Richard Bryan

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Raise Your Glass (or Bottle)

Wold Top Brewery, sister company to Spirit of Yorkshire distillery approached me to capture still life group shots and also packshots of their product range

I’d been working with Spirit of Yorkshire for a while before being approached by Wold Top Brewery to photograph their beers. Founded in 2003 by farmers Tom and Gill, the pair were looking for ways to sustain the family farm with diversification and hit on the idea of brewing as their solution.

Shoots would centre around still-life group shots, with accompanying packshots produced too.

What I enjoyed in the styling of these images was simulating a scene, such as a pub scene, but stripping it down to its basics. This way I can then concentrate on getting the lighting just right, showing off all those wonderful details within the bottles and label design.

For packshots I achieve consistent results throughout, by making lighting diagrams of the setup. This lists things like location and type of lighting modifiers used. Backlighting is used extensively with packshots of beer to show the colour of the glass and more importantly the liquid within.

If you’re anywhere near the area you can even visit the Brewery. “Come and join us on a brewery tour and then settle down in our lovely bar with a beer in hand.”