Austin, Texas-based photographer Jody Horton recently embarked on a creative journey with Buchanan’s Whisky, a renowned brand owned by the British multinational Diageo. To date Jody and the team have produced three shoots for the brand. The roots of the Buchanan’s brand were established in the Scottish Highlands in 1884. Later on its founder, James Buchanan, embarked on a voyage from Scotland to London and eventually to Latin America, where he shared his whisky with the world. Fast forward to today, and the iconic Red Lion crest proudly stands on its bottle proclaiming its Scottish heritage. With Buchanan’s Whisky on a mission to celebrate its Scottish roots while embracing a global audience, they needed a photographer.
We connected with Buchanan’s by doing a series of projects for Don Julio (another Diageo brand) a few years prior that was also focused on drink and food pairings and creating a natural setting connected to a target region/market.
Over the years the product has been on the Latin American market, Buchanan’s Whisky has become the dominant scotch brand in Latin America and is embraced by Hispanic communities. Reflecting this ethos, the project aimed to center around Hispanic pride and heritage, connecting with parts of these cultures through food, tradition, and communal spirit, resonating with diverse audiences across regions.
More than anything I think that they were looking to create images that feel more credible and real, and less advertising/slick. Creating advertising images that don’t feel like advertising images is really central to my work. Doing this successfully includes balancing several things at once, including light, the relationship of objects in space, sets, wardrobe, propping, food, movement — everything you see in the photo.
From the beginning, Jody delved deep into the conceptualization of the project, working closely with Buchanan’s team and a PR agency to flesh out ideas. Together, they cooked up some cool concepts blending drinks, food, and late-night vibes into the perfect cocktail of imagery.
They (Buchanan’s team and the PR agency) had great foundational ideas — pairing drinks and a range of foods and target markets. [On our second shoot] they asked that the images exude a late-night vibe. At that point, we began proposing set options and establishing premises for the sets. Concepts, propping, wardrobe, talent selection, etc., were all pushed back and forth through a working deck as we finalized and refined our production plan. I like to get pretty deep into these details so I am typically co-producing my own shoots, sourcing props, set elements, etc. It’s a lot to do but in the end, I’m only as good as the elements and people we have on set on the production day and I’m ultimately responsible for what we end up with.
With a satisfying team of talent and crew on hand, they dove headfirst into the shoot, bringing their ideas to life. The shoot unfolded across multiple sets, with Jody’s studio serving as the primary location for four out of five scenes.
We shot everything but our Miami set indoors during typical operating hours. In order to accommodate the ask for creating an outdoor night scene we started late on day two and ran into early evening. For the last set, shot in Texas, I wanted a fireplace. I happen to have one at my house that is framed with limestone, which is a very typical TX material. We were able to close the last day of shooting in the living room of my home. It was a fun last set and wrap celebration at once. My little Chihuahua mix pup Snoops even made it into a few shots.
Jody added the confetti to the shoot for an element of surprise, but they proved to be more than just a fleeting burst of fun. Strategically illuminated with flashes, they transformed the Chicago set into a dynamic spectacle, making the images more authentic.
Confetti cannons are fun and last longer than you would guess. Hitting these with a flash makes any scene more interesting.
Creating that cozy, late-night vibe wasn’t easy, but Jody was up for the challenge. Balancing artificial and natural light, he turned each set into a scene straight out of a movie.
All set creation started with blocking any external natural light. We used a spotlight with a harder edge to simulate the feeling of an overhead light source. The goal is to make artificial light feel like natural light. It was a fun and interesting challenge to make completely artificial light sets feel like artificial (interior) lights while still featuring products and talent and not making the sets feel overly lit/unrealistic.
Once the shoot wrapped, Jody worked his magic in post-production, polishing the images until he had the perfect final selection.
Our workflow is typically that I do a first edit. Once that is complete and the client identifies their selects, an assistant does a first pass to clean up images. I like to finish everything. If there is a need for advanced retouching (compositing), I typically hand it off to an assistant, and in some cases, an outside retoucher.
Blending the flavors of this multi-day shoot had its occasional challenges, but with Jody’s skill and the talented crew by his side, they smoothly navigated any obstacles they encountered. Just like a fine whisky, each shot was carefully crafted, resulting in a project that exceeded expectations.
See more of Jody’s work on his website.
Credits
Producer: JP Dingens
Digitech: Joe Reynolds
Wardrobe stylist: Drake Muyinza
Drink stylist: Michael Deuson
Food stylist: Tim Byres
Prop stylist: Audrey Davis
1st assistant: Cesar Enriquez
2nd assistant: Katherine Erwin
Videographer: Mike Aho
Further Reading
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