I’m a big fan of Rockwater Hove in Brighton and was delighted when they asked me to update their Food Photography. Rockwater contacted me because they especially liked my story-telling style of food and drink photography having seen some previous photos I’d taken at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
My brief was to photograph dishes from Rockwater’s new Spring/Summer ’22 menu in a relaxed and vibrant style, nothing too posed or contrived. Rockwater have a large following on social media, especially instagram (28,000 followers and counting!) They were keen to commission professional food photography to showcase their new summer menu to all of their followers.
The shoot took place on the Roof Terrance on the top floor of the restaurant on a sunny day in May. We purposefully scheduled the shoot on the day of the soft menu launch so the restaurant was full of customers. I was careful to blur everyone out in the background as much as possible but I think they do think they add to the atmosphere of the pictures.
Head Chef Tim Stokes provided a steady stream of dishes and drinks for me to photograph during our four-hour shoot. It is especially important during food photography that all the food is photographed looking as fresh as possible. Some of the seafood platters were laid on ice so had to photographed extra quickly!
As with all photography, light is so important. I set up in different locations around the restaurant as the light changed but one of my favourite spots was surprisingly on the wooden floor. I did get some strange looks from diners as they walked past!
Rockwater’s food is so colourful, it’s an absolute pleasure to photograph!
I’d love to photograph more restaurants, cafes, pubs and even vineyards. Of course, I can photograph your staff, chefs and customers as well as the food and drink. Please head over to my food photography page for more details. For more information on Rockwater Hove take a look at their website: Rockwater Hove
