Food - ART DIRECTION
I love food! So getting the chance to work with amazing food stylists has been eye-opening!. The attention to detail and professionalism involved in preparing a perfect plate of food for close-up scrutiny by the photographic team is great to see. Don’t believe all the stories about varnishing chickens or putting lipstick on strawberries, most of them are all either outdated or just myths. All the food is real.
Conceptual
There were so many great food specialists at Waitrose, and one thing I particularly enjoyed working though with them was conceptual storytelling. The kind of image that goes with a news story to bring a narrative to life and share a specific angle. Here are a few of my faves:
The lovely Romanesco broccoli! Coming to Waitrose shelves just in time for Christmas. What's that? It looks like a Christmas tree?! I feel another cover coming on! Shot by the super talented Gareth Sambidge and Art Directed by me.
Summer Ice- cream offer. Whether this makes a cover shot or not is really down to a matter of timing and good fortune. Art Directed by Andrew Moore and shot by Gareth Sambidge.
Great story on nose to tail eating and how you can use parts of an animal that would otherwise be thrown away. Scratchings, taramasalata (that looks a bit like an ear!), stocks and sauces. Photography Gareth Sambidge. Lovely styling by Seiko Hatfield. Art Direction by me.
All hail the return of 70's food classics. The prawn cocktail! This one shot with fresh langoustine couriered down overnight from the best fish and chip shop in the world in Aberdeen. Bring on the retro props! Great fun shoot with Stephen Hayward. Styling by Janet Brinkworth. Art Directed by me.
Cover shot about the launch of Waitrose One, Waitrose's top-tier food range. Branding designed in-house by Ian Bennet. All credit to Stephen Hayward, legendary still life photographer for concepting this one. The black line and Waitrose logo was printed on a piece of clear perspex right up by the lens. The purple colour and food was shot on floor giving us some interesting potential to play with focus and pulling out of specific ingredients. With a bit of maths thrown in!
Another story on using every part of your ingredients.
This was a great DPS huge image for an Easter issue with some of our top-tier (amazing) chocolate eggs. Art Direction by me.
This one almost never happened. I had to send some of our new Valentine's Day chocolate 'Love' sweets to the guys at minimiam.com - I'd discovered their work and knew I could use them when the right brief came along! Beautiful.
This was a great photo/editorial solution to an article on your five-a-day allocation. Shot in-house by Nick Joubinaux. Art Directed by me.
Excellent still life on Chinese New Year and related products available at Waitrose. Shot and styled by Nick Joubinaux.
I took my son for a day trip to the photo studio to be the model giving away one of our Mother's Day cupcakes. Photography Stephen Hayward.
Packet food
All this produce comes straight from the pack. It was usually purchased in Waitrose the morning of the shoot, or the night before. Sometimes, if we were lucky, it was sent straight from the factory. We often had ‘Dine in for 2’ or various other offers that needed shooting. No fancy recipes here, this is all packet food.
