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London-based Food/Drink photographer Charlie Bard recently completed a project for Pasta Evangelists, an artisan pasta brand dedicated to bringing the authenticity and quality of handcrafted Italian pasta to UK kitchens. Its founder, Alessandro Savelli, was inspired by his childhood memories of rolling out fresh pasta with his nonna in Italy. The brand needed new stills for its website, social media, and OOH placements to help represent the many offerings of its growing business.
This was Charlie’s first time working with the client. When he heard that their chief marketing director was scouting for a photographer, Charlie seized the opportunity to showcase his skills.
I showed the client some of my previous work, showcasing both quality and quantity and ranging from takeaways of various sizes to menu and hero dish photography.
Guided by the client’s CMO and Head of Creative, Charlie Bard joined forces with food stylist Katie Giovanni to create the shot list. In the preproduction phase, Charlie took charge of organizing the studio dates and access, ensuring a seamless workflow for the upcoming shoot.
Since, in addition to fresh pasta, Pasta Evangelists offers a range of pasta kits, pasta-making classes led by professional chefs, and retail options, the brand wanted to highlight these features on their delivery platforms.
The goal was to create a vibe like an evening in Tuscany, but most shots featured just the pasta dish with little decoration. Yet, careful choices in colors and lighting helped us nail that Tuscan feel.
The location chosen for the project was a studio situated in North London. While the studio did have a cooking area, it was not a commercial kitchen. This posed challenges for food prep and styling, including issues with drains, waste disposal, and an oven more prone to smoking than cooking. Despite these technical challenges, the team captured the stills they needed over four eight-hour days of shooting.
The studio was a great space but was not a food photography studio. This mainly meant the cooking facilities were not ideal and so we were, at times, waiting for dishes for slightly longer than necessary.
These dishes needed to look homemade, tasty and achievable for the general public. Balancing out the perfect looking dish that was still “real” was the main challenge.
Charlie himself handled the post-production work, focusing on overall clean-up and composites to ensure every dish looked fresh and appetizing. Since pasta can lose its appeal quickly on set, Charlie often drew from the earliest shots to ensure every pasta was at its peak moment.
In the end, Charlie’s finals were just what the client ordered. With a dash of creativity and a pinch of style, he helped spread the good news of the Pasta Evangelists brand.
See more of Charlie’s work on his website.
Credits
Food Stylist: Katie Giovanni
Pasta Evangelists CMO: Finn Lagun
Further Reading
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