New Art Direction Work for Harrods x Gordon Ramsay The Residence Shanghai

I received a brief to art direct food still-life images for Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant opening at The Residence Shanghai, a Harrod’s private members club. We shot food and drinks from the new menu infusing his British concepts to the Asian market.

The style chosen was dark and moody yet sophisticated with movement captured and implied. The props and backgrounds were largely selected by me from Backgrounds Prop Hire here in London.

• Photography: Natasha Alipour-Faridani

• Art Direction: Kaisa Leinonen

• Chef: Ronnie Kimbugwe

• Food Stylist: Matthew Ford

• Mixologist: Dino Koletsas

• Drinks stylist: Joanna Resiak

• Production: Charlotte Powis

• Creative Assistant: Kevoulee Sardar

Chocolate Still Life Photography - New Personal Photography Work

I was inspired to shoot chocolate a few weeks ago, maybe it was Easter that was around the corner, or being surrounded by the most luxurious chocolate brands working at Harrods, London.

I wanted to explore a simplistic but conceptual way of photographing still-life: shape light with heavy contrast between light and shadow and compositions influenced by my favourite art movement The Bauhaus.

I wanted the images to feel slightly retro in the use of colour, processing and, the method of shooting, as ‘cut-outs’.

Tony’s Chocolonely, broken in unequal pieces referencing the brands mission to sustainable production.

This Montezuma image shows white and dark chocolate composed like a Bauhaus-poster.

Toblerone, stacked like the mountain in their logo.

Lindt, the backlighting reveals the nutty goodness inside.

Harrods bon bons, made in-house by the team in London.

The process for all shoots art directed by myself, personal or commercial, starts with a moodboard. For personal shoots I keep it very loose compared to commercial shoots. For this project I was inspired by beauty and food still-life photography and my forever guiding design movement Bauhaus.

Location, location, location: Personal Interiors Photography Work

I have been working as a creative lead for Harrods for some months and life has been busy. I am enjoying my career expanding as a creative professional. Shoots at have taken me to beautiful locations and here are images I have captured along the way.

Captured with a vintage lense at a location in Streatham, London.

Lighting detail.

Childrens room inspiration at a West London location.

Warm and refined bathroom.

Personal Still-life Photography Project : Craft , Tension and Concealment.

It is so important to me as a photographer to create personal work. It is even better when you get to collaborate with someone who shares a passion. Me and stylist Katie Gibbons both love crafts, fabrics and yarns. Shot at my home studio I present our project involving all of those things. Oh and Katie’s love of oranges.

Photography: Kaisa Leinonen

Styling: Katie Gibbons

Art Direction: Collaboration between Kaisa and Katie

Furniture Lifestyle Photography on Location and Studio - A Case Study

In this blog post I go through key concepts that work well for furniture photography: interior location and studio room-set photography. I have shot bedroom furniture on location and living room furniture in the studio capturing details along the way. My specialty is photography that sells a lifestyle and shows how furniture fits in a home whether that home is an interior location house or a constructed room-set in a studio.

Interior Location Photography

Case Study 1: Little Home for John Lewis Collection Shoot

These fun images were shot in a large house in London featuring the childrens furniture and bedding ranges. They were shot with natural light with a little bit of LED-lighting or white board as fill in some instances.

Location Photography

With stylist Portland Mitchell and AD Adam Nowell

Image captured on location with stylist Portland Mitchell and AD Adam Nowell.

Image captured on location with stylist Portland Mitchell and AD Adam Nowell.

Furniture Room-set Photography

Case Study 2: Lifestyle for Next Online

I shot these lifestyle images for Next in their studio. The room-sets allow for lifestyle product images to be shot for online with ease. I lit through the windows which got ‘window scenes’ added in post production.

Room-set Photography

With stylist Abi Tominey-Smith

Image shot with stylist Nicole Betts for Next Retail.

Image shot with stylist Nicole Betts for Next Retail.

Which one to go for, a studio or a location shoot? Well, that all largely depends on the budget and what is required creatively. Location houses are generally more expensive to hire, and the furniture needs to be transported and stored. However location houses give you the best way to convey a lifestyle including showing details in a real house such as the windows and the view. Those things are trickier to get right in a studio shoot. I love shooting on location with natural light or with a combination of natural and artificial lighting. 

I also love shooting in a studio room set as it gives you so much 100% control over your lighting and your angles won’t be restricted by walls. You can tweak the lighting until the ‘sun’ is exactly where you need it. I work with talented set builders who make the rooms look so great and highly realistic. I take pride in creating natural looking light and a lot of my furniture work here on my website has been shot in studios. For the average customer they DO look like a real home. It is generally more cost effective than location houses especially if you have a lot to shoot.

See more of my interior and homeware lifestyle photography here.

My Predictions of Homeware and Food Photography Trends in 2023

With the pandemic behind us, but recession blooming, I see more and more people (consumers) wanting to find meaning and truly connect with brands and their images. Moments are celebrated, and social media style ‘user generated imagery’ has become so popular brands are now looking for ways to make their images look more accidental and taken in the moment. 

Real people in real homes.

Shot for John Lewis baking range.

• 1. Return to authenticity. Making homeware and food photography look real and shot in real people's homes is on the up. Cheaper options to shoot in real homes are coming to the market insuch as Scouty.

• 2. Creating more variety and options on a shoot. It will become more important to capture video, social media photography and e-commerce imagery on the same shoot. 

Small brand photography

Shot at a real home on a small budget.

• 3. Keeping it minimal. Maximalist and busy approach talks of consumerism and keeping things simple appears a more holistic approach.

• 4. The flat lay or overhead has been dominating food photography for a long time. My prediction is that more natural viewing angles will take more space in magazines and brand imagery this year. People and hands will keep on appearing.

• 5. This is my wild card: vintage styles from the 80s and 90s might be on their way back. Shooting with an 80’s style vaseline glow in the lens and lighting from above might just be feeling new now.

My Favourite Kit to Use on Still-Life Shoots (With a Still-Life Shoot to Show it)

What do you do when you love your kit and want to experiment with a test shoot? Well, feature that kit in your shoot maybe. That’s what I decided to do after finishing on a food shoot. What is behind the scenes and around your frame is SO important in still life photography. We MAKE images not take them and kit is important - like it or not.

The Manfrotto Super Clamp

Buy here.

I love the mighty Super clamp as it can grip pretty much anything and you can attach it to almost anything. The adventurous photographer will combine two with a spigot in between for further gripping possibilities. Also featured in the image above is a small black scrim by Matthews. I couldn’t find a link right now but it’s great for shading small areas of your image: perfect for detailed work!

The Orange Cable by Tether Tools

Buy here.

Maybe in the 50s you shot still life without being tethered to your computer screen but it’s a must for me. Does the cable have to be ORANGE? It’s up to you my friend, but it’s your risk :).

The A-Clamp

Buy here

Where would you be without A-clamps? Well you would be cursing as everything is falling on the floor perhaps, so I do recommend getting yourself some of these.