Luerzer's Archive

I'm really chuffed that the work I shot with TBWA\France for MacDonalds has been selected and featured in Luerzer's Archive, January issue....

Flying food

On 30th January most of us missed out on a culinary treat. To publicise their new 100-chef kitchen servicing flights on major airlines from Heathrow, Alpha LSG Skychefs collaborated with William Murray PR and communications agency in a special launch event. At the new site they mocked up a series of "stalls" offering street food from around the world, cooked by their specialist chefs to tantalise the palates of invited guests. As part of this imaginative promotion I was asked to photograph 12 of the premier chefs along with a signature dish from each to feature in a recipe book. It was a very hectic and challenging shoot in an as yet unequipped shell of a kitchen with no heating to speak of but good fun and of course it had it's (edible) highlights too! Here are chefs Subhash Sethi with his Chicken breast tandoori, Desmond O'Connor - Roast stuffed leg and breast of corn-fed chicken, Siewyoong Loh - Braised pork belly in Guinness and Chiwan Ng - Corn-fed chicken in chilli-plum sauce:

We were also lucky to have Chris Barber (above left) supply his delicious Slow-cooked lamb recipe, left, enhanced by tales of wild foods and why we don't eat Canada geese. Last but not least, a few behind the scenes shots. Lunch on the go - YUM! - Subhash Sethi in working garb plus coat enjoying his favourite dish (I hope he'll forgive me for this!), behind the scenes team including, from left, Carrie Bateman and Alpha Head chef Carl Jones checking editorial details (I hope they'll forgive me too!) and Anna tries to keep warm while food stylist Nico discusses recipe details with chef M Imran.

Frances Quinn's SERIOUSLY chocolatey cake for Cadbury's

Just before Christmas Golin Harris asked me to do a last-minute shoot with Great British Bake Off's winner, the lovely Frances Quinn. Frances brought her really wickedly delicious chocolate cake she had created for Cadbury's to the studio but it did not leave in one piece! The above is Frances's favourite shot but I thought I'd share with you a snap of new experience I encountered on the shoot - competition for attention - from the cake!!

Christmas - or "Chipmas" tree for McCain's

We had great fun doing this festive tree of McCain's Spicy Wedges.... Happy Christmas! For McCain's, Agency BMB, Food Styling Maud Eden

Wonder Jackets!

Suddenly it IS jacket potato time - good timing for the McCain's posters.   This is one I snapped at Chiswick today....

McCain's press, posters and on the buses

With the change in the weather (which I've really been feeling since I came back from a holiday in sunny climes!) the timing of the launch of McCain's big new campaign in the press and on poster sites and London buses could hardly have been better.   It is a marked contrast to when we did the shoots, just about the hottest part of the summer.

BMB had a very clear idea of the lighting they wanted, to make the product stand out well against the background and pick up as much natural texture as possible to keep the food looking real and scrummy.   The other main concern was to keep the products - through their arrangement and emphasising individual characteristics - looking as different as possible from one another.

 When it came to the Smiles we had an interesting time deciding on the model-making route as well as the issue of whether the eyes should be light, dark or neutral.   For those of you who like the behind-the-scenes shots, here's a beauty line up of smiles while we were playing with the lighting - vaguely reminiscent of table football!  Of course, at this point they all started developing individual characters and the whole thing became a bit silly.

But here's the finished product.

Client: McCain, Agency: BMB, Art Buyer: David Corfield, Art Director: Jay Pond-Jones, Food Stylist: Kate Parr.

McDonalds "unbranded"

"The Big Mac, the Cheeseburger, the Sundae, the French fries, the Chicken McNuggets and the Filet-O-Fish… six products from McDonald’s that belong to the prestigious group of iconic products.
There is no need to name these products: you immediately recognize them.
Long speeches aren’t necessary: everyone knows what they taste like and what they stand for.
A logo would be redundant: you instantly understand who’s talking to you.

With this in mind, TBWAParis and McDonald’s decided to celebrate these iconic products as they deserved to be celebrated: by showing huge visuals in the press, in magazines as well as outdoor, without any kind of artifice. The brand isn’t mentioned anywhere on these visuals, not a single indication would add to the impact of the communication.
Because when a product speaks for itself, what more could we possibly say? But moreover, why should we say anything else?"

Agency: TBWA Paris
Client: McDonald’sArt Buyer: Julie Champin
Creative Director: Jean-François Goize
Food Creative Director: Maud Poilpré
Photographer: Sue Atkinson
Food Stylist: Anne-Claire Delphin

From Creative Review's newsfeed, 29th July 2013

This was a terrific project to work on with a great team.   Some very long days but we all had the same goal in mind and managed to develop quite a family spirit by the end of the week.   I even learned a bit more French - including some things I must most definitely not repeat by accident!

Here are a few "behind the scenes" shots.

LOTS of extension on the camera

Working on the cheeseburger

Guess where the rice came in!

When the food stylist turns her back...

When the art director turns their back...

A bouquet of nuggets

On parade