How an image shot as a personal project ended up being adapted and used commercially, in this case on food packaging.
Olives and pitta bread
I shot this image in my Leeds studio for my food portfolio. It was spotted by an art director from an agency I hadn’t worked with before who were looking for a photographer to shoot images of a new range of bakery products. They liked the olives image and wanted to use the same concept with the bread becoming the focal point.
I went in and talked to the creative director and designer but didn’t hear anything for a while. A couple of months later I got the call to say they were ready to commission the food photography. I then had the challenge of recreating the shot three times, with no notes of how I lit it. I’m used to studying images to work out how shots have been lit, just not usually my own work. Anyway, with the creative director art directing, we got a selection of shots of the three products and these were used by the designers on the packets.
The finished bruschetta packet. Image © Tony May.
The pizzatta. image © Tony May.
The focaccia. Image © Tony May.
It’s nice to see an idea turn into something that gets used. I also ended up shooting individual croutons for the same client but that’s another story…