Greensboro, North Carolina-based photographer Dhanraj Emanuel recently completed a fun project for Winston-Salem-based pimento cheese manufacturer, Red Clay Gourmet.
Dhanraj’s relationship with Red Clay Gourmet began in 2011 when to market himself, he toured all the food shows in the area looking for small packaged food manufacturers who might be looking for photography work. He offered a special promotion to photograph one sample image at no cost, and Red Clay was one of the manufacturers to respond. Although it didn’t work out that time, (Red Clay said they’d “have to sell a lot of cheese to pay for a shoot”), in 2018 as part of a brand overhaul, the timing was great (we know we’re cheesy). Dhanraj was hired.
After the shoot, Dhanraj worked with Wonderful Machine producer Julia on a prospect list build that he used to promote the project through a direct mail campaign.
The idea was to showcase the versatility of the product by showing it in a variety of situations – in the kitchen, on the porch, and at a picnic. We took this direction and planned each shot to create a unique look, feel, and mood—down to expressing the time of day.
The challenge for me as a photographer was to create images that were expressive of the brand, contextualized the product in different situations, and used light to suggest a time of day, all the while staying true to my “elegant yet unpretentious” style of work.
See more of Dhanraj’s work on his website.
Photographer: Dhanraj Emanuel
Design studio: Buttermilk Creative
Art directors: Andy and Nicole Kurtts
Food stylist: Chriscilla Browning
Further Reading:
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