advertising photography
Late last year I had the opportunity to work with zim dance hall legend Voltz JT on a campaign with The Marketing House for Rank Zimbabwe. The brief was to shoot a variety of lifestyle and school related images of Voltz JT using Rank Zimbabwe’s exercise and counter books. Have you seen or used the resulting exercise books at all? What do you think of the results?
I had an awesome time recently collaborating with The Marketing House shooting lifestyle images in the studio for their wholesale food client Winner Foods. The brief was to showcase Winner foods' large basket of goods being used in a real setting from the preparation and cooking to eating the final meal. It was a hectic but fun filled day of smiles and poses! What do you think of the results? The images where used in a variety of formats, from social media posts to large billboards around Harare. #commercialphotography #productphotography #foodphotography #marketingphotography #scottyphotography
Anyone who has been following this blog over the years should by now know at least 2 things about me; that I love chilli sauce and that I love Dr Trouble’s Chilli sauce more than most! I have been lucky to shoot product shots for the masterminds behind the sauce since the beginning, and I am always thrilled when I get another opportunity to shoot their quality products in the studio. Earlier this year I was tasked with capturing their new, limited edition packaging as well as a few more product shots to illustrate how many lemons are crammed into each bottle of deliciousness. If you are a fan of chilli, check out the food porn below!
I had such a fun time with Burnt Earth Designs recently! They manufacture bespoke clay mosaics in Harare. The sheer creativity and devotion that goes into each ceramic piece is amazing, and the results are breathtaking! I was lucky enough to get to photograph a variety of Burnt Earth installations recently, and you can see for yourself how stunning they are below.
Now these amazing installations would not be possible without being able to implement that creative vision in the workshop. Each piece is hand made from scratch by a small, talented team in their Harare worksop.
Possibly even more impressive than the team at the workshop is the team at the studio who make the ceramic pots, cups and cutlery using a potters wheel. The skill, practice and patience required to create the beautiful results is a pleasure to watch!
Strauss Logistics, one of Zimbabwe’s largest bulk fuel transporters, asked me to help them with some images for their corporate website. The brief was to capture a variety of images of operations at their main depot which included; people at work throughout the various departments, trucks in the yard as well as aerial images of the premises and vehicles. I am very happy with the results which you can see below!
I have mentioned this before in some of my food photography blogs, and I am not ashamed to repeat it, my stomach does love a good food photography session! The appreciative grumbles and rumbles certainly did not stay away when I photographed some of the mouth watering dishes at Cardamom Restaurant in Harare recently!
We all love it, it picks us up when we are tired and smells heavenly when its being brewed but must be one of the most under appreciated staples in the kitchen. I was mulling this over early one damp morning when I decided to try and showcase some of Zimbabwe's finest coffee products. So off I shot to the shops and spent an aromatic half hour wandering around the coffee section of our local supermarket. I ended up selecting Vumba Coffee, a brand made in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands because I liked the vibrancy of the brands' logos and wanted a challenge photographing the shiny silver packaging.
Check out the time-lapse video below of me seting up the studio and shooting thje product.
I tried a few different setups initially and wasn't overly happy with the results as I wanted to hero both the packaging as well as the coffee beans themselves. I eventually settled on a setup where the light from a large 30x120cm softbox 'grazed' the product at a very low angle. I liked the striking, contrasty atmosphere that this lighting setup produced as well as the muted effect on the silver packaging.
However there where several shots that I also feel did the product justice, I did battle to contain the reflective nature of the silver packaging as well as manage the various bumps and dips created by the coffee in the package, a little bit of photoshopping was required to try and smooth out these inconsistencies.
For the above image I used a black background and a beauty dish with a tight grid to create a very focused pool of light on the product, with a very shallow depth of field this keeps the focus on the product and the mug. In this shot I particularly like how the vibrancy of the red in the label stands out against the subtle green wood and particularly the stark black background. The use of a lot of 'dead space' above the product would allow for the addition of any artwork to be added without impinging on the product shot.
I went with a similar setup in the above scene but added a few more lights so that the product was less dramatically lit as well as a background. I didn't light the background so that it wouldn't be distracting but visible enough to add an extra layer of meaning to the picture. In keeping with the more neutral look of this picture I also changed the colour of the mug to suit the overall mood of the shot.
Finally for the above shot I tried to add a sense of fun and excitement by dropping some coffee beans into the mug. I feel that the sense of movement and shadows created by the falling coffee beans adds an extra layer of excitement and vibrancy to the shot.
Overall I am happy with the results from the shoot as a whole but would lean towards the first picture being my favourite! Do email us and let us know your thoughts if you feel differently or have any feedback. Going forward I would really like to shoot and do a behind the scenes blog every month specifically on some of the wonderful products being made in Zimbabwe. So if you feel you have a uniquely Zimbabwean product that you would like showcased please be in touch!
Go behind the scenes and watch me as I setup my studio and shoot the above scenes in the below time-lapse video.
