Food Photography for Asda Living
Every so often a job comes along that you just cannot say no to. That happened to me in December when I was approached by an advertising agency to work on Asda’s Sustainable Christmas Campaign. Despite being snowed under with work - and actual snow - I readily agreed to take a hair raising drive down the local ice rink A1 to meet Celebrity MasterChef Finalist Sam Nixon at his home in South Yorkshire.
The agency told me that Asda “love Sam”, and I can honestly see why. He is a warm and friendly man, who knows his way around a kitchen and is incredibly professional in front of the camera.
The brief required me to capture the making of, and to professionally present three dishes made from Christmas leftovers. The dishes had been designed by the ad agency and Asda, and this was their first field test. This gave Sam the opportunity to give feedback on both the final dishes and the directions for how to create them.
Each dish required a flat lay (bird’s eye view) of the final plated dish with and without set-dressing, with and without a hand in the shot, front facing shots with and without a person holding the dish, the leftovers before re-cooking, multiple reportage shots of Sam creating the dish, Sam with the dish in mid and close up. The same was required again for all the dishes presented together. That’s quite a lot considering the final article only contains five photographs! But that’s how it’s done: you need to offer high quality choices.
I had been concerned that it might be overwhelming, but luckily a member of the ad agency was present on the day which made me breathe a huge sigh of relief. That meant that I had validation as the day went on that I was creating images that were absolutely on the right track. It’s easy to start second-guessing yourself when you don’t have full creative control over a project, but clear communication and a positive mindset made the whole thing a breeze.
Come to think of it the champagne probably helped as well! See, the first dish was a risotto that used “leftover champagne” and… WHO HAS LEFTOVER CHAMPAGNE?! So we had to open a new bottle and it would have gone flat if we’d left it, so it was only right that we had a glass or two. After all, this is about sustainable living, and wasting wine is a crime however you look at it.
Here are a few of the final images that we created featuring parsnip and chestnut risotto with stuffing crumb, ham, cauliflower and sprout brie bake, and ‘Yorkie doughnuts’ made with Yorkshire puddings, ice cream, chocolate, and cinnamon sugar crumb.
Reportage Food Photography
Social Media is definitely king these days, so it was no surprise that I was asked to create a bit of “added value content” so that Sam had some high quality stills to include on his Instagram page. He was simultaneously capturing the day on his smartphone, which I found particularly impressive because I am magnificently clumsy and if that had been me, my phone would have been covered in cheese before we were five minutes in.
Everything was submitted to the ad agency, and only one “making of” style photograph was included in the final article. It was one of the images requested in the brief, which was a shot of Sam holding one of the dishes and surrounded by all the amazing things that he had cooked on the day. It’s a great shot, but I’m personally a touch disappointed that his reaction to the dessert wasn’t included as his expression was completely genuine and I love the bliss he’s clearly feeling!
I’m thrilled to bits to have had the opportunity to work for a big ad agency and a company as well-known as Asda. Living in the North East doesn’t often afford jobs with clients this well-known, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed it happens again.
