James MorrisWhat it was like to photograph the first Rolex Boutique in Scotland
Like many of you, I was in lockdown in the United Kingdom from March till June 2020 with several projects pushed back and cancelled, I was thankful that the Rolex Boutique in Glasgow was merely pushed back from April to late July, it happened to be rescheduled for the same day as what was supposed to be my wedding day, which for obvious reasons was also cancelled, I suppose a happy silver lining somewhere...
So, I live in the South East in a lovely little Sussex town called Haywards Heath, which is around 450 miles away from Glasgow... it wouldn't be an understatement to say I was not looking forward to the drive, Google had told me to expect around 7-8 hours, not including stops. So with a car full of camera gear, a bag of snacks and a full tank I set out for Glasgow the day before the shoot. As it happened, apart from two road closures with diversions it wasn't too bad a drive, I generally enjoyed the various Radio 4 programmes and time alone to think, plus the views in the North are just outstanding, all in all, the total time to get to the lovely Travelodge on Queen Street was around 11 hours. I managed to grab a bite to eat at a services just outside Glasgow, then with all the COVID going on, I decided to just chill in the room for the rest of the evening. The shoot was planned for 9 am to 12 pm, because of COVID the hotel was not offering breakfast, so I settled and grabbed a granola bar from my snack bag before walking to the store, about 5 minutes from the hotel.
The store itself is beautiful and well thought out, the design and shopfitting are to the highest standard, as one would expect of a Rolex branded store, the staff were more than helpful and the interior shots that I came away with are stunning. I was impressed with the attention to detail the visual team had put into the store, with one of the key details being the embossed scene of Glasgow University near the front entrance, it was subtle and elegantly crafted.
Like a lot of shoots, no matter how much you plan things do sometimes go wrong, when these things happen it's no point casting blame but to work on finding workable solutions. The issue was with the window displays not being ready so I offered to come back the following week once it was all ready and get those external shots completed, I'm glad I did and was able to offer that to the client as the shots that came out are truly amazing and it was worth the extra 20 hours or so driving to get those shots right for the client.
Ultimately, I was really happy with the photographs created and a big thank you to the team at the Rolex Boutique for all your help.