Special Works: prestigious Products

Studio product photography of  timeless design and quality products for Croft & Assinder. 

Initially, when commissioned to do a product photography cabinet handles brochure you wouldn’t think it was going to be one of your most rewarding jobs of the year.
Called Special Works,  uniquely British products, they certainly were.
Firstly it was great to have the call from a returning client, who I haven’t worked for a number of years, Croft & Assinder a Birmingham Based manufacturing company of 140 years tradition, specializing in the design and manufacture of extraordinary cabinet handles and luxury fittings.
They can boast supplying fittings for the Ritz London and Waldorf Hotel, ships of the Cunard and white star line and the White House in Washington, and a few bedrooms and kitchens.

A family business with British heritage and timeless design.

From the first briefing, I could tell this wasn’t going to be the normal door furniture shoot, using old desks with distressed wood and leather, but a new and innovative design by AdamBickell design @adambicknellcreative, fresh clean and crisp, the brochure referencing the inspiration of these beautiful products.

How I approached the Photography

The product photography was made up of three similar but different treatment, firstly the bulk of the work, the straight product shots, with a bit of soft shadow for cut-outs, secondly there where the more lifestyle images photographed on subtle background of light grey, textured white, cream and faded wood, with a couple on a patterned wallpaper.going in close to show the craftsmanship and detail on these beautiful products.

Heavy Shadow’s for the front cover images.

A heavy diagonal shadow was needed, I decided to shoot them individually changing the angle slightly to simulate the different heights, how best to achieve the  dramatic shadows?

Using a Fresnel spot attachment for my Elinchrome 3k it produced a very hard shadow that combined with a traditional image provided me with the control needed in Photoshop, combining and blending the two, three and sometimes four images to make one, they all still needed to be assembled with Adam doing an amazing job.

Finally, on seeing the printed project I was not disappointed, the superb quality and attention to detail gives me satisfaction and pride in a job well done. 

Big thanks go out to Zoran and Kathryn better clients you couldn’t wish for. Roll on the next one.