Production

Most food photography happens in a studio, which means your product travels, your chef travels, and something that was made twenty minutes ago gets photographed three hours later.

I work the other way round. I bring the studio to the food: lights, modifiers, backdrops, tether and styling kit, and I build a controlled set on your site. We agree the space on the call, because different lighting set-ups need different rooms and that decision belongs in the plan rather than on the day.

The food goes from the pass, or straight off the line, onto the set while it is still right. That is not a convenience. It is the difference between a photograph of your product and a photograph of your product at its best.

What does an on-location restaurant shoot actually look like?

It is planned before it starts. We agree the menu, the room, the detail shots and the running order on the call, and I schedule the day around your service so the kitchen keeps earning. A full restaurant shoot usually takes one day and covers the menu, the room and the detail shots that carry your socials.

Your brigade does not stop. Dishes come to me the way they go to a table, and I photograph them in the order that suits your prep, not the order that suits my shot list. I have worked the pass, so I know what I am asking for when I ask for it.

Can you get studio quality without a studio?

Yes, and that is most of what I do. The mobile set-up is lights, modifiers, backdrops, a tripod and a tethered laptop, and it produces the same clean, controlled result you would get in a hired studio. It is how most product and packaging photography gets made.

What it adds is everything a studio takes away: the product is fresh, your team is on hand, and if something needs remaking it is remade in the next room instead of written off. You see every frame appear on screen as it is shot, so nothing gets approved days later that could have been fixed on the day.

What is lifestyle content, and do I need it?

Lifestyle content is your product in the situation it is actually eaten in, rather than alone on a white background. You need it if you sell to people; you need the plain product shots as well if you sell to retailers. It sits close to recipe and ingredient work, because both show the product in use.

Most brands come asking for one and leave with both, because the two do different jobs. The clean pack shot gets you the listing. The lifestyle frame is what makes somebody want it.

What is a creative product shoot?

It is the work that starts with an idea rather than a shot list. We decide what the pictures need to say about your brand, then build the set, the styling and the motion around it. That is the thinking behind a Creative Bank.

This is where a shoot stops being a cost and starts being an asset. A folder of product shots is a catalogue. The same day, built around one creative idea, gives you a campaign.

Do you shoot cooking video?

Yes, and this is the work I am probably best placed to do. Cooking video needs someone who can cook the dish properly on camera and shoot it at the same time, which is why it usually takes two people and a lot of coordination.

Hands, heat, timing, and knowing the exact second something looks its best. Ten years in kitchens is why I know when that second is.

What video do I actually get from a shoot day?

Photo and film come from the same day, in the same head, so the two never fight each other. A typical day produces the hero cuts, the social formats, and the short hook edits paid media needs.

Because it is planned from the end use backwards, you are not left with a beautiful two-minute film and nothing that fits a nine-by-sixteen frame.

What do you need from us on the day?

Your product at its best, and somebody who can answer a question and sign off a frame. The space we agreed on the call, with power.

I bring everything else, including the styling kit. If the shoot needs full food styling, that is a specialist job and I price it separately, either with a stylist on set or with me styling and an assistant alongside.

What should we prepare before a food shoot?

Know what the pictures are for before the day: the pack, the listing, the site, the ads, the socials, the trade deck. The end use decides the crop, the format and the count, and deciding it afterwards is what makes a shoot feel wasted.

Beyond that: enough product to remake anything twice, your best-looking version of each item, and any packaging or props you want in frame.

Do you work outside London?

Yes. I am based in Brentford and I work nationwide and internationally. Everything travels. You can see the finished work across every kind of job.