Schweppes Christmas Campaign

I was delighted to be asked to shoot a Christmas campaign for Schweppes by design agency Epoch. The concept revolved around a Christmas cracker with the strap line of “Open up a cracker this Christmas!” and a secondary piece with “Let it snow, Let it flow, Let it snow.”.

To go about creating the visuals for this, we needed to create a set of images that offered maximum flexibility after the shoot, as we were shooting remotely in the studio, screen sharing as we went for sign off on things. Such is the way of working these days, but this was back in May and the country was still adjusting to the lockdown and the ‘new normal”. This meant that sourcing some of the props and items that we needed for the shoot took a little longer so we needed to be flexible as to when we could actually shoot. Despite a few little challenges with deliveries and stock levels, we got there in the end!

Enjoyed seeing this out and about over the festive period - looking forward to shooting more campaigns throughout 2021!

Some behind the scenes and in situ images below - thanks to those who send me some snaps - I actually didn’t see it anywhere myself!

Drinks photography for Louis Roederer with Philippe Starck.

Back in the autumn last year we were asked to shoot the exclusive UK release of a collaboration between Louis Roederer and French designer Philippe Starck. Brut Nature 2012 was a continuation of a collaboration between the Champagne house and the designer which started some years previous.

The release was exclusive to the Beaufort Bar at The Savoy Hotel, London for a month prior to general sale in the UK, so what better location to shoot it in! I’ve shot in the Beaufort Bar before, its a really stunning venue, But it does provide some challenges to shooting in there as its a contrast of black walls, gold detailing and mirrors.

We spent the day creating key visuals for both the Blanc and Rose variations that set the bottle in the beautiful setting of the bar. Turns out that there 244 year history, Louis Roederer have never used a British photographer either for any of the imagery they have had produced, so that felt quiet special too!

Hope you enjoy the images as much as we did shooting them (and testing the product!).

Festive Drinks Photography

Last summer we built some sets in the studio and shot some festive drinks, perfect for celebrations, and warming moments of reflection. Here is just a few of the images, getting in close too for some great details!

Baileys Cinnamon Spice

For two servings, you will need:

• 50ml Baileys® Original Irish Cream Liqueur

• 40ml Smirnoff® Vanilla Flavoured Vodka

• 240ml Milk

• 2 Cinnamon Sticks

• 1 generous pinch of Cinnamon

Equipment:

• 2x Martini glass

• 1 x Strainer

• 1 x Jigger

• 1 x Cocktail Shaker

Method:

1. Fill a shaker with ice.

2. Add Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur, Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka and milk to the shaker.

3. Shake until cold.

4. Strain into a glass.

5. Garnish with cinnamon powder and a cinnamon stick and serve.

Hot Toddy

For two servings you will need:

• 50ml Whiskey

• 3 tsp of good quality Honey

• 1 Cinnamon Stick, snapped in half

• 1 Lemon, half juiced and half sliced

• A couple of cloves

Equipment:

• 2x heatproof glasses

• Teaspoon for stirring

• Lemon juicer

Method:

1. Stir the whisky and honey together and split between 2 heatproof glasses. Add half of the cinnamon stick to each, then top up with 200ml boiling water.

2. Add a splash of lemon juice to each, then taste and add more to your preference. Finish each with a slice of lemon, studded with a clove, and serve immediately.

Gin Daisy (traditionally a Sea Breeze)

For two servings you will need:

• 75ml Gin

• Juice of half a lemon

• 2 teaspoons of sugar

• A dash of grenadine

Equipment:

• 1x Cocktail Shaker

• 2x Old fashioned, or stemmed cocktail glasses

Method:

1. In a shaker filled halfway with ice cubes combine the gin, lemon juice, sugar and grenadine.

2. Shake well until combined and chilled and serve in your glass of choice.

Old Fashioned

For each serving you will need:

• 50ml Bourbon or Rye Whisky

• 1x brown sugar cube (traditional) or 1 tsp of simple syrup

• 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters

• 1x orange for peel

• Large cube(s) of ice

Equipment:

• Muddler

• Bar Spoon

• Peeler

• Old Fashioned Glass

Method:

1. Place the sugar cube at the bottom of an old-fashioned glass.

2. Saturate the cube with bitters and muddle.

3. Add the whiskey and stir well.

4. Drop in the ice and stir the liquid through well, until the ice starts to give and melt.

5. Take a slice of orange peel for garnish. You can squeeze to release the oils if desired.

Kir Royale

For two servings you will need:

• Creme de Cassis

• Champagne

• Fresh or frozen Blackberries

Equipment:

• Two champagne flutes or saucers

• Martini picks (optional)

Method:

1. Pour roughly 1 tsp of the crème de cassis into the bottom of a champagne flute.

2. Top up with Champagne

3. Add a blackberry as garnish, you can skewer one onto the martini pick too and rest across the glass if desired.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Looking forward to shooting more like this throughout 2020 - I might even shoot some more myself and put a little book of festive flavours together in time for next Christmas. Maybe…

I’d love to work on loads more drinks based stuff this year, so if you have a project that might suit, give me a shout - I’d love to work together!

Beyond The Bean; Summer Drinks Photography

Back at the start of the year we were asked to shoot a range of lovely drinks for Beyond the Bean and the summer drinks range they have been perfecting. 3 days, lot’s of studio based sun and some vibrant colours make some a super summery brochure! We even made a few little things move whilst we were at it!

Lots of drinks perfect for those summer days!

Looking forward to hopefully shooting a moodier winter edition sometime this summer!

Drinks Photography for the Beaufort Bar at The Savoy

I recently shot a selection of drinks for the Beaufort Bar at The Savoy in London. Such an elegant location, and amazing looking drinks made for a beautiful set of images. My personal favourite was the cocktail specially crafter for the BAFTAs, elegant coupe glass decorated with a blue glaze and a shard of glass like ice placed in the top. Beautiful.

Looking forward to the next time I’m in London shooting cocktails!

RHS Chelsea Flower show afternoon Tea, The Savoy, London

I was honoured to be asked to photograph the special afternoon tea inspired by the Chelsea for luxury hotel The Savoy.

I’m sure that you’ll agree that Dan the pastry chef and his team have made an amazing job.

Knights Bar Autumn Allotment Cocktails

The Savoy asked me to shoot a range of the seasonal cocktails served up in the Knights Bar which is a part of the Simpsons 1828 Restaurant at The Savoy. Located on the Strand in central London, the Knights Bar is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the street below, offering a relaxing environment to indulge in a cocktail or two prior to a luxurious meal, or they’re happy to just serve drinks. The greatest shame is that I’ve always got to drive after photographing them!

These cocktails were inspired by English allotment flavours and they looked great with such vibrant colours.

Wolfburn Whisky

I was recently commissioned by Wolfburn Distillery to photograph the range of Scottish Whiskys they produce. Simple and effective product photography is a great investment. With the assests that I shot for them they can now provide suppliers and distributors with great imagery too which will make the products stand out in a market busy with competitors.

I’m glad to say that they’re really happy with the results from the shoot, I’m looking forward to working with them again in the not to distant future on some more great projects! Hopefully we can get up to the distillery and do some stuff on location!!

Brandy Snaps

As things wound down for Christmas and seeing in the new year, I found some time to mess around with some Brandy. Fitting for the season! Enjoy!

Single Use is No Use.

In recent years, consumers have become ever increasingly conscious about the effect that their habits have on the environment. Possibly none more than the use of single use plastics. A hot topic of the moment.

Plastic bags and straws have provided large talking points, and pressure has been put on businesses to make small changes to help protect the environment.

Things as small as changing plastic straws to paper ones. It’s crazy to think that the plastic in a black straw is non recyclable, and here have been a few videos circulate on social media to highlight the damage done from such a small and seeminglessly harmless product. The one that sticks in my mind was the turtle that had a black straw lodged deep into its nostril. A distressing watch which provoked thoughts that this could easily be prevented.

I've wanted to do a project that looked at these single use plastics for a while now, but I wanted it to be more than just plastic bags. I popped into a few shops and managed to find a whole host of cheap, single use plastic objects, most costing less than £1 for a whole pack of things. I couldn’t believe how readily available and unnecessarily cheap it all was which makes it even worse. 30 plastic forks, spoons or knives that cost just £1 would be around for the next few hundred, if not thousands of years.

Single use plastic is becoming a huge accumulative problem.

Here are the range of things I managed to pick up in about 20 minutes in various high street stores.

Pour us A Double

Here are a couple of test images from over the summer months when I decided to shoot some Whisky. Both based around a pour, one a more clean cut studio image, and then the other a more lifestyle based image.

Both came with some challenges, the pour into the glass being the most difficult. Getting the pour to meet the glass in the exact spot I wanted proved testing, but with some patience and persistence we got there in the end. Thats what still life imagery is all about!!

Throwing It Together

When I was younger, I remember my mum saying things like "I've just thrown a cake together." I'm not sure what it was that jogged my memory about that, but it got me thinking about how that could be bought to life in a visual way. Maybe I should have started with throwing a cake together, or, maybe thats something for another time. I thought about the idea for a few weeks and then threw myself into it. 

After I'd sat on the idea for a bit, in December 2017 I started to shoot what would turn out to be a long and testing body of personal work.

Starting with breakfast. A full English to be exact. This image would set the framework for the project and how I would execute more of these thrown together images. The trouble was, at this point I wasn't sure how many I wanted to do, or what was going to be next. Things seem to work nicely in three's, but I've got a bit of a habit of shooting series of work that always come out with three final images so I wanted to go further with it than that.

The first image took me two days to shoot. There was a lot of tinkering as you can imagine, but I wanted to make sure that this could be an elaborate and real talking point within my portfolio. As is always the way with the first step of a series or new body of work, you have to find the best ways of doing things. A bit of trail and error, probably lots of swearing as things didn't quiet work out and a bunch of patience goes a long way with this kind of thing. Everything had to be shot near enough where it is positioned in the frame in the final image. Perspectively things wouldn't line up otherwise, something might just look odd about the images, but it would be difficult for the viewer to figure out what if they weren't "visually trained". It was the perfect challenge for me, offered up plenty of problems to solve, which in turn appeals to my precise way of doing things. I guess thats what really makes still life photographers tick.

I can't remember which image I shot next, but after doing so it started to become clear to me that I could do a whole days worth of food. Maybe an indulgent day, but that seemed like a logical way to go with and it would give me a natural order for the images. Now not only did I want to do the dishes, but I wanted to throw in a drink for each stage too. This obviously started with the brew on the breakfast which I didn't really have to think about with a fry up, the rest went from there.

After about 6 months I'd ended up with the images you see below. A little bit of an epic, but worth all the tinkering and eating all the food afterwards!

Sometimes the best work just seems to grow organically.

Full English Breakfast

Smoothie

Cheese Toastie with Tomato Soup (very American)

Surf and Turf

Trifle

Cheese and Biscuits.

Drinks For The Savoy

Recently we've been shooting some drinks work for the Savoy. Using the Kinghts Bar which is located above Simpsons Restaurant and looks out onto the Strand. The bar has a Art Deco feel to it and they serve a host of there own signature cocktails such as "Put the Kettle on" inspired by tea and "Don't make a fuss" where the glass has a lipstick lips style glaze added.