture those precious non-posed photographs (that actually end up being your favourites!).
Cathy Mee
I knew that if I ever met my future husband, then Jerry would be the man to photograph our wedding. Well, 9 years down the line, Jerry did just that! Jerry was professional and lovely on the day. He put me and my hubby at ease. The guests loved him too! Most of the time, I even forgot he was even there as he was so busy capturing beautiful candid shots of our special day.
Catherine Causebrook, 3rd March 2017
Jerry has an easy and approachable manner which allows the subject to stay really calm and enjoy the photo experience no matter what pose they are placed in. His many years of experience is evident from the end product which he offers. Professional, friendly and cost effective, Jerry is certainly recommended
Freyja Faraday January 2017
When I first called Jerry, I could tell he had a great, fun, honest and professional attitude. And I’m not just saying this, it’s true. When Jerry arrived at our house he showed us his full photography range and explained each package. All this with honesty and a bit of humour too and not rushed or pressured. Jerry, I’m sure went above and beyond here when selling us his service. But he needn’t have done as he is so genuine. Our wedding day arrived and wow if Jerry was a conductor in a previous…
Sue and Roy Philpot
I felt very comfortable around you and was put at ease straight away. You directed extremely well and was always willing to take on my ideas on specific photos. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend your services to others.
Yasmin Hannington, October 2016
I always recommend you when people ask about photographers, because you have such a fresh approach to portraiture, informed by your love of nature and your ability to think out of the box. You even managed to make a derelict house look desirable and interesting, and when working with people cyou capture the moment. You are great at conveying meaning through photos, because your photos are always that bit different and make us think.
Jill Barr
Jerry, a year ago today you shared our special day with us and looking through our album reminds us of how special our day was. The photos captured shows every glimpse of our happiness. Thank you x
Christina Humphrey 3rd September 2014
Our wedding album arrived this week and it is absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! We are over the moon with it and even the box it came in is beautiful! Thank you so much for all you have done Jerry. X
Catherine Widger 16th October 2015
I first met Jerry 11 years ago when he was photographing the children at our local playgroup. My son was an extremely shy and anxious 2yr old , to be honest, I didn’t even think that he would leave my side to even be photographed. From the minute we walked in the room, Jerry was full of smiles. The pictures from that day were superb and really captured his personality.
Catherine Causebrook 3rd March 2017
The pictures were lovely of our wedding. You put me at ease on my wedding day when I was feeling so nervous. And you did everything I required and I would tell everyone to use you when they need a photographer!
Amy Drewett
dorset family photographer, bournemouth beach photography, child photography
I would like to take a minute to give a review of our photo shoot with Jerry.  It was such a wonderful experience from beginning to end.  We did not feel self-conscious at all as he made us feel so relaxed and allowed us to just be ourselves.  Jerry was so good at being one of our group and taking the most beautiful snap shots of our afternoon and turning them into a wonderful memory.  I believe that he is something special as it is very hard to take so many photos and at the same time make one …
Tracy Holman Linda's family on Bournemouth beach 12th July 2017

Caring for our world

A love of nature is what made me pick up a camera in the first place way back in…. a long time ago! And that love of nature and wild places has informed my life and continues to do so today, and I recognise that we only have one planet. We need to care for our planet, and I strive to do so in all areas of my life, choosing a fuel efficient low emission car, minimising my journeys, reusing, reducing and recycling wherever I can. I have volunteered with many organisations over the years, the RSPB, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth and Jerry Fenner Photography is proud to be powered by Good Energy.

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