London food photographer for award-winning sourdough cracker brand Peter’s Yard

A 2 hour shoot at my home studio in east London to capture some giveaway images and hero shots for their award-winning 90g Original Crackers.

I worked across two key set ups, providing a selection of stills for both the giveaway and for brand use in general, using a selection of props and backgrounds from my own collection.

Scroll down to see some of the images.

The phrase that stood out for me when I first received the brief from Libby, Digital Marketing Manager at Peter’s Yard, was ‘evoking a sense of unhurried pleasure’. So much good can be found in slowing down and acting with intention, including the joy of eating, sharing and preparing good food, so this was a concept I was really looking forward to playing with.

The shoot started with capturing some giveaway images that featured a handful of other brands alongside the Peter’s Yard products, namely Belazu, Pump Street and Fen Farm Dairy. These were simple, descriptive shots that provided each of the brands with an image they could share with the giveaway on their socials. I still wanted these images to convey a sense of calm to ensure they were in-keeping with the rest of the Peter’s Yard imagery, so each set up was captured with soft natural light and carefully selected textures, such as linen tablecloths and rustic wooden surfaces. I love the depth of the shadows in these images and the way the light falls over the products, allowing the text on the packaging to be crisp and clear.

London food photographer for Peter's Yard

Once I was happy with each of the giveaway images, I moved on to capturing some lifestyle shots of the Original 90g crackers.

I’d recently found some beautiful dried flowers on my local high street and had fallen in love with the colour palette, so I’d taken them home and popped them in a vase in my bedroom. As soon as I saw the Peter’s Yard branding on the Original Sourdough Cracker packaging, I knew they would be the perfect addition to the ‘unhurried pleasure’ set up. Once I knew I wanted to incorporate these flowers into the shoot, the rest of my composition and propping choices simply fell into place.

I played around with a few different angles on the shoot too. The flatlay angle was brilliant for a close crop of the crackers mid-mouthful, while the straight on was a better option to capture the packaging in clear, crisp detail, alongside a serving suggestion that further communicates what the product looks like and how it can be prepared. I also loved the diagonal lines created by the table, enhanced by the shadow drop off from the windowsill, an element I really wanted to feature in the shots. It was this light play that communicated a sense of slowing down and was an important feature I wanted to include across all of the final shots to provide a consistent theme.

Another key feature I wanted to include was intentional mess, predominantly to communicate movement in the scenes, but also to tap into to the concept of pleasure. When we love what we eat, we don’t typically focus on putting it all together perfectly - instead we let our instinct and emotions take over, often leading to a bit of mess, or at least an imperfectly laid table! The scattering of the crackers, the smears of cheese, and the multiple plates, boards and cutlery, all came together to tell this story: a person (or two) digging in and allowing the joy of the moment to be front and centre.

The final 4 shots are some of the images I’m most proud of in over 3 years as a food photographer.