HUGO RITTSON-THOMAS Hugo is a British portrait, nature and interiors photographer. He started his career after studying Fine Art at Central St. Martin’s and Goldsmiths University of London, and took part in the landmark exhibition Temple of Diana alongside Tracey Emin at The Blue Gallery in 1999.

In 2011, Hugo shot a series entitled Creatives, documenting a number of high-profile individuals. The ongoing project encapsulated London’s creative scene and people working within it, from Alex James and Hans-Ulrich Obrist to Kylie Minogue and Gilbert and George.

He photographed Her Majesty The Queen, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duchess of Cornwall for his book The Queen’s People which was published by Assouline in 2016. Other notable portraits include the Dalai Lama, David Cameron, Kylie Minogue and Sting.

Hugo has written five books: Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds (2015), Great Gardens of London and Secret Gardeners: Private Sanctuaries of Britain’s Artists and Creators (2017), The Queen’s People (2016), Wildflowers for the Queen (2021) and English Country House Style (2021).

Hugo lives in Oxfordshire with his wife Silka Rittson Thomas.

https://www.hugorittsonphotography.com/

Victoria Summerley was born in Surrey but moved to Scotland at the age of 10. She supports Scotland at rugby, England at cricket, and Andy Murray all the time. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1977 and joined the Evening News in Edinburgh, completing the NCTJ certificate to qualify formally as a journalist. She was the first woman ever to lay out pages on the Evening News, and the first female journalist to sit on the paper's back bench.

Since then, she has worked on The Times Higher Education Supplement, the Evening Standard, The Observer, and most recently The Independent where she was executive editor, and deputy editor of the i newspaper.

Victoria has always been a keen gardener, but first wrote about gardening when she was sent by Max Hastings, then editor of the Evening Standard, to interview Sir Terence Conran about his design for the Evening Standard Chelsea Flower Show garden in 1999. She wrote numerous articles about gardening and related issues while on The Independent, winning the prestigious Journalist of the Year award from the Garden Media Guild in 2010.

In 2007, Victoria opened her London garden for the National Garden Scheme. Following the death of her husband, the journalist Craig Orr, from Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2008, she became a passionate advocate for the work of the NGS in raising money for palliative care charities.

When she quit the Independent in 2012, her intention was to move to the country and spend all her time in the garden. However, she was persuaded by Helen Griffin, commissioning editor at Frances Lincoln, to write The Secret Gardens of Cotswolds, and subsequently Great Gardens of London and The Secret Gardeners, working with photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas.

She lives in the Cotswolds and has a son and a daughter.