Case study

Bakery and pastry photography for a Sicilian bakery in Holborn

For the people who cannot get to the shop.

Nonna Bakery, Holborn.

The business

Nonna is a Sicilian bakery in Holborn. The recipes come from Sicily, some of them from the family's grandmother, and the head baker is Sicilian too. Top ingredients, proper equipment, and a menu built to taste like it does at home rather than like a version of it. They are known for what they do with pistachio.

Strawberry maritozzo, a split brioche filled with cream with strawberry slices set into it and dusted with icing sugar, bakery photography for a Sicilian bakery in Holborn, London.
The one to lead the catering page with. It is the most recognisable thing they make.

What they needed

Matteo came to me at the end of their soft launch. The products were ready and the catering offer needed presenting.

He wanted one uniform look across everything, so the brand reads the same wherever it turns up, and he wanted even a plain product shot to look like something. The job the pictures had to do was specific: somebody who cannot get to the shop should be able to see the catering offer, see a bit of Sicily in it, and order from that.

Mortadella and stracciatella focaccia cut through to show the filling, topped with chopped pistachio and rosemary, product photography for a Sicilian bakery in Holborn, London.
Cut through, because on a catering menu the filling is the sell.

What I did

Product photography for the catering offer, shot to one look so the set holds together, plus a few beauty frames where the product deserved more than a straight record.

Food styling was minimal here on purpose. The baking is the thing. Sicilian pastry does not need dressing up, it needs to be lit properly and left alone.

Pistachio bignè, a choux bun under pistachio glaze scattered with chopped pistachios, standing on a branded nonna box, pastry photography for a Sicilian bakery in Holborn.
Shot on their own box, so the product and the brand arrive together.
A pistachio cannolo rolled in chopped pistachio beside a glazed pistachio bignè, staged on branded nonna boxes reading Made with Sicilian passion, bakery photography in Holborn, London.
The pistachio is not a flavour note here. It is the whole outside of the cannolo.

Two surfaces across the set, deliberately. Some shot flat on the patterned paper, some upright on their own boxes against a dark gradient. Both are the same brand and it reads as one set.

A pistachio maritozzo, brioche split and filled with cream and half dipped in pistachio, beside a pistachio bignè on branded nonna boxes, Sicilian pastry photography in Holborn.
Light, airy, and something you want to bite into. That is what the picture has to say before anybody reads a word.
Sea salt caramel bignè, a choux bun filled with cream and drizzled with caramel, shot overhead on patterned paper, product photography for a Sicilian bakery in Holborn, London.
One look across the range, whether it is on paper or on a box.

The food

Light, airy, full of flavour, and something you want to bite into. The huge ice cream sandwiches, the pizzas and the sandwiches are the ones to order. My own favourite is the spicy salami pizza.

Launching something? Send me a picture of it and I will tell you what I would do with it.

Bakery photography, Holborn and central London. Pastry photography, Sicilian bakery photography, catering menu photography, digital menu photography, product photography, brand launch photography, patisserie photography.

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