liquid & cosmetics photography and motion Apr 2022

Photographer and director Amy Currell was born in East London, where she lives and works. Her still life photography and moving image is shot through a distinctively female lens, and each frame is composed with thoughtfulness and grace – artfully juxtaposing colour and texture, shape and shadow.

Amy’s 13 years of experience mean she has acquired a highly technical and creative team – from set designers to retouchers. Together, they have composed striking images for Vogue, Selfridges and Liberty London, and award-winning campaigns for the likes of IKEA, each brimming with creativity and a sense of playfulness.

Amy is represented by JSR, see her work here and follow the agency on Instagram for the latest projects.

South African-born Bryan Rowe draws from his vibrant and colorful upbringing to guide his graphic minimalist aesthetic. His obsession with detail and composition drives him to consistently create showstopping imagery for his clients.

Primarily working with products and liquids his mastery and passion for lighting is present throughout his work.

As much as he enjoys creating out of his Colorado-based studio, he is even more excited about traveling and getting the opportunity to work with brands in all corners of the world.

Multi award-winning Carioca Studio is a world-renowned image concept house highly acclaimed for their work specialising in advertising imagery. Carioca offers integrated visual services, from production to photography, illustration and CGI. The company now has over 20 people working in three different departments – production, 3D and post-production.

Clients include Toyota, Nissan, Porsche, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Europcar, Mercedes-Benz, VW and WWF to name a few.

See more here. Carioca is represented by JSR Agency, follow them on Instagram.

Dag Dalvang is a commercial photographer who focuses on still life and food and beverage photography.

His attraction to abstract settings with minimalistic surfaces and sharp edges has pulled him to the table top world.

The sets are built around the object to make the products stand out and to be the most important elements of the set; this also limits the need to use props to tell the story. So pre-visualisation and planning are important aspects to the process, to test out ideas and concepts on paper before being on set.

With a keen eye and interest for details, he makes sure all the pieces come together.

"With 20 years of experience as a still life photographer, I love to take care of every detail in any project, starting with the creativity. The dedicated post-production team completes and enhances my vision by making sure throughout the whole process that the customers' needs are met, and in the right time.

Expanding my role as a director, I work with the newest technologies, giving the same poise and polish to my film that you’ll find in my photography.  My production is seamless and highly technical and we’re used to turn out a range of deliverables in a single day – never compromising on aesthetic or detail.

A problem solver, I use my experience and my technical know-how to realise even the trickiest of briefs, working with the largest agencies and clients over the years, both in Italy and worldwide, including among others DDB Mudra, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Diageo, Constellation Brands, Grand Frais, Ferrero.

My way of perceiving objects, shapes and materials has won me prestigious international awards, like an Hasselblad Master Awards and recently two Golds and an Honorable Mention at the One Eyeland Awards.

You can follow my work on Instagram or check out my website here."

"For the past two decades I have worked with iconic brands, including Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Pepsi and Coke. I specialise in photography and video for product, food & beverage clients. I have a state of the art studio in Stamford CT that features a beautiful kitchen and well stocked prop room. But If your client wants to shoot in NYC or anywhere else we don’t have a problem traveling.

I don’t take pictures - I make them. When I approach a shoot I think it through from the beginning to the end, before we set anything up. We think about what support crew we will need weather it’s a prop stylist, food stylist, set builder or effects rigger. My studio manager and I will plan out a work flow for the job that will deliver the client the best results for the most cost effective budget.

I have always loved the way liquids move and the way food can look so beautiful. Capturing any product in its best light, weather it’s a toothbrush, watch, beverage or food shot its always a challenge. We love a challenge! I enjoy working with creative clients so give me a call to discuss your next project. When I’m not in my studio shooting you will find me cooking, woodworking or golfing!

Here is a partial client list of who I have worked with: Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Lipton, Ocean Spray, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray, Grey Goose, Bacardi, Ketel One, Absolut, Jameson, Baileys, Seagram’s, Bulleit, Guinness, Don Julio, Ciroc, Jose Cuervo, Crown Royal, Kahlua, Heineken, Lancome, Mac, John Frida, Hugo Boss, Davidoff, Giant Eagle."

Jill Burrow is a photographer, videographer, and set designer based in Kansas City, Missouri. Her work ranges from still life and product photography to lifestyle. Her expertise extends to fashion, beauty and cosmetics, and food and drink.

Jill’s aim is to move observers by teetering the line between realism and surrealism. In her imagery she combines the ordinary with the uncommon, while using beauty as an anchor to tell a story.

Select clients include: Oribe, Aerie, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, Selfridges, Refinery29, Madewell, Instagram, Chantelle Paris, W3ll People, Issey Miyake, Mansur Gavriel, and Brightland.

Katie Howey is a high-end photographer specialising in commercial product and still life photography. She focuses on creating pack shots, satisfying product swatches and stunning creative still life.

She is renowned for her bold and crisp style of photography, her retouching skills, efficiency and speed of working.

Katie has worked as a professional photographer for just shy of 13 years, working with a vast portfolio of brands and agencies. She has a drive to make projects fun, exciting, easy and enjoyable for every client.

Katie provides high-end product photography for small to large brands, focusing on creative and pack shot photography of cosmetics, perfumes & fragrances, fashion accessories, technology and still life.

Katie works from her in-house studio just outside the London border in Essex.

Clients include: Revolution Beauty, Dizziak London, LoveRaw, Fairfax & Favor, MZ Skin, Childs Farm & Farmologie, Not on The High Street, and various agencies.

Mark is a London-based advertising photographer and director with 30 years of experience in producing beautifully inspiring images.

Mark specialises in shooting liquids. His colourful series 'Aqueous', has become very well known, is held in many private collections and is used for advertising and design work. Mark also shoots underwater fashion and beauty.

Mark's 'Aqueous' video was projected onto the walls of Buckingham Palace as the backdrop for The Queen's diamond jubilee concert.

With over 25 years of experience in advertising photography, Martin Wonnacott has amassed a vast experience in the industry and its needs. Martin travels around the world shooting for major global brands all the time. He has shot virtually every liquid refreshment for sale in the world at this point. His skills in shooting food and beverages are world-renowned and are in high demand.

Martin’s photography can be seen on billboards everywhere from Times Square to Timbuktu and beyond.

Brands such as Coca-Cola, Grey Goose, Patron and Stella Artois are among many repeat clients.

Now with his motion work, Martin is directing TV commercials with the same passion and drive as his photography. Recent spots for Coca-Cola were broadcast across the USA simultaneously with spots for Bud Light he also directed.

Martin is represented by JSR Agency, see more of his work here. For more information get in touch to discuss your next project and check out JSR's latest projects on Instagram.

Matt Stark, now working for over 25 years as a professional photographer, believes that good pictures make a difference - in advertising, in external and internal communication. That is why he really does everything for his customers' pictures - perfect pictures, perfect image processing, perfect equipment.

With his passion for perfection and his extensive equipment, he offers his customers state-of-the-art productions. Thanks to his inclination towards new, creative settings and clear imagery, he came to splash and liquid photography.

His latest personal work, “Juicy Fruits”, a series of different fruits from which the juice or liquid literally explodes, was published on Broncolor's blog, one of the largest lighting brands.

Since his own brand was established in 2008, he is working for many renowned brands and companies in advertising and still life.

Matt’s studio is based in Germany, near Stuttgart. Remote shoots are also possible, if the client cannot be in the studio on site.

Omer Knaz is best known for his work in the field of luxury goods and still life photography. He shoots jewellery, watches, fragrances and fashion accessories for the world-leading brands and publications.

His strong lighting and compositional skills, drawn from the discipline of film photography, gives his images a sense of reality that is so often compromised these days and is perfect for luxury products.

Clients include Tatler, UK Vogue, GQ, How to Spend It, 1843 Magazine, De Beers, David Morris, McDonald’s, Jo Malone, Aesop, Unilever, Harrod's and Space NK to name a few.

See more from Omer's work here. Omer is represented by JSR; you can follow the agency on Instagram.

Established in 1986, Packshot Factory is a Central London-based production studio specialising in commercial product photography and table-top film production services focusing on product hero still and moving images including: high-end packshots, product beauty, creative product shots, and special effects.

All the tabletop, still life photography and film are conducted from Packshot's own, purposely built studio located in Central London, at the crossroads of Covent Garden, Holborn and West End.

Packshot Factory has a rich and long-standing history in the product advertising industry, as still life photographers and tabletop cinematographers they have been creating their own brand with a mission that has remained unchanged for nearly four decades: to create images that are of the highest quality, something which they continue to be renowned for in the industry.

Patrick Zasada is a still life photographer based between Frankfurt and Heidelberg. His focus lies on product photography.

He creates luxurious advertising shoots with lovely light gradients. In combination with stunning composites he produces advertising that goes beyond reality.

In this Spotlight, Patrick would like to show some of his cosmetic shoots.

Some of Patrick’s clients include Accor Hotel Group, Bellavia, Byodo, Continental, Circular Carbon, Chanel, CyrusOne, Ebara Corporation, Gerresheimer AG, Global Switch, Hessenagentur, Hilton Hotels, Interhomes AG, KT Bank, Medochemie, R+V, Vanguard Inc. and ZMS Zeppelin.

London-based still life photographer and director Sara Morris combines her mastery of beautiful lighting with her technical expertise and problem-solving skills to produce the most engaging imagery.

Some of Sara’s recent make-up and perfume work includes images of beautiful liquid shapes that are delicate but tangible, fluid yet defined, with lighting that enhances perfectly the objects enveloped within the liquid colour clouds.

Sara is skilled at accentuating textures and colours, whether macro powder crushes or lipstick pallet smudges and how she composes her shots is both playful and arresting.

Sara shoots from her own large studio that is situated beside the canal in Haggerston, London N1. This comes fully equipped with a kitchen and a separate client area.

You can follow Sara on Instagram here or check out her website here. Sara is represented by Clare Fletcher.

STUDIO_M consists of Olivier Mul and Wimer Meijer: two foodies who have been mad about photography from an early age. STUDIO_M was founded four years ago, shortly after Olivier Mul’s previous partner in crime’s retirement.

With almost 20 years of experience in drinks, food and still life photography, STUDIO_M serves up a full plate of food photography services, including concept, production, recipe development, post production, motion and video.

"You’re more than welcome in our Amsterdam-based studio to have a freshly brewed coffee and to discuss the possibilities. Or, in these strange times: to just give us a (video) call!"

Warren Ryley is a London-based advertising photographer specialising in still life, drinks and liquids with decades of experience.

Shooting from his studio near Tower Bridge or on location, he combines his lighting prowess with his knowledge of post production techniques to produce compelling imagery.

His style is both bold and colourful with a clean lighting style. He has a friendly and relaxed persona making his shoots an enjoyable experience, and is backed up by a fabulous team of collaborative artists that can provide additional skills from assistants, stylists, videographers and CGI.

He has shot for numerous major brands, including Jim Beam, Beefeater, Courvoisier, Leffe, Fosters, Smirnoff, Patron, Britvic, Chivas, and M&S. Recent commissions include Motorola and Funkin Cocktails.