The Original Cottage Company

The Original Cottage Company (TOCC) is one of the largest holiday cottage agencies in the UK.

Their success is due to the level of quality, service and expertise they offer by the growing number of locally based holiday cottage agencies they own across England and Wales.

I started working for the Original Cottage Company almost 7 years ago as a graphic designer & photographer. The role quickly diversified and I am now responsible for staff photography training, network imagery management, quality control and much more.

I work with a small team of photographers and it’s our job to travel the country ensuring that staff in our regional offices receive the highest quality training and that our holiday properties are represented in the best possible way.

I also plan and undertake landscape shoots, lifestyle shoots and high end property showcase shoots across the UK as they are required.

I also do a great deal of graphic design work which I believe gives me a huge advantage over the competition as it gives me skills such as typography and layout that I would not otherwise have; this enables me to present my imagery to a very high standard.

TOCC is a wonderful company to work for and I hope I do so for many more years to come.

Photography

High quality industry leading photography is crucial to the self-catering holiday industry and making sure TOCC brands image quality is top notch is a key aspect of my role and something I am hugely passionate about. Showcasing great photography on property pages makes a huge difference in bookings.

Graphic Design

As a designer I very much love all aspects of graphic design and I undertake design projects on a daily basis. I frequently use applications such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator which enables me to create high quality work. I simply love all aspects of graphic design.

Training

I have devised a process based method of property photography which I teach to local teams and enables us to train non-imagery professionals to photography properties to a very high standard. This is accompanied by detailed documentation enabling anyone to photograph them to a high standard.

Management

With a very large stock library of over 150,000 images file management is a key element to the role. I ensure images are backed up securely and are also accessible when needed. Staff training also needs to be managed to ensure every brand is operating as well and efficiently as possible.